Foreground Detection Analysis of Ultrasound Image Sequences Identifies Markers of Motor Neurone Disease across Diagnostically Relevant Skeletal Muscles.

Diagnosis of motor neurone disease (MND) includes detection of small, involuntary muscle excitations, termed fasciculations. There is need to improve diagnosis and monitoring of MND through provision of objective markers of change. Fasciculations are visible in ultrasound image sequences.

Real-Time Ultrasound Segmentation, Analysis and Visualisation of Deep Cervical Muscle Structure.

Despite widespread availability of ultrasound and a need for personalised muscle diagnosis (neck/back pain-injury, work related disorder, myopathies, neuropathies), robust, online segmentation of muscles within complex groups remains unsolved by existing methods. For example, Cervical Dystonia (CD) is a prevalent neurological condition causing painful spasticity in one or multiple muscles in the cervical muscle system. Clinicians currently have no method for targeting/monitoring treatment of deep muscles.

Blunted angiogenesis and hypertrophy are associated with increased fatigue resistance and unchanged aerobic capacity in old overloaded mouse muscle.

We hypothesize that the attenuated hypertrophic response in old mouse muscle is (1) partly due to a reduced capillarization and angiogenesis, which is (2) accompanied by a reduced oxidative capacity and fatigue resistance in old control and overloaded muscles, that (3) can be rescued by the antioxidant resveratrol. To investigate this, the hypertrophic response, capillarization, oxidative capacity, and fatigue resistance of m. plantaris were compared in 9- and 25-month-old non-treated and 25-month-old resveratrol-treated mice.

Validation of a New Semi-Automated Technique to Evaluate Muscle Capillarization.

The method of capillary domains has often been used to study capillarization of skeletal and heart muscle. However, the conventional data processing method using a digitizing tablet is an arduous and time-consuming task. Here we compare a new semi-automated capillary domain data collection and analysis in muscle tissue with the standard capillary domain method.

Ultrasound-Based Detection of Fasciculations in Healthy and Diseased Muscles.

Involuntary muscle activations are diagnostic indicators of neurodegenerative pathologies. Currently detected by invasive intramuscular electromyography, these muscle twitches are found to be visible in ultrasound images. We present an automated computational approach for the detection of muscle twitches, and apply this to two muscles in healthy and motor neuron disease-affected populations.

The role of cholesterol on the activity and stability of neurotensin receptor 1.

Understanding the role of specific bilayer components in controlling the function of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) will be a key factor in the development of novel pharmaceuticals. Cholesterol-dependence in particular has become an area of keen interest with respect to GPCR function; not least since the 2.6Å crystal structure of the β2 adrenergic receptor revealed a putative cholesterol binding motif conserved throughout class-A GPCRs.

Mutual information for the detection of crush.

Fatal crush conditions occur in crowds with tragic frequency. Event organizers and architects are often criticised for failing to consider the causes and implications of crush, but the reality is that both the prediction and prevention of such conditions offer a significant technical challenge. Full treatment of physical force within crowd simulations is precise but often computationally expensive; the more common method of human interpretation of results is computationally "cheap" but subjective and time-consuming.

Constitutive dimerization of the G-protein coupled receptor, neurotensin receptor 1, reconstituted into phospholipid bilayers.

Neurotensin receptor 1 (NTS1), a Family A G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR), was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion with the fluorescent proteins eCFP or eYFP. A fluorophore-tagged receptor was used to study the multimerization of NTS1 in detergent solution and in brain polar lipid bilayers, using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). A detergent-solubilized receptor was unable to form FRET-competent complexes at concentrations of up to 200 nM, suggesting that the receptor is monomeric in this environment.

Improved yield of a ligand-binding GPCR expressed in E. coli for structural studies.

The G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR), rat brain neurotensin receptor type I (NTS1) is one of a small number of GPCRs that have been successfully expressed in Escherichia coli as a functional, ligand-binding receptor, but yields of purified receptor are still low for comprehensive structural studies. Here, several approaches have been examined to optimize the yields of active, ligand-binding receptor. Optimisation of E.

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) of the upper limb alleviates unilateral neglect: a case series analysis.

We report the results of a new form of therapy for unilateral spatial neglect. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) applied to the left forearm extensor muscles reduced the symptoms of severe left unilateral visual neglect in three patients, with the benefits being measurable at 6 months post-treatment. We suggest that FES activates a proprioceptive map within the right parietal lobe whose level of activation is otherwise diminished by the lesion.

Multiple oxidative phosphorylation deficiencies in severe childhood multi-system disorders due to polymerase gamma (POLG1) mutations.

Failure to thrive, feeding difficulties, variable forms of infantile epilepsy or psychomotor developmental delay and hypotonia were the most frequent clinical disease presentations in eight children with combined oxidative phosphorylation enzyme complex deficiencies carrying mutations in the polymerase gamma (POLG1) gene. Five out of eight patients developed severe liver dysfunction during the course of the disease. Three of these patients fulfilled the disease criteria for Alpers syndrome.

Direct analysis of a GPCR-agonist interaction by surface plasmon resonance.

Despite their clinical importance, detailed analysis of ligand binding at G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) has proved difficult. Here we successfully measure the binding of a GPCR, neurotensin receptor-1 (NTS-1), to its ligand, neurotensin (NT), using surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Specific responses were observed between NT and purified, detergent-solublised, recombinant NTS-1, using a novel configuration where the biotinylated NT ligand was immobilised on the biosensor surface.

Is heart rate variability an objective parameter with which to manage treatment of infants with heart failure due to left-to-right shunting?

Treatment in heart failure could be guided by additional non-clinical measures, such as neurohumoral levels. Variability in heart rate is known to reflect neurohumoral stimulation. With this in mind, we sought to assess retrospectively the variability in heart rate to guide the treatment of infants in heart failure.

Diastolic left ventricular function Experimental study of the early filling period using the Voigt model.

Background: The left ventricular (LV) diastolic function is usually described by the diastolic part of the LV pressure-volume relationship (PVR). The mathematical analysis of the PVR provides parameters of diastolic LV as well as myocardial function. Up to now, all approaches assume the myocardium as a passive elastic medium.

Long term follow-up of left ventricular performance and size of the great arteries before and after one- and two-stage arterial switch operation of simple transposition.

Objective: Long-term angiographic evaluation of left ventricular performance and size of the great arteries after one-stage neonatal versus two-stage arterial switch operation (ASO) of simple transposition.

Methods: Analysis of cineangiographic studies obtained during the process of two-stage ASO for 34 patients and after neonatal repair for 52 patients.

Results: At early follow-up after two-stage ASO the left ventricular enddiastolic volume (LVEDV) was +1.