Advances on mechanical designs for assistive ankle-foot orthoses

Assistive ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are powerful solutions to assist or rehabilitate gait on humans. Existing assistive AFO technologies include passive, quasi-passive, and active principles to provide assistance to the users, and their mechanical configuration and control depend on the eventual support they aim for within the gait pattern. In this research we analyze the state-of-the-art of assistive AFOs and classify the different approaches into clusters, describing their basis and working principles. Additionally, we reviewed the purpose and experimental validation of the devices, providing the reader with a better view of the technology readiness level. Finally, the reviewed designs, limitations, and future steps in the field are summarized and discussed.Comment: Figures appear at the end. Article submitted to Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (currently under review

Global variations in diabetes mellitus based on fasting glucose and haemogloblin A1c

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are both used to diagnose diabetes, but may identify different people as having diabetes. We used data from 117 population-based studies and quantified, in different world regions, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, and whether those who were previously undiagnosed and detected as having diabetes in survey screening had elevated FPG, HbA1c, or both. We developed prediction equations for estimating the probability that a person without previously diagnosed diabetes, and at a specific level of FPG, had elevated HbA1c, and vice versa. The age-standardised proportion of diabetes that was previously undiagnosed, and detected in survey screening, ranged from 30% in the high-income western region to 66% in south Asia. Among those with screen-detected diabetes with either test, the agestandardised proportion who had elevated levels of both FPG and HbA1c was 29-39% across regions; the remainder had discordant elevation of FPG or HbA1c. In most low- and middle-income regions, isolated elevated HbA1c more common than isolated elevated FPG. In these regions, the use of FPG alone may delay diabetes diagnosis and underestimate diabetes prevalence. Our prediction equations help allocate finite resources for measuring HbA1c to reduce the global gap in diabetes diagnosis and surveillance.peer-reviewe

Discriminating cloud to ground lightning flashes based on wavelet analysis of electric field signals

Lightning discharges produce electromagnetic radiation in a wide frequency range, but its propagation in a certain frequency range are usually used by lightning detection networks. Investigation of lightning activities in time-frequency domain can be obtained by using the wavelet transform. This study proposes a new approach using the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) algorithm to classify the detected lightning strikes. The measuring station would capture lightning electric field in 500 ms time scale and then utilizes a wavelet based recognizer algorithm to duly differentiate the cloud to ground flash from other cloud activities. Wavelet transform allows the expansion of transient events into a small number of coefficients. A total of 200 lightning flashes were randomly selected among the captured lightning discharges in South of Malaysia in one year. Initially, the cloud to ground and other cloud activities were manually analysed and discriminated. Then, these lightning flashes were analysed using different mother wavelets such as Haar, symmlet, Coiflet, and Daubechies by means of MATLAB program. Haar mother wavelet gives the best result for CG decomposition analysis. A total of 24 decomposition layers were chosen and the energy level of each layer was calculated to obtain the correlation between energy fluctuation and type of signal. The investigations reveal that the CG discharges have higher energy in 17th to 20th layers compared to the rest. However, the opposite results were obtained for the case of other cloud activities. To increase the accuracy of the wavelet transform approach algorithm, another filter was added to the algorithm flowchart. The proposed CG discrimination algorithm successfully classified 92% of the randomly selected flashes

مدرنیته و سنت در پزشکی

Introduction: Developments in medical knowledge in the modern age are based on advancement of other sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology and subsequent new technologies. Although using these sciences has helped to identify biochemical mechanisms and metabolism, genetics, more accurate indicator and pathophysiology of diseases, but to understand the causes of diseases and therefore correct and effective treatment methods for them, less success has been achieved. The gap between biomedicine and its main roots which is called traditional or complementary medicine is the cause of failure to have safe and efficient treatment in conventional medicine. So, nowadays patients and healthcare providers around the world are calling for traditional medicine systems. The aim of this study is to evaluate the challenges arising from the neglect of ancestors' medicine and to introduce the integrated medicine as a right solution to improve public health. Method: This paper reviews traditional medicine books, philosophy of medicine and medical futurism and the articles of both perspectives of traditional medicine and modern medical sciences to assess the strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches in the prevention and treatment of diseases. Results: The effect of improved nutrition, environmental health, birth control, and improve the level of human body immunity in different communities on control of infectious diseases have been more than the effect of modern medical sciences. During the last decades various health based organizations such as World Health Organization try to determine the appropriate and complete health care methods from traditional medicine schools among different communities. These more effective and safer treatment methods in traditional medicine, are called alternative and complementary medicine. Since the traditional medical schools in the world, faced with public interest and also many studies have proven their effectiveness, nowadays, it is common to use the phrase "integrated medicine" even in the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) in USA. Discussion & Conclusion: Integrative medicine provides an opportunity for scientists and public health officials to understand diseases, their causes and their mechanisms of creation more accurately. So they can introduce inexpensive, safer and more effective procedures to prevention and treatment of diseases.مقدمه: تحولات دانش پزشکی در عصر جدید معلول پیشرفت علوم فیزیک، شیمی و زیست‌شناسی و متعاقب آن تکنولوژی‌های نوین است. به مدد این علوم اگرچه مکانیسم‌های بیوشیمیایی و متابولیسم مواد، ژنتیک، نشانگرهای بیماری و پاتوفیزیولوژی بیماری‌ها دقیق‌تر شناسایی شده‌اند، ولی در شناخت سبب و علت بیماری‌ها و متعاقباً درمان درست و مؤثر بیماری‌ها توفیق کم‌تری حاصل شده است. گسست بین بیومدیسین و ریشه‌های اصلی آن، یعنی آنچه که آن را طب سنتی یا مکمل می‌نامند، عامل بروز نابسامانی و عدم توفیق علوم نوین طبی در ارائه درمان ایمن و کارآمد است، چنانکه امروزه بیماران و ارائه‌کنندگان خدمات بهداشتی در سراسر جهان خواستار سیستم‌های طب سنتی هستند. هدف این مطالعه بررسی چالش‌های ناشی از بی‌توجهی به طب نیاکان و معرفی طب تلفیقی به عنوان راهکار مناسب در ارتقای سلامتی جامعه است. روش: این مقاله با بررسی کتب طب سنتی، فلسفه طب و آینده‌نگری در پزشکی و مقالات هر دو دیدگاه طب سنتی و علوم نوین طبی به بررسی نقاط قوت و نقاط ضعف دو دیدگاه طبی در حوزه پیشگیری و درمان می‌پردازد. یافته‌ها: کنترل بیماری‌های واگیردار بیش از این‌که معلول علوم نوین طبی باشد، ناشی از بهبود تغذیه، بهداشت محیط، کنترل موالید و بهبود سطح ایمنی در افراد جامعه است. این در حالی است که سازمان‌های علمی مختلف ناظر بر ابعاد سلامتی و بهداشت نظیر سازمان جهانی بهداشت در دهه‌های اخیر به فکر تعیین روش‌های جایگزین و تکمیل‌کننده مناسب از میان روش‌های درمانی و بهداشتی در طب سنتی جوامع مختلف افتاده‌اند. این روش‌های درمانی طب سنتی حتی با اثربخشی بیشتر و ایمن‌تر طب مکمل یا جایگزین نامیده می‌شوند، ولی از آنجا که مکاتب طبی سنتی با اقبال عمومی مردم در دنیا رو به رو شده‌اند و در مطالعات متعدد اثربخشی آن‌ها ثابت شده است، امروزه از واژه طب تلفیقی استفاده می‌شود که رد پای آن در مرکز ملی سلامت (طب) مکمل و تلفیقی آمریکا[i] دیده می‌شود. نتیجه‌گیری: طب تلفیقی این فرصت را برای دانشمندان و کارگزاران سلامت جامعه فراهم می‌کند تا با نگرشی عمیق‌تر به شناخت بیماری‌ها، اسباب و علل و مکانیسم‌های ایجاد بیماری بپردازند و در آن صورت روش‌های مؤثرتر، ارزان‌تر و ایمن‌تری برای پیشگیری و درمان بیماری‌ها ارائه نمایند. &nbsp

Periconceptional care and offspring health at birth and long term, from the perspective of Avicenna

Periconceptional care such as lifestyle plays an important impact role in offspring health. The aim of the present study was to clarify the perspective of Avicenna on periconceptional care. Avicenna (980-1037 A.D.) was one of the outstanding Persian physicians, who made great contributions to the field of medical sciences, in particular, obstetrics. In advance, Avicenna's book, Canon of Medicine, was considered to find his perspectives on periconceptional care. Then, his ideas and theories were compared to the current findings by searching the keywords in main indexing systems including PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus and Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science as well as the search engine of Google Scholar. Current investigations show that gamete quality, pregnancy outcome, and offspring health at birth and long term depend on both parents' lifestyle in pre- and periconceptional period, as well as the intrauterine environment. Avicenna believed that seminal fluid, sperm, ovum, and developing conditions in utero were influenced by the stages of food digestion and the function of some organs. On the other hand, food digestion and function of the organs also depend on each parent's lifestyle and environmental factors. He mentioned 6 principles of healthy lifestyle: exercise, nutrition, sleep and awareness, excretion of body wastes and retention of necessary materials, psychic features, as well as air and climate. Thus, a multicomponent healthy lifestyle should be considered by parents of child-bearing age in an appropriate period before and in early pregnancy as well as elimination of any disorders in parents, to give birth to more healthy offspring