This paper introduces the first stiffness controller for continuum robots. The control law is based on an accurate approximation of a continuum robot's coupled kinematic and static force model. To ...implement a desired tip stiffness, the controller drives the actuators to positions corresponding to a deflected robot configuration that produces the required tip force for the measured tip position. This approach provides several important advantages. First, it enables the use of robot deflection sensing as a means to both sense and control tip forces. Second, it enables stiffness control to be implemented by modification of existing continuum robot position controllers. The proposed controller is demonstrated experimentally in the context of a concentric tube robot. Results show that the stiffness controller achieves the desired stiffness in steady state, provides good dynamic performance, and exhibits stability during contact transitions.
BACKGROUNDBeige adipose tissue is associated with improved glucose homeostasis in mice. Adipose tissue contains β3-adrenergic receptors (β3-ARs), and this study was intended to determine whether the ...treatment of obese, insulin-resistant humans with the β3-AR agonist mirabegron, which stimulates beige adipose formation in subcutaneous white adipose tissue (SC WAT), would induce other beneficial changes in fat and muscle and improve metabolic homeostasis.METHODSBefore and after β3-AR agonist treatment, oral glucose tolerance tests and euglycemic clamps were performed, and histochemical analysis and gene expression profiling were performed on fat and muscle biopsies. PET-CT scans quantified brown adipose tissue volume and activity, and we conducted in vitro studies with primary cultures of differentiated human adipocytes and muscle.RESULTSThe clinical effects of mirabegron treatment included improved oral glucose tolerance (P < 0.01), reduced hemoglobin A1c levels (P = 0.01), and improved insulin sensitivity (P = 0.03) and β cell function (P = 0.01). In SC WAT, mirabegron treatment stimulated lipolysis, reduced fibrotic gene expression, and increased alternatively activated macrophages. Subjects with the most SC WAT beiging showed the greatest improvement in β cell function. In skeletal muscle, mirabegron reduced triglycerides, increased the expression of PPARγ coactivator 1 α (PGC1A) (P < 0.05), and increased type I fibers (P < 0.01). Conditioned media from adipocytes treated with mirabegron stimulated muscle fiber PGC1A expression in vitro (P < 0.001).CONCLUSIONMirabegron treatment substantially improved multiple measures of glucose homeostasis in obese, insulin-resistant humans. Since β cells and skeletal muscle do not express β3-ARs, these data suggest that the beiging of SC WAT by mirabegron reduces adipose tissue dysfunction, which enhances muscle oxidative capacity and improves β cell function.TRIAL REGISTRATIONClinicaltrials.gov NCT02919176.FUNDINGNIH: DK112282, P30GM127211, DK 71349, and Clinical and Translational science Awards (CTSA) grant UL1TR001998.
Robotics is a forward-looking discipline. Attention is focused on identifying the next grand challenges. In an applied field such as medical robotics, however, it is important to plan the future ...based on a clear understanding of what the research community has recently accomplished and where this work stands with respect to clinical needs and commercialization. This Review article identifies and analyzes the eight key research themes in medical robotics over the past decade. These thematic areas were identified using search criteria that identified the most highly cited papers of the decade. Our goal for this Review article is to provide an accessible way for readers to quickly appreciate some of the most exciting accomplishments in medical robotics over the past decade; for this reason, we have focused only on a small number of seminal papers in each thematic area. We hope that this article serves to foster an entrepreneurial spirit in researchers to reduce the widening gap between research and translation.
Recent progress in nanotechnology has allowed the fabrication of new hybrid systems in which a single two-level system is coupled to a mechanical nanoresonator. In such systems the quantum nature of ...a macroscopic degree of freedom can be revealed and manipulated. This opens up appealing perspectives for quantum information technologies, and for the exploration of the quantum-classical boundary. Here we present the experimental realization of a monolithic solid-state hybrid system governed by material strain: a quantum dot is embedded within a nanowire that features discrete mechanical resonances corresponding to flexural vibration modes. Mechanical vibrations result in a time-varying strain field that modulates the quantum dot transition energy. This approach simultaneously offers a large light-extraction efficiency and a large exciton-phonon coupling strength g0. By means of optical and mechanical spectroscopy, we find that g0/2 π is nearly as large as the mechanical frequency, a criterion that defines the ultrastrong coupling regime.
Patients surviving critical illness develop muscle weakness and impairments in physical function; however, the relationship between early skeletal muscle alterations and physical function at hospital ...discharge remains unclear. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in muscle size, strength and power assessed in the intensive care unit (ICU) predict physical function at hospital discharge.
Study design is a single-center, prospective, observational study in patients admitted to the medicine or cardiothoracic ICU with diagnosis of sepsis or acute respiratory failure. Rectus femoris (RF) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscle ultrasound images were obtained day one of ICU admission, repeated serially and assessed for muscle cross-sectional area (CSA), layer thickness (mT) and echointensity (EI). Muscle strength, as measured by Medical Research Council-sum score, and muscle power (lower-extremity leg press) were assessed prior to ICU discharge. Physical function was assessed with performance on 5-times sit-to-stand (5STS) at hospital discharge.
Forty-one patients with median age of 61 years (IQR 55-68), 56% male and sequential organ failure assessment score of 8.1 ± 4.8 were enrolled. RF muscle CSA decreased significantly a median percent change of 18.5% from day 1 to 7 (F = 26.6, p = 0.0253). RF EI increased at a mean percent change of 10.5 ± 21% in the first 7 days (F = 3.28, p = 0.081). At hospital discharge 25.7% of patients (9/35) met criteria for ICU-acquired weakness. Change in RF EI in first 7 days of ICU admission and muscle power measured prior to ICU were strong predictors of ICU-AW at hospital discharge (AUC = 0.912). Muscle power at ICU discharge, age and ICU length of stay were predictive of performance on 5STS at hospital discharge.
ICU-assessed muscle alterations, specifically RF EI and muscle power, are predictors of diagnosis of ICU-AW and physical function assessed by 5x-STS at hospital discharge in patients surviving critical illness.
A novel approach toward construction of robots is based on a concentric combination of precurved elastic tubes. By rotation and extension of the tubes with respect to each other, their curvatures ...interact elastically to position and orient the robot's tip, as well as to control the robot's shape along its length. In this approach, the flexible tubes comprise both the links and the joints of the robot. Since the actuators attach to the tubes at their proximal ends, the robot itself forms a slender curve that is well suited for minimally invasive medical procedures. This paper demonstrates the potential of this technology. Design principles are presented and a general kinematic model incorporating tube bending and torsion is derived. Experimental demonstration of real-time position control using this model is also described.
Optomechanics, which explores the fundamental coupling between light and mechanical motion, has made important advances in manipulating macroscopic mechanical oscillators down to the quantum level. ...However, dynamical effects related to the vectorial nature of the optomechanical interaction remain to be investigated. Here we study a nanowire with subwavelength dimensions coupled strongly to a tightly focused beam of light, enabling an ultrasensitive readout of the nanoresonator dynamics. We determine experimentally the vectorial structure of the optomechanical interaction and demonstrate that a bidimensional dynamical backaction governs the nanowire dynamics. Moreover, the spatial topology of the optomechanical interaction is responsible for novel canonical signatures of strong coupling between mechanical modes, which leads to a topological instability that underlies the non-conservative nature of the optomechanical interaction. These results have a universal character and illustrate the increased sensitivity of nanomechanical devices towards spatially varying interactions, opening fundamental perspectives in nanomechanics, optomechanics, ultrasensitive scanning force microscopy and nano-optics.
An important unresolved question in skeletal muscle plasticity is whether satellite cells are necessary for muscle fiber hypertrophy. To address this issue, a novel mouse strain (Pax7-DTA) was ...created which enabled the conditional ablation of >90% of satellite cells in mature skeletal muscle following tamoxifen administration. To test the hypothesis that satellite cells are necessary for skeletal muscle hypertrophy, the plantaris muscle of adult Pax7-DTA mice was subjected to mechanical overload by surgical removal of the synergist muscle. Following two weeks of overload, satellite cell-depleted muscle showed the same increases in muscle mass (approximately twofold) and fiber cross-sectional area with hypertrophy as observed in the vehicle-treated group. The typical increase in myonuclei with hypertrophy was absent in satellite cell-depleted fibers, resulting in expansion of the myonuclear domain. Consistent with lack of nuclear addition to enlarged fibers, long-term BrdU labeling showed a significant reduction in the number of BrdU-positive myonuclei in satellite cell-depleted muscle compared with vehicle-treated muscle. Single fiber functional analyses showed no difference in specific force, Ca(2+) sensitivity, rate of cross-bridge cycling and cooperativity between hypertrophied fibers from vehicle and tamoxifen-treated groups. Although a small component of the hypertrophic response, both fiber hyperplasia and regeneration were significantly blunted following satellite cell depletion, indicating a distinct requirement for satellite cells during these processes. These results provide convincing evidence that skeletal muscle fibers are capable of mounting a robust hypertrophic response to mechanical overload that is not dependent on satellite cells.
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