Experimental Study on Human Arm Reaching with and without a Reduced Mobility for Applications in Medical Human-Interactive Robotics

Along with increasing advances in robotic technologies, there are now significant efforts under way to improve the quality of life especially those with physical disabilities or impairments. Control of such medical human-interactive robotics (HIR) involves complications in its design and control due to uncertain human factors. This dissertation makes its efforts to resolve three main challenges of an advanced HIR controller development: 1) detecting the operator’s motion intent, 2) understanding human motor behavior from the robotic perspective, and 3) generating reference motion for the HIR. Our interests in such challenges are limited to the point-to-point reaching of the human arm for applications of their solutions in the control of rehabilitation exoskeletons, therapeutic haptic devices, and prosthetic arms. In the context of human motion intent detection, a mobile motion capture system (MCS) enhanced with myoprocessors is developed to capture kinematics and dynamics of human arm in reaching movements. The developed MCS adopts wireless IMU (inertial measurement unit) sensors to capture ADL (activities of daily life) motions in the real-life environment. In addition, measured muscle activation patterns from selected muscle groups are converted into muscular force values by myoprocessors. This allows a reliable motion intent detection by quantify one of the most frequently used driving signal of the HIR, EMG (electromyography), in a standardized way. In order to understand the human motor behavior from the robotic viewpoint, a computational model on reaching is required. Since such model can be constituted by experimental observations, this dissertation look into invariant motion features of reaching with and without elbow constraint condition to establish a foundation of the computational model. The HIR should generate its reference motions by reflecting motor behavior of the natural human reaching. Though the accurate approximation of such behavior is critical, we also need to take into account the computational cost, especially for real-time applications such as the HIR control. In this manner, a higher order kinematic synthesis of mechanical linkage systems is adopted to approximate natural human hand profiles. Finally, a novel control concept of a myo-prosthetic arm is proposed as an application of all findings and efforts made in this dissertation

Effect of Osmotic Pressure on the Stability of Whole Inactivated Influenza Vaccine for Coating on Microneedles

Enveloped virus vaccines can be damaged by high osmotic strength solutions, such as those used to protect the vaccine antigen during drying, which contain high concentrations of sugars. We therefore studied shrinkage and activity loss of whole inactivated influenza virus in hyperosmotic solutions and used those findings to improve vaccine coating of microneedle patches for influenza vaccination. Using stopped-flow light scattering analysis, we found that the virus underwent an initial shrinkage on the order of 10% by volume within 5 s upon exposure to a hyperosmotic stress difference of 217 milliosmolarity. During this shrinkage, the virus envelope had very low osmotic water permeability (1 – 6×10−4 cm s–1) and high Arrhenius activation energy (Ea = 15.0 kcal mol–1), indicating that the water molecules diffused through the viral lipid membranes. After a quasi-stable state of approximately 20 s to 2 min, depending on the species and hypertonic osmotic strength difference of disaccharides, there was a second phase of viral shrinkage. At the highest osmotic strengths, this led to an undulating light scattering profile that appeared to be related to perturbation of the viral envelope resulting in loss of virus activity, as determined by in vitro hemagglutination measurements and in vivo immunogenicity studies in mice. Addition of carboxymethyl cellulose effectively prevented vaccine activity loss in vitro and in vivo, believed to be due to increasing the viscosity of concentrated sugar solution and thereby reducing osmotic stress during coating of microneedles. These results suggest that hyperosmotic solutions can cause biphasic shrinkage of whole inactivated influenza virus which can damage vaccine activity at high osmotic strength and that addition of a viscosity enhancer to the vaccine coating solution can prevent osmotically driven damage and thereby enable preparation of stable microneedle coating formulations for vaccination

Parameter-robust linear quadratic Gaussian technique for multi-agent slung load transportation

This paper copes with parameter-robust controller design for transportation system by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles. The transportation is designed in the form of string connection. Minimal state-space realization of slung-load dynamics is obtained by Newtonian approach with spherical coordinates. Linear quadratic Gaussian / loop transfer recovery (LQG/LTR) is implemented to control the position and attitude of all the vehicles and payloads. The controller's robustness against variation of payload mass is improved using parameter-robust linear quadratic Gaussian (PRLQG) method. Numerical simulations are conducted with several transportation cases. The result verifies that LQG/LTR shows fast performance while PRLQG has its strong point in robustness against system variation

Association of Oncogenic Human Papillomaviruses(HPV 16, 18) with Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia and Cervical Cancer

The prevalence of oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 and 18 was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method in cervical scrapes omitting prior DNA extraction. Samples were obtained from 70 gynecologic inpatients with normal cervix and 160 women with cervical neoplastic lesion ( N = 50 in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) I, N = 50 in CIN II, N = 30 in CIN III, N = 30 in invasive cervical cancer). Eight members were excluded from the data due to failure of ,f3-g10bin amplification during the PCR procedure. The HPV 16 prevalence rate was 19.1 % (13/68) in the normal group, 38.8 % (19/49) in CIN 1,57.1 % (28/49) in CIN 11,75.9 % (22/29) in CIN III, 88.9% (24/27) in invasive cancer. For HPV type 18, DNA positivity was 4.4 % (3/68), 8.2 % (4/49), 12.2 % (6/49), 13.8 % (4/29), 18.5 % (5/27), respectively. In the whole series a consistent correlation was found between HPV positivity and severity of cervical lesion. HPV 16 was the more prevalent type and about five times more common than HPV 18. These results suggest that HPV 16 and 18 may be strongly associated with carcinogenesis of cervical cancer. The high risk HPV typing by direct PCR from cervical scrapes can be used as a useful marker for the presence of neoplastic cells and also served as a simple tool in identifying women who are at risk of developing dysplasia and cervical cancer

A Role of Canonical Transient Receptor Potential 5 Channel in Neuronal Differentiation from A2B5 Neural Progenitor Cells

Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) channels are the main pathway of Ca2+ entry in non-excitable cells such as neural progenitor cells (NPCs). However, the role of SOCE channels has not been defined in the neuronal differentiation from NPCs. Here, we show that canonical transient receptor potential channel (TRPC) as SOCE channel influences the induction of the neuronal differentiation of A2B5+ NPCs isolated from postnatal-12-day rat cerebrums. The amplitudes of SOCE were significantly higher in neural cells differentiated from proliferating A2B5+ NPCs and applications of SOCE blockers, 2-aminoethoxy-diphenylborane (2-APB), and ruthenium red (RR), inhibited their rise of SOCE. Among TRPC subtypes (TRPC1-7), marked expression of TRPC5 and TRPC6 with turned-off TRPC1 expression was observed in neuronal cells differentiated from proliferating A2B5+ NPCs. TRPC5 small interfering RNA (siRNA) blocked the neuronal differentiation from A2B5+ NPCs and reduced the rise of SOCE. In contrast, TRPC6 siRNA had no significant effect on the neuronal differentiation from A2B5+ NPCs. These results indicate that calcium regulation by TRPC5 would play a key role as a switch between proliferation and neuronal differentiation from NPCs

A Long-Term Treatment Outcome of Abdominal Sacrocolpopexy

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term treatment outcome and major complication rates of abdominal sacrocolpopexy (ASC). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 57 Korean women who underwent ASC with mesh for symptomatic uterine or vault prolapse and attended follow-up visits for at least 5 years. Forty-seven women with urodynamic stress incontinence concomitantly received a modified Burch colposuspension. The long-term anatomical and functional outcomes and complication rates were assessed. Results: The median follow-up was 66 months (range 60-108). Overall anatomical success rates (no recurrence of any prolapse ≥ stage II according to the pelvic organ prolapse-quantification system) were 86.0%. Urinary urgency and voiding dysfunction were significantly improved after surgery, however, recurrent stress urinary incontinence developed in 44.7 % (21/47) of cases and half of them developed within 1-3 months post-op. Bowel function (constipation and fecal incontinence) and sexual function (sexual activity and dyspareunia) did not significantly change after surgery. Major complication requiring reoperation or intensive care developed in 12 (21.0%) cases. Conclusion: ASC provides durable pelvic support, however, it may be ineffective for alleviating pelvic floor dysfunction except for urinary urgency and voiding dysfunction, and it contains major complication risk that cannot be overlooked

Factors to Predict Positive Results of Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Stimulation Test in Girls with Suspected Precocious Puberty

Sometimes, the clinical findings and the results of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation test are inconsistent in girls with early breast development and bone age advancement. We aimed to investigate the factors predicting positive results of the GnRH stimulation test in girls with suspected central precocious puberty (CPP). We reviewed the records of 574 girls who developed breast budding before the age of 8 yr and underwent the GnRH stimulation test under the age of 9 yr. Positive results of the GnRH stimulated peak luteinizing hormone (LH) level were defined as 5 IU/L and over. Girls with the initial positive results (n = 375) showed accelerated growth, advanced bone age and higher serum basal LH, follicle-stimulating hormone, and estradiol levels, compared to those with the initial negative results (n = 199). Girls with the follow-up positive results (n = 64) showed accelerated growth and advanced bone age, compared to those with the follow-up negative results. In the binary logistic regression, the growth velocity ratio was the most significant predictive factor of positive results. We suggest that the rapid growth velocity is the most useful predictive factor for positive results in the GnRH stimulation test in girls with suspected precocious puberty