Hasil untuk "Miscellaneous systems and treatments"

Archana Muraleedharan, Sree R. Nair, P.N. Rajeshwari

Venous leg ulcer (VLU) is a severe complication of chronic venous insufficiency that commonly affects older individuals. It is a long-standing consequence of venous insufficiency and accounts for 70%–80% of lower limb ulcers seen in outpatient departments. These ulcers are often unresponsive to treatment and can significantly impact patients' quality of life, causing pain, sleep disturbances, and decreased mobility. Managing varicose leg ulcers is a significant challenge for physicians.A 55-year-old male presented with symptoms including pain, stiffness, discoloration, swelling in the left lower limb, and a history of non-healing ulcer. The patient was treated with Patradana using leaves of Ricinus communis (Eranda patra) and Grihadhumadi lepa along with oral medications such as Triphala Guggulu and Gandhaka Rasayana. Each day, the change was carefully observed and documented, revealing a notable improvement by the end of the treatment (10 days). The pain, swelling, and stiffness exhibited significant reduction, accompanied by wound healing after the first follow-up of 14 days. The complete wound healing was achieved and quality of life showed improved. The patient has beenunder observation and has not reported any recurrence of ulcer in the 4 months of follow up.

Rohini Dayma, Rudra B. Bhandari, Prakash Chintamani Malshe et al.

Background: The most common cause of acid-peptic diseases (APDs) is Helicobacter Pylori (H. pylori) infection. Conventionally, proton–pump inhibitors (PPIs) are used to manage hyperacidity and dyspepsia. PPIs’ persistent use can lead to bacterial resistance, side effects, poor quality of life (QoL), and increased economic burden. H. pylori, being microaerophilic, can be inhibited by gut aeration. Therefore, yogic gut aeration techniques (YGATs) may be a potential option to mitigate H. pylori-induced APDs and reduce medication doses and economic burden. Objective: The study aimed to determine the effect of YGATs on gastrointestinal symptoms, stress, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with H. pylori-induced APDs. Method: Patients with epigastric pain, gastric reflux, and stomach burning were screened and allowed to undergo an endoscopy followed by a rapid urease test (RUT) to confirm H. pylori infection. Thirty-four patients with positive RUT were randomly assigned into two groups. The yoga group (n = 16) received YGAT for two months and seven days in addition to PPI. The control group (n = 18) was provided only PPIs. Signs and symptoms of APD and its co-morbidities (stress and QoL) were measured by using the gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (GSRS), quality of life in reflux and dyspepsia (QOLRAD) questionnaire, and stress indicator questionnaire (SIQ). Results: Split-plot ANOVA computed with Bonferroni adjusted post hoc analyses for intra and inter-group comparisons using the 24th version of IBM-SPSS showed a significant reduction in gastrointestinal symptoms (p<0.001) and stress (p<0.001) and improvement in QoL (p<0.001) in the yoga group as compared to the control group. Conclusion: YGATs may be a harmless and inexpensive alternative or add-on therapy to mitigate H. pylori-induced APDs and their psychological co-morbidities.

Gonçalo Granjal Cruz, Balazs Renczes, Mark C Runacres et al.

While accurate, black-box system identification models lack interpretability of the underlying system dynamics. This paper proposes State-Space Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (SS-KAN) to address this challenge by integrating Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks within a state-space framework. The proposed model is validated on two benchmark systems: the Silverbox and the Wiener-Hammerstein benchmarks. Results show that SS-KAN provides enhanced interpretability due to sparsity-promoting regularization and the direct visualization of its learned univariate functions, which reveal system nonlinearities at the cost of accuracy when compared to state-of-the-art black-box models, highlighting SS-KAN as a promising approach for interpretable nonlinear system identification, balancing accuracy and interpretability of nonlinear system dynamics.

Adilet Yerkin, Pakizar Shamoi

Group Decision-Making (GDM) plays a crucial role in various real-life scenarios where individuals express their opinions in natural language rather than structured numerical values. Traditional GDM approaches often overlook the subjectivity and ambiguity present in human discussions, making it challenging to achieve a fair and consensus-driven decision. This paper proposes a fuzzy consensus-based group decision-making system that integrates sentiment and emotion analysis to extract preference values from textual inputs. The proposed framework combines explicit voting preferences with sentiment scores derived from chat discussions, which are then processed using a Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) to compute a total preference score for each alternative and determine the top-ranked option. To ensure fairness in group decision-making, we introduce a fuzzy logic-based consensus measurement model that evaluates participants' agreement and confidence levels to assess overall feedback. To illustrate the effectiveness of our approach, we apply the methodology to a restaurant selection scenario, where a group of individuals must decide on a dining option based on brief chat discussions. The results demonstrate that the fuzzy consensus mechanism successfully aggregates individual preferences and ensures a balanced outcome that accurately reflects group sentiment.

Flávia Calheiros da Silva, Laura Fernandes Costa, Millena Vanusa Cavalcante de Macêdo et al.

Esta pesquisa buscou verificar a satisfação dos usuários de cadeira de rodas sobre o dispositivo e o serviço prestado nos Centros de Reabilitação (CER) do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) da cidade de Maceió. Trata-se de um estudo transversal, quantitativo, realizado com usuários de dois CER de Maceió, com idade acima de 18 anos, que solicitaram o dispositivo durante o ano de 2018 e que estavam utilizando a CR há pelo menos dois meses no momento da coleta. Foram aplicados o Critério de Classificação Econômica do Brasil (ABEP) e o Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction With Assistive Technogy (QUEST 2.0). Participaram 20 usuários entre 18 e 70 anos, com patologia adquirida, sendo 13 (65%) do sexo masculino. O nível de escolaridade foi de 7 (35%) no fundamental e médio. Conforme a ABEP 8 (40%) estão na classe C2 e 7 (35%) na classe D. O nível de satisfação dos participantes com a CR pontuou entre 1,75 e 5 com média de 4,1 e com o serviço de 2,5 e 5 com média de 4,3. Foi observada a importância de incluir nos protocolos dos serviços, o uso de instrumentos que avaliem os recursos de tecnologia assistiva ofertados para os usuários.

Cássio Bruno Silva Moura, Amanda Costa Santos, Glenda Carvalho Silva et al.

Introdução: O Brasil passa por transições nutricionais significativas nas últimas décadas, como a redução do número de casos de desnutrição e o aumento acelerado de pessoas com obesidade. Como consequência, observa-se o aumento da incidência de casos de doenças crônicas não transmissíveis (DCNT) e o aumento da obesidade, que frequentemente acomete pessoas de idade mais elevada. Objetivo: Relatar a experiência de intervenção nutricional e de cuidados com o sobrepeso realizada em idosos vinculados à Atenção Primária à Saude (APS). Relato da experiência: Experiência educacional de intervenção nutricional, realizada no mês de janeiro de 2024, em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde (UBS) na cidade de Picos, Piauí. Foram incluídos na ação educativa todos os idosos moradores no território da UBS. A ação foi desenvolvida por discentes e docente do curso de Nutrição da Universidade Federal do Piauí. Ocorreu em três etapas. Na etapa inicial houve a apresentação do projeto para a equipe da UBS. Em um segundo momento aconteceu a aprovação dos materiais educativos a serem utilizados (jogo e folder informativo) e, por fim, foi realizada a intervenção nutricional. Participaram da ação 14 idosos. Por meio do diálogo expositivo em roda de conversa foram priorizadas informações e orientações sobre a melhoria de hábitos alimentares cotidianos, enfatizando a necessidade de cuidados individuais, nutricionais e de aspectos emocionais, sociais e econômicos. A linguagem acessível/sem termos técnicos favoreceu a receptividade, o interesse e a compreensão dos idosos durante a intervenção. Conclusão: A roda de conversa mediada por linguagem acessível, assim como os materiais educativos produzidos mostraram-se facilitadores da ação educativa neste grupo específico. Abordagens e ferramentas educacionais interativas devem ser avaliadas pelos educadores no planejamento das ações educativas, considerando o perfil dos participantes. Reitera-se a necessidade de formação dos profissionais mediadores de ações educativas na APS, por meio da educação permanente.

Samuel Folorunsho, Maggie Ni, William Norris

This paper presents the development of a comprehensive dynamics and stabilizing control architecture for Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) systems. The proposed architecture integrates both onboard and ground-based controllers, employing nonlinear backstepping control techniques to achieve asymptotic stability of the TUAV's equilibrium. The onboard controllers are responsible for the position and attitude control of the TUAV, while the ground controllers regulate the winder mechanism to maintain the desired tether length, ensuring it retains its catenary form. Simulation results demonstrate the ability of the TUAV system to accurately track linear and circular trajectories, ensuring robust performance under various operational scenarios. The code and movies demonstrating the performance of the system can be found at https://github.com/sof-danny/TUAV\_system\_control.

Jingyu Wang, Jinfu Chen, Dongyuan Shi et al.

Topology diagrams are widely seen in power system applications, but their automatic generation is often easier said than done. When facing power transmission systems with strongly-meshed structures, existing approaches can hardly produce topology diagrams catering to the aesthetics of readers. This paper proposes an integrated framework for generating aesthetically-pleasing topology diagrams for power transmission systems. Input with a rough layout, the framework first conducts visibility region analysis to reduce line crossings and then solves a mixed-integer linear programming problem to optimize the arrangement of nodes. Given that the complexity of both modules is pretty high, simplification heuristics are also proposed to enhance the efficiency of the framework. Case studies on several power transmission systems containing up to 2,046 nodes demonstrate the capability of the proposed framework in generating topology diagrams conforming to aesthetic criteria in the power system community. Compared with the widespread force-directed algorithm, the proposed framework can preserve the relative positions of nodes in the original layout to a great extent, which significantly contributes to the identification of electrical elements on the diagrams. Meanwhile, the time consumption is acceptable for practical applications.

John Skovbekk, Luca Laurenti, Eric Frew et al.

Verifying the performance of safety-critical, stochastic systems with complex noise distributions is difficult. We introduce a general procedure for the finite abstraction of nonlinear stochastic systems with non-standard (e.g., non-affine, non-symmetric, non-unimodal) noise distributions for verification purposes. The method uses a finite partitioning of the noise domain to construct an interval Markov chain (IMC) abstraction of the system via transition probability intervals. Noise partitioning allows for a general class of distributions and structures, including multiplicative and mixture models, and admits both known and data-driven systems. The partitions required for optimal transition bounds are specified for systems that are monotonic with respect to the noise, and explicit partitions are provided for affine and multiplicative structures. By the soundness of the abstraction procedure, verification on the IMC provides guarantees on the stochastic system against a temporal logic specification. In addition, we present a novel refinement-free algorithm that improves the verification results. Case studies on linear and nonlinear systems with non-Gaussian noise, including a data-driven example, demonstrate the generality and effectiveness of the method without introducing excessive conservatism.

Nawaf Almutairi, Ahamd Alanazi, Mohammed Seyam et al.

Abstract Background Healthcare workers are at the risk of developing weakness in core muscles and balance disturbance due to stress at the workplace. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between core muscle strength measured with a plank test and dynamic balance assessed with the modified Star Excursion Balance Test (MSEBT) among hospital staff. A convenience sample of 27 healthy male employees at Rabigh General Hospital participated in the study; participants performed MSEBT and plank tests in the gym of the physical therapy department at the hospital. Results The mean age of the 27 participants was 32.19, standard deviation (SD) 4.16 years; mean height was 171.15, SD 6.39 cm; mean weight was 72.37, SD 11 kg; and body mass index was 24.73, SD 3.62 kg/m2. Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed a positive significant correlation between scores on the plank test with leg reach scores on MSEBT. The data showed a highest correlation between scores on plank test with dominant anterior leg reach scores on MSEBT (r = 0.446, p = 0.010), and lowest with non-dominant anterior leg reach scores on MSEBT (r = 0.335, p = 0.044). Conclusion Weak to moderate positive significant correlation between the plank test of isometric core muscle strength and both the right and dominant of the anterior, posteromedial, and composite score on the MSEBT of the lower limb and significantly with non-dominant anterior reach. There was no significant difference between the administrative and health practitioner on the plank test or MSEBT.

Hemant Bhargav, Bharath Holla, Kishore Kumar Ramakrishna et al.

Background: There is growing evidence and increasing interest for systemic integration of medicine (synergistic and evidence-based combination of different systems along with conventional biomedicine). The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), an Institute of National Importance and a tertiary mental and neurological healthcare hospital situated in Bengaluru, India, has established one such integrative model. The present manuscript traces the history and describes the important steps followed in this integrative approach. Methodology: The NIMHANS model followed a stage-wise two-step approach: (1) First stage – Starting with Integration of Yoga: The process began more than a decade ago, with integrating yoga into a clinical department (rather than an exclusive research-based approach) of the institute which had relatively high clinical service load (For example, Department of Psychiatry in NIMHANS). Yoga was gradually formalized into academic and clinical activities (outpatient and inpatient services) by appointing a Yoga faculty with a medical background with an MD/PhD in Yoga. The research was primarily directed by the clinical observations of patients receiving yoga therapy. (2) Second stage: Adding an appropriate and compatible discipline from Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) system (Ayurveda in this case): The center for yoga gradually evolved into the Department of Integrative Medicine with the appointment of faculty from the Ayurveda stream. In this model, specialists from each discipline provide clinical inputs after simultaneous consultation with the patient through systemic integration in clinical, academic, and research domains rather than mere co-location of AYUSH services with mainstream medicine. Conclusion: The NIMHANS model of integration suggests the application of yoga into mainstream clinical service as the first step toward integration. Yoga should be added as a formalized clinical discipline with systemic integration. Gradually, other feasible systems of traditional medicine from AYUSH can be integrated at a later stage in a step-by-step manner based on clinical practice and evidence.

Seth Siriya, Jingge Zhu, Dragan Nešić et al.

We propose a certainty-equivalence scheme for adaptive control of scalar linear systems subject to additive, i.i.d. Gaussian disturbances and bounded control input constraints, without requiring prior knowledge of the bounds of the system parameters, nor the control direction. Assuming that the system is at-worst marginally stable, mean square boundedness of the closed-loop system states is proven. Lastly, numerical examples are presented to illustrate our results.

Alexander Tarnavsky Eitan, Shirly Someck, Mario Zajac et al.

In the intact brain, neural activity can be recorded using sensing electrodes and manipulated using light stimulation. Silicon probes with integrated electrodes and micro-LEDs enable the detection and control of neural activity using a single implanted device. Miniaturized solutions for recordings from small freely moving animals are commercially available, but stimulation is driven by large, stationary current sources. We designed and fabricated a current source chip and integrated it into a headstage PCB that weighs 1.37 g. The proposed system provides 10-bit resolution current control for 32 channels, driving micro-LEDs with up to 4.6 V and sourcing up to 0.9 mA at a refresh rate of 5 kHz per channel. When calibrated against a micro-LED probe, the system allows linear control of light output power, up to 10 micro-W per micro-LED. To demonstrate the capabilities of the system, synthetic sequences of neural spiking activity were produced by driving multiple micro-LEDs implanted in the hippocampal CA1 area of a freely moving mouse. The high spatial, temporal, and amplitude resolution of the system provides a rich variety of stimulation patterns. Combined with commercially available sampling headstages, the system provides an easy to use back-end, fully utilizing the bi-directional potential of integrated opto-electronic arrays.

Chang Dong Yeo, Young-Pil Yun, Dong Hyuck Ahn et al.

Lung cancer, which remains a major cause of mortality worldwide, is a histologically diverse condition and demonstrates substantial phenotypic and genomic diversity among individual patients, manifesting as both intertumoral and intratumoral heterogeneity. This heterogeneity has made it difficult to develop lung cancer models. Two-dimensional (2D) cancer cell lines have been used to study genetic and molecular alterations in lung cancer. However, cancer cell lines have several disadvantages, including random genetic drift caused by long-term culture, a lack of annotated clinical data, and most importantly, the fact that only a subset of tumors shows 2D growth on plastic. Three-dimensional models of cancer have the potential to improve cancer research and drug development because they are more representative of cancer biology and its diverse pathophysiology. Herein, we present an integrated review of current information on preclinical lung cancer models and their limitations, including cancer cell line models, patient-derived xenografts, and lung cancer organoids, and discuss their possible therapeutic applications for drug discovery and screening to guide precision medicine in lung cancer research. Altogether, the success rate of generating lung cancer organoids must be improved, and a lung cancer organoid culture system is necessary to achieve the goal of designing an individualized therapeutic strategy for each lung cancer patient.

Sun-Hye Choi, Rami Lee, Sung Min Nam et al.

Background: A dramatic increase in aging populations and low birth rates rapidly drive aging societies and increase aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases. However, functional food or medicinal formulations to prevent geriatric brain disorders are not readily available. Panax ginseng is a candidate, since ginseng has long-been consumed as a rejuvenating agent. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms and the components of ginseng that are responsible for brain rejuvenation and human longevity are unknown. Accumulating evidence shows that gintonin is a candidate for the anti-aging ingredient of ginseng, especially in brain senescence. Methods: Gintonin, a glycolipoprotein complex, contains three lipid-derived G protein-coupled receptor ligands: lysophosphatidic acids (LPAs), lysophosphatidylinositols (LPIs), and linoleic acid (LA). LPA, LPI, and LA act on six LPA receptor subtypes, GPR55, and GPR40, respectively. These G protein-coupled receptors are distributed within the nervous and non-nervous systems of the human body. Results: Gintonin-enriched fraction (GEF) exhibits anti-brain senescence and effects against disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntington's disease (HD), and Parkinson's disease (PD). Oral administration of gintonin in animal models of d-galactose-induced brain aging, AD, HD, and PD restored cognitive and motor functions. The underlying molecular mechanisms of gintonin-mediated anti-brain aging and anti-neurodegenerative diseases include neurogenesis, autophagy stimulation, anti-apoptosis, anti-oxidative stress, and anti-inflammatory activities. This review describes the characteristics of gintonin and GEF, and how gintonin exerts its effects on brain aging and brain associated-neurodegenerative diseases. Conclusion: Finally, we describe how GEF can be applied to improve the quality of life of senior citizens in aging societies.

Xinyue Zhang, Min Yee Lim, Jian Huang et al.

Hoorieh Mohammadi Kenari, Mansureh Akhavan, Mahnaz Sadeghian et al.

Mehmet Akif Ozdemir, Ali Tangel

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a medical imaging method based on the measurement of concentrations of positron-emitting radionuclides in a living body. In the PET imaging system, glucose is labeled with a positron-emitting radionuclide and injected intravenously. Then, the positrons move through the tissue and collide with the electrons of the cells in which they interact. As a result of this interaction, two gamma rays are emitted in the opposite direction. Gama rays emitted from cancerous tissue that has retained radioactive glucose are detected through ring-shaped detectors. And the detected signals are converted into an electrical response. Subsequently, these responses are sampled with electronic circuits and recorded as histogram matrix to generate the image set. The gamma rays may not reach the detectors located in the opposite position in equal time. In PETs having TOF characteristics, it is aimed to obtain better positioning information by a method based on the principle of measuring the difference between the reach time of the two photons to detectors. The measurement of the flight time is carried out with TDC structures. The measurement of this time difference at the ps level is directly related to the spatial resolution of the PET system. In this study, 45 nm CMOS VLSI simulations of TDC structures that have various architectural approaches were performed for use in PET systems. With the designed TDC architectures, two gamma photons time reach to detectors have been simulated and the time difference has been successfully digitized. In addition, various performance metrics such as input and output voltages, time resolutions, measurement ranges, and power analysis of TDC architectures have been determined. Proposed Vernier oscillator-based TDC architecture has been reached 25 ps time resolution with a low power consumption of 1.62681 mW at 1V supply voltage.

Iasson Karafyllis

This paper presents a fundamental relation between Output Asymptotic Gains (OAG) and Input-to-Output Stability (IOS) gains for linear systems. For any Input-to-State Stable, strictly causal linear system the minimum OAG is equal to the minimum IOS-gain. Moreover, both quantities can be computed by solving a specific optimal control problem and by considering only periodic inputs. The result is valid for wide classes of linear systems (involving delay systems or systems described by PDEs). The characterization of the minimum IOS-gain is important because it allows the non-conservative computation of the IOS-gains, which can be used in a small-gain analysis. The paper also presents a number of cases for finite-dimensional linear systems, where exact computation of the minimum IOS gain can be performed.