High-Dose Pulse Steroids for the Treatment of Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure in COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Simple Case Series.

Pulse steroids therapy is widely used to treat flare-ups of autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus. The main assumption is that severe inflammation caused by an autoimmune disease must be aggressively quelled before it causes further damage. We present a series of 9 cases that explore the use of high-dose pulse steroids in hypoxemic respiratory failure.

Modeling the nonlinear properties of the in vitro hippocampal perforant path-dentate system using multielectrode array technology.

A modeling approach to characterize the nonlinear dynamic transformations of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus is presented and experimentally validated. The dentate gyrus is the first region of the hippocampus which receives and integrates sensory information via the perforant path. The perforant path is composed of two distinct pathways: 1) the lateral path and 2) the medial perforant path.

Spontaneous stellate ganglion nerve activity and ventricular arrhythmia in a canine model of sudden death.

Background: Little information is available on the temporal relationship between instantaneous sympathetic nerve activity and ventricular arrhythmia in ambulatory animals.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if increased sympathetic nerve activity precedes the onset of ventricular arrhythmia.

Methods: Simultaneous continuous long-term recording of left stellate ganglion (LSG) nerve activity and electrocardiography was performed in eight dogs with nerve growth factor infusion to the LSG, atrioventricular block, and myocardial infarction (experimental group) and in six normal dogs (control group).

Improving bioassay sensitivity for neurotoxins detection using volterra based third order nonlinear analysis.

Based on a novel analytical method for analyzing short-term plasticity (STP) of the CA1 hippocampal region in vitro, a screening tool for the detection and classification of unknown chemical compounds affecting the nervous system was recently introduced [1], [2]. The recorded signal consisted of evoked population spike in response to Poisson distributed random train impulse stimuli. The developed analytical approach used the first order Volterra kernel and the Laguerre coefficients of the second order Volterra model as classification features [3].

VLSI implementation of a nonlinear neuronal model: a "neural prosthesis" to restore hippocampal trisynaptic dynamics.

We are developing a biomimetic electronic neural prosthesis to replace regions of the hippocampal brain area that have been damaged by disease or insult. We have used the hippocampal slice preparation as the first step in developing such a prosthesis. The major intrinsic circuitry of the hippocampus consists of an excitatory cascade involving the dentate gyrus (DG), CA3, and CA1 subregions; this trisynaptic circuit can be maintained in a transverse slice preparation.

Left stellate ganglion and vagal nerve activity and cardiac arrhythmias in ambulatory dogs with pacing-induced congestive heart failure.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the patterns of autonomic nerve activity in congestive heart failure (CHF).

Background: The relationship between autonomic nerve activity and cardiac arrhythmias in CHF is unclear.

Methods: We implanted radiotransmitters in 6 dogs for continuous (24/7) simultaneous monitoring of left stellate ganglion nerve activity (SGNA), vagal nerve activity (VNA), and electrocardiography before and after pacing-induced CHF.

Nonlinear dynamic model of CA1 short-term plasticity using random impulse train stimulation.

A comprehensive, quantitative description of the nonlinear dynamic characteristics of the short-term plasticity (STP) in the CA1 hippocampal region is presented. It is based on the Volterra-Poisson modeling approach using random impulse train (RIT) stimuli. In vitro hippocampal slice preparations were used from adult rats.

Circadian variations of stellate ganglion nerve activity in ambulatory dogs.

Background: The presence of circadian variations in sympathetic outflow from the stellate ganglia is unclear.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to continuously record stellate ganglion nerve activity (SGNA) in ambulatory dogs.

Methods: We performed continuous 24-hour left (N = 3) or bilateral (N = 3) SGNA recordings in normal ambulatory dogs using implanted Data Sciences International transmitters.

Custom-designed high-density conformal planar multielectrode arrays for brain slice electrophysiology.

Multielectrode arrays have enabled electrophysiological experiments exploring spatio-temporal dynamics previously unattainable with single electrode recordings. The finite number of electrodes in planar MEAs (pMEAs), however, imposes a trade-off between the spatial resolution and the recording area. This limitation was circumvented in this paper through the custom design of experiment-specific tissue-conformal high-density pMEAs (cMEAs).

An algorithm for real-time extraction of population EPSP and population spike amplitudes from hippocampal field potential recordings.

A new method is presented for extracting the amplitude of excitatory post synaptic potentials (EPSPs) and spikes in real time. It includes a low pass filter (LPF), a differentiator, a threshold function, and an intelligent integrator. It was applied to EPSP and population spike data recorded in the Dentate Gyrus and the CA1 hippocampus in vitro.

Detection and classification of neurotoxins using a novel short-term plasticity quantification method.

A tissue-based biosensor is described for screening chemical compounds that rapidly affect the nervous system. The proposed sensor is an extension of a previous work on cultured hippocampal slices [Biosens. Bioelectron.

An efficient method for studying short-term plasticity with random impulse train stimuli.

In this article, we introduce an efficient method that models quantitatively nonlinear dynamics associated with short-term plasticity (STP) in biological neural systems. It is based on the Voterra-Wiener modeling approach adapted for special stimulus/response datasets. The stimuli are random impulse trains (RITs) of fixed amplitude and Poisson distributed, variable interimpulse intervals.