Study on characteristic of epileptic multi-electroencephalograph base on Hilbert-Huang transform and brain network dynamics

Lots of studies have been carried out on characteristic of epileptic Electroencephalograph (EEG). However, traditional EEG characteristic research methods lack exploration of spatial information. To study the characteristics of epileptic EEG signals from the perspective of the whole brain，this paper proposed combination methods of multi-channel characteristics from time-frequency and spatial domains. This paper was from two aspects: Firstly, signals were converted into 2D Hilbert Spectrum (HS) images which reflected the time-frequency characteristics by Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT). These images were identified by Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model whose sensitivity was 99.8%, accuracy was 98.7%, specificity was 97.4%, F1-score was 98.7%, and AUC-ROC was 99.9%. Secondly, the multi-channel signals were converted into brain networks which reflected the spatial characteristics by Symbolic Transfer Entropy (STE) among different channels EEG. And the results show that there are different network properties between ictal and interictal phase and the signals during the ictal enter the synchronization state more quickly, which was verified by Kuramoto model. To summarize, our results show that there was different characteristics among channels for the ictal and interictal phase, which can provide effective physical non-invasive indicators for the identification and prediction of epileptic seizures

Untargeted metabolomics of the cochleae from two laryngeally echolocating bats

High-frequency hearing is regarded as one of the most functionally important traits in laryngeally echolocating bats. Abundant candidate hearing-related genes have been identified to be the important genetic bases underlying high-frequency hearing for laryngeally echolocating bats, however, extensive metabolites presented in the cochleae have not been studied. In this study, we identified 4,717 annotated metabolites in the cochleae of two typical laryngeally echolocating bats using the liquid chromatography–mass spectroscopy technology, metabolites classified as amino acids, peptides, and fatty acid esters were identified as the most abundant in the cochleae of these two echolocating bat species, Rhinolophus sinicus and Vespertilio sinensis. Furthermore, 357 metabolites were identified as significant differentially accumulated (adjusted p-value <0.05) in the cochleae of these two bat species with distinct echolocating dominant frequencies. Downstream KEGG enrichment analyses indicated that multiple biological processes, including signaling pathways, nervous system, and metabolic process, were putatively different in the cochleae of R. sinicus and V. sinensis. For the first time, this study investigated the extensive metabolites and associated biological pathways in the cochleae of two laryngeal echolocating bats and expanded our knowledge of the metabolic molecular bases underlying high-frequency hearing in the cochleae of echolocating bats

Effect of the application of peanut shell, bamboo, and maize straw biochars on the bioavailability of Cd and growth of maize in Cd-contaminated soil

Biochar is a versatile, carbon-rich, organic material that can effectively immobilize Cd in the soil. In this study, peanut shell biochar (SP), maize straw biochar (MS), and bamboo straw biochar (BS) were applied in different proportions to evaluate their effects on the remediation of Cd-contaminated farmland soil and plant growth. The results revealed that both single and mixed applications of biochar substantially increased corn biomass and chlorophyll content compared to the unamended control treatment, while the malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline contents were largely unaffected. The bamboo straw block biochar with maize straw biochar at a mass ratio of 2:1 (DBM) significantly increased the dry total biomass of maize (+107.24% compared to the unamended soil). SP application has highly increased the SPAD value. PB with BS application at a mass ratio of 1:1 (MSB) significantly decreased the soluble sugar content (+21.81% compared to the unamended control soil). Soil pH was increased by the application of biochar alone and in combination with feedstocks. The soil content of Fe/Mn oxide-bound (OX) and exchangeable-bound Cd (EX) was decreased, whereas that of carbonate-bound Cd (CA), residue-bound Cd (RE), and organic-bound Cd (OM) contents increased. The Cd content in corn grains under MSB and SP application was markedly reduced by 42.62% and 31.48%, respectively, compared to the unamended control soil. Overall, MSB and SP applications were effective in improving soil quality and crop growth

Impact of gastroesophageal reflux disease on daily life: the Systematic Investigation of Gastrointestinal Diseases in China (SILC) epidemiological study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gastroesophageal reflux disease imposes a significant burden of illness in Western populations. However, data on the impact of reflux symptoms on daily life in Asian populations are scarce. The current study aimed to evaluate the impact of GERD (defined on the basis of symptoms) on health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) in individuals from five regions in China, as part of the Systematic Investigation of Gastrointestinal Diseases in China (SILC) study.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In total, 18 000 residents were randomly selected from across five regions of China and asked to complete a general information questionnaire and a Chinese version of the Reflux Disease Questionnaire (RDQ). A randomly selected subsample of one-fifth of subjects (20% from each region) completed Chinese versions of the 36-item self-administered (SF-36) questionnaire and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) questionnaire. Reflux symptoms were defined as the presence of heartburn and/or regurgitation. Symptom-defined GERD was diagnosed as mild heartburn and/or regurgitation ≥2 days per week, or moderate/severe heartburn and/or regurgitation ≥1 day a week, based on the Montreal Definition of GERD for population-based studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The response rate was 89.4% for the total sample (16 091/18 000), and for the 20% subsample (3219/3600). Meaningful impairment was observed in all 8 SF-36 dimensions in participants with symptom-defined GERD, in 7 of the 8 SF-36 dimensions in participants with troublesome reflux symptoms, and in 6 of the 8 SF-36 dimensions in participants with reflux symptoms below the threshold for symptom-defined GERD. Meaningful daytime sleepiness was also observed in each of these groups. The proportion of individuals reporting troublesome symptoms increased as reflux symptom frequency and severity approached the threshold for symptom-defined GERD, and this was associated with concomitant decreases in all HRQoL measures. Troublesome symptoms were reported by 68.2% (75/110) of individuals with symptom-defined GERD.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>GERD diagnosed using symptom/frequency criteria (recommended for population-based studies), or based on troublesome reflux symptoms (recommended for the clinic), is associated with significantly impaired HRQoL in Chinese individuals. However, patient groups identified using these definitions do not overlap completely, suggesting that they capture slightly different, though clinically relevant, GERD populations.</p

Corrigendum: Estimating the Minimal Number of Repeated Examinations for Random Responsiveness With the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised as an Example.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2021.685627.]

GL-Segnet: Global-Local representation learning net for medical image segmentation

Medical image segmentation has long been a compelling and fundamental problem in the realm of neuroscience. This is an extremely challenging task due to the intensely interfering irrelevant background information to segment the target. State-of-the-art methods fail to consider simultaneously addressing both long-range and short-range dependencies, and commonly emphasize the semantic information characterization capability while ignoring the geometric detail information implied in the shallow feature maps resulting in the dropping of crucial features. To tackle the above problem, we propose a Global-Local representation learning net for medical image segmentation, namely GL-Segnet. In the Feature encoder, we utilize the Multi-Scale Convolution (MSC) and Multi-Scale Pooling (MSP) modules to encode the global semantic representation information at the shallow level of the network, and multi-scale feature fusion operations are applied to enrich local geometric detail information in a cross-level manner. Beyond that, we adopt a global semantic feature extraction module to perform filtering of irrelevant background information. In Attention-enhancing Decoder, we use the Attention-based feature decoding module to refine the multi-scale fused feature information, which provides effective cues for attention decoding. We exploit the structural similarity between images and the edge gradient information to propose a hybrid loss to improve the segmentation accuracy of the model. Extensive experiments on medical image segmentation from Glas, ISIC, Brain Tumors and SIIM-ACR demonstrated that our GL-Segnet is superior to existing state-of-art methods in subjective visual performance and objective evaluation

A population-based survey of the epidemiology of symptom-defined gastroesophageal reflux disease: the Systematic Investigation of Gastrointestinal Diseases in China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The epidemiology of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has yet to be investigated using the symptomatic threshold criteria recommended by the Montreal Definition. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of symptom-defined GERD across five regions of China, and to investigate variables associated with GERD.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A representative sample of 18 000 adults (aged 18-80 years) were selected equally from rural and urban areas in each region (n = 1800). According to the Montreal Definition, GERD is present when mild symptoms of heartburn and/or regurgitation occur on ≥2 days a week, or moderate-to-severe symptoms of heartburn and/or regurgitation occur on ≥1 day a week.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total, 16 091 participants completed the survey (response rate: 89.4%) and 16 078 responses were suitable for analysis. Applying the Montreal criteria, the prevalence of symptom-defined GERD was 3.1% and varied significantly (<it>p </it>< 0.001) among the five regions (from 1.7% in Guangzhou to 5.1% in Wuhan) and between rural and urban populations (3.8% vs 2.4%). Factors significantly associated with GERD included living in a rural area and a family history of gastrointestinal diseases.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This population-based survey found that the prevalence of symptom-defined GERD in China was 3.1%, which is lower than that found in Western countries.</p

Systematic investigation of gastrointestinal diseases in China (SILC): validation of survey methodology

Background: Symptom-based surveys suggest that the prevalence of gastrointestinal diseases is lower in China than in Western countries. The aim of this study was to validate a methodology for the epidemiological investigation of gastrointestinal symptoms and endoscopic findings in China. Methods: A randomized, stratified, multi-stage sampling methodology was used to select 18 000 adults aged 18-80 years from Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Wuhan and Guangzhou. Participants from Shanghai were invited to provide blood samples and undergo upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. All participants completed Chinese versions of the Reflux Disease Questionnaire (RDQ) and the modified Rome II questionnaire; 20% were also invited to complete the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The psychometric properties of the questionnaires were evaluated statistically. Results: The study was completed by 16 091 individuals (response rate: 89.4%), with 3219 (89.4% of those invited) completing the SF-36 and ESS. All 3153 participants in Shanghai provided blood samples and 1030 (32.7%) underwent endoscopy. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.89, 0.89, 0.80 and 0.91, respectively, for the RDQ, modified Rome II questionnaire, ESS and SF-36, supporting internal consistency. Factor analysis supported construct validity of all questionnaire dimensions except SF-36 psychosocial dimensions. Conclusion: This population-based study has great potential to characterize the relationship between gastrointestinal symptoms and endoscopic findings in China.Xiaoyan Yan, Rui Wang, Yanfang Zhao, Xiuqiang Ma, Jiqian Fang, Hong Yan, Xiaoping Kang, Ping Yin, Yuantao Hao, Qiang Li, John Dent, Joseph Sung, Duowu Zou, Saga Johansson, Katarina Halling, Wenbin Liu and Jia H