Force feedback facilitates multisensory integration during robotic tool use

The present study investigated the effects of force feedback in relation to tool use on the multisensory integration of visuo-tactile information. Participants learned to control a robotic tool through a surgical robotic interface. Following tool-use training, participants performed a crossmodal congruency task, by responding to tactile vibrations applied to their hands, while ignoring visual distractors superimposed on the robotic tools. In the first experiment it was found that tool-use training with force feedback facilitates multisensory integration of signals from the tool, as reflected in a stronger crossmodal congruency effect with the force feedback training compared to training without force feedback and to no training. The second experiment extends these findings by showing that training with realistic online force feedback resulted in a stronger crossmodal congruency effect compared to training in which force feedback was delayed. The present study highlights the importance of haptic information for multisensory integration and extends findings from classical tool-use studies to the domain of robotic tools. We argue that such crossmodal congruency effects are an objective measure of robotic tool integration and propose some potential applications in surgical robotics, robotic tools, and human-tool interactio

The effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy in Misophonia: A Case Report

Misophonia is a condition that is triggered by certain sounds, which leads to unpleasant feelings such as anger, disgust, fear. Misophonia can severely affect patients' daily activities, social life, and interpersonal relationships. For these reasons, lately, misophonia is being recommended to be defined as a psychiatric disorder lately. Here we represent a case with misophonia and discuss the application of the cognitive behavioral psychotherapy as a treatment in an individual with misophonia. Although not being defined as a psychiatric diagnosis, many individuals are suffering from misophonia, and for these individuals, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy seems to be beneficial as a treatment option

Tendon-Based Transmission for Surgical Robotics: Systematic Experimental Friction Modeling.

Increased miniaturization of surgical instruments is essential to successfully perform surgical procedures in restricted areas as in many applications of minimally-invasive surgery. Miniaturization permits increase in dexterity and decrease in access incisions which are required in many sur- gical procedures. Tendon-based transmissions provide several important advantages for the mechanical design of miniaturized surgical devices. Reflected mass and inertia are reduced since tendon-based transmissions allow to locate the motors far apart from the actuated joint. In spite of providing several important advantages, they introduce several non linear effects that must be considered and modeled to achieve suitable performance. In this paper tendon-based transmission system for surgical robotics is illustrated. And nonlinear friction, due to direct sliding of synthetic fiber cables over small fixed pulleys (pins) is discussed and models aiming at compensating these nonlinearities are presented

The gender roles attitudes of medicals students: A cross-sectional study

Objective: Gender roles; refers to the roles traditionally associated with women and men. In studies conducted to determine the attitudes of university students towards gender roles in our country, it has been shown in different studies that male students have a more traditional view of gender roles than female students. In this study, it was aimed to determine the attitudes of university students studying gender roles and to investigate the effect of medical education on these attitudes. Method:This study is cross-sectional and conducted with the first and sixth year students who are studying medicine at Eskisehir Osmangazi University (ESOGÜ) Faculty of Medicine. Sociodemographic form and Gender Roles Attitude Scale (TCRSS) were applied to participants. Results: There was a significant difference between the first and sixth grades in terms of total TCRSS score and subscale scores (p> 0.05). There was no difference between the first and sixth grades (p> 0.05) in terms of averages of the scale scores for males (p> 0.05) when the scores of the groups were compared with the scores of the TCRSS and subscales after the participants had separated by sex. In the females, 6th-grade students had significantly higher traditional gender subscale scores (p = 0.033). Discussion: This study is, to our knowledge, the first study in the literature investigating attitudes towards gender roles in medical students in our country. In terms of content, it is recommended that medical education be organized to provide a transformative contribution to the attitudes of students towards gender roles

Relationship between intratumoral expression of genes coding for xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes and benefit from adjuvant tamoxifen in estrogen receptor alpha-positive postmenopausal breast carcinoma

INTRODUCTION: Little is known of the function and clinical significance of intratumoral dysregulation of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzyme expression in breast cancer. One molecular mechanism proposed to explain tamoxifen resistance is altered tamoxifen metabolism and bioavailability. METHODS: To test this hypothesis, we used real-time quantitative RT-PCR to quantify the mRNA expression of a large panel of genes coding for the major xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes (12 phase I enzymes, 12 phase II enzymes and three members of the ABC transporter family) in a small series of normal breast (and liver) tissues, and in estrogen receptor alpha (ERα)-negative and ERα-positive breast tumors. Relevant genes were further investigated in a well-defined cohort of 97 ERα-positive postmenopausal breast cancer patients treated with primary surgery followed by adjuvant tamoxifen alone. RESULTS: Seven of the 27 genes showed very weak or undetectable expression in both normal and tumoral breast tissues. Among the 20 remaining genes, seven genes (CYP2A6, CYP2B6, FMO5, NAT1, SULT2B1, GSTM3 and ABCC11) showed significantly higher mRNA levels in ERα-positive breast tumors than in normal breast tissue, or showed higher mRNA levels in ERα-positive breast tumors than in ERα-negative breast tumors. In the 97 ERα-positive breast tumor series, most alterations of these seven genes corresponded to upregulations as compared with normal breast tissue, with an incidence ranging from 25% (CYP2A6) to 79% (NAT1). Downregulation was rare. CYP2A6, CYP2B6, FMO5 and NAT1 emerged as new putative ERα-responsive genes in human breast cancer. Relapse-free survival was longer among patients with FMO5-overexpressing tumors or NAT1-overexpressing tumors (P = 0.0066 and P = 0.000052, respectively), but only NAT1 status retained prognostic significance in Cox multivariate regression analysis (P = 0.0013). CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these data point to a role of genes coding for xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes in breast tumorigenesis, NAT1 being an attractive candidate molecular predictor of antiestrogen responsiveness

Muzułmanie jako inni w literaturze angielskiej okresu średniowiecza

Jednym z najczęstszych pytań o literaturę jest jak często, jeśli w ogóle, może ona w sposób godny zaufania przedstawiać współczesne sobie społeczeństwo. Wątpliwym jest, czy z faktów historycznych wynikają szczegółowe i obiektywne informacje dotyczące danej epoki. Jesteśmy jednak przekonani, że literatura zapewnia nam często szerszy i głębszy wgląd w aspiracje, myśli i poglądy społeczeństw. Celem niniejszej pracy jest próba określenia sposobu w jaki średniowieczna angielska literatura odzwierciedla aspekt ‘inności’ w odniesieniu do Saracenów. Wnioski końcowe zostały sformułowane na podstawie analizy pięciu średnioangielskich tekstów powstałych między trzynastym a piątnastym wiekiem, które w całości bądź w części poświęcone są tematowi Saracenów. Z uwagi na swą ograniczoną pojemność, praca przedstawia jedynie ogólny zarys problemu, i koncentruje się na negatywnych aspektach relacji pomiędzy Saracenami i chrześcijanami, opisanymi przez autorów badanych tekstów.It is often doubted to what extent, if at all, literature can give a reasonable and trustable representation of a contemporary society. It is unquestionable that historical facts provide us with accurate and objective information about a given period of time. However, we are convinced that literature can often give us a greater and deeper insight into the perceptions, thoughts and worldview of a society. In this dissertation our aim is to attempt to identify the way in which Medieval English literature reflects the aspect of ‘otherness’ with reference to the Saracens. The conclusions we have reached are according to our research on 5 Middle English texts from 13th to 15th centuries. The texts we have chosen are either shortly mentioning Saracens or presenting them in detail. On account of the limitedness of our research, we have only given an overview of relations between the Saracens and the Christians and how the Christian attitudes towards the Saracens are presented in literary texts

Influence of force and torque feedback on operator performance in a VR-based suturing task

The introduction of Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) has revolutionised surgical care, considerably improving the quality of many surgical procedures. Technological advances, particularly in robotic surgery systems, have reduced the complexity of such an approach, paving the way for even less invasive surgical trends. However, the fact that haptic feedback has been progressively lost through this transition is an issue that to date has not been solved. Whereas traditional open surgery provides full haptic feedback, the introduction of MIS has eliminated the possibility of direct palpation and tactile exploration. Nevertheless, these procedures still provide a certain amount of force feedback through the rigid laparoscopic tool. Many of the current telemanipulated robotic surgical systems in return do not provide full haptic feedback, which to a certain extent can be explained by the requirement of force sensors integrated into the tools of the slave robot and actuators in the surgeon's master console. In view of the increased complexity and cost, the benefit of haptic feedback is open to dispute. Nevertheless, studies have shown the importance of haptic feedback, especially when visual feedback is unreliable or absent. In order to explore the importance of haptic feedback for the surgeon's master console of a novel teleoperated robotic surgical system, we have identified a typical surgical task where performance could potentially be improved by haptic feedback, and investigate performance with and without this feedback. Two rounds of experiments are performed with 10 subjects, six of them with a medical background. Results show that feedback conditions, including force feedback, significantly improve task performance independently of the operator's suturing experience. There is, however, no further significant improvement when torque feedback is added. Consequently, it is deduced that force feedback in translations improves subject's dexterity, while torque feedback might not further benefit such a task

Haptic Perception of Virtual Spring Stiffness Using ExoTen-Glove

This paper presents a study of haptic perception of virtual stiffness and the influence of visual feedback in virtual reality. In this study, a novel and lightweight hap- tic glove (ExoTen-Glove) based on Twisted String Actuation (TSA) system is presented and evaluated. This system has two independent TSA modules with integrated force sensors and small-size DC motors. ExoTen-Glove provides force feedback to the users during the execution of grasping virtual objects. The overall design, the controller and the preliminary experimental evaluation of the ExoTen-Glove have been shown in this paper. Different experiments have been performed in virtual reality environment using HTC VIVE headset with 2 degrees of freedom grasping tasks, squeezing a pair of virtual springs with the participant’s thumb and index fingers. The aim of this study is to illustrate the benefit of using ExoTen-Glove to distinguish stiffness of a pair of virtual springs and the role of the visual feedback. The results show that the users use not only haptic cues but also use visual cues in detecting spring stiffness difference.status: Published onlin