Sleep spindle alterations in patients with Parkinson's disease

The aim of this study was to identify changes of sleep spindles (SS) in the EEG of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Five sleep experts manually identified SS at a central scalp location (C3-A2) in 15 PD and 15 age- and sex-matched control subjects. Each SS was given a confidence score, and by using a group consensus rule, 901 SS were identified and characterized by their (1) duration, (2) oscillation frequency, (3) maximum peak-to-peak amplitude, (4) percent-to-peak amplitude, and (5) density. Between-group comparisons were made for all SS characteristics computed, and significant changes for PD patients vs. control subjects were found for duration, oscillation frequency, maximum peak-to-peak amplitude and density. Specifically, SS density was lower, duration was longer, oscillation frequency slower and maximum peak-to-peak amplitude higher in patients vs. controls. We also computed inter-expert reliability in SS scoring and found a significantly lower reliability in scoring definite SS in patients when compared to controls. How neurodegeneration in PD could influence SS characteristics is discussed. We also note that the SS morphological changes observed here may affect automatic detection of SS in patients with PD or other neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs)

Determining specific biomass activity in anaerobic wastewater treatment processes

«Erworben im Rahmen der Schweizer Nationallizenzen (http://www.nationallizenzen.ch)»An experimental method for the measurement of specific gas production rate was developed and tested with biomass samples taken from anaerobic fluidized bed reactors, operating with a variety of carriers with molasses, condensate from cellulose production and brewery wastewater as feeds. The method is based on reactor sampling and offline gas volume measurement during a known time interval. Important factors are biomass and liquid sampling under oxygen-free conditions, using the liquid from the reactor as substrate, providing sufficient mixing and maintaining the physical integrity of the biomass. The method was developed in such a way that small samples (20 ml) were taken under anaerobic conditions (poising agent) for short-term (2-3 min.) gas rate measurements in a small fluidized bed (25 ml) batch reactor with U-tube. Biomass content was measured by an instrumental nitrogen method (Dumas), followed by weight determination of the carrier. The gas rates measured with the test system, and their dependence on substrate concentration, were in good agreement with those directly measured from the continuous fluidized bed reactor. Additions of molasses and acetate to the sample proved that the influence of concentration on the biomass activity can be obtained only by operating the continuous reactor at the concentration levels of interest. Comparison between the reactors showed large differences in the specific activity and the total reactor activity. It was found when comparing two reactors, that the values of the specific and the total activities permitted the calculation of the relative biomass quantities. In this way the influence of the carrier-type could be evaluated

The genetics of feto-placental development: A study of acid phosphatase locus 1 and adenosine deaminase polymorphisms in a consecutive series of newborn infants

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Acid phosphatase locus 1 and adenosine deaminase locus 1 polymorphisms show cooperative effects on glucose metabolism and immunological functions. The recent observation of cooperation between the two systems on susceptibility to repeated spontaneous miscarriage prompted us to search for possible interactional effects between these genes and the correlation between birth weight and placental weight. Deviation from a balanced development of the feto-placental unit has been found to be associated with perinatal morbidity and mortality and with cardiovascular diseases in adulthood.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We examined 400 consecutive newborns from the Caucasian population of Rome. Birth weight, placental weight, and gestational length were registered. Acid phosphatase locus 1 and adenosine deaminase locus 1 phenotypes were determined by starch gel electrophoresis and correlation analysis was performed by SPSS programs. Informed verbal consent to participate in the study was obtained from the mothers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Highly significant differences in birth weight-placental weight correlations were observed among acid phosphatase locus 1 phenotypes (p = 0.005). The correlation between birth weight and placental weight was markedly elevated in subjects carrying acid phosphatase locus 1 phenotypes with medium-low F isoform concentration (A, CA and CB phenotypes) compared to those carrying acid phosphatase locus 1 phenotypes with medium-high F isoform concentration (BA and B phenotypes) (p = 0.002). Environmental and developmental variables were found to exert a significant effect on birth weight-placental weight correlation in subjects with medium-high F isoform concentrations, but only a marginal effect was observed in those with medium-low F isoform concentrations. The correlation between birth weight and placental weight is higher among carriers of the adenosine deaminase locus 1 allele*2, which is associated with low activity, than in homozygous adenosine deaminase locus 1 phenotype 1 carriers (p = 0.04). The two systems show a cooperative effect on the correlation between birth weight and placental weight: the highest value is observed in newborns carrying adenosine deaminase locus 1 allele*2 and acid phosphatase locus 1 phenotypes with medium-low F isoform concentration (p = 0.005).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest that zygotes with low adenosine deaminase locus 1 activity and low F activity may experience the most favourable intrauterine conditions for a balanced development of the feto-placental unit.</p

An Intelligent Decision Support System for the Detection of Meat Spoilage using Multispectral Images

In food industry, quality and safety are considered important issues worldwide that are directly related to health and social progress. The use of vision technology for quality testing of food production has the obvious advantage of being able to continuously monitor a production using non-destructive methods, thus increasing the quality and minimizing cost. The performance of an intelligent decision support system has been evaluated in monitoring the spoilage of minced beef stored either aerobically or under modified atmosphere packaging, at different storage temperatures (0, 5, 10, and 15 °C) utilising multispectral imaging information. This paper utilises a neuro-fuzzy model which incorporates a clustering pre-processing stage for the definition of fuzzy rules, while its final fuzzy rule base is determined by competitive learning. Initially, meat samples are classified according to their storage conditions, while identification models are then utilised for the prediction of the Total Viable Counts of bacteria. The innovation of the proposed approach is further extended to the identification of the temperature used for storage, utilizing only imaging spectral information. Results indicated that spectral information in combination with the proposed modelling scheme could be considered as an alternative methodology for the accurate evaluation of meat spoilage