Oncilla robot: a versatile open-source quadruped research robot with compliant pantograph legs

We present Oncilla robot, a novel mobile, quadruped legged locomotion machine. This large-cat sized, 5.1 robot is one of a kind of a recent, bioinspired legged robot class designed with the capability of model-free locomotion control. Animal legged locomotion in rough terrain is clearly shaped by sensor feedback systems. Results with Oncilla robot show that agile and versatile locomotion is possible without sensory signals to some extend, and tracking becomes robust when feedback control is added (Ajaoolleian 2015). By incorporating mechanical and control blueprints inspired from animals, and by observing the resulting robot locomotion characteristics, we aim to understand the contribution of individual components. Legged robots have a wide mechanical and control design parameter space, and a unique potential as research tools to investigate principles of biomechanics and legged locomotion control. But the hardware and controller design can be a steep initial hurdle for academic research. To facilitate the easy start and development of legged robots, Oncilla-robot's blueprints are available through open-source. [...

Acurácia do Timed Up and Go Test para rastrear risco de quedas em idosos da comunidade

Objective: To determine the accuracy of the Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT) for screening the risk of falls among community-dwelling elderly individuals. Method: This is a prospective cohort study with a randomly by lots without reposition sample stratified by proportional partition in relation to gender involving 63 community-dwelling elderly individuals. Elderly individuals who reported having Parkinson's disease, a history of transitory ischemic attack, stroke and with a Mini Mental State Exam lower than the expected for the education level, were on a wheelchair and that reported a single fall in the previous six months were excluded. The TUGT, a mobility test, was the measure of interested and the occurrence of falls was the outcome. The performance of basic activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) was determined through the Older American Resources and Services, and the socio-demographic and clinical data were determined through the use of additional questionnaires. Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves were used to analyze the sensitivity and specificity of the TUGT. Results: Elderly individuals who fell had greater difficulties in ADL and IADL (p&lt;0.01) and a slower performance on the TUGT (p=0.02). No differences were found in socio-demographic and clinical characteristics between fallers and non- fallers. Considering the different sensitivity and specificity, the best predictive value for discriminating elderly individuals who fell was 12.47 seconds [(RR= 3.2) 95% CI: 1.3- 7.7]. Conclusions: The TUGT proved to be an accurate measure for screening the risk of falls among elderly individuals. Although different from that reported in the international literature, the 12.47 second cutoff point seems to be a better predictive value for Brazilian elderly individuals.OBJETIVO: Determinar a acurácia do Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT) para rastrear risco de quedas em idosos da comunidade. \ud MÉTODO: Trata-se de um estudo de coorte prospectivo com amostra sorteada aleatoriamente, sem reposição e estratificada por partilha proporcional em relação ao sexo de 63 idosos da comunidade. Excluíram-se idosos com doença de Parkinson, ataque isquêmico transitório, acidente vascular encefálico, Miniexame do Estado Mental inferior ao considerado normal de acordo com a escolaridade, movimentação exclusiva por cadeira de rodas e relato de uma queda nos seis meses anteriores à primeira entrevista. O TUGT, um teste de mobilidade, foi a medida testada, e o desfecho, a ocorrência de queda. Mensuraram-se atividades básicas (ABVD) e instrumentais de vida diária (AIVD) pela Older American Resources and Services e dados sociodemográficos e clínicos por questionário complementar. Para analisar a sensibilidade e a especificidade do TUGT, utilizou-se a Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves (ROC). \ud RESULTADOS: Os idosos que caíram tinham maior dificuldade na execução de ABVD e AIVD (p<0,01) e desempenho mais lento no TUGT (p=0,02). Quanto às características sociodemográficas e clínicas, não houve diferença entre idosos que caíram e os que não caíram. Considerando as diferentes sensibilidades, especificidades e razões de verossimilhança, o melhor valor preditivo para discriminar idosos que caíram foi 12,47 segundos [(RR=3,2) IC95%: 1,3-7,7]. CONCLUSÃO: O TUGT é acurado para rastrear risco de quedas em idosos. O cut-off de 12,47 segundos, embora diferente da literatura internacional, parece ser um melhor valor preditivo para idosos brasileiros

Tracheobronchomalacia due to amyloidosis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis

In this case report, we describe a patient with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis who developed tracheobronchomalacia with fatal outcome. Despite negative antemortem biopsies of abdominal fat and tongue, amyloid was found postmortem in the trachea and appeared to be associated with tracheobronchomalacia

BIOMECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL PROFILE COMPARISON IN MILITARIES WITH AND WITHOUT MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

This study compared limb strength, body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness and vertical jump performance in military staff with and without prior musculoskeletal injures. Thirty male military personnel enrolled in a physical education undergraduate program participated in this study. A survey covering history of the last two years of musculoskeletal lower limb injuries was sent to participants, who were separated into groups: injured (IG; n=16) and uninjured (NIG; n=14). Participants performed a sit and reach flexibility test, body composition, 12-min Cooper running test, vertical jump performance and back squat in a smith machine on five different days. Participants from the IG presented reduced strength and vertical jump performance compared to the NIG. No differences were observed in body composition, or cardiorespiratory fitness between groups

SISTEMA DOPAMINÉRGICO NO ABUSO DE ÁLCOOL: REVISÃO SISTEMÁTICA

O consumo do álcool em excesso é considerado um grave problema de saúde, causando danos não somente ao usuário, mas também ao seu ciclo social, familiar e profissional. O álcool é classificado como uma droga lícita com relevante aceitação social, no entanto, estima-se que o consumo excessivo gerou 3,3 milhões de mortes (5,9%) no mundo. O transtorno por uso de álcool possui uma prevalência de 8,5% em adultos nos Estados Unidos. As vias mesolímbica e mesocortical, funcionam paralelamente entre si e com as demais estruturas cerebrais e configuram o sistema de recompensa cerebral, sendo que a dopamina é o principal neurotransmissor presente neste sistema. À vista disso, as drogas psicoativas produzem um aumento da descarga de dopamina no sistema de recompensa, assim sendo, a via de recompensa dopaminérgica é a principal do sistema de recompensa cerebral, porém não é a única. A estimulação contínua de dopamina dessensibiliza os sistemas de recompensa, fazendo com este que deixe de responder aos estímulos cotidianos e a única coisa que se torna gratificante é a droga. Com o uso prolongado, a droga perde sua capacidade de recompensa, causando a necessidade do aumento de dose. Visto isso, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática para avaliar o sistema dopaminérgico no abuso de álcool em humanos. Desta forma foi desenvolvida uma estratégia de busca utilizando os seguintes termos: “dopamine”, “ethanol”, “alcohol” e “positron-emission tomography", pesquisados nas bases de dados: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Insight e Literatura cinzenta (Google Scholar e British Library), para estudos publicados até agosto de 2018. A qualidade dos estudos foi avaliada Newcastle-Ottawa (NOS). A população do estudo foi restrita para humanos. Foram encontrados 293 estudos. Após leitura de títulos e resumos, 235 estudos foram considerados irrelevantes, pois não atenderam aos critérios de inclusão. 50 estudos foram para a leitura na íntegra. Destes, 41 foram excluídos pelas seguintes razões: desenho do estudo, população de pacientes, intervenção e resultados. Nove estudos foram incluídos na síntese qualitativa. Quatro estudos relataram redução na disponibilidade apenas no receptor D2 em diferentes regiões do cérebro. Em relação ao receptor D3, apenas um estudo relatou esse achado e quatro estudos relataram uma diminuição em ambos os receptores D2 e D3. Assim, pode-se concluir que nesta revisão sistemática foram encontradas alterações nos receptores D2 em várias regiões do cérebro em humanos alcoolistas.Palavras-Chave: Sistema Dopaminérgico, Revisão Sistemática, Álcool

Chemoperception of Specific Amino Acids Controls Phytopathogenicity in Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato

IMPORTANCE There is substantive evidence that chemotaxis is a key requisite for efficient pathogenesis in plant pathogens. However, information regarding particular bacterial chemoreceptors and the specific plant signal that they sense is scarce. Our work shows that the phytopathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato mediates not only chemotaxis but also the control of pathogenicity through the perception of the plant abundant amino acids Asp and Glu. We describe the specificity of the perception of L- and D-Asp and L-Glu by the PsPto-PscA chemoreceptor and the involvement of this perception in the regulation of pathogenicity-related traits. Moreover, a saturating concentration of D-Asp reduces bacterial virulence, and we therefore propose that ligand-mediated interference of key chemoreceptors may be an alternative strategy to control virulence.Supplemental material for this article may be found at https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio .01868-19.We acknowledge M. Trini Gallegos for kindly provide plasmid pCdrA::gfpS and S. Nebreda for technical assistance.Chemotaxis has been associated with the pathogenicity of bacteria in plants and was found to facilitate bacterial entry through stomata and wounds. However, knowledge regarding the plant signals involved in this process is scarce. We have addressed this issue using Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, which is a foliar pathogen that causes bacterial speck in tomato. We show that the chemoreceptor P. syringae pv. tomato PscA (PsPto-PscA) recognizes specifically and with high affinity L-Asp, L-Glu, and D-Asp. The mutation of the chemoreceptor gene largely reduced chemotaxis to these ligands but also altered cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) levels, biofilm formation, and motility, pointing to cross talk between different chemosensory pathways. Furthermore, the PsPto-PscA mutant strain showed reduced virulence in tomato. Asp and Glu are the most abundant amino acids in plants and in particular in tomato apoplasts, and we hypothesize that this receptor may have evolved to specifically recognize these compounds to facilitate bacterial entry into the plant. Infection assays with the wild-type strain showed that the presence of saturating concentrations of D-Asp also reduced bacterial virulence.This work was supported by grants AGL2015-63851-R and RTI2018-095222-B100 (to E.L.-S.) and BIO2016-76779-P (to T.K.) from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain. J.P.C.-V. was supported by the FPI program (BES-2016-076452, MINECOSpain)

Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor improves outcome in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that results in progressive loss of motoneurons, motor weakness and death within 1–5 years after disease onset. Therapeutic options remain limited despite a substantial number of approaches that have been tested clinically. In particular, various neurotrophic factors have been investigated. Failure in these trials has been largely ascribed to problems of insufficient dosing or inability to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB). We have recently uncovered the neurotrophic properties of the haematopoietic protein granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). The protein is clinically well tolerated and crosses the intact BBB. This study examined the potential role of G-CSF in motoneuron diseases. We investigated the expression of the G-CSF receptor in motoneurons and studied effects of G-CSF in a motoneuron cell line and in the SOD1(G93A) transgenic mouse model. The neurotrophic growth factor was applied both by continuous subcutaneous delivery and CNS-targeted transgenic overexpression. This study shows that given at the stage of the disease where muscle denervation is already evident, G-CSF leads to significant improvement in motor performance, delays the onset of severe motor impairment and prolongs overall survival of SOD1(G93A)tg mice. The G-CSF receptor is expressed by motoneurons and G-CSF protects cultured motoneuronal cells from apoptosis. In ALS mice, G-CSF increased survival of motoneurons and decreased muscular denervation atrophy. We conclude that G-CSF is a novel neurotrophic factor for motoneurons that is an attractive and feasible drug candidate for the treatment of ALS

Dexamethasone Use and Mortality in Hospitalized Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019: a Multicenter Retrospective Observational Study

International audienc