The current COVID-19 pandemic began in December 2019 in Wuhan (China) and rapidly extended to become a global sanitary and economic emergency. Its etiological agent is the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. ...COVID-19 presents a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, which ranges from an asymptomatic infection to a severe pneumonia accompanied by multisystemic failure that can lead to a patient's death. The immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is known to involve all the components of the immune system that together appear responsible for viral elimination and recovery from the infection. Nonetheless, such immune responses are implicated in the disease's progression to a more severe and lethal process. This review describes the general aspects of both COVID-19 and its etiological agent SARS-CoV-2, stressing the similarities with other severe coronavirus infections, such as SARS and MERS, but more importantly, pointing toward the evidence supporting the hypothesis that the clinical spectrum of COVID-19 is a consequence of the corresponding variable spectrum of the immune responses to the virus. The critical point where progression of the disease ensues appears to center on loss of the immune regulation between protective and altered responses due to exacerbation of the inflammatory components. Finally, it appears possible to delineate certain major challenges deserving of exhaustive investigation to further understand COVID-19 immunopathogenesis, thus helping to design more effective diagnostic, therapeutic, and prophylactic strategies.
In the factory of the future, most of the operations will be done by autonomous robots that need visual feedback to move around the working space avoiding obstacles, to work collaboratively with ...humans, to identify and locate the working parts, to complete the information provided by other sensors to improve their positioning accuracy, etc. Different vision techniques, such as photogrammetry, stereo vision, structured light, time of flight and laser triangulation, among others, are widely used for inspection and quality control processes in the industry and now for robot guidance. Choosing which type of vision system to use is highly dependent on the parts that need to be located or measured. Thus, in this paper a comparative review of different machine vision techniques for robot guidance is presented. This work analyzes accuracy, range and weight of the sensors, safety, processing time and environmental influences. Researchers and developers can take it as a background information for their future works.
Inspired by the concept of living polymerization reaction, we are able to produce silver-gold-silver nanowires with a precise control over their total length and plasmonic properties by establishing ...a constant silver deposition rate on the tips of penta-twinned gold nanorods used as seed cores. Consequently, the length of the wires increases linearly in time. Starting with ∼210 nm × 32 nm gold cores, we produce nanowire lengths up to several microns in a highly controlled manner, with a small self-limited increase in thickness of ∼4 nm, corresponding to aspect ratios above 100, whereas the low polydispersity of the product allows us to detect up to nine distinguishable plasmonic resonances in a single colloidal solution. We analyze the spatial distribution and the nature of the plasmons by electron energy loss spectroscopy and obtain excellent agreement between measurements and electromagnetic simulations, clearly demonstrating that the presence of the gold core plays a marginal role, except for relatively short wires or high-energy modes.
The present study was planned to study the relationships between age, personality (according to Zuckerman's and Gray's psychobiological models) and decision-making styles in relation to risky driving ...behaviors. The participants were habitual drivers, 538 (54.3%) men and 453 (45.7%) women, with a mean age around 45 years and mainly of middle socioeconomic status. The results indicate that the youngest men and women reported more Lapses, Ordinary violations, and Aggressive violations than the oldest men and women. Women reported more Lapses (
= -0.40), and men more Ordinary (
= 0.33) and Aggressive violations (
= 0.28) when driving. Linear and non-linear analysis clearly support the role of both personality traits and decision-making styles in risky driving behaviors. Aggressiveness, Sensitivity to Reward, Sensation Seeking played the main role from personality traits, and Spontaneous and Rational decision-making style also accounted for some variance regarding risky driving behaviors. This pattern was broadly replicated in both genders. The discussion section analyses congruencies with previous literature and makes recommendations on the grounds of observed results.
Intelligent automation, including robotics, is one of the current trends in the manufacturing industry in the context of “Industry 4.0”, where cyber-physical systems control the production at ...automated or semi-automated factories. Robots are perfect substitutes for a skilled workforce for some repeatable, general, and strategically-important tasks. However, this transformation is not always feasible and immediate, since certain technologies do not provide the required degree of flexibility. The introduction of collaborative robots in the industry permits the combination of the advantages of manual and automated production. In some processes, it is necessary to incorporate robots from different manufacturers, thus the design of these multi-robot systems is crucial to guarantee the maximum quality and efficiency. In this context, this paper presents a novel methodology for process automation design, enhanced implementation, and real-time monitoring in operation based on creating a digital twin of the manufacturing process with an immersive virtual reality interface to be used as a virtual testbed before the physical implementation. Moreover, it can be efficiently used for operator training, real-time monitoring, and feasibility studies of future optimizations. It has been validated in a use case which provides a solution for an assembly manufacturing process.
Presented is the first demonstration of real‐time monitoring of the response of resident lymphocyte populations in biopsied tumor tissue to immunotherapeutic agents in a perfused tumor ...microenvironment. This technology comprises a microfluidic tumor trapping device constructed from a novel 3D‐printed, transparent, noncytotoxic substrate. The 3D‐printed device sustains viability of biopsied tissue fragments under dynamic perfusion for at least 72 h while enabling simultaneous administration of various drug treatments, illustrating a useful tool for drug development and precision medicine for immunotherapy. Confocal microscopy of the tumor tissue and resident lymphocytes in the presence of fluorescent tracers provides real‐time monitoring of tumor response to various immunotherapies. Devices are additively manufactured in Pro3dure GR‐10 (i.e., a relatively new, high‐resolution stereolithographic resin with properties suitable for biomedical applications), allowing integration of a set of finely featured functional components into a monolithically constructed platform. The presented platform comprises a new methodology for modeling and analyzing tumor response for the improved prediction of patient‐specific immunotherapy efficacy. It is acknowledged that this is the first report of human tumor fragments cultured in a dynamic perfusion system capable of testing the effect of circulating immune checkpoint inhibitors on resident tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes.
Three‐dimensional printing enables the fabrication of monolithic, microfluidic platforms which facilitate biomedical analyses, substantially reducing platform construction times, enabling complex device geometries, and improving usability. The presented microfluidic device is the first dynamic system investigating the effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors on resident lymphocytes in human tumor fragments, ultimately to predict drug response and guide effective cancer therapy administration.
This study aims to investigate the relationships between personality traits of impulsivity, using the UPPS-P Impulsive Behaviour Scales shortened version, and prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during ...the IOWA Gambling Task (IGT) in young adult women. The study included a sample of 83 young, healthy females (19.8 ± 1.4 years), who voluntarily took part in the study. Repeated measures analysis during the IGT revealed a significant increase in HbO (all p <.001; ηp2 >.31) and a decrease in Hbr (all p <.003; ηp2 >.08) in all prefrontal quadrants. This increase in oxygenation occurs primarily during the choice period under ambiguity (r =.23; p =.039). Additionally, there was a significant linear decrease in selecting the decks associated with a high frequency of losses (p <.001), while the favorable deck with low losses showed a linear increase (F = 12.96; p <.001). Notably, discrepancies were found between UPPS-P and IGT impulsivity ratings. The Lack of Perseverance and Lack of Premeditation scales from the UPPS-P were identified as significant predictors of HbO levels, mainly in the two quadrants of the left hemisphere’s, lateral (adjusted R2 =.23; p <.001; f2 =.34) and rostral (adjusted R2 =.13; p <.002; f2 =.17). These findings suggest that young adult women predominantly adopt a punishment-avoidance strategy during IGT, exhibiting increased activation in the left hemisphere, especially during the task’s initial phase characterized by ambiguity.
•Impulsivity questionnaire and cognitive task do not correlate in young women.•Young women prefer decks with low loss frequency in the IGT.•Left prefrontal dominance during IGT in young women.•Greater increase in prefrontal oxygenation during the period under ambiguity.•Lack of perseverance is the best predictor of oxygenation during IGT.
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