Efficacy of low and high frequency Deep Brain Stimulation in epilepsy

Purpose: Deep brain stimulation using a neurocybernetic device and intracranially implanted electrodes is currently being investigated as a treatment for refractory epilepsy. Several brain structures such as the cerebellum and the thalamus have been targeted. At Ghent University Hospital a pilot trial in patients using hippocampal DBS has shown a significant reduction in seizure frequency in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The current stimulation parameters that are being used are not evidence based. Further improvement of clinical efficacy may result from research towards the identificition of optimal stimulation parameters in specific seizure types. This study investigated the efficacy of hippocampal DBS using two different stimulation frequencies in a validated animal model for temporal lobe epilepsy. Methods: Twenty rats were transformed into epileptic rats using the alternate day rapid kindling model, that makes use of electrical stimuli in the amygdala. When fully kindled, these rats have a seizure each time an electrical stimulus is administered in the hippocampus. For therapeutic hippocampal stimulation rats were devided into a 130 Hz (HFS) group and a 5 Hz (LFS) stimulation group. Rats received 10 days of therapeutic hippocampal DBS. During and after termination of therapeutic DBS, seizures were evoked in all rats using the amygdalar electrical stimulation. Typical seizure characteristics such as afterdischarge (AD) threshold, latency and duration were compared between both treatment groups. Results: During HFS, AD threshold and AD latency showed a significantly larger increase (P<0.05 and p<0.005 respectively) compared to the rats that received LFS (p=0.48 and p<0.05 respectively).In the HFS group the AD duration was shorter (p<0.05) compared to baseline. This was not observed in the LFS group. After termination of DBS, effects faded out slowly. Discussion and Conclusion: Both HFS and LFS of the hippocampus in epileptic rats resulted in reduced excitability that is typical for epileptic seizures. When HFS and LFS were compared, HFS was more efficacious the n LFS as reflected in a higher AD threshold and AD latency and a shorter AD duration during treatment. This study is the first to show clear evidence in favour of HFS of the hippocampus to treat seizures

Challenges on Cattle Breeding of Smallholder Farmer Toward 4.0 Era

A project within the Indonesia- Australia Partnership on Food Security in Red Meat and Cattle Sector has been established in expanding the commercial-scale beef cattle breeding industry. There are three potential models for cattle breeding tested through partnership such as Integrated Oil Palm and Cattle Production (SISKA), Open-Grazing and Smallholder Cut-and-Carry. To support Indonesian cattle breeding investors toward industry 4.0, some software has been developed: CALPROS, CALPROF and CALFIN used for monitoring and evaluation available online. Another application, SI PINTAR, is to record and identify livestock with Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) recording and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) tracker to monitor livestock in real time basis. Applying those tools has proved increase benefits in cattle breeding business including smallholders and recommended for future use toward industry 4.

Mapping the epileptic brain with EEG dynamical connectivity: established methods and novel approaches

Several algorithms rooted in statistical physics, mathematics and machine learning are used to analyze neuroimaging data from patients suffering from epilepsy, with the main goals of localizing the brain region where the seizure originates from and of detecting upcoming seizure activity in order to trigger therapeutic neurostimulation devices. Some of these methods explore the dynamical connections between brain regions, exploiting the high temporal resolution of the electroencephalographic signals recorded at the scalp or directly from the cortical surface or in deeper brain areas. In this paper we describe this specific class of algorithms and their clinical application, by reviewing the state of the art and reporting their application on EEG data from an epileptic patient

The provision of epilepsy care across Europe 2017:a 17-year follow-up survey

Objective: To assess the resources available in the provision of epilepsy care across Europe and the developments since the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) survey published in 2003 (data collected in 2000). Methods: An updated online version of the European Epilepsy Services Inventory was distributed to all European chapters of the ILAE (N = 47) and responses were obtained from 33 chapters (response rate 70%). To assess trends and allow comparisons with the survey published in 2003, the responding countries were divided into 4 groups (Western, Central, Southern, and Eastern). Responses from European Union (EU) member states are reported as a subgroup (N = 23), since the current survey is a part of the EU-funded European Study on the Burden and Care of Epilepsy (ESBACE, www.esbace.eu). Results: The total number of physicians involved in epilepsy care had increased since 2000, with the largest increase seen for neurologists. The gap between the best- and the least-provided areas with regard to the competence of the providers had diminished. However, the density of comprehensive multidisciplinary epilepsy teams had not changed to any greater degree. The main problems reported by the chapters were to a large extent the same as in 2000 and included lack of specialists and specialist care, lack or underuse of epilepsy surgery, and problems regarding financing and resource allocation. Several chapters also highlighted problems with healthcare structure and organization. Significance: Although there have been some improvements concerning the availability of care for people with epilepsy in Europe over the last 17 years, there are still a number of problem areas with little improvement or where there are important regional differences.</p

Random-set methods identify distinct aspects of the enrichment signal in gene-set analysis

A prespecified set of genes may be enriched, to varying degrees, for genes that have altered expression levels relative to two or more states of a cell. Knowing the enrichment of gene sets defined by functional categories, such as gene ontology (GO) annotations, is valuable for analyzing the biological signals in microarray expression data. A common approach to measuring enrichment is by cross-classifying genes according to membership in a functional category and membership on a selected list of significantly altered genes. A small Fisher's exact test $p$-value, for example, in this $2\times2$ table is indicative of enrichment. Other category analysis methods retain the quantitative gene-level scores and measure significance by referring a category-level statistic to a permutation distribution associated with the original differential expression problem. We describe a class of random-set scoring methods that measure distinct components of the enrichment signal. The class includes Fisher's test based on selected genes and also tests that average gene-level evidence across the category. Averaging and selection methods are compared empirically using Affymetrix data on expression in nasopharyngeal cancer tissue, and theoretically using a location model of differential expression. We find that each method has a domain of superiority in the state space of enrichment problems, and that both methods have benefits in practice. Our analysis also addresses two problems related to multiple-category inference, namely, that equally enriched categories are not detected with equal probability if they are of different sizes, and also that there is dependence among category statistics owing to shared genes. Random-set enrichment calculations do not require Monte Carlo for implementation. They are made available in the R package allez.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/07-AOAS104 in the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org