98 research outputs found
Predicting mental imagery based BCI performance from personality, cognitive profile and neurophysiological patterns
Mental-Imagery based Brain-Computer Interfaces (MI-BCIs) allow their users to send commands
to a computer using their brain-activity alone (typically measured by ElectroEncephaloGraphy—
EEG), which is processed while they perform specific mental tasks. While very
promising, MI-BCIs remain barely used outside laboratories because of the difficulty
encountered by users to control them. Indeed, although some users obtain good control
performances after training, a substantial proportion remains unable to reliably control an
MI-BCI. This huge variability in user-performance led the community to look for predictors of
MI-BCI control ability. However, these predictors were only explored for motor-imagery
based BCIs, and mostly for a single training session per subject. In this study, 18 participants
were instructed to learn to control an EEG-based MI-BCI by performing 3 MI-tasks, 2
of which were non-motor tasks, across 6 training sessions, on 6 different days. Relationships
between the participants’ BCI control performances and their personality, cognitive
profile and neurophysiological markers were explored. While no relevant relationships with
neurophysiological markers were found, strong correlations between MI-BCI performances
and mental-rotation scores (reflecting spatial abilities) were revealed. Also, a predictive
model of MI-BCI performance based on psychometric questionnaire scores was proposed.
A leave-one-subject-out cross validation process revealed the stability and reliability of this
model: it enabled to predict participants’ performance with a mean error of less than 3
points. This study determined how users’ profiles impact their MI-BCI control ability and
thus clears the way for designing novel MI-BCI training protocols, adapted to the profile of
each user
Personalized Drug Dosage – Closing the Loop
A brief account is given of various approaches
to the individualization of drug dosage, including the use of
pharmacodynamic markers, therapeutic monitoring of plasma
drug concentrations, genotyping, computer-guided dosage
using ‘dashboards’, and automatic closed-loop control of
pharmacological action. The potential for linking the real patient
to his or her ‘virtual twin’ through the application of
physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modeling is also
discussed
In silico assessment of biomedical products: the conundrum of rare but not so rare events in two case studies
In silico clinical trials, defined as “The use of individualized computer simulation in the development or regulatory evaluation of a medicinal product, medical device, or medical intervention,” have been proposed as a possible strategy to reduce the regulatory costs of innovation and the time to market for biomedical products. We review some of the the literature on this topic, focusing in particular on those applications where the current practice is recognized as inadequate, as for example, the detection of unexpected severe adverse events too rare to be detected in a clinical trial, but still likely enough to be of concern. We then describe with more details two case studies, two successful applications of in silico clinical trial approaches, one relative to the University of Virginia/Padova simulator that the Food and Drug Administration has accepted as possible replacement for animal testing in the preclinical assessment of artificial pancreas technologies, and the second, an investigation of the probability of cardiac lead fracture, where a Bayesian network was used to combine in vivo and in silico observations, suggesting a whole new strategy of in silico-augmented clinical trials, to be used to increase the numerosity where recruitment is impossible, or to explore patients’ phenotypes that are unlikely to appear in the trial cohort, but are still frequent enough to be of concern
How Can High-Biodiversity Coffee Make It to the Mainstream Market? The Performativity of Voluntary Sustainability Standards and Outcomes for Coffee Diversification
Proteases of haematophagous arthropod vectors are involved in blood-feeding, yolk formation and immunity : a review
Ticks, triatomines, mosquitoes and sand flies comprise a large number of haematophagous arthropods considered vectors of human infectious diseases. While consuming blood to obtain the nutrients necessary to carry on life functions, these insects can transmit pathogenic microorganisms to the vertebrate host. Among the molecules related to the blood-feeding habit, proteases play an essential role. In this review, we provide a panorama of proteases from arthropod vectors involved in haematophagy, in digestion, in egg development and in immunity. As these molecules act in central biological processes, proteases from haematophagous vectors of infectious diseases may influence vector competence to transmit pathogens to their prey, and thus could be valuable targets for vectorial control
Whiting–related sediment export along the Middle Miocene carbonate ramp of Great Bahama Bank.
International audienc
Metagenomics: DNA sequencing of environmental samples
While genomics has classically focused on pure, easy-to-obtain samples, such as microbes that grow readily in culture or large animals and plants, these organisms represent but a fraction of the living or once living organisms of interest. Many species are difficult to study in isolation, because they fail to grow in laboratory culture, depend on other organisms for critical processes, or have become extinct. DNA sequence-based methods circumvent these obstacles, as DNA can be directly isolated from live or dead cells in a variety of contexts, and have led to the emergence of a new field referred to as metagenomics
Proteases of haematophagous arthropod vectors are involved in blood-feeding, yolk formation and immunity - a review
Spatio-temporal assessment of soil erosion at Kuala Lumpur metropolitan city using remote sensing data and GIS
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