Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heart beat classification from single-lead ECG using the synchrosqueezing transform

The processing of ECG signal provides a wealth of information on cardiac function and overall cardiovascular health. While multi-lead ECG recordings are often necessary for a proper assessment of cardiac rhythms, they are not always available or practical, for example in fetal ECG applications. Moreover, a wide range of small non-obtrusive single-lead ECG ambulatory monitoring devices are now available, from which heart rate variability (HRV) and other health-related metrics are derived. Proper beat detection and classification of abnormal rhythms is important for reliable HRV assessment and can be challenging in single-lead ECG monitoring devices. In this manuscript, we modelled the heart rate signal as an adaptive non-harmonic model and used the newly developed synchrosqueezing transform (SST) to characterize ECG patterns. We show how the proposed model can be used to enhance heart beat detection and classification between normal and abnormal rhythms. In particular, using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Beth Israel Hospital (MIT-BIH) arrhythmia database and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) beat classes, we trained and validated a support vector machine (SVM) classifier on a portion of the annotated beat database using the SST-derived instantaneous phase, the R-peak amplitudes and R-peak to R-peak interval durations, based on a single ECG lead. We obtained sentivities and positive predictive values comparable to other published algorithms using multiple leads and many more features.
Ischemic small intestine—in vivo versus ex vivo bioimpedance measurements

Objective: Bioimpedance has been used to investigate changes in electrical parameters during ischemia in various tissues. The small intestine is a multi-layered structure, with several distinct tissue types, and ischemia related changes occur at different times in the different intestinal layers. When investigating how the electrical properties in the small intestine is affected by ischemia, some researchers have used ex vivo models while others have used in vivo models. In this study, we compare ischemic time development of electrical parameters in ischemic in vivo versus ex vivo small intestine. Approach: Measurements were performed using a two-electrode setup, with a Solartron 1260/1294 impedance gain-phase analyser. Electrodes were placed on the surface of ischemic pig jejunum, applying a voltage and measuring the resulting electrical admittance. In each pig, 4 segments of the jejunum were made ischemic by clamping the mesenteric arteries and veins, resulting in a 30 cm central zone of warm ischemia and edema. The in vivo part of the experiment lasted 10 h, after which 3 pieces of perfused small intestine were resected, stored in Ringer-acetat at 38 °C, and measured during a 10 h ex vivo experiment. Main results and significance: We found significant differences (p < 0.0001) between the values of electric parameters when comparing the in vivo and ex vivo measurements as a function of ischemic time development. We also observed some similarities in the trends. In vivo, we measured an overall decrease in impedance during the duration of the experiment, probably as a result from the formation of edema. Ex vivo, the low frequency impedance increased initially for approximately 3 h before starting to decrease.
Population-based estimate of trauma-related deaths for law enforcement personnel: Risks for death are higher and increasing over time

BACKGROUND Trauma-related deaths remain an important public health problem. One group susceptible to death due to traumatic mechanisms is US law enforcement (LE). We hypothesized that LE officers experienced a higher chance of violent death compared with the general US population and that risks have increased over time. METHODS The National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health National Occupational Mortality Surveillance is a population-based survey of occupational deaths. It includes data for workers who died during 1985 to 1998 in one of 30 US states (EARLY period). Additional deaths were added from 23 US states in 1999, 2003 to 2004, 2007 to 2010 (LATE period). Mortality rates are estimated by calculating proportionate mortality ratios (PMR). A PMR above 100 is considered to exceed the average background risk for all occupations. All adults older than 18 years whose primary occupation was listed as “law enforcement worker” were included in the analysis. RESULTS Law enforcement personnel were more likely to die from an injury compared with the general population (Fig. 1). The overall PMR for injury in EARLY was 111 (95% confidence interval [CI], 108–114; p < 0.01), and for LATE was 118 (95% CI, 110–127; p < 0.01). Four mechanisms of death reached statistical significance: motor vehicle traffic (MVT)-driver, MVT-other, intentional self-harm, and assault/homicide. The highest PMR in EARLY was associated with firearms (PMR, 272; 95% CI, 207–350; p < 0.01). The highest PMR in LATE was associated with death due to being a driver in an MVT (PMR, 194; 95% CI, 169–222; p < 0.01). There were differences in risk of death by race and sex. White females had the highest PMR due to assault and homicide (PMR, 317; 95% CI, 164–554; p < 0.01). All groups had similar risks of death due to intentional self-harm (PMR, 130–171). CONCLUSION The risk of death for US LE officers is high and increasing over time, suggesting an at-risk population that requires further interventions. Targeted efforts based on risk factors, such as sex and race, may assist with the development of prevention programs for this population. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Epidemiologic study, level II.
The food and meal pattern in the Cape Peninsula coloured population

A diet survey, using the 24‐hour recall method, was conducted in 1982 as part of a cross‐sectional study of the prevalence of coronary heart disease risk factors among the so‐called coloured population of the Cape Peninsula. Randomly selected male and female respondents between 15 and 64 years of age (n = 976) were interviewed by trained nursing sisters. Dietary data were analysed using the National Research Institute for Nutritional Diseases (NRIND) Food Composition Tables and then evaluated against the Five Basic Food Groups. Intake from the milk group was found to be inadequate, whereas more than the recommended number of portions from the meat group were eaten. Vegetable and fruit consumption was low. Refined cereals were preferred. Breakfast tended to be skimpy and between‐meal snacking heavy. Only about one‐third of the respondents consumed three meals per day. Without additional cost, food intake could be improved by choosing more vegetables, fruit, milk and unrefined cereals, while cutting down on.
Autobiographical memory in Parkinson's disease: a retrieval deficit.

This study examined the effects of providing cues to facilitate autobiographical memory retrieval in Parkinson's disease. Previous findings have shown that individuals with Parkinson's disease retrieve fewer specific autobiographical memories than older adult controls. These findings are clinically significant since the quality of autobiographical memory is linked to identity and sense of self. In the current study, 16 older adults with Parkinson's disease without dementia and 16 matched older adult controls were given 3 min in which to recall autobiographical memories associated with five different time periods and to give each memory a short title. Participants were later asked to retrieve the memories in three phases: firstly in a free recall phase; secondly in response to general cues (time periods) and finally in response to specific cues (the short titles previously given). The number of memories and the quality of the memory (general or specific) was recorded in each condition. Compared with matched older adult controls, the Parkinson's disease group was impaired in retrieving the memories that they had previously given in the free recall phase and in response to general cues. The performance of the group with Parkinson's disease was only equivalent to the older adults when they retrieved memories in response to self-generated cues. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of autobiographical memory and the neuropsychology of Parkinson's disease.
Numerical assessment and comparison of pulse wave velocity methods aiming at measuring aortic stiffness

Pulse waveform analyses have become established components of cardiovascular research. Recently several methods have been proposed as tools to measure aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV). The carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), the current clinical gold standard method for the noninvasive assessment of aPWV, uses the carotid-to-femoral pulse transit time difference (cf-PTT) and an estimated path length to derive cf-PWV. Objective: The heart-ankle PWV (ha-PWV), brachial-ankle PWV (ba-PWV) and finger-toe (ft-PWV) are also methods presuming to approximate aPWV based on time delays between physiological cardiovascular signals at two locations (~heart-ankle PTT, ha-PTT; ~brachial-ankle PTT, ba-PTT; ~finger-toe PTT, ft-PTT) and a path length typically derived from the subject’s height. To test the validity of these methods, we used a detailed 1D arterial network model (143 arterial segments) including the foot and hand circulation. Approach: The arterial tree dimensions and properties were taken from the literature and completed with data from patient scans. We calculated PTTs with all the methods mentioned above. The calculated PTTs were compared with the aortic PTT (aPTT), which is considered as the absolute reference method in this study. Main results: The correlation between methods and aPTT was good and significant, cf-PTT (R2 = 0.97; P < 0.001; mean difference 5 ± 2 ms), ha-PTT (R2 = 0.96; P < 0.001; 150 ± 23 ms), ba-PTT (R2 = 0.96; P < 0.001; 70 ± 13 ms) and ft-PTT (R2 = 0.95; P < 0.001; 14 ± 10 ms). Consequently, good correlation was also observed for the PWV values derived with the tested methods, but absolute values differed because of the different path lengths used. Significance: In conclusion, our computer model-based analyses demonstrate that for PWV methods based on peripheral signals, pulse transit time differences closely correlate with the aortic transit time, supporting the use of these methods in clinical practice.
Studies on the Hematological Profile and Trace Elements in Oral Submucous Fibrosis

Oral submucous fibrosis is a chronic disease of obscure etiology affecting the oral cavity. Several histologic and epidemiologic studies on this condition have been conducted, but the biochemical aspects have not yet been thoroughly explored. Hence the present study was undertaken to study the hematological status and trace elements in this condition. There was no change in the cell count, whereas increases in platelet count, eosinophil number, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were observed. There was a significant decrease in the levels of hemoglobin, iron, ceruloplasmin, copper and zinc; and they correlated well with the progression of the disease. Consideration of these findings should open new avenues for exploration of the disease from new perspectives.
Aluminum phosphide poisoning

Over the last three decades, aluminum phosphide has emerged as an important pesticide agent being sued for self-harm in India is well as other countries. High mortality is due to severe mitochondrial dysfunction leading to disruption of cellular respiration leading to tissue hypoxia and organ dysfunction. In spite of a lot of research, no definitive anbtidote is available, and the treatment remains largely supportive.
The effect of age on balancing behavior: complexity analysis of mediolateral force trajectories

Objective: We quantified, via complexity analysis, the postural stability of healthy people from a wide age range. Approach: Thirty-five healthy people aged 18–72 performed three tasks while balancing on one foot on a force plate: standard balancing task, mental task (balancing while answering basic arithmetic questions), and knot-tying task (balancing while tying two knots in a piece of ribbon). Mediolateral force trajectories were analyzed to determine control strategy via Hurst exponents, Lyapunov exponents, Kolmogorov complexity, root mean square, and phase-space plots. Main results: We found increased pattern repetition in balancing with increased age, as evidenced by the emergence of a double attractor pattern in phase-space plots and the increase of Hurst exponents with age from approximately 0.3 to 0.8. Significance: As people age, they tend to develop strong feed-forward control strategies for balancing, and lose the complexity of micro movements intrinsic to young age. There is an open-loop control strategy for balancing that emerges in older adulthood, and there are attractors inherent to balancing which begin to develop in middle age.
Big data in Parkinson’s disease: using smartphones to remotely detect longitudinal disease phenotypes

Objective: To better understand the longitudinal characteristics of Parkinson’s disease (PD) through the analysis of finger tapping and memory tests collected remotely using smartphones. Approach: Using a large cohort (312 PD subjects and 236 controls) of participants in the mPower study, we extract clinically validated features from a finger tapping and memory test to monitor the longitudinal behaviour of study participants. We investigate any discrepancy in learning rates associated with motor and non-motor tasks between PD subjects and healthy controls. The ability of these features to predict self-assigned severity measures is assessed whilst simultaneously inspecting the severity scoring system for floor-ceiling effects. Finally, we study the relationship between motor and non-motor longitudinal behaviour to determine if separate aspects of the disease are dependent on one another. Main results: We find that the test performances of the most severe subjects show significant correlations with self-assigned severity measures. Interestingly, less severe subjects do not show significant correlations, which is shown to be a consequence of floor-ceiling effects within the mPower self-reporting severity system. We find that motor performance after practise is a better predictor of severity than baseline performance suggesting that starting performance at a new motor task is less representative of disease severity than the performance after the test has been learnt. We find PD subjects show significant impairments in motor ability as assessed through the alternating finger tapping (AFT) test in both the short- and long-term analyses. In the AFT and memory tests we demonstrate that PD subjects show a larger degree of longitudinal performance variability in addition to requiring more instances of a test to reach a steady state performance than healthy subjects. Significance: Our findings pave the way forward for objective assessment and quantification of longitudinal learning rates in PD. This can be particularly useful for symptom monitoring and assessing medication response. This study tries to tackle some of the major challenges associated with self-assessed severity labels by designing and validating features extracted from big datasets in PD, which could help identify digital biomarkers capable of providing measures of disease severity outside of a clinical environment.
The renaissance man of burn surgery: Basil A. Pruitt Jr.

Dr. Basil A. Pruitt Jr., a consummate clinical and translational surgeon-scientist, has been spent over half a century at the forefront of an advancing standard of burn care. Commanding the US Army Institute for Surgical Research in San Antonio, he trained generations of leading burn clinicians and allied scientists. At his direction, there were forged discoveries in resuscitation from shock, treatment of inhalation injury, control of burn-related infections, prevention of iatrogenic complications, and understanding the sympathetic, endocrine, and immune responses to burn injury. Most consequentially, this team was among the first recognize and define alterations in the basal metabolic rate and thermoregulation consequent to burn injury. These investigations prompted groundbreaking insights into the coordinated nervous, autonomic, endocrine, immune, and metabolic outflows that a severely-burned patient uses to remain alive and restore homeostasis. Marking his scientific consequence, many of his reports continue bear fruit when viewed through a contemporary lens. This paper summarizes some of the major findings of his career thus far, and is intended to complement a Festschrift recently held in his honor. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Not applicable.
Parathyroid hormone as a marker for hypoperfusion in trauma: A prospective observational study

BACKGROUND Hyperparathyroidism is common in critical illness. Intact parathyroid hormone has a half-life of 3 minutes to 5 minutes due to rapid clearance by the liver, kidneys, and bone. In hemorrhagic shock, decreased clearance may occur, thus making parathyroid hormone a potential early marker for hypoperfusion. We hypothesized that early hyperparathyroidism predicts mortality and transfusion in trauma patients. METHODS A prospective observational study was performed at a Level I trauma center in consecutive adult patients receiving the highest level of trauma team activation. Parathyroid hormone and lactic acid were added to the standard laboratory panel drawn in the trauma bay on arrival, before the administration of any blood products. The primary outcomes assessed were transfusion in 24 hours and mortality. RESULTS Forty-six patients were included. Median age was 47 years, 82.6% were men, 15.2% suffered penetrating trauma, and 21.7% died. Patients who were transfused in the first 24 hours (n = 17) had higher parathyroid hormone (182.0 pg/mL vs. 73.5 pg/mL, p < 0.001) and lactic acid (4.6 pg/mL vs. 2.3 pg/mL, p = 0.001). Patients who did not survive to discharge (n = 10) also had higher parathyroid hormone (180.3 pg/mL vs. 79.3 pg/mL, p < 0.001) and lactic acid (5.5 mmol/L vs. 2.5 mmol/L, p = 0.001). For predicting transfusion in the first 24 hours, parathyroid hormone has an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.876 compared with 0.793 for lactic acid and 0.734 for systolic blood pressure. Parathyroid hormone has an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.875 for predicting mortality compared with 0.835 for lactic acid and 0.732 for systolic blood pressure. CONCLUSION Hyperparathyroidism on hospital arrival in trauma patients predicts mortality and transfusion in the first 24 hours. Further research should investigate the value of parathyroid hormone as an endpoint for resuscitation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prognostic, level II.
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The plasticity of covalently bonded materials is a subject at the forefront of materials science, bearing on a wide range of technological and fundamental aspects. However, covalent materials fracture in a brittle manner when the deformation exceeds just a few per cent. It is predicted that a macroscopically brittle material like silicon can show nanoscale plasticity. Here we report the exceptional plasticity observed in silicon nanocontacts (‘nanobridges’) at room temperature using a special experimental setup combining a transmission electron microscope and a microelectromechanical system. When accounting for surface diffusion, we succeeded in elongating the nanocontact into a wire-like structure, with a fivefold increase in volume, up to more than twenty times the original length. Such a large plasticity was caused by the stress-assisted diffusion and the sliding of the intergranular, amorphous-like material among the nanocrystals. S Online supplementary data available from stacks.iop. org/Nano/22/355704/mmedia
Subjective effects of glycine ingestion before bedtime on sleep quality

The effects of glycine on sleep quality were examined in a randomized double-blinded cross-over trial. The volunteers, with complaints about the quality of their sleep, ingested either glycine (3 g) or placebo before bedtime, and their subjective feeling in the following morning was evaluated with the St. Mary’s Hospital Sleep Questionnaire and Space-Aeromedicine Fatigue Checklist. The glycine ingestion significantly improved the following elements: “fatigue”, “liveliness and peppiness”, and “clear-headedness”. These results suggest that glycine produced a good subjective feeling after awakening from sleep.
Changing a Medical Unit Culture

This project addresses the redesign of a unit after merging a medical and oncology unit in a small community hospital where quality of patient care and outcomes are emphasized. The focus was to examine the effectiveness of staff-led initiatives to improve satisfaction and outcomes. The purpose of the project was to increase patient, physician, and staff satisfaction and to improve patient outcomes. This project involved empowering the staff to make the necessary changes to reach the outcomes. The project allowed nurses the opportunity to discuss issues regarding continuity of patient care, safe work environment, and improved patient outcomes. Serendipitous outcomes of the project have included unit staff nurses serving as ambassadors for the unit and hospital, a decrease in the change of shift report time, and a staff that desires empowerment. Throughout the project, the clinical nurse specialist functioned in all 3 spheres of influence (patient/client, nurses and nursing practice, and organization/system) to facilitate the commitment to change the environment. The clinical nurse specialist and staff desired to make a positive impact on patient outcomes.
Collective cell migration: a physics perspective

Cells have traditionally been viewed either as independently moving entities or as somewhat static parts of tissues. However, it is now clear that in many cases, multiple cells coordinate their motions and move as collective entities. Well-studied examples comprise development events, as well as physiological and pathological situations. Different ex vivo model systems have also been investigated. Several recent advances have taken place at the interface between biology and physics, and have benefitted from progress in imaging and microscopy, from the use of microfabrication techniques, as well as from the introduction of quantitative tools and models. We review these interesting developments in quantitative cell biology that also provide rich examples of collective out-of-equilibrium motion.