Smart Walker

The Smart Walker is a roller walker that provides assistance for elders who are visually challenged. Every time the elders are on a stroll, the product will allow the elders to get alerted, whenever there is an obstacle ahead on the road, with a sound and visual notification on the screen of a smartphone or a tablet attached to the product.  Our product will include distance sensor to detect an obstacle, a camera to capture the picture and a brake system for emergency purposes. Elders can use their own smartphone or a tablet and run our Android application to access all the information, which will be transferred via Bluetooth

Prognostic value of miR-96 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Objective: Aberrant expression of miRNA (miR)-96 is associated with tumorigenesis and tumor progression in several solid cancers. However, little is known about the expression and prognostic value of miR-96 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the correlation of miR-96 expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis of AML. Methods: Real-time quantitative RT-PCR assay was performed to evaluate the expression levels of miR-96 in mononuclear cells from bone marrow or peripheral blood specimens in 86 patients with newly diagnosed AML. Results: Compared with normal controls, miR-96 expression was significantly downregulated in patients with newly diagnosed AML (P < 0.001). In analysis of 14 diagnosis/CR-paired samples, the expression level of miR-96 was found markedly elevated in patients after treatment than before (P < 0.001). Moreover, lower levels of miR-96 were associated with a higher white blood cell count, bone marrow blast count (P < 0.001 and 0.022, respectively), and lower hemoglobin and platelet count (P = 0.036 and 0.033, respectively). Although the low-expression group seemed to have a lower CR rate (53.85% vs 70.0%), there was no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.213). The low-expression group had a lower relapse-free survival (RFS) (P = 0.038) and overall survival (OS) (P = 0.022) compared with the high-expression group during a median follow-up of 20 months. Conclusion: Our data demonstrated that the expression of miR-96 was downregulated in newly diagnosed AML patients and associated with leukemic burden, as well as RFS and OS. This suggests that miR-96 detection might become a potential biomarker of prognosis and monitoring in AML

Data_Sheet_1_The single and mixed impacts of cadmium, cobalt, lead, and PAHs on systemic immunity inflammation index in male and female.docx

BackgroundStudies on the association between mixed exposure to common pollutants such as cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with Systemic Immune Inflammatory Index (SII), a novel hemocyte-based inflammatory marker, have not been reported. This study explored the relationship between co-exposure to Cd, Co, Pb, PAHs, and SII.MethodsIn this study, we used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and enrolled adults with complete information on Cd, Co, Pb, PAHs, and SII. The linear regression was used to analyze the association of single pollutants with SII. Furthermore, a Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression analysis and a generalized weighted quantile sum regression analysis were used to analyze the association between mixed exposure to Cd, Co, Pb, and six PAHs and SII. We also separated males and females and analyzed the different effects of pollutants on SII, respectively.Results5,176 participants were included in the study. After adjusting for age, gender, race, education, smoking, drinking, physical activity, and sedentary, Cd, Co, 1-OHN, 2-OHN and 2-OHF were positive with SII in the total population. Compared with the 50th percentile, the joint effect of pollutants on SII was positive. In the total population, males, and females, the top contaminant with the highest effect weights on SII were Co, Cd, and 1-OHN, respectively. The result of interaction analysis showed that the low concentrations of Cd had an elevation effect on SII in males.ConclusionThis study found a positive association of mixed exposure to Cd, Co, Pb, and six PAHs with SII, which occurred mainly in females.</p

MSR-Asia at TREC-11 Video Track

The Media Computing Group of Microsoft Research Asia participated in all the three tasks of Video tracks of TREC-11, including automatic Shot Boundary Determination, Semantic Feature Extraction and Video Search. A robust shot detector was proposed. Systems for semantic feature extraction and video retrieval which integrated many recent research results of this group&apos;s are presented

Assessment of the Adverse Health Effects of Aflatoxin Exposure from Unpackaged Peanut Oil in Guangdong, China

Aflatoxins are liver carcinogens and are common contaminants in unpackaged peanut (UPP) oil. However, the health risks associated with consuming aflatoxins in UPP oil remain unclear. In this study, aflatoxin contamination in 143 UPP oil samples from Guangdong Province were assessed via liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS). We also recruited 168 human subjects, who consumed this oil, to measure their liver functions and lipid metabolism status. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was detected in 79.72% of the UPP oil samples, with levels ranging from 0.02 to 174.13 μg/kg. The average daily human intake of AFB1 from UPP oil was 3.14 ng/kg·bw/day; therefore, the incidence of liver cancer, caused by intake of 1 ng/kg·bw/day AFB1, was estimated to be 5.32 cases out of every 100,000 persons per year. Meanwhile, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and AFB1 exposure exerted a synergistic effect to cause liver dysfunction. In addition, the triglycerides (TG) abnormal rate was statistically significant when using AFB1 to estimate daily intake (EDI) quartile spacing grouping (p = 0.011). In conclusion, high aflatoxin exposure may exacerbate the harmful effects of HBV infection on liver function. Contamination of UPP oil with aflatoxins in Guangdong urgently requires more attention, and public health management of the consumer population is urgently required

Ascomycotin A, a new citromycetin analogue produced by <i>Ascomycota</i> sp. Ind19F07 isolated from deep sea sediment

<div><p>A new citromycetin analogue, ascomycotin A (<b>1</b>), together with eight known compounds, wortmannilactone E (<b>2</b>), orcinol (<b>3</b>), orsellinic acid (<b>4</b>), isosclerone (<b>5</b>), (3<i>R</i>,4<i>S</i>)-( − )-4-hydroxymellein (<b>6</b>), diorcinol (<b>7</b>), chaetocyclinone B (<b>8</b>) and 2,5-dimethoxy-3,6-di(<i>p</i>-methoxypheny1)-1,4-benzoquinone (<b>9</b>), was isolated from the fungal strain <i>Ascomycota</i> sp. Ind19F07, which was isolated from the deep sea sediment of the Indian Ocean. The structures of the compounds were established by spectroscopic data including 1D and 2D NMR and HR-ESI-MS. Compounds (<b>1</b>–<b>9</b>) were evaluated for antibacterial activity.</p></div