Viia-hand: a Reach-and-grasp Restoration System Integrating Voice interaction, Computer vision and Auditory feedback for Blind Amputees

Visual feedback plays a crucial role in the process of amputation patients completing grasping in the field of prosthesis control. However, for blind and visually impaired (BVI) amputees, the loss of both visual and grasping abilities makes the "easy" reach-and-grasp task a feasible challenge. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-sensory prosthesis system helping BVI amputees with sensing, navigation and grasp operations. It combines modules of voice interaction, environmental perception, grasp guidance, collaborative control, and auditory/tactile feedback. In particular, the voice interaction module receives user instructions and invokes other functional modules according to the instructions. The environmental perception and grasp guidance module obtains environmental information through computer vision, and feedbacks the information to the user through auditory feedback modules (voice prompts and spatial sound sources) and tactile feedback modules (vibration stimulation). The prosthesis collaborative control module obtains the context information of the grasp guidance process and completes the collaborative control of grasp gestures and wrist angles of prosthesis in conjunction with the user's control intention in order to achieve stable grasp of various objects. This paper details a prototyping design (named viia-hand) and presents its preliminary experimental verification on healthy subjects completing specific reach-and-grasp tasks. Our results showed that, with the help of our new design, the subjects were able to achieve a precise reach and reliable grasp of the target objects in a relatively cluttered environment. Additionally, the system is extremely user-friendly, as users can quickly adapt to it with minimal training

Spatial Patterns of Leaf Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Stoichiometry of Aquatic Macrophytes in the Arid Zone of Northwestern China

Ecological stoichiometry is a powerful indicator for understanding the adaptation of plants to environment. However, understanding of stoichiometric characteristics of leaf carbon (C%), nitrogen (N%), and phosphorus (P%) for aquatic macrophytes remains limited. In this study, 707 samples from 146 sites were collected to study the variations in leaf C%, N%, and P%, and tried to explore how different environmental conditions affect leaf C, N, and P stoichiometry. Results showed that the mean values of leaf C%, N%, P%, and N:P ratios were 39.95%, 2.12%, 0.14%, and 16.60% of macrophytes across the arid zone of northwestern China, respectively. And the mean values of leaf P% were lower than those from the Tibetan Plateau and eastern China, which maybe due to an adaptation strategy of the plants to the unique conditions in the arid zone in the long-term evolutionary process. The higher N:P ratios suggested that P was established as the limiting factor of the macrophytes communities in the arid zone of northwestern China. There were significant differences in leaf C%, N%, P%, and their ratios among different life forms. Our results also showed strong relationships between leaf N% and N:P ratios and longitude, leaf N%, P%, and N:P ratios and latitude, and leaf N% and P% and altitude, respectively. In addition, the results showed that pH can significantly influence leaf C%. Our results supported the temperature-plant physiology hypothesis owing to a negative relationship between leaf N% and P% of macrophytes and mean annual temperature in the arid zone of northwestern China. The different patterns of leaf stoichiometry between the arid zone of northwestern China and eastern China indicated that there were different physiological and ecological adaptability of macrophytes to environmental gradients in different climatic zones

Severe cutaneous adverse reactions to drugs: A real-world pharmacovigilance study using the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System database

Background: Sound drug safety information is important to optimize patient management, but the widely recognized comprehensive landscape of culprit-drugs that cause severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) is currently lacking.Objective: The main aim of the study is to provide a comprehensive landscape of culprit-drugs for SCARs to guide clinical practice.Methods: We analyzed reports associated with SCARs in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System database between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2021 and compiled a list of drugs with potentially serious skin toxicity. According to this list, we summarized the reporting proportions of different drugs and drug classes and conducted disproportionality analysis for all the drugs. In addition, the risk characteristic of SCARs due to different drugs and drug classes was summarized by the positive–negative distribution based on the results of the disproportionality analysis.Results: A total of 77,789 reports in the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System database were considered SCAR-related, of which lamotrigine (6.2%) was the most reported single drug followed by acetaminophen (5.8%) and allopurinol (5.8%) and antibacterials (20.6%) was the most reported drug class followed by antiepileptics (16.7%) and antineoplastics (11.3%). A total of 1,219 drugs were reported as culprit-drugs causing SCARs in those reports, and the largest number of drugs belonged to antineoplastics. In disproportionality analysis, 776 drugs showed at least one positive pharmacovigilance signal. Drugs with the most positive signals were lamotrigine, acetaminophen, furosemide, and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim.Conclusion: Our study provided a real-world overview of SCARs to drugs, and the investigation of SCAR positive–negative distribution across different drugs revealed its risk characteristics, which may help optimize patient management

PARTICIPATION OF CHINESE DEVELOPERS IN GLS AND THEIR IMPACT ON PROPERTY PRICES

Bachelor'sBACHELOR OF SCIENCE (REAL ESTATE

Prenatal diagnosis and molecular cytogenetic analysis of a <i>de novo</i> isodicentric chromosome 18

Isodicentric chromosome 18 [idic(18)] is rare structural aberration. We report on a prenatal case described by conventional and molecular cytogenetic analyses. The sonography at 24 weeks of gestation revealed multiple fetal anomalies; radial aplasia and ventricular septal defect were significant features. Routine karyotyping showed a derivative chromosome replacing one normal chromosome 18. The parental karyotypes were normal, indicating that the derivative chromosome was <i>de novo</i>. Array comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH) revealed 18p11.21&#8594;qter duplication and 18p11.21&#8594;pter deletion for genomic DNA of the fetus. The breakpoint was located at 18p11.21 (between 12104527 bp and 12145199 bp from the telomere of 18p). Thus, the derivative chromosome was ascertained as idic(18)(qter&#8594;p11.21::p11.21&#8594;qter). Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) confirmed that the derivative chromosome was idic(18). Our report describes a rare isodicentric chromosome 18 and demonstrates that array-CGH is a useful complementary tool to cytogenetic analysis for reliable identifying derivative chromosome

Composition dependence of the physical and acousto-optic properties of transparent Ge–As–S chalcogenide glasses

Three groups of Ge–As–S glasses with compositions of (I) GexAs40−xS60 (x = 25, 30, 35 at.%), (II) GexAs10S90−x (x = 25, 30, 35 at.%) and (III) Ge30AsxS70−x (x = 5, 10, 15 at.%) were studied to understand the role of glass composition in determining physical and acousto-optic properties. For each group of glasses, the glass transition temperature (Tg), micro-hardness (Hv), elastic modulus and acoustic velocity increased with the addition of Ge, and the elements that determine the magnitude of performance variation are Ge > As > S. All glass samples had optical transmission higher than 54% at 633 nm, and the level of sulfur content determined the value of the optical bandgap (Eg). The glass with the tightest network structure realized the lowest acoustic attenuation (α) of 1.49 dB/cm at 25 MHz ultrasonic frequency. Furthermore, the maximum refractive index (n = 2.482) in Ge30As15S55 glass contributed to the maximum acousto-optic figure of merit (M2) of 209.78 × 10−18 s3/g at 633 nm, which is close to 130 times greater than that of fused quart

Isolation and Identification of an &alpha;-Galactosidase-Producing Lactosphaera pasteurii Strain and Its Enzymatic Expression Analysis

&alpha;-Galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.22) refers to a group of enzymes that hydrolyze oligosaccharides containing &alpha;-galactoside-banded glycosides, such as stachyose, raffinose, and verbascose. These enzymes also possess great potential for application in sugar production, and in the feed and pharmaceutical industries. In this study, a strain of Lactosphaera pasteurii (WHPC005) that produces &alpha;-galactosidase was identified from the soil of Western Hunan, China. It was determined that the optimal temperature and pH for this &alpha;-galactosidase were 45 &deg;C and 5.5, respectively. The activity of &alpha;-galactosidase was inhibited by K+, Al3+, Fe3+, fructose, sucrose, lactose, galactose, SDS, EDTA, NaCl, and (NH4)2SO4, and enhanced by Ca2+, Fe2+, Mn2, Zn2+, glucose, and raffinose. The optimal inducer was raffinose, and the optimal induction concentration was 30 &mu;mol/L. The &alpha;-galactosidase gene was cloned using random fragment cloning methods. Sequence analysis demonstrated that the open reading frame of the &alpha;-galactosidase gene was 1230 bp, which encodes a putative protein of 409 amino acids in length. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the isoelectric point and molecular weight of this &alpha;-galactosidase were 4.84 and 47.40 kD, respectively. Random coils, alpha helixes, and beta turns were observed in its secondary structure, and conserved regions were found in the tertiary structure of this &alpha;-galactosidase. Therefore, this &alpha;-galactosidase-producing bacterial strain has the potential for application in the feed industry

Correlation between acousto-optic and structural properties of Ge–Sb–S chalcogenide glasses

The acousto-optic properties of (100–x)GeS2-xSb2S3 (with x = 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20 mol%) and Ge12SbyS88-y (with y = 32, 25, 18 mol%) glasses were investigated, as well as the thermal and mechanical properties. The effects of Sb2S3 and Sb introduction on the structure and above-mentioned properties were discussed. For the first series of glasses: (100–x)GeS2-xSb2S3, the progressive introduction of Sb2S3 decreased the number of GeS4 units in the glass network. Consequently, the Vickers hardness, elastic modulus and stability of the glass against crystallization decreased dramatically. Increased acousto-optic figure of merit and increased acoustic attenuation were also observed. By contrast, for the second series of glasses Ge12SbyS88-y, some new long-chain structures were generated in addition to the increased SbS3 trigonal pyramid units in the glass networks with increased Sb content, which led to the opposite trend of the above performance except that the figure of merit increased. The maximum value with respect to the highest figure of merit was 252 × 10−18 s3/g obtained in Ge12Sb32S56 at 1550 nm and the corresponding acoustic attenuation was 1.95 dB/cm at 25 MHz ultrasonic frequency

Impressed current cathodic protection of chloride-contaminated RC structures with cracking: A numerical study

Impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) is an effective and direct method for controlling the corrosion of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. However, few investigations related to ICCP in cracked RC structures have been reported. In this study, the effect of cracks in concrete cover on ICCP of chloride-contaminated RC structures was investigated through a numerical model including steel polarisation, electrode reactions, and ionic migration. In the developed numerical model, cracked concrete cover is assumed to consist of sound concrete and cracks, and cracks have their own ionic diffusion coefficients. The results indicate that the ICCP can maintain its ability to remove Cl− if concrete cover does not completely crack. Once the complete cracking in concrete cover occurs, the Cl− removal ability of ICCP would decrease or even disappear. Cracking does not cause any adverse effect on the pH improvement of ICCP. In this case, a stronger cathodic polarisation is recommended.Materials and Environmen

Identification and Breeding with Genome Shuffling Strain CLYB1 Producing γ-Aminobutyric Acid

In order to improve the yield of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), strain CLYB1 was bred with ultraviolet mutagenesis and genome shuffling to produce high yield of GABA. After breeding，the hemolysis experiments and antibiotic sensitivity test were carried out on the recombinant strain. The strain CLYB1 was Bacillus velezensis, and the yield of GABA was 3.95 g/L. The GABA yield of CLYB1-Y breeding by ultraviolet mutagenesis from CLYB1 was 10.26 g/L, which was 160% higher than that of CLYB1. The GABA yield of CLYB1-YC breeding by genome shuffling from CLYB1-Y was 20.19 g/L, which was 411% higher than that of CLYB1. The hemolysis experiments and antibiotic sensitivity tests showed that CLYB1-YC had no hemolytic activity and was sensitive to 10 common antibiotics (penicillin, ampicillin, ceftriaxone, gentamycin, tetracycline, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, lincomycin, chloramphenicol and puromyn). The Bacillus velezensis CLYB1-YC breeding by genome shuffling producing high γ-aminobutyric acid has a good application prospect