COMPARATIVE MEASUREMENTS OF HEAD ANGULAR MOVEMENTS USING A CAMERA SYSTEM AND A GYROSCOPE SYSTEM

Assessments of body-segment angular movements are very important in the rehabilitation process. Head angular movements are measured and analyzed for use in studies of stability and posture. However, there is no methodology for assessing angular movements of the head, and it has not been verified whether data measured by fundamentally different MoCap systems will lead to the same results. In this study, we used a camera system and a 3DOF orientation tracker placed on the subject’s head, and measured inclination (roll) and flexion (pitch) during quiet stance. The total length and the mean velocity of the traces of the pitch versus roll plots were used to measure and analyze head orientation. Using these methods, we are able to model the distribution of the measured 2D data, and to evaluate stability and posture. The results show that the total lengths and the mean velocities related to the 3DOF orientation tracker do not differ significantly from the total lengths and the mean velocities of traces related to the IR medical camera. We also found that the systems are not interchangeable, and that the same type of system must be used each time. The designed methods can be used for studies not only of head movements but also of movements of other segments of the human body, and can be used to compare other types of MoCap systems, depending on the requirements for a specific rehabilitation examination

METHODS EVALUATING UPPER ARM AND FOREARM MOVEMENT DURING A QUIET STANCE

The article focuses on designing methods for quantitative assessment of the postural stability in a quiet stance by measuring segments of the appendicular skeleton, namely upper and forearms by inertial measurement units (IMU). Although an array of quantitative analysis methods assessing data of postural stability in the quiet stance exist by measuring the head and trunk movement, these methods have not been used to date to assess the behaviour of appendicular skeleton segments, namely the upper limbs. The applicability of methods assessing arm movement during the quiet stance has been verified by comparing the values of healthy subjects performing various stance tasks. The tests determined the quantitative evaluation of acceleration measured on individual anatomical axes. The quantities included: the volume of a convex polyhedron (PV), the volume of confidence ellipsoid (EV) and average velocity (AV) obtained by plotting three accelerations against each other. The most important findings in this study concern significant differences of PV and AV between dominant and non-dominant upper extremities and significant differences of EV, PV and AV between the data measured with a subject's eyes closed and open. Higher values of indicators were in the non-dominant extremities when subjects were measured with closed eyes. Interestingly, statistically significant differences between dominant and non-dominant arm movements were documented in PV and AV cases. This is due to the PV calculation being more sensitive to random deviations, i.e. the range of measured data, since the polyhedron bounds all the measured data, as opposed to the method, where the ellipse bounds only 95% of the measured data. In the case of the AV method, it is due to higher sensitivity to movements corresponding with arm tremors; the AV calculation relates not only to the range of measured data but, above all, to the intensity of data changes in the segment measured in a particular space and time interval. These conclusions demonstrate that it is possible to apply the proposed methods in the assessment of arm movement during a quiet stance since the differences between individual stance tasks and the dominant and non-dominant arms in specific cases of quiet stance have been identified. These conclusions also indicate a potentially more extensive medical application of the proposed quantitative data evaluation obtained from IMU, for example, within the rehabilitation process of injured appendicular skeleton segments. The use of cheaper IMU methods in mobile phones or watches can be of significant benefit in measuring the segmental movement of the appendicular skeleton in quiet stance.  The methods outlined in this paper have remarkable potential in the field of telemedicine

A phase II, open-label study of gefitinib (IRESSA) in patients with locally advanced, metastatic, or relapsed renal-cell carcinoma

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression has been associated with clinical outcome in some studies of renal-cell carcinoma (RCC). We investigated the efficacy and safety of gefitinib (IRESSA), an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in RCC patients. This phase II trial recruited 28 patients with advanced, metastatic, or relapsed RCC. Patients received oral gefitinib 500mg/day. Objective responses (ORs) were assessed every 2months according to RECIST. Baseline tumor biopsies were analyzed immunohistochemically for EGFR expression. At trial closure (March 2003), no ORs were seen but 14 patients (53.8%) had stable disease. At extended analysis (August 2004), median time to progression was 110days (95% confidence interval [CI]: 55, 117); median overall survival was 303days (95% CI 180, 444). Gefitinib was generally well tolerated. Skin rash and diarrhea were the most common drug-related adverse events (AEs) [54 and 39% of patients, respectively] and the most common drug-related grade 3/4 AEs (both 11%). The majority of tumor biopsies (91%) had ≥70% of tumor cells expressing membrane EGFR. Despite the lack of ORs in this study, disease control was observed in 53.8% of patients. Gefitinib was generally well tolerated and no unexpected drug-related AEs were observe

Dermacentor reticulatus: a vector on the rise

Dermacentor reticulatus is a hard tick species with extraordinary biological features. It has a high reproduction rate, a rapid developmental cycle, and is also able to overcome years of unfavourable conditions. Dermacentor reticulatus can survive under water for several months and is cold-hardy even compared to other tick species. It has a wide host range: over 60 different wild and domesticated hosts are known for the three active developmental stages. Its high adaptiveness gives an edge to this tick species as shown by new data on the emergence and establishment of D. reticulatus populations throughout Europe. The tick has been the research focus of a growing number of scientists, physicians and veterinarians. Within the Web of Science database, more than a fifth of the over 700 items published on this species between 1897 and 2015 appeared in the last three years (2013–2015). Here we attempt to synthesize current knowledge on the systematics, ecology, geographical distribution and recent spread of the species and to highlight the great spectrum of possible veterinary and public health threats it poses. Canine babesiosis caused by Babesia canis is a severe leading canine vector-borne disease in many endemic areas. Although less frequently than Ixodes ricinus, D. reticulatus adults bite humans and transmit several Rickettsia spp., Omsk haemorrhagic fever virus or Tick-borne encephalitis virus. We have not solely collected and reviewed the latest and fundamental scientific papers available in primary databases but also widened our scope to books, theses, conference papers and specialists colleagues’ experience where needed. Besides the dominant literature available in English, we also tried to access scientific literature in German, Russian and eastern European languages as well. We hope to inspire future research projects that are necessary to understand the basic life-cycle and ecology of this vector in order to understand and prevent disease threats. We conclude that although great strides have been made in our knowledge of the eco-epidemiology of this species, several gaps still need to be filled with basic research, targeting possible reservoir and vector roles and the key factors resulting in the observed geographical spread of D. reticulatus. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1599-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Synthetic approaches to inorganic borohydrides

Inorganic borohydrides are actively studied in view of potential hydrogen storage applications. These compounds can be obtained by a variety of reactions ranging from high temperature reactions of the elements to exchange reactions in solution or in solid state. Different approaches will be discussed and compared

Insight into Mg(BH4)2 with Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction: Structure Revision, Crystal Chemistry, and Anomalous Thermal Expansion

Pure Mg(BH4)2 has been characterized by single-crystal and powder synchrotron X-ray diffraction and by vibrational spectroscopies. The earlier reported P61 structure of the α-phase is revised in the space group P6122. Location of the H-atoms from powder data in the published P61 models posed the main problem for the identification of the correct symmetry: wrongly determined orientations of some BH4 groups hampered a successful detection of the true P6122 symmetry. Four nearly ideally tetrahedral BH4 groups form a dodecahedral MgH8 coordination around each Mg atom, which can be described as a slightly distorted snub disphenoid, where two nearly planar BH2−Mg−H2B fragments are situated at ~ 90° dihedral angle. The H···H distances between two BH4 groups within the BH2−Mg−H2B fragments are among the shortest (2.18−2.28 Å) in the structurally characterized metal borohydrides. α-Mg(BH4)2 contains an unoccupied void, accounting for 6.4% of space in the structure. It is large enough (37 Å3) to accommodate a small molecule, such as H2O. The high-temperature β-phase is less dense by ~ 3% but contains no unoccupied voids. The α-phase transforms into the β-phase above 490 K; the latter is quenched (metastable) on cooling. The anomalous cell expansion of the β-phase down to 100 K may be related to the evolution of the free energy profile far from the phase transition temperature

COMPARATIVE MEASUREMENTS OF HEAD ANGULAR MOVEMENTS USING A CAMERA SYSTEM AND A GYROSCOPE SYSTEM

Assessments of body-segment angular movements are very important in the rehabilitation process. Head angular movements are measured and analyzed for use in studies of stability and posture. However, there is no methodology for assessing angular movements of the head, and it has not been verified whether data measured by fundamentally different MoCap systems will lead to the same results. In this study, we used a camera system and a 3DOF orientation tracker placed on the subject’s head, and measured inclination (roll) and flexion (pitch) during quiet stance. The total length and the mean velocity of the traces of the pitch versus roll plots were used to measure and analyze head orientation. Using these methods, we are able to model the distribution of the measured 2D data, and to evaluate stability and posture. The results show that the total lengths and the mean velocities related to the 3DOF orientation tracker do not differ significantly from the total lengths and the mean velocities of traces related to the IR medical camera. We also found that the systems are not interchangeable, and that the same type of system must be used each time. The designed methods can be used for studies not only of head movements but also of movements of other segments of the human body, and can be used to compare other types of MoCap systems, depending on the requirements for a specific rehabilitation examination