A multichannel Deep Belief Network for the classification of EEG data

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015. Deep learning, and in particular Deep Belief Network (DBN), has recently witnessed increased attention from researchers as a new classification platform. It has been successfully applied to a number of classification problems, such as image classification, speech recognition and natural language processing. However, deep learning has not been fully explored in electroencephalogram (EEG) classification. We propose in this paper three implementations of DBNs to classify multichannel EEG data based on different channel fusion levels. In order to evaluate the proposed method, we used EEG data that has been recorded to study the modulatory effect of transcranial direct current stimulation. One of the proposed DBNs produced very promising results when compared to three well-established classifiers; which are Support Vec- tor Machine (SVM), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM)

Effectiveness and costeffectiveness of screening immigrants schemes for tuberculosis (TB) on arrival from high TB endemic countries to low TB prevalent countries

Background:Immigrants to developed countries are a major source of TB. Therefore amongst strategies adopted for TB control in developed countries include; 1) Screening immigrants at ports of entry referred to as “Port of Arrival Screening” (PoA) and 2) Passive screening (PS) for TB which means screening immigrants through general practices, hospitals, chest-clinics and emergency departments. Evidence of the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of these strategies is not consistent.Objective:Evaluate efficiency of active PoA TB screening for immigrants from TB endemic-regions compared with Passive Screening of immigrant-populations from TB endemic-regions.Methods:Major electronic-databases and reference lists of relevant studies were searched. Experts of immigrants’ TB screening were contacted for additional studies published or unpublished.Systematic search of major databases identified only retrospective cohort-studies. Their qualities were assessed using Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) methodological checklist for comparative cohort-studies.Results:Systematic electronic searches identified 1443 citations. Of these 74 studies were retrieved for evaluation against the review’s inclusion/exclusion criteria (see study inclusion/exclusion criteria). Four studies met the inclusion criteria (figure 2) which were low in the evidence hierarchy of primary effectiveness studies and had heterogeneities between them. Thus descriptive data-synthesis was performed.Proportionately PoA screening had the lowest percentage of receipt of tuberculin skin test (TST) and the highest percentage of non-attendance for TST reading (table 2). Active PoA screening reduced infectiousness by 34% compared to 30% by passive screening and new entrants screened at PoA were 80% less likely to be hospitalised Odds ratio (OR) = 0.2 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.1 – 0.2).Economic analysis:One cost effectiveness analysis was found that compared the costs of; active PoA screening, general practice screening and homeless screening groups. The cost of detecting a case of TB were; £1.26, £13.17and £96.36 for PS, homeless screening and active PoA screening respectively. The cost of preventing a case of TB were; £6.32, £23.00 and £10.00 for PS, homeless screening and PoA screening respectively, showing there is little difference between the different strategies.Conclussion:Active PoA screening is worth doing with significant benefits including early identification of risk groups with possible timely treatment/chemoprophylaxis intervention, prevention of transmission by significantly reducing infectiousness with subsequent avoidance of hospitalisation in active PoA screening group

Simulation of Impedance Measurements at Human Forearm Within 1 KHz to 2 MHz

This work presents a simulation analysis of the bioimpedance measurements at human forearm. The Ansys® High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) has been used to analyze the electrical response of a section of human forearm with three domains of di-electric behavior- fat, muscle and artery (blood). The impedance values were calculated as the ratio of the output voltage at the electrodes to the applied known current (1mA). A model was developed and was simulated for impedance values obtained within a frequency range of 1 kHz to 2MHz. The measurements were done at three instances of radial artery diameter. The maximum resistance and reactance values were calculated as 445Ω and 178.5Ω, 356Ω and 138Ω, and 368Ω and 144.3Ω for diameters 2.3mm, 2.35mm, and 2.4mm respectively. The set of impedance values obtained followed Cole-plot trend. The results obtained were found to be in excellent agreement with the Cole theory. The set of values obtained at three different diameters reflected the effect of blood flow on impedance values

Antioxidant, hypoglycemic and anti-diabetic activities of Ziziphus spina-christi (L) Willd (Rhamnacae) leaf extract

Purpose: To investigate the antioxidant, hypoglycemic and antidiabetic activities as well as the phenolic composition of Ziziphus spina-christi (ZSC)Methods: Eighty percent methanol extract (ZSC-1), as well as ethyl acetate (ZSC-2), n-butanol (ZSC-3) and aqueous (ZSC-4) fractions were administered orally to mice at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg of body weight. The hypoglycemic and anti-diabetic activities of these fractions in the treated mice were evaluated after 7 and 15 days, using glibenclamide as a standard. Antioxidant activities in vitro were determined using stable free radical DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging techniques.Results: The strongest (p < 0.001) anti-diabetic activity (25.59 and 39.48 % after 7 and 15 days, respectively) was found following treatment with 500 mg/kg ZSC-3 fraction. Similarly, the highest (p > 0.001) hypoglycemic effect was achieved with 500 mg/kg ZSC-3 treatment (29.07 and 35.56 % after 7 and 15 days, respectively). ZSC-1 possessed the highest content of total flavonoids (36.2 mg/g) and total polyphenol (82.3 mg/g).Conclusion: Fraction ZSC-3 displayed potential hypoglycemic activity while ZSC-1, ZSC-2 and ZSC-3 possess remarkable DPPH scavenging ability equivalent to 89, 96 and 80.3 % of the activity of the standard drug respectively.Keywords: Ziziphus spina, Rhamnaceae, Hypoglycemic, Anti-diabetic, Flavonoids, Polypheno

Averrhoa carambola leaves prevent dyslipidemia and oxidative stress in a rat model of poloxamer-407-induced acute hyperlipidemia

Background: The star fruit [Averrhoa carambola L (Oxalidaceae)] is traditionally used in the treatment of many ailments in many countries. It possesses several pharmacological activities, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. However, it contains the neurotoxic caramboxin and its high content of oxalic acid limits its consumption by individuals with compromised kidney function. This study assessed the anti-hyperlipidemic and antioxidant activities of different fractions of the methanolic extract of A. carambola leaves (MEACL). Methods: The antioxidant activity was investigated using FRAP, and ABTS and DPPH radical-scavenging assays and the inhibitory activity toward pancreatic lipase (PL) and HMG-CoA reductase was assayed in vitro. Acute hyperlipidemia was induced by poloxamer-407 (P-407) in rats and different fractions of MEACL (n-hexane, chloroform, n-butanol, ethyl acetate (EA), water, and chloroform) were orally administered. Cholesterol and triglycerides were determined at 0, 12, 24, and 48 h and LDL-C, vLDL-C, HDL-C, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and antioxidants were assayed after 48 h. The expression of ABCA1, ABCG5, ABCG8, LDL-R, SREBP-1, and SREBP-2 and the activity of HMG-CoA reductase were assayed in the liver of P-407-administered rats treated with the EA fraction. Results: The in vitro data revealed potent radical-scavenging activities of MEACL fractions with the most potent effect showed by the EA fraction that also suppressed the activities of HMG-CoA reductase and PL. In P-407-induced hyperlipidemic rats, all fractions prevented dyslipidemia as shown by the decrease in total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C, vLDL-C and atherogenic index. MEACL and its fractions prevented LPO and boosted GSH, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase in P-407-administered rats. The EA fraction showed more effective anti-hyperlipidemic and antioxidant effects than other fractions and downregulated SREBP-2 while upregulated ABCA1 and LDL-R and ameliorated LPL and HMG-CoA reductase in hyperlipidemic rats. Conclusion: MEACL showed in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activity and the EA fraction significantly ameliorated dyslipidemia in a rat model of P-407-induced acute hyperlipidemia by modulating LPL, PL, HMG-CoA reductase, and cholesterolgenesis-related factors. Therefore, the leaves of A. carambola represent a safe alternative for the star fruit particularly in kidney disease patients, and the EA is the most effective anti-hyperlipidemic and antioxidant fraction

Microbial resistance in patients with urinary tract infections in Al-Mukalla, Yemen

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is an aggravating and common problem in human at sometimes during their life and may give more complications.Objective: To project antimicrobial resistance in patients with UTI as a wide problem among cases referred to the National Center of Public Health Laboratories in Ibn-Sina Teaching Hospital in Al- Mukalla, Hadhramout Governorate in Yemen.Materials and methods: From 290 cases referred from Ibn-Sina Teaching Hospital outpatients, urine samples were tested and reported in the National Center for Public Health Laboratories at the period from 2003 to 2006. Data were obtained from the records of the center (for urine examination, culture and sensitivity test) and analyzed.Results: Among 290 cases, 147(50.7%) were suffering from urinary tract infection. E. coli, which is the normal intestinal flora, was the most common isolate 52 (35.4%). E. coli showed high resistance against quinolones (84.6%) and penicillin (78.8%) and there was no resistance against macrolides. Conclusion: Microbial resistance strains were high, which may be due to the abuse of antibiotics.Keywords: Hadhramout, E. coli, macrolides, quinolones

Anaphylaxis to clavulanic acid: seven-year survey

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hungry Bone Syndrome Associated with Transient Hypoparathyroidism

We report on an infant who presented at 50 days old of age with hypocalcemic seizure, who proved to have transient hypoparathyroidism, biochemically. During the course of his therapy, he developed severe hungry bone syndrome. Hungry bone syndrome and transient hypoparathyroidism is highlighted

Millimeter wave propagation measurements and characteristics for 5G system

In future 5G systems, the millimeter wave (mmWave) band will be used to support a large capacity for current mobile broadband. Therefore, the radio access technology (RAT) should be made available for 5G devices to help in distinct situations, for example device-to-device communications (D2D) and multi-hops. This paper presents ultra-wideband channel measurements for millimeter wave bands at 19, 28, and 38 GHz. We used an ultra-wideband channel sounder (1 GHz bandwidth) in an indoor to outdoor (I2O) environment for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios. In an NLOS environment, there is no direct path (line of sight), and all of the contributed paths are received from different physical objects by refection propagation phenomena. Hence, in this work, a directional horn antenna (high gain) was used at the transmitter, while an omnidirectional antenna was used at the receiver to collect the radio signals from all directions. The path loss and temporal dispersion were examined based on the acquired measurement data—the 5G propagation characteristics. Two different path loss models were used, namely close-in (CI) free space reference distance and alpha-beta-gamma (ABG) models. The time dispersion parameters were provided based on a mean excess delay, a root mean square (RMS) delay spread, and a maximum excess delay. The path loss exponent for this NLOS specific environment was found to be low for all of the proposed frequencies, and the RMS delay spread values were less than 30 ns for all of the measured frequencies, and the average RMS delay spread values were 19.2, 19.3, and 20.3 ns for 19, 28, and 38 GHz frequencies, respectively. Moreover, the mean excess delay values were found also at 26.1, 25.8, and 27.3 ns for 19, 28, and 38 GHz frequencies, respectively. The propagation signal through the NLOS channel at 19, 28, and 38 GHz was strong with a low delay; it is concluded that these bands are reliable for 5G systems in short-range applications