Genetically-encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) are essential for studying brain function, while voltage indicators (GEVIs) are slowly permeating neuroscience. Fundamentally, GECI and GEVI measure different things, but both are advertised as reporters of "neuronal activity". We quantified the similarities and differences between calcium and voltage imaging modalities, in the context of population activity (without single-cell resolution) in brain slices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Phys Condens Matter
February 2021
Using relativistic density-functional calculations, we examine the magneto-crystalline anisotropy and exchange properties of transition-metal atoms adsorbed on 2D-GaAs. We show that single Mn and Mo atom (Co and Os) strongly bind on 2D-GaAs, and induce local out-of-plane (in-plane) magnetic anisotropy. When a pair of TM atoms is adsorbed on 2D-GaAs in a close range from each other, magnetisation properties change (become tunable) with respect to concentrations and ordering of the adatoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranscutaneous neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) can be used to activate the quadriceps femoris muscle to produce knee extension torque via seven distinct motor points, defined as the most sensitive locations on the muscle belly to electrical stimuli. However, it remains unclear how much individual motor points of the quadriceps femoris muscle contribute to the knee joint torque. Here we systematically investigated the contribution of each motor point of the quadriceps femoris muscle to the knee joint torque produced by paired electrical stimuli.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Idiopathic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) is increasingly recognised as an important precursor disease state of alpha-synucleinopathies. This parasomnia is characterized by a history of recurrent nocturnal dream enactment behaviour, loss of skeletal muscle atonia, and increased phasic muscle activity during REM sleep. Neuroimaging studies of striatal dopamine transporter uptake tracer signaling suggest increasing dopaminergic deficit across the continuum of the alpha-synucleinopathies, with early sleep dysfunction suggestive of early caudate dysfunction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoronary artery disease (CAD), one of the leading causes of death globally, occurs due to the growth of atherosclerotic plaques in the coronary arteries, causing lesions which restrict the flow of blood to the myocardium. Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), including balloon angioplasty and coronary stent deployment is a standard clinical invasive treatment for CAD. Coronary stents are delivered using a balloon catheter inserted across the lesion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study aimed to determine the role of brain MRI post-processing method MAP07 (Morphometric Analysis Program) in detecting epileptogenic brain lesions in patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy (PE). MAP07 is a sophisticated diagnostic program that offers several morphometric maps and facilitates the detection and localization of hippocampal sclerosis (HS), focal cortical dysplasias (FCD), and other types of cortical malformations, which could be undetected by conventional visual MRI analysis (CVA).
Methods: 120 patients aged > 16 years with PE have been recruited.
Postural instability is one of the major symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Here, we assimilated a model of intermittent delay feedback control during quiet standing into postural sway data from healthy young and elderly individuals as well as patients with Parkinson's disease to elucidate the possible mechanisms of instability. Specifically, we estimated the joint probability distribution of a set of parameters in the model using the Bayesian parameter inference such that the model with the inferred parameters can best-fit sway data for each individual.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrolysates of arabinoxylan extracted from wheat chaff were prepared using different enzymatic treatments with an emphasis on improvements in their anti-diabetic, antioxidant and functional characteristics. The extracted arabinoxylan was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis using individual xylanase, arabinofuranosidase, and feruloyl esterase, and their combinations. In all obtained hydrolysates, peaks corresponding to molecular weight lower than 38 kDa were noticed, while non-hydrolysed arabinoxylan had only peaks corresponding to 580 and 38 kDa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDelivering short trains of electric pulses to the muscles and nerves can elicit action potentials resulting in muscle contractions. When the stimulations are sequenced to generate functional movements, such as grasping or walking, the application is referred to as functional electrical stimulation (FES). Implications of the motor and sensory recruitment of muscles using FES go beyond simple contraction of muscles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince the beginning of 2020, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically influenced almost every aspect of human life. Activities requiring human gatherings have either been postponed, canceled, or held completely virtually. To supplement lack of in-person contact, people have increasingly turned to virtual settings online, advantages of which include increased inclusivity and accessibility and a reduced carbon footprint.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAutomated lying-posture tracking is important in preventing bed-related disorders, such as pressure injuries, sleep apnea, and lower-back pain. Prior research studied in-bed lying posture tracking using sensors of different modalities (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of cisplatin in chemotherapy may provoke a deteriorating impact in many vital organs, suggesting the need for more selective derivatives and effective protective cotreatments. This study assesses the effects of three novel Pt(IV) complexes containing ethyl-, propyl- and butyl-esters of the ethylenediamine-N, N'-di-S, S- (2,2'-dibenzyl) acetic acid on liver injury markers, redox parameters, and cell morphology of female rat liver tissue in comparison to cisplatin. In addition, the study evaluates the possible protective effects of resveratrol as well.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActivities of daily living require simultaneous and coordinated activation of trunk and upper-limb segments, which involves complex interlimb interaction within the central nervous system. Although many studies have reported associations between activity of trunk and limb muscles during functional tasks, evidence on cortical and subcortical contributions to trunk-limb neural interactions is still not fully clear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine interactions between trunk and upper-limb muscles in the: (i) corticospinal circuits by using motor evoked potential (MEP) elicited through transcranial magnetic stimulation; and (ii) subcortical circuits by using cervicomedullary motor evoked potential (CMEP) elicited through cervicomedullary junction magnetic stimulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: The aim was to assess the health utility of lung metastasectomy in the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) using the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire.
Methods: Multidisciplinary CRC teams at 14 sites recruited patients to a two-arm randomized controlled trial-Pulmonary Metastasectomy in Colorectal Cancer (PulMiCC). Remote randomization was used, stratified by site and with minimization for seven known confounders.
The patient was admitted for urgent coronary angiography following an acute anterior ST segment elevation myocardial reinfarction (STEMI) caused by acute stent thrombosis. A stent had been implanted 10 days prior to the reinfarction for an acute anterior STEMI. However, the patient had stopped taking ticagrelor post-discharge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are potent osteoinductive agents for bone tissue engineering. In order to define optimal properties of a novel autologous bone graft substitute (ABGS) containing rhBMP6 within the autologous blood coagulum (ABC) and ceramic particles as a compression resistant matrix (CRM), we explored the influence of their amount, chemical composition and particle size on the quantity and quality of bone formation in the rat subcutaneous assay. Tested ceramic particles included tricalcium phosphate (TCP), hydroxyapatite (HA) and biphasic calcium phosphate ceramic (BCP), containing TCP and HA in 80/20 ratio of different particle sizes (small 74-420 μm, medium 500-1700 μm and large 1000-4000 μm).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Although total knee arthroplasty is a well-practiced surgical procedure, material properties and surface topography can contribute to the wear mechanisms and the implant failure. It has been advised that an increased femoral component's surface roughness of total knee prostheses may be a contributing factor to accelerated wear of the polyethylene menisci and eventually prosthesis failure. The aim of this study is to investigate the wear phenomena occurring on medial and lateral compartments of retrieved total knee arthroplasty in order to correlate the surface roughness vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCalcium, as one of the main extracellular ions, maintains a key role in numerous biologic functions. For forensic purposes, it was analyzed mostly for estimation of postmortem interval (PMI). We have designed our experiment with the concept that the repetitive withdrawal of vitreous humor (VH) might clarify the postmortem metabolism of calcium in greater detail to estimate the PMI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) could potentially be used for mapping neural circuits at the plane of synaptic potentials and plateau potentials-two blind spots of GCaMP-based imaging. In the last year alone, several laboratories reported significant breakthroughs in the quality of GEVIs and the efficacy of the voltage imaging equipment. One major obstacle of using well performing GEVIs in the pursuit of interesting biological data is the process of transferring GEVIs between laboratories, as their reported qualities (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrachytherapy exposure during residency varies between residency training programs. As a result, many graduating radiation oncology residents do not feel competent or confident in performing brachytherapy procedures. A brachytherapy fellowship encompasses hands-on procedural skills in addition to clinical decision-making, radiotherapy treatment planning, as well as post-treatment care.
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