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An assistive robot that enables people with amyotrophia to perform sequences of everyday activities
Abstract Mobile manipulation aids aim at enabling people with motor impairments to physically interact with their environment. To facilitate the operation of such systems, a variety of components, such as suitable user interfaces and intuitive control of the system, play a crucial role. In this article, we validate our highly integrated assistive robot EDAN, operated by an interface based on bioelectrical signals, combined with shared control and a whole-body coordination of the entire system, through a case study involving people with motor impairments to accomplish real-world activities. Three individuals with amyotrophia were able to perform a range of everyday tasks, including pouring a drink, opening and driving through a door, and opening a drawer. Rather than considering these tasks in isolation, our study focuses on the continuous execution of long sequences of realistic everyday tasks.
Calcineurin goes to sleep
Simulation of organic acid migration and transformation in Mangrove soils based on soil column experiments
Sex ratio drive in mice: A binding competition between sex-linked genes
Lapatinib ameliorates skin fibrosis by inhibiting TGF-β1/Smad and non-Smad signaling pathway
Recessive genetic contribution to congenital heart disease in 5,424 probands
Variants with large effect contribute to congenital heart disease (CHD). To date, recessive genotypes (RGs) have commonly been implicated through anecdotal ascertainment of consanguineous families and candidate gene-based analysis; the recessive contribution to the broad range of CHD phenotypes has been limited. We analyzed whole exome sequences of 5,424 CHD probands. Rare damaging RGs were estimated to contribute to at least 2.2% of CHD, with greater enrichment among laterality phenotypes (5.4%) versus other subsets (1.4%). Among 108 curated human recessive CHD genes, there were 66 RGs, with 54 in 11 genes with >1 RG, 12 genes with 1 RG, and 85 genes with zero. RGs were more prevalent among offspring of consanguineous union (4.7%, 32/675) than among nonconsanguineous probands (0.7%, 34/4749). Founder variants in GDF1 and PLD1 accounted for 74% of the contribution of RGs among 410 Ashkenazi Jewish probands. We identified genome-wide significant enrichment of RGs in C1orf127 , encoding a likely secreted protein expressed in embryonic mouse notochord and associated with laterality defects. Single-cell transcriptomes from gastrulation-stage mouse embryos revealed enrichment of RGs in genes highly expressed in the cardiomyocyte lineage, including contractility-related genes MYH6, UNC45B , MYO18B , and MYBPC3 in probands with left-sided CHD, consistent with abnormal contractile function contributing to these malformations. Genes with significant RG burden account for 1.3% of probands, more than half the inferred total. These results reveal the recessive contribution to CHD, and indicate that many genes remain to be discovered, with each likely accounting for a very small fraction of the total.
New remarkably complete skeleton of Mixodectes reveals arboreality in a large Paleocene primatomorphan mammal following the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction
Abstract Mixodectids are poorly understood placental mammals from the Paleocene of western North America that have variably been considered close relatives of euarchontan mammals (primates, dermopterans, and scandentians) with hypothesized relationships to colugos, extinct plagiomenids, and/or microsyopid plesiadapiforms. Here we describe the most complete dentally associated skeleton yet recovered for a mixodectid, specifically Mixodectes pungens from the early Paleocene of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. A partial skull with all the teeth erupted and associated axial skeleton, forelimbs, and hind limbs, with epiphyses fused, indicate that it was a mature adult. Results from cladistic analyses incorporating new data robustly support primatomorphan (Primates + Dermoptera) affinities of Mixodectidae, but relationships within Euarchonta are less clear, with Mixodectes recovered as a stem primatomorphan, stem dermopteran, or stem primate. Analyses of postcrania suggest that M. pungens was a relatively large (~ 1.3 kg), claw-climbing arborealist capable of frequent clinging on large diameter vertical supports. With teeth suggesting an omnivorous diet that included leaves, M. pungens occupied a unique ecological niche in the early Paleocene of North America that differed from contemporary, arboreal plesiadapiforms that were smaller and more frugivorous. Euarchontans were thus a more diverse radiation in the early Cenozoic than previously appreciated.
Analysis of HPV-16 viral load, integration status, and p16 expression in relation to EBV co-infection and cervical lesion severity
Enhancing wheat growth under chromium toxicity using gibberellic acid and microbial inoculants as modulating agents
A synthetic model of bioinspired liposomes to study cancer-cell derived extracellular vesicles and their uptake by recipient cells
Semantic SLAM system for mobile robots based on large visual model in complex environments
Nuclei discovered new practical insights via optimized soliton-like pulse analysis in a space fractional-time beta-derivatives equations
Fuzzy control algorithm of cleaning parameters of street sweeper based on road garbage volume grading
Global sensitivity analysis of structural seismic demand based on information entropy
Age-related differences in the relationship between confidence and false memory in a mnemonic discrimination task
Abstract In addition to episodic memory loss there is an increase in false remembering in ageing especially when the discrimination between studied and new items is difficult in a recognition memory task. The aim of this study was to identify the underlying psychological mechanisms of this behavior, specifically, the possible role of false recollection. We used the Mnemonic Similarity Task, a widely used task in neuroscience research developed to assess the behavioral manifestation of hippocampal computations, pattern separation and pattern completion. First, older and young adults (n = 39 and 44, respectively) were presented with images of everyday objects. Then, on a surprise recognition test, they saw old (studied) and new (non-studied) items as well as visually similar lures of the images seen in the study phase. Instead of using the original Old/New test format, we asked participants to make confidence judgments. Our response frequency and ROC (receiver operating characteristics) analyses revealed overconfidence in false memories for the lures in the group of older adults suggesting false recollection. Such overconfidence was not observed for the completely new stimuli. Our results imply that older adults tend not to acknowledge some memory problems as a consequence of very high confidence in false memories.
A cosmopolitan calcifying benthic foraminifera in agglutinated disguise as a geochemical recorder of coastal environments
Calcifying foraminifera from the orders Rotaliida and Miliolida are widely used as geochemical proxies for recording paleoceanographic conditions, while agglutinated foraminifera are often overlooked since their tests are mostly composed of foreign particles. This study investigated the geochemical properties of Textularia agglutinans, a cosmopolitan agglutinated benthic species from the order Textulariida which has an exceptional inner calcareous test and is evolutionarily basal to Rotaliida. This study confirms the evolutionary link between textulariids and rotaliids based on their geochemistry and establishes T. agglutinans as a geochemical recorder of marine environments. Specimens from the Mediterranean coast of Israel were analyzed using laser ablation ICP-MS and compared to whole-test ICP-MS measurements of rotaliid and miliolid taxa from the same location. An Mg/Ca temperature calibration was established by LA-ICP-MS analyses of cultured specimens at 15, 17, 20, and 25 °C. Results show that T. agglutinans is a mid-Mg species (~19 to ~60 mmol/mol), with an Mg/Ca temperature correlation similar to high-Mg species. Its Pb, Zn, and Mn/Ca ratios are variable, generally overlapping with rotaliids and significantly lower than miliolids. Notably, T. agglutinans exhibits significantly higher Sr/Ca ratios (3.2 to 4.7 mmol/mol) compared to most foraminifera. Raman analyses reveal that the inner wall comprises a mix of aragonite and calcite, explaining these elevated Sr/Ca ratios. Rotaliida are the most prolific group of calcifying foraminifera. Our findings suggest that rotaliid tests evolved from an agglutinated textulariid ancestor with an inner aragonitic wall, a hypothesis that is further supported by the close phylogenetic relationship of the two groups.