Detection of Focal Epileptic Seizure Using NIRS Signal Based on Discrete Wavelet Transform

Background: Despite the large number of research and significant advances in neuroscience, the hemodynamic activities of epilepsy have been rarely investigated due to high costs, need for contrast agents in fMRI and PET, lack of signals during epileptic seizure and un-portability of the equipment. Recently, Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system has attracted a large number of researchers. This system does not have the above-mentioned problems and provides a better temporal resolution than the other equipment; however, it cannot be compared to PET or fMRI, in terms of spatial resolution. The project was conducted with a feasibility study to detect epileptic seizures and extraction of epileptic dynamics using a time multiplex system at 2 wavelengths of 740 and 850 nm. Analyzing the frequency and temporal-domains of 8 patients with focal epilepsy in temporal area during the time of sleeping, we can identify the most difference between epileptic and normal conditions in low-frequencies at the high order Daubechies wavelet transform of hemodynamic components. The main challenge is the significant resemblances between epileptic dynamic and motion artifact in low frequencies. Finally, using the most appropriate features such as Shannon entropy and the new index that we named “upgraded cumulants” showing proper separability under t test and also by using different classifiers, the best result was achieved with the help of SVM classifier with an accuracy of 78.57%

Online Epileptic Seizure Prediction Using Phase Synchronization and Two Time Characteristics: SOP and SPH

Background: The successful prediction of epileptic seizures will significantly improve the living conditions of patients with refractory epilepsy. A proper warning impending seizure system should be resulted not only in high accuracy and low false-positive alarms but also in suitable prediction time.Methods: In this research, the mean phase coherence index used as a reliable indicator for identifying the preictal period of the 14-patient Freiburg EEG dataset. In order to predict the seizures on-line, an adaptive Neuro-fuzzy model named ENFM (evolving neuro-fuzzy model) was used to classify the extracted features. The ENFM trained by a new class labeling method based on the temporal properties of a prediction characterized by two time intervals, seizure prediction horizon (SPH), and seizure occurrence period (SOP), which subsequently applied in the evaluation method. It is evident that an increase in the duration of the SPH can be more useful for the subject in preventing the irreparable consequences of the seizure, and provides adequate time to deal with the seizure. Also, a reduction in duration of the SOP can reduce the patient’s stress in the SOP interval. In this study, the optimal SOP and SPH obtained for each patient using Mamdani fuzzy inference system considering sensitivity, false-positive rate (FPR), and the two mentioned points, which generally ignored in most studies.Results: The results showed that last seizure, as well as 14-hour interictal period of each patient, were predicted on-line without false negative alarms: the average yielding of sensitivity by 100%, the average FPR by 0.13 per hour and the average prediction time by 30 minutes.Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, such a data-labeling method for ENFM showed promising seizure prediction for online machine learning using epileptic seizure data. Apart from that, the proposed fuzzy system can consider as an evaluation method for comparing the results of studies

Electrochemical detection of carbidopa using a ferrocene-modified carbon nanotube paste electrode

A chemically modified carbon paste electrode (MCPE) containing ferrocene (FC) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) was constructed. The electrochemical behavior and stability of the MCPE were investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The electrocatalytic activity of the MCPE was investigated and it showed good characteristics for the oxidation of carbidopa (CD) in phosphate buffer solution (PBS). A linear concentration range of 5 to 600 μM CD, with a detection limit of 3.6±0.17 μM CD, was obtained. The diffusion coefficient of CD and the transfer coefficient () were also determined. The MCPE showed good reproducibility, remarkable long-term stability and especially good surface renewability by simple mechanical polishing. The results showed that this electrode could be used as an electrochemical sensor for the determination of CD in real samples, such as urine samples

Adrenal Hemorrhage in the Deceased Neonate Referred to Tehran Legal Medicine Organization

Adrenal hemorrhage during neonatal phase is more prevalent than was thought before and most of the cases are diagnosed after the autopsy. However massive hemorrhage is rare. The mozst important cause of adrenal hemorrhage is perinatal injuries, but large fetal size, maternal diabetes, congenital syphilis, anoxia, hemorrhagic diseases and immaturity are predisposing factors. Incidence rate of adrenal hemorrhage is 0.2% to 0.5% during perinatal phase. The diagnosis of the adrenal hemorrhage in this phase is rare. Our case was a four-day-old full term neonate who was born via normal vaginal delivery, with Apgar score 3. The baby was intubated immediately which was followed by seizure attacks and unfortunately death on the fourth day of life. The neonate was female with 3100 g weight. At autopsy the left kidney appeared larger than normal and the adrenal subcapsular hematoma which amounts to about 50 mL, was seen. According to previous studies delivery per vaginam, macrosomia and acidemia are some important risk factors for adrenal hemorrhage. Risk factors of the present case were normal vaginal delivery and acidemia. The neonate may present no symptom or sign during fetal or neonatal phase. So serial sonography is considered one of diagnostic methods

A triclinic polymorph of (E)-2-(1-hy­droxy-3-phenyl­prop-2-en-1-yl­idene)-4,5-dimeth­oxy­cyclo­pent-4-ene-1,3-dione

The title compound, C16H14O5, is a triclinic polymorph of a previously reported monoclinic structure [Hosseinzadeh et al. (2011 ▶). Acta Cryst. E67, o1544]. The mol­ecule is roughly planar, the r.m.s. deviation from the least-squares plane of all non-H atoms being 0.092 Å. In the crystal, adjacent mol­ecules are linked through C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into an infinite two-dimensional network parallel to (011). The layers are further connected via C—H⋯π inter­actions, forming a three-dimensional structure. Intra­molecular O—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds are also observed

2-(3,4-Dimeth­oxy­phen­yl)-1H-benzimidazole

In title compound, C15H14N2O2, the dihedral angle between the 3,4-dimeth­oxy­phenyl group and the benzimidazole system is 26.47 (6)°. In the crystal, neighbouring mol­ecules are linked by N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds into C(4) chains propagating along the c-axis direction. The crystal structure also features weak C—H⋯O inter­actions

Barriers and Incentives of Self-care from the View of Diabetic Patients and their Service Providers Using the Social Marketing Model in Ardakan, Iran

Introduction: Diabetes is the most common disease worldwide. The complications of diabetes cause economic damages and decrease patients' and their families' quality of life. Self-care is an important process in diabetes control. On the other hand, maintaining the blood glucose level at a favorable level is challenging for both the patients and the physician. This is due to systemic and individual barriers of diabetes self-care. Thus, the present study aimed to explore the barriers and incentives for self-care. Method: The present study was conducted as a qualitative study with focus group discussion (FGD) (3 sessions for patients and 3 sessions for health care providers separately). Private interviews were conducted with 25 patients and 5 health care providers until data saturation. The interviews and FGDs were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis method. Results: In analyzing the data, two main themes including barriers and incentives for self-care from the view of patients and health care providers were extracted. Based on the social marketing model, these themes were divided into four subthemes of product, place, price, and promotion. The study subjects specified the different causes of performing or not performing self-care in different areas such as exercise, nutrition, regular medical exams, and appropriate medicine use. The cost and availability of some services, physical barriers and their limitations, nonscientific health care delivery, unsuitable health care services for diabetic patients, and lack of health care packages and guidelines were reported as barriers. Moreover, successful experiences of patients and health care providers, and providing self-care facilities were reported as incentives. Conclusion: Market analysis in diabetes self-care showed that comprehensive and systematic programs for diabetic patient care, management protocol for physicians and specialists, and nutritional recommendation, traditional medicine, and exercise are more beneficial when coordinated with economic power, environmental factors, and beliefs of diabetic patients and literacy promotion Keywords: Diabetes, Social marketing, Self-care, Barriers and incentives, Qualitative researc

Metabolic syndrome is linked to a mild elevation in liver aminotransferases in diabetic patients with undetectable non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by ultrasound

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite ongoing findings on the relationship between elevated levels of alanine and aspartate aminotransferases (ALT and AST) and metabolic syndrome (MetS), this association in diabetic patients without a known cause for liver enzymes elevation other than diabetes, per se, remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to assess the relationship between circulating liver enzymes and MetS in a relatively large sample of patients with diabetes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 670 diabetic patients, without known causes of hepatocellular injury, were enrolled. Patients with ultrasonographic signs of fatty liver disease were not included. Fasting blood samples were obtained and biochemical characteristics were measured. MetS was defined according to the international diabetes federation criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum ALT and AST were significantly higher in patients with MetS (p < 0.001). High waist circumference and low HDL-cholesterol were significantly associated with elevated ALT (OR = 2.56 and 2.0, respectively) and AST (OR = 2.23 and 2.21, respectively). ALT and AST were significantly associated with MetS (OR = 2.17 and 2.31, respectively). These associations remained significant after multiple adjustments for age, sex, BMI, diabetes duration, HbA1c and medications. There was a significant (p < 0.01) positive association between the number of the MetS features and the level of ALT or AST.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In diabetic patients without ultrasonographic evidence of fatty liver, elevated aminotransferases are independently associated with MetS. Despite negative ultrasound results in diabetic patients with MetS, the serum level of liver aminotransferases may be elevated and should be more thoroughly monitored.</p

A two-echelon location routing problem considering sustainability and hybrid open and closed routes under uncertainty

Location-routing is an extremely important problem in supply chain management. In the location-routing problem, decisions are made about the location of facilities such as distribution centers as well as the set of vehicle routes. Today, organizations seek to reduce the transportation cost by outsourcing leading to a particular kind of transportation problems known as open routing. However, the increasing attention to environment have led to paying more attention to environmental issues and reducing the environmental impacts of logistics activities. To this end, in this paper, both open and closed routes were simultaneously addressed by developing a multi-objective mixed integer linear programming model that included three economic, environmental, and social responsibility aspects. The three objective functions of the proposed model encompass the minimization of total costs and greenhouse gas emissions, and the maximization of employment rate and economic development. Also, in this study, a different type of routing was considered in each echelon. A small-sized problem instance was solved using the Augmented Epsilon Constraint (AEC) method with the CPLEX Optimizer Solver for the validation of the proposed model. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the effect of changing main parameters on the values of the objective function. Due to the NP-Hardness of the problem, two efficient metaheuristic algorithms of Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) and Multi-Objective Stochastic Fractal Search (MOSFS) were exploited to solve the medium and large size problems. The performance of the algorithms was compared on the basis of six different well-known indexes of Time, MID, RAS, Diversity, Spacing, and SNS. According to the obtained results, the performance of the MOSFS algorithm was %20, %9, %11.22, %10.03, and %19.06 higher than the performance of the NSGA-II on the basis of SNS, RAS, MID, Diversity, and Time indexes, respectively. On the other hand, the NSGA-II performance was %6.3 higher than the MOSFS performance in terms of Spacing index

Assessment of antifungal effects of copper nanoparticles on the growth of the fungus Saprolegnia sp. on white fish (Rutilus frisii kutum) eggs

This study was conducted to evaluate the in-vitro effects of copper nanoparticles on the growth of the fungus Saprolegnia sp. isolated from white fish (Rutilus frisii kutum) eggs. The antifungal effects were measured by determining the minimum lethal concentration of copper nanoparticles on Saprolegnia sp. in yeast extract glucose chloramphenicol (YGC) agar at 25 °C. Saprolegnia grown in YGC agar without added copper nanoparticles served as negative controls. Our study showed that copper nanoparticles at a minimum concentration of 10 ppm have antifungal effects on Saprolegnia sp. The antifungal effects of copper nanoparticles are positively correlated to both concentration and time of exposure. This study showed that the antifungal properties of copper nanoparticles make it a good alternative to malachite green, which is carcinogenic