Search

In the realm of cancer research, the tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a crucial role in tumor initiation and progression, shaped by complex interactions between cancer cells and surrounding non-cancerous cells. Cytokines, as essential immunomodulatory agents, are secreted by various cellular constituents within the TME, including immune cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts, and cancer cells themselves. These cytokines facilitate intricate communication networks that significantly influence tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, and immune suppression. Pyroptosis contributes to TME remodeling by promoting the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and sustaining chronic inflammation, impacting processes such as immune escape and angiogenesis. However, challenges remain due to the complex interplay among cytokines, pyroptosis, and the TME, along with the dual effects of pyroptosis on cancer progression and therapy-related complications like cytokine release syndrome. Unraveling these complexities could facilitate strategies that balance inflammatory responses while minimizing tissue damage during therapy. This review delves into the complex crosstalk between cytokines, pyroptosis, and the TME, elucidating their contribution to tumor progression and metastasis. By synthesizing emerging therapeutic targets and innovative technologies concerning TME, this review aims to provide novel insights that could enhance treatment outcomes for cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is devoted to a systematic exposition of the dynamics of a rigid body, considered as a system with kinematic constraints. Having accepted the variational problem in accordance with this, we no longer need any additional postulates or assumptions about the behavior of the rigid body. All the basic quantities and characteristics of a rigid body, as well as the equations of motion and integrals of motion, are obtained from the variational problem by direct and unequivocal calculations within the framework of standard methods of classical mechanics. Several equivalent forms for the equations of motion of rotational degrees of freedom are deduced and discussed on this basis. Using the resulting formulation, we revise some cases of integrability, and discuss a number of peculiar properties, that are not always taken into account when formulating the laws of motion of a rigid body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Splenic flexure mobilization (SFM) is a major challenge in laparoscopic left hemicolectomy. This study aims to assess the safety and effectiveness of the pancreas-guided SFM technique during laparoscopic left hemicolectomy., Methods: From January 2018 to December 2023, 352 patients with left-sided colon cancer underwent laparoscopic left hemicolectomy. Based on the SFM method used, the patients were divided into the pancreas-guided group (167 cases) or the "Three Approaches Roundabout"/classic group (185 cases). Clinicopathologic characteristics and intraoperative and postoperative variables were compared between the two groups., Results: The two groups had no significant differences in baseline indicators (P > 0.05). All surgeries were successful without needing to convert to laparotomy, and there were no combined organ resections involving the spleen or pancreas in either group. The mean duration of surgery was significantly lower in the pancreas-guided group than in the classic group (P < 0.01). The median volume of intraoperative blood loss in the pancreas-guided group was lower than that in the classic group (P < 0.01). Through video playback, it was found that the retro-pancreatic space had been entered during operation in 8 cases (4.3%) in the classic group, while there were no such occurrences in the pancreas-guided group. This difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The difference in the number of lymph nodes cleared, postoperative hospital stays, and incidence of complications were not statistically significant (all P > 0.05) between the groups., Conclusion: The pancreas-guided SFM technique is a safe and feasible option for laparoscopic left hemicolectomy. Our study's findings suggest that this approach facilitates accurate access to the correct anatomic plane, potentially improving surgical efficiency., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Video coding algorithms attempt to minimize the significant commonality that exists within a video sequence. Each new video coding standard contains tools that can perform this task more efficiently compared to its predecessors. Modern video coding systems are block-based wherein commonality modeling is carried out only from the perspective of the block that need be coded next. In this work, we argue for a commonality modeling approach that can provide a seamless blending between global and local homogeneity information in terms of motion. For this purpose, at first a prediction of the current frame, the frame that need be coded, is generated by performing a two-step discrete cosine basis oriented (DCO) motion modeling. The DCO motion model is employed rather than traditional translational or affine motion model since it has the ability to efficiently model complex motion fields by providing a smooth and sparse representation. Moreover, the proposed two-step motion modeling approach can yield better motion compensation at a reduced computational complexity since an informed guess is designed for initializing the motion search procedure. After that the current frame is partitioned into rectangular regions and the conformance of these regions to the learned motion model is investigated. Depending on the non-conformance to the estimated global motion model, an additional DCO motion model is introduced to increase the local motion homogeneity. In this way, the proposed approach generates a motion compensated prediction of the current frame through the minimization of both global and local motion commonality. Experimental results show an improved rate-distortion performance of a reference high efficiency video coding (HEVC) encoder, specifically up to around 9% savings in bit rate, that employs the DCO prediction frame as a reference frame for encoding the current frame. When compared to the more recent video coding standard, the versatile video coding (VVC) encoder, a bit rate savings of 2.37% is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial robots have a key role in the concept of Industry 4.0. On the one hand, these systems improve quality and productivity, but on the other hand, they require a huge amount of energy. Energy saving solutions have to be developed and applied to provide sustainable production. The purpose of this research is to develop the optimal control strategy for industrial robots in order to minimize energy consumption. Therefore, a case study was conducted for the development of two control strategies to be applied to the RV-2AJ Mitsubishi robot arm with 5 DOF, where the system is a nonlinear one. The first examined controller is the classical linear proportional integral derivative (PID) controller, while the second one is the linear model predictive control (MPC) controller. In our study, the performances of both the classical PID model and the linear MPC controller were compared. As a result, it was found that the MPC controller in the execution of the three defined reference trajectories [(1) curve motion, (2) N-shaped motion, and (3) circle motion] was always faster and required less energy consumption, whereas in terms of precision the PID succeeded in executing the trajectory more precisely than the MPC but with higher energy consumption. The main contribution of the research is that the performances of the two control strategies with regard to a complex dynamic system were compared in the case of the execution of three different trajectories. The evaluations show that the MPC controller is, on the one hand, more energy efficient; on the other hand, it provides a shorter cycle time compared to the PID controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Roe v. Wade case, which legally supported abortion in the U.S., was overturned in 2022, and the international conversation about reproductive justice gained momentum as a result. Reproductive justice is a concept that advocates reproductive freedom (the freedom to have/not have children and the freedom to raise children in a healthy environment) for all couples and individuals. This paper introduces the family care relationship in reproductive justice and presents a concept of reproductive justice. By incorporating family care relationships in the concept of reproduction, the complexity and uniqueness of the reproductive choice process are preserved. Family care relationships are well suited for focusing on family-centered societies and the processes leading to abortion care, and autonomous decision-making in reproductive choice can be strengthened. It is important to explore appropriate support methods from the dynamism of the caring network, advocate for positive freedom, and settle the decision-making power in a moderated position, even with some abandonment of individualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On an internet of video things (IoVT), an encoder needs to collect a large number of signal samples to improve the reconstruction quality. It is challenging to some occasions where the resources of an encoder are extremely limited. The distributed video compressive sensing (DVCS) can save a lot of resources for the encoder. For the skip-block coding at such an encoder, this paper proposes a motion-adaptive adjacent-reference skipping (MAS) algorithm for DVCS with general decoders. The proposed algorithm makes full use of the spatial-temporal correlation between consecutive frames, and the reconstruction quality can be improved significantly. What's more, the skipping ratio of non-keyframes is adaptive to the difference of their motion-speeds. The proposed algorithm does not need to change any decoder, so it can be easily applied to general decoders. The simulation results show that under different skipping ratios, the proposed algorithm can achieve better reconstruction quality than other existing algorithms, and thus improve the energy-efficiency of the encoder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of inertial measurement units (IMUs) to compute gait outputs, such as the 3D lower-limb kinematics is of huge potential, but no consensus on the procedures and algorithms exists. This study aimed at evaluating the validity of a 7-IMUs system against the optoelectronic system. Ten asymptomatic subjects were included. They wore IMUs on their feet, shanks, thighs and pelvis. The IMUs were embedded in clusters with reflective markers. Reference kinematics was computed from anatomical markers. Gait kinematics was obtained from accelerometer and gyroscope data after sensor orientation estimation and sensor-to-segment (S2S) calibration steps. The S2S calibration steps were also applied to the cluster data. IMU-based and cluster-based kinematics were compared to the reference through root mean square errors (RMSEs), centered RMSEs (after mean removal), correlation coefficients (CCs) and differences in amplitude. The mean RMSE and centered RMSE were, respectively, 7.5° and 4.0° for IMU-kinematics, and 7.9° and 3.8° for cluster-kinematics. Very good CCs were found in the sagittal plane for both IMUs and cluster-based kinematics at the hip, knee and ankle levels (CCs > 0.85). The overall mean amplitude difference was about 7°. These results reflected good accordance in our system with the reference, especially in the sagittal plane, but the presence of offsets requires caution for clinical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]