Development of lower limb rehabilitation evaluation system based on virtual reality technology

Nowadays, with the development of the proportion of the elderly population in the world, several problems caused by the population aging gradually into people's horizons. One of the biggest problems plagued the vast majority of the elderly is hemiplegia, which leads to the vigorous development of the physical therapists. However, these traditional methods of physical therapy mainly rely on the skill of the physical therapists. In order to make up the defects of traditional methods, many research groups have developed different kinds of robots for lower limb rehabilitation training but most of them can only realize passive training which cannot adopt rehabilitation training based on the patients' individual condition effectively and they do not have a rehabilitation evaluation system to assess the real time training condition of the hemiplegic patients effectively. In order to solve the problems above, this paper proposed a lower limb rehabilitation evaluation system which is based on the virtual reality technology. This system has an easy observation of the human-computer interaction interface and the doctor is able to adjust the rehabilitation training direct at different patients in different rehabilitation stage based on this lower limb rehabilitation evaluation system. Compared with current techniques, this novel lower limb rehabilitation evaluation system is expected to have significant impacts in medical rehabilitation robot field

Meta-analysis on past use of benzodiazepines and risk of dementia.

<p>The squares represent the risk estimate for each individual study, with the area reflecting the weight assigned to the study. The horizontal line across each square represents the 95% confidence interval. The diamond represents the summary risk estimate, with width representing 95% confidence interval.</p

Synthesis and Characterization of Biobased Melamine Formaldehyde Resins from Bark Extractives

In this study, bark alkaline extractives from the mountain pine beetle (<i>Dendroctonus ponderosae</i> Hopkins) infested lodgepole pine (<i>Pinus contorta</i> Dougl.) was used to partially replace 30 wt % of melamine in formulating the biobased bark extractive–melamine formaldehyde (MF) resin. Results showed that the addition of the bark extractives and the type of solvent system used for resin formulation significantly affected the initial molecular weight, molecular structure, viscosity, curing behavior, postcuring thermal stability, and bonding performance of the resulting resins. The bark extractive–MF resins exhibited similar dry and wet bonding strengths to the laboratory made control MF resins formulated in the same type of solvent system. The liquid-state ¹³C NMR study showed that bark extractives were reactants and incorporated into the resulting biobased MF resin structures. Bark extractives obtained from the mountain pine beetle infested lodgepole pine showed promise as a suitable partial replacement for melamine in MF resin formulations

Characteristics of 6 included studies regarding benzodiazepine use and dementia.

<p>SS, sample size; BZD, benzodiazepine; ICD-9, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision; DSM-IV, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition; DSM-III-R, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition Revised.</p><p>^aAge refers to mean age of participants at baseline.</p><p>^bFollow-up refers to maximum follow-up length.</p><p>^cUsing data of different subsets of National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan</p><p>^dOriginal authors defined recent use and past use as first BZD claim <15 days and last BZD claim >15 days before index date, respectively. To keep homogenous with definitions of BZD use in other studies as much as possible, we redefined recent use and past use as first BZD claim <2 years and last BZD claim >2 years before index date, respectively. In this case, we pooled initial estimates to yield required estimates for “redefined" recent and past use through a random-effects model.</p><p>Characteristics of 6 included studies regarding benzodiazepine use and dementia.</p

Meta-analysis on ever use of benzodiazepines and risk of dementia.

<p>The squares represent the risk estimate for each individual study, with the area reflecting the weight assigned to the study. The horizontal line across each square represents the 95% confidence interval. The diamond represents the summary risk estimate, with width representing 95% confidence interval.</p

Self-Supporting Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts Made from a Nitrogen-Rich Network Polymer

We report the design, synthesis, and evaluation of a new type of non-precious-metal catalyst made from network polymers. 2,6-Diaminopyridine was selected as a building-block monomer for the formation of a nitrogen-rich network polymer that forms self-supporting spherical backbone structures and contains a high density of metal-coordination sites. A Co-/Fe-coordinating pyrolyzed polymer exhibited a high specific oxygen reduction activity with onset and half-wave potentials of 0.87 and 0.76 V vs RHE, respectively, in neutral media. There was no crossover effect of organics on its activity. The power output of a microbial fuel cell equipped with this catalyst on its cathode was more than double the output with a commercial 20 wt % Pt/C catalyst

Sensitivity analysis: exclusion of a single study in turn.

<p>The study being cited on the left is the one being left out in each analysis. The circle represents the summary risk estimates after exclusion of a single study, and the corresponding dot line represents 95% confidence interval. The middle vertical solid line represents summary risk estimates of all included studies, and left and right vertical solid line represent lower limit and upper limit, respectively. Panel A, ever use versus never use; Panel B, recent use versus never use; Panel C, past use versus never use.</p

The flowchart of identifying relevant studies.

<p>The flowchart of identifying relevant studies.</p

Meta-analysis on recent use of benzodiazepines and risk of dementia.

<p>The squares represent the risk estimate for each individual study, with the area reflecting the weight assigned to the study. The horizontal line across each square represents the 95% confidence interval. The diamond represents the summary risk estimate, with width representing 95% confidence interval.</p

Corking Carbon Nanotube Cups with Gold Nanoparticles

Nitrogen doping of carbon nanotubes during chemical vapor deposition synthesis can create unique stacked cup-shaped structures termed as nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube cups (NCNCs). These cups have semielliptical hollow cavities and elevated reactivity which could lead to various applications. In this work, by applying intense ultrasonication to the as-synthesized NCNCs, we demonstrated an effective mechanical method to isolate the individual cups with opened cavities from their stacks. The graphitic structures of the isolated cups and their inherent nitrogen functionalities were characterized by comprehensive microscopic and spectroscopic methods. In particular, we quantitatively determined the existence of amine functionalities on NCNCs and found that they were preferentially distributed at the open edges of the cups, providing localized reactive sites. Further, by thiolating the amine groups with 3-mercapto-propionic acid, we were able to effectively cork the isolated cups by gold nanoparticles with commensurate diameters. These cup-shaped carbon nanomaterials with controlled inner volumes and gold nanoparticle corks could find potential applications as nanoscale reaction containers or drug delivery vehicles