Activity

To assess the prevalence of upper extremity work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among surgical device mechanics compared to a control group, a total of 70 employees were included and assigned to three occupational groups (grinders, packers, and control). Personal factors, work exposure, manual skill, and complaints were assessed by two self-administered questionnaires and an industry test. WMSDs were diagnosed in a standardised clinical examination. The two-one-sided t-tests (TOST) procedure was used to test the clinical equivalence of the respective grinding and packaging groups vs. the control group in terms of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score. Thirty-nine study participants (56%) experienced at least one WMSD at the elbow, forearm, and/or wrist, mainly with signs of epicondylitis and nerve entrapment at the medial elbow. The risk of grinders developing upper extremity WMSD was about 2.5-times higher and packers had an 8.6-fold higher risk of a clinically relevant DASH > 29 compared to the control group. However, these differences were not statistically significant. The groups were also proven to be clinically equivalent in terms of DASH score. Surgical device mechanics do not seem to have worse DASH values or be at higher risk of upper limb WMSDs compared to a control group. This is the first study to analyse and compare different workplaces in this industry that are also common in other industries.Transport in water is the most common method for achieving high survival rates when transporting cultured fish in China; yet, transport success relies on proper water quality and conditions. This research was designed to explore the effects of ascorbic acid and β-1,3-glucan on survival, physiological responses, and flesh quality of farmed tiger grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus) during simulated transport. The transport water temperature for live tiger grouper was 15 °C, which had the highest survival rate, the lowest stress response, and metabolic rate, and this will reduce the susceptibility to diseases. It is stated that β-1,3-glucan influences the changes of cortisol content, heat shock protein 70, IL-1β, and IgM transcription levels during simulated transport. Rather than using ascorbic acid alone (the A-group), β-1,3-glucan (3.2 mg/L) in the presence of ascorbic acid (25 mg/L) can effectively reduce the increase of transport-induced serum cortisol content, heat shock protein 70, and IL-1β, but stimulated IgM. 25 mg/L ascorbic acid and 3.2 mg/L β-1,3-glucan had no obvious effect on the nutritional indexes and flavor of live tiger grouper; however, these can effectively reduce the stress response, improve the innate immune activity, and ensure a higher survival rate.Artichoke by-products represent a high amount of waste whose removal entails several costs. Moreover, feed is the main cost in a farm. So, including these by-products in ruminant diets would lower feed costs. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of two levels of inclusion, 12.5% and 25.0%, of two silages of artichoke by-products (artichoke bracts, AB and artichoke plant, AP) in the diet of goats on the milk yield, composition and quality and on the metabolic profile of the animals. AB presented the lowest blood urea content and there were no differences in milk yield in the two experiments. However, with 25.0% of silage by-product in the diet, a higher fat content was observed in AB and of protein in AP, as well as this treatment showing a slightly higher Se content. Regarding the milk lipid profile, milk from 12.5% of AP treatment presented a higher PUFA content. In conclusion, the use of silage artichoke by-products in dairy goat diets does not jeopardise milk yield and quality and health status of animals and, from a nutritional point of view for human health, a slightly better mineral and lipid profile is observed in milk from AP treatments.Traffic light recognition is an indispensable elemental technology for automated driving in urban areas. In this study, we propose an algorithm that recognizes traffic lights and arrow lights by image processing using the digital map and precise vehicle pose which is estimated by a localization module. The use of a digital map allows the determination of a region-of-interest in an image to reduce the computational cost and false detection. In addition, this study develops an algorithm to recognize arrow lights using relative positions of traffic lights, and the arrow light is used as prior spatial information. This allows for the recognition of distant arrow lights that are difficult for humans to see clearly. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the recognition performance of the proposed method and to verify if it matches the performance required for automated driving. Quantitative evaluations indicate that the proposed method achieved 91.8% and 56.7% of the average f-value for traffic lights and arrow lights, respectively. It was confirmed that the arrow-light detection could recognize small arrow objects even if their size was smaller than 10 pixels. The verification experiments indicate that the performance of the proposed method meets the necessary requirements for smooth acceleration or deceleration at intersections in automated driving.Rabies immune globulin (RIG) is an indispensable component of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) because it provides passive immunity to prevent this otherwise inescapably fatal disease in Category III exposed patients. Even with decades of development, RIG products are still criticized for their high cost, lot-to-lot variation, and potential safety issues. They remain largely unattainable in most developing regions of the world, where demand is highest. In recent years, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have become widely accepted as safer and more cost-effective alternatives to RIG products. As an example, SYN023 is a 11 cocktail of two humanized anti-rabies MAbs previously shown to display extensive neutralizing capabilities. Ginsenoside Rg1 price Here, we further assessed the efficacy of SYN023 in animal models of rabies, and found that SYN023 afforded protection equal to a standard dose of human RIG (HRIG) at 0.03 mg/kg in Syrian hamsters and 0.1 mg/kg in beagles. Potential interference with vaccine-induced immunity was analyzed for the MAbs at these concentrations.