UWB radar for non-contact heart rate variability monitoring and mental state classification.

Heart rate variability (HRV), as measured by ultra-wideband (UWB) radar, enables contactless monitoring of physiological functioning in the human body. In the current study, we verified the reliability of HRV extraction from radar data, under limited transmitter power. In addition, we conducted a feasibility study of mental state classification from HRV data, measured using radar. Specifically, arctangent demodulation with calibration and low rank approximation have been used for radar signal pre-processing. An adaptive continuous wavelet filter and moving average filter were utilized for HRV extraction. For the mental state classification task, performance of support vector machine, k-nearest neighbors and random forest classifiers have been compared. The developed system has been validated on human participants, with 10 participants for HRV extraction, and three participants for the proof-of-concept mental state classification study. The results of HRV extraction demonstrate the reliability of time-domain parameter extraction from radar data. However, frequency-domain HRV parameters proved to be unreliable under low SNR. The best average overall mental state classification accuracy achieved was 82.34%, which has important implications for the feasibility of mental health monitoring using UWB radar

Separation and purification of curcumin preparation of morphology controlled micro particles

Curcumin was extracted from turmeric plants which is the most commonly used natural pigments, and possess a variety of pharmacological functions except for using pigment. The morphology and particle size of curcumin are main factors affecting the application. Therefore, the morphology and particle size distribution of curcumin were effectively controlled by advanced technology, which is significant for expanding the application and added value of curcumin. The curcumin crystal was obtained from curcumin pigments by using column chromatography and recrystallization techniques. The composition and structure of curcumin were characterized by elementary analysis, UV-Vis, IR and NMR. Micronization of curcumin was carried out the Solution Enhanced Dispersion by Supercritical Fluids (SEDS) technology. In the process, supercritical carbon dioxide was used as anti-solvent and acetone/dichloromethane (1:4, v:v) was used as solvent. The curcumin crystals with PSs of about 378 μm were successfully micronized by the SEDS process to micro particles with PSs of about 2.6-10 μm. The acicular, leaves, dendritic and tubular micro particles were obtained through controlling parameters such as pressure, temperature, solution concentration and solution flow rate.DOI: http://doi.dx.org/10.5564/mjc.v15i0.314 Mongolian Journal of Chemistry  15 (41), 2014, p11-1

Weight management: a comparison of existing dietary approaches in a work-site setting

<b>OBJECTIVES:</b> (1) To compare the effectiveness a 2512 kJ (600 kcal) daily energy deficit diet (ED) with a 6279 kJ (1500 kcal) generalized low-calorie diet (GLC) over a 24 week period (12 weeks weight loss plus 12 weeks weight maintenance). (2) To determine if the inclusion of lean red meat at least five times per week as part of a slimming diet is compatible with weight loss in comparison with a diet that excludes lean red meat. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. <b>SETTING:</b> Large petrochemical work-site. <b>PARTICIPANTS:</b> One-hundred and twenty-two men aged between 18 and 55 y. <b>MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:</b> Weight loss and maintenance of weight loss. <b>INTERVENTION:</b> Eligible volunteers were randomized to one of the four diet=meat combinations (ED meat, ED no meat, GLC meat, GLC no meat). One-third of subjects in each diet/meat combination were randomized to an initial control period prior to receiving dietary advice. All subjects attended for review every 2 weeks during the weight loss period. For the 12 week structured weight maintenance phase, individualized energy prescriptions were re-calculated for the ED group as 1.4 (activity factor)x basal metabolic rate. Healthy eating advice was reviewed with subjects in the GLC group. All subjects were contacted by electronic mail at 2 week intervals and anthropometric and dietary information requested. <b>RESULTS:</b> No difference was evident between diet groups in mean weight loss at 12 weeks (4.3 (s.d. 3.4) kg ED group vs 5.0 (s.d. 3.5) kg GLC group, P=0.34). Mean weight loss was closer to the intended weight loss in the 2512 kJ (600 kcal) ED group. The dropout rate was also lower than the GLC group. The inclusion of lean red meat in the diet on at least five occasions per week did not impair weight loss. Mean weight gain following 12 weeks weight maintenance was þ1.1 (s.d. 1.8) kg, P<0.0001. No differences were found between groups. <b>CONCLUSIONS:</b> This study has shown that the individualized 2512 kJ (600 kcal) ED approach was no more effective in terms of weight loss than the 6279 kJ (1500 kcal) GLC approach. However the ED approach might be considered preferable as compliance was better with this less demanding prescription. In terms of weight loss the elimination of red meat from the diet is unnecessary. The weight maintenance intervention was designed as a low-input approach, however weight regain was significant and weight maintenance strategies require further development

Selenium nanoparticles as candidates for antibacterial substitutes and supplements against multidrug-resistant bacteria

In recent years, multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria have increased rapidly, representing a major threat to human health. This problem has created an urgent need to identify alternatives for the treatment of MDR bacteria. The aim of this study was to identify the antibacterial activity of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) and selenium nanowires (SeNWs) against MDR bacteria and assess the potential synergistic effects when combined with a conventional antibiotic (linezolid). SeNPs and SeNWs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), zeta potential, and UV-visible analysis. The antibacterial effects of SeNPs and SeNWs were confirmed by the macro-dilution minimum inhibi-tory concentration (MIC) test. SeNPs showed MIC values against methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA), methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA), and vanco-mycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) at concentrations of 20, 80, 320, and >320 μg/mL, respectively. On the other hand, SeNWs showed a MIC value of >320 μg/mL against all tested bacteria. Therefore, MSSA, MRSA, and VRSA were selected for the bacteria to be tested, and SeNPs were selected as the antimicrobial agent for the following experiments. In the time-kill assay, SeNPs at a concentration of 4X MIC (80 and 320 μg/mL) showed bactericidal effects against MSSA and MRSA, respectively. At a concentration of 2X MIC (40 and 160 μg/mL), SeNPs showed bacteriostatic effects against MSSA and bactericidal effects against MRSA, respectively. In the synergy test, SeNPs showed a synergistic effect with linezolid (LZD) through protein degradation against MSSA and MRSA. In conclusion, these results suggest that SeNPs can be candidates for antibacterial substitutes and supplements against MDR bacteria for topical use, such as dressings. However, for use in clinical situations, additional experiments such as toxicity and synergistic mechanism tests of SeNPs are needed

The Effect of Transposable Element Insertions on Gene Expression Evolution in Rodents

Background:Many genomes contain a substantial number of transposable elements (TEs), a few of which are known to be involved in regulating gene expression. However, recent observations suggest that TEs may have played a very important role in the evolution of gene expression because many conserved non-genic sequences, some of which are know to be involved in gene regulation, resemble TEs. Results:Here we investigate whether new TE insertions affect gene expression profiles by testing whether gene expression divergence between mouse and rat is correlated to the numbers of new transposable elements inserted near genes. We show that expression divergence is significantly correlated to the number of new LTR and SINE elements, but not to the numbers of LINEs. We also show that expression divergence is not significantly correlated to the numbers of ancestral TEs in most cases, which suggests that the correlations between expression divergence and the numbers of new TEs are causal in nature. We quantify the effect and estimate that TE insertion has accounted for ~20% (95% confidence interval: 12% to 26%) of all expression profile divergence in rodents. Conclusions:We conclude that TE insertions may have had a major impact on the evolution of gene expression levels in rodents

Cut off values of waist circumference & associated cardiovascular risk in egyptians

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent guidelines stressed the need to adopt different values of waist circumference (WC) measurements to define abdominal obesity in different ethnic groups. The aim of this study is to identify WC cutoff points in normotensive and hypertensive subjects which are diagnostic of abdominal obesity in a Middle Eastern population and the prevalence of abdominal obesity in a nationwide sample.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were collected during phase-2 of the Egyptians National Hypertension Project survey. Blood pressure, anthropometric measurements and laboratory studies were performed according to a standardized protocol by trained personnel. To derive the cutoff points for WC, we applied the factor analysis on CV risk factors: diabetes mellitus, decrease in HDL-C and increase in LDL-C, triglycerides and left ventricular mass index by echocardiography.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The sample included 2313 individuals above the age of 25 years. WC values (mean ± SD) were 88 ± 14 cm and 95 ± 14 cm for normotensive (NT) and hypertensive (HT) men respectively, and 89.6 ± 14.7 cm and 95.7 ± 15.9 cm for NT and HT women respectively. Applying factor analysis, the weighted average cutoff points were 93.5 cm for both NT and HT men and 91.5 and 92.5 cm for NT and HT women respectively. Based on these thresholds, the prevalence of abdominal obesity was 48% in men and 51.5% in women.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first report of specific abdominal obesity cutoff points in a Middle Eastern country. The cutoff points were different from the Europid standards. There is a high prevalence rate of abdominal obesity among Egyptians which is associated with increased prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors.</p

Things change: Women’s and men’s marital disruption dynamics in Italy during a time of social transformations, 1970-2003

We study women’s and men’s marital disruption in Italy between 1970 and 2003. By applying an event-history analysis to the 2003 Italian variant of the Generations and Gender Survey we found that the spread of marital disruption started among middle-highly educated women. Then in recent years it appears that less educated women have also been able to dissolve their unhappy unions. Overall we can see the beginning of a reversed educational gradient from positive to negative. In contrast the trend in men’s marital disruption risk appears as a change over time common to all educational groups, although with persisting educational differentials.determinants, educational differences, event history analysis, gender difference, Italy, marital disruption

Increased entropy of signal transduction in the cancer metastasis phenotype

Studies into the statistical properties of biological networks have led to important biological insights, such as the presence of hubs and hierarchical modularity. There is also a growing interest in studying the statistical properties of networks in the context of cancer genomics. However, relatively little is known as to what network features differ between the cancer and normal cell physiologies, or between different cancer cell phenotypes. Based on the observation that frequent genomic alterations underlie a more aggressive cancer phenotype, we asked if such an effect could be detectable as an increase in the randomness of local gene expression patterns. Using a breast cancer gene expression data set and a model network of protein interactions we derive constrained weighted networks defined by a stochastic information flux matrix reflecting expression correlations between interacting proteins. Based on this stochastic matrix we propose and compute an entropy measure that quantifies the degree of randomness in the local pattern of information flux around single genes. By comparing the local entropies in the non-metastatic versus metastatic breast cancer networks, we here show that breast cancers that metastasize are characterised by a small yet significant increase in the degree of randomness of local expression patterns. We validate this result in three additional breast cancer expression data sets and demonstrate that local entropy better characterises the metastatic phenotype than other non-entropy based measures. We show that increases in entropy can be used to identify genes and signalling pathways implicated in breast cancer metastasis. Further exploration of such integrated cancer expression and protein interaction networks will therefore be a fruitful endeavour.Comment: 5 figures, 2 Supplementary Figures and Table

Planetary Nebulae as standard candles XI. Application to Spiral Galaxies

We report the results of an [O III] lambda 5007 survey for planetary nebulae (PN) in three spiral galaxies: M101 (NGC 5457), M51 (NGC 5194/5195) and M96 (NGC 3368). By comparing on-band/off-band [O III] lambda 5007 images with images taken in H-alpha and broadband R, we identify 65, 64 and 74 PN candidates in each galaxy, respectively. From these data, an adopted M31 distance of 770 kpc, and the empirical planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF), we derive distances to M101, M51, and M96 of 7.7 +/- 0.5, 8.4 +/- 0.6, and 9.6 +/- 0.6 Mpc. These observations demonstrate that the PNLF technique can be successfully applied to late-type galaxies, and provide an important overlap between the Population I and Population II distance scales. We also discuss some special problems associated with using the PNLF in spiral galaxies, including the effects of dust and the possible presence of [O III] bright supernova remnants.Comment: 38 pages, TeX, with tables included but not figures. Uses epsf.tex and kpnobasic.tex. To be published in the Astophysical Journal. Full paper is available at http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/johnf/Text/research.htm