Simulating dynamic facial expressions of pain from visuo-haptic interactions with a robotic patient

Medical training simulators can provide a safe and controlled environment for medical students to practice their physical examination skills. An important source of information for physicians is the visual feedback of involuntary pain facial expressions in response to physical palpation on an affected area of a patient. However, most existing robotic medical training simulators that can capture physical examination behaviours in real-time cannot display facial expressions and comprise a limited range of patient identities in terms of ethnicity and gender. Together, these limitations restrict the utility of medical training simulators because they do not provide medical students with a representative sample of pain facial expressions and face identities, which could result in biased practices. Further, these limitations restrict the utility of such medical simulators to detect and correct early signs of bias in medical training. Here, for the first time, we present a robotic system that can simulate facial expressions of pain in response to palpations, displayed on a range of patient face identities. We use the unique approach of modelling dynamic pain facial expressions using a data-driven perception-based psychophysical method combined with the visuo-haptic inputs of users performing palpations on a robot medical simulator. Specifically, participants performed palpation actions on the abdomen phantom of a simulated patient, which triggered the real-time display of six pain-related facial Action Units (AUs) on a robotic face (MorphFace), each controlled by two pseudo randomly generated transient parameters: rate of change β and activation delay τ. Participants then rated the appropriateness of the facial expression displayed in response to their palpations on a 4-point scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. Each participant (n=16, 4 Asian females, 4 Asian males, 4 White females and 4 White males) performed 200 palpation trials on 4 patient identities (Black female, Black male, White female and White male) simulated using MorphFace. Results showed facial expressions rated as most appropriate by all participants comprise a higher rate of change and shorter delay from upper face AUs (around the eyes) to those in the lower face (around the mouth). In contrast, we found that transient parameter values of most appropriate-rated pain facial expressions, palpation forces, and delays between palpation actions varied across participant-simulated patient pairs according to gender and ethnicity. These findings suggest that gender and ethnicity biases affect palpation strategies and the perception of pain facial expressions displayed on MorphFace. We anticipate that our approach will be used to generate physical examination models with diverse patient demographics to reduce erroneous judgments in medical students, and provide focused training to address these errors

Sustainability and the financial system – Review of Literature

open access articleMuch actuarial work is underpinned by the use of economic models derived from mainstream academic theories of finance and economics which treat money as being a neutral medium of exchange. The sustainability of a financial system whose understanding is based on a limited view of the role of money has increasingly been subject to criticism. In order to identify needed research programmes to address such criticisms and improve these disciplines, we sought to understand the current state of knowledge in economics and finance concerning the link between monetary and financial factors and sustainability. We have approached this through a search for relevant literature published in the highest-rated academic journals in economics, finance and the social sciences for titles and abstracts containing both references to the financial system on the one hand, and sustainability and environmental factors on the other. The systematic search of a universe of 125 journals and 355,000 articles yielded the finding that surprisingly few research papers jointly address these concepts. Nevertheless, we find that current research shares a broad consensus that the implications of the growth-oriented economic model results in an increasingly interconnected and fragile financial system whose participants are not incentivised to fully recognise the natural environment and resource constraints. We further observe that the prescriptions offered are relatively limited and small-scale in their outlook and that there is a vital need for further research, particularly for actuaries who are required to take a longer-term outlook. The Resource and Environment Board has supported this work with two key objectives: first, to identify research that may have direct application to actuarial work and, second, to identify gaps in academic research that would help drive the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ own research agenda. With this in mind there are three further areas of potential actuarial research. These are the policy aim of pursuing growth without limit within a finite ecosystem; discount factors as the primary means of capital allocation and investment decisions; and the use of gross domestic product as the key metric of economic activity and success. We also conclude that further academic research is urgently needed to understand the sustainability of the banking and monetary system

Magnetic effects at the interface between nonmagnetic oxides

The electronic reconstruction at the interface between two insulating oxides can give rise to a highly-conductive interface. In analogy to this remarkable interface-induced conductivity we show how, additionally, magnetism can be induced at the interface between the otherwise nonmagnetic insulating perovskites SrTiO3 and LaAlO3. A large negative magnetoresistance of the interface is found, together with a logarithmic temperature dependence of the sheet resistance. At low temperatures, the sheet resistance reveals magnetic hysteresis. Magnetic ordering is a key issue in solid-state science and its underlying mechanisms are still the subject of intense research. In particular, the interplay between localized magnetic moments and the spin of itinerant conduction electrons in a solid gives rise to intriguing many-body effects such as Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interactions, the Kondo effect, and carrier-induced ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductors. The conducting oxide interface now provides a versatile system to induce and manipulate magnetic moments in otherwise nonmagnetic materials.Comment: Nature Materials, July issu

Magnetic Penetration Depth in Unconventional Superconductors

This topical review summarizes various features of magnetic penetration depth in unconventional superconductors. Precise measurements of the penetration depth as a function of temperature, magnetic field and crystal orientation can provide detailed information about the pairing state. Examples are given of unconventional pairing in hole- and electron-doped cuprates, organic and heavy fermion superconductors. The ability to apply an external magnetic field adds a new dimension to penetration depth measurements. We discuss how field dependent measurements can be used to study surface Andreev bound states, nonlinear Meissner effects, magnetic impurities, magnetic ordering, proximity effects and vortex motion. We also discuss how penetration depth measurements as a function of orientation can be used to explore superconductors with more than one gap and with anisotropic gaps. Details relevant to the analysis of penetration depth data in anisotropic samples are also discussed.Comment: topical review, 57 pages, 219 reference

Unambiguous observation of blocked states reveals altered, blocker-induced, cardiac ryanodine receptor gating

The flow of ions through membrane channels is precisely regulated by gates. The architecture and function of these elements have been studied extensively, shedding light on the mechanisms underlying gating. Recent investigations have focused on ion occupancy of the channel’s selectivity filter and its ability to alter gating, with most studies involving prokaryotic K+ channels. Some studies used large quaternary ammonium blocker molecules to examine the effects of altered ionic flux on gating. However, the absence of blocking events that are visibly distinct from closing events in K+ channels makes unambiguous interpretation of data from single channel recordings difficult. In this study, the large K+ conductance of the RyR2 channel permits direct observation of blocking events as distinct subconductance states and for the first time demonstrates the differential effects of blocker molecules on channel gating. This experimental platform provides valuable insights into mechanisms of blocker-induced modulation of ion channel gating

Electric and magnetic charges in N=2 conformal supergravity theories

General Lagrangians are constructed for N=2 conformal supergravity theories in four space-time dimensions involving gauge groups with abelian and/or non-abelian electric and magnetic charges. The charges are encoded in the gauge group embedding tensor. The scalar potential induced by the gauge interactions is quadratic in this tensor, and, when the embedding tensor is treated as a spurionic quantity, it is formally covariant with respect to electric/magnetic duality. This work establishes a general framework for studying any deformation induced by gauge interactions of matter-coupled N=2 supergravity theories. As an application, full and residual supersymmetry realizations in maximally symmetric space-times are reviewed. Furthermore, a general classification is presented of supersymmetric solutions in $\mathrm{AdS}_2\times S^2$ space-times. As it turns out, these solutions allow either eight or four supersymmetries. With four supersymmetries, the spinorial parameters are Killing spinors of $\mathrm{AdS}_2$ that are constant on $S^2$, so that they carry no spin, while the bosonic background is rotationally invariant.Comment: 49 pages, typos correcte

Emerging adults' cultural values, prosocial behaviors, and mental health in 14 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Evidence suggests an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, particularly among emerging adults. However, theories on altruism born of suffering or adversarial growth suggest that we might also see prosocial behavior as a function of the pandemic, which may protect against mental health challenges. Because cultural values are central in determining prosocial behavior, the current study explored how cultural values were differentially associated with adaptive prosocial behaviors that might protect against mental health challenges. Participants for the current study included 5,682 young people aged 18-25 years from 14 different countries around the world (68% female, 62% college students). Path analyses suggested that there were few differences in patterns as a function of culture, but revealed that horizontal individualism and horizontal and vertical collectivism were indirectly associated with lower levels of depression via prosocial behavior toward family members. Discussion focuses on the importance of coping by strengthening family relationships via prosocial behavior during the pandemic

Observing interactions between children and adolescents and their parents: the effects of anxiety disorder and age

Parental behaviors, most notably overcontrol, lack of warmth and expressed anxiety, have been implicated in models of the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in children and young people. Theories of normative development have proposed that different parental responses are required to support emotional development in childhood and adolescence, yet age has not typically been taken into account in studies of parenting and anxiety disorders. In order to identify whether associations between anxiety disorder status and parenting differ in children and adolescents, we compared observed behaviors of parents of children (7–10 years) and adolescents (13–16 years) with and without anxiety disorders (n=120), while they undertook a series of mildly anxiety-provoking tasks. Parents of adolescents showed significantly lower levels of expressed anxiety, intrusiveness and warm engagement than parents of children. Furthermore, offspring age moderated the association between anxiety disorder status and parenting behaviors. Specifically, parents of adolescents with anxiety disorders showed higher intrusiveness and lower warm engagement than parents of non-anxious adolescents. A similar relationship between these parenting behaviors and anxiety disorder status was not observed among parents of children. The findings suggest that theoretical accounts of the role of parental behaviors in anxiety disorders in children and adolescents should distinguish between these different developmental periods. Further experimental research to establish causality, however, would be required before committing additional resources to targeting parenting factors within treatment

Gender, gender role identity, and children's reported feelings toward the same and opposite sex

The present study explored the relative importance of gender role identity, gender role attitudes, and biological gender in determining the intensity of anger, disgust, hurt, envy, fear, pity, and liking reported toward same- and opposite-sex children. Sixty male and 60 female 6–12-year-old children reported on the intensity of emotions that a hypothetical child would experience toward same- and opposite-sex children in various situations. The Children's Personal Attitudes Questionnaire, the Children's Attitudes toward Women Scale, and a self-reported toy preference measure were used to assess gender role identity and attitudes. The results indicated that girls were more angry at males than at females, and that both sexes tended to be more hurt and disgusted by opposite-sex than by same-sex children. Girls also tended to report more fear than did boys, and both sexes tended to report more fear of males than of females. Most importantly, gender role identity and attitudes accounted for more of the variance in predicting the quality of reported emotions than did biological gender. Biological gender predicted to only one feeling: pity toward males, after the variance accounted for by the gender role traits was removed. In general, both boys and girls who scored highly on feminine gender role identity were both communal and vulnerable in their reported emotions (high in reported liking, fear, and hurt). Children's reported feelings toward the same- and opposite-sex children seemed to be based on the evaluation of whether other children's biological gender differed from the children's own gender role identity characteristics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45596/1/11199_2004_Article_BF00289226.pd

Structural insights into Ca2+-activated long-range allosteric channel gating of RyR1

Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) are a class of giant ion channels with molecular mass over 2.2 mega-Daltons. These channels mediate calcium signaling in a variety of cells. Since more than 80% of the RyR protein is folded into the cytoplasmic assembly and the remaining residues form the transmembrane domain, it has been hypothesized that the activation and regulation of RyR channels occur through an as yet uncharacterized long-range allosteric mechanism. Here we report the characterization of a Ca2+-activated open-state RyR1 structure by cryo-electron microscopy. The structure has an overall resolution of 4.9 angstrom and a resolution of 4.2 angstrom for the core region. In comparison with the previously determined apo/closed-state structure, we observed long-range allosteric gating of the channel upon Ca2+ activation. In-depth structural analyses elucidated a novel channel-gating mechanism and a novel ion selectivity mechanism of RyR1. Our work not only provides structural insights into the molecular mechanisms of channel gating and regulation of RyRs, but also sheds light on structural basis for channel-gating and ion selectivity mechanisms for the six-transmembrane-helix cation channel family.Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences [XDB08030202]; National Basic Research Program (973 Program); Ministry of Science & Technology of China [2012CB917200, 2014CB910700]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [31270768]; Ministry of Education of China (111 Program China)SCI(E)PubMed中国科技核心期刊(ISTIC)[email protected]; [email protected]