FarmBot Trackless Redesign

For this project the team PLANT3D worked along with Rory Aronson and FarmBot to generate a cheaper more user-friendly design for the FarmBot Genesis 1.3. Working with Rory and FarmBot, we as a team generated a list of design requirements and engineering specifications for the project. These requirements centered around creating a more accessible FarmBot model for the average person to be able to purchase and set up with ease. Much of this required taking the existing system and eliminating the most common problem areas. These were the track system, built using 1.5 meter aluminum extrusions and the complex interchangeable tooling system. Identifying the two main problem areas in the design allowed us to focus on potential solutions. With many potential systems looked at and analyzed the best ones to come out of the brainstorming process were a timing belt system that could exist directly on top of the raised bed and an all-in-one tool head system that could eliminate the need for constant changing of different tool heads. Several other designs were experimented with but ultimately were deemed to impractical or complex to reasonably fulfill the design requirements. Through multiple iterations of designs an ideal shape and layout of the wheel plates was developed. This design featured an edge which could reach below the edge of the raised bed and act as a hard stop from the FarmBot main gantry falling off either side of the raised bed. This also led to the design of aluminum end stops being placed along the corners of the raised bed in order to prevent the FarmBot gantry from running off of the ends of the bed. A double wheel design was implemented, not only to help improve the allowable deviations in the bed sides, but to provide a groove for the timing belt to easily pass. Along with the groove two idler pulleys were added onto the wheel plate to help in guiding the timing belt to the stepper motor pulley. The tool head was designed to take all the functionality of the different FarmBot tools and put them onto one tool head. In order to fit everything into one space the same size as one of the old tools, several of the components were replaced with higher quality sleeker alternatives. A new anti-clog water nozzle was added to replace the old plastic shower head. This nozzle also acts as a double for the weeder to save on space. The same Luer Lock and soil sensor were placed onto this tool head to maintain their functionality. By making these design changes costs of the system were significantly decreased. The combination of drive and tool system savings is almost 30%. The part count was reduced by over 65% by eliminating lots of small redundant parts. These changes also greatly reduced overall weight and complexity of the system. Testing the performance of our design showed no significant loss in function of the FarmBot. Precision remained within 2cm of targets everywhere around the raised bed. All but one of the parts of our new design are through current FarmBot vendors. The only new vendor is a plastic machining company manufacturing the delrin spacers. All the other custom parts will be waterjet cut by BigBlueSaw. The rest of the design is made from standard parts purchased through Open Builds and McMaster Carr. Moving forward this design shows that FarmBot could succeessfully operate as a more simplistic system, riding directly on top of a raised bed using only one tool head without any significant loss in precision or functionality

Patient-tailored multimodal neurorehabilitation: The Lucerne model

Neurorehabilitation is a rapidly developing subspecialty of neurology due to medical advances and growing knowledge on functional recovery from brain injury such as plasticity and regeneration in the nervous system. Furthermore, progress in modern technologies facilitate new therapeutic concepts. Patient-tailored, flexible multimodal neurorehabilitation is essential in neurological diseases due to the diversity of symptoms. In addition, rehabilitative treatment should be realized from disease onset. To fulfill these goals, the neurocenter of the Cantonal Hospital Lucerne established an uninterrupted treatment chain from the emergency stage to the social and occupational reintegration, which is described in this article with a focus on stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis patients

Liver infarctions as the first manifestation of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome in pregnancy: a case report

Background: The differential diagnosis of abdominal pain in pregnant women is broad. Liver diseases as the origin of abdominal pain in pregnancy are rare, and severe forms occur in less than 0.1% of pregnancies. Some disorders, such as hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets (HELLP) syndrome and preeclampsia, are unique to pregnancy, while others, such as antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, may manifest in pregnancy but have consequences beyond the current pregnancy. All of them require prompt identification and treatment. Case presentation: A 27-year-old Caucasian woman who was 15+1 weeks pregnant reported to the emergency department twice due to stabbing right-upper-quadrant abdominal pain. Initial laboratory testing revealed mild leukocytosis and slightly elevated liver enzymes. On second presentation, the patient was febrile and had an increased C-reactive protein concentration. Over the course of the next days, nonhemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia emerged with elevated liver enzymes. Coagulation studies also revealed a prolongation of activated partial thromboplastin time. Magnetic resonance imaging showed nonspecific alterations in the right liver lobe, possibly corresponding to infection or infarction. A hepatic viral infection was ruled out. At that time, the most likely diagnosis was cholangitis with liver abscess formation, and antibiotic therapy was started. Further worsening of the anemia and thrombocytopenia, development of proteinuria, together with a miscarriage on the fourth day of hospitalization resulted in the tentative diagnosis of (triple-positive) antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, which was confirmed 12 weeks after the initial investigation. Treatment consisted of prompt anticoagulation with heparin and later on with a vitamin K antagonist as well as high-dose glucocorticoid therapy. There was no need for intravenous immunoglobulin therapy or plasma exchange, although we suspected a catastrophic form of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome due to infarctions of the liver, placenta, and possibly kidneys (proteinuria). The outcome was favorable. Conclusion: We report a 27-year-old pregnant woman whose abdominal pain was caused by liver infarctions as the first manifestation of catastrophic antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. The antiphospholipid antibody syndrome was possibly secondary to hitherto clinically silent systemic lupus erythematosus since the antinuclear antibodies were increased later on. Hydroxychloroquine therapy was initiated to prevent antiphospholipid antibody syndrome recurrence in a future pregnancy. Keywords: Abortion; Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome; Case report; Hepatopathy; Liver lesions; Pregnancy; Systemic lupus erythematosu

Porous Titanium surfaces to control bacteria growth: mechanical properties and sulfonated polyetheretherketone coating as antibiofounling approaches

Here, titanium porous substrates were fabricated by a space holder technique. The relationship between microstructural characteristics (pore equivalent diameter, mean free-path between pores, roughness and contact surface), mechanical properties (Young’s modulus, yield strength and dynamic micro-hardness) and bacterial behavior are discussed. The bacterial strains evaluated are often found on dental implants: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The colony-forming units increased with the size of the spacer for both types of studied strains. An antibiofouling synthetic coating based on a sulfonated polyetheretherketone polymer revealed an effective chemical surface modification for inhibiting MRSA adhesion and growth. These findings collectively suggest that porous titanium implants designed with a pore size of 100–200 µm can be considered most suitable, assuring the best biomechanical and bifunctional anti-bacterial properties.University of Seville VI Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia—US 2018, I.3A

"Stark trotz Corona". Challenging, but successful! Findings from Berlin on the Federal Government and Länder Programme "Aufholen nach Corona für Kinder und Jugendliche"

Im Rahmen des von Bund und Ländern getragenen Aktionsprogramms „Aufholen nach Corona für Kinder und Jugendliche“ wurden in den Jahren 2021 und 2022 Maßnahmen zum Abbau von Lernrückständen und psychosozialen Folgen der Corona-Pandemie gefördert. Der Beitrag präsentiert Ergebnisse und Erfahrungen der Umsetzung des Berliner Landesprogramms „Stark trotz Corona“ auf Basis von administrativen Daten zur Verwendung der Schulbudgets an allgemeinbildenden öffentlichen und beruflichen Schulen sowie einer qualitativen Befragung von Schulleitungen und Schulaufsichten. (DIPF/Orig.)In 2021 and 2022, the program set up by the federal government and the Länder “Aufholen nach Corona für Kinder und Jugendliche“ [Catching up after Corona for Children and Adolescents] funded measures to reduce learning backlogs and psychosocial effects of the Corona pandemic. The paper presents findings and implementation experiences of the Berlin state program “Stark trotz Corona“ [Strong despite Corona] based on administrative data on school budgets for general public and vocational schools as well as a qualitative survey among school principals and school supervisors. (DIPF/Orig.

High molecular diversity in the true service tree (Sorbus domestica) despite rareness: data from Europe with special reference to the Austrian occurrence

Background and Aims Sorbus domestica (Rosaceae) is one of the rarest deciduous tree species in Europe and is characterized by a scattered distribution. To date, no large-scale geographic studies on population genetics have been carried out. Therefore, the aims of this study were to infer levels of molecular diversity across the major part of the European distribution of S. domestica and to determine its population differentiation and structure. In addition, spatial genetic structure was examined together with the patterns of historic and recent gene flow between two adjacent populations. Methods Leaf or cambium samples were collected from 17 populations covering major parts of the European native range from north-west France to south-east Bulgaria. Seven nuclear microsatellites and one chloroplast minisatellite were examined and analysed using a variety of methods. Key Results Allelic richness was unexpectedly high for both markers within populations (mean per locus: 3·868 for nSSR and 1·647 for chloroplast minisatellite). Moreover, there was no evidence of inbreeding (mean Fis = -0·047). The Italian Peninsula was characterized as a geographic region with comparatively high genetic diversity for both genomes. Overall population differentiation was moderate (FST = 0·138) and it was clear that populations formed three groups in Europe, namely France, Mediterranean/Balkan and Austria. Historic gene flow between two local Austrian populations was high and asymmetric, while recent gene flow seemed to be disrupted. Conclusions It is concluded that molecular mechanisms such as self-incompatibility and high gene flow distances are responsible for the observed level of allelic richness as well as for population differentiation. However, human influence could have contributed to the present genetic pattern, especially in the Mediterranean region. Comparison of historic and recent gene flow may mirror the progress of habitat fragmentation in eastern Austri

Formation and optogenetic control of engineered 3D skeletal muscle bioactuators

Densely arrayed skeletal myotubes are activated individually and as a group using precise optical stimulation with high spatiotemporal resolution. Skeletal muscle myoblasts are genetically encoded to express a light-activated cation channel, Channelrhodopsin-2, which allows for spatiotemporal coordination of a multitude of skeletal myotubes that contract in response to pulsed blue light. Furthermore, ensembles of mature, functional 3D muscle microtissues have been formed from the optogenetically encoded myoblasts using a high-throughput device. The device, called “skeletal muscle on a chip”, not only provides the myoblasts with controlled stress and constraints necessary for muscle alignment, fusion and maturation, but also facilitates the measurement of forces and characterization of the muscle tissue. We measured the specific static and dynamic stresses generated by the microtissues and characterized the morphology and alignment of the myotubes within the constructs. The device allows testing of the effect of a wide range of parameters (cell source, matrix composition, microtissue geometry, auxotonic load, growth factors and exercise) on the maturation, structure and function of the engineered muscle tissues in a combinatorial manner. Our studies integrate tools from optogenetics and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology with skeletal muscle tissue engineering to open up opportunities to generate soft robots actuated by a multitude of spatiotemporally coordinated 3D skeletal muscle microtissues.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Science and Technology Center—Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS) grant No. CBET-0939511)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (EB00262)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (GM74048)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (HL90747)National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (RESBIO, Integrapted Technologies for Polymeric Biomaterial)University of Pennsylvania. Center for Engineering Cells and RegenerationSingapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technolog

Responsiveness of the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia and Natural History in 884 Recessive and Early Onset Ataxia Patients

The Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) is the most widely applied clinical outcome assessment (COA) for genetic ataxias, but presents metrological and regulatory challenges. To facilitate trial planning, we characterize its responsiveness (including subitem-level relations to ataxia severity and patient-focused outcomes) across a large number of ataxias, and provide first natural history data for several of them.Subitem-level correlation- and distribution-based analysis of 1637 SARA assessments in 884 patients with autosomal-recessive/early-onset ataxia (370 with 2-8 longitudinal assessments), complemented by linear mixed-effects modeling to estimate progression and sample sizes.While SARA subitem responsiveness varied between ataxia severities, gait/stance showed a robust granular linear scaling across the broadest range (SARA25; 2.7-fold sample size). Use of a novel rank-optimized SARA without subitems finger-chase and nose-finger reduces sample sizes by 20-25%.This study comprehensively characterizes COA properties and annualized changes of the SARA across and within a large number of ataxias. It suggests specific approaches for optimizing its responsiveness that might facilitate regulatory qualification and trial design. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved