Diagnosis and management of insulinoma

Insulinomas,the most common cause of hypoglycemia related to endogenous hyperinsulinism,occur in 1-4 people per million of the general population.Common autonomic symptoms of insulinoma include diaphroresis,tremor,and palpitations,whereas neuroglycopenenic symptoms include confusion,behavioural changes,personality changes,visual disturbances,seizure,and coma.Diagnosis of suspected cases is based on standard endocrine tests,especially the prolonged fasting test.Non-invasive imaging procedures,such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging,are used when a diagnosis of insulinoma has been made to localize the source of pathological insulin secretion.Invasive modalities,such as endoscopic ultrasonography and arterial stimulation venous sampling,are highly accurate in the preoperative localization of insulinomas and have frequently been shown to be superior to noninvasive localization techniques.The range of techniques available for the localization of insulinomas means thatblind resection can be avoided.Intraoperative manual palpation of the pancreas by an experienced surgeon and intraoperative ultrasonography are both sensitive methods with which to finalize the location of insulinomas.A high proportion of patients with insulinomas can be cured with surgery.In patients with malignant insulinomas,an aggressive medical approach,including extended pancreatic resection,liver resection,liver transplantation,chemoembolization,or radiofrequency ablation,is recommended to improve both survival and quality of life.In patients with unresectable or uncontrollable insulinomas,such as malignant insulinoma of the pancreas,several techniques should be considered,including administration of ocreotide and/or continuous glucose monitoring,to prevent hypoglycemic episodes and to improve quality of life.

Calculate Target Position of Object in 3-Dimensional Area Based on the Perceived Locations Using EOG Signals

EOG is a biosignal which occurs during eye activities such as eye movement and blink. EOG has a linear relationship with gaze distance. Detection object position in 3-dimensional area using gaze motion was proposed in this research. To calculate the distance of gaze motion in pixel unit, affine transform method was developed. The homogeneous matrix from five geometry processes: transformation-1, rotation, transformation-2, shear, and dilatation was determined. To give tracking ability in 3-dimensional area, two cameras were attached each in front of and top side of object. The cameras were accessed by voluntary blink. The EOG characteristic of blink eye was determined based on the absolute ratio between positive peak and negative peak which was greater than 1. Every blink toggled the active camera. The position of object was given by the perceived locations from the two cameras. Every movement in pixel coordinate was converted into centimeter unit. Then, the perceived location was used to calculate to the base coordinate. The result shows that the blink method successfully accessed the camera. Both of the cameras could show the location of object from their side. Calculating the gaze distance using affine transform also gave a satisfied result. Using this method controlling a machine in 3-dimensional area by EOG could be developed.

Amino acid profiles in relation to chronic periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis

Chronic periodontitis (CP) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are chronic inflammatory conditions, and share many pathologic features. Plasma amino acid profiles have been shown to be associated with RA, but their relevance to CP remains unclear. The aim of the present study is to evaluate amino acid profiles in relation to CP and RA. The study participants consisted of 62 patients with RA (RA group), 30 patients with CP (CP group) and 29 healthy controls (H group) in age-, gender-, smoking status-balanced condition. Clinical periodontal and rheumatologic parameter values and plasma levels of 21 amino acids, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were determined. Multiple comparison analyses revealed that the RA group exhibited similar periodontal conditions but significantly higher levels of CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α than the CP group (P < 0.01). A total of four amino acids (glycine, histidine, ornithine, and alpha-aminobutyric acid) were significantly different in the concentrations among the three groups (P < 0.01). The RA group displayed significantly lower levels of glycine and histidine and significantly higher ornithine level than the CP and H groups (P < 0.01). The CP group showed significantly higher alpha-aminobutyric acid level than the RA and H groups (P < 0.01). Of these four amino acids, a significantly positive correlation was found between ornithine level and % of sites with bleeding on probing (P = 0.006) in the RA group. These results suggest a possibility that profiles of four amino acids may play a role in the pathogenesis of CP and RA.

End Point Force Control of a Flexible Timoshenko Arm

This paper discusses a force control problem for a flexible Timoshenko arm. The effect of shear deformation and the effect of rotary inertia are considered in Timoshenko beam theory. Most of the research about force control of the flexible arm is based on Euler Bernoulli beam theory. There are a few researches about force control of the flexible arm using Timoshenko beam theory. The aim of the force control is to control the contact force at the contact point. To solve this problem, we propose a simple controller using Timoshenko beam theory. Finally, we describe simulation results using a numerical inversion of Laplace transform carried out to investigate the validity of the proposed controller for the force control problem. The results of the time response show the transverse displacement, the angle of deflection, the slider position, the rotational angle and the contact force toward the desired their values.

Robot Control System Based on Electrooculography and Electromyogram

This paper describes a man-machine interface system using EOG and EMG. A manipulator control system using EOG and EMG is developed according to EOG and EMG. With the eye movement, the system enabled us to control a manipulator. EOG is using for moving the robot joint angles and EMG is using for object grasping. The EOG and EMG discrimination method is used to control the robot. The robot arm joint movements are determined by the EOG discrimination method where the polarity of eye gaze motion signals in each Ch1 and Ch2. The EMG discrimination method is used to control arm gripper to grasp and release the target object. In the robot control experiment, we are successfully control the uArmTM robot by using both EOG and EMG discrimination method as the control input. This control system brings the feasibility of man-machine interface for elderly person and handicapped person.