Feasibility of a novel neurofeedback system: a parallel randomized single-blinded pilot study.

Neurocognitive assessment tools have been proposed to optimize, maintain, and improve perceptual-cognitive performance. Here, we investigated the feasibility and efficacy of a novel neurofeedback system, neuroMoon (nM), on cognitive abilities compared with one of the most popular perceptual-cognitive training (PCT) tools both in sports and rehabilitation called NeuroTracker (NT). Thirty-one young athletes performed a comprehensive battery of cognitive tests from the Vienna Test System before and after a 12-session computer-based cognitive training program using nM (n = 11, age 22.

The effect of Omicron breakthrough infection and extended BNT162b2 booster dosing on neutralization breadth against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

COVID-19 vaccines are playing a vital role in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. As SARS-CoV-2 variants encoding mutations in the surface glycoprotein, Spike, continue to emerge, there is increased need to identify immunogens and vaccination regimens that provide the broadest and most durable immune responses. We compared the magnitude and breadth of the neutralizing antibody response, as well as levels of Spike-reactive memory B cells, in individuals receiving a second dose of BNT162b2 at a short (3-4 week) or extended interval (8-12 weeks) and following a third vaccination approximately 6-8 months later.

PlatypOUs-A Mobile Robot Platform and Demonstration Tool Supporting STEM Education.

Given the rising popularity of robotics, student-driven robot development projects are playing a key role in attracting more people towards engineering and science studies. This article presents the early development process of an open-source mobile robot platform-named PlatypOUs-which can be remotely controlled via an electromyography (EMG) appliance using the MindRove brain-computer interface (BCI) headset as a sensor for the purpose of signal acquisition. The gathered bio-signals are classified by a Support Vector Machine (SVM) whose results are translated into motion commands for the mobile platform.

ELVISort: encoding latent variables for instant sorting, an artificial intelligence-based end-to-end solution.

The growing number of recording sites of silicon-based probes means that an increasing amount of neural cell activities can be recorded simultaneously, facilitating the investigation of underlying complex neural dynamics. In order to overcome the challenges generated by the increasing number of channels, highly automated signal processing tools are needed. Our goal was to build a spike sorting model that can perform as well as offline solutions while maintaining high efficiency, enabling high-performance online sorting.

Spike detection and sorting with deep learning.

Objective: The extraction and identification of single-unit activities in intracortically recorded electric signals have a key role in basic neuroscience, but also in applied fields, like in the development of high-accuracy brain-computer interfaces. The purpose of this paper is to present our current results on the detection, classification and prediction of neural activities based on multichannel action potential recordings.

Approach: Throughout our investigations, a deep learning approach utilizing convolutional neural networks and a combination of recurrent and convolutional neural networks was applied, with the latter used in case of spike detection and the former used for cases of sorting and predicting spiking activities.

DNA assembly for nanopore data storage readout.

Synthetic DNA is becoming an attractive substrate for digital data storage due to its density, durability, and relevance in biological research. A major challenge in making DNA data storage a reality is that reading DNA back into data using sequencing by synthesis remains a laborious, slow and expensive process. Here, we demonstrate successful decoding of 1.

Student-directed interactive animation for learning cytochrome P450-mediated drug metabolism.

Introduction: In this study, we introduced a student self-directed interactive animation tool created to enhance student understanding of cytochrome P450 (CYP450) mediated drug metabolism.

Methods: The online learning tool was constructed in HTML5 computer code. It was implemented over four years in a second year pharmacy degree course where CYP450 metabolism was taught.

Random access in large-scale DNA data storage.

Synthetic DNA is durable and can encode digital data with high density, making it an attractive medium for data storage. However, recovering stored data on a large-scale currently requires all the DNA in a pool to be sequenced, even if only a subset of the information needs to be extracted. Here, we encode and store 35 distinct files (over 200 MB of data), in more than 13 million DNA oligonucleotides, and show that we can recover each file individually and with no errors, using a random access approach.

The impact of p53 on the early stage replication of retrovirus.

Background: The function of p53 in cancer biology has been studied extensively, but its role in anti-retrovirus infection has been elusive for many years. The restriction of retrovirus early stage replication by p53 was investigated in this study.

Method: VSV-G pseudotyped retrovirus with GFP reporter gene was used to infect both HCT116 p53 cells and its isogenic p53 knockout HCT116 p53 cells.

Disparities in the Use of Drug-Eluting Coronary Stents by Race, Ethnicity, Payer, and Hospital.

Background: Many studies have shown that drug-eluting stents (DESs) are associated with better outcomes for patients receiving coronary stents, and earlier studies showed disparities in use by race and payer. It is of interest to know whether these differences persist in an era of higher use of DESs and to examine DES use differences across providers.

Methods: New York State's percutaneous coronary intervention registry was used to identify significant predictors of DES vs bare-metal stent use among patients receiving stents, including race, ethnicity, sex, payer, and numerous patient clinical risk factors in 2011-2012.

Lactate dehydrogenase as a biomarker for early renal damage in patients with sickle cell disease.

Among many complications of sickle cell disease, renal failure is the main contributor to early mortality. It is present in up to 21% of patients with sickle cell disease. Although screening for microalbuminuria and proteinuria is the current acceptable practice to detect and follow renal damage in patients with sickle cell disease, there is a crucial need for other, more sensitive biomarkers.

Molecular characterisation of the NSP4 gene of group A human rotavirus G2P[4] strains circulating in São Paulo, Brazil, from 1994 and 2006 to 2010.

Group A human rotaviruses (HuRVA) are causative agents of acute gastroenteritis. Six viral structural proteins (VPs) and six nonstructural proteins (NSPs) are produced in RV-infected cells. NSP4 is a diarrhoea-inducing viral enterotoxin and NSP4 gene analysis revealed at least 15 (E1-E15) genotypes.

Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Glucose Control and Inflammatory Response in Type II Diabetes: A Double Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) and vitamin D deficiency are major health concerns around the world. Evidence suggests a possible role of vitamin D in improvement of insulin secretion and sensitivity.

Objectives: We assessed whether vitamin D supplementation could be used in vitamin D deficient-type II diabetes to improve glucose metabolism, components of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and specific inflammatory biomarkers.

Anti-metastasis efficacy and safety of non-anticoagulant heparin derivative versus low molecular weight heparin in surgical pancreatic cancer models.

Heparin and its derivatives are known to attenuate cancer metastasis in preclinical models, but have not been used clinically due to adverse bleeding effects. This study compared the efficacy of S-NACH (a sulfated non-anticoagulant heparin) versus tinzaparin (a low molecular weight heparin) in inhibiting metastasis of a growing primary tumor and following surgical excision of primary tumor in a pancreatic cancer mouse model. The efficacy of S-NACH versus tinzaparin on metastasis of the primary tumor was evaluated in each experiment using IVIS imaging.

Can one hear the shape of a population history?

Reconstructing past population size from present day genetic data is a major goal of population genetics. Recent empirical studies infer population size history using coalescent-based models applied to a small number of individuals. Here we provide tight bounds on the amount of exact coalescence time data needed to recover the population size history of a single, panmictic population at a certain level of accuracy.

Risk score for predicting in-hospital/30-day mortality for patients undergoing valve and valve/coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Background: Risk scores are simplified linear formulas for predicting mortality or other adverse outcomes at the bedside without personal digital assistants or calculators. Although risk scores are available for valve surgery, they do not predict short-term mortality (within 30 days of surgery) after hospital discharge.

Methods: New York's Cardiac Surgery Reporting System 2007 to 2009 data were matched to vital statistics data to identify valve surgery with and without concomitant coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery deaths occurring in the index admission or within 30 days after the procedure in any location.

Analysis of unstable behavior in a mathematical model for erythropoiesis.

We consider an age-structured model that describes the regulation of erythropoiesis through the negative feedback loop between erythropoietin and hemoglobin. This model is reduced to a system of two ordinary differential equations with two constant delays for which we show existence of a unique steady state. We determine all instances at which this steady state loses stability via a Hopf bifurcation through a theoretical bifurcation analysis establishing analytical expressions for the scenarios in which they arise.

Risk factors for coronary artery bypass graft chest surgical site infections in New York State, 2008.

Background: All hospitals in New York State (NYS) are required to report surgical site infections (SSIs) occurring after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. This report describes the risk adjustment method used by NYS for reporting hospital SSI rates, and additional methods used to explore remaining differences in infection rates.

Methods: All patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery in NYS in 2008 were monitored for chest SSI following the National Healthcare Safety Network protocol.

Out-of-hospital deaths within 30 days following hospitalization where percutaneous coronary intervention was performed.

Much has been learned about predictors of in-hospital death after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), but little is known about the predictors of short-term death after discharge. This is particularly important for PCI, with its short postprocedural hospitalization and concern about postprocedural events such as stent thrombosis and need for emergency cardiac surgery. The focus of this study was all 51,695 patients who underwent PCI in New York State from January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2007, who were discharged alive by December 31, 2007.

Projecting the effectiveness of RotaTeq® against rotavirus-related hospitalisations in Brazil.

RotaTeq® (Merck & Company, Inc, Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA) is an oral pentavalent rotavirus vaccine (RV5) that has shown high and consistent efficacy in preventing rotavirus gastroenteritis (RGE) in randomised clinical trials previously conducted in industrialised countries with high medical care resources. To date, the efficacy and effectiveness data for RV5 are available in some Latin American countries, but not Brazil. In this analysis, we projected the effectiveness of RV5 in terms of the percentage reduction in RGE-related hospitalisations among children less than five years of age in four regions of Brazil, using a previously validated mathematical model.

Molecular characterization of G and P-types bovine rotavirus strains from Goiás, Brazil: high frequency of mixed P-type infections.

In this study, 331 samples from calves less than one month old from a dairy herd in the district of Piracanjuba, state of Goiás, Brazil were tested for rotavirus. Thirty-three samples (9.9%) tested positive for rotavirus.

Hospital-based surveillance to evaluate the impact of rotavirus vaccination in São Paulo, Brazil.

Background: Brazil implemented routine immunization with the human rotavirus vaccine, Rotarix, in 2006 and vaccination coverage reached 81% in 2008 in São Paulo. Our aim was to assess the impact of immunization on the incidence of severe rotavirus acute gastroenteritis (AGE).

Methods: We performed a 5-year (2004-2008) prospective surveillance at a sentinel hospital in São Paulo, with routine testing for rotavirus in all children less than 5 years of age hospitalized with AGE.