Ulnar nerve integrity predicts 1-year outcome in cervical spinal cord injury

Background: Accurate predictors of neurological recovery after cervical spinal cord injury are needed. Particularly, to tailor adequate rehabilitation plans. However, objective and quantifiable predictors are sparse. Methods: Within the prospective European Multicenter Study about Spinal Cord Injury (EMSCI) registry, cervical spinal cord injury patients are monitored at fixed follow up visits (2, 4, 12, 24, and 48 weeks after injury) clinically and with ulnar nerve electroneurography. Associations of ulnar nerve compound muscle action potential amplitudes (CMAP) with American Spinal Cord Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale (AIS) grades over time were analyzed using linear mixed modeling. Applying logistic regression, the prognostic value of within 4-week ulnar nerve CMAP for 1-year AIS was analyzed. To account for missing data, (1) last observation carried forward and (2) multiple imputation methods were applied. For model derivation, our centers’ cohort (EMSCI-HD) was analyzed. For model validation the cohort of other centers (EMSCI-nonHD) was used. Results: In the EMSCI-HD cohort, the median age (interquartile range (IQR)) was 52 (34–67) years. 58% were male. The initial AIS distribution was: A = 31%, B = 17%, C = 30%, and D = 22%). In the EMSCI-nonHD cohort, the median age was 49 (32–65) years. Compared to the EMSCI-HD cohort more patients were male (79%, p = 0.0034). The AIS distribution was: A = 33%, B = 13%, C = 21%, and D = 33%). In complete-case mixed model analyses (EMSCI-HD: n = 114; EMSCI-nonHD: n = 508) higher ulnar nerve CMAP were associated with better AIS grades over the entire follow up period. In complete-case logistic regression (EMSCI-HD: n = 90; EMSCI-nonHD: n = 444) higher ulnar nerve CMAP was an independent predictor of better AIS grades. The odds ratio for within 4-week ulnar nerve CMAP to predict 1-year AIS grade D versus A-C in the EMSCI-HD cohort was 1.24 per millivolt (confidence interval 1.07–1.44). The model was validated in an independent cervical spinal cord injury (EMSCI-nonHD) cohort (odds ratio 1.09, confidence interval 1.03–1.17). Conclusions: In cervical spinal cord injury, the consideration of early ulnar nerve CMAP improves prognostic accuracy, which is of particular importance in patients with clinical grading uncertainties

D8.6 OPTIMAI commercialization and exploitation strategy

Deliverable D8.6 OPTIMAI commercialization and exploitation strategy 1 st version is the first version of the OPTIMAI Exploitation Plan. Exploitation aims at ensuring that OPTIMAI becomes sustainable well after the conclusion of the research project period so as to create impact. OPTIMAI intends to develop an industry environment that will optimize production, reducing production line scrap and production time, as well as improving the quality of the products through the use of a variety of technological solutions, such as Smart Instrumentation of sensors network at the shop floor, Metrology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Twins, Blockchain, and Decision Support via Augmented Reality (AR) interfaces. The innovative aspects: Decision Support Framework for Timely Notifications, Secure and adaptive multi-sensorial network and fog computing framework, Blockchain-enabled ecosystem for securing data exchange, Intelligent Marketplace for AI sharing and scrap re-use, Digital Twin for Simulation and Forecasting, Embedded Cybersecurity for IoT services, On-the-fly reconfiguration of production equipment allows businesses to reconsider quality management to eliminate faults, increase productivity, and reduce scrap. The OPTIMAI exploitation strategy has been drafted and it consists of three phases: Initial Phase, Mid Phase and Final Phase where different activities are carried out. The aim of the Initial phase (M1 to M12), reported in this deliverable, is to have an initial results' definition for OPTIMAI and the setup of the structures to be used during the project lifecycle. In this phase, also each partner's Individual Exploitation commitments and intentions are drafted, and a first analysis of the joint exploitation strategies is being presented. The next steps, leveraging on the outcomes of the preliminary market analysis, will be to update the Key Exploitable Results with a focus on their market value and business potential and to consolidate the IPR Assessment and set up a concrete Exploitation Plan. The result of the next period of activities will be reported in D8.7 OPTIMAI commercialization and exploitation strategy - 2nd version due at month 18 (June 2022

GPU-based dynamic flow visualization for climate research applications

Climate models simulate the most important processes of the Earth System, includ-ing the circulation of the atmosphere and the ocean. For the the visualization of the resulting large time dependent data sets, many different techniques are used. In order to analyze the fluid flow, interactive flow visualization techniques are important. Various commercial and free software packages used for climate data visualization have rather limited support for the interactive exploration of large flow data sets. For example, some of them are designed to generate pre-calculated animations only. On the other hand, recent developments in visualization techniques exploiting pro-grammable features of current graphics processing unit (GPU) have proven to be very powerful. This is especially true for particle-based techniques. However, there is still a functional gap between these particle-based flow visualization techniques utilizing GPU processing power and the requirements in the context of geophysical fluid flows, which is the focus of this paper. We present a complete GPU-based framework for interactive visualization of time-dependent climate flow data. The framework includes a proper data work flow from the simulation to the visualization, the handling of non-uniform data grids and, finally, a proper support for the interactive data-exploration feasible to climate researchers. We demonstrate the framework using the flow data of a simulation of a typhoon. This work is still in progress and the framework’s design is open for future incorpora-tion of more particle-based visualization techniques

D2.4 - OPTIMAI - The OPTIMAI architecture specifications

This document contains the preliminary description of the OPTIMAI smart manufacturing solution architecture based on the elicited stakeholders' requirements and use case scenario definitions that preceded it. This first version architecture (M12) is the outcome of a three-step design methodology which started with relevant technology exploration in the context of D2.3. This process was followedup through a closer examination of the most prominent reference architectural models provisioned for smart manufacturing and industrial Internet of Things applications. A top-down design approach was then carried out using the original OPTIMAI architecture proposition as a starting point so as to identify the various components and subsystems that deliver on the specified needs and requirements of the end-users. Through this exercise, the architecture was broken down into 36 basal components. Each one of those base elements was then elaborated by project partners responsible for their implementation through a bottom-up functional specification. Through this process, three architectural viewpoints are defined for the OPTIMAI envisioned solution in this document, namely the functional, information and deployment view. The functional view delivers a high-level overview of the envisioned system functionality broken down into the identified subsystems and individual components, all of whom are described in terms of their foreseen roles and responsibilities within the runtime operation of the system. Aspects related to integration, such as the interrelationships among platform components are presented, in order to guide the development of the necessary intercommunication mechanisms between components. This process is complemented by means of aligning the resulting architectural components to prominent Industry 4.0 reference architecture models and principles. The Information view then elaborates on the flow of information through the system, highlighting how components create, communicate and consume information during envisioned system operation to deliver on the use cases' goals. Finally, the deployment view presents topological considerations in terms of defining the execution environment for the various system components at a later stage during the project lifetime. The contents of this deliverable are provided as a first version documentation of the envisioned system's shape and structure, and are expected to be updated upon completion of the architecture and system specification activities in M18 of the project lifetime

D7.1 - OPTIMAI - Training Material

D7.3 Ethics Recommendations and Regulatory Framework provides the OPTIMAI Consortium with an informational resource to support pilot activities that respect the moral and legal rights of human research participants in the industrial/industry 4.0 employment context. This deliverable builds upon previous deliverables dealing with ethics and legal issues including D9.1 Report on the OPTIMAI Ethical and Legal Framework, and D9.2 Report on the OPTIMAI Ethical, Legal, and Societal Risks - 1st Version. This deliverable builds upon and refines both ethics and legal requirements presented in those deliverables, utilising ethics and legal partners UAB and TRI's most up-to-date understanding of the tools to be deployed and the environments in which they will be deployed. Additional guidance on ethical procedures to be observed and executed in managing ethical human research participation is also provided, bearing in mind the relevant circumstances of the pilot sites. In building upon and refining the work undertaken in previous deliverables, UAB and TRI have notably taken a country-specific approach to examining end-user and technical partners' legal obligations. A general section dealing with GDPR requirements notwithstanding, this deliverable provides a country-by-country breakdown of highlights of relevant national law in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Greece, where OPTIMAI pilot activities will take place. The particular areas of law detailed include data protection law, employment law, equality law, and health and safety law. A non-exhaustive list of legal requirements are presented to aid all partners, but particularly end-user partners, in making decisions in the design and implementation of OPTIMAI solution research activities in the industrial context that respect the rights of human research participants and comply with the laws of the countries where these activities will take place. Furthermore, the insights of the deliverable can be beneficial in similar contexts after the end of the project raising end-users' awareness regarding ethical and legal issues in future

COVID-19 in German Competitive Sports: Protocol for a Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study (CoSmo-S)

Objective: It is unclear whether and to what extent COVID-19 infection poses health risks and a chronic impairment of performance in athletes. Identification of individual health risk is an important decision-making basis for managing the pandemic risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 in sports and return to play (RTP). Methods: This study aims 1) to analyze the longitudinal rate of seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in German athletes, 2) to assess health-related consequences in athletes infected with SARS-CoV-2, and 3) to reveal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in general and of a cleared SARS-CoV-2 infection on exercise performance. CoSmo-S is a prospective observational multicenter study establishing two cohorts: 1) athletes diagnosed positive for COVID-19 (cohort 1) and 2) federal squad athletes who perform their annual sports medical preparticipation screening (cohort 2). Comprehensive diagnostics including physical examination, laboratory blood analyses and blood biobanking, resting and exercise electrocardiogram (ECG), echocardiography, spirometry and exercise testing added by questionnaires are conducted at baseline and follow-up. Results and Conclusion: We expect that the results obtained, will allow us to formulate recommendations regarding RTP on a more evidence-based level

Orbitofrontal control of conduct problems? Evidence from healthy adolescents processing negative facial affect

International audienceConduct problems (CP) in patients with disruptive behavior disorders have been linked to impaired prefrontal processing of negative facial affect compared to controls. However, it is unknown whether associations with prefrontal activity during affective face processing hold along the CP dimension in a healthy population sample, and how subcortical processing is affected. We measured functional brain responses during negative affective face processing in 1444 healthy adolescents [ M = 14.39 years (SD = 0.40), 51.5% female] from the European IMAGEN multicenter study. To determine the effects of CP, we applied a two-step approach: (a) testing matched subgroups of low versus high CP, extending into the clinical range [ N = 182 per group, M = 14.44 years, (SD = 0.41), 47.3% female] using analysis of variance, and (b) considering (non)linear effects along the CP dimension in the full sample and in the high CP group using multiple regression. We observed no significant cortical or subcortical effect of CP group on brain responses to negative facial affect. In the full sample, regression analyses revealed a significant linear increase of left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activity with increasing CP up to the clinical range. In the high CP group, a significant inverted u-shaped effect indicated that left OFC responses decreased again in individuals with high CP. Left OFC activity during negative affective processing which is increasing with CP and decreasing in the highest CP range may reflect on the importance of frontal control mechanisms that counteract the consequences of severe CP by facilitating higher social engagement and better evaluation of social content in adolescents

Age-related brain deviations and aggression

Background Disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) are heterogeneous at the clinical and the biological level. Therefore, the aims were to dissect the heterogeneous neurodevelopmental deviations of the affective brain circuitry and provide an integration of these differences across modalities. Methods We combined two novel approaches. First, normative modeling to map deviations from the typical age-related pattern at the level of the individual of (i) activity during emotion matching and (ii) of anatomical images derived from DBD cases (n = 77) and controls (n = 52) aged 8-18 years from the EU-funded Aggressotype and MATRICS consortia. Second, linked independent component analysis to integrate subject-specific deviations from both modalities. Results While cases exhibited on average a higher activity than would be expected for their age during face processing in regions such as the amygdala when compared to controls these positive deviations were widespread at the individual level. A multimodal integration of all functional and anatomical deviations explained 23% of the variance in the clinical DBD phenotype. Most notably, the top marker, encompassing the default mode network (DMN) and subcortical regions such as the amygdala and the striatum, was related to aggression across the whole sample. Conclusions Overall increased age-related deviations in the amygdala in DBD suggest a maturational delay, which has to be further validated in future studies. Further, the integration of individual deviation patterns from multiple imaging modalities allowed to dissect some of the heterogeneity of DBD and identified the DMN, the striatum and the amygdala as neural signatures that were associated with aggression

Age-related brain deviations and aggression

Background Disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) are heterogeneous at the clinical and the biological level. Therefore, the aims were to dissect the heterogeneous neurodevelopmental deviations of the affective brain circuitry and provide an integration of these differences across modalities. Methods We combined two novel approaches. First, normative modeling to map deviations from the typical age-related pattern at the level of the individual of (i) activity during emotion matching and (ii) of anatomical images derived from DBD cases (n = 77) and controls (n = 52) aged 8-18 years from the EU-funded Aggressotype and MATRICS consortia. Second, linked independent component analysis to integrate subject-specific deviations from both modalities. Results While cases exhibited on average a higher activity than would be expected for their age during face processing in regions such as the amygdala when compared to controls these positive deviations were widespread at the individual level. A multimodal integration of all functional and anatomical deviations explained 23% of the variance in the clinical DBD phenotype. Most notably, the top marker, encompassing the default mode network (DMN) and subcortical regions such as the amygdala and the striatum, was related to aggression across the whole sample. Conclusions Overall increased age-related deviations in the amygdala in DBD suggest a maturational delay, which has to be further validated in future studies. Further, the integration of individual deviation patterns from multiple imaging modalities allowed to dissect some of the heterogeneity of DBD and identified the DMN, the striatum and the amygdala as neural signatures that were associated with aggression