Wavelet analysis of epileptic spikes

Interictal spikes and sharp waves in human EEG are characteristic signatures of epilepsy. These potentials originate as a result of synchronous, pathological discharge of many neurons. The reliable detection of such potentials has been the long standing problem in EEG analysis, especially after long-term monitoring became common in investigation of epileptic patients. The traditional definition of a spike is based on its amplitude, duration, sharpness, and emergence from its background. However, spike detection systems built solely around this definition are not reliable due to the presence of numerous transients and artifacts. We use wavelet transform to analyze the properties of EEG manifestations of epilepsy. We demonstrate that the behavior of wavelet transform of epileptic spikes across scales can constitute the foundation of a relatively simple yet effective detection algorithm.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Sorption isotherms of ingredients and diets for poultry.

Abstract: This study aimed to determine sorption isotherms of ingredient and poultry diet. The samples were encapsulated in capsules and dehydrated by oven-drying in a desiccator for more than 24 hours. The samples were transferred to desiccator containing water in the base and placed in the oven, with one sample of each material being removed at incremental intervals. The sample was weighed and for determination of water activity and for dry matter. The moisture and water activity data were evaluated by eight mathematical models. The GAB mathematical model fitted the experimental data to constitute the isotherm for each material. Type II sorption isotherms were found, except for BHT: demonstrated values that did not fit the isotherm determination. The hygroscopic behavior of the ingredients in ascending order were: L- threonine, limestone, BHT, DL- methionine, L-valine, L- tryptophan, phosphate, kaolin, vitamin supplement, salt, mycotoxin deactivator, pelleted rooster diet, mash rooster diet, mash layer diet, pelleted layer diet, corn, bacitracin zinc, vitamin mineral supplement, phytase, rice bran, wheat bran, mineral supplement, soybean meal, coccidiostat, L- Lysine HCl and choline chloride. Ingredients and diets have different hygroscopic behavior: can lead to deterioration and low accuracy in nutritional values of diet, since formulation is based on as-is fed basis. Resumo: Objetivou-se determinar as isotermas de adsorção dos ingredientes e da dieta das aves. As amostras foram encapsuladas e desidratadas por secagem em forno em um dessecador durante mais de 24 horas. As amostras foram transferidas para o dessecador contendo água na base e colocadas na estufa, com uma amostra de cada material a ser retirada em intervalos crescentes. A amostra foi pesada para a determinação da atividade da água e da matéria seca. Os dados relativos à humidade e à atividade da água foram avaliados por oito modelos matemáticos. O modelo matemático GAB foi o que melhor ajustou os dados experimentais para constituir a isoterma de cada material. Foram encontradas isotermas de adsorção de tipo II, exceto para BHT: valores demonstrados que não se encaixavam na determinação de isotermas. O comportamento higroscópico dos ingredientes em ordem crescente foi: L-treonina, calcário, BHT, DL-metionina, L-valina, L-triptofano, fosfato, caulim, suplemento vitamínico, sal, desativador de micotoxinas, ração peletizada para galo, ração farelada para galo, ração farelada para postura, ração peletizada para postura, milho, bacitracina-zinco, suplemento vitamínico-mineral, fitase, farelo de arroz, farelo de trigo, suplemento mineral, farelo de soja, coccidiostático, L-lisina, HCl e cloreto de colina. Os ingredientes e dietas têm comportamentos higroscópicos diferentes: podem levar à deterioração e baixa precisão nos valores nutricionais da dieta, uma vez que a formulação é baseada na matéria natural. Resumen : Este estudio tenía como objetivo determinar las isotermas de absorción de los ingredientes y la dieta de las aves. Las muestras se encapsularon en cápsulas y se deshidrataron por secado en horno en un desecador durante más de 24 horas. Las muestras se transfirieron al desecador que contiene agua en la base y se colocaron en el horno, retirándose una muestra de cada material a inter valos incrementales. La muestra se pesó y para la determinación de la actividad del agua y la materia seca. Los datos de humedad y actividad del agua fueron evaluados por ocho modelos matemáticos. El modelo matemático del GAB ajustó los datos experimentale s para constituir la isoterma de cada material. Se encontraron isotermas de sorción de tipo II, excepto para el BHT: valores demostrados que no encajaban en la determinación de la isotermia. El comportamiento higroscópico de los ingredientes fue: L treonin a, piedra caliza, BHT, DL metionina, L valina, L triptófano, fosfato, caolín, suplemento vitamínico, sal, desactivador de micotoxinas, dieta del gallo en pellets, dieta de la capa de puré, dieta de capas peletizadas, maíz, bacitracina zinc, suplemento vita mínico mineral, fitasa, salvado de arroz, salvado de trigo, suplemento mineral, salvado de soja, coccidiostático, L lisina HCl y cloruro de colina. Los ingredientes y las dietas tienen diferentes comportamientos higroscópicos: pueden llevar a un deterioro y a una baja precisión en los valores nutricionales de la dieta, ya que la formulación se basa en su estado

Impacts of Taking, Trade and Consumption of Terrestrial Migratory Species for Wild Meat

This study looks for the first time at the extent to which terrestrial animals protected by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) are being impacted by wild meat taking, trade and consumption. It contributes to the implementation of a decision adopted by the CMS Conference of the Parties in 2020 (CMS Decision 13.109). We assessed the direct and indirect impacts of wild meat taking, trade and consumption of 105 terrestrial mammal species listed in the CMS Appendices I and II and relevant CMS daughter agreements and initiatives. We first used a systematic review of the published literature, global database searches and the IUCN Red List to determine which CMS species are affected by wild meat hunting. We then reviewed the legislation applicable to the regulation of wild meat hunting and trade and explored the application of hunting legislation using a national case study example. Finally, we examined the known linkages between zoonotic diseases and wild meat use and trade

Spike pattern recognition by supervised classification in low dimensional embedding space

© The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Epileptiform discharges in interictal electroencephalography (EEG) form the mainstay of epilepsy diagnosis and localization of seizure onset. Visual analysis is rater-dependent and time consuming, especially for long-term recordings, while computerized methods can provide efficiency in reviewing long EEG recordings. This paper presents a machine learning approach for automated detection of epileptiform discharges (spikes). The proposed method first detects spike patterns by calculating similarity to a coarse shape model of a spike waveform and then refines the results by identifying subtle differences between actual spikes and false detections. Pattern classification is performed using support vector machines in a low dimensional space on which the original waveforms are embedded by locality preserving projections. The automatic detection results are compared to experts’ manual annotations (101 spikes) on a whole-night sleep EEG recording. The high sensitivity (97 %) and the low false positive rate (0.1 min−1), calculated by intra-patient cross-validation, highlight the potential of the method for automated interictal EEG assessment.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Cinaciguat prevents the development of pathologic hypertrophy in a rat model of left ventricular pressure overload

Pathologic myocardial hypertrophy develops when the heart is chronically pressure-overloaded. Elevated intracellular cGMP-levels have been reported to prevent the development of pathologic myocardial hypertrophy, therefore we investigated the effects of chronic activation of the cGMP producing enzyme, soluble guanylate cyclase by Cinaciguat in a rat model of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy. Abdominal aortic banding (AAB) was used to evoke pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy in male Wistar rats. Sham operated animals served as controls. Experimental and control groups were treated with 10 mg/kg/day Cinaciguat (Cin) or placebo (Co) p.o. for six weeks, respectively. Pathologic myocardial hypertrophy was present in the AABCo group following 6 weeks of pressure overload of the heart, evidenced by increased relative heart weight, average cardiomyocyte diameter, collagen content and apoptosis. Cinaciguat did not significantly alter blood pressure, but effectively attenuated all features of pathologic myocardial hypertrophy, and normalized functional changes, such as the increase in contractility following AAB. Our results demonstrate that chronic enhancement of cGMP signalling by pharmacological activation of sGC might be a novel therapeutic approach in the prevention of pathologic myocardial hypertrophy

Collaborative database to track Mass Mortality Events in the Mediterranean Sea

Anthropogenic climate change, and global warming in particular, has strong and increasing impacts on marine ecosystems (Poloczanska et al., 2013; Halpern et al., 2015; Smale et al., 2019). The Mediterranean Sea is considered a marine biodiversity hotspot contributing to more than 7% of world\u2019s marine biodiversity including a high percentage of endemic species (Coll et al., 2010). The Mediterranean region is a climate change hotspot, where the respective impacts of warming are very pronounced and relatively well documented (Cramer et al., 2018). One of the major impacts of sea surface temperature rise in the marine coastal ecosystems is the occurrence of mass mortality events (MMEs). The first evidences of this phenomenon dated from the first half of \u201980 years affecting the Western Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea (Harmelin, 1984; Bavestrello and Boero, 1986; Gaino and Pronzato, 1989; Voultsiadou et al., 2011). The most impressive phenomenon happened in 1999 when an unprecedented large scale MME impacted populations of more than 30 species from different phyla along the French and Italian coasts (Cerrano et al., 2000; Perez et al., 2000). Following this event, several other large scale MMEs have been reported, along with numerous other minor ones, which are usually more restricted in geographic extend and/or number of affected species (Garrabou et al., 2009; Rivetti et al., 2014; Marb\ue0 et al., 2015; Rubio-Portillo et al., 2016, authors\u2019 personal observations). These events have generally been associated with strong and recurrent marine heat waves (Crisci et al., 2011; Kersting et al., 2013; Turicchia et al., 2018; Bensoussan et al., 2019) which are becoming more frequent globally (Smale et al., 2019). Both field observations and future projections using Regional Coupled Models (Adloff et al., 2015; Darmaraki et al., 2019) show the increase in Mediterranean sea surface temperature, with more frequent occurrence of extreme ocean warming events. As a result, new MMEs are expected during the coming years. To date, despite the efforts, neither updated nor comprehensive information can support scientific analysis of mortality events at a Mediterranean regional scale. Such information is vital to guide management and conservation strategies that can then inform adaptive management schemes that aim to face the impacts of climate change