There are a lot of ailments that would lead to foot impair. For instance, cerebral palsy (CP), stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), hemiplegia, duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and so on. With the further deterioration of these diseases, gait would become imbalanced and then it may contribute to high risk of fall incidence. Thus, it is urgent to invent a tool to adjust the foot impair. Most of the previous studies had found that the ankle-foot orthoses (AFO) has a significant effect to overcome the foot impair. Studies that investigated the ankle-foot orthoses (AFO) and its effect on patients with foot impair are various and abundant. Nevertheless, there are a little studies that integrated the categories of AFO and its specific effect on patients with foot impair. It is important to integrate the categories of AFO and its specific effect on patients with foot impair because the previous studies had proved that different designs of AFO have different mechanical properties and these would affect outcomes in a way. The purpose of this paper is to review and integrate the published studies on the categories of AFO and its effect on patients with foot impair and thereby offer better guidelines and suggestions for prescriptions and future studies. The publication of all papers about the categories of AFO and its effect on patients with foot impair were obtained from Science Direct(SD), Google Scholar and other peer reviewed journals that were published in English. The keywords used for searching were "AFO," "material," "foot impair," and "systemic review." There were total 8647 studies regarding these keywords, and 37 studies were eligible to be selected in this research: 2 studies on systemic review, 35 studies on the materials and categories of AFO and its effect on patients with foot impair. Most previous studies had found that the effect of AFO is related to mechanical properties of AFO and disease characteristics. Therefore, this review could provide researchers with more systemic and detailed information about the categories of AFO and its effect on patients with foot impair and promote synthesis of literature.

Abstract.A multipurpose robot was designed to perform several tasks such as spraying and weeding in a greenhouse. Several operations were conducted by adding or removing sensing component(s), replacing actuator(s) and switching control software, with little or no change of the platform. A sliding mode control was applied to control motion of the robot in light of its kinematic model. Vision based algorithms were developed for navigation and operations of row planting crops, taking operations of spraying water and weeding by machine as examples. A vertical projection method was applied to calculate a guidance line for navigation. Preliminary tests were conducted to assess both guidance and operations of spraying and weeding in a greenhouse with green vegetable, respectively. Results showed that the robot traveled with a maximum lateral error of 47 mm, and sprayed with a productivity of 16-20 plants/min. Also, weeding action was taken in time. The designed robot has adaptability and versatility because the different operations can be achieved on the same platform.

No abstract

ObjectiveTo compare the predictive performance of the percentage body fat (PBF), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist–hip ratio (WHR), waist–height ratio (WHtR), a body shape index (ABSI), body roundness index (BRI), abdominal volume index (AVI), and conicity index (CI) for identifying hypertension.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 2,801 adults (1,499 men and 1,302 women) aged 18 to 81 in Ningbo, China. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis and multiple non-parametric Z tests were used to compare the areas under the curve (AUC). The maximum Youden's indices were used to determine the optimal cut-off points of 10 obesity-related indices (ORI) for hypertension risk.ResultsThe AUC of all the indices were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The AUC of all the indices in men and women were 0.67–0.73 and 0.72–0.79, respectively. Further non-parametric Z tests showed that WHR had the highest AUC values in both men [0.73 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.76)] and women (0.79 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.83)], and several central ORI (men: WHR, WC, BRI, AVI, and CI, 0.71–0.73; women: WC, WHR, and AVI, 0.77–0.79) were higher than general ORI (PBF and BMI, 0.68 in men; 0.72–0.75 in women), with adjusted P < 0.05. The optimal cut-off points for identifying hypertension in men and women were as follows: PBF (23.55%, 32.55%), BMI (25.72 kg/m2, 23.46 kg/m2), HC (97.59 cm, 94.82 cm), WC (90.26 cm, 82.78 cm), WHR (0.91, 0.88), WHtR (0.51, 0.55), ABSI (0.08 m7/6/kg2/3, 0.08 m7/6/kg2/3), BRI (4.05, 4.32), AVI (16.31 cm2, 13.83 cm2), and CI (1.23 m2/3/kg1/2, 1.27 m2/3/kg1/2). Multivariate logistic regression models showed that all indices were statistically significant (P < 0.05) with the adjusted ORs (per 1-SD increase) at 1.39–2.06 and ORs (over the optimal cut-off points) at 1.80–2.64.ConclusionsAll 10 ORI (PBF, BMI, HC, WC, WHR, WHtR, ABSI, BRI, AVI, and CI) can effectively predict hypertension, among which WHR should be recommended as the best predictor. Central ORI (WHR, WC, and AVI) had a better predictive performance than general ORIs (PBF and BMI) when predicting the risk of hypertension.

Objective: To explore the effects of breastfeeding during the first four months of life on thinness, overweight, and obesity and to analyze the influential factors in children aged three to six years in eastern China. Methods: This study was designed as a retrospective cohort study, and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines were followed. A total of 8053 subjects were included in this secondary analysis of data from the 2015 “Physical Fitness Surveillance data of Jiangsu, China”. The subjects were classified into three groups on the basis of feeding patterns: breastfeeding, mixed feeding, and formula feeding. The International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) definitions of BMI were used to define thinness, overweight, and obesity. Multivariate logistic regression models and subgroup analysis were used to assess the association between feeding patterns and childhood thinness, overweight, obesity, and overweight/obesity, adjusted for potential confounders (sex, age grade, area, region/economy, gestational age, birthweight, childbearing age, mother’s education, and caretaker). Results: The prevalence of breastfeeding was 63.8%, and the prevalence of thinness, overweight, obesity, and overweight/obesity reached 2.7%, 11.2%, 4.7%, and 15.9%, respectively. Breastfeeding participants had a lower risk of overweight and overweight/obesity with adjusted ORs of 0.652 (95% CI: 0.533, 0.797; p < 0.001) and 0.721 (95% CI: 0.602, 0.862; p < 0.001), respectively; however, there was no difference in thinness and obesity (both p > 0.05) compared with formula feeding. There was no statistical difference between mixed and formula feeding, in terms of thinness, overweight, obesity, or overweight/obesity (all p > 0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that breastfeeding for three years, preterm, and a childbearing age of 25–29 years had higher adjusted ORs for thinness, and in 5–6 years, urban areas, southern/developed economy regions, post-mature, childbearing age ≥ 25 years, and other caretakers had higher and invalid breastfeeding-adjusted ORs (all p > 0.05 except overweight in the urban grade) for both overweight and overweight/obesity. Conclusions: Breastfeeding during the first four months was not associated with the thinness of children aged 3–6 years in eastern China, and the protective effect of breastfeeding against overweight or overweight/obesity could be confirmed. However, the effects of breastfeeding on thinness, overweight, and obesity may change or become invalid in some subgroups, suggesting that there may be potential interactions between feeding patterns and influential factors.