Genetic control methods of mosquito vectors of malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and Zika are becoming increasingly popular due to the limitations of other techniques such as the use of insecticides. ...The sterile insect technique is an effective genetic control method to manage insect populations. However, it is crucial to release sterile mosquitoes by air to ensure homogeneous coverage, especially in large areas. Here, we report a fully automated adult mosquito release system operated from an uncrewed aerial vehicle or drone. Our system, developed and tested in Brazil, enabled a homogeneous dispersal of sterile male
while maintaining their quality, leading to a homogeneous sterile-to-wild male ratio due to their aggregation in the same sites. Our results indicate that the released sterile males were able to compete with the wild males in mating with the wild females; thus, the sterile males were able to induce sterility in the native female population. The use of drones to implement the sterile insect technique will lead to improvements in areal coverage and savings in operational costs due to the requirement of fewer release sites and field staff.
Flying robots have unique advantages in the exploration of cluttered environments such as caves or collapsed buildings. Current systems, however, have difficulty in dealing with the large amount of ...obstacles inherent to such environments. Collisions with obstacles generally result in crashes from which the platform can no longer recover. This paper presents a method to design active uprighting mechanisms for protected rotorcraft-type flying robots that allow them to become upright and subsequently take off again after an otherwise mission-ending collision. This method is demonstrated on a tailsitter flying robot, which is capable of consistently uprighting after falling on its side using a spring-based "leg" and returning to the air to continue its mission.
We aim at developing ultralight autonomous microflyers capable of navigating within houses or small built environments. Our latest prototype is a fixed-wing aircraft weighing a mere 10 g, flying ...around 1.5 m/s and carrying the necessary electronics for airspeed regulation and collision avoidance. This microflyer is equipped with two tiny camera modules, two rate gyroscopes, an anemometer, a small microcontroller, and a Bluetooth radio module. In-flight tests are carried out in a new experimentation room specifically designed for easy changing of surrounding textures
Research made over the past decade shows the use of increasingly complex methods and heavy platforms to achieve autonomous flight in cluttered environments. However, efficient behaviors can be found ...in nature where limited sensing is used, such as in insects progressing toward a light at night. Interestingly, their success is based on their ability to recover from the numerous collisions happening along their imperfect flight path. The goal of the AirBurr project is to take inspiration from these insects and develop a new class of flying robots that can recover from collisions and even exploit them. Such robots are designed to be robust to crashes and can take-off again without human intervention. They navigate in a reactive way, bump into obstacles, and unlike conventional approaches, they don't need heavy modeling in order to fly autonomously. We believe that this new paradigm will bring flying robots out of the laboratory and allow them to tackle unstructured, cluttered environments. This paper aims at presenting the vision of the AirBurr project, as well as the latest results in the design of a platform capable of sustaining collisions and self-recovering after crashes.
Background:
Suprascapular nerve (SSN) entrapment in volleyball players leads to infraspinatus (ISP) muscle atrophy and weakness of abduction and external rotation (ER) of the shoulder.
Purpose:
To ...assess functional outcome after arthroscopic extended decompression of SSN in the spinoglenoid notch and suprascapular notch in a group of volleyball athletes.
Study Design:
Case series; Level of evidence, 4.
Methods:
Volleyballers who underwent arthroscopic SSN decompression were analyzed retrospectively. Assessment tools consisted of range of motion and ER strength on Lovett scale and postoperative ER strength measured by dynamometer, Constant-Murley score (CMS), and visual evaluation of ISP muscle recovery by assessing muscle bulk.
Results:
The study included 10 patients (9 male and 1 female). The mean age was 25.9 years (range, 19-33) and mean follow-up was 77.9 months (range, 7-123). The mean range of postoperative ER at 90° of abduction (ER2) was 105.6° (88°-126°) and 108.5° (93°-124°) for the contralateral side, while ER2 strength was 8 ± 2.6 and 12.65 ± 2.8 kg (P < .01) respectively. Mean CMS was 89.9 (84-100). In 5 cases, there was complete recovery of ISP muscle atrophy whereas 2 patients had partial recovery and 3 had none.
Conclusion:
Arthroscopic SSN decompression in volleyball players improves shoulder function, but results of ISP recovery and ER strength are variable.
IntroductionThe global burden of dementia is increasing, with the greatest increase predicted to occur in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite this there are limited previous data on the prevalence of, ...and risk factors for, dementia in SSA. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of dementia, and investigate its associations, in those aged 60 years and older attending the outpatient department of Mount Meru Hospital in northern Tanzania. This is the first hospital-based outpatient dementia prevalence and risk factors study to be conducted in an east African population.
MethodsThis was a one-phase cross-sectional study. Adults aged 60 years and over attending medical outpatients were screened for dementia using The Identification and Intervention for Dementia in Elderly Africans cognitive screening tool. Those who scored ≤9 were clinically assessed using the DSM-IV criteria. Demographic, medical comorbidity and lifestyle information were collected during a clinical assessment.
ResultsPrevalence of dementia was 5.0% (95% confidence interval: 3.7–6.3). Binary logistic regression found female sex (odds ratio (OR) = 2.778), having no formal education (OR = 6.088), quantity of alcohol consumption (units/week) (OR = 1.080), uncorrected visual impairment (OR = 4.260), body mass index <18.5 kg/m2 (OR = 6.588) and stroke (OR = 15.790 with wide 95% confidence interval (3.48–74.475)) to be significantly, independently associated with dementia.
ConclusionsThe prevalence of dementia in this population is lower than previously reported community-based rates in Tanzania, and similar to those in high-income countries. This is the first time the association between uncorrected visual impairment and dementia has been reported in SSA. Other associations identified are in keeping with previous literature. Further research on the management of dementia and its risk factors, and the support and education of carers and patients in east African populations is required.
Objectives: We hypothesized that the number and length of hospital admissions in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) would increase immediately prior to admission to a care home relative to those ...who were able to continue living at home or who died. Method: PD patients at Hoehn and Yahr Stages III to V were followed-up over two and a half years with deaths and care home placements recorded. Hospital admissions data were collected over this period. Results: Of 286 patients included in the study, 7.3% entered a care home and 28.3% died. In the final 120 days prior to the study exit point (care home placement, death, or continued living at home), longer hospital stay was significantly associated with care home placement, after adjusting for the competing risk of death. Conclusion: Our data provide evidence that, for many people with PD, a period of crisis is reached immediately prior to care home placement.
The burden of dementia is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), but there are limited epidemiological data on dementia in SSA. This study investigated the prevalence and associations of dementia in ...older adults (less than 60 y) attending the outpatient department of Mount Meru Hospital in Tanzania.
This one-phase cross-sectional study screened a sample using the Identification of Dementia in Elderly Africans (IDEA) cognitive screening tool. Those that screened as having possible and probable dementia were further assessed, and diagnosis of dementia was made according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). Demographic and risk factor data were collected.
Within those screened, 57/1141 (5.0%) (95% CI: 3.7-6.3) had dementia. Female sex odds ratio (OR)=2.778, 95% CI: 1.074-7.189, having never attended school (OR=6.088, 95% CI: 1.360-27.256), alcohol (U/wk) (OR=1.080, 95% CI: 1.016-1.149), uncorrected visual impairment (OR=4.260, 95% CI: 1.623-11.180), body mass index <18.5 kg/m 2 (OR=6.588, 95% CI: 2.089-20.775), and stroke (OR=15.790, 95% CI: 3.48-74.475) were found to be significantly, independently associated with dementia.
The prevalence of dementia in this population is similar to a recent community-based rate in Tanzania and lower than a hospital-based rate in Senegal. This is the first time the association between visual impairment and dementia has been reported in SSA. Other associations are in keeping with previous literature.
By 2030, sub‐Saharan Africa is forecast to see the steepest rise in the number of people with hypertension of any world region. Hypertensive retinopathy is known to be a common complication of ...hypertension in developed countries and some studies suggest it is associated with the presence of other hypertension‐related end‐organ damage (EOD) such as stroke and cardiovascular disease. In Tanzania hypertension is relatively more common than in other parts of sub‐Saharan Africa, especially in the older population; however, the prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy and its association with EOD remain unknown. The authors conducted a cross‐sectional study of elderly, community‐dwelling, rural Tanzanians to determine the prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy and its association with hypertension and other forms of EOD. Hypertensive retinopathy was diagnosed based on retinal imaging. In a cohort of 61 patients with gradable images, the authors found the overall prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy to be 64% (n = 39), which was strongly associated with hypertension (X2 1 = 4.207, P = .004), with a significant trend towards more severe retinopathy with more severe hypertension (r = .377, P = .003). The authors did not find hypertensive retinopathy to be associated with other forms of EOD. Hypertensive retinopathy is highly prevalent in this population and is associated in most but not all cases with hypertension. These findings do not suggest that it could be used as a screening tool for EOD, but it is important to identify and educate patients with retinopathy about possible complications of the condition.
This study aimed to evaluate the asymmetry in the lateral abdominal muscles (LAMs) expressed as tissue deformation index asymmetry (aTDI) with the use of M-mode ultrasonography. The muscles of ...interest were the transversus abdominis, internal oblique, and external oblique.
This is a cohort of 126 healthy subjects who participated in the study. Measurements were taken by two raters, blinded to the aim of the study. M-mode ultrasounds with a measurement frequency of 5 MHz were utilized to record the postural response of LAMs to external perturbation in the form of rapid arm abduction with load, and individual aTDI values for each muscle were calculated.
The aTDI values from deep to superficial LAMs were 78.28% for transversus abdominis, 55.68% for internal oblique, and 44.80% for external oblique. Only the aTDI for transversus abdominis results differed significantly from those of the other LAMs (P<0.05).
LAM asymmetry values exhibit the following gradient: transversus abdominis >internal oblique >external oblique. Specifically, only transversus abdominis demonstrates noteworthy asymmetry in postural activity. This observation contributes to the literature by indicating that transversus abdominis asymmetry may serve as a marker for assessing the variability in motor control of the deep abdominal musculature. The dominance of transversus abdominis (TrA) asymmetric activity underlines the importance of personalized approaches for patients with lumbopelvic disorders or for athletes seeking to enhance performance.
PDF
