Surface mechanomyography and electromyography provide non-invasive indices of inspiratory muscle force and activation in healthy subjects

The current gold standard assessment of human inspiratory muscle function involves using invasive measures of transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) or crural diaphragm electromyography (oesEMGdi). Mechanomyography is a non-invasive measure of muscle vibration associated with muscle contraction. Surface electromyogram and mechanomyogram, recorded transcutaneously using sensors placed over the lower intercostal spaces (sEMGlic and sMMGlic respectively), have been proposed to provide non-invasive indices of inspiratory muscle activation, but have not been directly compared to gold standard Pdi and oesEMGdi measures during voluntary respiratory manoeuvres. To validate the non-invasive techniques, the relationships between Pdi and sMMGlic, and between oesEMGdi and sEMGlic were measured simultaneously in 12 healthy subjects during an incremental inspiratory threshold loading protocol. Myographic signals were analysed using fixed sample entropy (fSampEn), which is less influenced by cardiac artefacts than conventional root mean square. Strong correlations were observed between: mean Pdi and mean fSampEn |sMMGlic| (left, 0.76; right, 0.81), the time-integrals of the Pdi and fSampEn |sMMGlic| (left, 0.78; right, 0.83), and mean fSampEn oesEMGdi and mean fSampEn sEMGlic (left, 0.84; right, 0.83). These findings suggest that sMMGlic and sEMGlic could provide useful non-invasive alternatives to Pdi and oesEMGdi for the assessment of inspiratory muscle function in health and disease.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A vortex population viability analysis model for the Chacoan peccary (catagonus wagneri)

El quimilero o taguá (Catagonus wagneri) es una especie amenazada, endémica del Chaco Seco, para la cual disponemos de poca información. Para estimar cuantitativamente el riesgo de disminución y extinción de sus poblaciones silvestres generamos modelos de viabilidad poblacional. Con estos modelos matemáticos se pueden identificar factores naturales y antrópicos complejos que interactúan y que influyen en la persistencia y la salud de una población. Los modelos también se pueden utilizar para evaluar los efectos de diferentes estrategias de gestión, permitiendo identificar las acciones de conservación más efectivas para una población o especie. Además, estos modelos se pueden usar para identificar las necesidades de investigación debido a que ponen en evidencia los vacíos de información sobre la especie. Utilizando estos modelos, evaluamos la proyección poblacional en las condiciones actuales y en comparación con posibles variaciones existentes en el sistema. Para generar los parámetros ingresados en los modelos realizamos una reunión de especialistas y una revisión bibliográfica. Trabajó con valores de línea de base (base), mínimos (mín.) y máximos (máx.). Generamos diferentes modelos ante diferentes escenarios y testeamos la sensibilidad a la incertidumbre de cada modelo. Esto permitió establecer prioridades de investigación. Además, determinamos los tamaños mínimos de población viable considerando la incertidumbre y analizamos los posibles efectos de la caza en una población de esta especie.Fil: Leus, Kritin. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Species Survival Commission; DinamarcaFil: Altrichter, Mariana. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Species Survival Commission; Estados UnidosFil: Desbiez, Arnaud. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Species Survival Commission; BrasilFil: Camino, Micaela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Giordano, Anthony J.. S.P.E.C.I.E.S.; Estados UnidosFil: Campos Krauer, Juan Manuel. University of Florida. Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation; Estados Unidos. Centro Chaqueño para la Conservación y la Investigación; ParaguayFil: Brooks, Daniel M.. Houston Museum Of Natural Science; Estados UnidosFil: Thompson, Jeffrey. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología; ParaguayFil: Núñez Regueiro, Mauricio Manuel. University of Florida. Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Formal verification of safety-critical user interfaces: a space system case study

Safe operation of safety critical systems depends on appropriate interactions between the human operator and the computer system. Specification of such safety-critical systems is fundamental to enable exhaustive and automated analysis of operator system interaction. In this paper we present a structured, comprehensive and computer-aided approach to formally specify and verify user interfaces based on model checking techniques.J.C. Campos is funded by project ref. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000062 co-financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by national funds, through the Portuguese foundation for science and technology (FCT)

Noninvasive assessment of inspiratory muscle neuromechanical coupling during inspiratory threshold loading

Diaphragm neuromechanical coupling (NMC), which reflects the efficiency of conversion of neural activation to transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi), is increasingly recognized to be a useful clinical index of diaphragm function and respiratory mechanics in neuromuscular weakness and cardiorespiratory disease. However, the current gold standard assessment of diaphragm NMC requires invasive measurements of Pdi and crural diaphragm electromyography (oesEMGdi), which complicates the measurement of diaphragm NMC in clinical practice. This is the first study to compare invasive measurements of diaphragm NMC (iNMC) using the relationship between Pdi and oesEMGdi, with noninvasive assessment of NMC (nNMC) using surface mechanomyography (sMMGlic) and electromyography (sEMGlic) of lower chest wall inspiratory muscles. Both invasive and noninvasive measurements were recorded in twelve healthy adult subjects during an inspiratory threshold loading protocol. A linear relationship between noninvasive sMMGlic and sEMGlic measurements was found, resulting in little change in nNMC with increasing inspiratory load. By contrast, a curvilinear relationship between invasive Pdi and oesEMGdi measurements was observed, such that there was a progressive increase in iNMC with increasing inspiratory threshold load. Progressive recruitment of lower ribcage muscles, serving to enhance the mechanical advantage of the diaphragm, may explain the more linear relationship between sMMGlic and sEMGlic (both representing lower intercostal plus costal diaphragm activity) than between Pdi and crural oesEMGdi. Noninvasive indices of NMC derived from sEMGlic and sMMGlic may prove to be useful indices of lower chest wall inspiratory muscle NMC, particularly in settings that do not have access to invasive measures of diaphragm function.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Introducing Optics in the Kindergarten

Introducing Optics in the Kindergarteninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of Routine Use of Drug-eluting Stents in Contemporary Interventional Cardiology at a Tertiary Center: One-decade Experience of the DESIRE Registry

ABSTRACTBackgroundDrug-eluting stents (DES) have changed contemporary interventional cardiology practice, enabling the approach of increasingly more complex clinical and angiographic scenarios. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the changes observed in the last 10 years in the indication and practice of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at a tertiary private hospital in the State of São Paulo.MethodsDESIRE is a single-center prospective registry aiming at following the acute and late outcomes of consecutive patients treated by DES.ResultsFrom 2002 to 2011, 4,299 patients were included, with mean age of 64.3±11.2years, 23% were female and 30.5 were diabetic. The total number of lesions treated was 6,518 of which 61.5% were type B2/C. During the course of the study, DES were progressively more used, reaching a penetration of 88.4% in 2011. The complexity of PCIs has increased and in the past year 1.76 lesions per patient were treated with an average of 1.89 DES. The SYNTAX score increased from 12.3±4.4 (2002-2006) to 15.7±4.7 (2007-2011). Clinical follow-up was obtained in 98.2% of the patients, with a median of 5.2years, and during this period target-lesion revascularization rate was 5%, myocardial infarction was 6.7% and cardiovascular death was 4.1%. Stent thrombosis was observed in 2.4% of the cases.ConclusionsOur results showed a marked increment in the complexity profile of patients treated in the last 10 years and at the same time confirm the long-term effectiveness of DES, despite the clinical and angiographic profile of patients