The Brain Wave Analysis for Robot Movement Using One Electrode

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a system that uses a network of communication between the nervous system of the human brain with machines or robots. Through this system, people will move the machine without using a computer or a member of his body. The system is very useful especially for people with disabilities such as paralysis and stroke. The aim of this project is to create a study conducted on brain waves produced by humans according to age category of children (6-12 years), teenagers (18-22 years old) and adult (30 years and over). A device called Neurosky Mindwave Mobile is a single electroencephalogram (EEG) electrode. Each respondent was required to use the device to test the resulting attention when they were thinking of the robot movements. There were five thoughts of robot movement; forward (F), right (R), left (L), backward (B) and stop (S). The extracted levels from Neurosky ThinkGear software were recorded and set as an input command to move a robot. Through the analysis, the age group that has the highest attention level is teenagers and the lowest is women. It can be concluded that the level of attention that resulted in moving the robot varies according to an individual's age and gender category. Major implications in doing this project were to move the robot using only the power of the mind

Reducing Ambulance Response Time with Ambulance Pre-deployment Strategy: A Pilot Study

Ambulance response time has an inseparable relationship with mortality rates and therefore is important to be reduced in order to decrease the mortality rates. However, the unprecedented increase in road traffic congestion has led to longer ambulance response time, especially during peak hours. In order to assist the ambulance to get to the first responder on-scene despite congested traffic, pre-dispatched ambulance is deployed at mobile locations during peak hours. This study aims to determine if a pre-deployment strategy is able to reduce ambulance response time in an urban emergency medical service system, and to identify the significant factors that relate to ambulance response time during peak hours. Independent t-test was used to compare the response time of ambulance runs before and after the establishment of pre-deployment strategy. Multiple regression analysis with backward elimination method was applied to identify the significant factors that relate to ambulance response time during peak hours. A total of 29 ambulance runs that dispatched from the hospital on January to March 2016 and another 38 runs from mobile locations on January to March 2017 were studied. Only runs during peak hours on weekdays were included in the study. Results show a significant decrease in ambulance response time with the pre-deployment strategy. Among the underlying factors, ambulance travel distance, age of patients and dispatch point were found to be significantly affecting ambulance response time during peak hours. This paper summarizes study to ascertain the potential benefits of ambulance pre-deployment

Implementation of Ambulance Hotspot Strategy in Reducing Ambulance Response Time

Introduction:Ambulance response time (ART) has an inseparable relationship with mortality rates and therefore is important to be reduced. However, an unprecedented increase in road traffic congestion has led to longer ART, especially during peak hours. To reduce ART despite congested traffic, a pre-dispatched ambulance is deployed at hotspot locations during peak hours. This study aims to determine if the hotspot strategy is able to reduce ART in an Urban Emergency Medical Services system.Methods: This is an intervention study at the Emergency and Trauma Department, Sabah Women and Children Hospital (SWACH). Since January 2017, ambulance temporally stations were set up at two hotspot locations. The pre-dispatched ambulance is deployed at hotspots during peak hours (8 – 10 a.m., 4 – 6 p.m.). Information on ambulance runs departed from mobile locations was collected from January to December 2017. Ambulance runs which departed from the hospital in the year 2016 were taken as the control group. A total of 312 runs were enrolled, only runs during peak hours on weekdays were included. The main outcome measure is ART. Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the response time of ambulance runs before and after the establishment of the hotspot strategy. Results:Results show a significant decrease in average ART from 17.31 minutes to 12.23 minutes with the hotspot strategy. When separated, both pre-travel delay times and travel times experienced significant reduction of 2.35 minutes and 2.75 minutes respectively. Meanwhile, travel distances show no significant difference between pre- and post-strategy periods (p = 0.196). Conclusion:The present study shows that the hotspots strategy has successfully reduced ART at SWACH. However, the “ping” time problem from the GPS detection could affect the accuracy in calculating the travel distances. Further studies are suggested to overcome the “ping” time to increase the accuracy level. Overall, this study ascertains the potential benefits of ambulance hotspot strateg

Clioquinol and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate complex with copper to form proteasome inhibitors and apoptosis inducers in human breast cancer cells

INTRODUCTION: A physiological feature of many tumor tissues and cells is the tendency to accumulate high concentrations of copper. While the precise role of copper in tumors is cryptic, copper, but not other trace metals, is required for angiogenesis. We have recently reported that organic copper-containing compounds, including 8-hydroxyquinoline-copper(II) and 5,7-dichloro-8-hydroxyquinoline-copper(II), comprise a novel class of proteasome inhibitors and tumor cell apoptosis inducers. In the current study, we investigate whether clioquinol (CQ), an analog of 8-hydroxyquinoline and an Alzheimer's disease drug, and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), a known copper-binding compound and antioxidant, can interact with copper to form cancer-specific proteasome inhibitors and apoptosis inducers in human breast cancer cells. Tetrathiomolybdate (TM), a strong copper chelator currently being tested in clinical trials, is used as a comparison. METHODS: Breast cell lines, normal, immortalized MCF-10A, premalignant MCF10AT1K.cl2, and malignant MCF10DCIS.com and MDA-MB-231, were treated with CQ or PDTC with or without prior interaction with copper, followed by measurement of proteasome inhibition and cell death. Inhibition of the proteasome was determined by levels of the proteasomal chymotrypsin-like activity and ubiquitinated proteins in protein extracts of the treated cells. Apoptotic cell death was measured by morphological changes, Hoechst staining, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. RESULTS: When in complex with copper, both CQ and PDTC, but not TM, can inhibit the proteasome chymotrypsin-like activity, block proliferation, and induce apoptotic cell death preferentially in breast cancer cells, less in premalignant breast cells, but are non-toxic to normal/non-transformed breast cells at the concentrations tested. In contrast, CQ, PDTC, TM or copper alone had no effects on any of the cells. Breast premalignant or cancer cells that contain copper at concentrations similar to those found in patients, when treated with just CQ or PDTC alone, but not TM, undergo proteasome inhibition and apoptosis. CONCLUSION: The feature of breast cancer cells and tissues to accumulate copper can be used as a targeting method for anticancer therapy through treatment with novel compounds such as CQ and PDTC that become active proteasome inhibitors and breast cancer cell killers in the presence of copper

Developing a core outcome set for fistulising perianal Crohn's disease

OBJECTIVE: Lack of standardised outcomes hampers effective analysis and comparison of data when comparing treatments in fistulising perianal Crohn's disease (pCD). Development of a standardised set of outcomes would resolve these issues. This study provides the definitive core outcome set (COS) for fistulising pCD. DESIGN: Candidate outcomes were generated through a systematic review and patient interviews. Consensus was established via a three-round Delphi process using a 9-point Likert scale based on how important they felt it was in determining treatment success culminating in a final consensus meeting. Stakeholders were recruited nationally and grouped into three panels (surgeons and radiologists, gastroenterologists and IBD specialist nurses, and patients). Participants received feedback fromtheir panel(in the second round) andall participants(in the third round) to allow refinement of their scores. RESULTS: A total of 295 outcomes were identified from systematic reviews and interviews that were categorised into 92 domains. 187 stakeholders (response rate 78.5%) prioritised 49 outcomes through a three-round Delphi study.The final consensus meeting of 41 experts and patients generated agreement on an eight domain COS. The COS comprised three patient-reported outcome domains (quality of life, incontinence and a combined score of patient priorities) and five clinician-reported outcome domains (perianal disease activity, development of new perianal abscess/sepsis, new/recurrent fistula, unplanned surgery and faecal diversion). CONCLUSION: A fistulising pCD COS has been produced by all key stakeholders. Application of the COS will reduce heterogeneity in outcome reporting, thereby facilitating more meaningful comparisons between treatments, data synthesis and ultimately benefit patient care

Developing a core outcome set for fistulising perianal Crohn's disease

Objective Lack of standardised outcomes hampers effective analysis and comparison of data when comparing treatments in fistulising perianal Crohn’s disease (pCD). Development of a standardised set of outcomes would resolve these issues. This study provides the definitive core outcome set (COS) for fistulising pCD. Design Candidate outcomes were generated through a systematic review and patient interviews. Consensus was established via a three-round Delphi process using a 9-point Likert scale based on how important they felt it was in determining treatment success culminating in a final consensus meeting. Stakeholders were recruited nationally and grouped into three panels (surgeons and radiologists, gastroenterologists and IBD specialist nurses, and patients). Participants received feedback from their panel (in the second round) and all participants (in the third round) to allow refinement of their scores. Results A total of 295 outcomes were identified from systematic reviews and interviews that were categorised into 92 domains. 187 stakeholders (response rate 78.5%) prioritised 49 outcomes through a three-round Delphi study. The final consensus meeting of 41 experts and patients generated agreement on an eight domain COS. The COS comprised three patient-reported outcome domains (quality of life, incontinence and a combined score of patient priorities) and five clinician-reported outcome domains (perianal disease activity, development of new perianal abscess/sepsis, new/recurrent fistula, unplanned surgery and faecal diversion). Conclusion A fistulising pCD COS has been produced by all key stakeholders. Application of the COS will reduce heterogeneity in outcome reporting, thereby facilitating more meaningful comparisons between treatments, data synthesis and ultimately benefit patient care

Cytomegalovirus infections among low birth weight infants in a major hospital in Cairo, Egypt, (Elgalae).

Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is one of the leading causes of congenital infections, which can lead to severe foetal anomalies or even foetal loss. In order to determine the incidence of congenital HCMV infection in low birth weight neonates and the most prevalent genotype, cord blood samples were collected from a 102 full-term low birth weight neonates at the time of delivery as well as blood samples from their mothers during a four month period. Another 102 blood samples were also included in a normal weight control group. Samples were subjected to DNA extraction, PCR amplification and genotyping of the glycoprotein gB gene. Five cord blood samples were found to be HCMV positive (2.45%); four of which were low birth weight (3.92%) while, only one sample from the control group was HCMV positive (0.98%). Real time PCR was used for quantitative analysis of the virus among the positive samples. The Genotyping of the positive five cases revealed that four cases were gB1 and only one was gB2. The genotypes gB3 and gB4 were absent. Low birth weight is a major risk factor for congenital HCMV infection. The incidence of infection in Egypt is among the highest infection rates found in developing countries. The most prevalent genotype in Egypt is gB1