Robotic 3D Vision-Guided System for Half-Sheep Cutting Robot

Sheep body segmentation robot can improve production hygiene, product quality, and cutting accuracy, which is a huge change for traditional manual segmentation. With reference to the New Zealand sheep body segmentation specification, a vision system for Cartesian coordinate robot cutting half-sheep was developed and tested. The workflow of the vision system was designed and the image acquisition device with an Azure Kinect sensor was developed. Furthermore, a LabVIEW software with the image processing algorithm was then integrated with the RGBD image acquisition device in order to construct an automatic vision system. Based on Deeplab v3+ networks, an image processing system for locating ribs and spine was employed. Taking advantage of the location characteristics of ribs and spine in the split half-sheep, a calculation method of cutting line based on the key points is designed to determine five cutting curves. The seven key points are located by convex points of ribs and spine and the root of hind leg. Using the conversion relation between depth image and the space coordinates, the 3D coordinates of the curves were computed. Finally, the kinematics equation of the rectangular coordinate robot arm is established, and the 3D coordinates of the curves are converted into the corresponding motion parameters of the robot arm. The experimental results indicated that the automatic vision system had a success rate of 98.4% in the cutting curves location, 4.2 s time consumption per half-sheep, and approximately 1.3 mm location error. The positioning accuracy and speed of the vision system can meet the requirements of the sheep cutting production line. The vision system shows that there is potential to automate even the most challenging processing operations currently carried out manually by human operators

Microencapsulation of Lead-Halide Perovskites in an Oil-in-Fluorine Emulsion for Cell Imaging

The superior optical properties of lead-halide perovskites (LHPs) inspired significant research in cell imaging applications; many encapsulating processes have improved perovskite stabilities with comparable biosafety. Herein, facile solvent evaporation encapsulation based on an oil-in-fluorine emulsion for aqueous-stable and extremely nontoxic LHP microcapsules is described. Perfluorooctane dispersed the emulsifier fluorocarbon surfactant to form a continuous fluorine phase, while LHPs and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) were dispersed in 1,2-dichloroethane, then emulsified in the fluorine phase to form an oil-in-fluorine emulsion. CsPbBr3 microcapsules with a dense PMMA shell that protect fragile CsPbBr3 from the external environment and inhibit lead ion release were obtained after solvent evaporation. The CsPbBr3 microcapsules not only retained 91% of fluorescence intensity after exposure to water for 30 d but also possess extremely low cytotoxicity for MCF-7 cells. After exposure to 2 mg/mL of CsPbBr3 microcapsules for 48 h, the cell viability remained >90%. The intracellular uptake of CsPbBr3 microcapsules indicates its potential use in cell imaging

Morbid obesity impacts mortality among inpatients with type a aortic dissection: an analysis of the national inpatient sample

Abstract Background Stanford type A aortic dissection (T(A)AD) is one of the most dangerous cardiovascular diseases and morbid obesity is associated with the prognosis of many cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of morbid obesity on in-hospital mortality, total hospital costs and discover the prevalence of morbid obesity among inpatients with T(A)AD. Methods Patients with a primary diagnosis of T(A)AD were identified from the National Inpatient Sample database (NIS) from 2008 to 2017. These patients were categorized into non-obesity, obesity and morbid obesity. Multivariable regression models were utilized to assess the association between obesity/morbid obesity and in-hospital mortality, total cost and other clinical factors. The temporal trend in prevalence of obesity/morbid obesity in T(A)ADs and the trend of in-hospital mortality among different weight categories were also explored. Results From the NIS database 8489 T(A)AD inpatients were identified, of which 7230 (85.2%) patients were non-obese, 822 (9.7%) were obese and 437 (5.1%) were morbid obese. Morbid obesity was associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio [OR] 1.39; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03–1.86), 8% higher total cost compared with the non-obese patients. From 2008 to 2017, the rate of obesity and morbid obesity in patients with T(A)AD have significantly increased from 7.36 to 11.33% (P < 0.001) and from 1.95 to 7.37% (P < 0.001). Factors associated with morbid obesity in T(A)ADs included age, female, elective admission, hospital region, dyslipidemia, smoking, rheumatoid arthritis/collagen vascular diseases, chronic pulmonary disease, diabetes and hypertension. Conclusions Morbid obesity are connected with worse clinical outcomes and more health resource utilization in T(A)AD patients. Appropriate medical resource orientation and weight management education for T(A)AD patients may be necessary