An electronic travel guide for visually impaired – vehicle board recognition system through computer vision techniques

Abstract

Purpose: In the context of assistive technology, mobility takes the meaning of “moving safely, gracefully, and comfortably”.The aim of this article is to provide a system which will be a convenient means of navigation for the Visually Impaired people, in the public transport system.

Method: A blind regular commuter who travels by public transport facility finds difficulty in identifying the vehicle that is nearing the stop. Hence, a real-time system that dynamically identifies the nearing vehicle and informs the commuters is necessary. This paper proposes such a system namely the “Vehicle Board Recognition System” (VBRS). Computer Vision techniques such as segmentation, object recognition, text detection and optical character recognition are utilized to build the system, which will detect, analyze, derive and communicate the information to the passengers.

Results: Thanks to the rapid development in technology, there are several navigation systems both hand held and wearable, available to help visually impaired (VI) people move comfortably both indoor and outdoor. Many blind people are not comfortable in using these devices or they are not affordable for them. Thus the proposed system gives them the comfort of navigation.

Conclusion: This system can be installed in the bus stop to assist the Visually Impaired, from externally rather than their hand held or wearable assistive devices.

• Implications for rehabilitation

• This proposed system will help the visually impaired to

• ensure secure navigation

• be independent of the others

• develop self confidence.

• overcome the training, affordability of wearable/ handheld devices.

     

Innovative immunosuppression in kidney transplantation: A challenge for unmet needs

Due to the optimal results obtained in kidney transplantation and to the lack of interest of the industries, new innovative drugs in kidney transplantation are difficult to be encountered. The best strategy to find the new drugs recently developed or under development is to search in the sections of kidney transplantation still not completely covered by the drugs on the market. These unmet needs are the prevention of delayed graft function (DGF), the protection of the graft over the long time and the desensitization of preformed anti human leukocyte antigen antibodies and the treatment of the acute antibody-mediated rejection. These needs are particularly relevant due to the expansion of some kind of kidney transplantation as transplantation from non-heart beating donor and in the case of antibody-incompatible grafts. The first are particularly exposed to DGF, the latter need a safe desensitization and a safe treatments of the antibody mediated rejections that often occur. Particular caution is needed in treating these drugs. First, they are described in very recent studies and the follow-up of their effect is of course rather short. Second, some of these drugs are still in an early phase of study, even if in well-conducted randomized controlled trials. Particular caution and a careful check need to be used in trials launched 2 or 3 years ago. Indeed, is always necessary to verify whether the study is still going on or whether and why the study itself was abandoned.     

Epidemiology of gout and hyperuricemia in New Caledonia

ObjectivesNew Caledonia is a Pacific island of 270,000 inhabitants with mixed ethnicities, including Polynesians (10.2%), people from European ancestry (27.2%), and Melanesians (39.1%),. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of gout and hyperuricemia in the general population and the various ethnicities of New Caledonia.MethodsA 3-degree random sample of the population aged 18 to 60 years was adjusted according to the 2014 New Caledonia census. Face-to-face planned interviews and physical measurements were performed by trained nurses. All consenting participants underwent capillary measurement of creatinine; all consenting men and only women older than 40 years underwent point-of-care uricemia testing. Gout was defined by a validated algorithm. Two definitions of hyperuricemia were used: capillary level equivalent to plasma uric acid level > 360 μmol/l (6 mg/dl) and > 420 μmol/l (7 mg/dl) and/or urate-lowering drug treatment for both thresholds.ResultsWe included 1144 participants (adjusted mean age 37.7 ± 12.0 years; adjusted sex ratio 50.4% men). The adjusted prevalence of gout was 3.3% (95% confidence interval 2.2–4.9). Prevalence was 6.7% (2.5–16.8), 4.1% (1.8–8.9), and 2.6% (1.4–4.7) for Polynesians, Europeans and Melanesians, respectively, and 1.9% (0.5–6.6) for other ethnicities. Prevalence of hyperuricemia, determined in 658 participants, was 67.0% (61.9–71.6) and 37.0% (32.3–42.0) for the 360- and 420-μmol/l thresholds, respectively, and was significantly greater for Polynesians and Melanesians than Europeans for both thresholds.ConclusionsThe prevalence of gout and hyperuricemia in New Caledonia was high, including in patients of European descent.     

The comparative effects of metabolic surgery,SGLT2i,or GLP-1RA in patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes: a retrospective cohort study

BackgroundNew antidiabetic agents (sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor [SGLT2i] and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist [GLP-1RA]) and metabolic surgery have protective effects on metabolic syndromes.ObjectivesTo compare the changes of metabolic parameters and costs among patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes undergoing metabolic surgery and initiating new antidiabetic agents over 12 months.SettingHong Kong Hospital Authority database from 2006–2017.MethodsThis is a population-wide retrospective cohort study consisting of 2616 patients (1810 SGLT2i, 528 GLP-1RA, 278 metabolic surgery). Inverse probability treatment weighting of propensity score was applied to balance baseline covariates of patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes who underwent metabolic surgery, or initiated SGLT2i or GLP-1RA. Metabolic parameters and direct medical costs were measured and compared from baseline to 12 months in metabolic surgery, SGLT2i, and GLP-1RA groups.ResultsPatients in all 3 groups had improved metabolic parameters over a 12-month period. Patients with metabolic surgery achieved significantly better outcomes in BMI (?5.39, ?.56, ?.40 kg/m², P < .001), % total weight loss (15.16%, 1.34%, 1.63%, P < .001), systolic (?2.21, ?.59, 1.28 mm Hg, P < .001) and diastolic (?1.16, .50, ?.13 mm Hg, P < .001) blood pressure, HbA1c (?1.80%, ?.77%, ?.80%, P < .001), triglycerides (?.64, ?.11, ?.09 mmol/L, P < .001), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (3.08, ?1.37, ?.41 mL/min/1.73m², P < .001) after 12 months compared with patients with SGLT2i and GLP1-RA. Although the metabolic surgery group incurred the greatest direct medical costs (US$33,551, US$10,945, US$10,627, P < .001), largely due to the surgery itself and related hospitalization, the total monthly direct medical expenditure of metabolic surgery group became lower than that of SGLT2i and GLP-1RA groups at 7 months.ConclusionBeneficial weight loss and metabolic outcomes at 12 months were observed in all 3 groups, among which the metabolic surgery group showed the most remarkable effects but incurred the greatest medical costs. However, studies with a longer follow-up period are warranted to show long-term outcomes.     

Health technology assessment with risk aversion in health

Standard cost-effectiveness models compare incremental cost increases to incremental average gains in health, commonly expressed in Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). Our research generalizes earlier models in several ways. We introduce risk aversion in Quality of Life (QoL), which leads to “willingness-to-pay” thresholds that rise with illness severity, potentially by an order of magnitude. Unlike traditional CEA analyses, which discriminate against persons with disabilities, our analysis implies that the marginal value of improving QoL rises for disabled individuals. Our model can also value the uncertain benefits of medical interventions by employing well-established analytic methods from finance. Finally, we show that traditional QALYs no longer serve as a single index of health, when consumers are risk-averse. To address this problem, we derive a generalized single-index of health outcomes—the Generalized Risk-Adjusted QALY (GRA-QALY). Earlier models of CEA that abstract from risk-aversion nest as special cases of our more general model.     

现代教育技术在执业药师远程继续教育中的应用研究

利用计算机技术，搭建执业药师网上远程继续教育的平台，将主管部门审核的有关执业药师继续教育的教学内容放到网上，供参加执业药师继续教育的人员浏览学习。通过加强管理，严格考核，变传统教学模式为现代教育方式，实现教育的个性化，有效提高执业药师的继续教育质量。     

浅谈哈萨克斯坦荒漠草地现状与改良利用

中国新疆与哈萨克斯坦共和国生态环境特点极为相似,荒漠、半荒漠草地类型占草原面积的首位。由草原研究所派出的科技交流团,先后考察了哈国荒漠草地现状与改良利用情况,就优良旱生牧草新品种选育和荒漠、半荒漠区无灌溉条件下人工草地建植与管理技术模式达成技术合作事宜。     

山药粗多糖的提取工艺

对鲜山药中水溶性粗多糖的提取工艺进行了研究,通过单因素试验和L9（34）正交试验,研究了料液比、提取温度、时间和乙醇体积分数对粗多糖得率的影响,极差分析及方差分析结果表明提取温度和料液比是影响山药粗多糖提取的主要因素,较优的工艺为料液比1 g：9 mL,温度50 ℃,时间2.5 h,乙醇体积分数75%,在此工艺条件下,鲜山药粗多糖得率为0.2449%（以鲜山药质量计）.     

试论加强国际合作与促进我国医学伦理学教育的发展

原北京医科大学(现为北京大学医学部)从20世纪90年代初开始,积极寻求与美国中华医学基金会的合作以促进医学伦理学的学科发展和国际化水平的提高。十几年来,北京大学医学部作为基地和依托极大地支持和引领了我国医学伦理学的教学改革与发展,增强了相关人员的医学伦理意识以及医学伦理学理论对实践的指导作用,促进了伦理学知识和能力的培训,提升了我国生物医学科研伦理的实力,奠定了医学伦理学继续教育的基础,使医学伦理学实现了系统性和跨越式的发展。     

Development of a new sensor based on micro-electro-mechanical systems for objective in vivo measurement of the cutaneous temperature: application to foundations

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The purpose of this work was to develop a new sensor for objective in vivo measurement of the cutaneous temperature based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and to compare these performances with those of a classical thermocouple. Research on this new sensor was carried out to allow the quantification of the thermal properties of the made-up skin. METHODS: Sixteen female subjects divided into two different age groups (18-35 and >50 years old) were recruited for this study. Several zones of the face and forearms were made up at random with foundations containing or not a thermoregulator raw material. The quantity of foundation applied on the skin was standardized and measurements were carried out first before make-up, and then 10 s and 5 min after make-up. The new sensor and the thermocouple were used successively on each zone. The cutaneous temperature was expressed in degrees celsius. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: The two systems are similar in terms of repeatability and reproducibility, with some differences in sensibility. The data measured by the MEMS sensor appear lower than those measured by the thermocouple. After make-up, the MEMS sensor detects a progressive increase of the temperature in time whereas the thermocouple detects a decrease. We found the same evolution on the face but in a more attenuated way. These results tend to show that the devices do not measure the same phenomenon. The thermocouple appears more sensitive to the thermal response of the made-up surface whereas the MEMS sensor appears more sensitive to the heat transfers in the interface between the skin and make-up.