Biologically inspired robotic perception-action for soft fruit harvesting in vertical growing environments.

Unlabelled: Multiple interlinked factors like demographics, migration patterns, and economics are presently leading to the critical shortage of labour available for low-skilled, physically demanding tasks like soft fruit harvesting. This paper presents a biomimetic robotic solution covering the full 'Perception-Action' loop targeting harvesting of strawberries in a state-of-the-art vertical growing environment. The novelty emerges from both dealing with crop/environment variance as well as configuring the robot action system to deal with a range of runtime task constraints.

Low Fetal Fraction and Birth Weight in Women with Negative First-Trimester Cell-Free DNA Screening.

Objective: To determine the association between low fetal fraction and birth weight among women with a negative cell-free DNA (cfDNA) result for common aneuploidies in the first trimester.

Study Design: This is a retrospective cohort of women who delivered a singleton between July 2016 and June 2018 at a single institution and had normal cfDNA testing in the first trimester. The primary variable of interest was "low fetal fraction," which was defined as fetal fractions less than 5th percentile among all fetal fractions in the cohort (fetal fraction < 5.

High Fetal Fraction on First Trimester Cell-Free DNA Aneuploidy Screening and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that high fetal fraction (FF) on first trimester cell-free deoxyribonucleic acid (cfDNA) aneuploidy screening is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes.

Study Design: This is a single-institution retrospective cohort study of women who underwent cfDNA screening at <14 weeks' gestation and delivered a singleton infant between July 2016 and June 2018. Women with abnormal results were excluded.

Isolation of cancer stem like cells from human adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung supports a monoclonal origin from a multipotential tissue stem cell.

There is increasing evidence that many solid tumors are hierarchically organized with the bulk tumor cells having limited replication potential, but are sustained by a stem-like cell that perpetuates the tumor. These cancer stem cells have been hypothesized to originate from transformation of adult tissue stem cells, or through re-acquisition of stem-like properties by progenitor cells. Adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) is an aggressive type of lung cancer that contains a mixture of cells with squamous (cytokeratin 5+) and adenocarcinoma (cytokeratin 7+) phenotypes.

Establishment of human ovarian serous carcinomas cell lines in serum free media.

Ovarian cancers are the fifth leading cause of cancer death among US woman. The majority of ovarian cancers belong to a category of serous adenocarcinomas. This type of cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage of the disease.

Identification of a novel kindred with familial pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

Background/aims: Hereditary pancreatic cancer comprises about 10% of pancreatic cancer cases. Multiple causative mutations have been identified. Here we describe a pancreatitis/pancreatic cancer (P/PC) family, which demonstrates pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer resulting from an uncharacterized mutation.

Isolation and establishment of human tumor stem cells.

Current cancer therapies are based on the ability to inhibit the growth of rapidly dividing cells, the majority of which constitute the tumor. Although for decades, sporadic literature has posited the existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs), only recently has this type of cell been isolated and characterized from solid tumors. Like stem cells from their normal counterpart, CSCs are a rare population that can reconstitute a new tumor with similar composition and phenotype to the tumor of origin.

Identification of 54 large deletions/duplications in TSC1 and TSC2 using MLPA, and genotype-phenotype correlations.

Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in either of two genes, TSC1 and TSC2. Point mutations and small indels account for most TSC1 and TSC2 mutations. We examined 261 TSC DNA samples (209 small-mutation-negative and 52 unscreened) for large deletion/duplication mutations using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) probe sets designed to permit interrogation of all TSC1/2 exons, as well as 15-50 kb of flanking sequence.

Unusually mild tuberous sclerosis phenotype is associated with TSC2 R905Q mutation.

Objective: To report the clinical manifestations and functional aspects of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), resulting from Codon 905 mutations in TSC2 gene.

Methods: We performed a detailed study of the TSC phenotype and genotype in a large French-Canadian kindred (Family A). Subsequently, clinical and molecular data on 18 additional TSC families with missense mutations at the same codon of TSC2 were collected.

Clinical and genotype studies of cardiac tumors in 154 patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.

Objective: Tuberous sclerosis complex is an autosomal dominant disorder in which hamartomas occur in several organs. Cardiac rhabdomyomas, the most common heart tumors of childhood, are well known to be associated with tuberous sclerosis complex. Our aim for this study was to characterize the incidence, progression, and clinical consequences of tuberous sclerosis complex-associated rhabdomyomas in a large cohort of patients with TSC1 and TSC2 genotypes.

Pathogenesis of tuberous sclerosis subependymal giant cell astrocytomas: biallelic inactivation of TSC1 or TSC2 leads to mTOR activation.

In the central nervous system, tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is characterized by a range of lesions including cortical tubers, white matter heterotopias, subependymal nodules, and subependymal giant cell astrocytomas (SEGAs). Recent studies have implicated an important role for the TSC genes TSC1 and TSC2, in a signaling pathway involving the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase. We performed immunohistochemical and genetic analyses on SEGAs from 7 TSC patients, 4 with mutations in TSC1, and 3 with mutations in TSC2.

A 34 bp deletion within TSC2 is a rare polymorphism, not a pathogenic mutation.

Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is an autosomal dominant hamartoma syndrome due to mutations in either TSC1 or TSC2. Previous reports have identified a mutation consisting of a 34 bp deletion affecting portions of exon 38 and the adjacent intron 38 of TSC2. We found this genetic variation in 4 of 800 TSC patients screened for mutations in TSC1 and TSC2.

Association between a high-expressing interferon-gamma allele and a lower frequency of kidney angiomyolipomas in TSC2 patients.

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a familial hamartoma syndrome in which renal involvement is common and, at times, life threatening. We have investigated the potential effect of a non-TSC gene on renal disease in a cohort of 172 TSC patients with TSC2 mutations. Patients were genotyped for an interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) microsatellite polymorphism, within intron 1, for which one common allele (allele 2, with 12 CA repeats) has been shown to have a higher expression of IFN-gamma.

SNP identification, haplotype analysis, and parental origin of mutations in TSC2.

Inactivating mutations in the TSC2 gene, consisting of 41coding exons in 40 kb on 16p13, cause the hamartoma syndrome tuberous sclerosis. During TSC2 mutational analysis we identified ten SNPs that occur within or close to exon boundaries at minor allele frequencies greater than 5%. We determined the haplotypes for six of these SNPs and the microsatellite marker kg8 in the 3' region of TSC2 in a set of 40 parent-child trios.