Surgical Resection of Hepatic Cystic Echinococcosis Impaired by Preoperative Diagnosis

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a rare afferent infectious disease in Japan. This paper reports a case of a hepatic cyst being diagnosed after surgical resection. A 40-year-old Syrian male was admitted for evaluation of a hepatic cyst. Serum antibodies of echinococcosis were negative. Enhanced computed tomography of the abdomen revealed a large cystic lesion, 9 cm in diameter, in the left lateral sector of the liver, which had many honeycomb-like septa and calcified lesions. Magnetic resonance imaging of this lesion revealed high intensity in the T2 weighted image. We preoperatively diagnosed this lesion as cystadenocarcinoma or CE and performed a left hepatectomy. Pathological examination revealed the presence of protoscolices in the fluid of the cysts and led to a diagnosis of this lesion as CE. In conclusion, on seeing patients with huge hepatic cysts who come from an epidemic area, we should consider hepatic CE

Automated guided vehicle (AGV) lane-keeping assist based on computer vision, and fuzzy logic control under varying light intensity

This paper discusses the development of an automated guided vehicle (AGV) model equipped with a navigation system. The AGV employs computer vision and fuzzy logic control for the lane-keeping assist system as a steering control. The inputs used in fuzzy logic control are the AGV path line gradient values for the left and right lanes. The navigation system uses a camera with a high level of light sensitivity. A light intensity that is too dim or bright will affect the steering control performance, meaning that a certain range of light intensity will affect the performance of the lane-keeping assist. A path with left and right lanes is built to test the performance steering control based on computer vision. The result shows that the optimal light intensity for the developed lane-keeping assists is from 110 to 150 lux. The AGV can successfully follow the path under these light intensities although the deviation still occurs

Diagnosis and initial management of cholangiocarcinoma with obstructive jaundice

Cholangiocarcinoma is the second most common primary hepatic cancer. Despite advances in diagnostic techniques during the past decade, cholangiocarcinoma is usually encountered at an advanced stage. In this review, we describe the classification, diagnosis, and initial management of cholangiocarcinoma with obstructive jaundice

Power Assist Control Based on Human Motion Estimation Using Motion Sensors for Powered Exoskeleton without Binding Legs

In this study, we propose a novel power assist control method for a powered exoskeleton without binding its legs. The proposed method uses motion sensors on the wearer’s torso and legs to estimate his/her motion to enable the powered exoskeleton to assist with the estimated motion. It can detect the start of walking motion quickly because it does not prevent the motion of the wearer’s knees at the beginning of the walk. A nine-axis motion sensor on the wearer’s body is designed to work robustly in very hot and humid spaces, where an electromyograph is not reliable due to the wearer’s sweat. Moreover, the sensor avoids repeated impact during the walk because it is attached to the body of the wearer. Our powered exoskeleton recognizes the motion of the wearer based on a database and accordingly predicts the motion of the powered exoskeleton that supports the wearer. Experiments were conducted to prove the validity of the proposed method