Correction: Schiboni et al. DynDSE: Automated Multi-Objective Design Space Exploration for Context-Adaptive Wearable IoT Edge Devices. Sensors 2020, 20, 6104

Due to formal academic regulations, the affiliation of the university has been amended, and an "Acknowledgements" section has been added to the original publication [...].

DynDSE: Automated Multi-Objective Design Space Exploration for Context-Adaptive Wearable IoT Edge Devices

We describe a simulation-based Design Space Exploration procedure (DynDSE) for wearable IoT edge devices that retrieve events from streaming sensor data using context-adaptive pattern recognition algorithms. We provide a formal characterisation of the design space, given a set of system functionalities, components and their parameters. An iterative search evaluates configurations according to a set of requirements in simulations with actual sensor data. The inherent trade-offs embedded in conflicting metrics are explored to find an optimal configuration given the application-specific conditions. Our metrics include retrieval performance, execution time, energy consumption, memory demand, and communication latency. We report a case study for the design of electromyographic-monitoring eyeglasses with applications in automatic dietary monitoring. The design space included two spotting algorithms, and two sampling algorithms, intended for real-time execution on three microcontrollers. DynDSE yielded configurations that balance retrieval performance and resource consumption with an F1 score above 80% at an energy consumption that was 70% below the default, non-optimised configuration. We expect that the DynDSE approach can be applied to find suitable wearable IoT system designs in a variety of sensor-based applications.

Early load mandibular hybrid prosthesis using the Ohio State University acrylic frame requiring no final impression

BACKGROUND

Although immediate/early loading protocols for dental implants have presented encouraging outcomes, immediate loading procedures may cause discomfort to the patient and may increase the possibility of damage to the surgical site during the impression procedures. The aim of this study was to describe an alternative technique to fabricate a mandibular hybrid prosthesis in three or four days without making any final impression and to evaluate the outcomes of this technique.

METHODS

Seven patients aged 41 to 71 years (mean age, 58 +/- 11) were considered for this study. Each patient received five implants for the reconstruction of the edentulous mandible. These implants were placed in the anterior region of an edentulous mandible and restored with a final mandibular hybrid prosthesis in four days using the Ohio State University (OSU) acrylic frame requiring no final impression procedure. The patients were followed up to 19 months after implant placement.

RESULTS

No implants were lost, no technical complications were observed and only minor marginal bone loss was noted after an average 15 months.

CONCLUSIONS

This clinical study shows that the OSU acrylic frame, which can easily be customized and accommodates variability in arch form, may be an alternative method to restore any edentulous mandible with an early load mandibular hybrid prosthesis.

Postraumatic intracranial hematomas in infancy. a 16-year experience

OBJECTS

The objective of this study is to analyze some of the epidemiological aspects in patients with post-traumatic intracranial hematomas (post-traumatic ICH) in infancy. These patients were treated at the Hospital Infantil Municipal de Córdoba, Argentina, between April 1980 and April 1996.

METHODS

A retrospective descriptive analysis was conducted on the 113 case histories of children with post-traumatic ICH, all of whom required surgical intervention during this period. Relevant information such as age, sex, mechanism of injury causing craniocerebral trauma (CCT), and data on clinical presentation on admission, diagnosis, morbidity and mortality rates were collected.

CONCLUSIONS

The series revealed a greater incidence of post-traumatic ICH in boys (73.5%), whose average age was 6 years 5 months +/- 4 years 10 months (range 1 day to 15 years). Fifty-three percent of the girls suffered post-traumatic ICH before the age of 3, while 54% of the children were 7 years of age or older (P<0.05). Falls were the most frequent mechanism of injury causing CCT (36.3%), followed by vehicle accidents (33.6%) and unknown causes (15.9%), the latter mainly in children under 3 years old (31%). The most frequent symptoms were vomiting (58.6%), loss of consciousness (47.1%) and headaches (24.1%). Of all these children, 93.8% presented signs and symptoms at the time of hospital admission, alterations in the level of consciousness (66%), vomiting (47.2%) and headaches (26.4%) being among the most frequent. The hemorrhagic complications observed in the 113 patients took the form of extradural hematomas (EDH) in 75 (66.4%), of subdural hematomas (SDH) in 35 (31.0%), of hemorrhagic contusions (Hc) in 19 (16.8%), and of intracerebral hematomas (Ich) in 11 (9.7%). In 13 patients the site of the hematoma was the posterior cranial fossa (11.5%), and 22.1% of patients presented more than one type of hemorrhagic complication. Morbidity rates were 9.7% and mortality rates 17.7%.

Porencephalic congenital cysts with hydrocephalus

The therapeutic criteria according to tomographic findings are reviewed. 10 children, 6 male and 4 female, with porencephalic congenital cysts were studied. Early symptoms began within the first 6 months of life in 9 cases, and at the age of 5 years in 1. The most frequent symptoms were: seizures in 3; motor deficit in 5; retarded psychomotor development in 7; endocranial hypertension syndrome in 7; symmetric macrocrania in 7; paresis of the motor ocular nerves in 4. Preoperative studies: X-ray films-1 each patient-showed diastasis of sutures in 6 and cranial asymmetry in 2. Electroencephalograms-6 patients-were abnormal and diffuse in 3, hipsarrhythmic in 2, and focal in 1. CT-1 each patient-showed porencephalic cysts in all the patients; ventricular dilatation in 9; a single ventricle in 1, and a shift of the midline in 5. Postoperative studies: EEG, 1 each patient; CT, 1 each patient.

SURGICAL TREATMENT

8 patients underwent peritoneal shunts and 2 atrial shunts. Plastic surgery of the dysraphy was also performed. Postsurgical treatment: Rehabilitation and anti-convulsive treatment-4 patients. There were no deaths among the patients. The morbidity improved.

Atriopulmonary anastomosis

Atriopulmonary anastomosis (APA) has been performed in 29 patients, 3 to 22 years of age, since 1971. The diagnoses were tricuspid atresia in 21, single ventricle with low pulmonary vascular resistance in seven, and one case of dextro-transposition of the great arteries with ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis. Four different techniques were used: Technique I (anterior end-to-end APA with a homograft or Dacron tube); Technique II (anterior end-to-end APA with the patient's own pulmonary artery); Technique III (nonvalved anterior anastomosis between the right atrium and the right ventricle); and Technique IV (largest, posterior, nonvalved direct APA between the right atrium and the main pulmonary artery and its right branch). Since the right atrium does not function as a pump, caval valves were never used. The total hospital mortality was 17.2%. Proper patient selection and the development of Technique IV reduced the mortality to 9%. Low end-diastolic ventricular pressure and a nonrestrictive APA are mandatory to obtain a good clinical result without pleural effusion. Twenty-one survivors are in Functional Class I, 17 of them without medication. Twelve of the 24 survivors were recatheterized. The best clinical and hemodynamic results were achieved in patients with low right atrial pressure and low end-diastolic ventricular pressure. The follow-up demonstrated a consistent superiority of the posterior nonvalved APA (Technique IV) in comparison with other techniques described. Therefore, this technique is proposed as the procedure of choice for the performance of an APA, irrespective of the precise diagnosis (tricuspid atresia or single ventricle) and irrespective of the type of great arterial relationship.

A preliminary study of hypoglycemic activity of Lythrum salicaria

A study of the hypoglycemic activity of several extracts of Lythrum salicaria was made in normoglycemic and hyperglycemic rabbits. Circulating insulin variations were studied as well. The results of this study prove a hypoglycemic activity of the plant.