Recent Advancements in Augmented Reality for Robotic Applications: A Survey

Robots are expanding from industrial applications to daily life, in areas such as medical robotics, rehabilitative robotics, social robotics, and mobile/aerial robotics systems. In recent years, augmented reality (AR) has been integrated into many robotic applications, including medical, industrial, human–robot interactions, and collaboration scenarios. In this work, AR for both medical and industrial robot applications is reviewed and summarized. For medical robot applications, we investigated the integration of AR in (1) preoperative and surgical task planning; (2) image-guided robotic surgery; (3) surgical training and simulation; and (4) telesurgery. AR for industrial scenarios is reviewed in (1) human–robot interactions and collaborations; (2) path planning and task allocation; (3) training and simulation; and (4) teleoperation control/assistance. In addition, the limitations and challenges are discussed. Overall, this article serves as a valuable resource for working in the field of AR and robotic research, offering insights into the recent state of the art and prospects for improvement

Immunoregulation of Shenqi Fuzheng Injection Combined with Chemotherapy in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background. Immunosuppression is a well-recognised complication of chemotherapy in cancer patients. We assemble the clinical evidence that SQI, an adjuvant drug for lung cancer and gastric cancer which was widely prescribed in China, interventions could increase objective tumour response and regulate immunity in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Methods. We undertook a systemic review of the clinical data from randomised controlled trials up to September 2015 in which a SQI intervention was compared with a control arm in patients undergoing conventional chemotherapy. Revman 5.0 Software was used for the data analysis. Results. 49 randomised controlled trials were included in the systematic review. The meta-analysis results demonstrated that the SQI intervention with conventional chemotherapy exhibited better therapeutic efficacy than the conventional chemotherapy group with a statistically significant higher objective tumour response. Cotreatment with SQI could enhance NK, CD3+, CD4+ level, and CD4+/CD8+ ratio comparing with the conventional chemotherapy group. Conclusions. The conclusions of this review might suggest a high risk of bias due to the low quality and the limitation of cancer types in the included trials. A more reliable conclusion regarding the immunoregulation of SQI could be reached based on more trials of higher quality

Huangqi Injection (a Traditional Chinese Patent Medicine) for Chronic Heart Failure: A Systematic Review

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a global public health problem. Therefore, novel and effective drugs that show few side-effects are needed. Early literature studies indicated that Huangqi injection is one of the most commonly used traditional Chinese patent medicines for CHF in China. As a large number of clinical studies has been carried out and published, it is essential to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Huangqi injection. Therefore, we carried out this systematic review under the support of the framework of the Joint Sino-Italian Laboratory (JoSIL).To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Huangqi injection for CHF according to the available scientific knowledge.An extensive search including PubMed, EMBASE, CBM, the Cochrane Library and Chinese literature databases was performed up to July 2008. Clinical trials regarding Huangqi injection for the treatment of CHF were searched for, irrespective of languages. The quality of each trial was assessed according to the Cochrane Reviewers' Handbook 5.0, and RevMan 5.0 provided by the Cochrane Collaboration and STATA 9.2 were used for data analysis.After selection of 1,205 articles, 62 RCTs and quasi-RCTs conducted in China and published in Chinese journals were included in the review. The methodological quality of the trials was low. In most trials inclusion and exclusion criteria were not specified. Furthermore, only one study evaluated the outcomes for drug efficacy after an adequate period of time. For these reasons and because of the different baseline characteristics we did not conduct a meta-analysis.Although available studies are not adequate to draw a conclusion on the efficacy and safety of Huangqi injection (a traditional Chinese patent medicine), we hope that our work could provide useful experience on further studies on Huangqi injections. The overall level of TCM clinical research needs to be improved so that the efficacy of TCM can be evaluated by the international community and possibly some TCM can enter into the international market

Assessing Cultivated Land–Use Transition in the Major Grain-Producing Areas of China Based on an Integrated Framework

The cultivated land-use transition (CLUT) is the morphological result of changes in the cultivated land-use mode over time, and the result of the interaction and mutual restriction of the human land system. This paper applies a “spatial–functional” integrated framework to understand the structure and functioning of CLUTs, and quantitatively evaluates and visualizes CLUTs in the major grain-producing area in southern China. The results show that (1) the comprehensive CLUT index in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River changed from 0.0480 to 0.0711 from 2001 to 2019 and indicated significant differences in the transition index between different regions. (2) The CLUT identified a positive aggregation effect under a 5% significance during the period, and the agglomeration degree of the spatial and functional transitions strengthened, which increased from 0.3776 to 0.4673 and from 0.2127 to 0.2952, respectively. (3) The gravity center of the CLUT demonstrated a pattern of migration from the southwest to the northeast, and the migration speed of the gravity center decreased from 2.9401 km/year to 1.2370 km/year. The migration direction of the gravity center for the spatial transition is opposite to the functional transition, and the migration speed of the gravity center for the spatial and functional transitions decreased from 8.3573 km/year to 1.0814 km/year, and from 3.2398 km/year to 1.0254 km/year, respectively. To address this transition, policymakers should formulate differentiated policies to promote the sustainable use of cultivated land through the spatial and functional transition of major grain-producing areas

Assessing Cultivated Land–Use Transition in the Major Grain-Producing Areas of China Based on an Integrated Framework

The cultivated land-use transition (CLUT) is the morphological result of changes in the cultivated land-use mode over time, and the result of the interaction and mutual restriction of the human land system. This paper applies a “spatial–functional” integrated framework to understand the structure and functioning of CLUTs, and quantitatively evaluates and visualizes CLUTs in the major grain-producing area in southern China. The results show that (1) the comprehensive CLUT index in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River changed from 0.0480 to 0.0711 from 2001 to 2019 and indicated significant differences in the transition index between different regions. (2) The CLUT identified a positive aggregation effect under a 5% significance during the period, and the agglomeration degree of the spatial and functional transitions strengthened, which increased from 0.3776 to 0.4673 and from 0.2127 to 0.2952, respectively. (3) The gravity center of the CLUT demonstrated a pattern of migration from the southwest to the northeast, and the migration speed of the gravity center decreased from 2.9401 km/year to 1.2370 km/year. The migration direction of the gravity center for the spatial transition is opposite to the functional transition, and the migration speed of the gravity center for the spatial and functional transitions decreased from 8.3573 km/year to 1.0814 km/year, and from 3.2398 km/year to 1.0254 km/year, respectively. To address this transition, policymakers should formulate differentiated policies to promote the sustainable use of cultivated land through the spatial and functional transition of major grain-producing areas

An Overview of Meta-Analyses of Danhong Injection for Unstable Angina

Objective. To systematically collect evidence and evaluate the effects of Danhong injection (DHI) for unstable angina (UA). Methods. A comprehensive search was conducted in seven electronic databases up to January 2015. The methodological and reporting quality of included studies was assessed by using AMSTAR and PRISMA. Result. Five articles were included. The conclusions suggest that DHI plus conventional medicine treatment was effective for UA pectoris treatment, could alleviate symptoms of angina and ameliorate electrocardiograms. Flaws of the original studies and systematic reviews weaken the strength of evidence. Limitations of the methodology quality include performing an incomprehensive literature search, lacking detailed characteristics, ignoring clinical heterogeneity, and not assessing publication bias and other forms of bias. The flaws of reporting systematic reviews included the following: not providing a structured summary, no standardized search strategy. For the pooled findings, researchers took statistical heterogeneity into consideration, but clinical and methodology heterogeneity were ignored. Conclusion. DHI plus conventional medicine treatment generally appears to be effective for UA treatment. However, the evidence is not hard enough due to methodological flaws in original clinical trials and systematic reviews. Furthermore, rigorous designed randomized controlled trials are also needed. The methodology and reporting quality of systematic reviews should be improved

Enhanced sensitivity of temperature and magnetic field sensor based on FPIs with Vernier effect

Funding Information: National Natural Science Foundation of China (62075130, 61675132); Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (23ZR1443300); Program of Shanghai Academic Research Leader (23XD1402200); Shanghai Shuguang Program (16SG40). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement.A kind of temperature and magnetic field sensor using Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) and Vernier effect to enhance sensitivity is proposed. The sensor structure involves filling the FP air cavities with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and magnetic fluid (MF) to create the PDMS and MF cavities for temperature and magnetic field detection, respectively. The two cavities are reflective structures, which are interconnected in series through a fiber-optic circulator. Experimental data demonstrates that the Vernier effect effectively enhances the sensor sensitivity. The average temperature sensitivity of the sensor is 26765 pm/°C within the range of 35~39.5°C. The magnetic field intensity sensitivity is obtained to be -2245 pm/mT within the range of 3~11mT. The sensitivities of the temperature and magnetic field using the Vernier effect are about five times larger than those of the corresponding single FP cavity counterparts.Peer reviewe

In-line temperature-compensated vector magnetic field sensor with side-polished fiber

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, vector magnetic field sensor with temperature compensation is proposed and investigated. The proposed sensor is realized by side polishing a multi-mode optical fiber and adopting the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect. The side-polished surface is coated with a magnetic fluid (MF) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) successively along the fiber axis. The as-fabricated sensor can be used not only for magnetic field strength and direction sensing, but also for temperature detection. The achieved magnetic field intensity sensitivities are 1720 pm/mT (90° direction) and -710 pm/mT (0° direction), and the temperature sensitivity is -2070 pm/°C. On top of its temperature compensation ability, the easy fabrication and very high sensitivity of the proposed sensor are attractive features for vector magnetic field sensing applications.Peer reviewe

Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Detection of Hydrogen Peroxide Using Cu₂O/Cu Nanowires Decorated with TiO_2−<i>x</i> Deriving from MXenes

H2O2 is a major transmitter of redox signals in electrochemical processes, whose detection is relevant for various industries. Herein, we developed a new fabrication method for a Cu2O/Cu nanowire-based nonenzymatic H2O2 electrochemical sensor that was decorated with irregular TiO2–x nanoparticles deriving form Ti3C2 MXene. The TiO2–x/Cu2O/Cu-NW electrodes possess excellent selectivity, stability, and reproducibility for H2O2 detection in both EC and PEC operational modes. In the EC detection of H2O2, the TiO2–x/Cu2O/Cu-NW electrode shows a linear relationship in the range from 10 μM to 42.19 mM and a low detection limit of 0.79 μM (S/N = 3), which has a similar sensitivity but a much broader linear range compared with the commercial H2O2 analyzer (0–5.88 mM, Q45H/84, US-QContums). It also shows excellent recovery in detecting H2O2 in the real orange juice and milk samples with the recovery ranging from 96.9 to 105%, indicating the potential for practical applications. In the PEC detection of H2O2, the TiO2–x/Cu2O/Cu-NW electrode shows a lower detection limit of 59 nM (S/N = 3), which is 13 times more sensitive than the EC electrode. The enhanced PEC performance can be attributed to the formation of p–n heterojunction between TiO2–x and Cu2O, which improves light utilization and inhibits the recombination of photo-induced electrons and holes. This work illuminates the extraordinary potential of MXene-derived TiO2 in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical applications