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The microrobot is suitable for the remote monitoring of forests fires°. In addition, it can give real-time alarm of saturated harmful gazes. The article describes typical biomimetic butterfly characteristics and compares them qualitatively with those found in biological counterpart. The article presents a biomemitic micro robot inspired by butterflies for remote monitoring. The flying micro robot is created based on 3D printable material of "Poly Lactic Acid" (PLA) and PolyDiMethileSeloxane (PDMS). The present paper underlines two independent and variable parameters; the constraint of the aerodynamic parameters on the flying micro robot and the remote monitoring scanned space. The chosen flying model represents in a logical and unified way many of the fundamental characteristics of the micro robot behavior. These characterisctics have been treated separately to acquire an optimal flight for maximum distance. As the experimental data are still limited, the model was simplified as much as possible and modeled by finite elements in COMSOL multiphysics CAD tool in order to provide a basic framework from which the boundary conditions and the flying characteristics are determined. The results of the flying mechanism, the wings and the remote monitoring are studied and discussed in order to assess the ability of the micro robot to fly. The observed and calculated results agree well, and they confirm the possibility of flying the biomimetic butterfly very similar to the naturel one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this contribution, we focus on polymer actuators based on dielectric elastomers, and intend to establish innovative and alternative integration miniaturization processes inspired from MEMS technology. We propose to use the polydimethylesiloxane (PDMS) due to its high elasticity and adjustable permittivity by addition of ceramic nanoparticles. A method for structuring PDMS layers is developed. It allows overcoming the technological challenges encountered during the integration of such materials in a micro-actuator. The fabrication of the functional actuator also involves a thin gold upper electrode, which is obtained by a lift-off process. We demonstrate the successful integration of micro-actuators, which generate at most 2μm displacements. In parallel the response of our actuator is analyzed quantitatively by modelling the elastomer response with hyper elastic models using FEM tool. We show excellent agreement between the model and experimental deformations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Diabet. Med. 28, 1311-1318 (2011) Abstract Aim We examined the ability of fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c to predict 5-year incident diabetes for an Australian cohort and a Danish cohort and 6-year incident diabetes for a French cohort, as defined by the corresponding criteria. Methods We studied 6025 men and women from AusDiab (Australian), 4703 from Inter99 (Danish) and 3784 from DESIR (French), not treated for diabetes and with fasting plasma glucose < 7.0 mmol/l and HbA1c < 48 mmol/mol (6.5%) at inclusion. Diabetes was defined as fasting plasma glucose ≥ 7.0 mmol/l and/or treatment for diabetes or as HbA1c ≥ 48 mmol/mol (6.5%) and/or treatment for diabetes. Results For AusDiab, incident fasting plasma glucose-defined diabetes was more frequent than HbA1c-defined diabetes ( PMcNemar < 0.0001), the reverse applied to Inter99 ( PMcNemar < 0.007) and for DESIR there was no difference ( PMcNema = 0.17). Less than one third of the incident cases were detected by both criteria. Logistic regression models showed that baseline fasting plasma glucose and baseline HbA1c predicted incident diabetes defined by the corresponding criteria. The standardized odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for HbA1c were a little higher than for fasting plasma glucose, but not significantly so. They were respectively, 5.0 (4.1-6.1) and 4.1 (3.5-4.9) for AusDiab, 5.0 (3.6-6.8) and 4.8 (3.6-6.3) for Inter99, 4.8 (3.6-6.5) and 4.6 (3.6-5.9) for DESIR. Conclusions Fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c are good predictors of incident diabetes defined by the corresponding criteria. Despite Diabetes Control and Complications Trial-alignment of the three HbA1c assays, there was a large difference in the HbA1c distributions between these studies, conducted some 10 years ago. Thus, it is difficult to compare absolute values of diabetes prevalence and incidence based on HbA1c measurements from that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare incidences and risk factors for diabetes using seven definitions, with combinations of pharmacological treatment, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) ≥7.0 mmol/L, and HbA(1c) ≥6.5%.Research Design and Methods: Participants aged 30-65 years from the Data from an Epidemiological Study on the Insulin Resistance Syndrome (DESIR) cohort were followed for 9 years.Results: More men had incident diabetes as defined by FPG ≥7.0 mmol/L and/or treatment than by HbA(1c) ≥6.5% and/or treatment: 7.5% (140/1,867) and 5.3% (99/1,874), respectively (P < 0.009); for women incidences were similar: 3.2% (63/1,958) and 3.4% (66/1,954). Known risk factors predicted diabetes for almost all definitions. Among those with incident diabetes by FPG alone versus HbA(1c) alone, there were more men (78 vs. 35%), case patients were 8 years younger, and fewer were alcohol abstainers (12 vs. 35%) (all P < 0.005). A diabetes risk score discriminated well between those with and without incident diabetes for all definitions.Conclusions: In men, FPG definitions yielded more incident cases of diabetes than HbA(1c) definitions, in contrast with women. An FPG-derived risk score remained relevant for HbA(1c)-defined diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resonators are core components in building advanced radio frequency circuits and systems. Tunable resonators are highly needed for adaptive/tunable microwave components including filters and low-noise power amplifiers, which are of great potential for the use in future multi-band multi-carrier systems. This letter reports a wide tunable two-coupled microstrip resonator. One of the lines is replaced by a macro MEMS piezoelectric actuator. When bias is applied, the coupling between the two lines is tuned; as a consequence, the center frequency is shifted. This work also takes a close look of the actuator's mechanical resonance. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 1336–1338, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24308 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful self-management of diabetes requires Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs). These CGMs have several limitations such as being invasive, expensive and limited in terms of use. Many techniques, in vain, have been proposed to overcome these limitations. Nowadays, with the help of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) technologies, researchers are working to find alternative solutions. They succeed to predict hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia peaks using Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. However, they failed to use it to estimate the Blood Glucose Concentration (BGC) directly and in real time. Three patients with 08 days of measurements from the D1namo dataset contributed to the study. A new technique has been proposed to estimate the BGC curves based on ECG signals. We used a convolutional neural network to segment the different regions of ECG signals as well as we extracted ECG features that were required for the next step. Then, five regression models have been employed to estimate BGC using as input sixth ECG parameters. We were able to segment the ECG signals with an accuracy of 94% using the convolutional neural network algorithm. The best performance among all simulated models was provided by Exponential Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) with Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) values of 0.32, 0.41, 0.67 and R-squared (R 2 ) values of 98%, 80%, and 70% for patients 01, 02 and 03 respectively. The method indicates the potential use of ECG wearable devices as non-invasive for continuous blood glucose monitoring, which is affordable and durable., (© 2023. Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine.)

Aims/hypothesis: The relationships between smoking and glycaemic variables have not been well explored. We compared HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and 2 h plasma glucose (2H-PG) in current, ex- and never-smokers., Methods: This meta-analysis used individual data from 16,886 men and 18,539 women without known diabetes in 12 DETECT-2 consortium studies and in the French Data from an Epidemiological Study on the Insulin Resistance Syndrome (DESIR) and Telecom studies. Means of three glycaemic variables in current, ex- and never-smokers were modelled by linear regression, with study as a random factor. The I (2) statistic was used to evaluate heterogeneity among studies., Results: HbA1c was 0.10% (95% CI 0.08, 0.12) (1.1 mmol/mol [0.9, 1.3]) higher in current smokers and 0.03% (0.01, 0.05) (0.3 mmol/mol [0.1, 0.5]) higher in ex-smokers, compared with never-smokers. For FPG, there was no significant difference between current and never-smokers (-0.004 mmol/l [-0.03, 0.02]) but FPG was higher in ex-smokers (0.12 mmol/l [0.09, 0.14]). In comparison with never-smokers, 2H-PG was lower (-0.44 mmol/l [-0.52, -0.37]) in current smokers, with no difference for ex-smokers (0.02 mmol/l [-0.06, 0.09]). There was a large and unexplained heterogeneity among studies, with I (2) always above 50%; I (2) was little changed after stratification by sex and adjustment for age and BMI. In this study population, current smokers had a prevalence of diabetes that was 1.30% higher as screened by HbA1c and 0.52% lower as screened by 2H-PG, in comparison with never-smokers., Conclusion/interpretation: Across this heterogeneous group of studies, current smokers had a higher HbA1c and lower 2H-PG than never-smokers. This will affect the chances of smokers being diagnosed with diabetes.

Introduction: With diabetes defined by HbA1c≥6.5% and/or FPG≥7.0mmol/l and/or diabetes treatment, we investigated HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) thresholds/change-points above which the incidence of diabetes increases., Methods: Data are Danish (Inter99), Australian (AusDiab) and French (D.E.S.I.R.), with respectively 4930, 6012 and 3784 non-diabetic participants., Results: Diabetes incidences at 5 years for Inter99 and AusDiab and at 6 years for D.E.S.I.R. were 2.3%, 3.1% and 2.4% respectively and incidences increased with baseline HbA1c and FPG. As HbA1c distributions differed between cohorts, HbA1c was standardized on D.E.S.I.R. data. Change-points where diabetes incidence increased were identified for HbA1c (%) after standardization: 5.1 (4.9-5.6) (Inter99), 5.4 (5.1-5.6) (AusDiab), 5.3 (5.1-5.7) (D.E.S.I.R.); for FPG change-points (mmol/l) were 5.1 (…-6.1) (Inter99), 5.5 (5.2-5.8) (AusDiab), no change-point for D.E.S.I.R. Using current diabetes risk criteria HbA1c≥5.7% and/or FPG≥5.6mmol/l to screen for diabetes provided high sensitivity (over 89%) and positive predictive values: 4.3%, 6.9%, and 5.9% respectively., Conclusions: HbA1c and FPG change-points predicting incident diabetes did not always exist, differed across studies, when available were generally lower than current criteria with wide confidence intervals. Using jointly HbA1c≥5.7% and/or FPG≥5.6mmol/l as a criterion for the risk of incident diabetes is appropriate., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To develop a new semiautomatic method to improve target delineation in head-and-neck cancer., Methods and Materials: We implemented an atlas-based software program using fourteen anatomic landmarks as well as the most superior and inferior computerd tomography slices for automatic target delineation, using an advanced laryngeal carcinoma as an example. Registration was made by an affine transformation. Evaluation was performed with manually drawn contours for comparison. Three physicians sampled and further applied a target volume atlas to ten other computer tomography data sets. In addition, a rapid three-dimensional (3D) correction program was developed., Results: The mean time to the first semiautomatic target delineation proposal was 2.7 minutes. Manual contouring required 20.2 minutes per target, whereas semiautomatic target volume definition with the rapid 3D correction was completed in only 9.7 minutes. The net calculation time for image registration of the target volume atlas was negligible (approximately 0.6 seconds). Our method depicted a sufficient adaptation of the target volume atlas on the new data sets, with a mean similarity index of 77.2%. The similarity index increased up to 85% after 3D correction performed by the physicians., Conclusions: We have developed a new, feasible method for semiautomatic contouring that saves a significant amount (51.8%) of target delineation time for head-and-neck cancer patients. This approach uses a target volume atlas and a landmark model. The software was evaluated by means of laryngeal cancer but has important implications for various tumor types whereby target volumes remain constant in form and do not move with respiration., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Three laterally substituted liquid crystals were synthesized in order to investigate the effect of a lateral biforked chain on the thermal and analytical properties. The mesogenic molecules have the same core containing four aromatic rings connected by two ester and one diazo linkages, they differ by the length of one chain within the lateral biforked substituent. The phase transition temperatures were obtained by polarized light microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The clearing temperature and the nematic range decrease with increasing length of the lateral biforked chain. The stationary phases derived from these nematogens provide excellent resolution of various classes of compounds, including aromatic hydrocarbons (AH), substituted benzenes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), phenols and volatile organic compounds (VOC) present in the essential oils. The selectivities of the stationary phases were found to decrease according to the length of the side chain., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)