Cardiac disease in chronic uremia: management

Heart disease is a common cause of morbidity in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. The management of heart disease in these patients requires a multidimensional approach to the management of heart failure, coronary disease, and arrhythmias, and to risk factors such as hypertension, anemia, secondary hyperparathyroidism, and electrolyte/acid-base disturbances. Coronary artery disease management includes use of antianginal drugs and revascularization of coronary arteries with angioplasty +/- stent placement or coronary artery bypass grafting. The long-term outcomes of these procedures need to be assessed and improved. Hypertension occupies a major role in the pathogenesis of heart disease in ESRD, and early and adequate control of hypertension is likely to have a major impact on the progression of cardiac disease. This entails the achievement of optimal volume status, combined with the appropriate use of antihypertensive agents such as calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, vasodilators, alpha-blockers, and central sympatholytic drugs. In ESRD patients, specific dialysis-related complications such as intradialytic hypotension and pericardial effusion may have additional effects on cardiac function and require attention. The choice of dialysate composition and membrane may influence clinical outcomes with specific effects on cardiac performance.     

Manipulating Deformable Linear Objects: Fuzzy-Based Active Vibration Damping Skill

Human can handle a deformable object and damp its vibration with recognized skill. However, for an industrial robot, handling a deformable object with acute vibration is often a difficult task. This paper addresses the problem of active damping skill for handling deformable linear objects (DLOs) by using a strategy inspired from human manipulation skills. The strategy is illustrated by several rules, which are explained by a fuzzy and a P controller. A proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is also employed to explain the rules as a comparison. The interpretations from controllers are translated into high level commands in a robotic language V+. A standard industrial robot with a force/torque sensor mounted on the wrist was employed to demonstrate the skill. Experimental results showed the fuzzy based damping skill is quite effective and stable even without any previous acknowledge of the deformable linear objects.Category (5)     

Quantitative analysis of small angle neutron scattering data from montmorillonite dispersions

A new model is presented which can describe quantitatively the small angle neutron scattering from montmorillonite-type clay dispersions and polymer-clay nanocomposites. The model is shown to be able to describe well the data from a series of dilute montmorillonite in water dispersions in which the deuterium content of the water phase is varied. The fits combined with information from other techniques suggest strongly that H-D exchange occurs in the montmorillonite-water dispersions. Deviations from Q⁻² behaviour often observed experimentally for clay dispersions are convincingly explained by the presence of a small proportion of tactoids.     

Space-efficient region filling in raster graphics

This paper presents fill algorithms for boundary-defined regions in raster graphics. The algorithms require only a constant-size working memory. The methods presented are based on the so-called seed fill algorithms that use the internal connectivity of the region with a given inner point. Basic methods, as well as additional hcuristics for speeding up the algorithm, are described and verified. Empirical results are used to compare the time complexities of the algorithms for different classes of regions.     

Deformation of Mesoporous Titania Nanostructures in Contact with D2O Vapor

For many applications, mesoporous titania nanostructures are exposed to water or need to be backfilled via infiltration with an aqueous solution, which can cause deformations of the nanostructure by capillary forces. In this work, the degree of deformation caused by water infiltration in two types of mesoporous, nanostructured titania films exposed to water vapor is compared. The different types of nanostructured titania films are prepared via a polymer template assisted sol–gel synthesis in conjunction with a polymer‐template removal at high‐temperatures under ambient conditions versus nitrogen atmosphere. Information about surface and inner morphology is extracted by scanning electron microscopy and grazing incidence small‐angle neutron scattering (GISANS) measurements, respectively. Furthermore, complementary information on thin film composition and porosity are probed via X‐ray reflectivity. The backfilling induced deformation of near surface structures and structures inside the mesoporous titania films is determined by GISANS before and after D₂O infiltration. The respective atmosphere used for template removal influences the details of the titania nanostructure and strongly impacts the degree of water induced deformation. Drying of the films shows reversibility of the deformation.     

Establishment of a knee-joint coordinate system from helical axes analysis--a kinematic approach without anatomical referencing

This study establishes a functional knee-joint coordinate system (FCS) derived from active motion. The scale invariant properties of helical axes were used in order to avoid inter-observer errors associated with the traditional anatomical referencing techniques. The algorithm was tested with six cadaveric specimens in a knee-joint motion and loading apparatus. To determine the FCS sensitivity to variable loading, rotational moments were applied to the tibia while extending and flexing the knee. Each derived FCS was compared with the clinically derived anatomical coordinate system (ACS). The FCS was reproducible when the loading condition was the same. Changing the rotational moments from internal to external affected the orientations and the positions of the FCS. The largest displacement of 20.8 mm in average occurred in the medio/lateral direction. The FCS corresponded with the ACS for all specimens and loading conditions. The origin was always located within the femur along the transepicondylar line. The orientations differed less than 16.6 degrees in average, thus allowing the use of clinical terminology. These findings suggest that the FCS might improve the ability to clinically assess kinematic alterations provided that the reference motion is reproducible.