Objective Measurement System Research Articles

Evaluation of the differences between low-salt solid-state fermented soy sauce and high-salt diluted-state fermented soy sauce in China: from taste-active compounds and aroma-active compounds to sensory characteristics.

The present study aimed to determine the components related to sensory properties in soy sauce and to characterize the differences between low-salt solid-state fermented soy sauce (LSFSS) and high-salt diluted-state fermented soy sauce (HDFSS). The taste and aroma active components of 18 commercially available soy sauces (eight types of LSFSS and 10 types of HDFSS) were characterized. The relationship between these compounds, soy sauce samples, and sensory properties was modeled by partial least squares regression. The analysis showed that the 11 taste-active components, including glutamic acid, glycine, alanine, threonine, malic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, acetic acid, lactic acid, reducing sugar and salt, contributed greatly to the taste of soy sauce. In addition, umami, saltiness and sweetness are the characteristic tastes of HDFSS, whereas sourness and bitterness were the characteristic tastes of LSFSS. At the same time, seven aroma-active compounds, namely 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, ethanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, ethyl acetate, 2-phenethyl alcohol, 3-methyl thiopropanol and 2-ethyl-4-hydroxy-5-methylfuran-3-one, played a decisive role in the flavor of soy sauce. In addition, HDFSS presented the aroma attributes of smoky, alcoholic, floral, fruity and caramel-like, whereas LSFSS mainly presented sour and malty aroma attributes. The present study reveals new insight into the relationship between the chemical composition and sensory characteristics of soy sauce, which is of great significance for developing an objective measurement system and providing a theoretical basis to improve the sensory quality of soy sauce. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Pre-testing erroneous text-based documents: Logging end-user activities

An extremely high number of erroneous text-based documents are in circulation, being multiplied, serving as samples both in the office world and in education. Creating, editing, and modifying these documents generates a serious financial loss when both human and machine resources are considered. Our research team developed an application and a testing method for building up an objective measurement system, in order to see the rate of loss in the handling of erroneous documents. In the pre-testing period, the error factor of a sample text was set up based on the logged activities of an expert researcher. It was found that first level modifications require about five times more human and machine resources in a short, one-paragraph text burdened with layout errors than in its properly formatted version. Further testing is required to find out how demanding longer texts and more serious modifications are, but it is already obvious that erroneous text-editing, and the lack of fundamental computational thinking skills involve unnecessary use of our resources.

Determining functional outcomes after resection and reconstruction of primary soft tissue sarcoma in the lower extremity: A review of current subjective and objective measurement systems.

The surgical management of soft-tissue sarcoma has evolved significantly over the last two decades due to the routine use of adjunct therapies, with an increased focus on postoperative functional outcome. The literature suffers from methodological inconsistency and use of low quality outcome measures to assess an already heterogeneous population. This article aims to review the most frequently used subjective and objective methods of functional outcome assessment and highlight the current benefits and limitations of these.

Classification of the Acoustics of Loose Gravel.

Road condition evaluation is a critical part of gravel road maintenance. One of the assessed parameters is the amount of loose gravel, as this determines the driving quality and safety. Loose gravel can cause tires to slip and the driver to lose control. An expert assesses the road conditions subjectively by looking at images and notes. This method is labor-intensive and subject to error in judgment; therefore, its reliability is questionable. Road management agencies look for automated and objective measurement systems. In this study, acoustic data on gravel hitting the bottom of a car was used. The connection between the acoustics and the condition of loose gravel on gravel roads was assessed. Traditional supervised learning algorithms and convolution neural network (CNN) were applied, and their performances are compared for the classification of loose gravel acoustics. The advantage of using a pre-trained CNN is that it selects relevant features for training. In addition, pre-trained networks offer the advantage of not requiring days of training or colossal training data. In supervised learning, the accuracy of the ensemble bagged tree algorithm for gravel and non-gravel sound classification was found to be 97.5%, whereas, in the case of deep learning, pre-trained network GoogLeNet accuracy was 97.91% for classifying spectrogram images of the gravel sounds.

A Critical Assessment and Review of Artificial Intelligence in Facial Paralysis Analysis: Uncovering the Truth

Machine learning is a rapidly growing subset of artificial intelligence (AI) which involves computer algorithms that automatically build mathematical models based on sample data. Systems can be taught to learn from patterns in existing data in order to make similar conclusions from new data. The use of AI in facial emotion recognition (FER) has become an area of increasing interest for providers who wish to quantify facial emotion before and after interventions such as facial reanimation surgery. While FER deep learning algorithms are less subjective when compared to layperson assessments, the databases used to train them can greatly alter their outputs. There are currently many well-established modalities for assessing facial paralysis, but there is also increasing interest in a more objective and universal measurement system to allow for consistent assessments between practitioners. The purpose of this article is to review the development of AI, examine its existing uses in facial paralysis assessment, and discuss the future directions of its implications.

Duration of Court Events Required for Litigation – An Empirical Study to Provide a Theoretical Basis for an Objective Measurement System for Judicial Workload

The balanced operation of the judiciary is a fundamental social interest, regardless of the legal system and of the form of government. This is largely determined by the workload of judges, which is simply measured by the number of cases in the majority of judicial administration systems, but it also depends largely on their complexity. The latter can best be captured through the amount of total judicial working time incurred, until the cases are settled. However, we do not know how to measure it. Is there a justifiable difference between individual cases in this respect? The territorial distribution of cases with different working time demands is also unknown. To answer these questions, I conducted a retrospective empirical study on the records of completed criminal lawsuits at first instance regional courts. The obtained data were analysed by statistical methods. The research proved that the working time demand can be reliably estimated subsequently, and it shows an extremely large deviation. Additionally, the territorial distribution of cases with different working time demand is uneven. This necessitates the development of a judicial workload measurement system, based on the next phase of the research, which would also consider differences in working time demands through a weight that can be assigned to the case.

Objective measures of greengage wine quality: From taste-active compound and aroma-active compound to sensory profiles

This study is sought to identify the components in greengage wine that predict the sensory properties. Taste-active compounds and aroma-active compounds of 20 commercially available greengage wines from different regions were characterized. The relationship between these compounds, wine samples and sensory attributes was modeled by partial least squares regression. The regression analysis indicated the taste-active compounds, alanine, leucine, proline, glutamic acid, lysine, malic acid, citric acid, sucrose, glucose, gallic acid, caffeic acid and tannin made a great contribution to the characteristic taste or mouthfeel of greengage wine. Meanwhile, the aroma-active compounds, including ethyl acetate, ethyl butanoate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, ethyl decanoate, 3-methylbutanol, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, octanoic acid and benzaldehyde, modeled well with the flavor characteristic of greengage wine. The study revealed new insights into the relationship between chemistry and wine sensory characters, which has implications for developing an objective measurement system for determining greengage wine quality.

Recombinant Human BMP6 Applied Within Autologous Blood Coagulum Accelerates Bone Healing: Randomized Controlled Trial in High Tibial Osteotomy Patients.

ABSTRACTBone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are potent osteogenic proteins that induce new bone formation in vivo. However, their effect on bone healing in the trabecular bone surfaces remains challenging. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of recombinant human BMP6 (rhBMP6) applied within an autologous blood coagulum (ABC) in a surgically created wedge defect of the proximal tibia in patients undergoing high tibial osteotomy (HTO) for varus deformity and medial osteoarthritis of the knee. We enrolled 20 HTO patients in a randomized, placebo‐controlled, double‐blinded phase I/II clinical trial. RhBMP6/ABC (1.0 mg/10 mL ABC prepared from peripheral blood) or placebo (10 mL ABC containing excipients) was administered into the tibial wedge defects. Patients were followed for 0 to 24 months by clinical examination (safety) and computed tomography (CT) and serial radiographic analyses (efficacy). The results show that there were no detectable anti‐rhBMP6 antibodies in the blood of any of the 20 patients at 14 weeks after implantation. During the 24 months of follow‐up, there were no serious adverse reactions recorded. The CT scans from defects of patients treated with rhBMP6/ABC showed an accelerated bone healing compared with placebo at 9 weeks (47.8 ± 24.1 versus 22.2 ± 12.3 mg/cm3; p = 0.008) and at 14 weeks (89.7 ± 29.1 versus 53.6 ± 21.9 mg/cm3; p = 0.006) follow‐up. Radiographic analyses at weeks 6 and 24 and months 12 and 24 suggested the advanced bone formation and remodeling in rhBMP6/ABC‐treated patients. In conclusion, we show that rhBMP6/ABC at a dose of 100 μg/mL accelerated bone healing in patients undergoing HTO without serious adverse events and with a good tolerability compared with placebo alone. Overall, for the first time, a BMP‐based osteogenic implant was examined against a placebo for bone healing efficacy in the trabecular bone surface, using an objective bone mineral density measurement system. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Objective measures of grape quality: From Cabernet Sauvignon grape composition to wine sensory characteristics

In an investigation of objective measures that link grape composition to wine quality, this study sought to identify Cabernet Sauvignon grape parameters that predict the sensory properties of the corresponding wines. Eleven chemical measures comprising volatile and non-volatile compounds, enzyme activity plus standard industry harvest measurements were applied to grape samples obtained from different regions throughout South Eastern Australia over three vintages. Grapes underwent controlled vinification and the resulting wines evaluated with sensory descriptive analysis. The entire multi-vintage data sets were combined and modelled using a combination of partial least squares (PLS) and sequential and orthogonalised (SO) -PLS regression techniques. Optimal models were obtained with single sensory attributes rather than global modelling with the entire sensory profile. Five grape chemical measures, which in the main were harvest parameters, were used along with colour, total phenolics and tannin, targeted volatiles, and flavonols, and orthogonalised to model 14 sensory attributes of the Cabernet Sauvignon wines. The seven remaining measures were not used due to their poor ability to model wine sensory attributes, with enzyme activity and tannin by HPLC explaining the least. The study revealed new insights into the relationship between grape chemistry and wine sensory characters, which has implications for developing an objective measurement system for determining grape quality.

FAst Detection Algorithm for 3D Keypoints (FADA-3K)

3D keypoint is widely used for object recognition and pose estimation with a 3D point cloud since it has robustness against measurement noise and occlusion. Many types of 3D keypoints and the corresponding detection methods of 3D keypoints have been proposed. It is essentially important to select suitable 3D keypoint depending on a target object, scene situation, and 3D measurement system. While there have been a lot of useful methods for detecting 3D keypoints, detecting time is an issue, especially for real-time applications, such as robot vision. The detecting of 3D keypoints tends to entail a trade-off between computation time and the robustness of the 3D keypoint. To solve these problems, we propose a FAst Detection Algorithm for 3D keypoints named FADA-3K. A user can select one of the suitable 3D keypoints and the corresponding detection method which has been already proposed since FADA-3K can be implemented as an add-on of the existing detection methods. Numerical experiments show that FADA-3K can achieve about nine times faster detection than conventional approaches to detecting 3D keypoints.

Development of a Color Object Classification and Measurement System Using Machine Vision

Development of a Color Object Classification and Measurement System Using Machine Vision

Development of a Footwear Sizing System in the National Football League.

Context:Footwear performance and injury mitigation may be compromised if the footwear is not properly sized for an athlete. Additionally, poor fit may result in discomfort and foot injury such as fifth metatarsal stress fracture, foot deformities, turf toe, and blisters. Current footwear fitting methods consist of foot length and width measurements, which may not properly describe the shape of the individual foot, correlated with shoe size descriptors that are not standardized. Footwear manufacturers employ a range of sizing rubrics, which introduces shoe size and shape variability between and even within footwear companies. This article describes the synthesis of literature to inform the development and deployment of an objective footwear fitting system in the National Football League (NFL). The process may inform athletic footwear fitting at other levels of play and in other sports.Evidence Acquisition:Literature related to footwear fitting, sizing, and foot scanning from 1980 through 2017 was compiled using electronic databases. Reference lists of articles were examined for additional relevant studies. Sixty-five sources are included in this descriptive review.Study Type:Descriptive review.Level of Evidence:Level 5.Results:Current methods of footwear fitting and variability in the size and shape of athletic footwear complicate proper fitting of footwear to athletes. An objective measurement and recommendation system that can match the 3-dimensional shape of an athlete’s foot to the internal shape of available shoe models can provide important guidance for footwear selection. One such system has been deployed in the NFL.Conclusion:An objective footwear fitting system based on 3-dimensional shape matching of feet and shoes can facilitate the selection of footwear that properly fits an athlete’s foot.

Metrics of the Aesthetically Perfect Breast.

Breast surgery has long been viewed as an art more than a science. However, defining and objectively measuring the ideal breast morphology and aesthetic proportions are fundamental for surgical planning and to setting the goals of surgery as well as to evaluate surgical outcomes. Despite the fact that much has been written about aesthetic and reconstructive breast surgery, there is still no real consensus about what the attributes are of an ideal breast. Moreover, there are in fact no objective standard measurement systems and guidelines to describe ideal or even normal breast shape. Though there is great variability in the perception of beauty among patients and surgeons alike due to many factors among which are age, sex, and sociocultural background, there is common agreement that beauty is a universal phenomenon that has a universal standard present across all civilizations and centuries, and that perceived beauty is enhanced and optimal aesthetics are achieved when proper measurements are made and anthropometric proportions as well as attractive harmonious ratios are respected. The current review is an attempt to summarize the most relevant information available trying to introduce some harmony in our perception of aesthetic ideals of breast surgery. Level of Evidence V This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Foot Gait Analysis In Old Female Patients with Acquired Adult Flatfoot

Category: Midfoot/Forefoot Introduction/Purpose: Acquired adult flatfoot is thought to be caused by a loss of the dynamic and static supportive structure of the medial longitudinal arch. Current evaluation systems mostly rely on static measurements such as standing x-ray, CT and MRI. Recently, the gait analysis has been suggested to be a good tool for assessment of functional impairment. Although there are some previous investigations about gait of flatfoot, there was a limitation in control groups in terms of matching age and gender. The objective of this study was to find the effect of the acquired adult flatfoot on the segmental motion of the foot during gait by comparisons with age and gender controlled healthy adults. Methods: 20 symptomatic flatfeet (12 female patients, 51–80 years old) and 50 symptom-free normal feet (50 female participants, 60-69 years old) were included in this study. For radiographic examinations, meary angle, calcaneal pitch, talo-calcaneal angle, tibio-calcaneal angle was measured using standing lateral radiograph of the foot. And talonavicular coverage angle was measured using standing anteroposterior radiograph of the foot. For foot gait analysis, the temporal gait parameters such as cadence, speed, stride length, step width, step time were calculated. Segmental foot kinematics evaluated using a 3D MFM of a 15-marker set (Foot3D model). Inter-segmental angles (ISA) (hindfoot relative to tibia, forefoot to hindfoot, and hallux to forefoot) were calculated at each time points (100 time points for whole gait cycle). The ISAs (position) at specific phases of gait cycle, the change of ISA (motion) between phases and range of ISAs during the whole gait cycle were calculated and compared between groups. Results: Range of motion (ROM) of sagittal and transverse plane of hindfoot, and transverse plane of forefoot was lower in flatfoot group. ROM of coronal plane of hallux and sagittal plane of forefoot was higher in flatfoot group. There also are significantly different findings in flatfoot group such as more dorsiflexed position of forefoot segment, reduced forefoot abduction motion during terminal stance and loss of push off during preswing phase. In addition, the time of push off phase in flatfoot group occurred later than the control group. In other words, lag of stance phase occurred in flatfoot group (Figure 1). This tendency became even worse when the moderate group and the severe group were compared based on the -20 ° of meary angle. Conclusion: As shown in the gait analysis, the overall reduction in hindfoot ROM and the increase in forefoot ROM in the flatfoot group suggest a midfoot breakage, which shows a decrease in push off power and a lag in the stance phase. So, the results of this study suggest that altered segmental motion of the foot in acquired adult flatfoot patients with PTTD, which shows progressive deterioration according to severity. And we think that gait analysis can be used as an objective functional measurement system for evaluation of acquired adult flatfoot patients.

Automated performance measurement for 3D building modeling decisions

Abstract Building information modeling (BIM) is instrumental in documenting design, enhancing customer experience, and improving product functionality in capital projects. However, high-quality building models do not happen by accident, but rather because of a managed process that involves several participants from different disciplines and backgrounds. Throughout this process, the different priorities of design modelers often result in conflicts that can negatively impact project outcomes. To prevent such unwanted outcomes from occurring, the modeling process needs to be effectively managed. This effective management requires an ability to closely monitor the modeling process and correctly measure the modelers' performance. Nevertheless, existing methods of performance monitoring in building design practices lack an objective measurement system to quantify modeling progress. The widespread utilization of BIM tools presents a unique opportunity to retrieve granular design process data and conduct accurate performance measurements. This research improves upon previous efforts by presenting a novel application programming interface (API)-enabled approach to (a) automatically collect detailed model development data directly from BIM software packages in real-time, and (b) efficiently calculate several modeling performance measures during schematic and design development phases of building projects. These indicators can be used to properly arrange modeling teams in the quest for high-quality building models. The specific objectives of this study to examine the feasibility of a proposed automated design performance measurement framework, and to identify optimal modeling team configurations using empirical performance information. A passive data recording approach allows for the real-time capture of comprehensive user interface (UI) interaction and model element modification events. The proposed framework is implemented as an Autodesk Revit plugin. Next, an experiment is conducted to capture data using the developed Revit plugin. Experiment participants' individual production rates are estimated to establish the validity of the proposed approach to identify the optimal design team configuration. The presented approach uses the earliest due date (EDD) sequencing rule in combination with the critical path method (CPM) to calculate the maximum lateness for different design team arrangements.

Fit-testing systems for hearing protectors: ANSI standards to the rescue

To standardize the performance of fit-testing systems for hearing protection devices (HPDs), an ANSI/ASA standard has been in development since 2008. As of this writing, BSR/ASA S12.71 “Performance criteria for systems that estimate the attenuation of passive hearing protectors for individual users” has been submitted for public comment and ballot. This standard refers to fit-testing systems as field attenuation estimation systems (FAESs). In this talk, we introduce important FAES concepts, as handled in the draft S12.71. There are two types of FAESs: physical systems that take an objective measurement and psychophysical systems that rely on subjective responses from the user being tested. FAESs may produce a quantitative output as a personal attenuation rating (PAR) or simply indicate pass/fail for a given HPD fit. For all types of systems, S12.71 specifies methods to assess the quality of the attenuation estimates, by comparing the FAES results to a laboratory real-ear attenuation at threshold (REAT) measurement. Other important considerations covered in S12.71 include the maximum levels of ambient noise in which FAESs may be operated, the incorporation of uncertainties due to HPD fitting and spectral variability in users’ noise exposures, calibration intervals, and information that must be provided to users.

Abstract A154: Screening of the compounds that modulate cellular bilirubin level in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells

Abstract Background: Bilirubin (BR), the end product of heme metabolism, arises from heme degradation by heme oxygenase and biliverdin reductase. BR level in serum or urine is widely used as biomarker to diagnose liver disorders such as liver cancer. Also, BR is a potent oxidant scavenger that can protect biomolecules such as lipids from oxidative stress. In spite of its clinical importance, there are few studies about cellular level of BR. Therefore, we constructed fluorescence-based high-throughput BR measurement system, and using this system, we screened the compound that modulate cytosolic BR levels. Methods: UnaG, a BR-inducible fluorescent protein from eel muscle, binds to unconjugated bilirubin and subsequently emits green fluorescence. We designed bicistronic plasmid vector pcDNA3-Flag/UnaG-2A-mCherry by linking UnaG cDNA to mCherry cDNA with 2A peptide sequence derived from picornaviruses using recombinant PCR. Since 2A peptide mediates cleavage between two proteins, the cells expressing this vector produce equimolar amounts of UnaG (bilirubin-dependent) and mCherry (bilirubin-independent). Using this construct, change of cellular bilirubin level is estimated by calculating ratio of UnaG/mCherry fluorescence intensity. Then we cloned cells stably expressing this construct by transfection to HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Fluorescence microscopy or micro-plate reader measurement of HepG2/UnaG-2A-mCherry cells showed that treatment of BR or biliverdin, a precursor of BR, increased UnaG/mCherry ratio in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, we developed simple and objective measurement system of cellular BR based on ratiometric analysis. Results: Oxidative stress is implicated in the initiation and progression of cancer. Under oxidative stress, BR may protect tumor cells from cellular damages by its antioxidative properties. Therefore, we screened 400 chemical inhibitors of signal transduction to identify compounds that modulate cytosolic BR level. As a result, we found that rotenone induced the decrease in the BR levels. Furthermore, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a primal enzyme of heme degradation, was downregulated by rotenone treatment, indicating that downregulation of HO-1 by rotenone is responsible for the decrease in cellular BR levels. Moreover, PI3k/Akt or MEK inhibitors were also found to reduce the cellular BR levels. HO-1 inhibition has been reported to enhance anticancer effect of several drugs. Taken together, screening compounds that induce the decrease in cellular BR level caused by HO-1 suppression may lead to identify novel drug seeds to overcome anticancer drug resistance. Acknowledgement: We thank Dr. A. Miyawaki (RIKEN) for kindly providing us with the pcDNA3-Flag/UnaG plasmid. We also thank the Screening Committee of Anticancer Drugs supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, Scientific Support Programs for Cancer Research (MEXT, Japan) for providing us with chemical inhibitors in SCADS Inhibitor Kits. No conflict of interest. Citation Format: Tetsushi Kataura, Masaya Imoto. Screening of the compounds that modulate cellular bilirubin level in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2017 Oct 26-30; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2018;17(1 Suppl):Abstract nr A154.

Mining implicit 3D modeling patterns from unstructured temporal BIM log text data

Abstract Building information modeling is instrumental in documenting design, enhancing customer experience, and improving product functionality in capital projects. However, good building models do not happen by accident, but rather as a result of a managed process that involves several participants from different disciplines and backgrounds. Effective management of this process requires an ability to closely monitor the modeling process and correctly measure modelers' performance. Nevertheless, existing methods of performance monitoring in building design practices lack an objective measurement system to quantify modeling progress. The widespread utilization of Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools presents a unique opportunity to retrieve granular design process data and conduct accurate performance measurements. As a building's 3D model is gradually developed, model generation software packages, such as Autodesk Revit, automatically create log files that record design activities. This paper investigates what information these log files contain and how one can extract and further analyze the information to provide insight into the design modeling process. The specific objectives of this study were to: (1) investigate the presence of implicit patterns in 3-D design log files; and (2) to empirically characterize the performance of modelers based on the time it takes them to execute similar modeling tasks. To fulfill these objectives, design log files provided by an international architecture and design firm were analyzed. Using a tailored text file parser, user-model interaction data including modeler characteristics, command type, and command time were extracted from the journal files. To identify implicit command execution patterns, a sequence mining algorithm based on Generalized Suffix Trees (GST) was implemented. It was shown that there is a statistically significant difference between the average time it takes modelers to execute each command sequence. This study extends the existing knowledge by proposing a novel methodology to extract meaningful patterns from time-stamped unstructured design log data. This research contributes to the state of practice by providing a better understanding of information embedded in design log files.

Recognition of Biomarkers of Brain Connectivity and Pain Using Multi-Modal Imaging in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is associated with impaired cognitive function, pain, cerebral stroke and other neural dysfunctions suggestive of altered brain function. The most common reason for hospitalization of SCD patients is pain. Sickle pain is unique compared to other clinical pain conditions because it includes chronic pain as well as acute pain due to vasoocclusive crisis. The neuropathic and nociceptive aspects of pain in SCD make pain treatment challenging. Opioids, the most common analgesics, are associated with liabilities, such as addiction and tolerance. As a result, patients are often under-treated because of a lack of an objective pain measurement system. We therefore sought to develop an unbiased pain quantification method using non-invasive imaging techniques to recognize the biomarkers of pain and altered brain function. We examined the brain network connectivity in SCD patients (N=14) and healthy controls (N=13) to identify altered activity between the two groups that can be used as biomarkers for chronic pain. All experimental procedures were approved by the IRB of the University of Minnesota, and all subjects gave written informed consent before participating in the study. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) were simultaneously recorded while the subjects were in a wakeful resting state. A 3T Siemens Trio whole-body scanner and a 16 channel head coil with an echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequence were used to acquire fMRI data. EEG data was recorded using a 64-channel EEG cap and MR-compatible amplifiers. Seed-based region of interest (ROI) analysis was performed on the fMRI data using Brain Voyager QX software. EEG informed fMRI (EEG-fMRI) was performed for power and microstate analysis using Matlab and SPM8 software. Statistical activation maps (p<0.001, uncorrected) were generated from general linear models (GLM) based on the time courses found from power and microstate analysis. Seeds were placed in the insula regions, and the functional connectivity between the left and right insula appeared to be stronger in SCD patients than in healthy controls. This result was verified in EEG-fMRI analysis. Activation of the insula and striatum regions positively correlated with the beta band in SCD patients, where healthy controls showed less activation in the insula in the same frequency band. Microstates corresponding to insula activation were observed in both healthy controls and SCD patients; however, activation seems stronger in SCD patients. Activation in the striatum regions was also observed in microstates for SCD patients, but not for healthy controls. These results show that the insula and striatum regions have greater activation in SCD patients compared to controls, and that patients have altered brain connectivity during resting state. Insula activation could be related to the salience network, a resting state network that is responsible for processing external input, or to pain processing. The insula and striatum are some of the common brain regions that have been shown to be active during painful stimuli. This altered activation could be caused by sickle pain and could be a potential biomarker of pain intensity. Due to the non-invasive nature of these quantitative data, this method can have applications in the unbiased objective quantification of pain and treatment outcomes. Altered connectivity observed in SCD patients can also be used to help better understand the neural pathophysiology of sickle pain and can lead to better management strategies for these patients. This work was supported in part by NIH grant U01-HL117664 and NSF IGERT grant DGE-1069104. DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Quantification of Nighttime Micturition With an Ambulatory Sensor-Based System.

Among elderly males, benign prostate syndrome (BPS) is the most common urinary disorder. Nocturia is one of the major symptoms of BPS and has a considerable influence on the quality of life. For assessment of BPS (including nocturia), the International Prostate Symptom Score is widely used, but questionnaires are prone to bias. To date, there is no objective measurement system available for nocturia. In this study, we present an unobtrusive and nonstigmatizing device for objective measurement of nighttime micturition. In a preliminary study of six males diagnosed with BPS and nighttime micturition ≥ 2×, we showed that the device is accurate, with an average misdetection rate of 0.32 events and a mean absolute deviation of 3.8% when comparing the average number of nighttime micturition occurrences. In this extended study, an additional nine males were recorded and data from an occupancy sensor were also included. The results of the preliminary study were confirmed with an average misdetection rate of 0.33 events and a mean absolute deviation of 9.1%. The system can, therefore, be used to objectively measure nighttime micturition and, thereby, provide the basis for treatment, e.g., medication efficacy assessment.