Incorporation of the influences of kinematics parameters and joints tilting for the calibration of serial robotic manipulators

Serial robotic manipulators are calibrated to improve and restore their accuracy and repeatability. Kinematics parameters calibration of a robot reduces difference between the model of a robot in the controller and its actual mechanism to improve accuracy. Kinematics parameter’s error identification in the standard kinematics calibration has been configuration independent which does not consider the influence of kinematics parameter on robot tool pose accuracy for a given configuration. This research analyses the configuration dependent influences of kinematics parameters error on pose accuracy of a robot. Based on the effect of kinematics parameters, errors in the kinematics parameters are identified. Another issue is that current kinematics calibration models do not incorporate the joints tilting as a result of joint clearance, backlash, and flexibility, which is critical to the accuracy of serial robotic manipulators, and therefore compromises a pose accuracy. To address this issue which has not been carefully considered in the literature, this research suggested an approach to model configuration dependent joint tilting and presents a novel approach to encapsulate them in the calibration of serial robotic manipulators. The joint tilting along with the kinematics errors are identified and compensated in the kinematics model of the robot. Both conventional and proposed calibration approach are tested experimentally, and the calibration results are investigated to demonstrate the effectiveness of this research. Finally, the improvement in the trajectory tracking accuracy of the robot has been validated with the help of proposed low-cost measurement set-up.Thesis (M.Phil.) (Research by Publication) -- University of Adelaide, School of Mechanical Engineering , 201

Mining patterns in complex data

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

EVALUATION OF ANTI-PROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITY AND HEPATOTOXICITY OF BOTANICALS AND BOTANICAL HEALTH PRODUCTS

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Protein Microarray Analysis of Disease Activity in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Demonstrates Elevated Serum PLGF, IL-7, TGF-beta1, and IL-12p40 Levels in Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Patients in Remission versus Active Disease

OBJECTIVES—Cytokines and growth factors play a major role in the dysregulated immune response in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We hypothesized that significant differences exist between the serum cytokine and growth factor profiles of pediatric IBD patients with active disease (AD) and those in remission, and that levels of some of these soluble mediators may be used to define regulators in IBD and determine disease activity. METHODS—Eighty-eight, consecutive patients with confirmed Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) seen at the Duke Children’s Hospital were prospectively enrolled and a serum sample was obtained. Data were recorded at the time of serum collection to calculate disease activity indices. The relative expression of 78 cytokines, growth factors, and soluble receptors was determined using proprietary antibody-based protein microarrays amplified by rolling circle amplification. SPSS 8 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) was used to compare protein profiles for CD and UC patients in clinical remission (CR) versus AD. RESULTS—Sixty-five CD patients and 23 UC patients were enrolled. Forty-one CD patients had available samples and PCDAI results. Twenty-two patients were in remission PCDAI ≤ 12.5 (median 5), 19 patients had disease activity >15 (median 30). Univariate analysis revealed that PLGF, IL-7, IL-12p40, and TGF-β1 cytokine levels were significantly elevated for patients in CR versus AD (p 110. Only one cytokine, IL12p40, showed significance between CR versus AD (p < 0.02). CONCLUSIONS—Surprisingly, we found no differences in circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines but found that pediatric IBD patients in remission compared to those with AD had higher levels of specific circulating cytokines, including the regulatory cytokines IL-12p40, and TGF-β1. It may be that these cytokines directly regulate intestinal inflammation in IBD or reflect the activity of T regulatory cells in negatively regulating the inflammatory response. Further studies will be needed to validate our results to define the molecular pathways involved in the intestinal immune response in man

A 43-Nucleotide RNACis-Acting Element Governs the Site-Specific Formation of the 3′ End of a Poxvirus Late mRNA

AbstractThe 3′ ends of late mRNAs of theatigene, encoding the major component of the A-type inclusions, are generated by endoribonucleolytic cleavage at a specific site in the primary transcript [Antczaket al.,(1992),Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA89, 12033–12037]. In this study, sequence analysis of cDNAs of the 3′ ends ofatimRNAs showed these mRNAs are 3′ polyadenylated at the RNA cleavage site. This suggests thatatimRNA 3′ end formation involves cleavage of a late transcript, with subsequent 3′ polyadenylation of the 5′ cleavage product. The RNAcis-acting element, the AX element, directing orientation-dependent formation of these mRNA 3′ ends, was mapped to a 345-bpAluI–XbaI fragment. Deletion analyses of this fragment showed that the boundaries of the AX element are within −5 and +38 of the RNA cleavage site. Scanning mutagenesis showed that the AX element contains at least two subelements: subelement I, 5′-UUUAU↓CCGAUAAUUC-3′, containing the cleavage site (↓), separated from the downstream subelement II, 5′-AAUUUCGGAUUUGAAUGC-3′, by a 10-nucleotide region, whose composition may be altered without effect on RNA 3′ end formation. These features, which differ from those of other elements controlling RNA processing, suggest that the AX element is a component of a novel mechanism of RNA 3′ end formation

Anti-proliferative effects of raw and steamed extracts of Panax notoginseng and its ginsenoside constituents on human liver cancer cells

10.1186/1749-8546-6-4Chinese Medicine6

Expression of CD44 molecules and CD44 ligands during human thymic fetal development: expression of CD44 isoforms is developmentally regulated

It has recently been recognized that CD44 comprises a large family of alternatively spliced forms.In the thymus, CD44 has been postulated to play an important role in immature T cell migration and maturation. In this paper, we have studied the expression of CD44 molecules and two CD44 ligands, hyaluronan (HA) and fibronectin (FN), during human thymic fetal development. We found that mAbs against all CD44 isoforms (A3D8 or A1G3) reacted with both thymic epithelial (TE) cells and thymocytes beginning at the time of initial colonization of the human thymus by hematopoietic stem cells at 8.2 weeks of fetal gestation. However, mAbs specific for splice variants of CD44 containing membrane-proximal inserts (11.24, 11.10 and 11.9) reacted only with terminally differentiated TE cells in and around Hassall's bodies beginning at 16-19 weeks of fetal gestation. Studies of differentiated versus undifferentiated TE cells in vitro confirmed the selective expression of CD44 variant isoforms on terminally differentiated TE cells. Expression of HA and FN was determined by fluorescence microscopy using either biotlnylated-HA binding protein or an anti-FN mAb. We found that whereas FN was present throughout the human fetal thymus beginning at 8.2 weeks, HA was not present until 16 weeks of gestational age. These data demonstrate the differential expression of standard versus variant CD44 isoforms during thymic ontogeny and implicate CD44 interactions with ligands other than HA as important in the earlier stages of humanthymus developmen

LC–MS/MS-based in vitro and in vivo Investigation of Blood–brain Barrier Integrity by Simultaneous Quantitation of Mannitol and Sucrose

Background Understanding the pathophysiology of the blood brain–barrier (BBB) plays a critical role in diagnosis and treatment of disease conditions. Applying a sensitive and specific LC–MS/MS technique for the measurement of BBB integrity with high precision, we have recently introduced non-radioactive [13C12]sucrose as a superior marker substance. Comparison of permeability markers with different molecular weight, but otherwise similar physicochemical properties, can provide insights into the uptake mechanism at the BBB. Mannitol is a small hydrophilic, uncharged molecule that is half the size of sucrose. Previously only radioactive [3H]mannitol or [14C]mannitol has been used to measure BBB integrity. Methods We developed a UPLC–MS/MS method for simultaneous analysis of stable isotope-labeled sucrose and mannitol. The in vivo BBB permeability of [13C6]mannitol and [13C12]sucrose was measured in mice, using [13C6]sucrose as a vascular marker to correct for brain intravascular content. Moreover, a Transwell model with induced pluripotent stem cell-derived brain endothelial cells was used to measure the permeability coefficient of sucrose and mannitol in vitro both under control and compromised (in the presence of IL-1β) conditions. Results We found low permeability values for both mannitol and sucrose in vitro (permeability coefficients of 4.99 ± 0.152 × 10−7 and 3.12 ± 0.176 × 10−7 cm/s, respectively) and in vivo (PS products of 0.267 ± 0.021 and 0.126 ± 0.025 µl g−1 min−1, respectively). Further, the in vitro permeability of both markers substantially increased in the presence of IL-1β. Corrected brain concentrations (Cbr), obtained by washout vs. vascular marker correction, were not significantly different for either mannitol (0.071 ± 0.007 and 0.065 ± 0.009 percent injected dose per g) or sucrose (0.035 ± 0.003 and 0.037 ± 0.005 percent injected dose per g). These data also indicate that Cbr and PS product values of mannitol were about twice the corresponding values of sucrose. Conclusions We established a highly sensitive, specific and reproducible approach to simultaneously measure the BBB permeability of two classical low molecular weight, hydrophilic markers in a stable isotope labeled format. This method is now available as a tool to quantify BBB permeability in vitro and in vivo in different disease models, as well as for monitoring treatment outcomes

Optimization of Rolling-Circle Amplified Protein Microarrays for Multiplexed Protein Profiling

Protein microarray-based approaches are increasingly being used in research and clinical applications to either profile the expression of proteins or screen molecular interactions. The development of high-throughput, sensitive, convenient, and cost-effective formats for detecting proteins is a necessity for the effective advancement of understanding disease processes. In this paper, we describe the generation of highly multiplexed, antibody-based, specific, and sensitive protein microarrays coupled with rolling-circle signal amplification (RCA) technology. A total of 150 cytokines were simultaneously detected in an RCA sandwich immunoassay format. Greater than half of these proteins have detection sensitivities in the pg/mL range. The validation of antibody microarray with human serum indicated that RCA-based protein microarrays are a powerful tool for high-throughput analysis of protein expression and molecular diagnostics