The consumption of probiotics and fermented foods has been very popular in recent decades. The primary aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of probiotics on the gut microbiota and the changes in inflammatory cytokines after an average of 6.7 weeks of probiotic administration among normal pregnant women. Thirty-two healthy pregnant women at 32 weeks of gestation were recruited and divided into two groups. The probiotic group ingested combined probiotics until after birth. The base characteristics of the probiotics and control groups showed no significant differences. The structure of the fecal microbiota at the genus level varied during the third trimester, and administration of probiotics had no influence on the composition of the fecal microbiota however, many highly abundant taxa and core microbiota at the genus level changed in the probiotic group when compared to the control group. The analysis of cytokines showed that IL-5, IL-6, TNF-α, and GM-CSF had equal levels between the baseline and control groups but were significantly increased after probiotic administration (baseline = control < probiotics). Additionally, levels of IL-1β, IL-2, IL-12, and IFN-γ significantly increased among the three groups (baseline < control < probiotics). This result demonstrated that probiotics helped to shift the anti-inflammatory state to a pro-inflammatory state. The correlation analysis outcome suggested that the relationship between the microbiota and the cytokines was not strain-dependent. The gut microbiota varied during the third trimester. The probiotics demonstrated immunomodulation effects that helped to switch over to a pro-inflammatory immune state in the third trimester, which was important for labor.
The bionic design of muscles is a research hotspot at present. Many researchers have designed bionic elastic actuators based on the Hill muscle model, and most of them include an active contraction element, passive contraction element and series elastic element, but they need more parametric design of mechanical structure and control under the guidance of Hill muscle model. In this research, a nonlinear series elastic cable actuating mechanism is designed in which the parameters of the elastic mechanism are optimized based on the Hill muscle model to fit the nonlinear passive elasticity of a muscle. Through the force–position relationship determined by the Hill muscle model, the output force and position of a nonlinear series elastic cable actuator are controlled to simulate the active contraction performance of a muscle. The experiments show that the proposed design and control method can make the nonlinear cable actuator have good muscle-like output force–displacement characteristics.
(1) Background: The nursing of the elderly has received more and more attention, especially the nursing of urination and defecation for the elderly. (2) Purpose: Design an excretion nursing equipment that can accurately identify and deal with urine and stool. (3) Methods: In this paper, based on the analysis of the requirements of excretion nursing equipment, a split mechanical design method and a modular control method are used to design the equipment. The Dempster–Shafer (D-S) evidence theory is used in the identification of urine and stool. (4) Results: The excretion nursing equipment designed in this paper works well according to functional test, and the success rate of stool and urine identification method using D-S evidence theory is 20% higher than that of traditional methods, reaching 90%. (5) Conclusions: The urine and stool recognition and detection algorithm based on the D-S evidence theory used in this paper can improve the recognition accuracy of traditional detection methods, and the designed excretion nursing equipment can realize the function of excretion care for patients.
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