Rapid Decoding of Hand Gestures in Electrocorticography Using Recurrent Neural Networks.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) is a direct communication pathway between brain and external devices, and BCI-based prosthetic devices are promising to provide new rehabilitation options for people with motor disabilities. Electrocorticography (ECoG) signals contain rich information correlated with motor activities, and have great potential in hand gesture decoding. However, most existing decoders use long time windows, thus ignore the temporal dynamics within the period.

Optogenetics Based Rat-Robot Control: Optical Stimulation Encodes "Stop" and "Escape" Commands.

Electric brain stimulation is frequently used in bio-robot control. However, one possible limitation of electric stimulation is the resultant wide range of influences that may lead to unexpected side-effects. Although there has been prior research done towards optogenetics based brain activation, there has not been much development regarding the comparisons between electric and optical methods of brain activation.

An automatic patient-specific seizure onset detection method using intracranial electroencephalography.

Objective: This study presents a multichannel patient-specific seizure detection method based on the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and support vector machine (SVM) classifier.

Materials And Methods: The EMD is used to extract features from intracranial electroencephalography (EEG). A machine-learning algorithm is used as a classifier to discriminate between seizure and nonseizure intracranial EEG epochs.

Gradually increased training intensity benefits rehabilitation outcome after stroke by BDNF upregulation and stress suppression.

Physical training is necessary for effective rehabilitation in the early poststroke period. Animal studies commonly use fixed training intensity throughout rehabilitation and without adapting it to the animals' recovered motor ability. This study investigated the correlation between training intensity and rehabilitation efficacy by using a focal ischemic stroke rat model.

Application of microscopical techniques in the study of autolysosome dynamics in PC12 neurites.

Autophagy is a principal degradation pathway for the turnover of intracellular proteins or cytoplasmic organelles in response to starvation. During autophagic activation, autophagosomes fuse with lysosomes to form autolysosomes where incorporated materials are degraded. However, the dynamics of autolysosomes in neurites of live cells was still poorly known.

The effects of voluntary, involuntary, and forced exercises on motor recovery in a stroke rat model.

Stroke rehabilitation with different exercise paradigms has been investigated, but a comparison study on motor recovery after voluntary, involuntary, and forced exercises is limited. The current study used a rat brain ischemia model to investigate the effects of voluntary wheel running, involuntary muscle movement caused by functional electrical stimulation (FES), and forced treadmill exercise on motor recovery and brain BDNF changes. The results showed that voluntary exercise is the most effective intervention in upregulating the hippocampal BDNF level, and facilitating motor recovery after brain ischemia.

Microtubule and kinesin/dynein-dependent, bi-directional transport of autolysosomes in neurites of PC12 cells.

Autophagy, a major degradative pathway of the lysosomal system, has been implicated in various neurodegenerative diseases. During autophagic process, organelles and proteins are encapsulated in double-membrane vacuoles called autophagosomes, which finally fuse with lysosomes to form autolysosomes where incorporated materials are degraded. Despite extensive investigations in identifying the molecular components that participate in autophagy, little is known about routes and dynamics of autophagosomes/autolysosomes in the neurites of live cells.

The effects of voluntary, involuntary, and forced exercises on brain-derived neurotrophic factor and motor function recovery: a rat brain ischemia model.

Background: Stroke rehabilitation with different exercise paradigms has been investigated, but which one is more effective in facilitating motor recovery and up-regulating brain neurotrophic factor (BDNF) after brain ischemia would be interesting to clinicians and patients. Voluntary exercise, forced exercise, and involuntary muscle movement caused by functional electrical stimulation (FES) have been individually demonstrated effective as stroke rehabilitation intervention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of these three common interventions on brain BDNF changes and motor recovery levels using a rat ischemic stroke model.

Neural decoding based on probabilistic neural network.

Brain-machine interface (BMI) has been developed due to its possibility to cure severe body paralysis. This technology has been used to realize the direct control of prosthetic devices, such as robot arms, computer cursors, and paralyzed muscles. A variety of neural decoding algorithms have been designed to explore relationships between neural activities and movements of the limbs.

Salidroside stimulated glucose uptake in skeletal muscle cells by activating AMP-activated protein kinase.

In the present study, we reported the metabolic effects of salidroside, one of the active components of Rhodiola Rosea, on skeletal muscle cells. Salidroside dose-dependently stimulated glucose uptake in differentiated L6 rat myoblast cells. Inhibitor of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) by pretreating the cells with compound C potently reduced salidroside-stimulated glucose uptake, while inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) by wortmannin exhibited no significant inhibitory effect on salidroside-mediated glucose transport activation.

[Three-dimensional motion analysis for GLUT4 vesicles in TIRF microscopy].

In this paper, GLUT4 vesicles are observed in real-time under TIRF microscopy and a new three-dimensional single particle tracking algorithm according to the unique features of TIRF is put forward. Firstly a fluorescence correction procedure was processed to solve the problem of fluorescence bleaching over time and mobile vesicles were segmented by an adaptive background subtraction method. Kalman filtering was then introduced to track the granules so as to reduce the searching range and to avoid the disturbance of background noise and false targets.

Inhibition of excitatory amino acid efflux contributes to protective effects of puerarin against cerebral ischemia in rats.

Objective: To investigate whether the protective effects of puerarine (Pur) against cerebral ischemia is associated with depressing the extracellular levels of amino acid transmitters in brain of rats.

Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) for 60 min followed by 24 h reperfusion. Pur (50, 100 mg/kg, i.

[Protective effects of breviscapine against cultured rat hippocampal neuronal toxicity induced by glutamate].

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of breviscapine on cultured rat hippocampal neuronal toxicity induced by glutamate. Primary hippocampal neurons were prepared from 2 day-old SD rats. After 8 days cultured in vitro, the cultures subjected to 30 min treatment of 0.

Dynamics of nitric oxide and peroxynitrite during global brain ischemia/reperfusion in rat hippocampus: NO-sensor measurement and modeling study.

The dynamics of nitric oxide (NO) and peroxynitrite concentration changes during brain ischemia/reperfusion are poorly understood. In this paper, a NO-selective sensor was used to measure NO concentration changes in the rat brain hippocampus during global brain ischemia/reperfusion. Four-vessel occlusion model of transient global brain ischemia was used.

B-type natriuretic peptide enhances mild hypoxia-induced apoptotic cell death in cardiomyocytes.

In the case of left ventricle remodeling after myocardial infarction, cardiomyocyte apoptosis is attributed to increased cardiac workload by the stimulus such as chronic hypoxia. B-Type natriuretic peptide, being known as a reliable prognostic of cardiovascular pathology, plays an important role in the myocardial infarction. However, the action of B-type natriuretic peptide on cardiomyocytes undergoing apoptosis is unclear.

Bi-directional transport of GLUT4 vesicles near the plasma membrane of primary rat adipocytes.

Insulin stimulates glucose uptake into adipocytes by mobilizing intracellular membrane vesicles containing GLUT4 proteins to the plasma membrane. Here we applied time-lapse total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy to study moving parameters and characters of exogenously expressed GLUT4 vesicles in basal, insulin and nocodazole treated primary rat adipocytes. Our results showed that microtubules were essential for long-range transport of GLUT4 vesicles but not obligatory for GLUT4 distribution in rat adipocytes.

Advanced measurement and quantitative appraise of anisodamine on calcium triggered in cardiac myocyte.

Both patch clamp and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) was applied to appraise the Anisodamine's cardioprotective effects quantitatively and its mechanism were studied. MTT measurement was observed cell viability and Fluo-3/AM was utilized for real-time free calcium with LSCM; ICa,Lexposed to Anisodamine was measured by whole-cell patch clamp recording technique. Our study observed that KCL-triggered calcium elevation could be decreased by Anisodamine at dose of 0.

Modeling the diffusion of nitric oxide produced by neuronal cells in brain ischemia.

Mathematical models of NO diffusion were established to investigate the role of nitric oxide produced by neuronal cells in brain ischemia. Results showed that NO synthesized at early stage of brain ischemia could diffuse to a far more distant than that of a resting state. We speculate the roles of NO produced by neuronal cells in brain ischemia might have two different effects, depending on its concentration.

[Effect of dialysis time in vivo on recovery of amino acids for micro-dialysis probe].

Objective: To investigate the variety of vitro recovery of amino acids for microdialysis probe after different dialysis time in vivo.

Methods: Probes were dialyzed in the amino acids standard solutions with microdialysis system,amino acid standard solutions and the microdialysate of probe were detected by the method of precolumn derivation with HPLC-RF.

Result: After using different time of probe made by regenerated cellulose membrane, the vitro recoveries of Asp, Glu and GABA were not completely same (Asp: F=19.

Activity of Ginkgo biloba extract and quercetin on thrombomodulin expression and tissue-type plasminogen activator secretion by human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

Objective: In order to investigate the pharmacological properties of Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) on improving blood circulation, the regulating action of GBE and quercetin (a main flavonoid ingredient in GBE) on thrombomodulin (TM) expression and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) secretion was studied.

Methods: Using flow cytometer and gel image system respectively, we evaluated the TM expression and the t-PA secretion by human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro.

Results: The increase of TM expression on HUVECs surface was induced by GBE rather than quercetin in a dose- and time-dependent manner.

Astragaloside IV improved barrier dysfunction induced by acute high glucose in human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of astragaloside IV, a saponin isolated from Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch) Bge, on the impairment of barrier function induced by acute high glucose in cultured human vein endothelial cells. High glucose (27.8 mM) induced a decrease in transendothelial electrical impedance and an increase in cell monolayer permeability in human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

A preadipocyte differentiation assay as a method for screening potential anti-type II diabetes drugs from herbal extracts.

A cell-based method for screening drug candidates from herbal extracts that have possible anti-type II diabetic effects was established. The differentiation of preadipocytes into adipocytes was used as a sensitive primary indicator of a drug's potential effect on type II diabetes. We established a quantitative method by using a computer image analysis system for assessing the morphological alterations.

Effects of astragaloside IV on pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome in vitro.

Aim: To investigate the diverse pharmacological actions of astragaloside IV from the perspective of metabolic syndrome, and to investigate the effect of the drug on the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome.

Methods: Adipogenesis was used as an indicator of the effect of astragaloside IV on preadipocyte differentiation, and was measured by using an oil red O assay. Glucose uptake was determined by measuring the transport of [2-(3)H]-deoxyglucose into the cells.

Neurochemical effects of exercise and neuromuscular electrical stimulation on brain after stroke: a microdialysis study using rat model.

Treadmill exercise and neuromuscular electrical stimulation are common clinical approaches for stroke rehabilitation. Both animal and clinical studies have shown the functional improvements after these interventions. However, the neurochemical effects on the ischemic brain had not been well studied.

Intracellular-free calcium dynamics and F-actin alteration in the formation of macrophage foam cells.

The formation of macrophage foam cells, which is the key event in atherosclerosis, occurs by the uptake of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL) via the scavenger receptor (CD36) pathway. Ca(2+) plays an important role in atherosclerosis. However, in the spatiotemporal view, the correlation between kinetic changes of intracellular-free calcium ([Ca(2+)](i)) and the cellular dysfunctions in the formation of macrophage foam cells has not yet been studied in detail.