Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are incurable diseases that result in profound vision loss due to degeneration of the light sensing photoreceptors. However, the discovery that direct electrical stimulation of the retinal neurons creates visual sensation has inspired prosthetic devices aimed to restore useful vision in RP/AMD patients. The approach to one such electronic visual prosthesis is described in this article. The prosthesis consists of an external unit and an internal unit. The communication link has three components--power and data transfer from the external to the internal unit, and data transfer from the internal to the external unit. A novel method of integrating power transfer and back telemetry is described here. The goal is to design a stimulator chip with a small area with low power consumption. This chip, capable of stimulating 60 dedicated electrodes, is fabricated using AMI 1.2 microm process technology and the results are presented. Improvements in the design to increase the number of outputs to 1,000 have been discussed. The new circuit is aimed at increasing the circuit density, reducing power per stimulus, and meeting the requirements more closely than the previous designs. The results of the designed chip are presented.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1594.2003.07306.x | DOI Listing |
Pharmaceutics
January 2025
Centre for Public Health, Institute of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK.
Background/objectives: The visual acuity (VA) outcomes after the first and second years of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment in patients with diabetic macular oedema (DMO) were evaluated, and the factors associated with treatment success were investigated.
Methods: Using Medisoft electronic medical records (UK), this retrospective cohort study analysed VA outcomes, changes, and determinants in DMO patients at year 1 and year 2 after initial anti-VEGF injection. Descriptive analysis examined baseline demographics and clinical characteristics, while regression models were used to assess associations between these factors and changes in VA.
Sensors (Basel)
January 2025
The 54th Research Institute, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, College of Signal and Information Processing, Shijiazhuang 050081, China.
The multi-sensor fusion, such as LiDAR and camera-based 3D object detection, is a key technology in autonomous driving and robotics. However, traditional 3D detection models are limited to recognizing predefined categories and struggle with unknown or novel objects. Given the complexity of real-world environments, research into open-vocabulary 3D object detection is essential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSensors (Basel)
January 2025
Centre of Mechanical Technology and Automation (TEMA), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
To automate the quality control of painted surfaces of heating devices, an automatic defect detection and classification system was developed by combining deflectometry and bright light-based illumination on the image acquisition, deep learning models for the classification of non-defective (OK) and defective (NOK) surfaces that fused dual-modal information at the decision level, and an online network for information dispatching and visualization. Three decision-making algorithms were tested for implementation: a new model built and trained from scratch and transfer learning of pre-trained networks (ResNet-50 and Inception V3). The results revealed that the two illumination modes employed widened the type of defects that could be identified with this system, while maintaining its lower computational complexity by performing multi-modal fusion at the decision level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Clin Med
January 2025
Department of Periodontology and Oral Mucosa Diseases, Medical University of Warsaw, Binieckiego 6 St., 02-097 Warsaw, Poland.
: The aim of the present narrative review is to synthesize the available scientific evidence on the effects of submarginal instrumentation with periodontal endoscopy and evaluate its' potential efficacy in terms of the non-surgical therapy of peri-implantitis. : The literature search was performed via electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Scopus, and was supplemented by manual searching. A literature review was conducted addressing the following PICOS questions: (1) What is the efficacy of non-surgical submarginal instrumentation of the implant surface with the aid of a periodontal endoscope in patients with peri-implantitis? (2) What is the efficacy of non-surgical subgingival instrumentation performed with the aid of a periodontal endoscope compared with conventional subgingival instrumentation in patients with periodontitis, in terms of clinical parameters and patient-reported outcomes? Mechanical decontamination of the implant surface is crucial for resolving inflammation and arresting further bone loss.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMaterials (Basel)
January 2025
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China.
Mechanoluminescent (ML) materials emit light by trapping and releasing charge carriers under mechanical stress. However, previous studies do not fully reveal the relationship between emitting light intensity and mechanical stress, thereby affecting the accuracy of stress measurement. This study addresses this gap by systematically investigating ML cylinders with various sizes and loading paths using theoretical analysis and simulations, focusing on the maximum contact stress, equivalent stress distribution, and the relationship between the strain energy density and light intensity at the point of maximum contact stress.
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