Thesis title: Feasibility study of using collaborative UAVs for Emergency Response in Road Tunnels

Utilizing UAVs for assisting in emergency response missions is already a fact, both in open landscapes like forests and in restricted areas like sewers. However, using them in road tunnels has not yet been realised, and could possibly provide a huge help for the first responders in the form of surveillance, providing network coverage or announcing self-help assistance to the victims. There are certain challenges for this to be possible, some of them being lack of signal coverage, battery life and positional navigation in a GPS-denied environment. In this thesis the feasibility of this will be put into consideration by surveying available software and hardware for this utilization, as well as setting up a generalised energy consumption model to check where the different drone configurations can be used. The results implies that the state-of-the-art drone configurations are very capable of being used to assist in emergency situations in road tunnels, both when it comes to response time and length coverage. However, the main restricting factor will be cost, as modern drone swarm configurations with a reasonable battery capacity and sophisticated sensors comes at a high cost.Utilizing UAVs for assisting in emergency response missions is already a fact, both in open landscapes like forests and in restricted areas like sewers. However, using them in road tunnels has not yet been realised, and could possibly provide a huge help for the first responders in the form of surveillance, providing network coverage or announcing self-help assistance to the victims. There are certain challenges for this to be possible, some of them being lack of signal coverage, battery life and positional navigation in a GPS-denied environment. In this thesis the feasibility of this will be put into consideration by surveying available software and hardware for this utilization, as well as setting up a generalised energy consumption model to check where the different drone configurations can be used. The results implies that the state-of-the-art drone configurations are very capable of being used to assist in emergency situations in road tunnels, both when it comes to response time and length coverage. However, the main restricting factor will be cost, as modern drone swarm configurations with a reasonable battery capacity and sophisticated sensors comes at a high cost

The cingulate gyrus: Additional motor area and cortical autonomic regulator

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49976/1/901120118_ftp.pd

The effect of alternating and biphasic currents on humans' wound healing: a literature review

[Abstract] Although different types of currents, including bidirectional currents, have been used to promote healing, there is neither a summary about their effects nor consensus on best parameters to be used. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of current evidence on the effectiveness of bidirectional electrical stimulation on wound healing in accordance with the parameters used. Relevant articles were selected following a search of Medline, Cochrane, Embase, CINAHL, and PEDro for English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, or French articles published between 1980 and 2011. Ten trials and four case-series were found that deal with pressure ulcers, diabetic ulcers, venous ulcers, skin flaps, and amputation. Eight trials were of low-quality. Five of ten controlled trials found a statistically significant difference on wound healing, and another four trials found positive trends. Both of the two skin flap trials, one of two diabetic trials, and two of five pressure ulcer trials found a significant difference in bidirectional stimulated groups. Both TENS and NMES types of currents were used, but many parameters were not specified. In general, bidirectional currents appear to increase wound healing rates and reduce size of wounds, above all in skin flaps. However, there is a lack of well-designed studies on biphasic and alternating stimulation, and there is a need for improvement in description of parameters and in uniformity of nomenclature

Anatomical and experimental studies on the temporal pole of the macaque

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49953/1/900960203_ftp.pd

Neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rate

The control of physiological arousal can assist in the regulation of emotional state. A subset cortical and subcortical brain regions are implicated in autonomic control of bodily arousal during emotional behaviors. Here, we combined human functional neuroimaging with autonomic monitoring to identify neural mechanisms that support the volitional regulation of heart rate, a process that may be assisted by visual feedback. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 15 healthy adults performed an experimental task in which they were prompted voluntarily to increase or decrease cardiovascular arousal (heart rate) during true, false, or absent visual feedback. Participants achieved appropriate changes in heart rate, without significant modulation of respiratory rate, and were overall not influenced by the presence of visual feedback. Increased activity in right amygdala, striatum and brainstem occurred when participants attempted to increase heart rate. In contrast, activation of ventrolateral prefrontal and parietal cortices occurred when attempting to decrease heart rate. Biofeedback enhanced activity within occipito-temporal cortices, but there was no significant interaction with task conditions. Activity in regions including pregenual anterior cingulate and ventral striatum reflected the magnitude of successful task performance, which was negatively related to subclinical anxiety symptoms. Measured changes in respiration correlated with posterior insula activation and heart rate, at a more lenient threshold, change correlated with insula, caudate, and midbrain activity. Our findings highlight a set of brain regions, notably ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, supporting volitional control of cardiovascular arousal. These data are relevant to understanding neural substrates supporting interaction between intentional and interoceptive states related to anxiety, with implications for biofeedback interventions, e.g., real-time fMRI, that target emotional regulation

Approach-avoidance analysis of rat diencephalon

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49985/1/901200206_ftp.pd

A phase I prospective, non-randomized trial of autologous dendritic cell-based cryoimmunotherapy in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer

Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) is an immunologically cold disease with dismal outcomes. Cryoablation destroys cancer tissue, releases tumor-associated antigens and creates a pro-inflammatory microenvironment, while dendritic cells (DCs) activate immune responses through processing of antigens. Immunotherapy combinations could enhance the anti-tumor efficacy. This open-label, single-arm, single-center phase I trial determined the safety and tolerability of combining cryoablation and autologous immature DC, without and with checkpoint inhibitors. Immune responses and clinical outcomes were evaluated. Patients with mCRPC, confirmed metastases and intact prostate gland were included. The first participants underwent prostate cryoablation with intratumoral injection of autologous DCs in a 3 + 3 design. In the second part, patients received cryoablation, the highest acceptable DC dose, and checkpoint inhibition with either ipilimumab or pembrolizumab. Sequentially collected information on adverse events, quality of life, blood values and images were analyzed by standard descriptive statistics. Neither dose-limiting toxicities nor adverse events > grade 3 were observed in the 18 participants. Results indicate antitumor activity through altered T cell receptor repertoires, and 33% durable (> 46 weeks) clinical benefit with median 40.7 months overall survival. Post-treatment pain and fatigue were associated with circulating tumor cell (CTC) presence at inclusion, while CTC responses correlated with clinical outcomes. This trial demonstrates that cryoimmunotherapy in mCRPC is safe and well tolerated, also for the highest DC dose (2.0 × 108) combined with checkpoint inhibitors. Further studies focusing on the biologic indications of antitumor activity and immune system activation could be considered through a phase II trial focusing on treatment responses and immunologic biomarkers.publishedVersio