Non-contact Dual Pulse Doppler System Based Real-time Relative Demodulation and Respiratory & Heart Rates Estimations for Chronic Heart Failure Patients

Long-term continuous patient monitoring is required in many health systems for monitoring and analytical diagnosing purposes. Most of monitoring systems have shortcomings related to their functionality and/or patient comfortably. Non-contact monitoring systems have been developed to address some of these shortcomings. One of such systems is non-contact physiological vital signs assessments for chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. This paper presents novel real-time demodulation technique and estimations algorithms for the non-contact physiological vital signs assessments for CHF patients based on a patented novel non-contact bio-motion sensor. A database consists of twenty CHF patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Heart Failure Classification Class II & III, whose underwent full Polysomnography (PSG) analysis for the diagnosis of sleep apnea, disordered sleep, or both, were selected for the study. The propose algorithms analyze the non-contact bio-motion signals and estimate the patient's respiratory and heart rates. The outputs of the algorithms are compared with gold-standard PSG recordings. Across all twenty CHF patients' recordings, the respiratory rate estimation median accuracy achieved 91.52% with median error of ±1.31 breaths per minute. The heart rate estimation median accuracy achieved 91.29% with median error of ±6.16 beats per minute. A potential application would be home continuous sleep and circadian rhythm monitoring

Neural Networks With Motivation

Animals rely on internal motivational states to make decisions. The role of motivational salience in decision making is in early stages of mathematical understanding. Here, we propose a reinforcement learning framework that relies on neural networks to learn optimal ongoing behavior for dynamically changing motivation values. First, we show that neural networks implementing Q-learning with motivational salience can navigate in environment with dynamic rewards without adjustments in synaptic strengths when the needs of an agent shift. In this setting, our networks may display elements of addictive behaviors. Second, we use a similar framework in hierarchical manager-agent system to implement a reinforcement learning algorithm with motivation that both infers motivational states and behaves. Finally, we show that, when trained in the Pavlovian conditioning setting, the responses of the neurons in our model resemble previously published neuronal recordings in the ventral pallidum, a basal ganglia structure involved in motivated behaviors. We conclude that motivation allows Q-learning networks to quickly adapt their behavior to conditions when expected reward is modulated by agent’s dynamic needs. Our approach addresses the algorithmic rationale of motivation and makes a step toward better interpretability of behavioral data via inference of motivational dynamics in the brain

Doppler Radar-Based Non-Contact Health Monitoring for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Diagnosis: A Comprehensive Review

Today’s rapid growth of elderly populations and aging problems coupled with the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and other health related issues have affected many aspects of society. This has led to high demands for a more robust healthcare monitoring, diagnosing and treatments facilities. In particular to Sleep Medicine, sleep has a key role to play in both physical and mental health. The quality and duration of sleep have a direct and significant impact on people’s learning, memory, metabolism, weight, safety, mood, cardio-vascular health, diseases, and immune system function. The gold-standard for OSA diagnosis is the overnight sleep monitoring system using polysomnography (PSG). However, despite the quality and reliability of the PSG system, it is not well suited for long-term continuous usage due to limited mobility as well as causing possible irritation, distress, and discomfort to patients during the monitoring process. These limitations have led to stronger demands for non-contact sleep monitoring systems. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the current state of non-contact Doppler radar sleep monitoring technology and provide an outline of current challenges and make recommendations on future research directions to practically realize and commercialize the technology for everyday usage.</jats:p

Versatile method for template-free synthesis of single crystalline metal and metal alloy nanowires

© 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Metal and metal alloy nanowires have applications ranging from spintronics to drug delivery, but high quality, high density single crystalline materials have been surprisingly difficult to fabricate. Here we report a versatile, template-free, self-assembly method for fabrication of single crystalline metal and metal alloy nanowires (Co, Ni, NiCo, CoFe, and NiFe) by reduction of metal nitride precursors formed in situ by reaction of metal salts with a nitrogen source. Thiol reduction of the metal nitrides to the metallic phase at 550-600 °C results in nanowire growth. In this process, sulfur acts as a uniaxial structure-directing agent, passivating the surface of the growing nanowires and preventing radial growth. The versatility of the method is demonstrated by achieving nanowire growth from gas-phase, solution-phase or a combination of gas- and solution-phase precursors. The fabrication method is suited to large-area CVD on a wide range of solid substrates

Tomography of quantum dots in a non-hermitian photonic chip

© 2019 IEEE. Quantum optical information systems offer the potential for secure communication and fast quantum computation. To fully characterise a quantum optical system one has to use quantum tomography [1]. Integration of quantum optics onto photonic chips provides advantages such as miniaturisation and stability, and also significantly improves quantum tomography using both re-configurable [2], and more recently, simpler static designs [3,4]. These on-chip designs have, so far, only used probabilistic single photon sources. Here we are working towards quantum tomography using a true deterministic source - a quantum dot. The scheme of the proposed experiment is shown in Fig. 1A. So far we have fabricated and characterised the performance of an InGaAs quantum dot monolithically integrated into a microlens [5], and completed the design, fabrication and classical characterisation of a photonic chip for quantum tomography

Inequalities in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in Brazilian slum populations: A cross-sectional study

Background Social and environmental risk factors in informal settlements and slums may contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study assesses the socioeconomic inequalities in CVD risk factors in Brazil comparing slum and non-slum populations. Methods Responses from 94,114 individuals from the 2019 Brazilian National Health Survey were analysed. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme definition of a slum was used to identify slum inhabitants. Six behavioural risk factors, four metabolic risk factors and doctor-diagnosed CVD were analysed using Poisson regression models adjusting for socioeconomic characteristics. Results Compared to urban non-slum inhabitants, slum inhabitants were more likely to: have low (less than five days per week) consumption of fruits (APR: 1.04, 95%CI 1.01–1.07) or vegetables (APR: 1.08, 95%CI 1.05–1.12); drink four or more alcoholic drinks per day (APR: 1.05, 95%CI 1.03–1.06); and be physically active less than 150 minutes per week (APR: 1.03, 95%CI 1.01–1.04). There were no differences in the likelihoods of doctor-diagnosed metabolic risk factors or CVD between the two groups in adjusted models. There was a higher likelihood of behavioural and metabolic risk factors among those with lower education, with lower incomes, and the non-White population. Conclusions Brazilians living in slums are at higher risk of behavioural risk factors for CVD, suggesting local environments might impact access to and uptake of healthy behaviours

An instability criterion for nonlinear standing waves on nonzero backgrounds

A nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with repulsive (defocusing) nonlinearity is considered. As an example, a system with a spatially varying coefficient of the nonlinear term is studied. The nonlinearity is chosen to be repelling except on a finite interval. Localized standing wave solutions on a non-zero background, e.g., dark solitons trapped by the inhomogeneity, are identified and studied. A novel instability criterion for such states is established through a topological argument. This allows instability to be determined quickly in many cases by considering simple geometric properties of the standing waves as viewed in the composite phase plane. Numerical calculations accompany the analytical results.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Electric Field-Tuned Topological Phase Transition in Ultra-Thin Na3Bi - Towards a Topological Transistor

The electric field induced quantum phase transition from topological to conventional insulator has been proposed as the basis of a topological field effect transistor [1-4]. In this scheme an electric field can switch 'on' the ballistic flow of charge and spin along dissipationless edges of the two-dimensional (2D) quantum spin Hall insulator [5-9], and when 'off' is a conventional insulator with no conductive channels. Such as topological transistor is promising for low-energy logic circuits [4], which would necessitate electric field-switched materials with conventional and topological bandgaps much greater than room temperature, significantly greater than proposed to date [6-8]. Topological Dirac semimetals(TDS) are promising systems in which to look for topological field-effect switching, as they lie at the boundary between conventional and topological phases [3,10-16]. Here we use scanning probe microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) to show that mono- and bilayer films of TDS Na3Bi [3,17] are 2D topological insulators with bulk bandgaps >400 meV in the absence of electric field. Upon application of electric field by doping with potassium or by close approach of the STM tip, the bandgap can be completely closed then re-opened with conventional gap greater than 100 meV. The large bandgaps in both the conventional and quantum spin Hall phases, much greater than the thermal energy kT = 25 meV at room temperature, suggest that ultrathin Na3Bi is suitable for room temperature topological transistor operation

Fitting the Elementary Rate Constants of the P-gp Transporter Network in the hMDR1-MDCK Confluent Cell Monolayer Using a Particle Swarm Algorithm

P-glycoprotein, a human multidrug resistance transporter, has been extensively studied due to its importance to human health and disease. In order to understand transport kinetics via P-gp, confluent cell monolayers overexpressing P-gp are widely used. The purpose of this study is to obtain the mass action elementary rate constants for P-gp's transport and to functionally characterize members of P-gp's network, i.e., other transporters that transport P-gp substrates in hMDR1-MDCKII confluent cell monolayers and are essential to the net substrate flux. Transport of a range of concentrations of amprenavir, loperamide, quinidine and digoxin across the confluent monolayer of cells was measured in both directions, apical to basolateral and basolateral to apical. We developed a global optimization algorithm using the Particle Swarm method that can simultaneously fit all datasets to yield accurate and exhaustive fits of these elementary rate constants. The statistical sensitivity of the fitted values was determined by using 24 identical replicate fits, yielding simple averages and standard deviations for all of the kinetic parameters, including the efflux active P-gp surface density. Digoxin required additional basolateral and apical transporters, while loperamide required just a basolateral tranporter. The data were better fit by assuming bidirectional transporters, rather than active importers, suggesting that they are not MRP or active OATP transporters. The P-gp efflux rate constants for quinidine and digoxin were about 3-fold smaller than reported ATP hydrolysis rate constants from P-gp proteoliposomes. This suggests a roughly 3∶1 stoichiometry between ATP hydrolysis and P-gp transport for these two drugs. The fitted values of the elementary rate constants for these P-gp substrates support the hypotheses that the selective pressures on P-gp are to maintain a broad substrate range and to keep xenobiotics out of the cytosol, but not out of the apical membrane

A novel prostate cancer subtyping classifier based on luminal and basal phenotypes

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is a clinically heterogeneous disease. The creation of an expression-based subtyping model based on prostate-specific biological processes was sought. Methods: Unsupervised machine learning of gene expression profiles from prospectively collected primary prostate tumors (training, n = 32,000; evaluation, n = 68,547) was used to create a prostate subtyping classifier (PSC) based on basal versus luminal cell expression patterns and other gene signatures relevant to PCa biology. Subtype molecular pathways and clinical characteristics were explored in five other clinical cohorts. Results: Clustering derived four subtypes: luminal differentiated (LD), luminal proliferating (LP), basal immune (BI), and basal neuroendocrine (BN). LP and LD tumors both had higher androgen receptor activity. LP tumors also had a higher expression of cell proliferation genes, MYC activity, and characteristics of homologous recombination deficiency. BI tumors possessed significant interferon γactivity and immune infiltration on immunohistochemistry. BN tumors were characterized by lower androgen receptor activity expression, lower immune infiltration, and enrichment with neuroendocrine expression patterns. Patients with LD tumors had less aggressive tumor characteristics and the longest time to metastasis after surgery. Only patients with BI tumors derived benefit from radiotherapy after surgery in terms of time to metastasis (hazard ratio [HR], 0.09; 95% CI, 0.01–0.71; n = 855). In a phase 3 trial that randomized patients with metastatic PCa to androgen deprivation with or without docetaxel (n = 108), only patients with LP tumors derived survival benefit from docetaxel (HR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.09–0.51). Conclusions: With the use of expression profiles from over 100,000 tumors, a PSC was developed that identified four subtypes with distinct biological and clinical features. Plain language summary: Prostate cancer can behave in an indolent or aggressive manner and vary in how it responds to certain treatments. To differentiate prostate cancer on the basis of biological features, we developed a novel RNA signature by using data from over 100,000 prostate tumors—the largest data set of its kind. This signature can inform patients and physicians on tumor aggressiveness and susceptibilities to treatments to help personalize cancer management