Augmenting visual feedback with visualized interaction forces in haptic-assisted virtual-reality teleoperation.

In recent years, providing additional visual feedback about the interaction forces has been found to offer benefits to haptic-assisted teleoperation. However, there is limited insight into the effects of the design of force feedback-related visual cues and the type of visual display on the performance of teleoperation of robotic arms executing industrial tasks. In this study, we provide new insights into this interaction by extending these findings to the haptic assistance teleoperation of a simulated robotic arm in a virtual environment, in which the haptic assistance is comprised of a set of virtual fixtures.

Biologically plausible gated recurrent neural networks for working memory and learning-to-learn.

The acquisition of knowledge and skills does not occur in isolation but learning experiences amalgamate within and across domains. The process through which learning can accelerate over time is referred to as learning-to-learn or meta-learning. While meta-learning can be implemented in recurrent neural networks, these networks tend to be trained with architectures that are not easily interpretable or mappable to the brain and with learning rules that are biologically implausible.

The Feasibility of Personalized Endpoints in Assessing Treatment Outcomes in Rare Disease: A Pilot Study of Goal Attainment Scaling in SCN2A-Associated Developmental Epileptic Encephalopathy.

Objectives: For individuals living with rare neurodevelopmental disorders, especially those who are at the most severe end of the spectrum, standardized outcome measures may lack the sensitivity to capture small but meaningful changes. Personalized endpoints such as Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) allow the assessment of treatment response across variable baseline states and disease manifestations and thus provide a highly sensitive measure of efficacy. The current study tested the feasibility of using GAS in rare SCN2A-associated developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (SCN2A-DEE).

Association between arterial stiffness, carbamylation, and mortality in patients undergoing coronary angiography with no or mild chronic kidney disease.

Introduction: The processes of atherosclerosis, inflammation, and carbamylation are closely linked in cardiovascular (CV) disease, but the potential of carbamylation burden as a CV mortality predictor is unclear, especially in patients with no or mild chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study aimed to investigate whether elevated carbamylated albumin (C-Alb), as a surrogate marker for carbamylation burden, is associated with mortality and arterial stiffness/atherosclerotic burden in patients with no or mild CKD, using pulse pressure (PP) as a marker for arterial stiffness.

Methods: We measured C-Alb in 3,193 participants of the Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Health study who had been referred for coronary angiography and followed up for 10 years.

3D-Printable Rotary Valves for Low-Pressure Pneumatic and Fluidic Applications in Analytical Chemistry.

We report on a fused deposition modeling 3D-printable rotary valve fabricated from high-grade plastics such as polyether ether ketone or lower-grade plastics like polylactic acid. The valve weighs less than 90 g and has the potential to be integrated into portable and autonomous chemical analysis systems. It has been demonstrated to be leak-proof up to 2.