Path Planning for a Wheel-Foot Hybrid Parallel-Leg Walking Robot.

Mobile robots require the ability to plan collision-free paths. This paper introduces a wheel-foot hybrid parallel-leg walking robot based on the 6-Universal-Prismatic-Universal-Revolute and 3-Prismatic (6UPUR + 3P) parallel mechanism model. To enhance path planning efficiency and obstacle avoidance capabilities, an improved artificial potential field (IAPF) method is proposed. The IAPF functions are designed to address the collision problems and issues with goals being unreachable due to a nearby problem, local minima, and dynamic obstacle avoidance in path planning. Using this IAPF method, we conduct path planning and simulation analysis for the wheel-foot hybrid parallel-legged walking robot described in this paper, and compare it with the classic artificial potential field (APF) method. The results demonstrate that the IAPF method outperforms the classic APF method in handling obstacle-rich environments, effectively addresses collision problems, and the IAPF method helps to obtain goals previously unreachable due to nearby obstacles, local minima, and dynamic planning issues.

Heterogeneity Analysis of Bladder Cancer Based on DNA Methylation Molecular Profiling.

Bladder cancer is a highly complex and heterogeneous malignancy. Tumor heterogeneity is a barrier to effective diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer. Human carcinogenesis is closely related to abnormal gene expression, and DNA methylation is an important regulatory factor of gene expression. Therefore, it is of great significance for bladder cancer research to characterize tumor heterogeneity by integrating genetic and epigenetic characteristics. This study explored specific molecular subtypes based on DNA methylation status and identified subtype-specific characteristics using patient samples from the TCGA database with DNA methylation and gene expression were measured simultaneously. The results were validated using an independent cohort from GEO database. Four DNA methylation molecular subtypes of bladder cancer were obtained with different prognostic states. In addition, subtype-specific DNA methylation markers were identified using an information entropy-based algorithm to represent the unique molecular characteristics of the subtype and verified in the test set. The results of this study can provide an important reference for clinicians to make treatment decisions.

A Label-Free Fluorescent Assay for the Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Adenosine Deaminase Activity and Inhibition.

Adenosine deaminase (ADA), able to catalyze the irreversible deamination of adenosine into inosine, can be found in almost all tissues and plays an important role in several diseases. In this work, we developed a label-free fluorescence method for the detection of adenosine deaminase activity and inhibition. In the presence of ADA, ATP has been shown to be hydrolyzed. The ATP aptamer was shown to form a G-quadruplex/thioflavin T (ThT) complex with ThT and exhibited an obvious fluorescence signal. However, the ATP aptamer could bind with ATP and exhibited a low fluorescence signal because of the absence of ADA. This assay showed high sensitivity to ADA with a detection limit of 1 U/L based on an SNR of 3 and got a good linear relationship within the range of 1⁻100 U/L with R² = 0.9909. The LOD is lower than ADA cutoff value (4 U/L) in the clinical requirement and more sensitive than most of the reported methods. This technique exhibited high selectivity for ADA against hoGG I, UDG, RNase H and λexo. Moreover, this strategy was successfully applied for assaying the inhibition of ADA using erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl) adenine (EHNA) and, as such, demonstrated great potential for the future use in the diagnosis of ADA-relevant diseases, particularly in advanced drug development.

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of deuterated C-aryl glycoside as a potent and long-acting renal sodium-dependent glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

SGLT2 inhibitors deuterated at sites susceptible to oxidative metabolism were found to have a slightly longer tmax and half-life (t1/2), dose-dependent increase in urinary glucose excretion (UGE) in rats, and slightly superior effects on UGE in dogs while retaining similar in vitro inhibitory activities against hSGLT2. In particular, deuterated compound 41 has the potential to be a robust long-acting antidiabetic agent.

[Analysis of amino acids in rat plasma by solid phase extraction-high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry and the application to radiation injury rat model].

A robust and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI MS/MS) method was developed with solid phase extraction (SPE) sample preparation. It was optimized for the analysis of various amino acids in rat plasma. Silica-based strong cationic exchange SPE cartridges were used to extract amino acids and minimize the ion-suppression effect. The SPE cleanup protocol was optimized and it was found that the sample loading pH was very critical for the recovery and reproducibility. When the plasma sample was mixed with 0.1 mol/L acetic acid (pH 2.8) and loaded on SPE cartridge, the recoveries and repeatability for most of the amino acids were satisfactory. The method was fully validated. The analytical characteristics such as total recoveries (33.6%-107.7%, except lysine and ornithine), linearities (r > 0.99 except arginine), intra-day precisions (relative standard deviation (RSD) < 9.0%) and inter-day precisions (RSD < 19.1%) were satisfactory for most of the amino acids. Furthermore, the method was successfully applied to study the ionizing radiation exposure induced changes in amino acid concentration of plasma samples from rats. Experimental results showed that the ionization radiation could lead to metabolism disorder of plasma amino acids, and the degree of disorder was related with the degree of injury by the ionization radiation injury. Some of the amino acids may be potential biomarkers of ionization radiation injury. These results provide experimental basis for screening of new markers of the acute radiation damage.