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In regular binary eutectic alloys, the shape of two-phase solidification microstructures varies between neighboring eutectic grains. This occurs in particular in alloys that present special orientation relationships (ORs) between the two kinds of crystals. In practice, eutectic grains most often present spatial variations of the crystal orientation of a few degrees. The consequences of this “mosaicity” on the growth dynamics are not clear. We present the first steps of a numerical investigation (boundary-integral method) of the dynamics of the so-called locked-lamellar patterns in the presence of a mosaicity. Realistic alloy parameters were used. We simulated a few pairs of lamellae (periodic boundary conditions) with a smoothly modulated anisotropy of the interphase boundaries in the solid. The pattern evolves then toward a steady-state regime with a uniform lamellar tilt angle, but a spatial modulation of the lamella width.

Distal vessel occlusions represent about 25-40% of acute ischemic stroke (AIS), either as primary occlusion or secondary occlusion complicating mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for large vessel occlusion.

La histeroscopia diagnóstica es un estudio no invasivo esencial para la exploración de patologías intrauterinas. Sus principales indicaciones son: sospecha de una lesión intracavitaria, investigación de una hemorragia uterina anormal, engrosamiento del endometrio, infertilidad, malformación uterina, abortos recurrentes, trastornos del ciclo menstrual y extracción de un cuerpo extraño intrauterino (dispositivo intrauterino inaccesible por vía vaginal). Puede llevarse a cabo sin anestesia en el quirófano o, en el mejor de los casos, en la consulta, con una mayor satisfacción de las pacientes en este contexto. Antes de esta exploración debe excluirse la presencia de un embarazo o de una infección intrauterina. En las mujeres en edad fértil con un ciclo menstrual regular, lo ideal es programar la histeroscopia durante la fase folicular después de la menstruación. La maduración cervical no es necesaria antes de la histeroscopia. Se prefiere un histeroscopio rígido en lugar de un histeroscopio flexible. El medio de distensión recomendado es la solución salina. Las complicaciones relacionadas con la histeroscopia son muy infrecuentes y suelen ser benignas. Junto con esta exploración se puede hacer una biopsia endometrial.

This paper presents a new design of CADEL, a cable-driven elbow-assisting device, with light weighting and control improvements. The new device design is appropriate to be more portable and user-oriented solution, presenting additional facilities with respect to the original design. One of potential benefits of improved portability can be envisaged in the possibility of house and hospital usage keeping social distancing while allowing rehabilitation treatments even during a pandemic spread. Specific attention has been devoted to design main mechatronic components by developing specific kinematics models. The design process includes an implementation of specific control hardware and software. The kinematic model of the new design is formulated and features are evaluated through numerical simulations and experimental tests. An evaluation from original design highlights the proposed improvements mainly in terms of comfort, portability and user-oriented operation.

The term Sneddon's syndrome (SS) has been used since 1965 to describe a vasculopathy characterized by a combination of cerebrovascular disease with livedo racemosa. SS may be classified as antiphospholipid+ (aPL+) or antiphospholipid− (aPL−). Little is known about aPL− SS; in this review we describe the epidemiology and pathogenesis of aPL− SS, as well as the clinical and histologic features. We discuss recent findings in terms of neurologic and cardiac involvement. Moreover, differential diagnoses of conditions that may present with both livedo racemosa and stroke are discussed. Finally, we discuss real-life practical issues such as the initial investigations to be performed, long-term follow-up, and therapeutic management of aPL− SS patients.

In the last years, collaborative human-robot applications have become more and more appealing thanks to the robot’s easiness of programming and the promise of increasing precision and safety. However, by combining two resources (the cobot and the human operator) there is a problem of safety since cobot and human operator have to work in the same workspace. To ensure human safety, the distance between robot and operator must be assessed and the robot must adapt accordingly either by reducing its velocity or by modifying its trajectory. In this paper, we propose a new online method to adapt the trajectory of the robot to the human movements using a single depth camera. This algorithm eliminates the robot from the scene using a simple calibration process. Then, it interpolates the shared workspace, captured by the depth camera, using Radial Basis Functions (RBFs). The result is a continuous function that is representative of the risk of collision with obstacles on the plane. Its gradient is used as a repulsive potential in the Artificial Potential Field (APF) method to generate the path. This method eliminates the need to calculate the distance between operator and robot since it is intrinsically considered in the potentials. Results shows the validity of the method.

Collaborative robots improve the traditional production systems, both automatic and manual, by allowing the resources to share the workspace. However, the shared workspace is both the greatest advantage and limit of collaborative robots. Indeed, interference between the human operator and the cobot may result in an emergency stop, reducing the performance of the system. Hence, a collision avoidance strategy is required to avoid collision; however, this may affect the performance of the system. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate how the shared workspace affects the system performance, and the effects of the adoption of a collision avoidance strategy. To this regard, a collision avoidance strategy has been developed and it is presented in this work and an experimental validation proved the efficacy of the proposed strategy. Lastly, simulation tests were carried out to analyse the performance of the system for different sizes of the collaboration area with respect to the workspace. The results shows that, while the increase in the collaboration area reduces the performance of the system, collision avoidance strategies mitigate this effect.

Excitation energy and charge transfer processes in perylene diimide dye–CdSe quantum dot complexes have been studied by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. After excitation of the quantum dots high above the band edge, the electronically excited perylene diimide forms on a timescale similar to the ultrafast quantum dot intraband relaxation. An extraordinarily fast energy transfer time of <300 fs is determined, indicating that the transfer from the hot excitonic state competes with quantum dot intraband relaxation. A much slower kinetic component is attributed to the energy transfer from the quantum dot’s lowest excitonic state to perylene diimide. At high dye–quantum dot ratios, the electronically excited dye generated in the energy transfer reaction is reduced by an electron transfer from the quantum dot ground state. This study demonstrates the potential of the investigated organic–inorganic hybrid for the design of tailor-made energy transfer systems, which can be applied in the emerging field of hot exciton utilization.

Under-actuated robots are very interesting in terms of cost and weight since they can result in a state-controllable system with a number of actuators lower than the number of joints. In this paper, a comparison between an under-actuated planar 3 degrees of freedom (DOF) robot and a comparable fully-actuated 2 degrees of freedom robot is presented, mainly focusing on the performances in terms of trajectories, actuator torques, and vibrations. The under-actuated system is composed of 2 active rotational joints followed by a passive rotational joint equipped with a torsional spring. The fully-actuated robot is inertial equivalent to the under-actuated manipulator: the last link is equal to the sum of the last two links of the under-actuated system. Due to the conditions on the inertia distribution and spring placement, in a simple point-to-point movement the last passive joint starts and ends in a zero-value configuration, so the 3 DOF robot is equivalent, in terms of initial and final configuration, to the 2 DOF fully-actuated robot, thus they can be compared. Results show how while the fully actuated robot is better in terms of reliable trajectory and actuator torques, the under-actuated robot wins in flexibility and vibration behavior.

Introduction and Objectives. Analysis of cancer biomarkers is an important tool in developing targeted-therapy and in modulating chemoresistance. Here, we analyze the relevance of CD90, a marker of cancer stem cells (CSC) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its correlation with autophagy. Materials and Methods. For in vivostudy, 86 specimens were collected from 43 patients undergoing liver resections. In each patient, HCC nodule (HCC) and surrounding non-tumor (SNT) were collected. For in vitrostudy, HCC cells JHH6 subpopulations expressing CD90+ and CD90- were isolated using magnetic-sorter and confirmed by flow-cytometry. Upon doxorubicin treatment, autophagy turn-over was analyzed by RTqPCR for mRNA expression, Western blot for protein expression, and autophagosome staining for autophagy-flux. Cytotoxicity test was performed by MTT assay. Gene and protein analysis were performed in clinical samples together with immunohistostaining. Results. CD90 mRNA expression was higher in HCC than in SNT for 8-fold (p < 0.001). LC3-II protein was up-regulated in the HCC in comparison with the SNT (p < 0.05). In vitromodel showed that CD90+ and CD90- cells had diverse expressions of autophagy-related genes. Upon doxorubicin treatment, autophagy was activated in both cells by increasing LC3-II protein expression, autophagic vacuoles, and dysregulation of autophagy-related mRNAs. A differential autophagic capacity was noticed between two subpopulations and it was correlated with cellular toxicity assay. Conclusions. We demonstrated the relevance of differential autophagy capacity of CD90+ cells in HCC. Autophagy was involved in cancer-defense mechanism against doxorubicin. Cancer promoting function of autophagy in CD90+ cells was also related to cancer environment.

Background/Objectives: While daily hydration is best assessed in 24-h urine sample, spot sample is often used by health care professionals and researchers due to its practicality. However, urine output is subject to circadian variation, with urine being more concentrated in the morning. It has been demonstrated that afternoon spot urine samples are most likely to provide equivalent urine concentration to 24-h urine samples in adults. The aim of the present study was to examine whether urine osmolality (UOsm) assessed from a spot urine sample in specific time-windows was equivalent to 24-h UOsm in free-living healthy children. Subjects/Methods: Among 541 healthy children (age: 3–13 years, female: 45%, 77% non-Hispanic white, BMI:17.7 ± 4.0 kg m−2), UOsm at specific time-windows [morning (0600–1159), early afternoon (1200–1559), late afternoon (1600–1959), evening (2000–2359), overnight (2400–0559), and first morning] was compared with UOsm from the corresponding pooled 24-h urine sample using an equivalence test. Results: Late afternoon (1600–1959) spot urine sample UOsm value was equivalent to the 24-h UOsm value in children (P&lt; 0.05; mean difference: 62 mmol kg−1; 95% CI: 45–78 mmol kg−1). The overall diagnostic ability of urine osmolality assessed at late afternoon (1600–1959) to diagnose elevated urine osmolality on the 24-h sample was good for both cutoffs of 800 mmol kg−1[area under the curve (AUC): 87.4%; sensitivity: 72.6%; specificity: 90.5%; threshold: 814 mmol kg−1] and 500 mmol kg−1(AUC: 83.5%; sensitivity: 75.0%; specificity: 80.0%; threshold: 633 mmol kg−1). Conclusion: These data suggest that in free-living healthy children, 24-h urine concentration may be approximated from a late afternoon spot urine sample. This data will have practical implication for health care professionals and researchers.

The number of fungal infections has increased in recent years in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil. Epidemiological studies are important for proper control of infections.

Children consume various fluids to meet dietary water intake needs. However, the contribution of different fluid types on hydration is unclear. The purpose of this study was to develop fluid intake patterns and examine their association with hydration, as indicated by 24-h urine osmolality. Two hundred ten (105 girls) healthy children (height: 1.49 ± 0.13 m, weight: 43.4 ± 12.6 kg, body fat: 25.2 ± 7.8%) recorded their fluid intake for two consecutive days, and collected their urine for 24-h during the 2nd day, while conducting their normal daily activities. Urine samples were analyzed for specific gravity and osmolality. Factor analysis with principal components method was applied to extract dietary patterns from six fluid groups. Linear regression analysis evaluated the associations between the extracted dietary patterns and hydration based on 24-h urine osmolality. The analysis revealed the following six components: 1, characterized by consumption of milk and fresh juice, but not packaged juice; 2, by regular soda and other drinks, but not water; 3, by fresh juice and other drinks; 4, by packaged juice, but not regular soda; 5, by water and milk; and 6, by fresh juice. Component 5 was negatively correlated with urine osmolality (P= 0.001) indicating better hydration, whereas component 2 was positively correlated with urine osmolality (P= 0.001). A drinking pattern based on water and milk was associated with better hydration, as indicated by lower urine osmolality, whereas drinking regular soda and other drinks but not water was associated with inferior hydration.

The extensive study and development of additive manufacturing technologies have allowed not only increased customization of the final parts but especially of their complexity. From such perspectives, intricate and mechanically efficient lattices which maximize their strength-to-weight ratio could be printed. Nevertheless, the fabrication of regular lattices, like octet cells, has been proven to be particularly limited by the layer-by-layer construction process due to the introduction of additional interfaces and/or the requirement of supports. In this work, a hybrid extrusion–photopolymerization process is coupled with a 6-axis robotic arm to allow for the fabrication of layers-less lattices thanks to the use of a custom graphical user interface and control over the printing head orientation. A highly reactive resin is employed as the ink and loaded with silica particles in order to tailor its rheological properties. A good resemblance between the printed components and the digital model is achieved, while their mechanical properties are superior to the ones of the traditionally additive manufactured octets.

The authors report the case of a patient presenting with severe vision loss, suspected to be a paraneoplastic syndrome secondary to a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Imaging could not explain the visual symptoms but full flash electroretinography revealed a cone rod dysfunction. Immunologic examination implicated a form of lymphoma-associated retinopathy (LAR).

FeFe hydrogenases are the most efficient H2-producing enzymes. However, inactivation by O2remains an obstacle that prevents them being used in many biotechnological devices. Here, we combine electrochemistry, site-directed mutagenesis, molecular dynamics and quantum chemical calculations to uncover the molecular mechanism of O2diffusion within the enzyme and its reactions at the active site. We propose that the partial reversibility of the reaction with O2results from the four-electron reduction of O2to water. The third electron/proton transfer step is the bottleneck for water production, competing with formation of a highly reactive OH radical and hydroxylated cysteine. The rapid delivery of electrons and protons to the active site is therefore crucial to prevent the accumulation of these aggressive species during prolonged O2exposure. These findings should provide important clues for the design of hydrogenase mutants with increased resistance to oxidative damage.

Le syndrome de platypnée-orthodéoxie (SPO) associe la présence d’une dyspnée (platypnée) et d’une désaturation (orthodéoxie) à l’orthostatisme alors qu’elles sont absentes au décubitus. Le SPO est le plus souvent dû à un shunt intracardiaque tel qu’un foramen ovale perméable (FOP), auquel s’ajoute un facteur favorisant fonctionnel. Il survient chez des patients de plus de 50ans. Son diagnostic est simple et repose sur la mesure de la saturation en décubitus et à l’orthostatisme et sur la mise en évidence des facteurs favorisants par la réalisation d’une échocardiographie. Le traitement recommandé est la fermeture du FOP lorsqu’il est présent. Nous présentons le cas d’un patient ayant présenté un infarctus cérébral sur embolie paradoxale au travers d’un FOP responsable d’un SPO.

Background/Objectives:Urinary biomarkers of hydration (urine osmolality, UOsm; urine specific gravity, USG) follow circadian variations. For individuals, researchers and health-care professionals, there is value in identifying time frames during which spot values of UOsmand USGare representative of 24-h values in healthy young adults.Subjects/Methods:Eighty-two free-living adults (22.3±2.9 years, 22.2±1.5 kg/m2) collected individual urine voids over a 24-h period. UOsmand USGwere measured on each void and on the pooled 24-h sample. To determine the time of day when a spot sample was likely to be equivalent to the 24-h value, daytime voids were binned by time and equivalence was tested for each 2-h window. Equivalence was a priori defined as being within 100 mOsm/kg (UOsm) and within 0.003 units (USG) of 24-h values.Results:For both UOsmand USG, voids between 1400 and 2000 hours produced values that were equivalent to the 24-h sample, whereas earlier voids tended to overestimate 24-h UOsmand USG. For windows 1401–1600 hours, 1601–1800 hours and 1801–2000 hours, the mean difference (95% confidence interval) between spot and 24-h UOsm(mOsm/kg) was −25 (−72; 22), 28 (−35; 92) and 12 (−41; 66), respectively, whereas for USGthe difference was 0.0014 (−0.0028; −0.0001), 0.0001 (−0.0017; 0.0019) and 0.0005 (−0.0018; 0.0009), respectively.Conclusions:In free-living healthy French adults, 24-h urine concentration can be approximated from a mid- to late-afternoon spot urine sample. This finding suggests that an afternoon sample may be an accurate and practical tool for hydration monitoring, useful to individuals and health-care practitioners.

La frecuencia del estrabismo infantil es del 5%. El estudio de los reflejos corneales y las pruebas de oclusión son las exploraciones clave para el diagnóstico. En la mayoría de los casos, la esotropía es precoz o adquirida (de acomodación). El cerebro del recién nacido es muy plástico y vulnerable, y el estrabismo puede provocar una ambliopía (disminución de la agudeza visual del ojo no fijador). Es necesario determinar la refracción con cicloplejía para determinar el error refractivo. La prescripción de lentes correctoras es la primera etapa del tratamiento y el estrabismo debe ser alternante para prevenir la ambliopía.

La thrombectomie mécanique a montré son efficacité dans la prise en charge des patients victimes d'un accident vasculaire cérébral (AVC) secondaire à une occlusion artérielle proximale (1). Néanmoins, chez 12-34% des patients traités, la revascularisation est insatisfaisante (TICI < 2b) en fin de procédure (2), avec 40% des cas sans aucune modification de la configuration de l'occlusion (3). Le stenting intracranien est une option intéressante pour ces occlusions réfractaires (4), mais présente des contraintes liées au risque hémorragique dans un contexte ischémique aigu pouvant être majoré par la mise en place d'antithrombotiques pour prévenir la thrombose intrastent. L'objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer le rôle du stenting intracrânien dans la prise en charge des patients pris en charge pour une occlusion artérielle proximale réfractaire, en analysant l'issue clinico-radiologique des patients stentés appariés à une population n'ayant pas bénéficié de stenting.

Nous rappelons quelques résultats expérimentaux récents concernant la dynamique des fronts eutectiques lamellaires en solidification directionnelle d'échantillons minces. Ces résultats ont permis à la fois de répondre à des questions théoriques relevant de la phénoménologie des fronts de propagation unidimensionnels (1D) et de résoudre quelques problèmes métallurgiques. Nous nous proposons d'aborder maintenant la dynamique des fronts de solidification eutectique lamellaire en échantillons massifs (fronts 2D). Nous esquissons un tableau des phénomènes nouveaux que nous nous attendons à observer dans de tels échantillons.

The number of new cases of emerging fungal infections has increased considerably in recent years, mainly due to the large number of immunocompromised individuals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the susceptibility of emerging fungi to fluconazole, itraconazole and amphotericin B by disk diffusion method. In 2015, 82 emerging fungi were evaluated in IPB-LACEN/RS and 13 (15.8%) were resistant: 10/52 were from superficial mycoses and 3/30 from systemic mycoses. The data from the study point to the need for permanent vigilance regarding the careful evaluation in the prescription and clinical and laboratory follow-up of patients affected by fungal infections.

We studied the formation and growth of locked-lamellar microstructures in a thin sample of a slightly hypoeutectic Al-Al2Cu alloy. The coupled-growth dynamics, including early stages and steady-state regimes, was observed optically in real time during directional solidification. The orientation of the α (Al) and θ (Al2Cu) crystals was measured ex situ in a series of eutectic grains by X-ray Laue microdiffraction. A nucleation event of a θ crystal on a pre-existing α crystal, and the subsequent growth of a eutectic grain with a type-C orientation relationship, that is, with a coincidence of {123}-α and {100}-θ planes, were observed in situ. In type-C eutectic grains, lamellar locking occurred parallel to the low-energy coincidence plane. A regular (floating) coupled-growth dynamics was observed in misoriented eutectic grains.

We present an in-situ experimental investigation of irregular eutectic growth dynamics observed optically in real time during directional solidification (DS) and rotating directional solidification (RDS) of a model transparent alloy, namely Amino-methyl-propanediol-Succinonitrile (AMPD-SCN). The SCN-rich solid grows with a nonfaceted solid-liquid interface, while AMPD forms thin whisker-like faceted crystals. With RDS, we observed simultaneously four distinct growth dynamics along the solidification front thanks to the rotation induced velocity ramp. At low velocity, AMPD crystals grow individually, with their leading tip ahead of – at a higher temperature than – the SCN-liquid interface which presents a linear undercooling change with V ramp. This regime is defined as a quasi-steady decoupled growth. During RDS, AMPD crystals are found to rotate with the sample in this regime. When they can reach the unsteady coupled-growth regime at higher V, since increasing V favors the formation of AMPD-SCN-liquid trijunctions, they start to branch noncrystallographically. At higher velocity, impurity effects lead to the formation of two-phase fingers. Further increase in the velocity results in the formation of primary SCN dendrites and a fine interdendritic eutectic microstructure. DS experiments confirmed the existence of those regimes at different velocities.

•Intracranial aneurysms are diagnosed in up to 9% of patients with sickle cell anemia, while consensual approaches to treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms in this population are still lacking.•A standardized hematological preparation protocol was undertaken before each aneurysm treatment.•Overall, endovascular and surgical treatment seems safe and effective: successful treatment was documented in 95% of aneurysms, while all 6 post-procedural complications were transitory or reversible, without residual deficits at one-year follow-up.•We suggest using stenting as a last therapeutic resort due to the potential high rate of ischemic complications in this population.

Growing evidence suggests a distinction between water intake necessary for maintaining a euhydrated state, and water intake considered to be adequate from a perspective of long-term health. Previously, we have proposed that maintaining a 24-h urine osmolality (UOsm) of ⩽500 mOsm/kg is a desirable target for urine concentration to ensure sufficient urinary output to reduce renal health risk and circulating vasopressin. In clinical practice and field monitoring, the measurement of UOsmis not practical. In this analysis, we calculate criterion values for urine-specific gravity (USG) and urine color (UCol), two measures which have broad applicability in clinical and field settings. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis performed on 817 urine samples demonstrates that a USG⩾1.013 detects UOsm>500 mOsm/kg with very high accuracy (AUC 0.984), whereas a subject-assessed UCol⩾4 offers high sensitivity and moderate specificity (AUC 0.831) for detecting UOsm>500 m Osm/kg.

Distal vessel occlusions represent about 25 % to 40 % of acute ischemic stroke (AIS), either as primary occlusion or secondary occlusion complicating mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for large vessel occlusion. However, the benefit of MT remains uncertain for these occlusions.

Owing to the high complexity of diatom community data, there is a special need for methods accounting for complex non-linear gradients. A Kohonen's self-organizing map (SOM) is a neural network with unsupervised learning. It allows both unbiased classification of the communities and visualization of biological gradients on a two-dimensional plane. However, as with other neural networks, many parameters must be set. A new R-package with a SOM parameterization specifically suited to diatom communities has been developed. Further developments will consist of creating a graphical user interface in order to make this method easier to use for the scientific community.