Empirical mode decomposition and neural network for the classification of electroretinographic data.

The processing of biosignals is increasingly being utilized in ambulatory situations in order to extract significant signals' features that can help in clinical diagnosis. However, this task is hampered by the fact that biomedical signals exhibit a complex behavior characterized by strong nonlinear and non-stationary properties that cannot always be perceived by simple visual examination. New processing methods need be considered.

Analysis of the human a-wave ERG component.

The a-wave is one of the main issues of research in the field of ocular electrophysiology, since it is strictly connected with early photoreceptoral activities. The present study proposes mathematical methods that analyse this component in human subjects, and supports experimental evidence relating to possible correlations among the responses of photoreceptoral units under a light stimulus. The investigation is organized in two parts: the first part concerns the onset and the initial slope, up to the first minimum (about 10-15 ms), the second part deals with the main portion of the wave, up to about 30 ms.

[Effects of betamethasone on neuromuscular blockade induced by vecuronium in continuous infusion].

The aim of the study was to determine a possible interaction between a corticosteroid (betamethasone) and vecuronium, a nondepolarizing muscle relaxant. The authors studied 20 patients, ASA I-II, aged 20-54, both sexes, scheduled for abdominal surgery. Mechanomyographic and clinical evaluation by single twitch and TOF stimulation of the ulnar nerve at the wrist and measurement of the concomitant abductor pollicis muscle was applied.

[Psycho-functional changes in attention and learning under the action of L-acetylcarnitine in 17 young subjects. A pilot study of its use in mental deterioration].

The aim of the study was the investigation of the ability of L-acetylcarnitine (Acn; 1.5 g daily oral route for 1 month) to enhance some performances requiring a high level of attention and reflex velocity. The sample includes 17 healthy subjects, 8 males and 9 females, 22 to 27 years old; 10 of the subjects practice sports at agonistic level, while 7 have a sedentary life style.

[The effects of succinylcholine on heart rate and rhythm in infants].

The authors examined the possible variations of cardiac activity in 91 infants aged between a few days and six months in order to study the changes following administration of succinylcholine during general anaesthesia. No variations in rhythm and/or heart rate occurred, not even in those children to whom atropine had not been injected intravenously before succinylcholine.