Analysis of operator variability in standardized root canal preparation with Ni–Ti instruments

Summary Objectives The aim of this study is to assess the influence of the operator variability during the preparation of standard resin blocks and the learning process with Ni–Ti instruments, the null hypothesis being that there are no significant differences regarding dentin removal, variation of the angle and radius of curvature, centering of the preparation, and time required by operator with different clinical experience. Materials and methods 100 standard resin blocks were used for this study. The blocks were divided into 4 groups of 25, and each group was assigned to a different operator. Operators 1 and 2 were 4th year DDS undergraduate students that had never performed endodontic treatments and as such could be considered as inexperienced operators. Operators 3 and 4 were 2 clinicians with 10 years experience and that were familiar with endodontic treatments and instrumentation (experienced operators). Many parameters were measured and compared. Result Differences could be detected between the 2 different level of clinical experience. Conclusions Under the experimental conditions of this study, experience of the operators can be considered as a crucial factor when all the other parameters are kept standard. In conclusion the null-hypothesis has to be rejected. Statistically significant differences exist in dentin removal, in the variation of the degree of curvature, in the centering of the preparation and in the time needed for the preparation when operators with different clinical experience where tested

A Deep Learning-Based Approach for the Recognition of Sleep Disorders in Patients with Cognitive Diseases: A Case Study

Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia. Patients suffer from of this kind of disease could show symptoms such as sleep disturbances, muscle rigidity or other typical Alzheimer's movement irregularities. In our work, we have focused on those types of disturbances related to sleep disorders. Due to their not well-known nature, it is difficult to develop software able to identify sleep disorders. In this work, we have addressed the problem of the automatic recognition of sleep disorders in patients with Alzheimer's disease by using deep learning algorithm

Gait Anomaly Detection of Subjects With Parkinson's Disease Using a Deep Time Series-Based Approach

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a cognitive degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The earliest symptoms evidence a general deficit of coordination and an unsteady gait. Current approaches for the evaluation and assessment of gait disturbances in PD have proved to be expensive, inconvenient and ineffective in the detection of anomalous walking patterns. In this paper, we address these issues by defining a deep time series-based approach for the detection of anomalous walking patterns in the gait dynamics of elderly people by analyzing the acceleration values of their movements. The results show a training accuracy and testing accuracy of over 90% with an accuracy improvement of 4.28% in comparison with related works

Electric Vehicle Battery Disassembly Using Interfacing Toolbox for Robotic Arms

This paper showcases the integration of the Interfacing Toolbox for Robotic Arms (ITRA) with our newly developed hybrid Visual Servoing (VS) methods to automate the disassembly of electric vehicle batteries, thereby advancing sustainability and fostering a circular economy. ITRA enhances collaboration between industrial robotic arms, server computers, sensors, and actuators, meeting the intricate demands of robotic disassembly, including the essential real-time tracking of components and robotic arms. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our hybrid VS approach, combined with ITRA, in the context of Electric Vehicle (EV) battery disassembly across two robotic testbeds. The first employs a KUKA KR10 robot for precision tasks, while the second utilizes a KUKA KR500 for operations needing higher payload capacity. Conducted in T1 (Manual Reduced Velocity) mode, our experiments underscore a swift communication protocol that links low-level and high-level control systems, thus enabling rapid object detection and tracking. This allows for the efficient completion of disassembly tasks, such as removing the EV battery’s top case in 27 s and disassembling a stack of modules in 32 s. The demonstrated success of our framework highlights its extensive applicability in robotic manufacturing sectors that demand precision and adaptability, including medical robotics, extreme environments, aerospace, and construction

Iodothyronine deiodinases and reduced sensitivity to thyroid hormones.

Iodothyronine deiodinases are selenoproteins that regulate thyroid hormone metabolism. Of the three types of deiodinases, type 2 is the major regulator of intracellular triiodothyronine concentration in both the hypothalamus and pituitary, and therefore the major regulator of thyrotropin secretion. A defect in iodothyronine deiodinase activity can lead to a reduced sensitivity to thyroid hormones action and the most recent literature includes these defects in the so-called "syndromes of reduced sensitivity to thyroid hormones". To date, the pathogenic variants of the selenocysteine insertion sequence-binding protein 2 (SECISBP2) gene are the first and only inherited disorder of iodothyronine metabolism described. Moreover, there is a growing interest in understanding the possible role of polymorphisms of DIO1 and DIO2 genes in some pathological conditions and in determining the requirement of levothyroxine replacement and the role of combined levothyroxine-liothyronine therapy in carrying subjects affected by hypothyroidism and who need replacement therapy. Results on this topic are still conflicting and more studies are needed to assess the efficacy of combined levothyroxine-liothyronine replacement therapy in this subset of patients

ALPHA: an eAsy inteLligent service Platform for Healthy Ageing

Dementia is one of the biggest global public health challenges facing our generation. Alzheimers disease (AD) is the most frequent cause of dementia in elderly people over 65 years of age. The typical characteristic of AD is impairment of memory. As the disease progresses, other cognitive domains such as language, praxis, visuo-spatial and executive functions become involved, eventually resulting in global cognitive decline. Behavioral Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) problems are constant in AD and have highly negative impact on the quality of life of patients and their families. ALPHA project aims at developing an intelligent situation-aware system to collect and process information about Alzheimer Disease patients? life style. Starting from various data provided by caregivers and a set of non-invasive sensors and devices. ALPHA will provide clinicians with new quantitative and qualitative information about patients? abnormal behavior which, along with medical data, will enhance the accuracy and reliability of monitoring and assessing the patient?s health status. Clinicians will be supported by a suite of specifically designed tools and interfaces to analyze the metadata captured, improve management of personalized care plans and better interact with patients and caregivers. Studies of antique records of former psychiatric hospital will enable us towiden the knowledge of behavioral disorders thus allowing to compare the ancient ones and the curcurrent and to probabilistically determine relation between type of dementia and behavioral disorders

The Effect of Adding Different Antibiotics on the Resistance against Bacterial Leakage of AH 26 Sealer

Aim: Most endodontic sealers show antimicrobial activity before setting, but most of them also lose this ability after setting. Addition of an antibiotic may affect the properties of sealers such as sealing ability, setting time, and so on. The aim of this study was to assess whether the addition of antibiotics (amoxicillin, doxycycline, and clindamycin) improves the sealing ability of AH 26 sealer. Materials and Methods: Seventy extracted human mandibular premolars were used. After cleaning and shaping the canals, the teeth were divided into six groups: group 1: gutta-percha and AH 26 sealer, group 2: gutta-percha and AH 26 sealer+doxycycline, group 3: gutta-percha and AH 26 sealer+amoxicillin, group 4: gutta-percha and AH 26 sealer+clindamycin, group 5: gutta-percha without sealer (positive control), and group 6: gutta-percha and AH 26 sealer (the root surfacewere covered with nail varnish) (negative control). A microbial leakage model was used to assess the sealing ability. Results: Group 2 had the greatest resistance against bacterial leakage. Furthermore, combining AH 26 sealer with amoxicillin and clindamycin increased mean leakage time compared to AH 26 sealer solely. However, the differences between groups 1 and 3 as well as between groups 1 and 4 were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Incorporating antibiotics especially doxycycline into AH 26 sealer increases its resistance against bacterial leakage

Treatment with synthetic glucocorticoids and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis

Chronic glucocorticoid (GC) treatment represents a widely-prescribed therapy for several diseases in consideration of both anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive activity but, if used at high doses for prolonged periods, it can determine the systemic effects characteristic of Cushing\u2019s syndrome. In addition to signs and symptoms of hypercortisolism, patients on chronic GC therapy are at risk to develop tertiary adrenal insufficiency after the reduction or the withdrawal of corticosteroids or during acute stress. This effect is mediated by the negative feedback loop on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which mainly involves corticotropin-release hormone (CRH), which represents the most important driver of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) release. In fact, after withdrawal of chronic GC treatment, reactivation of CRH secretion is a necessary prerequisite for the recovery of the HPA axis. In addition to the well-known factors which regulate the degree of inhibition of the HPA during synthetic GC therapy (type of compound, method of administration, cumulative dose, duration of the treatment, concomitant drugs which can increase the bioavailability of GCs), there is a considerable variation in individual physiology, probably related to different genetic profiles which regulate GC receptor activity. This may represent an interesting basis for possible future research fields

role of smokers in the household and of cardiac rehabilitation in smoking behaviour after acute myocardial infarction

Objects: This study aims to evaluate the influence of household smokers and of a prolonged, comprehensive home-based Cardiac Rehabilitation Program (CRP) on patient's long term smoking behaviour after AMI. Methods: 164 male post-AMI patients, all smokers until the day of AMI, were subdivided into three groups: Group A (n=54): patients with recent AMI, discharged from hospital without enrolment in CRP; Group B (n=55): similar to Group A but enrolled in an 8 weeks hospital-based CRP and then discharged home with routine care; Group C (n=55) enrolled in an 8 weeks hospital-based CRP followed by a further 10 months of formal home-based CRP, with scheduled hospital follow-up visits. Results: Smoking resumption at 12 months was influenced by the presence of household smokers (HS): 38% of patients with HS resumed smoking compared to 27% of patients without HS (p <0.01). Adherence to a CRP was inversely correlated to smoking resumption: there were fewer smoking patients at 12 months from AMI in Group C than in Groups A or B (11% in C vs. 29% and 55% in B and A, respectively, p <0.001). Conclusions: Long term maintenance of CRP seems to be the best way to achieve a reduction of long term smoking habit and maintain adherence to prescription in patients after AMI. Counselling and behavioural intervention should also be extended to family members in order to maximize the benefit of secondary prevention