A study on temporal segmentation strategies for extracting common spatial patterns for brain computer interfacing

Brain computer interfaces (BCI) create a new approach to human computer communication, allowing the user to control a system simply by performing mental tasks such as motor imagery. This paper proposes and analyses different strategies for time segmentation in extracting common spatial patterns of the brain signals associated to these tasks leading to an improvement of BCI performance

Oxidative Stress and Changes in Antioxidant and Biochemical Constituents in Papaya (Carica papaya L.) under Salt Stress

Six papaya cultivars viz., Pusa Dwarf, Surya, Solo, CO5, Tainan and Red Lady were subjected to saline water salt stress continuously for a period of six months with saline water irrigation having an EC value of 0.6, 2.0 and 4 dsm-1. Among these, Red Lady was more sensitive while Tainan resisted salt stress. Under salt stress of 4 dsm-1, yield reduced by 10% in Tainan and by 24% in Red Lady compared to unstressed controls. T.S.S. measurement showed that quality of fruits was not affected by saline irrigation in both cvs. Malondialdehyde levels estimated after six months period of stress, as thiobarbituric acid reacting substances, did not increase in Tainan in contrast to substantial increase in Red Lady under stress conditions. There was substantial increase in levels of antioxidant compounds namely, carotenoids, phenols and flavonoids in Tainan compared to Red Lady. In Tainan there were significant increases in reducing and total sugars and sucrose under conditions of stress in contrast to sharp decreases in Red Lady. Under conditions of stress, there was considerable accumulation of total and reducing sugars and sucrose, across the varieties, possibly contributing to osmotic adjustment. Association of salt stress tolerance in Tainan with soluble sugar accumulation could be used as a breeding tool for selecting salt tolerant papaya genotypes

Malignant melanoma in pregnancy: Rarity and paucity

Malignancy diagnosed during pregnancy is a rare coincidence and a taxing situation for the health care provider. The diagnosis and therapeutic management become laborious and it involves both the mother and fetus. One of the major cause of death among women of the childbearing age group is malignant melanoma in the western world. The literature vastly suggests that it has an ominous prognosis when diagnosed during pregnancy as it is known to rapidly metastasize to the placenta and fetus. Prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment can avoid catastrophic events. We report a case of Indian women diagnosed with non- metastatic malignant melanoma in the first trimester of pregnancy with successful outcome.Keywords: Developing country; malignant melanoma; pregnanc

Improving the Feature Stability and Classification Performance of Bimodal Brain and Heart Biometrics

Electrical activities from brain (electroencephalogram, EEG) and heart (electrocardiogram, ECG) have been proposed as biometric modalities but the combined use of these signals appear not to have been studied thoroughly. Also, the feature stability of these signals has been a limiting factor for biometric usage. This paper presents results from a pilot study that reveal the combined use of brain and heart modalities provide improved classification performance and further-more, an improvement in the stability of the features over time through the use of binaural brain entrainment. The classification rate was increased, for the case of the neural network classifier from 92.4% to 95.1% and for the case of LDA, from 98.6% to 99.8%. The average standard deviation with binaural brain entrainment using all the inter-session features (from all the subjects) was 1.09, as compared to 1.26 without entrainment. This result suggests the improved stability of both the EEG and ECG features over time and hence resulting in higher classification performance. Overall, the results indicate that combining ECG and EEG gives improved classification performance and that through the use of binaural brain entrainment, both the ECG and EEG features are more stable over time

Analogue mouse pointer control via an online steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) brain-computer interface

The steady state visual evoked protocol has recently become a popular paradigm in brain–computer interface (BCI) applications. Typically (regardless of function) these applications offer the user a binary selection of targets that perform correspondingly discrete actions. Such discrete control systems are appropriate for applications that are inherently isolated in nature, such as selecting numbers from a keypad to be dialled or letters from an alphabet to be spelled. However motivation exists for users to employ proportional control methods in intrinsically analogue tasks such as the movement of a mouse pointer. This paper introduces an online BCI in which control of a mouse pointer is directly proportional to a user's intent. Performance is measured over a series of pointer movement tasks and compared to the traditional discrete output approach. Analogue control allowed subjects to move the pointer faster to the cued target location compared to discrete output but suffers more undesired movements overall. Best performance is achieved when combining the threshold to movement of traditional discrete techniques with the range of movement offered by proportional control

Microbial prevalence and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern in diabetic infections

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County-Level Hispanic Ethnic Density and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality.

Background Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, and little is known about how Hispanic ethnic population density impacts cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) mortality. Methods and Results We examined county-level deaths for Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites from 2003 to 2012 using data from the National Center for Health Statistics' Multiple Cause of Death mortality files. Counties with more than 20 Hispanic deaths (n=715) were included in the analyses. CVD deaths were identified using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), I00 to I78, and population estimates were calculated using linear interpolation from 2000 and 2010 census data. Multivariate linear regression was used to examine the association of Hispanic ethnic density with Hispanic and non-Hispanic white age-adjusted CVD mortality rates. County-level age-adjusted CVD mortality rates were adjusted for county-level demographic, socioeconomic, and healthcare factors. There were a total of 4 769 040 deaths among Hispanics (n=382 416) and non-Hispanic whites (n=4 386 624). Overall, cardiovascular age-adjusted mortality rates were higher among non-Hispanic whites compared with Hispanics (244.8 versus 189.0 per 100 000). Hispanic density ranged from 1% to 96% in each county. Counties in the highest compared with lowest category of Hispanic density had 60% higher Hispanic mortality (215.3 versus 134.2 per 100 000 population). In linear regression models, after adjusting for county-level demographic, socioeconomic, and healthcare factors, increasing Hispanic ethnic density remained strongly associated with mortality for Hispanics but not for non-Hispanic whites. Conclusions CVD mortality is higher in counties with higher Hispanic ethnic density. County-level characteristics do not fully explain the higher CVD mortality among Hispanics in ethnically concentrated counties

Effect of socio-economic differentials on growth and development of children in five metropolitan cities of India

Background: Children’s growth and development depend on their parents’ socio-economic status. Adequate nutrition of children influence their anthropometric measures proper growth and development and reduces morbidity and mortality among children. Objective: To understand the growth and development pattern of children dwelling in the slum environment and to compare some of their growth parameters with non-slum children. Methods: This was a record review of National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) data, freely available from Measure DHS USA. Data for five major metropolitan cities, namely, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad were used for this study. The households classified as slum and non-slum by two agencies, viz., NFHS and census of India were considered for analysis. Variables more relevant as an indicator for the growth and development of children, viz., height, weight, hemoglobin, standard of living index (SLI), age (in months), and place of residence were selected for this study. Place of residence (slum or non-slum) and SLI, which is proxy to socio-economic status, were considered to understand their influence on height, weight, and hemoglobin values of the children. Results: About 75% of the slum dwellers were in low SLI category, and 69% of non-slum residents were in high SLI category. There is a significant difference (p=0.001) between slum and non-slum residence on the proportions of SLI. Multivariate analysis showed that all the variables significantly differ by SLI except age of the children. Conclusion: It is concluded that the observed difference between slum and non-slum children’s height, weight, and hemoglobin are due to differences in SLI. Growth and development of children dwelling in slum or non-slum area depend on the socio-economic status of their parents and not by their place where they are growing

An interesting case of early onset of cerebral edemia during diabetic ketoacidosis treatment - a case Report

A young girl with type 1 diabetes presented with diabetic ketoacidosis due to missing of insulin following a respiratory tract infection. Within the first hour of starting intravenous fluids and insulin she developed cerebral edema. This case is being reported because of the unusual presentation of early onset of cerebral edema in the management of DKA and to emphasize the importance of recognizing this complication early as it helped to save this patient