Industrial cyber physical systems supported by distributed advanced data analytics

The industry digitization is transforming its business models, organizational structures and operations, mainly promoted by the advances and the mass utilization of smart methods, devices and products, being leveraged by initiatives like Industrie 4.0. In this context, the data is a valuable asset that can support the smart factory features through the use of Big Data and advanced analytics approaches. In order to address such requirements and related challenges, Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) promote the development of more intelligent, adaptable and responsiveness supervisory and control systems capable to overcome the inherent complexity and dynamics of industrial environments. In this context, this work presents an agent-based industrial CPS, where agents are endowed with data analysis capabilities for distributed, collaborative and adaptive process supervision and control. Additionally, to address the different industrial levels’ requirements, this work combines two main data analysis scopes: at operational level, applying distributed data stream analysis for rapid response monitoring and control, and at supervisory level, applying big data analysis for decision-making, planning and optimization. Some experiments have been performed in the context of an electric micro grid where agents were able to perform distributed data analysis to predict the renewable energy production.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Multi-catheter cryotherapy for the treatment of resistant accessory pathways.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the utility of simultaneous multi-catheter cryotherapy for the treatment of APs that were previously resistant to standard radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation. BACKGROUND: Catheter ablation is established in the treatment of accessory pathways (AP), with high rates of permanent procedural success with a single attempt. However, there are still instances of acute procedural failure and AP recurrences with standard RF and cryotherapy methods. METHODS: Seven consecutive cases of pre-excitation syndromes with prior failed RF catheter ablation had the novel treatment. Cryotherapy was delivered using two 8 mm tip focal cryoablation catheters (Freezor® Max, Medtronic, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA). RESULTS: Accessory pathway localisation was septal in 5 cases, left posterolateral in 1, right lateral in 1. In all cases, ablation of the AP was acutely successful with no procedural complications. Median procedure and fluoroscopy durations were 199 and 35 min, sequentially. Median Procedure duration fell significantly in the second half of series (174 min) compared to the first half (233 min, P = 0.05). One patient had evidence of a recurring AP conduction with pre-excitation at 5-week follow up. After a median follow up of 66.8+-6.5 months, 6 out of 7 patients remained asymptomatic and free of pre-excitation. CONCLUSION: Simultaneous multi-catheter cryotherapy is feasible, safe and can provide definitive cure of accessory pathways that were previously resistant to standard radiofrequency ablation. Further study is required in the assessment of this novel form of advanced cryotherapy to treat complex and resistant arrhythmias

A glycoconjugate of Haemophilus influenzae Type b capsular polysaccharide with tetanus toxoid protein: hydrodynamic properties mainly influenced by the carbohydrate

Three important physical properties which may affect the performance of glycoconjugate vaccines against serious disease are molar mass (molecular weight), heterogeneity (polydispersity), and conformational flexibility in solution. The dilute solution behaviour of native and activated capsular polyribosylribitol (PRP) polysaccharides extracted from Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and the corresponding glycoconjugate made by conjugating this with the tetanus toxoid (TT) protein have been characterized and compared using a combination of sedimentation equilibrium and sedimentation velocity in the analytical ultracentrifuge with viscometry. The weight average molar mass of the activated material was considerably reduced (Mw ~ 0.24 × 106 g.mol−1) compared to the native (Mw ~ 1.2 × 106 g.mol−1). Conjugation with the TT protein yielded large polydisperse structures (of Mw ~ 7.4 × 106 g.mol−1), but which retained the high degree of flexibility of the native and activated polysaccharide, with frictional ratio, intrinsic viscosity, sedimentation conformation zoning behaviour and persistence length all commensurate with highly flexible coil behaviour and unlike the previously characterised tetanus toxoid protein (slightly extended and hydrodynamically compact structure with an aspect ratio of ~3). This non-protein like behaviour clearly indicates that it is the carbohydrate component which mainly influences the physical behaviour of the glycoconjugate in solution

Auxetic cardiac patches with tunable mechanical and conductive properties toward treating myocardial infarction

An auxetic conductive cardiac patch (AuxCP) for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI) is introduced. The auxetic design gives the patch a negative Poisson's ratio, providing it with the ability to conform to the demanding mechanics of the heart. The conductivity allows the patch to interface with electroresponsive tissues such as the heart. Excimer laser microablation is used to micropattern a re-entrant honeycomb (bow-tie) design into a chitosan-polyaniline composite. It is shown that the bow-tie design can produce patches with a wide range in mechanical strength and anisotropy, which can be tuned to match native heart tissue. Further, the auxetic patches are conductive and cytocompatible with murine neonatal cardiomyocytes in vitro. Ex vivo studies demonstrate that the auxetic patches have no detrimental effect on the electrophysiology of both healthy and MI rat hearts and conform better to native heart movements than unpatterned patches of the same material. Finally, the AuxCP applied in a rat MI model results in no detrimental effect on cardiac function and negligible fibrotic response after two weeks in vivo. This approach represents a versatile and robust platform for cardiac biomaterial design and could therefore lead to a promising treatment for MI

A systematic review of psychosocial interventions for family carers of palliative care patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Being a family carer to a patient nearing the end of their life is a challenging and confronting experience. Studies show that caregiving can have negative consequences on the health of family carers including fatigue, sleep problems, depression, anxiety and burnout. One of the goals of palliative care is to provide psychosocial support to patients and families facing terminal illness. A systematic review of interventions for family carers of cancer and palliative care patients conducted at the start of this millennium demonstrated that there was a dearth of rigorous inquiry on this topic and consequently limited knowledge regarding the types of interventions likely to be effective in meeting the complex needs of family carers. We wanted to discern whether or not the evidence base to support family carers has improved. Furthermore, undertaking this review was acknowledged as one of the priorities for the International Palliative Care Family Carer Research Collaboration <url>http://www.centreforpallcare.org</url>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic review was undertaken in order to identify developments in family carer support that have occurred over the last decade. The focus of the review was on interventions that targeted improvements in the psychosocial support of family carers of palliative care patients. Studies were graded to assess their quality.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The focus of interventions included psycho-education, psychosocial support, carer coping, symptom management, sleep promotion and family meetings. Five studies were randomised controlled trials, three of which met the criteria for the highest quality evidence. There were two prospective studies, five pre-test/post-test projects and two qualitative studies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The systematic review identified a slight increase in the quality and quantity of psychosocial interventions conducted for family carers in the last decade. More rigorous intervention research is required in order to meet the supportive care needs of family carers of palliative care patients.</p

A conducting polymer with enhanced electronic stability applied in cardiac models

Electrically active constructs can have a beneficial effect on electroresponsive tissues, such as the brain, heart, and nervous system. Conducting polymers (CPs) are being considered as components of these constructs because of their intrinsic electroactive and flexible nature. However, their clinical application has been largely hampered by their short operational time due to a decrease in their electronic properties. We show that, by immobilizing the dopant in the conductive scaffold, we can prevent its electric deterioration. We grew polyaniline (PANI) doped with phytic acid on the surface of a chitosan film. The strong chelation between phytic acid and chitosan led to a conductive patch with retained electroactivity, low surface resistivity (35.85 ± 9.40 kilohms per square), and oxidized form after 2 weeks of incubation in physiological medium. Ex vivo experiments revealed that the conductive nature of the patch has an immediate effect on the electrophysiology of the heart. Preliminary in vivo experiments showed that the conductive patch does not induce proarrhythmogenic activities in the heart. Our findings set the foundation for the design of electronically stable CP-based scaffolds. This provides a robust conductive system that could be used at the interface with electroresponsive tissue to better understand the interaction and effect of these materials on the electrophysiology of these tissues

Calcium modulates force sensing by the von Willebrand factor A2 domain

von Willebrand factor (VWF) multimers mediate primary adhesion and aggregation of platelets. VWF potency critically depends on multimer size, which is regulated by a feedback mechanism involving shear-induced unfolding of the VWF-A2 domain and cleavage by the metalloprotease ADAMTS-13. Here we report crystallographic and single-molecule optical tweezers data on VWF-A2 providing mechanistic insight into calcium-mediated stabilization of the native conformation that protects A2 from cleavage by ADAMTS-13. Unfolding of A2 requires higher forces when calcium is present and primarily proceeds through a mechanically stable intermediate with non-native calcium coordination. Calcium further accelerates refolding markedly, in particular, under applied load. We propose that calcium improves force sensing by allowing reversible force switching under physiologically relevant hydrodynamic conditions. Our data show for the first time the relevance of metal coordination for mechanical properties of a protein involved in mechanosensing

Evaluation of the impact of a school gardening intervention on children's fruit and vegetable intake: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Current academic literature suggests that school gardening programmes can provide an interactive environment with the potential to change children’s fruit and vegetable intake. This is the first cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) designed to evaluate whether a school gardening programme can have an effect on children’s fruit and vegetable intake. Methods: The trial included children from 23 schools; these schools were randomised into two groups, one to receive the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)-led intervention and the other to receive the less involved Teacher-led intervention. A 24-hour food diary (CADET) was used to collect baseline and follow-up dietary intake 18 months apart. Questionnaires were also administered to evaluate the intervention implementation. Results: A total of 641 children completed the trial with a mean age of 8.1 years (95% CI: 8.0, 8.4). The unadjusted results from multilevel regression analysis revealed that for combined daily fruit and vegetable intake the Teacher-led group had a higher daily mean change of 8 g (95% CI: −19, 36) compared to the RHS-led group -32 g (95% CI: −60, −3). However, after adjusting for possible confounders this difference was not significant (intervention effect: −40 g, 95% CI: −88, 1; p = 0.06). The adjusted analysis of process measures identified that if schools improved their gardening score by 3 levels (a measure of school gardening involvement - the scale has 6 levels from 0 ‘no garden’ to 5 ‘community involvement’), irrespective of group allocation, children had, on average, a daily increase of 81 g of fruit and vegetable intake (95% CI: 0, 163; p = 0.05) compared to schools that had no change in gardening score. Conclusions: This study is the first cluster randomised controlled trial designed to evaluate a school gardening intervention. The results have found very little evidence to support the claims that school gardening alone can improve children’s daily fruit and vegetable intake. However, when a gardening intervention is implemented at a high level within the school it may improve children’s daily fruit and vegetable intake by a portion. Improving children’s fruit and vegetable intake remains a challenging task

Examining a staging model for anorexia nervosa: empirical exploration of a four stage model of severity.

Background: An illness staging model for anorexia nervosa (AN) has received increasing attention, but assessing the merits of this concept is dependent on empirically examining a model in clinical samples. Building on preliminary findings regarding the reliability and validity of the Clinician Administered Staging Instrument for Anorexia Nervosa (CASIAN), the current study explores operationalising CASIAN severity scores into stages and assesses their relationship with other clinical features. Method: In women with DSM-IV-R AN and sub-threshold AN (all met AN criteria using DSM 5), receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis (n = 67) assessed the relationship between the sensitivity and specificity of each stage of the CASIAN. Thereafter chi-square and post-hoc adjusted residual analysis provided a preliminary assessment of the validity of the stages comparing the relationship between stage and treatment intensity and AN sub-types, and explored movement between stages after six months (Time 3) in a larger cohort (n = 171). Results: The CASIAN significantly distinguished between milder stages of illness (Stage 1 and 2) versus more severe stages of illness (Stages 3 and 4), and approached statistical significance in distinguishing each of the four stages from one other. CASIAN Stages were significantly associated with treatment modality and primary diagnosis, and CASIAN Stage at Time 1 was significantly associated with Stage at 6 month follow-up. Conclusions: Provisional support is provided for a staging model in AN. Larger studies with longer follow-up of cases are now needed to replicate and extend these findings and evaluate the overall utility of staging as well as optimal staging models