Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation in the Presence of Macromolecular Crowding and State-dependent Kinetics.

Biomolecular condensates formed via liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) are increasingly being shown to play major roles in cellular self-organization dynamics in health and disease. It is well established that macromolecular crowding has a profound impact on protein interactions, particularly those that lead to LLPS. Although synthetic crowding agents are used during in vitro LLPS experiments, they are considerably different from the highly crowded nucleo-/cytoplasm and the effects of in vivo crowding remain poorly understood.

H2O2-Responsive Antioxidant Nanoparticle Attenuates Whole Body Ischemia/Reperfusion-Induced Multi-Organ Damages.

Mortality and morbidity after cardiac arrest remain high due to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury causing multi-organ damages, even after successful return of spontaneous circulation. We previously generated HO-activatable antioxidant nanoparticles formulated with copolyoxalate containing vanillyl alcohol (PVAX) to prevent I/R injury. In this study, we examined whether PVAX could effectively reduce organ damages in a rat model of whole-body ischemia/reperfusion injury (WBIR).

Assessment of Electrocardiogram Rhythms by GoogLeNet Deep Neural Network Architecture.

The aim of this study is to design GoogLeNet deep neural network architecture by expanding the kernel size of the inception layer and combining the convolution layers to classify the electrocardiogram (ECG) beats into a normal sinus rhythm, premature ventricular contraction, atrial premature contraction, and right/left bundle branch block arrhythmia. Based on testing MIT-BIH arrhythmia benchmark databases, the scope of training/test ECG data was configured by covering at least three and seven -peak features, and the proposed extended-GoogLeNet architecture can classify five distinct heartbeats; normal sinus rhythm (NSR), premature ventricular contraction (PVC), atrial premature contraction (APC), right bundle branch block (RBBB), and left bundle brunch block(LBBB), with an accuracy of 95.94%, an error rate of 4.

Targeting Oxidative Stress Using Nanoparticles as a Theranostic Strategy for Cardiovascular Diseases.

Significance: Nanomedicine is an application of nanotechnology that provides solutions to unmet medical challenges. The unique features of nanoparticles, such as their small size, modifiable components, and diverse functionality, make them attractive and suitable materials for novel diagnostic, therapeutic, or theranostic applications. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the major cause of noncommunicable illness in both developing and developed countries.

Fibrin-Targeted and HO-Responsive Nanoparticles as a Theranostics for Thrombosed Vessels.

A thrombus (blood clot) is formed in injured vessels to maintain the integrity of vasculature. However, obstruction of blood vessels by thrombosis slows blood flow, leading to death of tissues fed by the artery and is the main culprit of various life-threatening cardiovascular diseases. Herein, we report a rationally designed nanomedicine that could specifically image obstructed vessels and inhibit thrombus formation.

Real-time photoacoustic tomograpghy using linear array probe and detection of line structure using Hough transform.

A real-time photoacoustic tomography (PAT) system is developed using a linear array probe and phantom images are acquired with a pattern of line structure. Moreover, it is attempted to detect line structures from the acquired images by Hough transform. This effort leads to the measurement of a process of magenta passing through a tube and acquisition of images at a speed of about 2 frame/sec.

Enhancement of objects in photoacoustic tomography using selective filtering.

Here we developed a real-time photoacoustic tomography (PAT) imaging acquisition device based on the linear array transducer utilized on ultrasonic devices. Also, we produced a phantom including diverse contrast media and acquired PAT imaging as the light source wavelength was changing to see if the contrast media reacted. Indocyanine green showed the highest reaction around the 800-nm band, methylene blue demonstrated the same in the 750-nm band, and gold nanoparticle showed the same in the 700-nm band.

Removal of baseline wandering in ECG signal by improved detrending method.

The very first step to process electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is to eliminate baseline wandering interference that is usually caused by electrode-skin impedance mismatch, motion artifacts due to a patient's body moment or respiratory breathing. A new method is thus suggested to remove baseline wandering in ECG by improving the detrending method that was originally proposed for eliminating slow non-stationary trends from heart rate variability (HRV). In our proposed method, a global trend is estimated in terms of baseline wandering by merging the local trend based on an ECG segment that represents a part of the ECG signal.

Reactive oxygen species-activated nanomaterials as theranostic agents.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated from the endogenous oxidative metabolism or from exogenous pro-oxidant exposure. Oxidative stress occurs when there is excessive production of ROS, outweighing the antioxidant defense mechanisms which may lead to disease states. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is one of the most abundant and stable forms of ROS, implicated in inflammation, cellular dysfunction and apoptosis, which ultimately lead to tissue and organ damage.

Patterned thin metal film for the lateral resolution measurement of photoacoustic tomography.

Background: Image quality assessment method of photoacoustic tomography has not been completely standardized yet. Due to the combined nature of photonic signal generation and ultrasonic signal transmission in biological tissue, neither optical nor ultrasonic traditional methods can be used without modification. An optical resolution measurement technique was investigated for its feasibility for resolution measurement of photoacoustic tomography.

Evaluation of Elbow Stretch Reflex Using a Portable Hand-driven Isokinetic System in Normal Adults.

Objective: To evaluate normal healthy persons without spasticity to observe normal findings of the elbow stretch reflex using a newly developed, portable, hand-driven spasticity-measuring system.

Method: Thirty normal persons without any disease involving the central or peripheral nervous system were enrolled in this study. The portable hand-driven isokinetic system is able to measure the joint angle, angular velocity, electromyographic (EMG) signals, and torque during elbow passive extension-flexion.

Non-invasive algorithm for bowel motility estimation using a back-propagation neural network model of bowel sounds.

Background: Radiological scoring methods such as colon transit time (CTT) have been widely used for the assessment of bowel motility. However, these radiograph-based methods need cumbersome radiological instruments and their frequent exposure to radiation. Therefore, a non-invasive estimation algorithm of bowel motility, based on a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) model of bowel sounds (BS) obtained by an auscultation, was devised.

Estimation algorithm of the bowel motility based on regression analysis of the jitter and shimmer of bowel sounds.

Bowel sound (BS) signals can be used clinically as useful indicators of bowel motility. In this study, we devised a modified iterative kurtosis-based detector algorithm, in order to enhance the de-noising performance of BS signals, and an estimation algorithm of bowel motility based on the regression modeling of the jitter and shimmer of BS signals obtained by auscultation. The correlation coefficient, coefficient of determination and errors between the colon transit times measured by a conventional radiograph and the corresponding values estimated by our method were 0.

Axial-scanning low-coherence interferometer method for noncontact thickness measurement of biological samples.

We investigated a high-precision optical method for measuring the thickness of biological samples regardless of their transparency. The method is based on the precise measurement of optical path length difference of the end surfaces of objects, using a dual-arm axial-scanning low-coherence interferometer. This removes any consideration of the shape, thickness, or transparency of testing objects when performing the measurement.

Availability of a newly devised ambulatory urodynamics monitoring system based on personal device assistance in patients with spinal cord injury.

Conventional urodynamics systems have been widely used for the assessment of bladder functions. However, they have some drawbacks due to the unfamiliar circumstances for the patient, restrictive position during the test, expense and immovability of the instrument as well as the unphysiological filling of the bladder. To mitigate these problems, we developed a fully ambulatory urodynamics monitoring system, which enables the abdominal pressure to be measured in a non-invasive manner, as well as the manual recording of various events such as the bladder sensations or leakage of urine.

Portable measurement system for the objective evaluation of the spasticity of hemiplegic patients based on the tonic stretch reflex threshold.

The clinical scales used for the evaluation of the spasticity have some drawbacks, in spite of their simplicity and ease of assessment, and their inter- and intra-rater reliability remains controversial. The aim of this study is to develop a portable system for the objective and reliable evaluation of the spasticity based on the K-means clustering of the tonic stretch reflex threshold (TSRT) and to compare the discrimination performance of the level of spasticity determined by our method with that by the conventional modified Ashworth scale (MAS). Fifteen hemiplegic patients (7 males and 8 females, age: 63.

An acoustical evaluation of knee sound for non-invasive screening and early detection of articular pathology.

Knee sound signals generated by knee movement are sometimes associated with degeneration of the knee joint surface and such sounds may be a useful index for early disease. In this study, we detected the acoustical parameters, such as the fundamental frequency (F0), mean amplitude of the pitches, and jitter and shimmer of knee sounds, and compared them according to the pathological conditions. Six normal subjects (4 males and 2 females, age: 28.

Design of the computerized 3D endoscopic imaging system for delicate endoscopic surgery.

This paper describes a 3D endoscopic video system designed to improve visualization and enhance the ability of the surgeon to perform delicate endoscopic surgery. In a comparison of the polarized and conventional electric shutter-type stereo imaging systems, the former was found to be superior in terms of both accuracy and speed for suturing and for the loop pass test. Among the groups performing loop passing and suturing, there was no significant difference in the task performance between the 2D and 3D modes, however, suturing was performed 15% (p < 0.

Polarization sensitive subcutaneous and muscular imaging based on common path optical coherence tomography using near infrared source.

In this paper, we describe a polarization sensitive (PS) subcutaneous and muscular imaging system based on common path optical coherence tomography (CP-OCT) using a near infrared source. The axial and lateral resolutions of the PS-OCT system are 9 and 6 μm, respectively. The main goal of this work is to build a high-resolution and minimally invasive optical imager for examining various kinds of cutaneous substructures with intrinsic or form birefringence.

Endoscopic Functional Fourier Domain Common Path Optical Coherence Tomography for Microsurgery.

A single-arm interferometer based optical coherence tomography (OCT) system known as common-path OCT (CPOCT) is rapidly progressing towards practical application. Due in part to the simplicity and robustness of its design, Fourier Domain CPOCT (FD-CP-OCT) offers advantages in many endoscopic sensing and imaging applications. FD-CP-OCT uses simple, interchangeable fiber optic probes that are easily integrated into small and delicate surgical tools.

Implementation of a multi-functional ambulatory urodynamics monitoring system based on newly devised abdominal pressure measurement.

The measurement of the rectal pressure is considered to be the 'gold standard' for the assessment of the abdominal pressure. However, conventional rectal catheters can cause erroneous results and are not comfortable for the patients. To reduce these problems, we devised a non-invasive technique for the measurement of the abdominal pressure using the parametric curve fitting method, based on linear, polynomial, exponential or sine equation modeling, between the rectal pressure and electromyographic (sEMG) signals recorded simultaneously from the abdomen.

An enhanced algorithm for knee joint sound classification using feature extraction based on time-frequency analysis.

Vibroarthrographic (VAG) signals, generated by human knee movement, are non-stationary and multi-component in nature and their time-frequency distribution (TFD) provides a powerful means to analyze such signals. The objective of this paper is to improve the classification accuracy of the features, obtained from the TFD of normal and abnormal VAG signals, using segmentation by the dynamic time warping (DTW) and denoising algorithm by the singular value decomposition (SVD). VAG and knee angle signals, recorded simultaneously during one flexion and one extension of the knee, were segmented and normalized at 0.

Image segmentation of human forearms in infrared image.

Due to the possibility of detecting certain physiological conditions from thermal features of the skin surface acquired from infrared thermal imaging, the health conditions of a person can be revealed by analyzing the thermal signatures of his or her forearms regions in an infrared image. The assessment of hand's or arm's temperature distribution for clinical diagnosis or monitoring requires the confinement of region of interest (ROI) on the forearms regions. Hence, the purpose of this study is automatically to segment forearms regions in an infrared thermal image so that the clinicians can able to locate the interested regions and extract the skin temperature distributions with a high degree of reproducibility.

Optimum electrode configuration for detection of leg movement using bio-impedance.

Impedances and joint angles were simultaneously measured during ankle and knee movements. The correlation coefficients of the joint angle and the impedance change from human leg movement were obtained using an electro-goniometer and a four-channel impedance measurement system. Because the impedance changes resulting from ankle and knee movements depended heavily on the electrode placement, we determined the optimum electrode configurations for those movements by searching for high correlation coefficients, large impedance changes and minimum interferences in ten subjects (age: 20+/-4).