Isometric force pillow: using air pressure to quantify involuntary finger flexion in the presence of hypertonia

Survivors of central nervous system injury commonly present with spastic hypertonia. The affected muscles are hyperexcitable and can display involuntary static muscle tone and an exaggerated stretch reflex. These symptoms affect posture and disrupt activities of daily living. Symptoms are typically measured using subjective manual tests such as the Modified Ashworth Scale; however, more quantitative measures are necessary to evaluate potential treatments. The hands are one of the most common targets for intervention, but few investigators attempt to quantify symptoms of spastic hypertonia affecting the fingers. We present the isometric force pillow (IFP) to quantify involuntary grip force. This lightweight, computerized tool provides a holistic measure of finger flexion force and can be used in various orientations for clinical testing and to measure the impact of assistive devices

The roles of pre–P-wave versus peri–P-wave fractionated electrograms for atrial substrate beyond entrainment response

Atrial tachycardia (AT) with alternating cycle lengths is sparsely reported, and, hence, the ideal mapping strategy has not been firmly established. Beyond the entrainment during tachycardia, some fragmentation characteristics might also give important clues for its possible participation in the macro–re-entrant circuit. We discuss a patient with prior atrial septal defect surgical closures who presented with dual macro–re-entrant ATs related to a fragmented area on the right atrial free wall (240 ms) and the cavotricuspid isthmus (260 ms), respectively. After ablation of the fastest AT on the lateral right atrial free wall, the cycle of the first AT changed to the second AT that was interrupted on cavotricuspid isthmus, proving the dual tachycardia mechanism. This case report addresses the utilization of electroanatomic mapping information as well as fractionated electrogram timing with respect to the surface P-wave as guides for ablation location

Hybrid beamforming with sub-connected structure for MmWave massive multi-user MIMO relay systems

In this paper, we investigate the hybrid beamforming design with sub-connected structure for millimeter-wave (mmWave) massive multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) amplify-and-forward (AF) relay systems. Considering the constant-modulus and block-diagonal constraints, an iterative algorithm is proposed to sequentially design the analog beamforming of the base station, relay, and users. Next, the relay baseband combiner is designed by transforming the highly complicated non-convex mutual information maximization problem into an easily tractable weighted minimum mean squared error one. To mitigate the inter-user interference, a successive serial interference cancellation based and a piecewise successive approximation based methods are developed for the uniform sparse distribution and dense distribution scenarios, respectively. Simulation results demonstrate that the two proposed hybrid beamforming schemes can achieve good performance in terms of sum-rate and energy efficiency, and outperform benchmarks significantly. In addition, the two proposed schemes are shown to be robust to imperfect channel state information (CSI), even though they are studied based on perfect CSI

Paradoxical para-hisian pacing response

Para-Hisian pacing (PHP) is among the most useful maneuvers in cardiac electrophysiology during sinus rhythm and identifies whether retrograde conduction is dependent on the atrioventricular (AV) node. In this maneuver, the retrograde activation time and pattern are compared during capture and loss of capture of the His bundle while pacing from a paraHisian position. A common misconception about PHP is that it is useful only for septal accessory pathways (APs). However, even with left or right lateral pathways, as long as pacing from the para-Hisian region conducts to the atrium with the activation sequence being analyzed, it can be used to determine whether that activation is AV node–dependent or AP-dependent

Adolescence is a sensitive period for prefrontal microglia to act on cognitive development

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a cortical brain region that regulates various cognitive functions. One distinctive feature of the PFC is its protracted adolescent maturation, which is necessary for acquiring mature cognitive abilities in adulthood. Here, we show that microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, contribute to this maturational process. We find that transient and cell-specific deficiency of prefrontal microglia in adolescence is sufficient to induce an adult emergence of PFC-associated impairments in cognitive functions, dendritic complexity, and synaptic structures. While prefrontal microglia deficiency in adolescence also altered the excitatory-inhibitory balance in adult prefrontal circuits, there were no cognitive sequelae when prefrontal microglia were depleted in adulthood. Thus, our findings identify adolescence as a sensitive period for prefrontal microglia to act on cognitive development

A vaccine displaying a trimeric influenza-A HA stem protein on capsid-like particles elicits potent and long-lasting protection in mice

Due to constant antigenic drift and shift, current influenza-A vaccines need to be redesigned and administered annually. A universal flu vaccine (UFV) that provides long-lasting protection against both seasonal and emerging pandemic influenza strains is thus urgently needed. The hemagglutinin (HA) stem antigen is a promising target for such a vaccine as it contains neutralizing epitopes, known to induce cross-protective IgG responses against a wide variety of influenza subtypes. In this study, we describe the development of a UFV candidate consisting of a HAstem trimer displayed on the surface of rigid capsid-like particles (CLP). Compared to soluble unconjugated HAstem trimer, the CLP-HAstem particles induced a more potent, long-lasting immune response and were able to protect mice against both homologous and heterologous H1N1 influenza challenge, even after a single dose

On the currents and transports connected with the atlantic meridional overturning circulation in the subpolar North Atlantic

Results from an interannually forced, 0.08 degrees eddy-resolving simulation based on the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model, in conjunction with a small but well-determined transport database, are used to investigate the currents and transports associated with the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in the subpolar North Atlantic (SPNA). The model results yield a consistent warming in the western SPNA since the early 1990s, along with mean transports similar to those observed for the trans-basin AMOC across the World Ocean Circulation Experiment hydrographic section AR19 (16.4 Sv) and boundary currents at the exit of the Labrador Sea near 53 degrees N (39.0 Sv) and east of the Grand Banks near 43 degrees N (15.9 Sv). Over a 34 year integration, the model-determined AMOC across the AR19 section and the western boundary current near 53 degrees N both exhibit no systematic trend but some long-term (interannual and longer) variabilities, including a decadal transport variation of 3-4 Sv from relatively high in the 1990s to low in the 2000s. The decadal variability of the model boundary current transport near 53 degrees N lags the observed winter time North Atlantic Oscillation index by about 2 years and leads the model AMOC across the AR19 section by about 1 year. The model results also show that the long-term variabilities are low compared to those on shorter time scales. Thus, rapid sampling of the current over long time intervals is required to filter out high-frequency variabilities in order to determine the lower frequency variabilities of interes

Fracture and self-sensing characteristics of super-fine stainless wire reinforced reactive powder concrete

YesSuper-fine stainless wire (SSW) can not only form widely distributed enhancing, toughening and conductive network in reactive powder concrete (RPC) at low dosage level, but also improve weak interface area and refine cracks due to its micron scale diameter and large specific surface. In addition, the crack resistance zone generated by SSWs and RPC matrix together has potential to further enhance the fracture properties of composites. Therefore, fracture and self-sensing characteristics of SSW reinforced RPC composites were investigated in this paper. Experimental results indicated that adding 1.5 vol. % of SSW leads to 183.1% increase in the initial cracking load of RPC specimens under three-point bending load. Based on two parameter fracture model calculations, an increase of 203.4% in fracture toughness as well as an increase of 113.3% in crack tip opening displacement of the composites reinforced with 1.5% SSWs are achieved. According to double-K fracture model calculations, the initiation fracture toughness and unstable fracture toughness of the composites are enhanced by 185.2% and 179.2%, respectively. The increment for fracture energy of the composites reaches up to 1017.1% because of the emergence of blunt and tortuous cracks. The mixed mode Ⅰ-Ⅱ fracture toughness of the composites is increased by 177.1% under four-point shearing load. The initial angle of mixed mode Ⅰ-Ⅱ cracks of the composites decreases with the increase of SSW content. The initiation and propagation of cracks in the composites can be monitored by their change in electrical resistivity. The excellent fracture toughness of the composites is of great significance for the improvement of structure safety in serviceability limit states, and the self-sensing ability of the composites can also provide early warning for the degradation of structure safety.National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC0705601), the National Science Foundation of China (51578110), China Postdoctoral Science Fundation (2019M651116) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China (DUT18GJ203)

Challenges of future multimedia QoE monitoring for internet service providers

The ever-increasing network traffic and user expectations at reduced cost make the delivery of high Quality of Experience (QoE) for multimedia services more vital than ever in the eyes of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Real-time quality monitoring, with a focus on the user, has become essential as the first step in cost-effective provisioning of high quality services. With the recent changes in the perception of user privacy, the rising level of application-layer encryption and the introduction and deployment of virtualized networks, QoE monitoring solutions need to be adapted to the fast changing Internet landscape. In this contribution, we provide an overview of state-of-the-art quality monitoring models and probing technologies, and highlight the major challenges ISPs have to face when they want to ensure high service quality for their customers