BigO: A public health decision support system for measuring obesogenic behaviors of children in relation to their local environment.

Obesity is a complex disease and its prevalence depends on multiple factors related to the local socioeconomic, cultural and urban context of individuals. Many obesity prevention strategies and policies, however, are horizontal measures that do not depend on context-specific evidence. In this paper we present an overview of BigO (http://bigoprogram.

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia with Mutated IGHV4-34 Receptors: Shared and Distinct Immunogenetic Features and Clinical Outcomes.

We sought to investigate whether B cell receptor immunoglobulin (BcR IG) stereotypy is associated with particular clinicobiological features among chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients expressing mutated BcR IG (M-CLL) encoded by the IGHV4-34 gene, and also ascertain whether these associations could refine prognostication. In a series of 19,907 CLL cases with available immunogenetic information, we identified 339 IGHV4-34-expressing cases assigned to one of the four largest stereotyped M-CLL subsets, namely subsets #4, #16, #29 and #201, and investigated in detail their clinicobiological characteristics and disease outcomes. We identified shared and subset-specific patterns of somatic hypermutation (SHM) among patients assigned to these subsets.

Immunoglobulin heavy variable (IGHV) genes and alleles: new entities, new names and implications for research and prognostication in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Νext generation sequencing studies in Homo sapiens have identified novel immunoglobulin heavy variable (IGHV) genes and alleles necessitating changes in the international ImMunoGeneTics information system (IMGT) GENE-DB and reference directories of IMGT/V-QUEST. In chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), the somatic hypermutation (SHM) status of the clonotypic rearranged IGHV gene is strongly associated with patient outcome. Correct determination of this parameter strictly depends on the comparison of the nucleotide sequence of the clonotypic rearranged IGHV gene with that of the closest germline counterpart.

Association of heart rate variability and inflammatory response in patients with cardiovascular diseases: current strengths and limitations.

Many experimental and clinical studies have confirmed a continuous cross-talk between both sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of autonomic nervous system and inflammatory response, in different clinical scenarios. In cardiovascular diseases, inflammation has been proven to play a pivotal role in disease progression, pathogenesis and resolution. A few clinical studies have assessed the possible inter-relation between neuro-autonomic output, estimated with heart rate variability analysis, which is the variability of R-R in the electrocardiogram, and different inflammatory biomarkers, in patients suffering from stable or unstable coronary artery disease (CAD) and heart failure.

Temperature variability analysis using wavelets and multiscale entropy in patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis, and septic shock.

Background: Even though temperature is a continuous quantitative variable, its measurement has been considered a snapshot of a process, indicating whether a patient is febrile or afebrile. Recently, other diagnostic techniques have been proposed for the association between different properties of the temperature curve with severity of illness in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), based on complexity analysis of continuously monitored body temperature. In this study, we tried to assess temperature complexity in patients with systemic inflammation during a suspected ICU-acquired infection, by using wavelets transformation and multiscale entropy of temperature signals, in a cohort of mixed critically ill patients.

Study of multiparameter respiratory pattern complexity in surgical critically ill patients during weaning trials.

Background: Separation from mechanical ventilation is a difficult task, whereas conventional predictive indices have not been proven accurate enough, so far. A few studies have explored changes of breathing pattern variability for weaning outcome prediction, with conflicting results. In this study, we tried to assess respiratory complexity during weaning trials, using different non-linear methods derived from theory of complex systems, in a cohort of surgical critically ill patients.

Changes of heart and respiratory rate dynamics during weaning from mechanical ventilation: a study of physiologic complexity in surgical critically ill patients.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) complexity in patients with weaning failure or success, using both linear and nonlinear techniques.

Materials And Methods: Forty-two surgical patients were enrolled in the study. There were 24 who passed and 18 who failed a weaning trial.

Investigation of heart rate and blood pressure variability, baroreflex sensitivity, and approximate entropy in acute brain injury patients.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate longitudinally over time heart rate (HR) and blood pressure variability and baroreflex sensitivity in acute brain injury patients and relate them with the severity of neurologic dysfunction and outcome.

Methods: Data from 20 brain injured patients due to multiple causes and treated in the intensive care unit were used, with HR and blood pressure recorded from monitors and analyzed on a daily basis. We performed power spectral analysis estimating low frequencies (LF: 0.

Indicators of sleepiness in an ambulatory EEG study of night driving.

Driver sleepiness due to sleep deprivation is a causative factor in 1% to 3% of all motor vehicle crashes. In recent studies, the importance of developing driver fatigue countermeasure devices has been stressed, in order to help prevent driving accidents and errors. Although numerous physiological indicators are available to describe an individual's level of alertness, the EEG signal has been shown to be one of the most predictive and reliable, since it is a direct measure of brain activity.

Non-linear analysis for the sleepy drivers problem.

The problem addressed in this work is sleepiness during driving, which often leads to accidents in the streets. Experiments with sleepy drivers took place and the EEG data were analysed in terms of non-linear methods. Sample entropy and phase synchronization variations were investigated within the signal sections corresponding to "driving events", i.

Monitoring sleepiness with on-board electrophysiological recordings for preventing sleep-deprived traffic accidents.

Objective: The objective of this study is the development and evaluation of efficient neurophysiological signal statistics, which may assess the driver's alertness level and serve as potential indicators of sleepiness in the design of an on-board countermeasure system.

Methods: Multichannel EEG, EOG, EMG, and ECG were recorded from sleep-deprived subjects exposed to real field driving conditions. A number of severe driving errors occurred during the experiments.

The effect of hypobaric hypoxia on multichannel EEG signal complexity.

Objective: The objective of this study was the development and evaluation of nonlinear electroencephalography parameters which assess hypoxia-induced EEG alterations, and describe the temporal characteristics of different hypoxic levels' residual effect upon the brain electrical activity.

Methods: Multichannel EEG, pO2, pCO2, ECG, and respiration measurements were recorded from 10 subjects exposed to three experimental conditions (100% oxygen, hypoxia, recovery) at three-levels of reduced barometric pressure. The mean spectral power of EEG under each session and altitude were estimated for the standard bands.

Investigation of altered heart rate variability, nonlinear properties of heart rate signals, and organ dysfunction longitudinally over time in intensive care unit patients.

Purpose: To investigate longitudinally over time heart rate dynamics and relation with mortality and organ dysfunction alterations in patients admitted to a multidisciplinary intensive care unit.

Methods: Data from 53 patients were used, with heart rate recorded from monitors and analyzed on a daily basis (every morning) for 600 seconds and sampling rate at 250 Hz, from admission to the intensive care unit until final discharge from the unit. Variance, which is a measure of heart rate variability; exponent alpha2; and approximate entropy (ApEn), which assess long-range correlations and periodicity within a signal, respectively; were measured and compared with every day Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score (SOFA) and mortality.

Quantitative multichannel EEG measure predicting the optimal weaning from ventilator in ICU patients with acute respiratory failure.

Objective: The objective of this study was to develop a novel quantitative multichannel EEG (qEEG) based analysis method, called Global Field Damping Time (GFDT), in order to detect potential EEG changes of patients admitted to the ICU with acute respiratory failure, and correlate them to the patients' recovery outcome predicting the optimal time-point to disconnect the patient from mechanical ventilation.

Methods: Twenty-nine adult patients with acute respiratory failure out of 98 admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Saint Paul General Hospital were enrolled, and among them only 15 completed the study. The patients were classified in 3 groups according to their outcome after 3 months follow-up.

Effects of mental workload and caffeine on catecholamines and blood pressure compared to performance variations.

Caffeine is characterised as a central nervous system stimulant, also affecting metabolic and cardiovascular functions. A number of studies have demonstrated an effect of caffeine on the excretion of catecholamines and their metabolites. Urinary epinephrine and norepinephrine have been shown to increase after caffeine administration.