A flexible self-recovery finger joint for a tendon-driven robot hand.

This paper presents a new biomimetic soft finger joint with elastic ligaments for enhanced restoration capability. A hemisphere-shaped flexible finger joint is designed to secure omnidirectional restoration and guarantee a reliable recovery function. Joint design comparative studies for enhancing restoration are presented with joint mechanisms and potential energy formulation analyses. A ligament design that enables an efficient grasping mode switch from power to pinch grasping is also considered. By using the presented joint and ligament, a tendon-driven robot hand is assembled. For the finger's biomimetic features, the hand provides a reasonably secure grasping operation for various complicated objects with minimum controls. The impact test and grasping experiments confirmed that the fabricated hand has the right amount of passive compliance in all directions as designed, and the restoration to the original state is also stably performed.

Ansavaricin J, a New Heterocyclic Ring-Fused Streptovaricin from Gene stvP5-Deleted Mutant of Streptomyces spectabilis CCTCC M2017417.

A new ring-fused streptovaricin analogue, named ansavaricin J, was unprecedently isolated from the culture of the genetically modified strains ΔstvP5 which derived from Streptomyces spectabilis CCTCC M2017417. Its structure was elucidated via comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, including 1D- and 2D-NMR tests, and HR-ESI-MS data analysis. Notably, ansavaricin J and E represent the only two reported examples of heterocyclic ring-fused streptovaricins thus far, however, it only showed insignificant antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus.

Traces of archaic mitochondrial lineages persist in Austronesian-speaking Formosan populations.

Genetic affinities between aboriginal Taiwanese and populations from Oceania and Southeast Asia have previously been explored through analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosomal DNA, and human leukocyte antigen loci. Recent genetic studies have supported the "slow boat" and "entangled bank" models according to which the Polynesian migration can be seen as an expansion from Melanesia without any major direct genetic thread leading back to its initiation from Taiwan. We assessed mtDNA variation in 640 individuals from nine tribes of the central mountain ranges and east coast regions of Taiwan. In contrast to the Han populations, the tribes showed a low frequency of haplogroups D4 and G, and an absence of haplogroups A, C, Z, M9, and M10. Also, more than 85% of the maternal lineages were nested within haplogroups B4, B5a, F1a, F3b, E, and M7. Although indicating a common origin of the populations of insular Southeast Asia and Oceania, most mtDNA lineages in Taiwanese aboriginal populations are grouped separately from those found in China and the Taiwan general (Han) population, suggesting a prevalence in the Taiwanese aboriginal gene pool of its initial late Pleistocene settlers. Interestingly, from complete mtDNA sequencing information, most B4a lineages were associated with three coding region substitutions, defining a new subclade, B4a1a, that endorses the origin of Polynesian migration from Taiwan. Coalescence times of B4a1a were 13.2 +/- 3.8 thousand years (or 9.3 +/- 2.5 thousand years in Papuans and Polynesians). Considering the lack of a common specific Y chromosomal element shared by the Taiwanese aboriginals and Polynesians, the mtDNA evidence provided here is also consistent with the suggestion that the proto-Oceanic societies would have been mainly matrilocal.

[Influence of Jieyu Huoxue Decoction on rehabilitation of patients with depression after cerebral infarction].

OBJECTIVE: To study the influence of Jieyu Huoxue Decoction on rehabilitation of patients with depression after cerebral infarction. METHODS: Fifty four patients suffered from the depression after acute cerebral infarction were randomly divided into three groups: depression control group, fluoxetine treated group and Jieyu Huoxue Decoction treated group. Eighteen patients of cerebral infarction without depression were enrolled in the no depression control group randomly. The Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS), the modified Edinburgh-Scandinavia stroke scale (MESSS) and the activities of daily living (ADL) were evaluated before treatment, 30 and 60 days after treatment. RESULTS: After 30 and 60 days of treatment, SDS evaluation of the Jieyu Huoxue Decoction treated group showed significant difference as compared with the condition before treatment and that of the depression control group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), MESSS evaluation and ADL evaluation also showed significant difference as compared with the condition before treatment and that of the depression control group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); there was no obvious difference between the fluoxetine treated group and the Jieyu Huoxue Decoction treated group, but the Jieyu Huoxue Decoction treated group showed fewer symptoms and less side effect. CONCLUSION: Jieyu Huoxue Decoction can not only relieve depression after cerebral infarction, but also improve neurological functions.