Examination of Prefrontal Cortex Activity After EEG-Neurofeedback Stimulation in Overweight Cases

Food intake regulation is considered the key to weight control and overweight prevention. The brain activity in PreFrontal Cortex (PFC) plays a role in food intake behaviors. Most of the previous studies were aimed to PFC stimulation in overweight cases to modify the food intake behaviors. The EEG-neurofeedback is one of  the brain stimulation techniques; therefore, this study aims to find the effect of  EEG-NF stimulation on PFC function by EEG features analysis. For the purpose of analysis, the theta\beta ratio was extracted from ten healthy overweight participators in this study. All participants were divided into two groups, experimental group and control group with two phase-terms, pre and post-stimulation phase. The experiments were run using EEG-NF device. The results in this study indicate that success of EEG-Neurofeedback in PFC stimulation of overweight cases may have an influence on changing the food intake behavior

Preliminary characterization of corn cob ash as an alternative material for ceramic hollow fiber membrane (CHFM/CCA)

Currently, exchanging trends in the expensive usage of ceramic materials such as alumina, zirconia etc. into economical ceramic raw sources have been extensively studied over the last decade for various technological applications. Despite the fact that this ceramic compound or elements offer a great performance and stability, especially at high temperature, the basic commercial price and higher sintering temperature of this compound which is a little bit higher have hindered the used of these materials. Thus interest in fabricating of bio-ceramic membrane using corn cob ash (CCA), an agricultural by product not only offered the development of new low cost materials but also able to enhance better properties and performance. The suitability of corn cob ash as an alternative material for ceramic hollow fiber membrane fabrication (CHFM/CCA) as a main substrate was investigated via combined phase inversion and sintering technique based on several controlled operating parameters. The effects of selected bore fluid (5, 10, 15 and 20 mL/min) and different sintering temperature (800 °C, 900 °C, 1000 °C, 1100 °C) towards membrane structure and properties were observed and studied. Interestingly, characterization analysis of the SEM morphology showed that the potential of the main constituents of corn cob ash which highly consisted of silica, alumina and calcium oxide are able to improve the properties of CHFM/CCA by lowering sintering temperature (1000 °C) as compared to the standard CHFM bodies which normally has sintering temperature higher than 1200 °C. Thus, the use of corn cob ash not only able to enhance ceramic properties but also able to reduce sintering temperature. Reduction in energy consumption with slightly reduced sintering temperature also will offer a better sustainable process through recycling abundant waste materials as well as emphasis on the green resources. With that respect, the bio-material of corn cob ash is capable to replace the commercial ceramic membrane materials for membrane applications by considering the availability of this agro waste product as the main crops in most countries in the world

Characterization of a Magnetorheological Fluid Damper Applied to Semi-Active Engine Mounting System / M. Hafiz Harun...[et al.]

This study is to propose a hysteresis damper model that can be integrated with the vehicle control system. A prototype of magnetorheological for engine mounting has been designed and tested to realize the objective of this study. The experimental on the prototype of the magnetorheological damper for engine mounts has been conducted in order to investigate the hysteresis of this damper. From the experiment, the results are evaluated in terms of damping force versus piston displacement and also the damping force versus piston velocity. It is significantly shows that the proposed model satisfy the non-linear hysteresis behavior of the MR damper in the form of force-velocity and force-displacement characteristics

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Effect of tapering diameters with microbottle resonator for formaldehyde (CH2O) liquid sensing

In this study, we demonstrate the effect of the microbottle resonator (MBR) based on whispering gallery modes (WGMs) with two different diameters of tapered microfibre and its experiment with the formaldehyde (CH2O) liquid sensor. The MBR with the bottle diameter, Db, of 190 μm was categorized by many spectra of transmission modes. Then, the MBR was energized through two tapered microfibres with different diameters, 8 μm and 10 μm. Differences between the two tapered microfibres with the MBR were determined for different concentration levels of sensing liquid. In addition, p-values and stability levels of the two tapered microfibres were calculated. According to the comparison results, the 8 μm tapered microfiber has a much better competency than the 10 μm tapered microfiber when using the MBR. © 201

Effect of Antiplatelet Therapy on Survival and Organ Support–Free Days in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19

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