Ranking Importance of Exoskeleton Design Aspects

The objective of this research project was to determine what a conglomerate of professionals consider as the most important metrics to consider when designing an exoskeleton for training. Over 400 researchers, engineers, and scientists were polled in a ranked order survey covering more than 50 different aspects in engineering design. These aspects were identified from a cogent literature review for consideration. While there are a slew of papers covering the results of exoskeleton designs as posture support mechanisms, rehabilitation mechanisms, tools to assist or replace body functions, and human performance augmentation, few cover what aspects were considered in the engineering design phase

Ergonomic Analysis of Modern Day Kitchen Knives

The focus of this study was on how different knife characteristics affect the consumer’s ability to slice vegetables. The aim of this study was to investigate if there is a difference in cutting between a chef knife and a santoku knife, a ceramic knife and a stainless-steel knife, and a sharp and dull knife in terms of muscle activation, body part discomfort, time, and slice performance. The results show for the consumer that knife characteristics do not affect the user’s performance

Polarizable atomic multipole X-ray refinement: application to peptide crystals

A method to accelerate the computation of structure factors from an electron density described by anisotropic and aspherical atomic form factors via fast Fourier transformation is described for the first time

TSPY is a cancer testis antigen expressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma

In search for genes associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by cDNA microarray, we found that the transcription of TSPY, ‘testis-specific protein Y-encoded', was upregulated in HCC. Investigation of a broad spectrum of normal and malignant tissues by RT–PCR revealed the TSPY transcript selectively expressed in normal testis, different histological types of human neoplastic tissues, and tumour cell lines. The expression of TSPY in cancer cells was further confirmed by in situ hybridisation. Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy analysis showed that TSPY was localised mainly in the cytoplasm of transiently transfected cells. Testis-specific protein Y-encoded was detected in 50% (16 of 32) of well- and moderately differentiated HCC patients, in 16% (four of 25) of poorly differentiated HCC patients, and in 5% (one of 19) of renal cell cancer patients. A serological survey revealed that 6.6% (seven of 106) HCC patients had anti-TSPY antibody response, demonstrating the immunogenicity of TSPY in humans. In conclusion, these data suggest that TSPY is a novel cancer/testis (CT) antigen and may be a potential candidate in vaccine strategy for immunotherapy in HCC patients