The collocation and meshless methods for differential equations in R(2)

In recent years, meshless methods have become popular ones to solve differential equations. In this thesis, we aim at solving differential equations by using Radial Basis Functions, collocation methods and fundamental solutions (MFS). These methods are meshless, easy to understand, and even easier to implement

The effect of voluntary modulation of the sensory-motor rhythm during different mental tasks on H reflex

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the possibility of the short-term modulation of the soleus H reflex through self-induced modulation of the sensory-motor rhythm (SMR) as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) at Cz. Methods: Sixteen healthy participants took part in one session of neuromodulation. Motor imagery and mental math were strategies for decreasing SMR, while neurofeedback was used to increase SMR. H reflex of the soleus muscle was elicited by stimulating tibial nerve when SMR reached a pre-defined threshold and was averaged over 5 trials. Results: Neurofeedback and mental math both resulted in the statistically significant increase of H reflex (p = 1.04·10− 6 and p = 5.47·10− 5 respectively) while motor imagery produced the inconsistent direction of H reflex modulation (p = 0.57). The average relative increase of H reflex amplitude was for neurofeedback 19.0 ± 5.4%, mental math 11.1 ± 3.6% and motor imagery 2.6 ± 1.0%. A significant negative correlation existed between SMR amplitude and H reflex for all tasks at Cz and C4. Conclusions: It is possible to achieve a short-term modulation of H reflex through short-term modulation of SMR. Various mental tasks dominantly facilitate H reflex irrespective of direction of SMR modulation. Significance: Improving understanding of the influence of sensory-motor cortex on the monosynaptic reflex through the self-induced modulation of cortical activity

Central neuropathic pain in paraplegia alters movement related potentials

Objectives: Spinal Cord Injured (SCI) persons with and without Central Neuropathic Pain (CNP) show different oscillatory brain activities during imagination of movement. This study investigates whether they also show differences in movement related cortical potentials (MRCP). Methods: SCI paraplegic patients with no CNP (n = 8), with CNP in their lower limbs (n = 8), and healthy control subjects (n = 10) took part in the study. EEG clustering involved independent component analysis, equivalent current dipole fitting, and Measure Projection to define cortical domains that have functional modularity during the motor imagery task. Results: Three domains were identified: limbic system, sensory-motor cortex and visual cortex. The MRCP difference between the groups of SCI with and without CNP was reflected in a domain located in the limbic system, while the difference between SCI patients and control subjects was in the sensorimotor domain. Differences in MRCP morphology between patients and healthy controls were visible for both paralysed and non paralysed limbs. Conclusion: SCI but not CNP affects the movement preparation, and both SCI and CNP affect sensory processes. Significance: Rehabilitation strategies of SCI patients based on MRCP should take into account the presence of CNP

Design and Implementation of Microcontroller Based Portable Drug Delivery System

Portable drug delivery system or portable syringe pump system is a small infusion pump used to gradually deliver drugs, at low doses and at a constant or controllable rate of drug to a patient who needs to take a drug dose regularly in specific periods all the day. The aim of this research is to design and perform a prototype of a portable drug delivery system controlled by micro controller. The micro controller will control the dose of liquid or medication which will be given to the patient and the time of repetition of the dose. The dose rate will be adjusted by controlling the operation of stepper motor which will drive the syringe pump through fine mechanism set

The causality between Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Central Neuropathic Pain (CNP), and the effectiveness of neuromodulation strategies on cortical excitability and CNP in patients with spinal cord injury

Spinal Cord Injury has primary consequences visible immediately upon injury and secondary consequence which develop some time after injury. One of the primary consequences of SCI is loss or impairment of sensory and motor functions. Related secondary consequences of the injury are Central Neuropathic Pain (CNP) and spasticity. Several studies have found that CNP can affect the cortical activity of the patient and long term CNP causes anatomical cortical changes. Therefore, early prediction and treatment of CNP could potentially prevent these changes and hopefully increase responsiveness to the treatment. Neurofeedback (NF) technique, which is a sub-category of biofeedback that uses brain waves as physiological parameters to be modulated, can be used to alter this change in cortical activity and treat CNP. The sensory motor cortex is the area of the brain responsible for voluntary control of movement and for cortical modulation of reflexes. NF provided from the sensory-motor area can therefore affect both CNP and voluntary and reflex movements. The aim of this PhD project was to explore the influence of neuromodulation strategies over the central cortex on the H reflex and CNP following SCI. It also aimed to investigate the causal relationship between the change in EEG activity and the transitional period from early symptoms of CNP to the chronic phase of CNP following SCI. The first study of this project was performed on able-bodied volunteers to explore the effect of the short-term neuromodulation strategies: NF, motor imagery (MI) and mental math (MM) of the sensory-motor rhythm (SMR) on the soleus H reflex. Results of the study showed that it is possible to achieve short-term modulation of the H reflex through short-term modulation of the SMR. Various mental tasks dominantly facilitate the H reflex irrespective of the direction of SMR modulation. The results of this study can be used to explain the effect of NF therapy on spasticity in SCI patient, for example. The second study analysed predictors of CNP in sub-acute SCI patients who have not yet developed physical symptoms of pain. It compared EEG signal between patients who did and did not develop pain within the first six months after EEG recording as well as patients with CNP and able bodied volunteers. This study demonstrated that changes in spontaneous and induced EEG can be both predictors and consequences of CNP following SCI. The third study explores the effectiveness of Neurofeedback (NF) on treatment of CNP in subacute SCI patients with CNP. The results of this study demonstrate that the NF treatment has a positive effect on the reduction of pain, at least over the period of the study. However, numerous factors, and in particular patients’ low prioritization of pain, indicate that early NF of CNP in SCI patients might not be a practical solution. The fourth study utilizes advanced methods of source analysis to define dynamic signatures of long standing CNP by using Measure Projection Analysis (MPA) for movement related cortical potential (MRCP). To separate the effect of long-term paralysis from the effect of long-term CNP, brain activity has been compared between three groups: able bodied volunteers, patients with chronic paraplegia (paralysis of lower limbs) with no pain and patients with chronic paraplegia and long standing CNP. This study showed that the movement related potential is dominantly influenced by paralysis while both CNP and paralysis affect the reafferentation component of the MRCP. Additionally, CNP influences cognitive processes in a manner that depends on the functional area of the cortex

Pyometra Presented With Rectal Pain, a Case Report and Review of Literature

Pyometra is an uncommon gynecological condition resulted from occlusion of the cervix usually by a malignant condition. It has an incidence of 0.1%-0.5%. Untreated pyometra leads to rupture uterus and acute infective peritonitis presented as acute abdomen and needs urgent surgical intervention. Pyometra resulted from occlusion of the vagina is very rare. No cases have been described in the English literature to the best of our knowledge and in the PubMed. The purpose of reporting this case is to show that occlusion of the vagina could occur in postmenopausal women as a consequence of local infection and results in pyometra and also to show that pyometra can be presented in a different way apart from the classical presentation. The way to reach the diagnosis and how to manage the case has been also discussed thoroughly

Streaming in-patient BPM data to the cloud with a real-time monitoring system

Monitoring the heart activities for old people or people with medical history (Arrhythmia or CHD) is targeted by most new medical technologies. This paper demonstrated an in-patient real-time monitoring system for heart rate estimation. A ratio of beats per minute (BPM) is continuously recorded, streamed and archived to the cloud via WeMos WiFi development board. This cost effective system is simply based on two sub-systems: BPM data acquisition through pulse sensor and WeMos-based communication systems. The streamed BPM data are saved instantaneously in Google drive as spreadsheets which can only be accessed by authorized persons wherever the internet service is available. Thus, the person in charge can remotely observe the patient’s status and do analytics for the archived data. A pilot study with eight subjects was carried out to validate the developed BPM tele-monitoring system. Encouraging results have been achieved

The histological and histochemical changes in the kidney of rabbit induced by diazinon

Diazinon (DZN) is a commonly used Organophosphorus (OP) pesticide to control a variety of insects in agriculture and in the environment. The aim of this project is to study the effects of organophospherous pesticide (Diazinon) on histological and histochemical of kidney in male rabbit. The present study is based upon observations made on 24 male Baladi rabbits, which was divided into: 3 groups: Eight animals each, the whole body of the rabbit was dipped in 10 liters of the diazinon solution, while sparing the head for 10 seconds. Group one (control group) was dipped in water only. Animals of Group 2; were dipped in diazinon solution dipped every 2 days for 4 weeks, and Group 3 were dipped in diazinon solution every 7days for two months. Decreased in body weight was noticed in group 2 and group 3 may be due to increases in the exposed doses and increased accumulation of DZN in the blood of the exposure animals. Histological changes in group 2 and 3 are similar, renal tubules were severely damaged with cytoplasmic vacuolation and atrophy of some glomeruli. Blood capillaries in between the degenerated tubules were congested; the urine spaces are widening, and fibrosis inters tubules in group 3 only. Exposure of animals to diazinon caused extensive changes in histopathologicaly as well as histochemicaly in the kidney of group 2 and group 3. But very marked changes in group 3

Heavy Metals Concentration in Commercial Rice Available at Erbil City Markets, Iraq and Soaking Effects

Heavy metal (HM) pollution has long been a significant source of environmental deterioration and a problem for the safety of food. Iraqis prefer rice over any other food, and since heavy metals have a direct impact on health, their traces in rice have drawn particular attention. Before cooking rice, it is usual in Iraq to wash and soak it. Some 55 varieties of imported and local rice were sampled from Erbil city markets in 2022 with the aim of determining the concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb before and after soaking. Standard procedure of acid digestions was applied on the raw and soaked samples. The solutions were analyzed using ICPE-9820 Shimadzu. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb (in mg/kg) in the rice samples before soaking was 0.655, 0.170, 0.160, 0.387, 0.489, respectively and after soaking 0.421, 0.109, 0.115, 0.124 and 0.336, respectively. The concentration of As and Pb was found to be beyond the optimum level of 0.2 mg/kg codex standards for rice; whereas Cd and Cr were within the proposed level of codex standards. Moreover, local rice showed higher concentration of (Cd and Cr), whereas (AS and Pb) concentration in imported rice was higher. Further, results validated that rice soaking can decrease levels of As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb (32.5%, 40.2%, 27.9%, 61.6% and 31.3%, respectively). These findings suggest that soaking as a kitchen practice has efficiency to evaporate metals and has a great influence on the reduction of toxic heavy metals and thus reduces exposure to toxic metals in ric

Prediction of central neuropathic pain in spinal cord injury based on EEG classifier

Objectives: To create a classifier based on electroencephalography (EEG) to identify spinal cord injured (SCI) participants at risk of developing central neuropathic pain (CNP) by comparing them with patients who had already developed pain and with able bodied controls. Methods: Multichannel EEG was recorded in the relaxed eyes opened and eyes closed states in 10 able bodied participants and 31 subacute SCI participants (11 with CNP, 10 without NP and 10 who later developed pain within 6 months of the EEG recording). Up to nine EEG band power features were classified using linear and non-linear classifiers. Results: Three classifiers (artificial neural networks ANN, support vector machine SVM and linear discriminant analysis LDA) achieved similar average performances, higher than 85% on a full set of features identifying patients at risk of developing pain and achieved comparably high performance classifying between other groups. With only 10 channels, LDA and ANN achieved 86% and 83% accuracy respectively, identifying patients at risk of developing CNP. Conclusion: Transferable learning classifier can detect patients at risk of developing CNP. EEG markers of pain appear before its physical symptoms. Simple and complex classifiers have comparable performance. Significance: Identify patients to receive prophylaxic treatment of CNP