Abstract-Many robotic tasks require heavy computation, which can easily exceed the robot's onboard computer capability. A promising solution to address this challenge is outsourcing the computation to the cloud. However, exploiting the potential of cloud resources in robotic software is difficult, because it involves complex code modification and extensive (re)configuration procedures. Moreover, quality of service (QoS) such as timeliness, which is critical to robot's behavior, have to be considered. In this paper, we propose a transparent and QoS-aware software framework called Cloudroid for cloud robotic applications. This framework supports direct deployment of existing robotic software packages to the cloud, transparently transforming them into Internet-accessible cloud services. And with the automatically generated service stubs, robotic applications can outsource their computation to the cloud without any code modification. Furthermore, the robot and the cloud can cooperate to maintain the specific QoS property such as request response time, even in a highly dynamic and resource-competitive environment. We evaluated Cloudroid based on a group of typical robotic scenarios and a set of software packages widely adopted in real-world robot practices. Results show that robots capability can be enhanced significantly without code modification and specific QoS objectives can be guaranteed. In certain tasks, the "cloud + robot" setup shows improved performance in orders of magnitude compared with the robot native setup.

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Heart failure (HF) is one of the main comorbidities in patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis (HD). Sacubitril/valsartan (SAC/VAL) is widely used in HF patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) or HF mid-range ejection fraction (HFmrEF). However, the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic properties of SAC/VAL in HD patients with HF remain uncertain. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> This study aimed to analyze the efficacy and PK properties of SAC/VAL in HD patients with HFrEF or HFmrEF. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> HD patients with HFrEF or HFmrEF were treated with SAC/VAL 50 or 100 mg twice a day (BID) and the concentrations of valsartan and LBQ657 (active metabolite of SAC) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry during HD and on the days between HD sessions (interval days). N-terminal-pro B-type natriuretic peptide and high-sensitivity troponin T were measured, and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was evaluated by echocardiography. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The mean maximum plasma concentrations (<i>C</i>_max) of LBQ657 and VAL on the interval days were 15.46 ± 6.01 and 2.57 ± 1.23 mg/L, respectively. Compared with previous values in patients with severe renal impairment and healthy volunteers, these levels both remained within the safe concentration ranges during treatment with SAC/VAL 100 mg BID. Moreover, SAC/VAL significantly improved LVEF in HD patients with HFrEF or HFmrEF (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> HD did not remove the SAC metabolite LBQ657 or VAL in patients with HF. However, SAC/VAL 100 mg BID was safe and effective in patients undergoing HD.

Background/Aims: Uremic tumoral calcinosis (UTC) is a rare disease with metastatic tissue calcification in maintenance hemodialysis (HD) patients. However, limited data are available on the treatment of UTC in HD patients. This article mainly discusses the diagnostic findings and efficacy of treatment on HD patients with UTC. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted based on the data of 13 cases of UTC, including their clinical features, biochemical indicators, imaging findings, diagnosis, therapeutic methods, and follow-up results. Parathyroidectomy (PTX) or drug treatment was determined based on intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) levels and clinical symptoms. Results: All 13 patients were diagnosed as UTC definitely by imaging examination. The predominant areas involved were the buttocks (4 cases, 30.77%), shoulders (4 cases, 30.77%), and elbows (3 cases, 23.08%). Based on the levels of iPTH, cases were categorized into 2 different groups: PTX treatment group was associated with high levels of iPTH, while drug treatment group (lanthanum carbonate or sevelamer with sodium thiosulfate) was associated with lower iPTH levels. After PTX treatment, there was a significant decrease in serum iPTH, calcium (Ca), phos-G.K., S.L., and Y.C. co-first authors.

Ando proved that if A, B are positive definite, then for any positive linear map Φ, it holds Φ(A#λB) ≤ Φ(A)#λΦ(B), where A#λB, 0 ≤ λ ≤ 1, means the weighted geometric mean of A, B. Using the recently defined geometric mean for accretive matrices, Ando’s result is extended to sector matrices. Some norm inequalities are considered as well.