Biomedical Parameters Research Articles

Acute exposure to nocturnal train noise induces endothelial dysfunction and pro-thromboinflammatory changes of the plasma proteome in healthy subjects

Nocturnal train noise exposure has been associated with hypertension and myocardial infarction. It remains unclear whether acute nighttime train exposure may induce subclinical atherosclerosis, such as endothelial dysfunction and other functional and/or biochemical changes. Thus, we aimed to expose healthy subjects to nocturnal train noise and to assess endothelial function, changes in plasma protein levels and clinical parameters. In a randomized crossover study, we exposed 70 healthy volunteers to either background or two different simulated train noise scenarios in their homes during three nights. After each night, participants visited the study center for measurement of vascular function and assessment of other biomedical and biochemical parameters. The three nighttime noise scenarios were exposure to either background noise (control), 30 or 60 train noise events (Noise30 or Noise60), with average sound pressure levels of 33, 52 and 54 dB(A), respectively. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery was 11.23 ± 4.68% for control, compared to 8.71 ± 3.83% for Noise30 and 8.47 ± 3.73% for Noise60 (p < 0.001 vs. control). Sleep quality was impaired after both Noise30 and Noise60 nights (p < 0.001 vs. control). Targeted proteomic analysis showed substantial changes of plasma proteins after the Noise60 night, mainly centered on redox, pro-thrombotic and proinflammatory pathways. Exposure to simulated nocturnal train noise impaired endothelial function. The proteomic changes point toward a proinflammatory and pro-thrombotic phenotype in response to nocturnal train noise and provide a molecular basis to explain the increased cardiovascular risk observed in epidemiological noise studies.

Low toxicity in hematological and biomedical parameters caused by bupernorphine in lactating female rats and their newborns

This study was designed to evaluate the toxic effects of buprenorphine (BUP) on hematological and serum biochemical parameters of female rats and their pups. Lactating rats received BUP 0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg subcutaneously for 21 days. Then, the female rats and their pups were anesthetized. Their blood samples were collected to assess hematological parameters and serum biochemical parameters. BUP decreased the hematocrit value and the percentage of lymphocytes (p < .05) but increased the percentage of neutrophils (p < .01) in pups exposed to BUP (0.3 mg/kg) versus the controls. We showed that some hematological parameters are altered in pups exposed to BUP solely via breastmilk.

Disseminating of Bio-info with respect to different photonic crystal structure through AWS

Photonic crystal structure (PCS), an embryonic research area pertaining to the investigation of various bio-medical parameters where, the motions of photons are modulated due to photonic band gap with respect to different concentration of bio-medical specimens. In the present investigation process, photonic band gap (PBG) of the proposed structure is varied in accordance with the different concentration of biomedical parameters which leads to fetch different output light energy. Further, various biomedical specimens such as glucose in human urine, haemoglobin in human blood, sucrose concentration in hydrogel solution etc have been computed using plane wave expansion (PWE)method by considering GaAs as background material in different photonic crystal structure and all the relevant information are stored in a cloud server (AWS- Amazon Web Service) for wide disseminating of knowledge. A web-based application (http://kaleep.tk/crystalinfo/) is developed and can be access to extract the output energy (in eV)along with the concentration of bio-parameters through Internet for research application.

3D Convolutional Neural Networks for Remote Pulse Rate Measurement and Mapping from Facial Video

Remote pulse rate measurement from facial video has gained particular attention over the last few years. Research exhibits significant advancements and demonstrates that common video cameras correspond to reliable devices that can be employed to measure a large set of biomedical parameters without any contact with the subject. A new framework for measuring and mapping pulse rate from video is presented in this pilot study. The method, which relies on convolutional 3D networks, is fully automatic and does not require any special image preprocessing. In addition, the network ensures concurrent mapping by producing a prediction for each local group of pixels. A particular training procedure that employs only synthetic data is proposed. Preliminary results demonstrate that this convolutional 3D network can effectively extract pulse rate from video without the need for any processing of frames. The trained model was compared with other state-of-the-art methods on public data. Results exhibit significant agreement between estimated and ground-truth measurements: the root mean square error computed from pulse rate values assessed with the convolutional 3D network is equal to 8.64 bpm, which is superior to 10 bpm for the other state-of-the-art methods. The robustness of the method to natural motion and increases in performance correspond to the two main avenues that will be considered in future works.

Naoxintong Capsule Inhibits the Development of Cardiovascular Pathological Changes in Bama Minipig Through Improving Gut Microbiota.

Naoxintong capsule (NXT), a Chinese medicine, has performed excellent effects on the prevention and treatment against cardiovascular diseases. NXT is a fine powder mixture without any herb extraction, and there must be lots of ingredients hard to be absorbed. However, little is known about the correlation between the NXT’s cardioprotective effects and gut microbiota. Herein, we report the effect of NXT on the development of cardiovascular diseases and clarify the correlation between NXT’s cardioprotective effects and gut microbiota. In the current study, minipigs were selected and fed with high-fat diet and NXT daily for successive 8 months. During the process, up to 18 biomedical parameters were monthly determined to observe the dynamic changes after NXT treatment. At the end of experimental process, pathological examinations of heart, coronary artery, carotid artery, thoracic aorta, and abdominal aorta were conducted by HE staining and 16SrDNA sequencing, and analyzing of gut microbiota were conducted. Our results showed that NXT’s effects against cardiovascular diseases were through regulating blood lipid profiles, inhibiting vascular inflammation, enhancing antioxidant capacity, and alleviating myocardial injury, without damages on liver and kidney particularly. Concurrently, we also found that long-term administration of NXT increased the diversity of gut microbiota, influenced the microbiome structure and composition stably, and revered the increase of the ratio of the Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes (F/B ratio) in relative abundance. Specifically, our results revealed some key bacterium of Caproiciproducens (enhanced), Sutterella (enhanced), Erysipelotrichaceae (enhanced), and Romboutsia (decreased) that were closely involved in NXT’s effects. Taken together, our study demonstrates that NXT can inhibit the development of cardiovascular diseases by ameliorating high-fat diet–induced metabolic disorders and partly through improving gut microbiota.

Optical tissue probing: human skin hydration detection by speckle patterns analysis.

An optical approach to determine the hydration level in human skin is presented. The approach is based on temporal tracking of back-reflected secondary speckle patterns generated while illuminating the tested area with a laser and applying periodic vibrations to the surface via a controlled vibration source (CVS). This approach has already been tested successfully for other biomedical parameters such as sensing vital signs, hematology and hemodynamic processes in the body. In this paper we examine and adjust this optical technique with the aim of measuring human skin moisture. We compare the suitability and accuracy of our optical method to the commercially available device for skin moisture measurements, the Corneometer CM 825 (by Courage + Khazaka, Cologne, Germany). Preliminary experiments showing the method's suitability for hydration measurements are presented, may lead to more accurate results that may upgrade the control of the cosmetic industry as well as identifying symptoms of moisture-related skin diseases.

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ASSESSING OF SPORTSMAN’S PHYSIOLOGICAL RESERVES DURING PHYSICAL EXERCISES

Introduction. An assessing of the sportsman's physiological reserve (PR) and its dynamics is important when planning and carrying out a training, forecasting sportsman's results. An importance of this problem increases in highperformance sports, and energy consumption sports. A complexity of solving of this problem is caused by the requirement of taking into account of the complex of the biomedical parameters and formation of an integral parameter. This parameter reflects functioning of various body systems which provide significant income to the sportsman’s result achievement. Objective. Development of the method and the system of PR assessing allowing complex investigation of the PR during the training process. Method and materials. For achievement of the aim the tasks were formulated and solved using methods of biomedical research and engineering, mathematical processing and analysis of the diagnostically valuable parameters. Results. The complex of the biomedical parameters reflecting sportsman’s body metabolism in condition of physical exercises is formed. They are the heart rate, the heart rate variability, the pulse frequency, the systolic and diastolic pressure, the respiratory rate, the blood saturation, and the stress index by Baevsky. It is important for PR assessing to assess parameters characterizing sportsman’s physiological reserves at the current moment and its dynamics. The circle diagram is proposed for taking into account of all mentioned parameters and its variation dynamics. The value of the integral PR parameter is an area of a polygon, which is obtained on the circle diagram using normalized values of the diagnostically significant parameters. The method of biomedical investigation of the sportsman and the method of PR assessing based on the complex of the body system parameters are developed. The scheme of assessing of sportsman's body physiological reserves before and after the training is proposed. The scheme allows to assess not only sportsman's body energy consumption during the training but also its recovery after the training. General structures of the biotechnical system and a structures of systems of picking up, registration, processing, and analysis of biomedical signals for assessing of sportsman's physiological reserves are developed. Special attention is given to the development of a wearable device for synchronous registration of the complex of biomedical parameters and algorithms of assessing of the diagnostically significant parameters of sportsman's body physiological reserves. Conclusion. The proposed method of sportsman's physiologic reserves investigation and the structure of the system with spatially distributed architecture allow sport medicine doctor and coach to assess an efficiency of sportsman's training process with respect to his potential capabilities, and efficiently control the training process.

THE INTEGRATION OF DENTAL DETERMINANTS IN THE ACTIVE LONGEVITY PROGRAM

According to the World Health Organization, the elderly are the fastest-growing age group in the world. Scientists addressing the aging issue have put forward a theory of active longevity, based on improving the quality of life of the elderly. Most authors believe that the basis of a long life is an active and mobile lifestyle, a healthy diet, abstinence from bad habits, constant communication and affordable quality health care. Recently, in our country, government officials began to pay attention to the problems of longevity and improving the quality of life of senior and elderly people. The Government of Moscow adopted a decision of December 18, 2018 No. 1578-GO “On the implementation of the Moscow Longevity Project in the city of Moscow”, which provides for a permanent basis to create a system of organizing active leisure activities for senior citizens, expanding forms of social communications, further enhancing their life and longevity. Recent studies show that the quality of life of people in the elderly and senile age is closely related to their health and cannot be limited to biomedical parameters. It depends on an assessment of one’s life course, internal standards, and on effective social activity. Also, quality of life is correlated with factors such as the diet and nutrition quality, the ability to perform physical activities that help reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases and mortality. At the same time, the importance of dental health remains underestimated, despite the fact that healthy mouth organs and tissues are the main factors contributing to quality nutrition, performing an aesthetic role and serving as a symbol of a person’s well-being.

Design of a patch antenna with square ring-shaped-coupled ground for on-/off body communication

ABSTRACTBio-telemetry is an advanced area of research that enables the transmission of biomedical parameters from human body to external monitoring device. Wearable antennas showing robust performance are attaining attention for RF bio-telemetry. A square ring-shaped ground antenna with a truncated patch is investigated for dual mode, on-body and off-body communication. The proposed antenna structure is analysed and optimised on a multi-layered flat tissue phantom. Proposed design resonates at 2.6 GHz with |S11| −22 dB and at 5.2 GHz with |S11| −35 dB on the phantom gel. Wide bandwidth of 520 MHz (2.33–2.85 GHz) and 620 MHz (4.78–5.4 GHz) efficiently covers ISM, LTE and WLAN bands and enables the antenna to withstand frequency detuning due to different body postures. Antenna shows maximum radiation efficiency of 15% at 2.45 GHz band when placed close to the tissue. Low specific absorption rate (SAR) value of 0.459/0.523/0.303 W/Kg at 2.45/2.6/5.2 GHz ensures the tissue safety.

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides assisted biofunctionalized optical fiber SPR biosensor for efficient and rapid detection of bovine serum albumin

The present study reports an alternative method of functionalizing the optical fiber Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensing probe with antibodies for label-free detection of bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein. In this novel approach, the gold coated fiber was first modified with Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets followed by its bio-functionalization with Anti-BSA antibodies. The developed technique not only allowed the amplification of the SPR signals by synergic effects of MoS2 and gold metallic thin film but also enabled a direct and chemical-free attachment of representative antibodies through hydrophobic interactions. The sensitivity of the MoS2 modified sensing probe with detection limit of 0.29 µg/mL was improved as compared to the fiber optic SPR biosensor without MoS2 overlayer (Detection limit for BSA was 0.45 μg/mL). The developed biosensor has good specificity, and environmental stability. Accordingly, the proposed design of the MoS2 based SPR optical biosensor can offer the development of a simplified optical device for the monitoring of various biomedical and environmental parameters.

Design and Development of a Self-Powered Wearable Device for a Tele-Medicine Application

This project aims to develop a self-powered, multipurpose system designed to measure an array of biomedical parameters like, SPO2, temperature and pulse rate which serves the need for Telemedicine application. The IOT based biomedical instrument helps in bridging the gap between a doctor and his patient by providing real time diagnosis and treatment through telecommunication technology. This instrument is designed to target individuals who are in fields which go hand in hand with high altitudes and having walking as the only means of transport. Fields like the armed forces, trekking etc. come in this bracket. Piezoelectric sensors are useful for such fields as these require a whole lot of activity but do not usually have active power sources to charge their health monitors. National defence personnel, who have to take care of their bodies in places like Siachen and other difficult terrains, require wearable health devices, now more than ever to continually monitor their health. Hence the design of a self-powered wearable health monitoring device proved to be of critical importance. As the device fulfils telemedicine requirements, it also provides sophisticated health care resources with solutions, allowing the soldier to return to duty and avoid medical evacuation.

Applications and Advances of Magnetoelastic Sensors in Biomedical Engineering: A Review.

We present a comprehensive investigation into magnetoelastic sensors (MES) technology applied to biomedical engineering. This includes the working principles, detection methods, and application fields of MES technology. MES are made of amorphous metallic glass ribbons and are wireless and passive, meaning that it is convenient to monitor or measure the parameters related to biomedical engineering. MES are based on the inverse magnetoelastic (Villari) effect. When MES are subjected to mechanical stress, their magnetic susceptibility will change accordingly. And the susceptibility of MES is directly related to their magnetic permeability. The varying permeability can positively reflect the applied stress. The various detection methods that have been developed for different field applications include measurement of force, stress, and strain, monitoring of various chemical indexes, and consideration of different biomedical parameters such as the degradation rate and force conditions of artificial bone, as well as various physiological indexes including ammonia level, glucose concentration, bacteria growth, and blood coagulation.

Symposium Speakers

Metabolic derailments associated with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes can be studied with mixed meal tests (MMT’s). The plasma metabolome enriched with measurements of other biomarkers, such as hormones and cytokines, provide valuable information about the physiological state of an individual. An increasingly important, but complex task is to extract biomedical parameters with diagnostic value from large and multivariate datasets. We applied model-based data processing and analysis, combining computer simulation models of the human physiological system, stochastic models of uncertainties and machine learning of time-series data obtained from repeated blood sampling during MMT’s. In a mouse model of metabolic syndrome we identified differences in lipid metabolism to be associated with variation in weight gain and development of NAFLD (fatty liver disease). The computational model predicted the progression of dyslipidemia to be linked to bile acids, which was confirmed in a validation study including a larger group of mice that were followed for a longer period of time. To investigate the role of bile acids in humans with metabolic syndrome a detailed simulation model of bile acid metabolism and physiology was developed. The dozens of different bile acid species present in blood are to a large extent produced by gut bacteria. Model-based analysis of plasma bile acids provides a metabolic ‘window’ on the gut microbiome and other digestive processes in the gastrointestinal tract. The model was applied to simulate bariatric surgery in patients with metabolic syndrome. The model predicts changes in bile acid concentrations and dynamics in the small intestine to result in a stronger and faster GLP-1 response, hence insulin secretion, explaining observations of rapid glycemic improvement after surgery. The simulation model turned out to be sufficiently robust that personalized variants for individual patients could be made, using MMT plasma bile acid metabolomics as input.

Automatic segmentation of the foveal avascular zone in ophthalmological OCT-A images.

Angiography by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT-A) is a non-invasive retinal imaging modality of recent appearance that allows the visualization of the vascular structure at predefined depths based on the detection of the blood movement through the retinal vasculature. In this way, OCT-A images constitute a suitable scenario to analyze the retinal vascular properties of regions of interest as is the case of the macular area, measuring the characteristics of the foveal vascular and avascular zones. Extracted parameters of this region can be used as prognostic factors that determine if the patient suffers from certain pathologies (such as diabetic retinopathy or retinal vein occlusion, among others), indicating the associated pathological degree. The manual extraction of these biomedical parameters is a long, tedious and subjective process, introducing a significant intra and inter-expert variability, which penalizes the utility of the measurements. In addition, the absence of tools that automatically facilitate these calculations encourages the creation of computer-aided diagnosis frameworks that ease the doctor’s work, increasing their productivity and making viable the use of this type of vascular biomarkers. In this work we propose a fully automatic system that identifies and precisely segments the region of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) using a novel ophthalmological image modality as is OCT-A. The system combines different image processing techniques to firstly identify the region where the FAZ is contained and, secondly, proceed with the extraction of its precise contour. The system was validated using a representative set of 213 healthy and diabetic OCT-A images, providing accurate results with the best correlation with the manual measurements of two experts clinician of 0.93 as well as a Jaccard’s index of 0.82 of the best experimental case in the experiments with healthy OCT-A images. The method also provided satisfactory results in diabetic OCT-A images, with a best correlation coefficient with the manual labeling of an expert clinician of 0.93 and a Jaccard’s index of 0.83. This tool provides an accurate FAZ measurement with the desired objectivity and reproducibility, being very useful for the analysis of relevant vascular diseases through the study of the retinal micro-circulation.

Implicit Irregularity Detection Using Unsupervised Learning on Daily Behaviors

The irregularity detection of daily behaviors for the elderly is an important issue in homecare. Plenty of mechanisms have been developed to detect the health condition of the elderly based on the explicit irregularity of several biomedical parameters or some specific behaviors. However, few research works focus on detecting the implicit irregularity involving the combination of diverse behaviors, which can assess the cognitive and physical wellbeing of elders but cannot be directly identified based on sensor data. This paper proposes an Implicit IRregularity Detection (IIRD) mechanism that aims to detect the implicit irregularity by developing the unsupervised learning algorithm based on daily behaviors. The proposed IIRD mechanism identifies the distance and similarity between daily behaviors, which are important features to distinguish the regular and irregular daily behaviors and detect the implicit irregularity of elderly health condition. Performance results show that the proposed IIRD outperforms the existing unsupervised machine-learning mechanisms in terms of the detection accuracy and irregularity recall.

Effectiveness of A Multifactorial Intervention in Increasing Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2: A Controlled and Randomized Study (EMID Study).

The Mediterranean diet (MD) is recognized as one of the healthiest dietary patterns and has benefits such as improving glycaemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Our aim is to assess the effectiveness of a multifactorial intervention to improve adherence to the MD, diet quality and biomedical parameters. The EMID study is a randomized and controlled clinical trial with two parallel groups and a 12-month follow-up period. The study included 204 subjects between 25–70 years with T2DM. The participants were randomized into intervention group (IG) and control group (CG). Both groups received brief advice about healthy eating and physical activity. The IG participants additionally took part in a food workshop, five walks and received a smartphone application for three months. The population studied had a mean age of 60.6 years. At the 3-month follow-up visit, there were improvements in adherence to the MD and diet quality of 2.2 and 2.5 points, compared to the baseline visit, respectively, in favour of the IG. This tendency of the improvement was maintained, in favour of the IG, at the 12-month follow-up visit. In conclusion, the multifactorial intervention performed could improve adherence to the MD and diet quality among patients with T2DM.

Remote sensing of vital signs and biomedical parameters: A review

Remote sensing of vital signs and biomedical parameters: A review

Dos Modelos de Crisis Suicida. Una Perspectiva Psicológica

Resumen. La problemática suicida es sin duda una de las más difíciles para el clínico. En la ayuda a personas con riesgo suicida se camina muchas veces a tientas desprovistos de un esquema conceptual que sirva a explicar-comprender dicha conducta. Ahora bien, sin un entendimiento de la experiencia y de la conducta suicida, difícilmente se podrá dar una ayuda que sea efectiva, por mucho que la investigación apunte a diversos parámetros biomédicos supuestamente explicativos. En este artículo se presentan dos modelos psicológicos de crisis suicida: el modelo psicoanalítico y el existencial.

Xue-Fu-Zhu-Yu capsule in the treatment of qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome: a study protocol for a randomised controlled pilot and feasibility trial

BackgroundQi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome (QS&BSS) is one of the common Zhengs in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which manifests as various symptoms and signs, such as distending pain or a tingling sensation in a fixed position. In recent years, a number of clinical trials have focused on the effectiveness and safety of XFZYC in patients with a QS&BSS subtype disease, such as coronary heart disease, hyperlipidaemia, ischaemic cerebrovascular disease, gastritis, dysmenorrhoea, or arthritis, in terms of the outcomes of relevant diseases. However, there is lack of evidence of the effects of XFZYC in patients with QS&BSS with different diseases, focusing on the outcomes of Zhengs.Methods/DesignA randomised, controlled, pilot and feasibility trial will be employed in this study, using a 7-week study period. Participants will be recruited from Guang’anmen Hospital, Huguosi TCM Hospital, Wangjing Hospital in China. One hundred and twenty participants will be randomised to a treatment group (Xue-Fu-Zhu-Yu Capsule (XFZYC)) and placebo group in a 1:1 ratio. Participants included in the study must be diagnosed with Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome criteria. The outcome measurements will include the traditional Chinese medicine patient-reported outcome (PRO) scale for QS&BSS, the single symptom and sign scale of QS&BSS, and the pain scale of QS&BSS. The clinical data management system (http://www.tcmcec.net/) will be used to collect and manage the data. Quality control will be used, according to Good Clinical Practice (GCP).DiscussionPrevious studies were expected to evaluate whether the addition of XFZYC to standard routine treatment would enhance the treatment effectiveness and improve the biomedical parameters pertaining to relevant disease. However, this trial is focused on the outcome of Zhengs, and we chose a range of outcome measurements to assess the improvement of relevant symptoms and signs. This trial is the first study designed to define and optimise the outcome measurements of Zhengs of XFZYC in the treatment of patients with QS&BSS.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03091634. Registered on 12 August 2018. Release date 6 May 2017.

Improvement of Vascular Endothelial Function at an Early Stage by the Original Stretching Exercise Designed in Our Study Group in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background and Aims: Vascular endothelial cells play an important role in protecting and repairing vessels. It is little known that exercise therapy could ameliorate the vascular endothelial function in diabetic patients. In 2015, in collaboration with Tobu Sports Ltd. (Japan), we created the original exercise program including 12 kinds of body-stretching and converted the program to a DVD. The main aim in the present study is whether the exercise therapy using our original DVD would improve the vascular endothelial function in type 2 diabetic patients. Subjects and Methods: Ten patients with type 2 diabetic mellitus (M/F: 8/2, Age: 58.2±12.7 years) strictly performed the exercise program using the DVD for 12 weeks. Vascular endothelial function was estimated as a reactive hyperemia index (RHI) measured with Endo PAT (Nihon-Koden Ltd. Japan). Body compositions in patients were measured with MC-780 (Tanita Ltd. Japan). We evaluated CAVI or ABI as marker of arteriosclerosis. Various biomedical parameters were assayed in the study. Results: There was a significant increase in RHI before and after intervention (initiation: 1.63±0.3, after: 2.02±0.5, p&amp;lt;0.01). A marked increase in RHI was shown in 90% of patients (9/10). A single patient who showed a reduction in RHI was observed going up of HbA1c levels on a background of irregularity of diet therapy. Any significant alterations were obtained in neither metabolic markers including HbA1c, FPG and body compositions, nor CAVI and ABI during the study. Conclusions: The present study suggests that the intervention of exercise composed by various stretching actions could lead to improvement of vascular endothelial function at an early stage, different from alterations of other metabolic markers in diabetic patients. Thereby, we speculate that vascular endothelial function might be relatively sensitive against a stretching-exercise. Disclosure K. Hara: None. H. Shinozaki: None. M. Yamauchi: None. R. Naruse: None. M. Suetsugu: None. T. Tsuchiya: None. K. Takebayashi: None. T. Inukai: None.