Manipulation Procedures Research Articles

Spectral analysis of overlapped absorption bands of binary mixtures\u2014an application on combination of pseudoephedrine sulphate and loratadine mixture

BackgroundSimple, specific, accurate, and precise spectrophotometric methods are progressed and validated for concurrent analysis of pseudoephedrine sulphate (PSE) and loratadine (LOR) in their combined dosage form depending on spectral analysis procedures. In this binary mixture, pseudoephedrine (PSE) could be determined by using its resolved spectrum of zero-order absorption at 256.8 nm after subtraction of the spectrum of LOR, and also it could be determined in existence of the spectrum of LOR by different methods including absorption correction method (AC) at 256.8 nm and 280 nm, dual wavelength method (DW) at 254 nm and 273 nm, induced dual-wavelength method (IDW) at 230 nm and 263 nm, and ratio difference method (RD) at 256.8 nm and 270 nm. Loratadine (LOR) in the binary mixture could be determined either by direct analysis at 280 nm without any contribution from the spectrum of PSE or through its recovered spectrum of zero-order absorption via constant multiplication method (CM) using plateau region (277–326 nm). Also, concurrent determination for PSE and LOR in their overlapped binary mixture could be achieved by applying induced amplitude modulation (IAM) method.ResultsSpecificity of the proposed spectrophotometric methods was examined by the analysis of prepared mixtures in laboratory and was applied successfully for pharmaceutical dosage form analysis which has the cited drugs without additive contribution. The proposed spectrophotometric methods were also validated as per the guidelines of ICH. Statistical comparison was performed between the obtained results with those from the official methods of the cited drugs, using one-way ANOVA, F test, and Student’s t test, and the results exhibit insignificant difference concerning precision and accuracy.ConclusionsThe previously proposed spectrophotometric methods could be easily used accurately and precisely for simultaneous determination of the studied binary mixture with simple manipulation procedures.

Quantifying Performance of Permeation Barrier—Encapsulation Systems for Flexible and Glass‐Based Electronics and Their Application to Perovskite Solar Cells

AbstractEffective transparent barrier/encapsulation systems represent a key enabling technology for large‐area electronics. Securing stability to the environment is vital. Here, the effects of architectures, application processes, and water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) of transparent flexible ultra‐high permeation barrier films (UHPBF) applied to substrates with adhesive resins are unraveled for attaining long lifetime, and compared with polyethylene terephthalate and glass barriers. How strongly performance of barrier/adhesive systems depends on barrier orientation, adhesion, manipulation, defects, and storage procedures is quantified via calcium tests. Furthermore, it is found that introducing an additional adhesion‐promoting layer on the standard UHPBF stack reduces WVTRs by a factor of 5 compared to barriers without it. Finally, barriers are used for sealing and encapsulation of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) enabling the extraction of a relationship between WVTRs of barrier/adhesive systems and degradation rates (DR) of PSCs. DR fall exponentially when WVTRs decrease from 101 to 10−3 g m−2 d−1. Outside that range any gains or losses are mitigated by tailing of the sigmoid curve relating the two parameters. Results highlight important factors which will help those developing strategies relating to encapsulation, barrier, adhesive and sealant systems and stable optoelectronic devices on glass and flexible substrates.

Safety Events and Privilege Utilization Rates in Advanced Practice Physical Therapy Compared to Traditional Primary Care: An Observational Study

The general practitioner shortage in the United States coupled with a growing number of Americans living with disability has fueled speculation of non-physician providers assuming a greater role in musculoskeletal healthcare. Previous physician shortages have been similarly addressed, and expanding physical therapy (PT) scope of practice may best serve to fill this need. Resistance to expanding PT practice focuses on patient safety as PTs assume the roles traditionally performed by primary care providers. While studies have shown advanced practice PT to be safe, none have compared safety events in advanced practice PT compared to primary care to determine if there are increased patient risks. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to examine the rate of safety events and utilization of services in an advanced practice PT clinic compared to a primary care clinic. A secondary aim of our study was to report safety events associated with spinal manipulation and dry needling procedures. Productivity and safety data were retrospectively collected from Malcolm Grow Medical Center from 2015 to 2017 for the Family Health Clinic (FHC) and an advanced practice Physical Therapy Clinic (PTC). Chi-square tests for independence, risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%) were used to compare the relationship between the frequency of (1) patient encounters and clinical procedures and (2) clinical procedures and safety events. Seventy-five percent (12/16) of safety events reported in the PTC were defined as near misses compared to 50% (28/56) within the FHC (RR 1.5; 95% CIs: 1.0 to 2.2). Safety events were more likely to reach patients in the FHC compared to the PTC (RR 1.9; 95% CIs: 0.8 to 4.7). Safety events associated with minor harm to patients was n = 4 and n = 3 in the FHC and PTC respectively. No sentinel events, intentional harm events, nor actual events with more than minor harm were reported in either clinic. Significant relationships indicated that prescriptions, laboratory studies, imaging studies and referrals, were all more likely to be ordered in the FHC than the PTC (p < 0.01). The PTC ordered one diagnostic imaging study for every 37 encounters compared to one in every 5 encounters in the FHC. The PTC similarly referred one patient to another healthcare provider for every 52 encounters, fewer than the one per every 3 encounters in the FHC. There was a significant relationship between encounters and diagnoses, indicating a higher number of diagnoses per encounter in the FHC, though the difference of 0.31 diagnoses per encounter may not be clinically meaningful (p < 0.01). A total of 1,818 thrust manipulations and 2,910 dry needling procedures were completed without any reported safety events. These results suggest advanced practice PT has a similar safety profile to primary care. The authority to order musculoskeletal imaging and refer to other clinicians were among the most commonly utilized privileges and may be of primary importance when establishing an advanced practice PT clinic. These results support research showing advanced practice PT may lead to reductions in specialty referrals, diagnostic imaging, and pharmaceutical interventions.

Challenges in Clinical Development of Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells: Concise Review.

SummaryIdentified 50 years ago, mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) immediately generated a substantial interest among the scientific community because of their differentiation plasticity and hematopoietic supportive function. Early investigations provided evidence of a relatively low engraftment rate and a transient benefit for challenging congenital and acquired diseases. The reasons for these poor therapeutic benefits forced the entire field to reconsider MSC mechanisms of action together with their ex vivo manipulation procedures. This phase resulted in advances in MSCs processing and the hypothesis that MSC‐tissue supportive functions may be prevailing their differentiation plasticity, broadening the spectrum of MSCs therapeutic potential far beyond their lineage‐restricted commitments. Consequently, an increasing number of studies have been conducted for a variety of clinical indications, revealing additional challenges and suggesting that MSCs are still lagging behind for a solid clinical translation. For this reason, our aim was to dissect the current challenges in the development of still promising cell types that, after more than half a century, still need to reach their maturity. stem cells translational medicine 2019;8:1135–1148

Comparative evaluation of sedative and analgesic effects of sacro-coccygeal epidural administration of detomidine, lidocaine and lidocaine/detomidine in dromedary calves

The present study aims to comparatively evaluate the effects of sacro-coccygeal epidural detomidine, lidocaine and lidocaine/detomidine on sedation and anti-nociception in dromedary calves. This is experimental, prospective, crossover (Latin square), randomized and blinded study. A total of ten clinically healthy male dromedary calves with the age of 15 ± 2 weeks and weight of 125 ± 5.5 kg were assigned to five treatments groups (4 experimental and one control group). Calves in groups D25 and D50 received a low (25 μg kg−1) and high (50 μg kg−1) dose of detomidine, respectively. Groups LID and LD50 received lidocaine (0.22 mg kg−1) and lidocaine/detomidine (0.22 mg kg-1 / 50 μg kg−1), respectively. Calves in the control group received normal saline. Correct spinal needle (18-gauge, 3.7 cm) insertion in the epidural space was confirmed by hanging drop method and loss of resistance to the drug injection. Superficial pain was test by pinprick method. There were no significant differences in time to onset of tail paralysis and perineal anti-nociception among LID, D50 and LD50 groups. Calves receiving epidural lidocaine/detomidine were observed to have long-lasting and reliable sedation and perineal anti-nociception (median = 75, ranges = 60–90 min) in comparison with other studied groups. There were no significant differences in time to onset of ataxia among LID, D50 and LD50 groups. Sacro-coccygeal epidural administration of lidocaine/detomidine could be use for long-duration and manipulative procedures in perineal region of dromedary calves.

The process of 3D printed skull models for anatomy education

In general, the 3 D printed medical models are made based on virtual digital models obtained from machines such as the computed tomography scanner. However, due to the limited accuracy of CT scanning technology, which is usually 1 millimeter, there are differences between scanned results and the real structure. Besides, the collected data can hardly be printed directly because of some errors in the model. In this paper, we present a general and efficient procedure to process the digital skull data to make the printed structures meet the requirements of anatomy education, which combines the use of five 3 D manipulation tools and the procedure can be finished within 6 hours. Then the model is printed and compared with the cadaveric skull from frontal, left, right and anterior views respectively. The printed model can describe the correct structure and details of the skull clearly, which can be considered as a good alternative to the cadaveric skull. The manipulation procedure presented in this study is an easily available and cost-effective way to obtain a printed skull model from the original CT data, which has a considerable economic and social benefit for the medical education. The steps of the data processing can be performed easily. The cost for the 3 D printed model is also low. Outcomes of this study can be applied widely in processing skull data.

3D Capillary-Driven Paper-Based Sequential Microfluidic Device for Electrochemical Sensing Applications.

This article describes the device design and fabrication of two different configurations (flow-through and stopped-flow) of a sequential fluid delivery platform on a microfluidic paper-based device. The developed device is capable of storing and transporting reagents sequentially to the detection channel without the need for external power. The device comprises two components: an origami folding paper (oPAD) and a movable reagent-stored pad (rPAD). This 3D capillary-driven device eliminates the undesirable procedure of multiple-step reagent manipulation in a complex assay. To demonstrate the scope of this approach, the device is used for electrochemical detection of biological species. Using a flow-through configuration, a self-calibration plot plus real sample analysis using a single buffer introduction are established for ascorbic acid detection. We further broaden the effectiveness of the device to a complex assay using a stopped-flow configuration. Unlike other electrochemical paper-based sensors in which the user is required to cut off the device inlet or rest for the whole channel saturation before measurement, herein a stopped-flow device is carefully designed to exclude the disturbance from the convective mass transport. As a proof of concept, multiple procedures for electrode modification and voltammetric determination of serotonin are illustrated. In addition, the research includes an impedimetric label-free immunosensor for α-fetoprotein using the modified stopped-flow device. The beneficial advantages of simplicity, low sample volume (1 μL), and ability to perform a complex assay qualify this innovative device for use with diverse applications.

Consequences of manipulating gametes and embryos of ruminant species

During the past 12 years, ruminants have provided a focus for some significant advances in mammalian reproductive biotechnologies. Lambs were the first offspring generated after nuclear transfer of fetal or adult cells to enucleated oocytes, and many calves of pre-determined gender are today the result of commercialized semen sexing. In 1990, the birth of one calf provided living proof that even 'dead' spermatozoa can be paternal, whereas, more recently, a short-lived gaur calf and viable mouflon lamb represented a novel option for conservation of endangered species. As well as highlights, hazards have emerged, resulting in setbacks or developmental anomalies, such as those associated with the large offspring syndrome which encompasses a range of adverse fetal, placental and post-natal phenomena expressed in ruminants. In this review, the developmental and other consequences of applying manipulative procedures, such as assisted fertilization, semen sexing, cloning and gene transfer, to gametes and embryos from bovine, ovine and caprine species are considered. Although assisted fertilization techniques can overcome mammalian infertility, they also usurp natural gamete selection safeguards, but not always with impunity. In the case of manipulations such as cloning, and to a lesser extent gene transfer, it is evident that nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions and nuclear-mitochondrial DNA interdependences are at least partially damaged or destroyed with a view to reconstruction. Therefore, among surviving zygotes and embryos it is inevitable that the legacy is frequently one of altered genetic, epigenetic or cellular programmes and processes.

Staatshaftung getäuschter Hoheitsträger?

The scandal concerning rigged emissions tests to circumvent regulations is regularly not reflected through the lense of the German rules of State liabilty. This lack of attention follows from the fact that compensation for damage caused to individuals is regularly precluded under the German rules of State liability when the underlying regulation scheme is applied diligently by the competent public authority. In consequence, an unlawful market approval by manipulated but lawfully investigating public authorities appears to exclude liability. However, liability under the German rules of State liability is not limited to cases of misconduct by public authorities. Against this background the case is made for a liability of the manipulated State even though there is no evidence of misconduct on behalf of its authorities when applying approval procedures. The proposed special case for State liability rests on two pillars: the structural vulnerability of the relevant approval procedures for manipulation and a high degree of dependency of third party economic actors on the validity of the State’s approval mechanisms.

Practical band interpolation with a modified tight-binding method

We present a scheme that interpolates the energy bands of a crystal with a modified tight-binding Hamiltonian. We start from a pseudopotential plane-wave calculation of the eigenvalues in a three-dimensional coarse uniform grid of k-points in the Brillouin zone and from the evaluation of the single particle Hamiltonian and overlap matrix elements for a small localised basis set of atomic orbitals in the same k-point grid. A simple matrix manipulation procedure that replaces the eigenvalues obtained from the atomic orbital method by the eigenvalues of the plane-wave method generates the modified tight-binding Hamiltonian on the coarse grid. A subsequent three-dimensional Fourier interpolation of the modified tight-binding Hamiltonian and overlap matrices leads to a fast, yet accurate, determination of interpolated Hamiltonians and overlap matrices at an arbitrary k-point, or in a denser grid of k-points. We present examples of the application of the scheme to density functional calculations of germanium, graphite, graphene, copper and a SiGe superlattice.

Present and Future Strategies with Curative Intent for Hereditary Hemoglobinopathies

Nowadays, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a common procedure in Hematology Units within Reference Centres, mainly for the treatment of hematological malignancies such as multiple myeloma, lymphoma and acute leukemia. Nevertheless, HSCT has much wider applications namely in autoimmune diseases, congenital metabolic defects and hemoglobinopathies. Thalassemia major and sickle cell disease comprise, altogether, the most frequent hereditary hemoglobinopathies worldwide. Despite the advances on the prevention and treatment of complications related to these diseases, still, the only curative approach available resides in allogeneic HSCT. The main challenges of this treatment remain focused on the toxicity of pre-transplant conditioning regimens and short-term transplant related complications like graft-versus-host disease, infections and disease recurrence. Thus, it is crucial to establish a balance between the risk vs benefit of HSCT for each patient and follow the available guidelines for both diseases. Recently, gene therapy is becoming a real alternative to allogeneic HSCT. Recent advances in molecular biology methods have provided more accurate and reliable gene editing techniques such as the CRISP/CAS9 system. The long-term outcome of gene manipulation procedures remains uncertain, especially in the immune system of the host. This review will focus on HSCT and gene therapy in hereditary hemoglobinopathies.

Clinical Results and Complications of Shoulder Manipulation under Ultrasound-Guided Cervical Nerve Root Block for Frozen Shoulder: A Retrospective Observational Study.

IntroductionManipulation under ultrasound-guided fifth and sixth cervical nerve root block (MUC) is a recognized form of treatment for patients with persistent frozen shoulder (FS). This study aimed to investigate the confirmatory hypothesis testing that the MUC has a significant clinical effect on FS refractory to conservative treatments and to assess its adverse events.MethodsThis is a retrospective observational study on patients with FS treated in the past 8 years. Although 77 patients were eligible for this study, only 68 were enrolled. The patients were evaluated immediately before the MUC and at 1, 3, and 6 months after with the use of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association shoulder score. Simultaneously, ranges of motion of the affected shoulder were measured in two directions: forward flexion and external rotation. A paired t test or a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare differences in outcomes between before and 6 months after MUC. We also assessed any adverse events during and after the MUC.ResultsRegarding the primary outcome, confirmatory testing showed statistically significant improvements in every outcome value at 6 months after MUC (p < 0.001). In terms of adverse events, two patients (2.9%) had vasovagal reflex, one (1.5%) had a panic attack during the block procedure, and a 72-year-old female patient (1.2%) had an avulsion fracture of the inferior glenoid during the manipulation procedure, although all of them recovered spontaneously without any residual functional impairment.ConclusionThe results showed that significant clinical effects of the MUC on FS were observed through a confirmatory analysis with a sufficient sample size. However, several complications that could occur during the block and manipulation procedures should be considered.

How Does a Metalinguistic Phonological Intervention Impact the Reading Achievement and Language of African American Boys?

Researchers consistently find a correlation between low literacy levels and high school dropout rates, expulsion, reading achievement, and failing grades for African American males. Low literacy achievement in African American males may result from multiple factors, including dialectic linguistic differences and/or phonological awareness abilities. Phonological deficits are consistently associated with dyslexia. This article documents results from a metacognitive flexibility-based phonological intervention designed to mitigate the effects of dialect differences and phonological awareness among African American boys. Based on their scaled scores on the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing–Second Edition Elision subtest, we placed participants in 2 different groups: low phonological awareness (n = 13) and average phonological awareness (n = 17). The 4-week intervention included manipulative phonemic procedures targeting final consonant patterns with an emphasis on a metacognitive understanding of phonological differences between African American English and academic English. We analyzed pre- and posttest data on resulting reading achievement, phonological awareness, and dialect variation using multivariate analysis of variance/multivariate analysis of covariance. We used hierarchical regression to analyze the prediction of reading achievement scores. The findings of this study suggest several recommendations for teachers to increase phonological awareness abilities among students who are at risk for reading difficulties. Teachers can also implement explicit instruction combining phonemic manipulation and verbal scaffolding related to a metacognitive understanding of the phonological differences between African American English and academic English.

Manual differential diagnosis of migraine and cervicogenic headache

To study the informative nature of manual therapy for differential diagnosis of migraine and cervicogenic headache (CH). The authors analyze two clinical cases of patients with a previously established diagnosis of migraine, with the duration of the disease of over ten years and neuroimaging signs of degenerative-dystrophic changes in the upper cervical spine. In both cases, there was no hereditary history and low efficacy of the previous drug therapy was noted. The informative value of the tests performed by methods of manual medicine followed by manipulation procedures of neck structures for the differential diagnosis of migraine and CH was assessed. Despite the absence of complaints, both patients demonstrated the limitation of the volume of neck movements during the tests performed by methods of manual medicine. After a course of manipulation procedures, headaches in both patients were completely stopped for a period of six to ten months. The analysis of literature suggests that manipulative effects on neck structures in cases of migraine can reduce the intensity and the duration of pain, and the frequency of attacks by no more than 20%. The therapeutic effectiveness of manual therapy for CH is much higher; this method provides an opportunity to reduce the severity of these pain characteristics by 30-80%. These results are the basis for changing the previously established diagnosis to CH. The complex of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques of manual therapy is an important tool for the differential diagnosis of migraine and CH.

Analysis and Visualization of Deep Neural Networks in Device-Free Wi-Fi Indoor Localization

Device-free Wi-Fi indoor localization has received significant attention as a key enabling technology for many Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Machine learning-based location estimators, such as the deep neural network (DNN), carry proven potential in achieving high-precision localization performance by automatically learning discriminative features from the noisy wireless signal measurements. However, the inner workings of DNNs are not transparent and not adequately understood especially in the indoor localization application. In this paper, we provide quantitative and visual explanations for the DNN learning process as well as the critical features that DNN has learned during the process. Toward this end, we propose to use several visualization techniques, including: 1) dimensionality reduction visualization, to project the high-dimensional feature space to the 2D space to facilitate visualization and interpretation, and 2) visual analytics and information visualization, to quantify relative contributions of each feature with the proposed feature manipulation procedures. The results provide insightful views and plausible explanations of the DNN in device-free Wi-Fi indoor localization using channel state information (CSI) fingerprints.

Application of mixed reality in robot manipulator programming

PurposeMixed reality is expanding in the industrial market and several companies in various fields are adapting this set of technologies for various purposes, such as optimizing processes, improving the programming tasks and promoting the interactivity of their products with the users, or even improving teaching or training. Robotics is another area that can benefit from these recent technologies. In fact, most of the current and futuristic robotic applications, namely, the areas related to advanced manufacturing tasks (e.g. additive-manufacturing, collaborative robotics, etc.), require new technics to actually perceive the result of several actions, including programming tasks, anticipate trajectories, visualize the motion and related information, interface with programmers and users and several other human–machine interfaces. Consequently, this paper aims to explain a new concept of human–machine interfaces aiming to improve the interaction between advanced users and industrial robotic work cells.Design/methodology/approachThe presented concept uses two different applications (apps) developed to explore the advanced features of the Microsoft HoloLens device. The objectives of the project reported in this paper are to optimize robot paths, just by allowing the advanced user to adjust the selected path through the mixed reality environment, and create new paths, just by allowing the advanced user to insert points in the mixed reality environment, correct them as needed, connect them using a certain type of motion, parametrize them (in terms of velocity, motion precision, etc.) and command them to the robot controller.FindingsThe solutions demonstrated in this paper show how mixed reality can be used to allow users, with limited programming experience, to fully use the robotics fields. They also show clearly that the integration of the mixed reality technology in the current robot systems will be a turning point in reducing the complexity for end-users.Research limitations/implicationsThere are two challenges in the developed applications. The first relates to the robot tool identification, which is very sensitive to lighting conditions or to very complex robot tools. This can result in positioning errors when the software shows the path in the mixed reality scene. The paper presents solutions to overcome this problem. Another unattended challenge is associated with handling the robot singularities when adjusting or creating new paths. Ongoing work is concentrated in creating mechanisms that prevent the end-user to create paths that contain unreachable points or paths that are not feasible because of bad motion parameters.Practical implicationsThis paper demonstrates the utilization of mixed reality device to improve the tasks of programming and commanding manufacturing work cells based on industrial robots [see video in (Pires et al., 2018)]. As the presented devices and robot cells are the basis for Industry 4.0 objectives, this demonstration has a vast field of application in the near future, positively influencing the way complex applications, that require much close cooperation between humans and machines, are thought, planned and built. The paper presents two different applications fully ready to use in industrial environments. These applications are scientific experiments designed to demonstrate the principles and technologies of mixed reality applied to industrial robotics, namely, for improving the programming task.Social implicationsAlthough the HoloLens device opens outstanding new areas for robot command and programming, it is still expensive and somehow heavy for everyday use. Consequently, this opens an opportunity window to combine these devices with other mobile devices, such as tablets and phones, building applications that take advantage of their combined features.Originality/valueThe paper presents two different applications fully ready to use in industrial environments. These applications are scientific experiments designed to demonstrate the principles and technologies of mixed reality applied to industrial robotics, namely, for improving the programming task. The first application is about path visualization, i.e. enables the user to visualize, in a mixed reality environment, any path preplanned for the robot cell. With this feature, the advanced user can follow the robot path, identify problems, associate any difficulty in the final product with a particular issue in the robot paths, anticipate execution problems with impact on the final product quality, etc. This is particularly important for not only advanced applications, but also for cases where the robot path results from a CAD package (in an offline fashion). The second application consists of a graphical path manipulation procedure that allows the advanced user to create and optimize a robot path. Just by exploring this feature, the end-user can adjust any path obtained from any programming method, using the mixed reality approach to guide (visually) the path manipulation procedure. It can also create a completely new path using a process of graphical insertion of point positions and paths into the mixed reality scene. The ideas and implementations of the paper are original and there is no other example in the literature applied to industrial robot programming.

Clinical application evaluation of clinical practice guideline on traditional Chinese medicine therapy alone or combined with antibiotics for uncomplicated lower urinary tract infection

A questionnaire survey of 1 000 clinicians having experience in treating uncomplicated lower urinary tract infections from different levels of hospitals was conducted to mainly evaluate the applicability and effectiveness of clinical application of clinical practice guideline on traditional Chinese medicine therapy alone or combined with antibiotics for uncomplicated lower urinary tract infection(hereinafter referred to as Guideline). The research was conducted with the three-level quality control strictly throughout the process, and the data was real and reliable. The survey's results showed that: most clinicians considered that the Guideline had good clinical applicability. The availability and price of the recommended medicine were moderate. Traditional Chinese medicine had obvious features and advantages in treating lower urinary tract infection for it could reduce the usage of antibiotics and shorten the course of antibiotic application. In the recommendation section, clinicians proposed increasing medication guidance, updating the Guideline timely, as well as increasing treating methods and techniques, strengthen propaganda and promotion, and improve the use of evidence-based methods. In the evaluation of effectiveness, the majority of clinicians agreed that the definition in both traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine and differential diagnosis in the Guideline were accurately described and the basic principle of treatment as well as the treating method of TCM were recommended appropriately. The TCM formulas and Chinese patent medicine had good effect. Some clinicians suggested refining the syndrome differentiation of stranguria. Some clinicians considered that the formulas and herbs recommended in Guideline didn't have obvious effect and some had doubts about the manipulation of fumigation and washing in the part of other methods recommended in Guideline. Moreover, specification and procedure of manipulation of fumigation and washing using herbs and the acupuncture included in characteristic TCM therapy treating uncomplicated lower urinary tract infection remained to be developed.

Desorption electrospray ionization-high resolution mass spectrometry for the analysis of unknown materials: The phytosanitary product case

In this work, we tested the potential of desorption electrospray ionization-high resolution mass spectrometry (DESI-HRMS) for the analysis of unknown materials. To this end, our study focused on analyzing an unknown complex sample suspected of being an adulterated phytosanitary product or a fraud. A simple and fast sample manipulation procedure (filter paper impregnated with the sample) was used for the chemical characterization of the phytosanitary product by DESI-HRMS(/MS). Kendrick Mass Defect (KMD) analysis was used to process the DESI high-resolution mass spectral data, allowing the identification of a low molecular weight polymer (polyethylene glycol) and the detection of other ions, which did not follow polymer distributions. The characteristic isotope patterns of these ions suggested the presence of organometallic compounds. Accurate mass measurements, isotope pattern fits and the structural information obtained by DESI-MS/HRMS (wide isolation window) allowed identifying the presence of triphenyltin, a biocide extensively used for agricultural purposes and restricted by the European Commission, in the phytosanitary product. The concentration of triphenyltin in the sample was 35%, which corresponds to ∼12% expressed as weight of tin, 120 times higher than the maximum legislated level.

Constrained Compliant Control for Space Robot Postcapturing Uncertain Target

AbstractIn the postcapture phase, compliant manipulation can maintain the target undamaged and ensure the safety of the manipulation procedure. In most studies, due to the compliant equation, the c...

A Self-Digitization Dielectrophoretic (SD-DEP) Chip for High-Efficiency Single-Cell Capture, On-Demand Compartmentalization, and Downstream Nucleic Acid Analysis.

The design and fabrication of a self-digitization dielectrophoretic (SD-DEP) chip with simple components for single-cell manipulation and downstream nucleic acid analysis is presented. The device employed the traditional DEP and insulator DEP to create the local electric field that is tailored to approximately the size of single cells, enabling highly efficient single-cell capture. The multistep procedures of cell manipulation, compartmentalization, lysis, and analysis were performed in the integrated microdevice, consuming minimal reagents, minimizing contamination, decreasing lysate dilution, and increasing assay sensitivity. The platform developed here could be a promising and powerful tool in single-cell research for precise medicine.