Study of neural circuits using multielectrode arrays in movement disorders

Treballs Finals de Grau d'Enginyeria Biomèdica. Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut. Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2022-2023. Tutor/Director: Rodríguez Allué, Manuel JoséNeurodegenerative movement-related disorders are characterized by a progressive degeneration and loss of neurons, which lead to motor control impairment. Although the precise mechanisms underlying these conditions are still unknown, an increasing number of studies point towards the analysis of neural networks and functional connectivity to unravel novel insights. The main objective of this work is to understand cellular mechanisms related to dysregulated motor control symptoms in movement disorders, such as Chorea-Acanthocytosis (ChAc), by employing multielectrode arrays to analyze the electrical activity of neuronal networks in mouse models. We found no notable differences in cell viability between neurons with and without VPS13A knockdown, that is the only gene known to be implicated in the disease, suggesting that the absence of VPS13A in neurons may be partially compensated by other proteins. The MEA setup used to capture the electrical activity from neuron primary cultures is described in detail, pointing out its specific characteristics. At last, we present the alternative backup approach implemented to overcome the challenges faced during the research process and to explore the advanced algorithms for signal processing and analysis. In this report, we present a thorough account of the conception and implementation of our research, outlining the multiple limitations that have been encountered all along the course of the project. We provide a detailed analysis on the project’s economical and technical feasibility, as well as a comprehensive overview of the ethical and legal aspects considered during the execution

TB STIGMA – MEASUREMENT GUIDANCE

TB is the most deadly infectious disease in the world, and stigma continues to play a significant role in worsening the epidemic. Stigma and discrimination not only stop people from seeking care but also make it more difficult for those on treatment to continue, both of which make the disease more difficult to treat in the long-term and mean those infected are more likely to transmit the disease to those around them. TB Stigma – Measurement Guidance is a manual to help generate enough information about stigma issues to design and monitor and evaluate efforts to reduce TB stigma. It can help in planning TB stigma baseline measurements and monitoring trends to capture the outcomes of TB stigma reduction efforts. This manual is designed for health workers, professional or management staff, people who advocate for those with TB, and all who need to understand and respond to TB stigma

Sensor technologies for quality control in engineered tissue manufacturing

The use of engineered cells, tissues, and organs has the opportunity to change the way injuries and diseases are treated. Commercialization of these groundbreaking technologies has been limited in part by the complex and costly nature of their manufacture. Process-related variability and even small changes in the manufacturing process of a living product will impact its quality. Without real-time integrated detection, the magnitude and mechanism of that impact are largely unknown. Real-time and non-destructive sensor technologies are key for in-process insight and ensuring a consistent product throughout commercial scale-up and/or scale-out. The application of a measurement technology into a manufacturing process requires cell and tissue developers to understand the best way to apply a sensor to their process, and for sensor manufacturers to understand the design requirements and end-user needs. Furthermore, sensors to monitor component cells’ health and phenotype need to be compatible with novel integrated and automated manufacturing equipment. This review summarizes commercially relevant sensor technologies that can detect meaningful quality attributes during the manufacturing of regenerative medicine products, the gaps within each technology, and sensor considerations for manufacturing

Context-aware Self-Optimization in Small-Cell Networks

Most mobile communications take place at indoor environments, especially in commercial and corporate scenarios. These places normally present coverage and capacity issues due to the poor signal quality, which degrade the end-user Quality of Experience (QoE). In these cases, mobile operators are offering small cells to overcome the indoor issues, being femtocells the main deployed base stations. Femtocell networks provide significant benefits to mobile operators and their clients. However, the massive integration and the particularities of femtocells, make the maintenance of these infrastructures a challenge for engineers. In this sense, Self-Organizing Networks (SON) techniques play an important role. These techniques are a key feature to intelligently automate network operation, administration and management procedures. SON mechanisms are based on the analysis of the mobile network alarms, counters and indicators. In parallel, electronics, sensors and software applications evolve rapidly and are everywhere. Thanks to this, valuable context information can be gathered, which properly managed can improve SON techniques performance. Within possible context data, one of the most active topics is the indoor positioning due to the immediate interest on indoor location-based services (LBS). At indoor commercial and corporate environments, user densities and traffic vary in spatial and temporal domain. These situations lead to degrade cellular network performance, being temporary traffic fluctuations and focused congestions one of the most common issues. Load balancing techniques, which have been identified as a use case in self-optimization paradigm for Long Term Evolution (LTE), can alleviate these congestion problems. This use case has been widely studied in macrocellular networks and outdoor scenarios. However, the particularities of femtocells, the characteristics of indoor scenarios and the influence of users’ mobility pattern justify the development of new solutions. The goal of this PhD thesis is to design and develop novel and automatic solutions for temporary traffic fluctuations and focused network congestion issues in commercial and corporate femtocell environments. For that purpose, the implementation of an efficient management architecture to integrate context data into the mobile network and SON mechanisms is required. Afterwards, an accurate indoor positioning system is developed, as a possible inexpensive solution for context-aware SON. Finally, advanced self-optimization methods to shift users from overloaded cells to other cells with spare resources are designed. These methods tune femtocell configuration parameters based on network information, such as ratio of active users, and context information, such as users’ position. All these methods are evaluated in both a dynamic LTE system-level simulator and in a field-trial

Facilitating self-organization in non-hierarchical communities: a methodology for regeneration programs

Research purpose: As a by-product in the development of the Quality Management Systems, self-organized working groups were introduced and became a common practice in management. In the last ten years some authors – influenced by the developments in the study of Complex Systems – have reintroduced the self-organization concept as being the future of management. In this approach, the description of the mechanism driving this process has been explored to provide a method to facilitate the emergence of viable organisational structures and to support such organizational behaviour. This topic becomes more relevant in the present times when the community development is more locally oriented and the communities are being empowered to become more autonomous in the definition of the means and results they want to improve their quality of live. It is within this context that in order to facilitate self-organization processes – in a rural community engaged in a independent regeneration program –this research suggest the use of a model inspired in both cybernetics and the self-organization in a biological system. Methods: This thesis details the development of a three loops framework aimed to facilitate the self-organizing behaviour through the use of a Visualization - Planning - Reflective toolset (V-P Toolset). The framework was deployed within a case study organization (The XOOP) using an interpretivist philosophy of constructionism to guide the research. During its execution the researcher acted as both an observer and participant of the organisational change. Within the context of an action research project, the framework followed a multimethodology design where cybernetic and social tools of organizational analysis such as the Viable System Model (VSM), Narrative and Story-telling analysis and Social Network Analysis (SNA) provided a unique approach to the facilitation of self-organization and the mergence of viable organizational structures. Results: The VSM and the SNA were used to diagnose the organizational structure. The information provided by these tools was then contextualized within the Narrative and Story-telling analysis, identifying critical events in the evolution of the organization. This combination of tools provided insights about the self-organizing behaviour of the organization and the mechanism that facilitated (or impeded) the emergence of viable organizational structures throughout the evolution of the observed community.Conclusions: The introduction of a common language to describe the organization facilitated the endogenous creation of a shared mental model of the community. This representation of the organization made more efficient the exchange of information, the coordination of activities and the autonomous operation of the different working groups. Thus, the iterative loops of the V-P contributed to made this process more efficient and provided evidence about the convenience of the integration of the VSM with the SNA as organizational diagnostic tools