BIOELECTRIC ACTIVITY OF THE BRAIN IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE CEREBROVASCULAR ACCIDENT

Значимость биоэлектрической активности головного мозга в оценке функционального состояния нервной системы при цереброваскулярных заболеваниях широко известна. В настоящей работе показана характеристика биоэлектрической активности головного мозга у больных, перенесших острое нарушение мозгового кровообращения. В данной статье приведены данные о том, что у больных в остром и раннем восстановительном периодах церебрального инсульта биоэлектрическая активность головного мозга характеризовалась, в основном, десинхронным и дезорганизованным типами электроэнцефалограммы. Вместе с тем, отмечались, выраженная дельта и тета активность, а также единичные острые волны, спайки, преимущественно в пораженном полушарии головного мозга, реже в контралатеральном полушарии, межполушарная асимметрия, повышение мощности спектров в сторону преобладания медленных волн. Показатели индекса когерентности по всем отведениям были снижены, что свидетельствует о нарушении функциональных межполушарных взаимосвязей. Более значительное повышение индекса когерентности в дельта и тета диапазонах у пациентов, перенесших геморрагический инсульт, может указывать на более грубые межполушарные нарушения, в сравнении с ишемическим инсультом. Результаты исследования относительной спектральной плотности мощности диапазонов показали, что при геморрагическом инсульте отмечена более высокая дельта и бета активность, а также более значительное снижение мощности альфа ритма, в сравнении с ишемическим инсультом. В тоже время, отмечается повышение интегрального индекса диапазона низкочастотной медленно-волновой активности, особенно выраженное у больных с геморрагическим инсультом р<0,05. The significance of bioelectric activity of the brain in assessing the functional state of the nervous system in cerebrovascular diseases is widely known. In this paper, the characteristics of the bioelectric activity of the brain in patients with acute cerebral circulatory disorders are shown. This article presents data that in patients with acute and early recovery periods of cerebral stroke , the bioelectric activity of the brain was characterized mainly by desynchronous and disorganized types of electroencephalogram. At the, same time, pronounced delta and theta activity was noted , as well as single acute waves, spikes, mainly in the affected hemisphere of the brain, less often in the contralateral hemisphere, interhemispheric asymmetry, increased spectral power in the direction of predominance of slow waves. The coherence index values for all leads were reduced, which indicates a violation of functional interhemispheric relationships. A more significant increase in the coherence index in the delta and theta ranges in patients who have had a hemorrhagic stroke may indicate more severe interhemispheric disorders compared to ischemic stroke. The results of the study of the relative spectral power density of the ranges showed, that in hemorrhagic stroke, there was a higher delta and beta activity, as well as a more significant decrease in the power of the alpha rhythm, in comparison with ischemic stroke. At the same time, there is an increase in the integral index of the range of low-frequency slow-wave activity, especially pronounced in patients with hemorrhagic stroke p < 0.05.

Spectral Power Density analysis of the resting-state as a marker of the central effects of opioid use in fibromyalgia

Spectral power density (SPD) indexed by electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings has recently gained attention in elucidating neural mechanisms of chronic pain syndromes and medication use. We compared SPD variations between 15 fibromyalgia (FM) women in use of opioid in the last three months (73.33% used tramadol) with 32 non-users. EEG data were obtained with Eyes Open (EO) and Eyes Closed (EC) resting state. SPD peak amplitudes between EO-EC were smaller in opioid users in central theta, central beta, and parietal beta, and at parietal delta. However, these variations were positive for opioid users. Multivariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) revealed that EO-EC variations in parietal delta were negatively correlated with the disability due to pain, and central and parietal beta activity variations were positively correlated with worse sleep quality. These clinical variables explained from 12.5 to 17.2% of SPD variance. In addition, central beta showed 67% sensitivity / 72% specificity and parietal beta showed 73% sensitivity/62% specificity in discriminating opioid users from non-users. These findings suggest oscillations in EEG might be a sensitive surrogate marker to screen FM opioid users and a promising tool to understand the effects of opioid use and how these effects relate to functional and sleep-related symptoms.

Signal complexity indicators of health status in clinical EEG

Brain signal variability changes across the lifespan in both health and disease, likely reflecting changes in information processing capacity related to development, aging and neurological disorders. While signal complexity, and multiscale entropy (MSE) in particular, has been proposed as a biomarker for neurological disorders, most observations of altered signal complexity have come from studies comparing patients with few to no comorbidities against healthy controls. In this study, we examined whether MSE of brain signals was distinguishable across patient groups in a large and heterogeneous set of clinical-EEG data. Using a multivariate analysis, we found unique timescale-dependent differences in MSE across various neurological disorders. We also found MSE to differentiate individuals with non-brain comorbidities, suggesting that MSE is sensitive to brain signal changes brought about by metabolic and other non-brain disorders. Such changes were not detectable in the spectral power density of brain signals. Our findings suggest that brain signal complexity may offer complementary information to spectral power about an individual’s health status and is a promising avenue for clinical biomarker development.

Wavelet Ridges in EEG Diagnostic Features Extraction: Epilepsy Long-Time Monitoring and Rehabilitation after Traumatic Brain Injury

Interchannel EEG synchronization, as well as its violation, is an important diagnostic sign of a number of diseases. In particular, during an epileptic seizure, such synchronization occurs starting from some pairs of channels up to many pairs in a generalized seizure. Additionally, for example, after traumatic brain injury, the destruction of interneuronal connections occurs, which leads to a violation of interchannel synchronization when performing motor or cognitive tests. Within the framework of a unified approach to the analysis of interchannel EEG synchronization using the ridges of wavelet spectra, two problems were solved. First, the segmentation of the initial data of long-term monitoring of scalp EEG with various artifacts into fragments suspicious of epileptic seizures in order to reduce the total duration of the fragments analyzed by the doctor. Second, assessments of recovery after rehabilitation of cognitive functions in patients with moderate traumatic brain injury. In the first task, the initial EEG was segmented into fragments in which at least two channels were synchronized, and by the adaptive threshold method into fragments with a high value of the EEG power spectral density. Overlapping in time synchronized fragments with fragments of high spectral power density was determined. As a result, the total duration of the fragments for analysis by the doctor was reduced by more than 60 times. In the second task, the network of phase-related EEG channels was determined during the cognitive test before and after rehabilitation. Calculation-logical and spatial-pattern cognitive tests were used. The positive dynamics of rehabilitation was determined during the initialization of interhemispheric connections and connections in the frontal cortex of the brain.

The Changes of Ergonomic Engine Vibroacoustic Response Regarding Their Development

The article presents the results of research on the vibroacoustic response of internal combustion engines mounted in a vehicle. The vehicles studied belong to popular models, which became available in successive versions. Each group included vehicles of the same model of an older generation (equipped with a naturally aspirated engine) and of a newer generation, including downsized (and turbocharged) engines. Tests in each group were carried out under repeatable conditions on a chassis-load dynamometer. The vibrations were measured using single-axis accelerometers mounted on the steering wheel, engine, and driver’s head restraint mounting. The primary purpose of the study was to verify whether the new generations of vehicles equipped with additional high-speed elements (compressors) generate additional harmonics (especially those within the range potentially affecting travel comfort and human health) and whether there are significant changes in the distribution of spectral power density in the new generations. As the study showed, new generations of vehicles are characterized by a different vibroacoustic response, and the trend of change is the same in each of the families studied.

A Crowd Monitoring Methodology based on the Analysis of the Electromagnetic Spectrum

In this work, a system able to monitor the crowd density detecting mobile phone communications through the analysis of the electromagnetic spectrum is proposed and experimentally assessed. The variations of the electromagnetic spectrum are collected with a low-cost spectrum analyzer, and a high gain log-periodic directive antenna (LPDA). The objective is to relate the spectral power density in a given frequency band to estimate the connections present and the number of people in a given area. In particular, a linear regression estimator, whose parameters have been calculated with the least square method modeled considering experimental data in a controlled environment, permits us to infer the number of customers detected on a given frequency band. The obtained experimental results demonstrated the efficacy of the method, which can be used not only to monitoring the number of people in a given scenario, but it also be used for commercial activities to detect the presence and pervasiveness of different mobile phone companies.

The Prediction of Acute Postoperative Pain Based on Neural Oscillations Measured before the Surgery

Even with an improved understanding of pain mechanisms and advances in perioperative pain management, inadequately controlled postoperative pain remains. Predicting acute postoperative pain based on presurgery physiological measures could provide valuable insights into individualized, effective analgesic strategies, thus helping improve the analgesic efficacy. Considering the strong correlation between pain perception and neural oscillations, we hypothesize that acute postoperative pain could be predicted by neural oscillations measured shortly before the surgery. Here, we explored the relationship between neural oscillations 2 hours before the thoracoscopic surgery and the subjective intensity of acute postoperative pain. The spectral power density of resting-state beta and gamma band oscillations at the frontocentral region was significantly different between patients with different levels of acute postoperative pain (i.e., low pain vs. moderate/high pain). A positive correlation was also observed between the spectral power density of resting-state beta and gamma band oscillations and subjective reports of postoperative pain. Then, we predicted the level of acute postoperative pain based on features of neural oscillations using machine learning techniques, which achieved a prediction accuracy of 92.54% and a correlation coefficient between the real pain intensities and the predicted pain intensities of 0.84. Altogether, the prediction of acute postoperative pain based on neural oscillations measured before the surgery is feasible and could meet the clinical needs in the future for better control of postoperative pain and other unwanted negative effects. The study was registered on the Clinical Trial Registry (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03761576?term=NCT03761576&draw=2&rank=1) with the registration number NCT03761576.

Theoretical Modeling and Analysis of the Contribution of the Near-Field Absorption to the Dipole Radiation Power in Top-Emitting Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

We theoretically model the near-field (NF) absorption for a multilayer micro-cavity (MMC) structure and investigate the contribution of the NF absorption to the dipole radiation power in top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The NF absorption occurs due to the interaction between an evanescent wave with a large in-plane wave vector and a planar metal layer in the vicinity of the dipole radiation. The analytical expressions of the NF absorption in the MMC structure are derived from the plane wave expansions of the electric field amplitude, which includes the two-beam and multi-beam interference terms. The transverse magnetic polarization light emitted by both horizontally and vertically oriented dipole emitters is considered in the NF absorption while the contribution of the transverse electric polarization light is neglected. Based on the total spectral power density calculated in a top-emitting OLED, the respective spectral response functions of surface plasmon (SP) modes and NF absorption are compared, where the summation of the Lorentzian line shape functions is used to represent spectral responses of SP modes. At large values of in-plane wave vectors, the spectral response caused by the NF absorption becomes significant and approaches the total spectral power density. In addition, the relative optical powers from various dipole dissipation mechanisms are calculated with respect to the dipole emitter position in the emission layer (EML), which shows the optical power coupled to the NF absorption is predominant over other mechanisms when the distance between the dipole emitter and the EML/Ag interface is less than 10 nm in the top-emitting OLED.

Development and Testing of a Methodology for Assessing of the Correlation Velocity Measurements’ Accuracy for the Hydrodynamic Investigations of the Turbulent Coolant Flow in Nuclear Reactor Elements

The correlation method of the coolant flow measuring is widely used in research practice including for studying of turbulent coolant flows in scale models of elements of nuclear power plants. The aim of this work was to develop a technique for assessing the effect of noise recorded by a measuring system on the flow rate readings obtained using the correlation method.A technique to assess the effect of noise as well as the relative position and acquisition period of sensors is presented. An insignificant concentration of a salt solution (NaCl or Na2SO4 ) is used as a passive impurity which creates a conductivity gradient of the medium recorded by a conductometric system. Turbulent pulsations at the interface between two concurrent isokinetic flows in a channel with a square cross section are used as the signal source for the correlational algorithm.Paper presents the values of the turbulence′s transport time between spatial conductometers, the results of estimating the spectral power density and band of the recorded signal and also the signalto-noise ratios of the measuring system obtained on their basis which are subsequently used to estimate the confidence interval of the transport time.As a result of measurements the relationship between the confidence interval value and the signal length were obtained. The measurements which were carried out at different relative positions of conductometers make it possible to make a conclusion about an increase in the spectral width of the signal and, as a consequence, a decrease in the length of the confidence interval with increasing of distance between sensors.The presented work is an approbation of this approach for its application as part of an experimental model of a nuclear reactor in order to determine per-channel flow rates in the channels of the core simulator using mesh conductometric sensors taking into account the effect of noise.