This study traces the development of dexterous hand research and proposes a novel antagonistic variable stiffness dexterous finger mechanism to improve the safety of dexterous hand in unpredictable ...environments, such as unstructured or man-made operational errors through comprehensive consideration of cost, accuracy, manufacturing, and application. Based on the concept of mechanical passive compliance, which is widely implemented in robots for interactions, a finger is dedicated to improving mechanical robustness. The finger mechanism not only achieves passive compliance against physical impacts, but also implements the variable stiffness actuator principle in a compact finger without adding supererogatory actuators. It achieves finger stiffness adjustability according to the biologically inspired stiffness variation principle of discarding some mobilities to adjust stiffness. The mechanical design of the finger and its stiffness adjusting methods are elaborated. The stiffness characteristics of the finger joint and the actuation unit are analyzed. Experimental results of the finger joint stiffness identification and finger impact tests under different finger stiffness presets are provided to verify the validity of the model. Fingers have been experimentally proven to be robust against physical impacts. Moreover, the experimental part verifies that fingers have good power, grasping, and manipulation performance.
Aims/Introduction
Elevated serum cancer antigen 19‐9 (CA19‐9) levels have been found in diabetes patients in most observational studies; however, whether there is a causal association between CA19‐9 ...and diabetes mellitus is unclear.
Materials and Methods
Our study was carried out based on the Dongfeng‐Tongji cohort comprising 27,009 individuals. We first investigated the associations between serum CA19‐9 levels and incident diabetes mellitus risk in a prospective cohort study (12,700 individuals). Then, we explored the potential causal relationship between CA19‐9 and diabetes mellitus risk in a cross‐sectional study (3,349 diabetes mellitus patients and 8,341 controls) using Mendelian randomization analysis. A weighted genetic risk score was calculated by adding the CA19‐9 increasing alleles in five single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (rs17271883, rs3760776 and rs3760775 in FUT6, rs11880333 in CA11, rs265548 in B3GNT3, and rs1047781 in FUT2), which were identified in a previous genome‐wide association study on serum CA19‐9 levels.
Results
In the prospective study, a total of 1,004 incident diabetes mellitus patients were diagnosed during a mean 4.54‐year follow‐up period. Elevated serum CA19‐9 level was associated with a higher incident diabetes risk after adjustment for confounders, with a hazard ratio of 1.20 (95% confidence interval 1.11–1.30) per standard deviation (12.17 U/mL) CA19‐9 increase. Using the genetic score to estimate the unconfounded effect, we did not find a causal association of CA19‐9 with diabetes risk (odds ratio per weighted CA19‐9‐increasing allele: 0.99, 95% confidence interval 0.94–1.04; P = 0.61).
Conclusions
The present study did not support a causal association of serum CA19‐9 with diabetes risk. CA19‐9 might be a potential biomarker of incident diabetes mellitus risk.
The current study did find a positive association of serum CA19‐9 and incident diabetes risk. However, the Mendelian randomization analysis did not support a causal association of serum CA19‐9 with diabetes risk. Higher levels of serum CA19‐9 might be a biomarker of incident diabetes.
Whether the definition of hypertension according to 2017 AHA/ACC guidelines and blood pressure (BP) changes was related to the increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) remained debated. This ...prospective cohort study aimed to investigate the association of BP and long‐term BP change with CKD risk with different glucose metabolism according to the new hypertension guidelines. This study examined 12 951 participants and 11 183 participants derived from the older people cohort study, respectively. Participants were divided into three groups based on blood glucose and the risks were assessmented by the logistic regression model. During a 10 years of follow‐up period, 2727 individuals developed CKD (21.1%). Compared with those with BP < 130/80 mmHg, individuals with increased BP levels had significantly increased risk of incident CKD. Participants with BP of 130–139/80–89 or ≥140/90 mmHg had 1.51‐ and 1.89‐fold incident risk of CKD in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Compared with individuals with stable BP (−5 to 5 mmHg), the risk of CKD was reduced when BP decreased by 5 mmHg or more and increased when BP increased ≥5 mmHg among normoglycemia and prediabetes participants. Similar results were observed for rapid estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline. In conclusion, the BP of 130–139/80–89 mmHg combined with prediabetes or DM had an increased risk of incident CKD and rapid eGFR decline in older people. Long‐term changes of BP by more than 5 mmHg among normoglycemia or prediabetes were associated with the risk of incident CKD and rapid eGFR decline.
Face image inpainting technology is an important research direction in image restoration. When the current image restoration methods repair the damaged areas of face images with weak texture, there ...are problems such as low accuracy of face image decomposition, unreasonable restoration structure, and degradation of image quality after inpainting. Therefore, this paper proposes an adaptive face image inpainting algorithm based on feature symmetry. Firstly, we locate the feature points of the face, and segment the face into four feature parts based on the feature point distribution to define the feature search range. Then, we construct a new mathematical model, introduce feature symmetry to improve priority calculation, and increase the reliability of priority calculation. After that, in the process of searching for matching blocks, we accurately locate similar feature blocks according to the relative position and symmetry criteria of the target block and various feature parts of the face. Finally, we introduced the HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) color space to determine the best matching block according to the chroma and brightness of the sample, reduce the repair error, and complete the face image inpainting. During the experiment, we firstly performed visual evaluation and texture analysis on the inpainting face image, and the results show that the face image inpainting by our algorithm maintained the consistency of the face structure, and the visual observation was closer to the real face features. Then, we used the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM) as objective evaluation indicators; among the five sample face images inpainting results given in this paper, our method was better than the reference methods, and the average PSNR value improved from 2.881–5.776 dB using our method when inpainting 100 face images. Additionally, we used the time required for inpainting the unit pixel to evaluate the inpainting efficiency, and it was improved by 12%–49% with our method when inpainting 100 face images. Finally, by comparing the face image inpainting experiments with the generative adversary network (GAN) algorithm, we discuss some of the problems with the method in this paper based on graphics in repairing face images with large areas of missing features.
Abstract
Objective
The objective of this study is to examine whether healthy lifestyle could reduce diabetes risk among individuals with different genetic profiles.
Design
A prospective cohort study ...with a median follow-up of 4.6 years from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort was performed.
Participants
A total of 19 005 individuals without diabetes at baseline participated in the study.
Main Variable Measure
A healthy lifestyle was determined based on 6 factors: nonsmoker, nondrinker, healthy diet, body mass index of 18.5 to 23.9 kg/m2, waist circumference less than 85 cm for men and less than 80 cm for women, and higher level of physical activity. Associations of combined lifestyle factors and incident diabetes were estimated using Cox proportional hazard regression. A polygenic risk score of 88 single-nucleotide polymorphisms previously associated with diabetes was constructed to test for association with diabetes risk among 7344 individuals, using logistic regression.
Results
A total of 1555 incident diabetes were ascertained. Per SD increment of simple and weighted genetic risk score was associated with a 1.39- and 1.34-fold higher diabetes risk, respectively. Compared with poor lifestyle, intermediate and ideal lifestyle were reduced to a 23% and 46% risk of incident diabetes, respectively. Association of lifestyle with diabetes risk was independent of genetic risk. Even among individuals with high genetic risk, intermediate and ideal lifestyle were separately associated with a 29% and 49% lower risk of diabetes.
Conclusion
Genetic and combined lifestyle factors were independently associated with diabetes risk. A healthy lifestyle could lower diabetes risk across different genetic risk categories, emphasizing the benefit of entire populations adhering to a healthy lifestyle.
Our aim was to study whether there is causal association between serum uric acid and metabolic syndrome (MetS). A cross-sectional study was performed, including a total of 27,009 subjects (23,345 ...subjects having uric acid data) from the Dongfeng-Tongji Cohort study. The MetS was defined by the International Diabetes Foundation criteria of 2005. Association analysis was performed by logistic regression. A genetic risk score was calculated by adding the uric acid increasing alíeles in two SNPs (rs1 1722228 in SLC2A9 and rs2231142 in ABCG2) which were identified from our genome-wide association study on uric acid levels. The causal association was examined by mendelian randomization analysis. Among a middle- and old-age Chinese population, serum uric acid concentrations were strongly associated with the risk of MetS and its several components (P < 0.0001). The effects were stronger in women than in men. Despite the lack of statistical significance, both SNPs exhibited a trend with increased MetS risk (rs1 1722228, OR = 1.06, 95 % CI 0.99-1.14; rs2231142, OR = 1.02, 95 % CI 0.95-1.10), consistent with their increasing uric acid effects. Each additional uric acid increasing allele in the genetic risk score was associated with 3 % increased MetS risk (OR = 1.03, 95% CI 0.98-1.09; P = 0.23). Further adjustment for serum uric acid attenuated the trend of individual SNP and genetic risk score with increased MetS risk (all OR < 1.0). These findings suggested that serum uric acid was associated with MetS risk in a middle- and old-age Chinese population. Whether this association was causal remained to be investigated in the future studies.
All superconducting tokamak: EAST Hu, Jiansheng; Xi, Weibin; Zhang, Jian ...
AAPPS bulletin,
12/2023, Letnik:
33, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) was built to demonstrate high-power, long-pulse operations under fusion-relevant conditions, with major radius
R
= 1.9 m, minor radius
a
= 0.5 m, ...and design pulse length up to 1000s. It has an ITER-like D-shaped cross-section with two symmetric divertors at the top and bottom, accommodating both single null and double null divertor configurations. EAST construction was started in 2000, and its first plasma was successfully obtained in 2006. In the past 15 years, plasma-facing components, plasma heating, diagnostics, and other systems have been upgraded step by step to meet its mission on exploring of the scientific and technological bases for fusion reactors and studying the physics and engineering technology issues with long pulse steady-state operation. An advanced steady-state plasma operation scenario has been developed, and plasma parameters were greatly improved. Meanwhile, front physics on the magnetic confinement plasmas have been systemically investigated and lots of fruitful results were realized, covering transport and confinement, MHD stabilities, pedestal physics, divertor and scrap-off layer (SOL) physics, and energetic particle physics. This brief review of EAST on engineering upgrading, stand-steady operation scenario development, and plasma physics investigation would be useful for the reference on construction and operation of a superconducting tokamak, such as ITER and future fusion reactor.
Evidence shows that exposure to poor conditions in early life is associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases in adults.
We investigated whether exposure to the Chinese famine (1959-1961) in ...the fetal stage or in childhood (0-9 y) was associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hyperglycemia in adulthood.
We included 7801 subjects aged 56.4 ± 3.3 y from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort. Subjects were classified into late-, middle-, and early-childhood-exposed, fetal-exposed, and unexposed groups. Excess mortality rate was used to evaluate the severity of famine. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the famine-dysglycemia associations. Generalized linear models were used to assess the famine effects on dysglycemia risk during the 5-y follow-up period among 3100 subjects.
In descriptive analyses, the risk of T2D was significantly greater in the middle-childhood-exposed group (OR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.87; P = 0.007), and the risk of hyperglycemia was higher in the middle- and late-childhood-exposed groups than in the unexposed group (OR: 1.54; 95% CI: 1.26, 1.88 and OR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.23, 1.85, respectively). In sex-specific analyses, women exposed in middle childhood (OR: 1.55; 95% CI: 1.16, 2.06) and late childhood (OR: 1.40; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.87) had a higher risk of T2D than unexposed women. This association was not found in men. Similar associations were found for hyperglycemia risk. Moreover, subjects who experienced severe famine in childhood had a 38% higher T2D risk (95% CI: 1.05, 1.81) than those exposed to less severe famine. In retrospective cohort analyses, participants who experienced famine in middle childhood had a higher hyperglycemia risk relative to the unexposed group (RR: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.08, 3.90).
Exposure to the Chinese famine in childhood was related to an increased risk of adulthood T2D and hyperglycemia, particularly in women.
ObjectiveLimited Mendelian randomization (MR) studies have assessed the causal relationship between serum uric acid levels and diabetes risk. Here we investigated causality between the serum uric ...acid concentration and diabetes risk in Chinese population.Research design and methodsThe observational analysis, based on the Dongfeng-Tongji prospective cohort (n=15 195) we tested the association of serum uric acid levels with incident diabetes risk. In the instrumental variable analysis, we examined the association of the genetic risk score (GRS) of serum uric acid with diabetes risk in case-control design (2539 cases and 4595 controls) via MR analysis.ResultsDuring a mean (SD) follow-up of 4.5 (0.5) years, 1156 incident diabetes cases were identified. Compared with those in the lowest quintile of serum uric acid levels, the HRs of incident diabetes were 1.19 (95% CI 0.96 to 1.48), 1.12 (95% CI 0.90 to 1.40), 1.38 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.70), and 1.51 (95% CI 1.23 to 1.87) for Q2, Q3, Q4 and Q5, respectively (P-trend <0.001). The GRS was strongly associated with serum uric acid levels (β=0.17, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.19; P=2.81×10-67). However, no significant association was observed between the GRS and diabetes risk (OR=1.01, 95 CI 0.95 to 1.06; P=0.75).ConclusionsEven though serum uric acid levels were significantly associated with increased incident diabetes risk, the results did not provide evidence for a causal relationship between them.
Background
During postoperative follow-up, the visible range of maxillary sinus (MS) is limited, even combining 0° and 70° rigid endoscopes together. Flexible endoscope has been used in larynx ...examinations for a long time, but rarely in nasal cavity and sinus. We aimed to evaluate the application values of rigid and flexible endoscopes for visualization of MS.
Methods
We followed up 70 patients with lesions in MS via both rigid and flexible endoscopes. In addition, we used thin-slice CT image of the sinus to create a MS model and divided it into two parts for 3D printing. The inner surface of the 3D-printed sinus was marked with grid papers of the same size (5 mm × 5 mm), then the visual range under rigid endoscopes with different angle and flexible endoscopes was calculated and analyzed.
Results
In clinical follow-up, we found that flexible endoscopy can reach where rigid endoscopy cannot, which is more sensitive than medical imaging. Endoscopes showed the largest observation range of the posterolateral wall, more than half of which can be visualized by 0° endoscope. Almost all of the posterolateral wall can be revealed under 45° endoscope, 70° endoscope and flexible endoscope. The visual range of each wall under flexible endoscope is generally greater than that under rigid endoscopes, especially of the anterior wall, medial wall and inferior wall.
Conclusion
There was obviously overall advantage of using flexible endoscope in postoperative follow-up of MS lesions. Flexible endoscopy can expand the range of observation, and improve the early detection of the recurrent lesion. We recommend flexible endoscope as a routine application.
Graphical abstract
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