Recognition of Gestural Behaviors Expressed by Humanoid Robotic Platforms for Teaching Affect Recognition to Children with Autism - A Healthy Subjects Pilot Study

2017 ◽  
pp. 567-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittney A. English ◽  
Alexis Coates ◽  
Ayanna Howard
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Robotic Platforms

scholarly journals Social robotics to help children with autism in their interactions through imitation

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Pennazio
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Social Robotics ◽  
Robotic System ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Social Abilities ◽  
Rehabilitative Intervention ◽  
Robotic Platforms

Abstract This article aims to reflect on the main variables that make social robotics efficient in an educational and rehabilitative intervention. Social robotics is based on imitation, and the study is designed for children affected by profound autism, aiming for the development of their social interactions. Existing research, at the national and international levels, shows how children with autism can interact more easily with a robotic companion rather than a human peer, considering its less complex and more predictable actions. This contribution also highlights how using robotic platforms helps in teaching children with autism basic social abilities, imitation, communication and interaction; this encourages them to transfer the learned abilities to human interactions with both adults and peers, through human–robot imitative modelling. The results of a pilot study conducted in a kindergarten school in the Liguria region are presented. The study included applying a robotic system, at first in a dyadic child–robot relation, then in a triadic one that also included another child, with the aim of eliciting social and imitative abilities in a child with profound autism.

Phasic jaw motor episodes in healthy subjects with or without clinical signs and symptoms of sleep bruxism: a pilot study

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuichiro Yoshizawa ◽  
Takeshi Suganuma ◽  
Masayuki Takaba ◽  
Yasuhiro Ono ◽  
Takuro Sakai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Clinical Signs ◽  
Signs And Symptoms ◽  
Sleep Bruxism ◽  
Clinical Signs And Symptoms

Which Virtual Piano Keyboard for Children with Autism? A Pilot Study

2019 ◽  
pp. 280-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Claudia Buzzi ◽  
Marina Buzzi ◽  
Marco Maugeri ◽  
Gabriella Paolini ◽  
Maria Teresa Paratore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Children With Autism

scholarly journals Encapsulated cyclosporine does not change the composition of the human microbiota when assessed ex vivo and in vivo

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 854-863
Author(s):  
Catherine O'Reilly ◽  
Órla O’Sullivan ◽  
Paul D. Cotter ◽  
Paula M. O’Connor ◽  
Fergus Shanahan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Targeted Delivery ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
16S Rrna Gene Sequencing ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Microbiota Composition ◽  
Faecal Samples

Introduction. Management of steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis has predominantly involved treatment with systemic cyclosporine A (CyA) and infliximab. Aim. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of using a colon-targeted delivery system CyA formulation on the composition and functionality of the gut microbiota. Methodology. Ex vivo faecal fermentations from six healthy control subjects were treated with coated minispheres (SmPill) with (+) or without (−) CyA and compared with a non-treated control in a model colon system. In addition, the in vivo effect of the SmPill+CyA formulation was investigated by analysing the gut microbiota in faecal samples collected before the administration of SmPill+CyA and after 7 consecutive days of administration from eight healthy subjects who participated in a pilot study. Results. Analysis of faecal samples by 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated little variation in the diversity or relative abundance of the microbiota composition before or after treatment with SmPill minispheres with or without CyA ex vivo or with CyA in vivo. Short-chain fatty acid profiles were evaluated using gas chromatography, showing an increase in the concentration of n-butyrate (P=0.02) and acetate (P=0.32) in the faecal fermented samples incubated in the presence of SmPill minispheres with or without CyA. This indicated that increased acetate and butyrate production was attributed to a component of the coated minispheres rather than an effect of CyA on the microbiota. Butyrate and acetate levels also increased significantly (P=0.05 for both) in the faecal samples of healthy individuals following 7 days’ treatment with SmPill+CyA in the pilot study. Conclusion. SmPill minispheres with or without CyA at the clinically relevant doses tested here have negligible direct effects on the gut microbiota composition. Butyrate and acetate production increased, however, in the presence of the beads in an ex vivo model system as well as in vivo in healthy subjects. Importantly, this study also demonstrates the relevance and value of using ex vivo colon models to predict the in vivo impact of colon-targeted drugs directly on the gut microbiota.

scholarly journals Exhaled Breath Condensate: Pilot Study of the Method and Initial Experience in Healthy Subjects

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-16
Author(s):  
Eva Peterová ◽  
Jaroslav Chládek ◽  
Darina Kohoutová ◽  
Veronika Knoblochová ◽  
Paula Morávková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Healthy Volunteers ◽  
Coefficient Of Variation ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Lung Diseases ◽  
Exhaled Breath Condensate ◽  
Exhaled Breath ◽  
Initial Experience ◽  
Major Disadvantage ◽  
Breath Condensate

Analysis of Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is a re-discovered approach to monitoring the course of the disease and reduce invasive methods of patient investigation. However, the major disadvantage and shortcoming of the EBC is lack of reliable and reproducible standardization of the method. Despite many articles published on EBC, until now there is no clear consensus on whether the analysis of EBC can provide a clue to diagnosis of the diseases. The purpose of this paper is to investigate our own method, to search for possible standardization and to obtain our own initial experience. Thirty healthy volunteers provided the EBC, in which we monitored the density, pH, protein, chloride and urea concentration. Our results show that EBC pH is influenced by smoking, and urea concentrations are affected by the gender of subjects. Age of subjects does not play a role. The smallest coefficient of variation between individual volunteers is for density determination. Current limitations of EBC measurements are the low concentration of many biomarkers. Standardization needs to be specific for each individual biomarker, with focusing on optimal condensate collection. EBC analysis has a potential become diagnostic test, not only for lung diseases.

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