Non-invasive detection of animal nerve impulses with an atomic magnetometer operating near quantum limited sensitivity

Magnetic fields generated by human and animal organs, such as the heart, brain and nervous system carry information useful for biological and medical purposes. These magnetic fields are most commonly detected using cryogenically-cooled superconducting magnetometers. Here we present the frst detection of action potentials from an animal nerve using an optical atomic magnetometer. Using an optimal design we are able to achieve the sensitivity dominated by the quantum shot noise of light and quantum projection noise of atomic spins. Such sensitivity allows us to measure the nerve impulse with a miniature room-temperature sensor which is a critical advantage for biomedical applications. Positioning the sensor at a distance of a few millimeters from the nerve, corresponding to the distance between the skin and nerves in biological studies, we detect the magnetic field generated by an action potential of a frog sciatic nerve. From the magnetic field measurements we determine the activity of the nerve and the temporal shape of the nerve impulse. This work opens new ways towards implementing optical magnetometers as practical devices for medical diagnostics.Comment: Main text with figures, and methods and supplementary informatio

A BASIC STUDY CARRIED OUT TO OBSERVE THE LAND USE AND THE VEGETATION TYPE OF FOREST RESERVE AT RITIGALA

The Ritigala Strict Nature Reserve has an ideal setting for ethno botanicstudies on account of its unique features. It is a living folder of informationregarding bio diversity and is regarded as an 'oasis of vegetation'. Thereforeprotection and conservation of its flora and fauna is of vital importance.As this area extends over 1528 hectares, observation of encroachments is adifficult task. Forest clearance can be clearly observed by using aerialphotographs of consecutive years. The aerial photographs may providesufficient data to observe the land uses and vegetation types of the StrictNature Reserve.Aerial photographs of 1982 and 1992 were used as a tool to observe theusable pattern of the forest. The texture of the aerial photographs was studiedand qualitatively it could be divided into three categories. Textural variationswere significant. Restrictions of some textures could be observed to somespecific areas, which can be explained as an effect of the Northeast monsoonrains.The aerial photographs show improvement of the natural habitat of the forestarea within a period of ten years from 1982 to 1992. No constructions wereseen within the limits of the Strict Nature Reserve until 1992.The study of aerial photographs indicated different patterns in the canopycover. For instance, temporal changes observed in white canopies appearedsignificant. It is surmised that these white crowns are those of Mangiferazeylanica (Bl.) Hook.f (Etamba) in bloom

Intelligent image-driven motion modelling for adaptive radiotherapy

Internal anatomical motion (e.g. respiration-induced motion) confounds the precise delivery of radiation to target volumes during external beam radiotherapy. Precision is, however, critical to ensure prescribed radiation doses are delivered to the target (tumour) while surrounding healthy tissues are preserved from damage. If the motion itself can be accurately estimated, the treatment plan and/or delivery can be adapted to compensate. Current methods for motion estimation rely either on invasive implanted fiducial markers, imperfect surrogate models based, for example, on external optical measurements or breathing traces, or expensive and rare systems like in-treatment MRI. These methods have limitations such as invasiveness, imperfect modelling, or high costs, underscoring the need for more efficient and accessible approaches to accurately estimate motion during radiation treatment. This research, in contrast, aims to achieve accurate motion prediction using only relatively low-quality, but almost universally available planar X-ray imaging. This is challenging since such images have poor soft tissue contrast and provide only 2D projections through the anatomy. However, our hypothesis suggests that, with strong priors in the form of learnt models for anatomical motion and image appearance, these images can provide sufficient information for accurate 3D motion reconstruction. We initially proposed an end-to-end graph neural network (GNN) architecture aimed at learning mesh regression using a patient-specific template organ geometry and deep features extracted from kV images at arbitrary projection angles. However, this approach proved to be more time-consuming during training. As an alternative, a second framework was proposed, based on a self-attention convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture. This model focuses on learning mappings between deep semantic angle-dependent X-ray image features and the corresponding encoded deformation latent representations of deformed point clouds of the patient's organ geometry. Both frameworks underwent quantitative testing on synthetic respiratory motion scenarios and qualitative assessment on in-treatment images obtained over a full scan series for liver cancer patients. For the first framework, the overall mean prediction errors on synthetic motion test datasets were 0.16±0.13 mm, 0.18±0.19 mm, 0.22±0.34 mm, and 0.12±0.11 mm, with mean peak prediction errors of 1.39 mm, 1.99 mm, 3.29 mm, and 1.16 mm. As for the second framework, the overall mean prediction errors on synthetic motion test datasets were 0.065±0.04 mm, 0.088±0.06 mm, 0.084±0.04 mm, and 0.059±0.04 mm, with mean peak prediction errors of 0.29 mm, 0.39 mm, 0.30 mm, and 0.25 mm

Solar Radiation Alters Toxicity of Carbofuran: Evidence from Empirical Trials with Duttaphyrnus melanostictus

In the present study we investigated the potential of natural solar radiation to alter the toxicity of a commonly used carbamate pesticide, carbofuran, on tadpoles of the Common Asian Toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus. A single exposure trial was conducted over 96 hrs with three concentrations (150, 250 and 500 µgl-1) of photo-irradiated and non-irradiated carbofuran. Results show that photo-irradiation markedly reduced the toxicity of carbofuran as evident by its effects on three end points, i.e. mortality, growth and swimming activity. The mortality of tadpoles exposed to irradiated carbofuran was significantly lower than those exposed to the non-irradiated pesticide. Both treatment and control tadpoles showed a hormetic response for mortality. Tadpoles in irradiated tanks were also larger and more active than those in the control tanks. Photo-altered toxicity was evident at all three tested concentrations. The results of this study therefore signals caution when directly linking  results of empirical trials to field scenarios and highlight the necessity to evaluate toxic effects of compounds under variable environmental conditions.Keywords: Carbofuran, Duttaphrynus melanostictus, photo-degradation, tadpoles, toxicit

Metabolic Modulation Predicts Heart Failure Tests Performance

The metabolic changes that accompany changes in Cardiopulmonary testing (CPET) and heart failure biomarkers (HFbio) are not well known. We undertook metabolomic and lipidomic phenotyping of a cohort of heart failure (HF) patients and utilized Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) to identify associations to CPET and HFBio test performance (peak oxygen consumption (Peak VO2), oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES), exercise duration, and minute ventilation-carbon dioxide production slope (VE/VCO2 slope), as well as the established HF biomarkers of inflammation C-reactive protein (CRP), beta-galactoside-binding protein (galectin-3), and N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP)). A cohort of 49 patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction \u3c 50%, predominantly males African American, presenting a high frequency of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension were used in the study. MRA revealed that metabolic models for VE/VCO2 and Peak VO2 were the most fitted models, and the highest predictors’ coefficients were from Acylcarnitine C18:2, palmitic acid, citric acid, asparagine, and 3-hydroxybutiric acid. Metabolic Pathway Analysis (MetPA) used predictors to identify the most relevant metabolic pathways associated to the study, aminoacyl-tRNA and amino acid biosynthesis, amino acid metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis, sphingolipid and glycerolipid metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, glutathione metabolism, and pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). Metabolite Set Enrichment Analysis (MSEA) found associations of our findings with pre-existing biological knowledge from studies of human plasma metabolism as brain dysfunction and enzyme deficiencies associated with lactic acidosis. Our results indicate a profile of oxidative stress, lactic acidosis, and metabolic syndrome coupled with mitochondria dysfunction in patients with HF tests poor performance. The insights resulting from this study coincides with what has previously been discussed in existing literature thereby supporting the validity of our findings while at the same time characterizing the metabolic underpinning of CPET and HFBio

Molecular Predictors of Anakinra Treatment Success in Heart Failure Patients with Reduced Ejection Fraction

Background. Kineret (Anakinra) is an interleukin-1 antagonist that is under investigation for its novel clinical application treating patients that have heart failure with reduced (\u3c50%) ejection fraction (HFrEF). A prior study from our group indicated that Anakinra may restore heart function by addressing dysregulations in HFrEF metabolic pathways. Herein, we attempt to elicit Anakinra’s effects on both metabolome and lipidome. Methods. Lipids and metabolites that had previously been quantified by mass spectrometry (MS) from patients (n=49) who had ≥2 mg/L of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were mTIC normalized and transformed. We conducted a stepwise Linear Discriminant Analysis (r- LDA) to test Anakinra (2 and 12 weeks) vs placebo for separation from combined baseline. Metabolic pathway analysis was performed with Fisher’s exact test algorithm for detection of over-represented and enriched analytes. Univariate analysis (one tailed t-test p\u3c0.05) compared placebo and Anakinra after 12-weeks for effect(s). Metaboanalyst 4.0, JMP Pro 14.0, and a proprietary package in R (version 3.4.4) were the software for all analyses and data wrangling. Results. Analytes such as acylcarnitines C10:0 and C16:0 and hsCRP showed significant improvements after 12 weeks of Anakinra, leading to improved mitochondrial function, reduced inflammation, and overall better health outcomes. Statistically significant (p\u3c0.05) pathways including the citrate cycle, cysteine and methionine metabolism, galactose metabolism among others were associated with treatment. Conclusions. We were able to determine significant alterations to metabolomic and lipidomic concentrations after 12 weeks of Anakinra therapy. Our biochemical analyses verifies that Anakinra did improve heart function within our HFrEF pilot cohort.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1081/thumbnail.jp

Algae removal by roughing filter

Algae removal by roughing filte

A Comparative Study of Demand for Medical Care on Non Communicable Diseases: Western vs. Alternative

Medical care is an input to the production of health. People get treatment for their health issues under western medicine , complementary and alternative medicine. Western medicine can be identified as the most famous and modern medical care system in the world. Complementary and alternative medicine refers to avariety of health practices as ayurveda, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbs, yoga, etc . Considering Sri Lankan context, with the rapid increase of ageing population, there is a growing trend in non communicable diseases. Most of people tend to use these two systems to recover from non communicable diseases asasthma, cholesterol, hypertension, arthritis, etc. The main objective of this study was to distinguish between the demand for alternative medicine and western medicine related to non communicable diseases. It was considered socio demographic and economic factors for demand in medical care for both sectors. Primary data was based on Arogya private hospital and Siddhayurvedini private ayurvedic care institution in Gampaha. It was selected 100 non communicable disease patients using systematic sampling method. Logistic regression model was mainly used to distinguish between the alternative and western medical care. According to the findings of this study, females are more likely to demand for both medical cares. Middle age, unemployed, arthritis patient and duration of disease 2-5 years cause to raise demand for alternative medical care. Diabetic patient, employed, believing health status as serious and having employer provided insurance cause to raise demand for western medical care. Relative to the demand for alternative medical care, living in rural area and lower educated people are negatively associated with demand for western medical care.KEYWORDS: Demand, Western, alternative, non communicable disease

Practices Followed to Manage Plastic Waste including Shopping Bags and Lunch Sheets in Sri Lanka: A Preliminary Study in Western Province

Although plastics have made the workings of our lives easier, it has created many different environmental and social problems due to poor management practices. The problem of plastic waste has been exacerbated due to various regulations that have been introduced from time to time for the sustainable management of plastic waste. However, those are not properly implemented. The main objective of this study is to examine the best practices in Sri Lanka for the management of plastic waste, including shopping bags and lunch sheets (PBLS). Further, the study illustrated the prevailing and possible alternatives for polythene products in Sri Lanka and weaknesses in the identification of alternatives. The study was conducted in the Western Province covering three districts: Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara. Data collection was conducted through different structured questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews and a major workshop from a sample of 1314 respondents. Results revealed that 59% of households in the survey confirm that they were discouraged from switching to alternatives as a result of freely available low-density polyethylene (LDPE) bags in the market. Also, 67% of the households and 74% of the supermarkets pointed out that, the current polythene bag usage was higher prior to the ban, due to the poor strength and quality of the bag. Further, the study reveals that ‘Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)’ has the potential to influence material management systems and prevent pollution and has been successfully tested in many countries around the world. DOI: http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v07i01.0