Elastic Tactile Sensor Glove for Dexterous Teaching by Demonstration.

We present a thin and elastic tactile sensor glove for teaching dexterous manipulation tasks to robots through human demonstration. The entire glove, including the sensor cells, base layer, and electrical connections, is made from soft and stretchable silicone rubber, adapting to deformations under bending and contact while preserving human dexterity. We develop a glove design with five fingers and a palm sensor, revise material formulations for reduced thickness, faster processing and lower cost, adapt manufacturing processes for reduced layer thickness, and design readout electronics for improved sensitivity and battery operation.

Coordinating human-robot collaboration by EEG-based human intention prediction and vigilance control.

In human-robot collaboration scenarios with shared workspaces, a highly desired performance boost is offset by high requirements for human safety, limiting speed and torque of the robot drives to levels which cannot harm the human body. Especially for complex tasks with flexible human behavior, it becomes vital to maintain safe working distances and coordinate tasks efficiently. An established approach in this regard is reactive servo in response to the current human pose.

Low-cost fabrication of flexible tactile sensor arrays.

While for vision and audio the same mass-produced units can be embedded in many different systems from smartphones to robots, tactile sensors have to be built in application-specific shapes and sizes. To use a commercially available tactile sensor, it can be necessary to develop the entire system around an existing sensor model. We present a set of open-source solutions for designing, manufacturing, reading and integrating custom application-specific tactile matrix sensors.

A Dexterous Hand-Arm Teleoperation System Based on Hand Pose Estimation and Active Vision.

Markerless vision-based teleoperation that leverages innovations in computer vision offers the advantages of allowing natural and noninvasive finger motions for multifingered robot hands. However, current pose estimation methods still face inaccuracy issues due to the self-occlusion of the fingers. Herein, we develop a novel vision-based hand-arm teleoperation system that captures the human hands from the best viewpoint and at a suitable distance.

Reinforcement Learning With Vision-Proprioception Model for Robot Planar Pushing.

We propose a vision-proprioception model for planar object pushing, efficiently integrating all necessary information from the environment. A Variational Autoencoder (VAE) is used to extract compact representations from the task-relevant part of the image. With the real-time robot state obtained easily from the hardware system, we fuse the latent representations from the VAE and the robot end-effector position together as the state of a Markov Decision Process.

The influence of clinical, environmental, and socioeconomic factors on five-year patient survival after kidney transplantation.

Introduction: The risk of death after kidney transplant is associated with the age of the recipient, presence of comorbidities, socioeconomic status, local environmental characteristics and access to health care.

Objective: To investigate the causes and risk factors associated with death during the first 5 years after kidney transplantation.

Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective, matched case-control study.

Exon Array Biomarkers for the Differential Diagnosis of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.

This study developed potential blood-based biomarker tests for diagnosing and differentiating schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar disorder type I (BD), and normal control (NC) subjects using mRNA gene expression signatures. A total of 90 subjects ( = 30 each for the three groups of subjects) provided blood samples at two visits. The Affymetrix exon microarray was used to profile the expression of over 1.

The current burden of cytomegalovirus infection in kidney transplant recipients receiving no pharmacological prophylaxis.

Unlabelled: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in kidney transplantation has changed its clinical spectrum, mostly due to the current and more effective immunosuppression. In the absence of preventive strategies it is associated with significant morbi-mortality.

Objective: This study evaluated the incidence of CMV events and its effect on outcomes of kidney transplantation in recipients without pharmacological prophylaxis or targeted preemptive treatment.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Everolimus versus Mycophenolate in Kidney Transplant Recipients Receiving No Pharmacological Prophylaxis for Cytomegalovirus Infection: A Short-Term Pharmacoeconomic Evaluation (12 Months).

Background: Modern immunosuppressive regimens, although associated with improved 1-year graft survival, are associated with adverse effects, including opportunistic infections, diabetes mellitus after transplantation, cardiovascular complications, and de novo malignancies.

Objectives: To determine the short-term (12 months) cost-effectiveness of everolimus (EVR) versus mycophenolate sodium (MPS) in kidney transplant recipients receiving induction therapy, tacrolimus, prednisone, and no prophylaxis for cytomegalovirus infection.

Methods: A Markov state transition model was designed.

Donor-Specific Anti-Human Leukocyte Antigens Antibodies, Acute Rejection, Renal Function, and Histology in Kidney Transplant Recipients Receiving Tacrolimus and Everolimus.

Background: This analysis compared efficacy, renal function, and histology in kidney transplant recipients receiving tacrolimus (TAC) combined with everolimus (EVR) or mycophenolate (MPS).

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis from a randomized trial in kidney transplant recipients who received a single 3 mg/kg dose of rabbit antithymocyte globulin (r-ATG), TAC, EVR, and prednisone (PRED; r-ATG/EVR, n = 85), basiliximab (BAS), TAC, EVR, and PRED (BAS/EVR, n = 102) or BAS, TAC, MPS, and PRED (BAS/MPS, n = 101). We evaluated the incidence of de novo donor-specific anti-human leukocyte antigens antibodies (DSA) and histology on protocol biopsies at 12 months, and the incidence of acute rejection, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and proteinuria at 36 months.

Prospective Randomized Trial Investigating the Influence of Pharmaceutical Care on the Intra-Individual Variability of Tacrolimus Concentrations Early After Kidney Transplant.

Background: This study evaluated the influence of pharmaceutical care (PhC) in the intra-individual variability of dose-corrected whole blood tacrolimus (TAC) trough concentrations, adherence to immunosuppressive therapy and clinical outcomes.

Methods: We randomized 128 kidney transplant recipients to receive PhC consisted of predefined instructions provided by a pharmacist (PhC group, n = 64) or standard nurse staff instructions (control group, n = 64) from day 3 to day 90 after kidney transplantation. The study was powered to detect at least 50% reduction in the coefficient of variation (%CV), calculated from 6 dose-corrected whole blood TAC trough concentrations, in the PhC group.

Grounded theory methodology--narrativity revisited.

This article aims to illuminate the role of narrativity in Grounded Theory Methodology and to explore an approach within Grounded Theory Methodology that is sensitized towards aspects of narrativity. The suggested approach takes into account narrativity as an aspect of the underlying data. It reflects how narrativity could be conceptually integrated and systematically used for shaping the way in which coding, category development and the presentation of results in a Grounded Theory Methodology study proceed.

Assessment of extent of breast cancer: comparison between digital breast tomosynthesis and full-field digital mammography.

Aim: To compare the accuracy of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and full-field digital mammography (FFDM) in preoperative assessment of local extent of breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: Lesion sizes of breast cancers on DBT and FFDM images were independently evaluated by breast radiologists. Each lesion was flagged as either mis-sized or not depending on whether the assessment of size at imaging was within 1 cm of the lesion size at surgery.

Identification of a novel gene set in human cumulus cells predictive of an oocyte's pregnancy potential.

Objective: To identify a gene expression signature in human cumulus cells (CCs) predictive of pregnancy outcome across multiple clinics, taking into account the clinic and patient variations inherent in IVF practice.

Design: Retrospective analysis of single human cumulus-oocyte complexes with the use of a combined microarray and quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) approach.

Setting: Multiple private IVF clinics.

Performance comparison of single-view digital breast tomosynthesis plus single-view digital mammography with two-view digital mammography.

Objective: To determine the performance of combined single-view mediolateral oblique (MLO) digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) plus single-view cranio-caudal (CC) mammography (MX) compared with that of standard two-view digital mammography.

Methods: A multi-reader multi-case (MRMC) receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) study was conducted, involving six breast radiologists. Two hundred fifty patients underwent bilateral MX and DBT imaging.

Computerized pharmaceutical algorithm reduces medication administration errors during simulated resuscitations.

Objective: Medication errors involving intravenous medications continue to be a significant problem, particularly in the pediatric population due to the high rate of point-of-care and weight-adjusted dosing. The pharmaceutical algorithm computerized calculator (pac2) assists in converting physician medication orders to correct volumes and rates of administration for intravenous medications. This study was designed to assess the efficacy of the pac2 in simulated clinical scenarios of point-of-care dosing.

Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation for acute treatment of migraine with aura: a randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, sham-controlled trial.

Background: Preliminary work suggests that single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (sTMS) could be effective as a treatment for migraine. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of a new portable sTMS device for acute treatment of migraine with aura.

Methods: We undertook a randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, two-phase, sham-controlled study at 18 centres in the USA.

Pattern of antioxidant and DNA repair gene expression in normal airway epithelium associated with lung cancer diagnosis.

In previous studies, we reported that key antioxidant and DNA repair genes are regulated differently in normal bronchial epithelial cells of lung cancer cases compared with non-lung cancer controls. In an effort to develop a biomarker for lung cancer risk, we evaluated the transcript expressions of 14 antioxidant, DNA repair, and transcription factor genes in normal bronchial epithelial cells (HUGO names CAT, CEBPG, E2F1, ERCC4, ERCC5, GPX1, GPX3, GSTM3, GSTP1, GSTT1, GSTZ1, MGST1, SOD1, and XRCC1). A test comprising these 14 genes accurately identified the lung cancer cases in two case-control studies.

Quality-controlled measurement methods for quantification of variations in transcript abundance in whole blood samples from healthy volunteers.

Background: Transcript abundance (TA) measurement in whole blood frequently is conducted to identify potential biomarkers for disease risk and to predict or monitor drug response. Potential biomarkers discovered in this way must be validated by quantitative technology. In this study we assessed the use of standardized reverse transcription PCR (StaRT-PCR) to validate potential biomarkers discovered through whole blood TA profiling.

Evaluation of DNA microarray results with quantitative gene expression platforms.

We have evaluated the performance characteristics of three quantitative gene expression technologies and correlated their expression measurements to those of five commercial microarray platforms, based on the MicroArray Quality Control (MAQC) data set. The limit of detection, assay range, precision, accuracy and fold-change correlations were assessed for 997 TaqMan Gene Expression Assays, 205 Standardized RT (Sta)RT-PCR assays and 244 QuantiGene assays. TaqMan is a registered trademark of Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.

Competitive irreversible inhibition of dopamine uptake by 6-hydroxydopamine.

We examined the effects of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) treatment on the human neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-SH-SY5Y (SY5Y) and the rat pheochromocytoma cell line, PC12. Structural and metabolic integrity was tested by measuring the ability of cells to transport the non-metabolizable amino acid analogue [3H]-alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB). We determined that treatment with 6-OHDA at concentrations of 49 microM and 62 microM inhibited 50% of the AIB uptake in SY5Y and PC12 cells, respectively.

Intrinsic activity determinations at the dopamine D2 guanine nucleotide-binding protein-coupled receptor: utilization of receptor state binding affinities.

Guanine nucleotide-binding protein-coupled receptors have been shown to exist in both a high affinity agonist (HiAg) and a low affinity agonist (LowAg) state. The formation of the HiAg state is promoted by agonists, and the formation of this state of the receptor appears to be a critical factor in the generation of the effector-activating complex G alpha.GTP.

Platelet-derived growth factor potentiates cellular responses of articular chondrocytes to interleukin-1.

Recombinant human interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) induced a time-dependent (0-72 hours) and concentration-dependent (0.01-10 ng/ml) production of metalloproteinases (collagenase, gelatinase, stromelysin) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in rabbit articular chondrocytes (RAC). Exposure of RAC to recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor homodimer BB (PDGF-BB; 2-200 ng/ml) in the presence of stimulatory and substimulatory concentrations of IL-1 alpha resulted in a marked augmentation of metalloproteinase and PGE2 production.