Development of a human factors roadmap for the successful implementation of industrial human-robot collaboration

The concept of industrial human-robot collaboration (HRC) is becoming increasingly integrated into manufacturing production lines as a means for enhancing productivity and product quality. However, developments have focused primarily on the technology and, until recently, little research has been geared to understand the key human factors (HF) that need to be considered to enable successful implementation of industrial HRC. Recent work by the authors has led to the identification of key organisational and individual level HF. The purpose of this paper is to draw together the evidence from their studies and propose a HF roadmap for the successful implementation of industrial HRC. The roadmap will have profound implications as it enables automation specialists and manufacturing system engineers to understand the key HF that need to be considered optimise the efficiency and productivity of the collaboration between humans and industrial robots

Different significance between intratumoral and peritumoral lymphatic vessel density in gastric cancer: a retrospective study of 123 cases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with gastric cancer in China have worse outcome and poorer prognosis. Tumor-induced lymphangiogenesis plays a crucial role in metastasis and tumor progression. The intratumoral and peritumoral lymphatics were supposed to have different biological effects. Three major growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factor- (VEGF)-A, VEGF-C and VEGF-D, are involved in the activation process via their receptors (VEGFRs). The purpose of current study is to investigate the significant difference between intratumoral and peritumoral lymphatic vessel density (LVD) in gastric cancer and their correlations with lymphangiogenetic growth factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Intratumoral LVD (I-LVD) and peritumoral LVD (P-LVD) of 123 patients with primary gastric cancer were assessed after staining with D2-40, and confirmed by double staining with D2-40/CD34. Proliferative activity of lymphatics endothelium was evaluated by double staining with D2-40/Ki-67. The associations were analyzed between I-LVD/P-LVD and the expression level of VEGF-A, VEGF-C, VEGF-D and the receptor VEGFR-3, which was measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The correlations of I-LVD and P-LVD with patient prognosis were also valued.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>(1) The peritumoral lymphatics (PTLs) were relatively enlarged with dilated lumen compared with the intratumoral lymphatics (ITLs). Increased P-LVD was significantly higher than I-LVD (<it>P </it>< 0.05). (2) P-LVD was found significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (LNM) (<it>P </it>< 0.001), lymphatic vessel invasion (LVI) (<it>P </it>< 0.001), VEGF-C (<it>P </it>= 0.003), VEGF-D expression level (<it>P </it>= 0.005) and VEGFR-3 expression level (<it>P </it>< 0.001) in peritumoral tissues, despite no significant association was found between above variants with I-LVD. However, increased I-LVD was demonstrated to be associated with decreased tumor volume (<it>P </it>< 0.001). Neither I-LVD nor P-LVD was correlated with VEGF-A expression (<it>P </it>> 0.05). (3) Proliferative activity of lymphatics endothelium was observed in PTLs, in spite of ITLs. (4) Increased P-LVD, but not I-LVD, was indicated to be an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis by multivariate logistic regression analysis, and was related to worse disease-free survival and overall survival.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>PTLs play roles in gastric cancer progression. Increased P-LVD, but not I-LVD, was significantly associated with VEGF-C/-D/VEGFR-3 system, and could be an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis and a prognostic factor in gastric cancer.</p

The stellar and sub-stellar IMF of simple and composite populations

The current knowledge on the stellar IMF is documented. It appears to become top-heavy when the star-formation rate density surpasses about 0.1Msun/(yr pc^3) on a pc scale and it may become increasingly bottom-heavy with increasing metallicity and in increasingly massive early-type galaxies. It declines quite steeply below about 0.07Msun with brown dwarfs (BDs) and very low mass stars having their own IMF. The most massive star of mass mmax formed in an embedded cluster with stellar mass Mecl correlates strongly with Mecl being a result of gravitation-driven but resource-limited growth and fragmentation induced starvation. There is no convincing evidence whatsoever that massive stars do form in isolation. Various methods of discretising a stellar population are introduced: optimal sampling leads to a mass distribution that perfectly represents the exact form of the desired IMF and the mmax-to-Mecl relation, while random sampling results in statistical variations of the shape of the IMF. The observed mmax-to-Mecl correlation and the small spread of IMF power-law indices together suggest that optimally sampling the IMF may be the more realistic description of star formation than random sampling from a universal IMF with a constant upper mass limit. Composite populations on galaxy scales, which are formed from many pc scale star formation events, need to be described by the integrated galactic IMF. This IGIMF varies systematically from top-light to top-heavy in dependence of galaxy type and star formation rate, with dramatic implications for theories of galaxy formation and evolution.Comment: 167 pages, 37 figures, 3 tables, published in Stellar Systems and Galactic Structure, Vol.5, Springer. This revised version is consistent with the published version and includes additional references and minor additions to the text as well as a recomputed Table 1. ISBN 978-90-481-8817-

Canine classical seminoma: a specific malignant type with human classifications is highly correlated with tumor angiogenesis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human seminoma is classified as classical seminoma (SE) and spermatocytic seminoma (SS). Human SE is known to be more malignant and metastasizing more frequently than SS. Tumor angiogenesis is highly related with tumor progression and metastasis, with microvessel density (MVD) being an important parameter of metastatic potential. Canine seminoma is not yet well-established as SE or SS type including correlation with angiogenesis. We classified canine SE and SS, and then compared them to tumor associated vessels.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty-three cases of canine seminomas (2 intratubular, 9 diffuse, and 12 intratubular/diffuse seminomas showing both intratubular and diffuse patterns) were classified as SE or SS by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using monoclonal antibody against PLAP and by PAS stain. The histopathological data were then compared to see if there was a correlation with SE or SS. Angiogenesis of seminomas were evaluated by immunohistochemical assay using polyclonal antibody against Von Willebrand factor (vWF) and by calculating the means of MVD, vessels area and perimeters using computerized image analysis. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program was used for various statistical analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The numbers of PLAP+/PAS+ canine SEs were 8/23 (34.8%) and PLAP-/PAS- SSs were 15/23 (61.2%). All SE cases (8/8, 100%) were intratubular/diffuse types. SS types included 2 intratubular (2/15, 13.3%), 9 diffuse (9/15, 60%), and 4 intratubular/diffuse (4/15, 26.7%) types. MVD and vascular parameters in SEs were significantly higher than in SSs, showing the highest value in the intratubular/diffuse type. Seminomas observed with neoplastic cells invasion of vessels presented higher perimeter and area values than seminomas without conformed neoplastic cells invasion.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this study, we demonstrated a positive relationship between canine SE and tumor angiogenesis. Furthermore, we also showed that a tumor cells invasion of vessels were a correlated vascular parameter. Although metastasis of canine seminomas has rarely been reported, our results support that canine SE could have high metastatic potential similar to the human counterpart. Further studies are required to clarify the relationship between canine SE and clinical data with metastatic factors.</p

CD105 is a prognostic marker and valid endothelial target for microbubble platforms in cholangiocarcinoma

Purpose The current treatment outcomes in cholangiocarcinoma are poor with cure afforded only by surgical extirpation. The efficacy of targeting the tumoural endothelial marker CD105 in cholangiocarcinoma, as a basis for potential microbubble-based treatment, is unknown and was explored here. Methods Tissue expression of CD105 was quantified using immunohistochemistry in 54 perihilar cholangiocarcinoma samples from patients who underwent resection in a single centre over a ten-year period, and analysed against clinicopathological data. In vitro flow assays using microbubbles functionalised with CD105 antibody were conducted to ascertain specificity of binding to murine SVR endothelial cells. Finally, CD105-microbubbles were intravenously administered to 10 Balb/c nude mice bearing heterotopic subcutaneous human extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (TFK-1 and EGI-1) xenografts after which in vivo binding was assessed following contrast-enhanced destruction replenishment ultrasound application. Results Though not significantly associated with any examined clinicopathological variable, we found that higher CD105 expression was independently associated with poorer patient survival (median 12 vs 31 months; p = 0.002). In vitro studies revealed significant binding of CD105-microbubbles to SVR endothelial cells in comparison to isotype control (p = 0.01), as well as in vivo to TFK-1 (p = 0.02) and EGI-1 (p = 0.04) mouse xenograft vasculature. Conclusion Our results indicate that CD105 is a biomarker eminently suitable for cholangiocarcinoma targeting using functionalised microbubbles

Inflammatory breast cancer shows angiogenesis with high endothelial proliferation rate and strong E-cadherin expression

status: publishe

How useful is the assessment of lymphatic vascular density in oral carcinoma prognosis?

Abstract Background Lymphatic vessels are major routes for metastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) are difficult to recognize in tumor histological sections. D2-40 stains podoplanin, a molecule expressed in LECs, however, the potential prognostic usefulness of this molecule is not completely understood in HNSCC. We aimed to investigate the value of assessing peritumoral and intratumoral lymphatic vessel density (LVD) as prognostic marker for HNSCC. Methods Thirty-one cases of HNSCC were stained for D2-40 and CD31. LVD and blood vessel density (BVD) were assessed by counting positive reactions in 10 hotspot areas at ×200 magnification. Results D2-40 was specific for lymphatic vessels and did not stain blood vascular endothelial cells. LECs showed more tortuous and disorganized structure in intratumoral lymphatic vessels than in peritumoral ones. No statistical differences were observed between peritumoral-LVD and intratumoral-LVD or between peritumoral-BVD and intratumoral-BVD. Tumor D2-40 staining was positively associated with lymphatic vessel invasion (p = 0.011). Conclusion LVD is a powerful marker for HNSCC prognosis. We found significant differences in peritumoral and intratumoral D2-40 immunoreactivity, which could have important implications in future therapeutic strategies and outcome evaluation

Search for Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Binary Coalescences in the Galactic Halo

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole (PBH) binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$. The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing non-spinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$, we place an observational upper limit on the rate of PBH coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.