Preliminary design of portable electromyography (EMG) system for clinical signal acquisition

The surface electromyogram was found very useful in muscle activity scanning and diagnosis purposes. With the high demand from the physiotherapist and neurophysiologist, electromyography (EMG) has been developing rapidly to meet the needs. The quantitative analysis of the EMG signal is required to provide particular characteristics of the EMG signal. In this paper, the EMG signals system's design is presented, and the proposed portable EMG system design concept is discussed to improve the current difficulties of EMG signal collection. The sampling frequency of the EMG signal is between 20-500Hz. The EMG signal is received successfully using the wired devices during the contraction of the muscle. The portable non-invasive EMG system was successfully reduce the interference of the signal whereby the movement of the muscle can be easily detected during the data collection

Association of SARS-CoV-2 clades with clinical, inflammatory and virologic outcomes: An observational study

BACKGROUND: Host determinants of severe coronavirus disease 2019 include advanced age, comorbidities and male sex. Virologic factors may also be important in determining clinical outcome and transmission rates, but limited patient-level data is available. METHODS: We conducted an observational cohort study at seven public hospitals in Singapore. Clinical and laboratory data were collected and compared between individuals infected with different SARS-CoV-2 clades. Firth's logistic regression was used to examine the association between SARS-CoV-2 clade and development of hypoxia, and quasi-Poisson regression to compare transmission rates. Plasma samples were tested for immune mediator levels and the kinetics of viral replication in cell culture were compared. FINDINGS: 319 patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection had clinical and virologic data available for analysis. 29 (9%) were infected with clade S, 90 (28%) with clade L/V, 96 (30%) with clade G (containing D614G variant), and 104 (33%) with other clades 'O' were assigned to lineage B.6. After adjusting for age and other covariates, infections with clade S (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0·030 (95% confidence intervals (CI): 0·0002-0·29)) or clade O (B·6) (aOR 0·26 (95% CI 0·064-0·93)) were associated with lower odds of developing hypoxia requiring supplemental oxygen compared with clade L/V. Patients infected with clade L/V had more pronounced systemic inflammation with higher concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and growth factors. No significant difference in the severity of clade G infections was observed (aOR 0·95 (95% CI: 0·35-2·52). Though viral loads were significantly higher, there was no evidence of increased transmissibility of clade G, and replicative fitness in cell culture was similar for all clades. INTERPRETATION: Infection with clades L/V was associated with increased severity and more systemic release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Infection with clade G was not associated with changes in severity, and despite higher viral loads there was no evidence of increased transmissibility

Targeted gene sanger sequencing should remain the first-tier genetic test for children suspected to have the five common X-linked inborn errors of immunity

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.To address inborn errors of immunity (IEI) which were underdiagnosed in resource-limited regions, our centre developed and offered free genetic testing for the most common IEI by Sanger sequencing (SS) since 2001. With the establishment of The Asian Primary Immunodeficiency (APID) Network in 2009, the awareness and definitive diagnosis of IEI were further improved with collaboration among centres caring for IEI patients from East and Southeast Asia. We also started to use whole exome sequencing (WES) for undiagnosed cases and further extended our collaboration with centres from South Asia and Africa. With the increased use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), we have shifted our diagnostic practice from SS to WES. However, SS was still one of the key diagnostic tools for IEI for the past two decades. Our centre has performed 2,024 IEI SS genetic tests, with in-house protocol designed specifically for 84 genes, in 1,376 patients with 744 identified to have disease-causing mutations (54.1%). The high diagnostic rate after just one round of targeted gene SS for each of the 5 common IEI (X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) 77.4%, Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome (WAS) 69.2%, X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (XCGD) 59.5%, X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) 51.1%, and X-linked hyper-IgM syndrome (HIGM1) 58.1%) demonstrated targeted gene SS should remain the first-tier genetic test for the 5 common X-linked IEI.The Hong Kong Society for Relief of Disabled Children and Jeffrey Modell Foundation.http://www.frontiersin.org/Immunologyam2023Paediatrics and Child Healt

Analytical performance of 3 m and 3 m+1 armchair graphene nanoribbons under uniaxial strain

The electronic band structure and carrier density of strained armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) with widths of n =3 m and n =3 m +1 were examined using tight-binding approximation. The current-voltage (I-V) model of uniaxial strained n =3 m AGNRs incorporating quantum confinement effects is also presented in this paper. The derivation originates from energy dispersion throughout the entire Brillouin zone of uniaxial strained AGNRs based on a tight-binding approximation. Our results reveal the modification of the energy bandgap, carrier density, and drain current upon strain. Unlike the two-dimensional graphene, whose bandgap remains near to zero even when a large strain is applied, the bandgap and carrier density of AGNRs are shown to be sensitive to the magnitude of uniaxial strain. Discrepancies between the classical calculation and quantum calculation were also measured. It has been found that as much as 19% of the drive current loss is due to the quantum confinement. These analytical models which agree well with the experimental and numerical results provide physical insights into the characterizations of uniaxial strained AGNR

Quantum mechanical effects on the performance of strained silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor

In recent development of nanoelectronic devices, strained silicon Metal- Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET) has been identified as a promising structure for the future nanoscale device. Strained silicon is an attractive option due to the enhanced carrier mobility, high field velocity and carrier velocity overshoot. However, the aggressive geometry scaling has approached a limit where the classical mechanism is insufficient to clarify the characteristics of nanoscale MOSFET accurately. Beyond the classical limit, quantum-mechanical model becomes necessary to provide thorough assessment of the device performance. This research describes the modeling of nanoscale strained silicon MOSFET taking into account the critical quantum mechanical effects in terms of energy quantization and carrier charge distribution. Technology-Computer-Aided-Design (TCAD) simulations that apply the classical mechanisms are conducted to allow comparison with the developed models. It is shown that quantum mechanical effects become more dominant at channel length below 60nm. Significant discrepancy of threshold voltage as high as 90mV is found particularly in short channel regimes. The analytical model was also extended to the advanced structure of dual channel that provides higher electron and hole mobility compared to strained silicon MOSFET. The models were subsequently compared to the TCAD simulation results using a similar set of parameters as well as to the existing data from other literatures. Excellent agreements validate the models based on the physics of the quantum mechanical effects. In addition, the current-voltage model incorporating the quantum mechanical correction was also developed. The role of quantum capacitance over current drive in the channel was discussed. The developed models successfully replicate experimental data with proper physical explanation

Two dimensional analytical threshold voltage model of nanoscale strained Si/Si1-xGex MOSFETs including quantum mechanical effects

A new analytical model derived from the Poisson equation for surface potential and threshold voltage (V th), including the Quantum Mechanical Effects (QMEs) is presented for nanoscale strained Si1–x Ge x MOSFETs. Boundary condition approaches are applied in the model. The threshold voltage analytical model is developed using 20% germanium content in Si1–x Ge x substrates. The model is developed to investigate the quantum mechanical effects on the magnitude of surface potential and threshold voltage. The impacts of strain and quantum confinement on the shift of threshold voltage are explained. Our threshold voltage model incorporates the quantum oxide thickness and the effective flatband voltage. For the validation purpose, the developed threshold model is verified using 2D ATLAS simulation results. The results obtained from the developed model have a good agreement with the simulation results. Both the analytical and the simulation results demonstrate a significant increase of threshold voltage in strained silicon considering the quantum mechanical effects

A review of surface EMG in clinical rehabilitation care systems design

Surface electromyography in clinical rehabilitation care systems are widely used in the rehabilitation center. Basically, it is used to record the electrical activity generated from the motor units. sEMG has not yet been fully successfully implemented in clinical practice due to several issues. The reliability of clinical signal extraction is still being discussed among researchers. In this review article, the electromyography, electrodes, features of the signal, noises and artifacts, classification, and the designs were deliberated. The enhancement of EMG signal analysis is essential to contribute a further description of the signal. There are many useful clinical applications related to sEMG that has been developed. However, the sEMG amplitudes still lack of study. Therefore, emphasis on sEMG amplitudes and related study can help improve the quality of the clinical applications and quality of life

High-k gate dielectric nano-FET leakage current analysis

This paper reveals the use of high-k dielectric material to mitigate the subthreshold leakage current. The feature size of conventional MOSFET using SiO2 has approached their physical limits where the oxide thickness should not reach below 2nm due to high leakage current and the tunnelling increase drastically. Therefore, it is difficult to scale down the size of the MOSFET meanwhile improve its performance. Instead of reducing the size of the transistor, it can make the changes to the parameter, such as the channel length, oxide thickness, and channel width. However, these may affect the performance of the device. Hence, the replacement of SiO2 with other high-k dielectric material has been analyzed. The material used in the analysis including SiO2, Al2O3, HfO2, Ta2O5, and La2O3. The characteristic of subthreshold leakage current was tested through simulation using MATLAB. La2O3 as dielectric material shows a good refinement on mitigating the subthreshold leakage current by 87% compared to SiO2

Physics-based simulation of carrier velocity in 2-dimensional p-type MOSFET

The carrier velocity for 2-dimensional (2-D) p-type nanostructure was simulated in this paper. According to the energy band diagram, the effective mass (m*) in the p-type silicon is mostly dominated by heavy hole because of the large gap between heavy hole and light hole in k = 0. The carrier concentration calculation for 2-D, based on the Fermi - Dirac statistic on the order of zero (0 ), was applied to obtain the intrinsic velocity of carrier, in the term of thermal velocity vth. The results for 2-D carrier velocity were modeled and simulated, and the comparison for degenerate and non-degenerate regime is presented for various temperature and concentration. It is revealed that the velocity is strongly dependent on concentration and becomes independent of temperature at high concentration

Acupuncture for cancer related pain : protocol for a pragmatic randomised wait-list controlled trial

Background: Acupuncture has been proved effective for cancer related pain (CRP) in China, America and some other countries. However, there is relative lack of evidence to support the use of acupuncture for CRP in Australia. Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for management of CRP in a real-world setting and to understand cancer patients’ experience of undergoing acupuncture for CRP. Methods: A pragmatic randomised controlled trial will be conducted in South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) in NSW, Australia. Adults with cancer related pain (n = 106) will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to receive the acupuncture intervention up front versus after a wait list period of 4 weeks. Pain level (by Numerical Rating Scale), analgesic use, auricular acupressure frequency and adverse events will be assessed at baseline, mid-treatment and post-treatment. Expectancy on trial outcome (by Credibility and Expectancy questionnaire) will be assessed at baseline. The perspective of the participants (by an interview) will be recorded after the last intervention. Expected outcomes: We hypothesise that acupuncture will relieve cancer related pain at mid-treatment and post-treatment. We also hypothesise that few adverse events will be provoked by acupuncture. Trial registration: Australia New-Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12620000325909)