The Hedgehog Signaling Pathway in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Resurrection Time

The hedgehog (Hh) pathway is a sophisticated conserved cell signaling pathway that plays an essential role in controlling cell specification and proliferation, survival factors, and tissue patterning formation during embryonic development. Hh signal activity does not entirely disappear after development and may be reactivated in adulthood within tissue-injury-associated diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The dysregulation of Hh-associated activating transcription factors, genomic abnormalities, and microenvironments is a co-factor that induces the initiation and progression of IPF.

Assessment of a New Lateral Cushioned Casting Orthosis: Effects on Peroneus Longus Muscle Electromyographic Activity During Running

Background: Classical medial wedge (CMW) orthoses have been prescribed to treat overpronation foot pathologies in runners. The effects of a novel supination orthosis (NSO) on the surface electromyography (EMG) activity of the peroneus longus (PL) muscle during a complete cycle of running have yet to be tested. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to compare the EMG activity of the PL in participants wearing CMW orthoses and NSOs versus neutral running shoes (NRS) during a full cycle of running gait. It was hypothesized that the PL muscle activity would be lower for the NSO compared with CMW or NRS. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: Included were 31 healthy recreational runners of both sexes (14 male and 17 female; mean age, 38.58 ± 4.02 years) with a neutral Foot Posture Index and standard rearfoot-strike pattern. Participants ran on a treadmill at 9 km/h while wearing NSO (3-, 6-, and 9-mm thicknesses), CMW (3-, 6-, and 9-mm thicknesses), and NRS, for a total of 7 different conditions randomly selected, while the EMG signal activity of the PL was recorded for 30 seconds. Each trial was recorded 3 times, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to test reliability of the measurements was calculated. The Wilcoxon pair to pair nonparametric test with Bonferroni correction was performed to analyze differences among the conditions. Results: The reliability of all assessments was almost perfect (ICC, >0.81). For both the CMW and NSO, regardless of thickness, the PL activity was statistically significantly lower compared with the NRS ( P < .05 for all). For all CMW thicknesses, the PL activity was lower compared with the respective NSO thicknesses, with the 3-mm thickness having the largest difference (CMW3mm, 18.63 ± 4.64 vs NSO3mm, 20.78 ± 4.99 mV; P < .001). Conclusion: Both CMW and NSO produced reduced EMG activity of the PL muscle; therefore, they can be prescribed to treat overpronation pathologies without associated PL strain concerns. In addition, the NSO saved the enhancement material placed on the medial-rear side of CMW, making it easier to wear sports shoes. Clinical Relevance: Knowing the safety of CMW and NSO will aid in understanding treatments for overpronation pathologies.

Whale optimization algorithm fused with SVM to detect stress in EEG signals

Identifying stress and its level has always been a challenging area for researchers. A lot of work is going on around the world on the same. An attempt has been made by the authors in this paper as they present a methodology for detecting stress in EEG signals. Electroencephalogram (EEG) is commonly used to acquire brain signal activity. Though there exist other techniques to extract the same like Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET) we have used EEG as it is economical. We have used an open-source dataset for EEG data. Various images are used as the target stressor for collecting EEG signals. After feature selection and extraction, a support vector machine (SVM) with a whale optimization algorithm (WOA) in its kernel function for classification is used. WOA is a bio-inspired meta-heuristic algorithm, based on the hunting behavior of humpback whales. Using this method, we had obtained 91% accuracy for detecting the stress. The paper also compared the previous work done in detecting stress with the work proposed in this paper.

Assessing the Impacts of Weather on Pedestrian Signal Activity at 49 Signalized Intersections in Northern Utah

A deeper understanding of how weather variables affect pedestrian volumes is important, as active travelers are an essential part of a sustainable transportation system. Pedestrian data are limited for investigating the impacts of weather on walking levels, with most studies having data at only a couple of locations. Pedestrian actuation data (from push-buttons at traffic signals) overcomes this limitation. The Utah Department of Transportation archives pedestrian push-button press data for use in its Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures system. In this study, pedestrian actuation data was used as a proxy for walking activity and weather data was collected from the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration. Using 15 months of daily time series data in Cache County, the impacts of weather on pedestrian signal activity were examined at 49 signalized intersections, using a log-linear time series regression analysis with categorical step-wise weather variables. The findings revealed that snow depth had the most frequent negative effect on walking activity. Snowfall (> 0.6 in.) also tended to have negative impacts when significant. Very hot maximum temperatures (≥ 90°F) were associated with lower pedestrian activity at around one-third of signals. Very low minimum temperatures (< 20°F) were also associated with lower pedestrian activity. Precipitation had a negative effect on walking levels, but at only a few signals. The study’s key findings offer implications for multimodal transportation planning (winter maintenance, shade trees, etc.) and traffic signal operations.

Chronic Treatment of Ascorbic Acid Leads to Age-Dependent Neuroprotection against Oxidative Injury in Hippocampal Slice Cultures

Increased oxidative damage in the brain, which increases with age, is the cause of abnormal brain function and various diseases. Ascorbic acid (AA) is known as an endogenous antioxidant that provides neuronal protection against oxidative damage. However, with aging, its extracellular concentrations and uptake decrease in the brain. Few studies have dealt with age-related functional changes in the brain to sustained ascorbate supplementation. This study aimed to investigate the susceptibility of hippocampal neurons to oxidative injury following acute and chronic AA administration. Oxidative stress was induced by kainic acid (KA, 5 µM) for 18 h in hippocampal slice cultures. After KA exposure, less neuronal cell death was observed in the 3 w cultured slice compared to the 9 w cultured slice. In the chronic AA treatment (6 w), the 9 w-daily group showed reduced neuronal cell death and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Nrf2 expressions compared to the 9 w. In addition, the 9 w group showed delayed latencies and reduced signal activity compared to the 3 w, while the 9 w-daily group showed shorter latencies and increased signal activity than the 9 w. These results suggest that the maintenance of the antioxidant system by chronic AA treatment during aging could preserve redox capacity to protect hippocampal neurons from age-related oxidative stress.

A Review on Plant Stress Detection and Analysis Through Electrophysiological Signals

The bioelectrical activity like ECG, EMG and EEG provides the health condition of heart, muscles, and brain in human beings. In plants, the sensible measurements of physical activity are in their infant phase. Substitution of technology used in biomedical field (human medicine) might consequently provide an understanding about electrophysiological signal activity in plants. These signals in plants when monitored show various dynamics in different stress conditions like osmotic, cold, low light, chemical, over watering etc. Several studies analysing and classifying features of ideal and stressed signal subtleties have shown promising results. In this paper we present a comprehensive review of research contributed to EPG signal analysis in different domains, applications of machine learning in plant stress detection and classification.

Chemokines as phosphatidylserine-bound ‘find-me’ signals in apoptotic cell clearance

Chemokines are positively charged cytokines that attract leukocytes by binding to anionic glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) on endothelial cells for efficient presentation to leukocyte G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The atypical chemokine CXCL16 has been reported to also bind the anionic phospholipid phosphatidylserine (PS), but the biological relevance of this interaction remains poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that PS binding is in fact a widely shared property of chemokine superfamily members that, like GAG binding, induces chemokine oligomerization. PS is an essential phospholipid of the inner leaflet of the healthy cell plasma membrane but it is exposed in apoptotic cells to act as an ‘eat-me’ signal that promotes engulfment of dying cells by phagocytes. We found that chemokines can bind PS in pure form as well as in the context of liposomes and on the surface of apoptotic cells and extracellular vesicles released by apoptotic cells, which are known to act as ‘find-me’ signals that chemoattract phagocytes during apoptotic cell clearance. Importantly, we show that GAGs are severely depleted from the surface of apoptotic cells and that extracellular vesicles extracted from apoptotic mouse thymus bind endogenous thymic chemokines and activate cognate chemokine receptors. Together these results indicate that chemokines tethered to surface-exposed PS may be responsible for the chemotactic and find-me signal activity previously attributed to extracellular vesicles, and that PS may substitute for GAGs as the anionic scaffold that regulates chemokine oligomerization and presentation to GPCRs on the GAG-deficient membranes of apoptotic cells and extracellular vesicles. Here, we present a new mechanism by which extracellular vesicles, currently recognized as essential agents for intercellular communication in homeostasis and disease, can transport signaling cytokines.

PROSPECTIVE MEASURES OF INTRA-REGION BRAIN REGULARITY DIFFERENTIATES ACL INJURED AND UNINJURED ATHLETES

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are debilitating for athletes. While numerous motor and biomechanical deficits contribute to the inciting ACL injury mechanism, the limited knowledge about the underlying neural drivers of these deficits has impeded intervention development to reduce ACL injury rates. A prospective investigation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in female soccer players revealed decreased connectivity between the primary somatosensory cortex and cerebellum for athletes that went on to ACL injury athletes compared to their healthy teammates. Although information about inter-region connectivity patterns is informative, this finding does elucidate the individual, intra-region brain activity that may be further underlie ACL injury mechanisms. Hypothesis/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to prospectively investigate the intra-region regularity of the blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal activity in 25 knee-related regions of interests (ROI) between athletes who sustained an ACL injury and matched controls. Methods: Adolescent female soccer athletes were evaluated using fMRI to capture resting-state brain connectivity prior to their competitive season. Two of these athletes (16.0±0yrs, 169.0±2.8cm, 60.1±8.3kg) later experienced an ACL injury and were matched to eight uninjured teammates (15.9±0.8yrs, 164.0±4.9cm, 58.3±7.6kg). Standard fMRI data processing was used to determine resting-state BOLD signal activity in 25 knee-related ROIs. Sample entropy (SampEn) was then used to quantify the regularity of each individual ROI. A lower SampEn value indicates a ROI’s BOLD signal activity was more regular (predictable) and a higher value indicates a signal’s activity was more irregular (unpredictable). T-tests—with a Bonferroni correction for the familywise error rate ( p < .002)—were used to compare SampEn values between both groups for all 25 ROIs. Results: ACL injured athletes ( M = 0.35±0.01) exhibited higher SampEn values in the left primary motor cortex than matched, uninjured athletes ( M = 0.29±0.02; t(8)=4.62, p=.0017, d=3.65). Conclusion: Athletes who sustained an ACL injury exhibited less regularity in BOLD signal activity of the left primary motor cortex. As the primary motor cortex serves as the final destination in the brain before efferent information is sent to the spinal cord to initiate movement, decreased BOLD signal regularity in this region may alter such cortical-spinal transmission. Considering ACL injuries often occur during unpredictable environments, irregular activity of motor cortex activity may dampen an athlete’s ability to sustain a safe knee position. These findings may help to guide development of brain-driven biofeedback training to promote adaptive neuroplasticity that ‘pushes’ the motor cortex towards more regular activity. [Figure: see text]

Identification of L-Theanine Acid Effectiveness in Oolong Tea on Human Brain Memorization and Meditation

Oolong tea has an adequate amount of L-theanine acid, which can definitely affect human brain signal activity. Consequently, this study aimed to classify the effect level of L-theanine acid in Oolong tea relies on different participants focused on memorization and meditation state. An attention of the human brain was determined via electroencephalography (EEG) during the book reading state compared to not drinking and drinking conditions. To describe the memorization and meditation activity, this study focused on theta wave and alpha wave altogether. This properly measures a voltage fluctuation of these brain signals, as higher attention frequency indicated improving in mentioned state. Furthermore, Neural network performed the data classification of converted data in this study for high accuracy results. Each classified group was varied depending on the information of specified participants, i.e. gender, age, and body mass index (BMI). Obviously, several participants had a different effect level on L-theanine acid. Also, age, gender, and BMI of all participants were not totally affecting the effectiveness of L-theanine in this study. In conclusion, the results of this study represented that L-theanine in Oolong tea significantly affected the increasing of memorization and meditation. This result beneficially supports the production-proven of Oolong tea in the future apparently.