A pathophysiological model of gait captures the details of the impairment of pace/rhythm, variability and asymmetry in Parkinsonian patients at distinct stages of the disease

Locomotion in people with Parkinson’ disease (pwPD) worsens with the progression of disease, affecting independence and quality of life. At present, clinical practice guidelines recommend a basic evaluation of gait, even though the variables (gait speed, cadence, step length) may not be satisfactory for assessing the evolution of locomotion over the course of the disease. Collecting variables into factors of a conceptual model enhances the clinical assessment of disease severity. Our aim is to evaluate if factors highlight gait differences between pwPD and healthy subjects (HS) and do it at earlier stages of disease compared to single variables. Gait characteristics of 298 pwPD and 84 HS able to walk without assistance were assessed using a baropodometric walkway (GAITRite®). According to the structure of a model previously validated in pwPD, eight spatiotemporal variables were grouped in three factors: pace/rhythm, variability and asymmetry. The model, created from the combination of three factor scores, proved to outperform the single variables or the factors in discriminating pwPD from HS. When considering the pwPD split into the different Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stages, the spatiotemporal variables, factor scores and the model showed that multiple impairments of gait appear at H&Y stage 2.5, with the greatest difference from HS at stage 4. A contrasting behavior was found for the asymmetry variables and factor, which showed differences from the HS already in the early stages of PD. Our findings support the use of factor scores and of the model with respect to the single variables in gait staging in PD.

Formulation and optimization of synthetic polymer based herbal emulgel for anti-microbial activity

The aim of the present research was to develop and evaluate the anti-microbial emulgel by using three different types of synthetic polymers. The active moiety selected for the formulation was the seeds of Carica papaya fruit. The formulation was developed by performing the extraction process; Soxhlet extraction with ethanol and water. The seeds of Carica papaya are reported to have anti-microbial properties. The skin-friendly i.e., the topical formulation was selected for development. Emulgel was prepared by incorporating different polymers and then evaluating each of them for best results. Basic evaluation parameters such as organoleptic parameters, viscosity, consistency, pH, homogeneity have been done, which demonstrate the results as per the reference and standard articles. Along with that, qualitative and quantitative tests of Carica seeds have also been performed, which indicates that the selected plant material is safe for usage. Finally, the most imp test, the anti-microbial test has been performed for determining the efficacy of prepared emulgel. Hence, it can be concluded that the prepared emulgel is safe and best for topical use as an anti-microbial.

A New Medical Device Modeling Framework for Predicting the Performance of Indwelling Continence Care Devices and Improving Patient Care

Computational models that incorporate human anatomy, tissue biomechanics, and experimental measurements from animals or cadavers to predict medical device performance have proven useful. Since implant choices made by clinicians and biological tissue properties can vary widely across patients, these models tend to suffer from a fundamental lack of information about such variations that impact the analysis. To demonstrate a new means of overcoming such paucity of input data, the authors focused on a tractable device concern (that of temporary continence care lead movement) and allowed input properties to vary within the bounds of experiment to generate many simulations that ultimately predicted device performance. The computational model results were then compared with experimental results to build confidence in the predictions. The results suggest that a new method considering intervals of poorly defined and highly variable biomechanical and structural modeling inputs can faithfully predict device mechanics as measured in a cadaver model. Moreover, both model and experiment suggest that a new basic evaluation lead can provide more reliable fixation compared to the predicate device.

Speech and Sound Quality Recognition in Adults Bimodal Cochlear Implant Listeners

Purpose: Recent bimodal studies identified a lack of bimodal evaluation and fitting protocols to improve bimodal benefits. The purpose of this study is to measure bimodal benefits in speech and sound quality recognition and identify bimodal fitting issues with adult cochlear implant listeners to establish bimodal fitting guidelines and evaluation protocol.Methods: A total of 20 adult cochlear implant users were participated in this study. The experimental procedures included basic evaluation, hearing aid evaluation, and bimodal benefits evaluation. In order to evaluate bimodal benefits, speech and sound quality recognition tests were performed. Matrix sentences in quiet and noise (5 and 10 dB sound pressure level), consonant-vowel-consonant words, and story comprehension tasks were provided. Participants judged sound qualities for six sound quality dimensions and a tester performed real ear measurements to verify hearing aid gains.Results: Results showed that bimodal listeners had some bimodal benefits in the sentence and monosyllabic word recognition in quiet. The benefits of sound quality judgments were also observed for six sound quality dimensions. Bimodal cochlear implant listeners of this study demonstrated less real-ear insertion gains than target gains across test frequencies.Conclusion: Speech and sound quality recognition tests are useful tools to measure bimodal benefits. Additional care for bimodal listeners is needed to optimize bimodal fitting and improve the quality of bimodal hearing aid fitting services.

HYSTEROSCOPY FOR DIAGNOSIS OF FEMALE GENITAL TUBERCULOSIS IN INFERTILE WOMEN: AN ESSENTIAL TOOL IN MINIMALLY INVASIVE ERA.

INTRODUCTION: Female genital tuberculosis (FGTB) is difcult to diagnose due to asymptomatic presentation and paucity of denitive investigations. Hysteroscopy can be utilized for the diagnosis of genital tuberculosis in infertile women. This study was done to study the role of hysteroscopy in the diagnosis of genital tuberculosis. METHODS: Prospective observational study was performed on 50 infertile women after basic evaluation of infertility. The women with tubal factors for infertility or unexplained infertility were selected for the study. Premenstrual endometrial biopsy (EB) was done for mycobacteria (AFB) detection. Hysteroscopy was performed in the next cycle if no AFB was detected on EB. ATT was given if genital TB was diagnosed on EB, and hysteroscopy was performed after completion of ATT. Hysteroscopic observations were compared with endometrial biopsy results. RESULTS: A total of 4 (8%) cases were diagnosed as bacteriologically positive for genital tuberculosis in endometrial samples. They were given anti-tubercular treatment. On hysteroscopy, pale endometrium (16%), Intrauterine adhesions (46%), and osteal obliteration (18%) were the common abnormal observations. 12 patients had mild adhesions, 6 had moderate and 5 patients had severe adhesions. Overall, 26 (52%) patients had features of intrauterine brosis, like intra-uterine adhesions or ostial obliteration, which could be suggestive of chronic infection like tuberculosis. Hysteroscopic adhesiolysis was performed in 46% and the cavity was restored. CONCLUSION: Endometrial Biopsy and Hysteroscopy are complementary procedures that together can help in the diagnosis of FGTB. Hysteroscopy is not only the gold standard for diagnosing uterine adhesions, distortion of the uterine cavity and tubal ostia, but it can also be a prognostic and therapeutic tool.

A New Objective Evaluation Method on Image Edge Detection

In the field of machine vision, image edge detection is an important technology, which can make necessary preparation for the later image processing. Consequently, accurate evaluation of the edge detection effect of the processed image is a more critical technology. In this paper, the new three criteria are proposed, which is based on Canny's three criteria for edge detection. Through theoretical analysis, three quantitative basic evaluation indexes are given to the new three criteria, namely SSIM index of image reconstruction similarity, BIdx index of edge reliability and CIdx index of edge continuity. Additionally, noise evaluation criteria is also considered. Then the four basic evaluation indexes are fused to get the objective evaluation index EIdx of image edge detection.Finally, the experimental data show that the accuracy of the method is better than that of the subjective evaluation system.

Transnational Accessibility between Residential Areas Based on Multimodal Transport System

Due to the development of globalization, transnational activities are more frequent and evaluations of current accessibility are the basis for accessibility improvements. Accessibility evaluation indices generally contain two parts: travel time and travel probability. However, complex transnational processes involve the multimodal transport system, including air and land transport networks, which makes the calculation of these indices more difficult because large quantities of fundamental data, in addition to suitable models, are needed. In this study, residential areas were set as the basic evaluation unit for fine-scale and whole-process analysis. Then, multiple web-sourced platforms were introduced to acquire the travel time between each pair of residential areas. The temporal-range radiation model was applied to calculate transnational travel probability by considering spatial interactions of populations. Finally, the weighted-average travel time to South Asia and Southeast Asia (SA&SEA) countries was generated to represent the overall accessibility for each populated area in China. The results showed that China had better accessibility to SEA than SA, and countries with high accessibility were Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. In China, southwest, south, and southeast regions showed larger accessibility to SA&SEA. Improvements of accessibility were also indicated by conjoint analysis of airport nodes. The proposed framework can help to delineate the spatial patterns of transnational accessibility and guide the enhancements of accessibility.