Alternative Screening Method Research Articles

A Portable Non-Invasive Electromagnetic Lesion-Optimized Sensing Device for the Diagnosis of Skin Cancer (SkanMD).

The article presented herein proposes an alternative skin cancer screening method that delivers non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of skin lesions by leveraging electromagnetic waves with radio frequency technology and circuits. The proposed handheld device, named SkanMD, comprises a sensitive electromagnetic sensor, customized radio frequency wave analyzer circuits, and machine learning algorithms. The device is used in clinical studies that are performed on a total of 46 individuals that are composed of 18 patients with pre-diagnosed skin cancer, 10 individuals with benign nevi, 7 patients with arbitrary diseases, and 11 healthy individuals. These studies included the measurement of the reflection coefficient, S11, on multiple skin regions and recording the obtained complex values to build a Support Vector Machine (SVM)-based classification model. Due to the lesion-optimized sensor and the unified cross-patient classifier, our results differentiate between cancerous and non-cancerous skin lesions with a sensitivity that exceeds 92% and a specificity that exceeds 81.4%. These reported results are based on a limited population size study. They also demonstrate that SkanMD is a promising solution that could augment conventional diagnosis methods to greatly improve patient comfort and enable instantaneous and accurate diagnosis.

Possibilities of capsule endoscopy in colorectal cancer screening

The purpose of the study: to demonstrate the clinical observation of a patient who performed for colorectal cancer screening by capsule endoscopy. Key points: A 58-year-old patient came to the hospital for examination. Capsule endoscopy (CE) revealed a neoplastic lesion in sigmoid colon. The patient underwent endoscopic surgery. At the moment, the patient is under observation by an oncologist, there are no signs of recurrence of the neoplastic process. Conclusion: CE can be alternative screening method for colorectal cancer as well as standard colonoscopy.

Sandwich Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) to Quantify Monoclonal Antibody (B[a]P-13) for Herbal Medicine Products

Abstract: Sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to quantify monoclonal antibody (B[a]P-13) Background: Only a few studies have focused on the analysis using specific antibodies in the sandwich ELISA method to each B[a]P in herbal medicine products. In contrast to the sandwich ELISA method, many competitive ELISA methods using specific antibodies such as benzo[a]pyrene monoclonal antibody (B[a]P-13) and a goat anti-mouse IgG (H+L) cross-adsorbed secondary antibody, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) were developed. Introduction: The objective of this study was to develop and validate the method for the response of the benzo[a]pyrene monoclonal antibody (B[a]P-13) and goat anti-mouse IgG (H+L) cross-adsorbed secondary antibody (HRP) to prepare the immunogen and its application to detect the benzo[a]pyrene in various herbal medicine products. Methods: This research method includes preparation of B[a]P-protein conjugates, sampling and extraction procedure for herbal medicines, sandwich ELISA procedure, evaluation of cross-reactivity for determination, matrix effect of the organic solvents, correlation of benzo[a]pyrene detection ELISA compared to HPLC-FLD in herbal medicine products. Results: The sandwich ELISA method for B[a]P was validated in linearity (R2 > 0.99), the limit of detection (LOD) (0.080.19 μg/kg) and limit of quantification (LOQ) (0.240.57 μg/kg), accuracy (95.58117.06 %), and precision (3.8010.26 %). The cross-reactivity (CR) was found for B[a]P (100%), CHR (39%), B[b]F (27%), and B[a]A (41%). As a solvent, acetonitrile (MeCN) was used to express the normalized sandwich ELISA calibration curves with benzo[a]pyrene monoclonal antibody (B[a]P-13). The antigen-antibody binding in sandwich ELISA was decreased about 10 times with increasing the salt content (0.0060.18 mol/L phosphate to 20400 mmol/L). The pH range from 6 to 9 was not considered to affect the performance of the sandwich ELISA. Correlation of B[a]P detection in herbal medicines with ELISA compared to HPLC-FLD expressed good correlation (R2 = 0.991) and the slope of the graph for the ELISA (B[a]P-equivalents μg/kg) value divided by the HPLC-FLD (B[a]P μg/kg) value was 0.7292. Conclusion: Therefore, sandwich ELISA method using benzo[a]pyrene monoclonal antibody (B[a]P-13) could be an alternative screening method for detection of B[a]P in herbal medicine products.

Convolutional neural network for screening of obstructive sleep apnea using snoring sounds

Screening and assessment for obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) has attracted growing attention to improve the life of patients with sleep apnea. The gold standard for diagnosing OSAHS is an overnight polysomnography (PSG) in a dedicated sleep laboratory. Yet, the PSG test is professional, expensive and unsuitable for mass screening of the population. OSAH affects about 10 % of population in the world, and there are about 80 % suffers remaining undiagnosed. The automatic and cheap OSAHS patients screening methods are urgently needed. As a major sign of undiagnosed OSAHS, snoring has been used for diagnosis of OSAHS. An automated snore detection method would allow a faster diagnosis and more patients to be analyzed. In this paper, we build a database including more than 80 thousand of snoring sound episodes from 124 subjects. These sounds are recorded by non-contact microphone in the subject’s private room, and labeled by trained sleep clinicians. And then the visibility graph method is modified as a novel framework for encoding these snoring time series into images to fully take advantage of two-dimension convolutional neural networks (CNN) in computer vision tasks. At last, a CNN model based on visibility graph method (VG) is applied to automatically extract features and recognize severity of OSAHS based on these snoring sounds. The experimental results show that our approach achieves an accuracy of 92.5 %, sensitivity of 93.9 %, and specificity of 91.2 % for OSAHS recognition. Our research provides an alternative method for rapid and massive screening and diagnosis of OSAHS.

A Model for Identifying Road Risk Class

Abstract In many road safety, traffic management, and travel planning analyses, it is useful to classify road sections according to risk level. Such classification is labour-intensive and needs to be reviewed periodically. The authors propose a model for identifying a discrete risk class for road sections based on selected traffic flow parameters, which are available in most measurement systems monitoring current traffic conditions. The Surrogate Safety Measures approach was applied in the model formulated using Principal Components Analysis. As input to the model SSMs are used in the form of a set of hourly average traffic flow parameters. The SSMs used are: the percentage of light vehicles exceeding the speed limit by a value in the range 21 to 30 km/h; the percentage of light vehicles exceeding the speed limit by more than 30 km/h; the traffic volume of light vehicles; the traffic volume of heavy vehicles and the mean speeds of light vehicles and heavy vehicles. This paper presents results of calculations of risk class obtained from the model for different locations on single-carriageway two-lane roads in Poland. Satisfactory compliance of risk classes designated by the road operator and identified by the model based on current traffic data was achieved. The proposed model can be used as the core of an effective alternative road safety screening method.

Knowledge and Interests of Women of Childbearing Age (PUS) about Acetic Acid Visual Inspection (IVA)

Reproductive health is a complete physical, mental and social condition, not only free from disease or disability in all aspects related to the reproductive system, its functions and processes. Cervical cancer is a primary malignant tumor originating from squamous epithelial cells, cancer that occurs in the cervix or cervix which is located between the uterus and the vaginal opening. Overcoming this problem requires efforts to solve the problem with other screening methods that are more capable, cost-effective and possible to be carried out in Indonesia. One of the alternative methods of cervical cancer screening that can answer these requirements is IVA (Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid Overlay). Women of Childbearing Age (PUS) about Acetic Acid Visual Inspection (IVA) In RW 05, Campurejo Village, Mojo Subdistrict, Kediri The research design used in this research is correlation research. The approach in this study uses a Cross Sectional approach. This research was conducted to find a relationship between the knowledge of Women of Childbearing Age (PUS) about Acetic Acid Visual Inspection (IVA) with an interest in Acetic Acid Visual Inspection (IVA).Results: Based on the results of the Spearman Rank test, P value = 0.007 <0.05 from a significant level of 5%, then H0 is rejected and H1 is accepted, meaning that there is a relationship between women's knowledge of IVA about IVA with interest in doing IVA in RW 05 Kelurahan Campurejo District City of Kediri. From results can be concluded that H1 is accepted, meaning that there is a relationship between knowledge of women of childbearing age (IVA) about Visual Inspection of Acetic Acid (IVA) with an interest in conducting Visual Inspection of Acetic Acid (IVA).

Population-based screening methods in biliary atresia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate tested methods of population-based biliary atresia (BA) screening.DesignWe searched 11 databases between 1 January 1975 and 12 September 2022. Data extraction was...

Cyclic voltammetry of immobilized particles as an alternative pesticide screening method for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Cyclic voltammetry of immobilized particles as an alternative pesticide screening method for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

A fast, cheap, and easy protocol for celiac disease HLA haplotype typing using buccal swabs.

Celiac disease (CeD) is a complex autoimmune disorder characterized by intestinal immune-derived injury that develops in response to dietary gluten consumption. Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) complex haplotype typing is one of the main tests for CeD diagnosis, together with anti-endomysium and anti-transglutaminase autoantibody detection in blood and inflammation observation in the intestine, being the former mainly used for the initial discarding of the pathogenesis. Among the many types of HLA proteins, HLA-DQ2.5 and HLA-DQ8 are considered essential for CeD development. These receptors are only expressed when specific alleles are present, which can be accurately predicted by the presence of the tagging SNPs rs2187668 and rs7454108, respectively. Taking advantage of this premise, we present here an easy workflow to assess HLA genotyping in saliva by a quick and cheap isopropanol-ethanol precipitation-based DNA extraction method followed by the genotyping of two tagging SNPs for the most frequent CeD risk-associated HLA haplotypes. All the actual diagnostic methods for CeD are performed after acquisition of intestine biopsies or blood samples by invasive techniques. Therefore, the development of non-invasive methods would be of a great improvement and advantage for patients, especially children, as an alternative method for initial CeD screening.

Effect of Phototherapy on Transcutaneous vs Total Serum Bilirubin Level in Preterm Neonates- A Prospective Cohort Study

Introduction: Neonatal jaundice is one of the most common problems encountered in the first week after birth. Neonates who develop significant hyperbilirubinemia require phototherapy. Delay in the diagnosis and management of jaundice may lead to neonatal morbidity and mortality. Total Serum Bilirubin (TSB) estimation is considered the gold standard method. However, this invasive procedure causes pain, anxiety, and may lead to infection and iatrogenic anaemia, especially in preterm neonates. Transcutaneous Bilirubin (TcB) estimation, which measures bilirubin through the skin, has been proposed as an alternative screening method for hyperbilirubinemia in term and near-term neonates. Aim: To compare TcB to TSB in preterm neonates of 30-34 6/7 weeks gestational age before, during, and after phototherapy. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based prospective cohort study was conducted at SDMCMS&H, Dharwad, Karnataka, India, between December 2019 and November 2020. A total of 100 preterm neonates between 30 to 34 6/7 weeks of gestation with clinically suspected jaundice were enrolled in the study. TSB was measured in the laboratory using the Diazo Method, while TcB was measured using the Drager jaundice meter JM 103. TcB and TSB were measured and compared in preterm neonates with clinically suspected jaundice before phototherapy, during phototherapy (8 to 12 hours after initiation), and after 12- 18 hours of discontinuation of phototherapy. The collected data was analysed statistically using the mean, standard deviation, dependent t-test, Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and scatter plots. Results: This study enrolled 100 neonates diagnosed with neonatal jaundice, of which 57 were males and 43 were females, resulting in a male-to-female ratio of 1:1.3. Phototherapy was administered to neonates with TSB values, with 79% of the babies between 30-32 weeks and 21% between 32-34 weeks. In the present study, TcB and TSB were compared before, during, and after phototherapy, and the results were analysed, showing statistical significance. The mean TcB levels were 12.05, 9.66, and 7.23 before, during, and after phototherapy, respectively. The mean TSB levels were 11.28, 10.16, and 7.65 before, during, and after phototherapy, respectively. Based on Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient, a positive correlation was found between TcB and TSB before (r=0.8319, p-value <0.001), during (r=0.6069, p <0.001), and after phototherapy (r=0.8154, p<0.001). Conclusion: TcB values are comparable to TSB values and can be adopted as the standard method to measure bilirubin levels in preterm babies in a clinical setting.

Infrared image method for possible COVID-19 detection through febrile and subfebrile people screening

This study proposed an infrared image-based method for febrile and subfebrile people screening to comply with the society need for alternative, quick response, and effective methods for COVID-19 contagious people screening. The methodology consisted of: (i) Developing a method based on facial infrared imaging for possible COVID-19 early detection in people with and without fever (subfebrile state); (ii) Using 1206 emergency room (ER) patients to develop an algorithm for general application of the method, and (iii) Testing the method and algorithm effectiveness in 2558 cases (RT-qPCR tested for COVID-19) from 227,261 workers evaluations in five different countries. Artificial intelligence was used through a convolutional neural network (CNN) to develop the algorithm that took facial infrared images as input and classified the tested individuals in three groups: fever (high risk), subfebrile (medium risk), and no fever (low risk). The results showed that suspicious and confirmed COVID-19 (+) cases characterized by temperatures below the 37.5 °C fever threshold were identified. Also, average forehead and eye temperatures greater than 37.5 °C were not enough to detect fever similarly to the proposed CNN algorithm. Most RT-qPCR confirmed COVID-19 (+) cases found in the 2558 cases sample (17 cases/89.5%) belonged to the CNN selected subfebrile group. The COVID-19 (+) main risk factor was to be in the subfebrile group, in comparison to age, diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking and others. In sum, the proposed method was shown to be a potentially important new tool for COVID-19 (+) people screening for air travel and public places in general.

Evaluation of resazurin microplate method for rapid detection of vancomycin and linezolid resistance in Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium clinical isolates.

Vancomycin and linezolid resistance among enterococci is an increasing problem due to a lack of alternative antibiotics. Early identification of vancomycin-resistant and linezolid-resistant strains can help prevent the spread of resistance to these antibiotics. Hence, early, rapid and accurate detection of vancomycin and linezolid resistance is critical. The resazurin microplate method (RMM) was developed for detecting vancomycin and linezolid susceptibility among Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) and Enterococcus faecium (E. faecium) clinical isolates, and its performance was further evaluated. A total of 209 non-duplicate clinical isolates and three strains from the faeces of domestic animals, including 142 E. faecalis (71 linezolid non-susceptible and 71 linezolid susceptible) and 70 E. faecium (23 vancomycin non-susceptible, 23 vancomycin susceptible, 12 linezolid non-susceptible and 12 linezolid susceptible), were tested using RMM. The susceptibility of E. faecium to vancomycin was detected within 5 h, with high susceptibility (23/23) and specificity (23/23). The susceptibility of E. faecalis and E. faecium to linezolid was detected within 4 h, with specificities of 98.59% and 100% and susceptibilities of 94.37% and 58.33% for E. faecalis and E. faecium, respectively. RMM had a good positive predictive value for the detection of vancomycin-non-susceptible E. faecium and linezolid-non-susceptible E. faecalis. It thus has the potential to become an alternative method for the rapid screening of these resistant pathogens in clinical practice.

Simple and field amenable loop-mediated isothermal amplification-lateral flow dipstick assay for detection of west Nile virus in human clinical samples.

West Nile encephalitis caused by infection with the West Nile virus (WNV) is endemic in many regions of the world and is a global public health threat. The aim of this report was to develop a method using colorimetry-based reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (cRT-LAMP) and RT-LAMP combined with lateral-flow dipstick (LFD) for rapidly detecting WNV in low-infrastructure settings. The primers for the cRT-LAMP and RT-LAMP-LFD assays were designed based on env gene of the WNV. Primers concentration, temperature and time were optimized for cRT-LAMP and RT-LAMP-LFD. The diagnostic performance of the cRT-LAMP and RT-LAMP-LFD assays was evaluated using human serum samples from 110 patients who were clinically suspected to be infected with WNV. The RT-LAMP was performed in a heating block at 63°C for 40 min. The LAMP amplicons were visible in the lateral-flow dipstick within 5min. The detection limit of the developed cRT-LAMP and RT-LAMP-LFD assays was 10 copies and this assay showed a high degree of specificity for WNV. Compared with quantitative real-time RT-PCR assay, the kappa value of cRT-LAMP and RT-LAMP-LFD were 0.970. These results showed that the newly developed WNV-specific cRT-LAMP and RT-LAMP-LFD assays can be employed as an alternative method for screening of WN-suspected human samples. The results revealed that the assay could potentially identify the virus without interference from human serum samples. Collectively, all results revealed that cRT-LAMP and RT-LAMP-LFD assays offer a suitable field-based diagnosis of WNV. The cRT-LAMP and LAMP-LFD platform for the detection of WNV is rapid, accurate and simple-to-perform. Our present method has not only a short turnaround time but also avoided cross-contamination problem. Moreover, the use of simple lateral flow dipsticks broadens its application potential for the point-of-care use in resource-limited settings during outbreak situations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report for the development of cRT-LAMP and LAMP-LFD assays for rapid, simple, specific and sensitive detection of WNV using human clinical samples and EvaGreen dye.

Partial Results of a Brazilian Study Evaluating an Alternative Method for Fabry Disease Screening in Women

Partial Results of a Brazilian Study Evaluating an Alternative Method for Fabry Disease Screening in Women

Speech acoustic indices for differential diagnosis between Parkinson’s disease, multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy

While speech disorder represents an early and prominent clinical feature of atypical parkinsonian syndromes such as multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), little is known about the sensitivity of speech assessment as a potential diagnostic tool. Speech samples were acquired from 215 subjects, including 25 MSA, 20 PSP, 20 Parkinson’s disease participants, and 150 healthy controls. The accurate differential diagnosis of dysarthria subtypes was based on the quantitative acoustic analysis of 26 speech dimensions related to phonation, articulation, prosody, and timing. A semi-supervised weighting-based approach was then applied to find the best feature combinations for separation between PSP and MSA. Dysarthria was perceptible in all PSP and MSA patients and consisted of a combination of hypokinetic, spastic, and ataxic components. Speech features related to respiratory dysfunction, imprecise consonants, monopitch, slow speaking rate, and subharmonics contributed to worse performance in PSP than MSA, whereas phonatory instability, timing abnormalities, and articulatory decay were more distinctive for MSA compared to PSP. The combination of distinct speech patterns via objective acoustic evaluation was able to discriminate between PSP and MSA with very high accuracy of up to 89% as well as between PSP/MSA and PD with up to 87%. Dysarthria severity in MSA/PSP was related to overall disease severity. Speech disorders reflect the differing underlying pathophysiology of tauopathy in PSP and α-synucleinopathy in MSA. Vocal assessment may provide a low-cost alternative screening method to existing subjective clinical assessment and imaging diagnostic approaches.

Metabolic reprogramming enables the auxiliary diagnosis of breast cancer by automated breast volume scanner.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of female cancer-related deaths worldwide. New technologies with enhanced sensitivity and specificity for early diagnosis and monitoring of postoperative recurrence are in critical demand. Automatic breast full volume scanning system (ABVS) is an emerging technology used as an alternative imaging method for breast cancer screening. Despite its improved detection rate of malignant tumors, ABVS cannot accurately stage breast cancer preoperatively in 30–40% of cases. As a major hallmark of breast cancer, the characteristic metabolic reprogramming may provide potential biomarkers as an auxiliary method for ABVS.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to identify differential metabolomic signatures between benign and malignant breast tumors and among different subtypes of breast cancer patients based on untargeted metabolomics and improve breast cancer detection rate by combining key metabolites and ABVS.MethodsUntargeted metabolomics approach was used to profile serum samples from 70 patients with different subtypes of breast cancer and benign breast tumor to determine specific metabolomic profiles through univariate and multivariate statistical data analysis.ResultsMetabolic profiles correctly distinguished benign and malignant breast tumors patients, and a total of 791 metabolites were identified. There were 54 different metabolites between benign and malignant breast tumors and 17 different metabolites between invasive and non-invasive breast cancer. Notably, the missed diagnosis rate of ABVS could be reduced by differential metabolite analysis. Moreover, the diagnostic performance analyses of combined metabolites (pelargonic acid, N-acetylasparagine, and cysteine-S-sulfate) with ABVS performance gave a ROC area under the curve of 0.967 (95% CI: 0.926, 0.993).ConclusionsOur study identified metabolic features both in benign and malignant breast tumors and in invasive and non-invasive breast cancer. Combined ultrasound ABVS and a panel of differential serum metabolites could further improve the accuracy of preoperative diagnosis of breast cancer and guide surgical therapy.

(Digital Presentation) Electrochemical and DFT Studies for Fentanyl and Fentanyl Analogs

The abuse of opioids has been a critical issue to the public health for years. With the appearance of new fentanyl analogs, the overdose rates of opioids continue to bloom. Current screening methods, such as immunoassay, have difficulty detecting the full range of opioid analogues due to a wide variety of structural variations. We have been working on alternative screening methods, Electrochemical approaches, including square wave voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry, quickly distinguish the group of fentanyl analogs from other opioids with lower cost and easier operations. Both screening approaches are convenient for point-of-care analysis and laboratory tests.The electrochemical approaches utilize the SPE electrodes and PBS buffer. When the solid drugs were dissolved in the buffer solutions, then dropped on electrodes and analyzed via CHI instrument with an energy range of 0.5 – 1.8 eV. The SWV spectra identify fentanyl analogs from mixtures with the optimized condition for individual drugs, such as fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, opioids, amphetamines, and adulterants. Electrochemical approaches are less sensitive than instrumental methods, however, its operations and preparations are easier for un-trained staff. To understand the cross reaction of fentanyl analogs and impurities, as well as the metabolites, DFT calculations displayed the energy changes and pathways from parent drugs to metabolites.The electrochemical method permits a rapid, easily operated presumptive test for opioids in different benefits. When the method coupled with other screening methods, such as surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy our lab have done, the method can be orthogonal to mass spectrometry and sufficiently sensitive to detect compounds at toxicological levels. As a result it should be particularly useful for the screening of opioids and other novel psychoactive substances.

Recent advances in electrochemical biosensors for detection of oncoviruses

Oncoviruses are responsible for less than half of cancers in humans. In virus-related human oncogenesis, a multi-step process leads normal cells to transform into cancerous cells in the body. Among the various oncoviruses are human papillomavirus (HPV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human herpesvirus (HHV-8), human lymphotropic virus-1 (HTLV-1), Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV). The Pap smear test is critical in HPV screening, but its sensitivity is relatively low in cervical lesions, and the probability of giving false results is high. In this situation, create an alternative screening method. Therefore, the applied electroanalytical measurement techniques and electrode systems are important for detecting oncoviruses using electrochemical biosensors. Electrochemical sensor strategies such as genosensors, CRISPR-based recognition assay, aptamer-based biosensors, and immunosensors are used for the detection of oncoviruses. Major viruses causing cancer and oncovirus-related cancer types and electrochemical sensor strategies are described in the review. Studies that have been published in recent years are reported in tables for explaining details. This review considered the articles published in the last 10 years. The biosensor studies for cancer-causing viruses get gradually increased.

The Role of Alternative Toxicological Trials in Drug Discovery Programs. The Case of Caenorhabditis elegans and Other Methods.

The discovery of a new drug requires over a billion dollars and around 12 years of research efforts, and toxicity is the leading reason for the failure to approve candidate drugs. Many alternative methods have been validated to detect toxicity as early as possible to diminish the waste of resources and efforts in medicinal chemistry research, and in vivo alternative methods are especially valuable for the amount of information they can provide at little cost and in a short time. In this work, we present a review of the literature published between the years 2000 and 2021 on in vivo alternative methods of toxicity screening employed in medicinal chemistry, which we believe will be useful because, in addition to shortening the research time, these studies provide much additional information aside from the toxicity of drug candidate compounds. These in vivo models include zebrafish, Artemia salina, Galleria mellonella, Drosophila melanogaster, planarians, and Caenorhabditis elegans. The most published ones in the last decade were zebrafish, D. melanogaster, and C. elegans due to their reliability, ease, and cost-effectiveness in implementation and flexibility. Special attention is given to C. elegans because of its rising popularity, a wide range of uses, including toxicity screening, and active effects measurement, from antioxidant effects to anthelmintic and antimicrobial activities, and its fast and reliable results. Over time, C. elegans also became a viable high-throughput (HTS) automated drug screening option. Additionally, this manuscript lists briefly the other screening methods used for the initial toxicological analyses and the role of alternative in vivo methods in these scenarios, classifying them as in silico, in vitro and alternative in vivo models that have been receiving a growing increase in interest in recent years.

Deep Learning for Automatic Detection of Periodic Limb Movement Disorder Based on Electrocardiogram Signals.

In this study, a deep learning model (deepPLM) is shown to automatically detect periodic limb movement syndrome (PLMS) based on electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. The designed deepPLM model consists of four 1D convolutional layers, two long short-term memory units, and a fully connected layer. The Osteoporotic Fractures in Men sleep (MrOS) study dataset was used to construct the model, including training, validating, and testing the model. A single-lead ECG signal of the polysomnographic recording was used for each of the 52 subjects (26 controls and 26 patients) in the MrOS dataset. The ECG signal was normalized and segmented (10 s duration), and it was divided into a training set (66,560 episodes), a validation set (16,640 episodes), and a test set (20,800 episodes). The performance evaluation of the deepPLM model resulted in an F1-score of 92.0%, a precision score of 90.0%, and a recall score of 93.0% for the control set, and 92.0%, 93.0%, and 90.0%, respectively, for the patient set. The results demonstrate the possibility of automatic PLMS detection in patients by using the deepPLM model based on a single-lead ECG. This could be an alternative method for PLMS screening and a helpful tool for home healthcare services for the elderly population.