Corrigendum to “Application of PK/PD Modeling in Veterinary Field: Dose Optimization and Drug Resistance Prediction”

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Concept and Design of a 3D Printed Support to Assist Hand Scanning for the Realization of Customized Orthosis

In the rehabilitation field, the use of additive manufacturing techniques to realize customized orthoses is increasingly widespread. Obtaining a 3D model for the 3D printing phase can be done following different methodologies. We consider the creation of personalized upper limb orthoses, also including fingers, starting from the acquisition of the hand geometry through accurate 3D scanning. However, hand scanning procedure presents differences between healthy subjects and patients affected by pathologies that compromise upper limb functionality. In this work, we present the concept and design of a 3D printed support to assist hand scanning of such patients. The device, realized with FDM additive manufacturing techniques in ABS material, allows palmar acquisitions, and its design and test are motivated by the following needs: (1) immobilizing the hand of patients during the palmar scanning to reduce involuntary movements affecting the scanning quality and (2) keeping hands open and in a correct position, especially to contrast the high degree of hypertonicity of spastic subjects. The resulting device can be used indifferently for the right and the left hand; it is provided in four-dimensional sizes and may be also suitable as a palmar support for the acquisition of the dorsal side of the hand.

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MicroRNA in Glioblastoma: An Overview

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive brain tumor and, even with the current multimodal therapy, is an invariably lethal cancer with a life expectancy that depends on the tumor subtype but, even in the most favorable cases, rarely exceeds 2 years. Epigenetic factors play an important role in gliomagenesis, are strong predictors of outcome, and are important determinants for the resistance to radio- and chemotherapy. The latest addition to the epigenetic machinery is the noncoding RNA (ncRNA), that is, RNA molecules that are not translated into a protein and that exert their function by base pairing with other nucleic acids in a reversible and nonmutational mode. MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a class of ncRNA of about 22 bp that regulate gene expression by binding to complementary sequences in the mRNA and silence its translation into proteins. MicroRNAs reversibly regulate transcription through nonmutational mechanisms; accordingly, they can be considered as epigenetic effectors. In this review, we will discuss the role of miRNA in glioma focusing on their role in drug resistance and on their potential applications in the therapy of this tumor.

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Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Receptor 1 Modulates CNTF-Induced Axonal Growth and Neuroprotection in the Mouse Visual System

The lack of axonal regeneration and neuronal cell death causes permanent neurological deficits in the injured CNS. Using the classical CNS injury model of optic nerve crush in mice, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) was found to stimulate retinal ganglion cell (RGC) survival and axonal growth, but in an incomplete fashion. The elucidation of molecular mechanisms impairing CNTF-induced axonal regeneration is paramount to promote visual recovery. In the present study, we sought to evaluate the contribution of sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1PR1) to the neuroprotective and regenerative effects of CNTF. The transduction of retinal cells with adeno-associated viruses (AAV) allowed to activate CNTF/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) signaling and to modulate S1PR1 expression in RGCs. Our results showed that CNTF/Stat3 prevented injury-induced S1PR1 downregulation. Silencing S1PR1 in RGCs significantly enhanced CNTF-induced axonal growth in the injured optic nerve. In contrast, RGC survival was markedly decreased when S1PR1 was repressed with viral vectors. The level of phosphorylated Stat3 (P-Stat3), an intracellular mediator of CNTF, did not fluctuate after S1PR1 inhibition and CNTF stimulation. Collectively, these results suggest that S1PR1 acts as a major regulator of retinal neuron survival and restricts the RGC growth response induced by CNTF.

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Bilateral Mycobacterium chelonae Keratitis after Phacoemulsification Cataract Surgery

The purpose of this manuscript is to report the case of an 81-year-old patient who presented with bilateral keratitis after phacoemulsification surgery. Cultures came back positive for Mycobacterium chelonae. Despite aggressive topical and systemic antimicrobial treatment, the patient developed a corneal perforation in both eyes, treated with corneal glue in the right eye and corneoscleral patch in the left eye. After two years of follow-up, patient was free of infection in the right eye with visual acuity of 20/200 and the left eye progressed to phthisis bulbi. We present an unusual case of bilateral Mycobacterium chelonae keratitis associated with phacoemulsification cataract surgery. This case represents the importance of making clinicians aware of this devastating infection and highlights the need for better management to improve outcomes.

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Helping Elderly Users Report Pain Levels: A Study of User Experience with Mobile and Wearable Interfaces

Pain is usually measured through patient reports during doctor visits, but it requires regular evaluation under real-life conditions to be resolved effectively. Over half of older adults suffer from pain. Chronic conditions such as this one may be monitored through technology; however, elderly users require technology to be specifically designed for them, because many have cognitive and physical limitations and lack digital skills. The purpose of this article is to study whether mobile or wearable devices are appropriate to self-report pain levels and to find which body position is more appropriate for elderly people to wear a device to self-report pain. We implemented three prototypes and conducted two phases of evaluation. We found that users preferred the wearable device over the mobile application and that a wearable to self-report pain should be designed specifically for this purpose. Regarding the placement of the wearable, we found that there was no preferred position overall, although the neck position received the most positive feedback. We believe that the possibility of creating a wearable device that may be placed in different positions may be the best solution to satisfy users’ individual preferences.

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Detection of Freezing of Gait Using Template-Matching-Based Approaches

Every year, injuries associated with fall incidences cause lots of human suffering and assets loss for Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Thereinto, freezing of gait (FOG), which is one of the most common symptoms of PD, is quite responsible for most incidents. Although lots of researches have been done on characterized analysis and detection methods of FOG, large room for improvement still exists in the high accuracy and high efficiency examination of FOG. In view of the above requirements, this paper presents a template-matching-based improved subsequence Dynamic Time Warping (IsDTW) method, and experimental tests were carried out on typical open source datasets. Results show that, compared with traditional template-matching and statistical learning methods, proposed IsDTW not only embodies higher experimental accuracy (92%) but also has a significant runtime efficiency. By contrast, IsDTW is far more available in real-time practice applications.

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