Detection of gait characteristics has found considerable interest in field of biomechanics and rehabilitation sciences. In this paper an approach for abnormal gait detection employing Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) analysis has been presented. The joint angle characteristics in frequency domain have been analyzed and using the harmonic coefficient recognition for abnormal gait has been performed. The experimental results and analysis represent that the proposed algorithm based on DFT can not only reduce the gait data dimensionality effectively, but also lighten the computation cost, with a satisfactory distinction. In order to make the algorithm more generic, a Mean Square Error (MSE) analysis is also presented. Future work will be the expansion of the detection introduced in this system to include abnormality detection instead of just an abnormal or normal detection that would prove to be a valuable addition for use in a variety of applications, including unobtrusive clinical gait analysis, automated surveillance in addition to a variety of others.
As a posterior ocular disease, wet age-related macular degeneration (WAMD) has been known to be related to vision loss, accompanying ocular complications. The intravitreous injection of VEGF antibodies has been reported to be an effective treatment to relieve symptoms of WAMD. However, the limitations of this treatment are high costs and invasiveness. For this reason, oral delivery route can be considered as a cost-effective way and the safest method to deliver drug molecules to the eyes. Accordingly, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) was included in the oral formulation as the potential substance for the cure of WAMD in the animal model. Various pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant or anti-inflammatory effects, have been reported for UDCA and recent reports support the effects of UDCA in ocular treatment. However, due to poor water solubility and low pKa (around 5.0), it has been challenging to formulate aqueous solution of UDCA in the neutral pH range. In the present study, we confirmed the aqueous solubility of the oral UDCA formulation and performed a preclinical study, including pharmacokinetic profiling and WAMD model efficacy study in mice after oral administration of the drug solution. The results demonstrated that the formulation improved bioavailability of UDCA and efficiently delivered UDCA to the eye tissues after oral absorption. UDCA formulation was found to have inhibitory effects of choroidal neovascularization with a functional recovery in mice retinas. Taken together, our results suggest that the oral UDCA formulation could be used as a potent supplement for the cure of WAMD and related retinal diseases.
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