Printing-while-moving: a new paradigm for large-scale robotic 3D Printing

Building and Construction have recently become an exciting application ground for robotics. In particular, rapid progress in materials formulation and in robotics technology has made robotic 3D Printing of concrete a promising technique for in-situ construction. Yet, scalability remains an important hurdle to widespread adoption: the printing systems (gantry- based or arm-based) are often much larger than the structure to be printed, hence cumbersome. Recently, a mobile printing system - a manipulator mounted on a mobile base - was proposed to alleviate this issue: such a system, by moving its base, can potentially print a structure larger than itself. However, the proposed system could only print while being stationary, imposing thereby a limit on the size of structures that can be printed in a single take. Here, we develop a system that implements the printing-while-moving paradigm, which enables printing single-piece structures of arbitrary sizes with a single robot. This development requires solving motion planning, localization, and motion control problems that are specific to mobile 3D Printing. We report our framework to address those problems, and demonstrate, for the first time, a printing-while-moving experiment, wherein a 210 cm x 45 cm x 10 cm concrete structure is printed by a robot arm that has a reach of 87 cm.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figur

Thalamic abscess caused by a rare pathogen:streptococcus constellatus

Streptococcus constellatus is a microorganism that lives commensally in the oropharyngeal region, urogenital region, and intestinal tract. However, it can cause infection in patients with certain predisposing factors. Rarely, this microorganism can cause a brain abscess. Thalamic localization of brain abscesses is much rarer than abscesses in other locations of the brain. Brain abscess caused by streptococcus constellatus are very rarely been reported in the literature. We present a rare case of a left-sided thalamic abscess caused by streptococcus constellatus in a 25-year-old male patient who was injured by shrapnel pieces in the head and who was malnourished. The patient was successfully treated by stereotactic aspiration and antibiotherapy.Pan African Medical Journal 2016; 2

Search full text options here 3 of 3 Heat-Mitigated Design and Lorentz Force-Based Steering of an MRI-Driven Microcatheter toward Minimally Invasive Surgery

Catheters integrated with microcoils for electromagnetic steering under the high, uniform magnetic field within magnetic resonance (MR) scanners (3-7 Tesla) have enabled an alternative approach for active catheter operations. Achieving larger ranges of tip motion for Lorentz force-based steering have previously been dependent on using high power coupled with active cooling, bulkier catheter designs, or introducing additional microcoil sets along the catheter. This work proposes an alternative approach using a heat-mitigated design and actuation strategy for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-driven microcatheter. A quad-configuration microcoil (QCM) design is introduced, allowing miniaturization of existing MRI-driven, Lorentz force-based catheters down to 1-mm diameters with minimal power consumption (0.44 W). Heating concerns are experimentally validated using noninvasive MRI thermometry. The Cosserat model is implemented within an MR scanner and results demonstrate a desired tip range up to 110 degrees with 4 degrees error. The QCM is used to validate the proposed model and power-optimized steering algorithm using an MRI-compatible neurovascular phantom and ex vivo kidney tissue. The power-optimized tip orientation controller conserves as much as 25% power regardless of the catheter\u27s initial orientation. These results demonstrate the implementation of an MRI-driven, electromagnetic catheter steering platform for minimally invasive surgical applications without the need for camera feedback or manual advancement via guidewires. The incorporation of such system in clinics using the proposed design and actuation strategy can further improve the safety and reliability of future MRI-driven active catheter operations

Spinal Intramedullary Metastasis of Breast Cancer

Objective. Breast cancer accounts for approximately one-third of all cancers in females. Approximately 8.5 % of all central nervous system metastases are located in the spinal cord. These patients have rapidly progressing neurological deficits and require immediate examination. The aim of surgery is decompression of neural tissue and histological evaluation of the tumor. In this paper, we present a case of breast cancer metastasis in thoracic spinal intramedullary area which had been partially excised and then given adjuvant radiotherapy. Case. A 43-year-old female patient with breast cancer for 8 years was admitted to our hospital with complaints of weakness in both legs. Eight years ago, she received chemotherapy and radiotherapy. On her neurological examination, she had paraparesis (left lower extremity: 2/5, right lower extremity: 3/5) and urinary incontinence. Spinal MRI revealed a gadolinium enhancing intramedullary lesion. Pathologic examination of the lesion was consistent with breast carcinoma metastasis. The patient has been taken into radiotherapy. Conclusion. Spinal intramedullary metastasis of breast cancer is an extremely rare situation, but it has a high morbidity and mortality rate. Microsurgical resection is necessary for preservation or amelioration of neurological state and also for increased life expectancy and quality

Attitudes of Pregnant Women toward the COVID-19 Vaccine

Objective: It was carried out to determine the attitudes of pregnant women toward the Covid-19 vaccine and related factors. Methods: The correlational and descriptive study was conducted with 356 pregnant women. In the study, data were collected using an introductory questionnaire, "Attitudes towards Covid-19 Vaccine Scale", "Vaccination Hesitancy in Pandemics Scale", and "Covid-19 Vaccine Literacy Scale". Research data were analyzed with SPSS 25 package program. One-way ANOVA and Student-t test were used to determine the difference between the descriptive characteristics of the pregnant women participating in the study and the total and sub-dimension mean scores of the Attitude Scale towards the Covid-19 Vaccine. Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between the Vaccine Hesitancy Scale in Pandemics, the Covid-19 Vaccine Literacy Scale, and the Attitudes Towards Covid-19 Vaccine Scale. Linear regression analysis was used to determine the factors affecting the Attitudes of Pregnants towards the Covid-19 Vaccine. Results: It was concluded that 37.4% of the pregnant women did not have any Covid-19 vaccine, 62.6% had the Covid-19 vaccine before pregnancy, and 22.5% had the vaccine during pregnancy. In pregnant women, those who have hesitations about the vaccine in cases such as working, increase in education level, fear of contracting Covid-19 before birth, having pre-pregnancy Covid-19 vaccine, thinking that pregnant women may have Covid-19 vaccine, getting Covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy, etc. increase their attitudes towards vaccination. Conclusion: Consider to change the conclusion: It was found that quite a few pregnant women received the Covid-19 vaccine during their pregnancy. Pregnant women's vaccination hesitancy influences their attitudes toward Covid-19

Deneysel künt kafa travmasında N-asetilsisteinin sekonder beyin hasarı üzerine etkisi / The effect of N-acetylcysteine on secondary damage in experimental closed head injury

ÖZET N-asetilsistein' in, glutatyon prekürsörü, antioksidan ve serebest radikal temizleyicisi olarak yararlı etkileri, santral sinir sistemi iskemi ve iskemi/reperfüzyon modelleriyle ortaya konmuştur. Ancak N-asetilsistein'in santral sinir sistemi travmasındaki etkileri daha az anlaşılmıştır. Bu çalışmada, ratlarda oluşturulan deneysel künt kafa travması modeliyle N- asetilsistein'in sekonder hasar üzerine tedavi edici etkisi incelenmeye çalışılmıştır. Otuz altı erkek Sprague-Dawley rat, her bir grupta 12 rat olacak şekilde rastgele üç gruba ayrıldı: Grup 1 (kontrol), Grup 2 (travma), ve Grup 3 (travma + N-asetilsistein tedavisi). Grup 2 ve 3' de, koronal sütürün hemen önünde ve sağ hemisferde bir noktaya gelecek şekilde kafatasına 7 cm yükseklikten bir travma uygulandı. Ratlar, travmadan sonra 2. saatte (Altgrup 1A, 2A ve 3A) ve 12. saatte (Altgrup 1B, 2B ve 3B) sakrifiye edildi. Beyin dokusu biyokimyasal ve histopatolojik inceleme için çıkarıldı. Künt kafa travması kontrollerle kıyaslandığında doku malonildialdehid düzeylerini önemli oranda yükseltti (p< 0.05).Travmadan sonra tek doz N-asetilsistein (150 mg/kg) uygulanması, atmış malonildialdehid düzeylerini önemli oranda düşürerek koruyucu etki gösterdi (p<0.05). Histopatolojik çalışma sonuçları sadece travmaya maruz kalan grupta, nöronların ileri derecede koyulaştığını ve piknotik nukleusta dejenerasyon geliştiğini gösterdi. N-asetilsistein ile tedavi edilen grupta nöronların morfolojisi oldukça iyi korundu. Sadece travmaya maruz kalan grupta nöron sayısı, hem kontrol grubundan hem de travma ile birlikte N-asetilsistein tedavisi uygulanan gruptan ciddi derecede daha düşük bulundu. Sonuçlar, N-asetilsistein tedavisinin travmaya bağlı oksidatif beyin dokusu hasarından korunma için faydalı olabileceğini ortaya koydu. Anahtar sözcükler: Beyin dokusu, malonildialdehid , caspase-3, kafa travması, rat, N-asetilsisteinTHE EFFECT OF N-ACETYLCYSTEINE ON SECONDARY DAMAGE IN EXPERIMENTAL CLOSED HEAD INJURY SUMMARY The beneficial effect of N-acetylcysteine as a precursor of glutathione, an antioxidant, and a free radical scavenger on nervous system ischemia and ischemia/reperfusion models has been well documented. However, the effect of N-acetylcysteine on nervous system trauma remains less understood. In this study, we aimed to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of N- acetylcysteine with an experimental closed head trauma model in rats. Thirty-six adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups of 12 rats each: Group 1 (control), Group 2 (trauma-alone), and Group 3 (trauma+ N- acetylcysteine treatment). In Groups 2 and 3, a cranial impact was delivered to the skull from a height of 7 cm at a point just in front of the coronal suture and over the right hemisphere. Rats were sacrificed at 2 h (Subgroups 1A, 2A, and 3A) and 12 h (Subgroups 1B, 2B, and 3B) after the onset of injury. Brain tissues were removed for biochemical and histopathological investigation. The closed head trauma significantly increased tissue malondialdehyde levels (p< 0.05) when compared with controls. The administration of a single dose of N- acetylcysteine (150 mg/kg) 15 min after the trauma has shown protective effect via decreasing significantly the elevated malondialdehyde levels (p < 0.05). The histopathological study revealed that in the trauma-alone group, the neurons became extensively dark and degenerated into picnotic nuclei. The morphology of neurons in the N-acetylcysteine treatment group was well protected. The number of neurons in the trauma-alone group was significantly less than that of both the control and trauma+ N- acetylcysteine treatment groups. In conclusion, the N-acetylcysteine treatment might be beneficial in preventing trauma-induced oxidative brain tissue damage. Key words: Brain tissue, malondialdehyde, caspase-3, head injury, rat, N- acetylcystein