Thyroid carcinosarcoma masquerading as a paraesophageal abscess in a Cane Corso dog.

A 12-year-old castrated male Cane Corso dog was presented with cervical swelling, lethargy, anorexia, and cough. An extensive neck mass with necrotic cysts was observed, severely adherent to surrounding tissues. Based on diagnostic imaging including ultrasound, computed tomography, and fine-needle aspiration cytology, paraesophageal abscess was tentatively diagnosed. However, after the mass was surgically removed, a diagnosis of thyroid carcinosarcoma composed of neoplastic cell populations with epithelial and mesenchymal origins was made via histopathology and immunohistochemistry. The dog died of a recurrent mass with pulmonary metastasis 105 d after surgery. This report describes a rare type of canine thyroid cancer, thyroid carcinosarcoma, preoperatively masquerading as an abscess and postoperatively confirmed by histopathology. Key clinical message: Thyroid carcinosarcoma, despite its rarity in dogs, should be included in the differential diagnoses of cervical mass especially with an aggressive progression.

Carcinosarcome thyroïdien déguisé en abcès paraoesophagien chez un chien Cane Corso. Un chien Cane Corso mâle castré de 12 ans a été présenté avec de l'enflure cervicale, de la léthargie, de l'anorexie et une toux. Une masse étendue du cou avec des kystes nécrotiques a été observée, adhérente fortement aux tissus environnants. Sur la base de l'imagerie diagnostique comprenant l'échographie, la tomodensitométrie et la cytologie par aspiration à l'aiguille fine, un abcès paraoesophagien a été provisoirement diagnostiqué. Cependant, après l'ablation chirurgicale de la masse, un diagnostic de carcinosarcome thyroïdien composé de populations de cellules néoplasiques d'origine épithéliale et mésenchymateuse a été posé par histopathologie et immunohistochimie. Le chien est décédé d'une masse récurrente avec métastase pulmonaire 105 jours après la chirurgie. Ce rapport décrit un type rare de cancer de la thyroïde canine, le carcinosarcome thyroïdien, se faisant passer pour un abcès en préopératoire et confirmé en postopératoire par histopathologie.Message clinique clé:Le carcinosarcome thyroïdien, malgré sa rareté chez le chien, doit être inclus dans les diagnostics différentiels de masse cervicale surtout à évolution agressive.(Traduit par Dr Serge Messier).

Laser Sensing and Vision Sensing Smart Blind Cane: A Review.

Laser sensing and vision sensing smart canes can improve the convenience of travel for the visually impaired, but for the present, most of the system functions of laser sensing and vision sensing smart canes are still defective. Guide equipment and smart blind canes are introduced and classified first, and the smart blind canes based on vision sensing, laser sensing and laser vision sensing are investigated, respectively, and the research status of laser vision sensing smart blind canes is sorted out. The advantages and disadvantages of various laser vision sensing smart blind canes are summarized, especially the research development of laser vision fusion as the core of new smart canes. The future development prospects of laser vision sensing smart blind cane are overviewed, to boost the development of laser vision sensing smart blind cane, to provide safe and efficient travel guarantee for the visually impaired.

Effects of cane use on the kinematic and kinetic of lower-extremity joints in inexperienced users.

The cane is commonly prescribed for the elderly to maintain balance and enhance independent mobility. However, improper use of cane can increase the risk of falling. Understanding the characteristics of cane gait is critical for better establishing proper cane usage norms. The paper aimed to investigate effects of cane use on kinematics and kinetics of lower extremities in the elderly and the young to guide the development of adaptive cane gait. Twenty participants (10 elder and 10 young) were recruited and walked at a self-comfortable speed or with a cane in a two-point gait. The spatiotemporal gait parameters, hip/knee/ankle joint angles and ground reaction force (GRF) were statistically analyzed using MANOVAs to assess the effects of age and cane. Using the cane significantly decreased step length, cadence and speed and increased step time in both age groups. Age and cane had significant effects on ankle plantarflexion angle in initial swing phase (APA-ISw). In cane gait, the peaks of vertical GRF(V-GRF) and anterior-posterior GRF (AP-GRF) in bilateral lower extremities significantly decreased, and the troughs of right V-GRF significantly increased for both groups. These results suggest that using a cane does interfere with the natural gait of the user and insufficient ankle plantarflexion in initial swing phase (ISw) and reduced AP-GRF may be two key risk factors contributing to cane gait instability. Therefore, the users should consider actively increasing ankle plantarflexion in ISw to avoid deteriorating gait performance due to over-reliance on the cane.

IoT Enabled Intelligent Stick for Visually Impaired People for Obstacle Recognition.

This paper presents the design, development, and testing of an IoT-enabled smart stick for visually impaired people to navigate the outside environment with the ability to detect and warn about obstacles. The proposed design employs ultrasonic sensors for obstacle detection, a water sensor for sensing the puddles and wet surfaces in the user's path, and a high-definition video camera integrated with object recognition. Furthermore, the user is signaled about various hindrances and objects using voice feedback through earphones after accurately detecting and identifying objects. The proposed smart stick has two modes; one uses ultrasonic sensors for detection and feedback through vibration motors to inform about the direction of the obstacle, and the second mode is the detection and recognition of obstacles and providing voice feedback. The proposed system allows for switching between the two modes depending on the environment and personal preference. Moreover, the latitude/longitude values of the user are captured and uploaded to the IoT platform for effective tracking via global positioning system (GPS)/global system for mobile communication (GSM) modules, which enable the live location of the user/stick to be monitored on the IoT dashboard. A panic button is also provided for emergency assistance by generating a request signal in the form of an SMS containing a Google maps link generated with latitude and longitude coordinates and sent through an IoT-enabled environment. The smart stick has been designed to be lightweight, waterproof, size adjustable, and has long battery life. The overall design ensures energy efficiency, portability, stability, ease of access, and robust features.

[Guidelines: leash or walking stick?] / Richtlijnen: leiband of wandelstok?

Guidelines are undeniably of great value to practicing physicians, but there are also objections. Due to the multitude of guidelines, it is sometimes difficult to find the most appropriate and it is not always clear how well-founded recommendations are. In addition, guidelines can limit the freedom of action. Also, in individual patients - especially in the case of multimorbidity - recommendations from different guidelines can conflict with each other. Finally, drawing up guidelines takes a lot of time, which is at the expense of patient care, and conflicts of interest are difficult to avoid completely. It is therefore important to put the recommendations from guidelines into perspective: they are an aid to individual patient care, not a law. This perspective is also important in education, so that students are taught to use guidelines in a wise way. Finally, it is important to regularly evaluate recommendations and revise them if necessary.

Changes in cognitive-motor interference during rehabilitation of cane walking in patients with subacute stroke: A pilot study.

No previous research has examined cognitive-motor interference (CMI) repeatedly in patients with subacute stroke. This pilot study aimed to report on the changes over time in CMI in patients with stroke who have recently learned to walk with a cane. The assessment started as soon as the participants could walk independently with a quad cane, and was repeated up to six sessions as long as the cane was still used. The dual-tasking paradigm required participants to walk and perform continuous subtractions by 3s. Data were analyzed for 9 participants 33-127 days post-stroke. All 9 participants showed CMI in walking velocity at baseline and 8 of these showed improvement over time (Z = -2.547; p = 0.011). The improvement in CMI was associated with baseline dual-tasking performance (ρ = 0.600; p = 0.044), motor control ability (ρ = -0.695; p = 0.019), walking velocity (ρ = -0.767; p = 0.008), and functional mobility (ρ = 0.817; p = 0.004). All participants showed decrements in both tasks (mutual interference) at baseline, 1 evolved to decrements in walking velocity (cognitive-related motor interference), and 3 finally evolved to decrements in cognitive performance but increments in walking velocity (motor-priority tradeoff). In conclusion, during rehabilitation with cane walking in patients with subacute stroke, the dual-tasking paradigm revealed CMI and its improvements in the majority of participants. Greater improvement in CMI was moderately to strongly associated with worse baseline performance of many variables. The evolution of the CMI pattern over time provides novel information relevant to neurological recovery.

Intelligent Gait Analysis and Evaluation System Based on Cane Robot.

Gait analysis and evaluation are vital for disease diagnosis and rehabilitation. Current gait analysis technologies require wearable devices or high-resolution vision systems within a limited usage space. To facilitate gait analysis and quantitative walking-ability evaluation in daily environments without using wearable devices, a mobile gait analysis and evaluation system is proposed based on a cane robot. Two laser range finders (LRFs) are mounted to obtain the leg motion data. An effective high-dimensional Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (HTSK) fuzzy system, which is suitable for high-dimensional data by solving the saturation problem caused by softmax function in defuzzification, is proposed to recognize the walking states using only the motion data acquired from LRFs. The gait spatial-temporal parameters are then extracted based on the gait cycle segmented by different walking states. Besides, a quantitative walking-ability evaluation index is proposed in terms of the conventional Tinetti scale. The plantar pressure sensing system records the walking states to label training data sets. Experiments were conducted with seven healthy subjects and four patients. Compared with five classical classification algorithms, the proposed method achieves the average accuracy rate of 96.57%, which is improved more than 10%, compared with conventional Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy system. Compared with the gait parameters extracted by the motion capture system OptiTrack, the average errors of step length and gait cycle are only 0.02 m and 1.23 s, respectively. The comparison between the evaluation results of the robot system and the scores given by the physician also validates that the proposed method can effectively evaluate the walking ability.

Action of silicon on the activity of antioxidant enzymes and on physiological mechanisms mitigates water deficit in sugarcane and energy cane plants.

Production of sugarcane and more recently of energy cane strengthen renewable bioenergy production capacity. However, droughts resulting from climate change have limited the production of these crops. One of the strategies to attenuate water deficit damage in these crops is the use of silicate, which contributes to plant physiology. This strategy is likely to increase water use efficiency, thus promoting crop sustainability. Notwithstanding, studies on this issue are still incipient. This study assesses whether Si applied via fertigation and foliar spraying in the seedling production phase and as a complement after seedling transplanting to the soil is efficient in attenuating water deficit in sugarcane and energy cane. The study further elucidates physiological and biochemical mechanisms involved in this process. For this, the authors conducted two experiments: one with sugarcane and the other with energy cane. Treatments were arranged in randomized blocks with 5 replications, in a 2 × 2 factorial scheme. Factors consisted of the absence (-Si) and presence of Si (+ Si) applied via fertigation and foliar spraying; and two water regimes: 70% (without water deficit) and 30% (severe water deficit) of the soil water retention capacity. Silicon was supplied during the formation phase of presprouted seedlings and during the transplanting of seedlings to pots filled with samples of Entisol (Quartzipsamment). In these pots, water regimes were induced from 7 to 160 days after transplanting. Severe water deficit reduced the water content and water potential of plants. This situation induced oxidative stress and impaired gas exchange and photosynthetic water use efficiency, reducing plant growth. Silicon supply via fertigation in association with foliar spraying in the seedling formation phase with complementation after transplanting was efficient in increasing Si accumulation in the plants. Silicon was effective in attenuating severe water deficit damage up to initial culm formation through mechanisms that maintain water and physiological balance by favoring the antioxidant defense system in sugarcane and energy cane plants.

Mitochondrial genetic diversity of the Greater Cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus) populations from the Eastern Arc Mountains ecosystem, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Management of most herbivorous small mammal species considered to be pests in Africa is still challenging partly because of the paucity of information on their biological traits that would help to manage their destructive impacts. This gap also precludes the potential for tapping species with potential food-value to improving the economy of rural communities through, for example, sustainable game farming programs in Africa. This study investigates the genetic diversity and population demography of the African Greater Cane rat (AGC), a rodent pest of crops and game species inhabiting two isolated blocks of the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAMs), Tanzania to contribute to the species management and conservation. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS: We used non-invasive sampling techniques and DNA sequencing of the D-loop region of MtDNA (515bp) from 46 cane rats (Thryonomys swinderianus) samples to characterize the genetic diversity and structure of the species and potential population threats faced in natural habitats. We found 25 haplotypes:15 from Uluguru and 9 from Udzungwa mountains populations, containing 49 polymorphic regions (32 parsimoniously informative and 17 singleton sites). Haplotype diversity (range: 0.849-0.995) did not differ substantially across populations but the median haplotype diversity for Udzungwa South was overall lower than for other populations. Nucleotide diversity averaged 0.00641, 0.01528, 0.0111 and 0.01313, respectively for Udzungwa South, Udzungwa North, Uluguru Rural and Uluguru Urban, suggesting high genetic diversity within the four populations. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated significantly high genetic differences between the four populations (FST = 0.16, p = 0.00098) whereas neutrality test (FU's Fs) values were negative, indicating historical population expansion. Similarly, the Bayesian skyline analysis indicated a recent demographic expansion suggesting limited bottlenecks in the recent past in this population. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show the AGC population in EAMs consists of four distinct populations which have experienced a recent population expansion, especially among the urban population due perhaps to influence of urbanization process that may have favored assisted species movements across the rural-urban landscapes. Future research should focus on understanding impact of geographical isolation on the genetic structure and diversity of this species.

Semi-Quantitative Discrimination of Honey Adulterated with Cane Sugar Solution by an ETongue.

This study successfully applied a potentiometric E-tongue with 20 cross-selectivity lipidic polymeric membranes in the discrimination of three semi-quantitative groups, that represented the following intervals of honey adulteration percentage with cane sugar: 0 %; [0, 10]%; [10, 20]% of adulteration. We analysed five different types of Portuguese honey; five brands of cane sugar were added to the adulterated samples; a comparative analysis was then performed. Linear discriminant analysis coupled with a tabu search algorithm for feature selection was applied to the ETongue's analytical data to select the best model. A discriminant model with 12 sensors was obtained. This model classified correctly all samples in both in internal (train data, 15 samples) and external validation (test data,10 samples). Also, multiple linear regression with tabu search was applied to verify if ETongue's data would allow quantifying the honey's adulteration level. The results showed that it was possible to obtain a quantitative model but with unsatisfactory predictive performance in the test data group (external validation), giving, in general, values below the expected concentrations. E-tongue is a real-time green, flexible and low-cost analytical tool that requires minimum sample preparation and no special technical skills, being a promising tool for everyday application.

Cane Vinasses Contain Bioactive Concentrations of Auxin and Abscisic Acid in Their Composition.

Currently, high doses of vinasse are employed for the fertigation of sugarcane with positive results on yield. Usually, this effect is related to the presence of mineral nutrients in its composition as well as to its action on soil properties. Consequently, the concentrations of minerals, organic acids, and other metabolites in vinasse are very well characterized. However, considering that cane vinasses are obtained from the treatment of vegetal tissues, it is also possible that they might contain significant concentrations of phytoregulators that could have a relevant role in their beneficial action on yield. To investigate this hypothesis, we analyzed the main plant hormones in 22 samples of vinasse collected in different production sites of Brazil using HPLC-mass spectrometry. The results show that both ABA and IAA present concentrations in vinasse within the micromolar range, thus being potential active ingredients affecting plant development. In conclusion, the beneficial action of cane vinasses on sugarcane yield might involve, among other factors, the action of IAA and ABA on plant growth.

An IoT Machine Learning-Based Mobile Sensors Unit for Visually Impaired People.

Visually impaired people face many challenges that limit their ability to perform daily tasks and interact with the surrounding world. Navigating around places is one of the biggest challenges that face visually impaired people, especially those with complete loss of vision. As the Internet of Things (IoT) concept starts to play a major role in smart cities applications, visually impaired people can be one of the benefitted clients. In this paper, we propose a smart IoT-based mobile sensors unit that can be attached to an off-the-shelf cane, hereafter a smart cane, to facilitate independent movement for visually impaired people. The proposed mobile sensors unit consists of a six-axis accelerometer/gyro, ultrasonic sensors, GPS sensor, cameras, a digital motion processor and a single credit-card-sized single-board microcomputer. The unit is used to collect information about the cane user and the surrounding obstacles while on the move. An embedded machine learning algorithm is developed and stored in the microcomputer memory to identify the detected obstacles and alarm the user about their nature. In addition, in case of emergencies such as a cane fall, the unit alerts the cane user and their guardian. Moreover, a mobile application is developed to be used by the guardian to track the cane user via Google Maps using a mobile handset to ensure safety. To validate the system, a prototype was developed and tested.

Wearable Travel Aids for Blind and Partially Sighted People: A Review with a Focus on Design Issues.

The ability to travel (independently) is very important for participation in education, work, leisure activities, and all other aspects of modern life. Blind and partially sighted people experience a number of barriers to travel, including inaccessible information and environments, and consequently require support from technology or other people to overcome them. Despite the potential of advanced technologies and the development of electronic travel aids, the long cane and guide dog remains the most commonly used solutions. Wearable technologies are becoming increasingly popular. They have the particular advantage of keeping the hands free, thereby facilitating the use of a long cane, guide dog or another device at the same time. They also have the potential to change the ways in which users interact with the environment. The main contributions of this paper are surveying the current state-of-the-art of travel aids from a design perspective and investigating the following issues: (1) The important design issues in wearable travel aids and the extent to which they are taken into account in different devices; (2) The relationship, if any, between where and how travel aids are worn and their design, features and functions; (3) Limitations of existing devices, gaps in provision and future research directions, particularly with regard to meeting potential users' needs.

Interaction of silicon and manganese in nutritional and physiological aspects of energy cane with high fiber content.

BACKGROUND: Silicon (Si) is a multiple stress attenuator element in plants, however more research is needed to elucidate the actions in the plants defense system with low nutrition of manganese (Mn) for a prolonged period, and the attenuation mechanisms involved in the effects of Mn deficiency on energy cane with high fiber content. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate whether Si reduces the oxidative stress of the energy cane grown in low Mn in nutrient solution, to mitigate the effects of Mn deficiency, improving enzymatic and non-enzymatic defense, uptake of Mn the plant growth. METHODS: An experiment was carried out with pre-sprouted seedlings of Saccharum spontaneum L. in a 2 × 2 factorial scheme in five replications in which the plants were grown under sufficiency (20.5 µmol L-1) and deficiency (0.1 µmol L-1) of Mn combined with the absence and presence of Si (2.0 mmol L-1) for 160 days from the application of the treatments. The following parameters were evaluated: accumulation of Mn and Si, H2O2, MDA, activity of SOD and GPOX, total phenol content, pigments, and quantum efficiency of PSII. RESULTS: Mn deficiency induced the oxidative stress for increase the H2O2 and MDA content in leaves of plants and reduce the activity of antioxidant enzymes and total phenols causing damage to quantum efficiency of photosystem II and pigment content. Si attenuated the effects of Mn deficiency even for a longer period of stress by reducing H2O2 (18%) and MDA (32%) content, and increased the Mn uptake efficiency (53%), SOD activity (23%), GPOX (76%), phenol contents, thus improving growth. CONCLUSIONS: The supply of Si promoted great nutritional and physiological improvements in energy cane with high fiber content in Mn deficiency. The results of this study propose the supply of Si via fertirrigation as a new sustainable strategy for energy cane cultivation in low Mn environments.

Sensor-Based Prototype of a Smart Assistant for Visually Impaired People-Preliminary Results.

People with visual impairment are the second largest affected category with limited access to assistive products. A complete, portable, and affordable smart assistant for helping visually impaired people to navigate indoors, outdoors, and interact with the environment is presented in this paper. The prototype of the smart assistant consists of a smart cane and a central unit; communication between user and the assistant is carried out through voice messages, making the system suitable for any user, regardless of their IT skills. The assistant is equipped with GPS, electronic compass, Wi-Fi, ultrasonic sensors, an optical sensor, and an RFID reader, to help the user navigate safely. Navigation functionalities work offline, which is especially important in areas where Internet coverage is weak or missing altogether. Physical condition monitoring, medication, shopping, and weather information, facilitate the interaction between the user and the environment, supporting daily activities. The proposed system uses different components for navigation, provides independent navigation systems for indoors and outdoors, both day and night, regardless of weather conditions. Preliminary tests provide encouraging results, indicating that the prototype has the potential to help visually impaired people to achieve a high level of independence in daily activities.

Four novel genes associated with longevity found in Cane corso purebred dogs.

BACKGROUND: Longevity-related genes have been found in several animal species as well as in humans. The goal of this study was to perform genetic analysis of long-lived Cane corso dogs with the aim to find genes that are associated with longevity. RESULTS: SNPs with particular nucleotides were significantly overrepresented in long-lived dogs in four genes, TDRP, MC2R, FBXO25 and FBXL21. In FBXL21, the longevity-associated SNP localises to the exon. In the FBXL21 protein, tryptophan in long-lived dogs replaced arginine present in reference dogs. CONCLUSIONS: Four SNPs associated with longevity in dogs were identified using GWAS and validated by DNA sequencing. We conclude that genes TDRP, MC2R, FBXO25 and FBXL21 are associated with longevity in Cane corso dogs.

Secretome analysis of Trichoderma reesei RUT-C30 and Penicillium oxalicum reveals their synergic potential to deconstruct sugarcane and energy cane biomasses.

The conversion of lignocellulosic polymers into monomeric sugars demands a plethora of enzymatic activities generally not produced by a single microorganism and induced by the carbon source. In this vein, this work investigates the synergy between the enzymes secreted by the cellulolytic model fungi Trichoderma reesei RUT-C30 (TR) and Penicillium oxalicum (PO) to deconstruct sugarcane straw (SCS) and energy cane bagasse (ECB). TR and PO secrete a similar profile of cellulose-active enzymes resulting in a comparable conversion of SCS and ECB into glucose. The synergy between the enzymes produced by both fungi to break down the cellulose fraction becomes evident by the improvement of glucose titers from ~35-54% and from ~10-17% in SCS and ECB conditions, respectively, reached with the mixture of the secretomes of both fungi. The effect of a hemicellulase-enriched secretome produced by TR is particularly seen in SCS where the xylose yield reached ~15% compared to 5% by PO, remaining unaltered following the mixture of secretomes. However, the secretion of enzymes active in the decorations of the main chain polymers possibly aid PO to access the hemicellulose fraction of ECB reaching xylose yields similar to TR in this condition.