The Protective Effect of N-acetylcysteine against Deltamethrin-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Mice.

Background: Exposure to pesticides is of concern to public health officials worldwide. Deltamethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide which is widely used in agriculture and veterinary medicine. Deltamethrin poisoning is always one of the concerns in medical centers due to the deltamethrin induced hepatotoxicity. This study evaluated the hepato-protective effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) against deltamethrin induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Methods: A total of 40 BALB/c male mice were randomly divided into four groups; the first group was used as a control (0.5 ml normal saline); Groups 2-4 were treated with NAC [160 mg/kg Body Weight (BW)], deltamethrin (50 mg/kg BW), and NAC plus deltamethrin. At 1 and 24 hr after treatment, the animals were sacrificed and blood and liver samples were obtained for analysis and the liver/body ration, hepatic enzymes as Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Alanine Transaminase (ALT), Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Glutathione (GSH) content and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) level were measured. For comparison between more than two experimental groups, one-way ANOVA following Tukey test was used by SPSS software. Results: The deltamethrin significantly increased AST, ALT, ALP, and the level of ROS level at the end of 1 and 24 hr after treatment; while the LDH level and GSH content were decreased. Mice in the deltamethrin treated group had a higher liver/body weight ratio than in other treated groups after 24 hr. On the other hand, NAC in combination with deltamethrin significantly reduced the activities of AST, ALT, ALP, and increased GSH levels. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that NAC has a hepatoprotective role against deltamethrin-induced toxicity.

Evaluation of short-term adverse events of COVID-19 vaccines: An observational study.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines are the most effective tools in managing the pandemic. However, the concern about these vaccines is the occurrence of unwanted adverse events (AEs). This study aimed to evaluate the short-term AEs of COVID-19 vaccines (Sputnik V, Astrazenka, and Sinopharm). A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire was conducted among 321 vaccinated individuals. Demographic information, history of drug use, prior infection with COVID-19, the type of vaccine, vaccination stage, local injection site complication, systemic complication, and allergic reactions were collected and evaluated. Local complications, including pain and swelling at the injection site, and systemic complications, including fever, fatigue, lethargy, lymphadenopathy, and diarrhea, were reported after the injection of the AstraZeneca vaccine was more than the other 2 vaccines; The prevalence of fatigue and lethargy was higher than other systemic complications. The least reported complication was due to lymphadenopathy. The Sinopharm vaccine showed a lower prevalence of AEs than the other 2. The rare AEs, such as facial paralysis, nasal bleeding, and urticarial, were further reported after injection of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In general, the severity of systemic complications after the second dose of the vaccine was also higher than the first dose. All 3 vaccines were safe and tolerable. The most commonly reported AEs were injection site pain (local) and fatigue and lethargy (systemic). These expected AEs occurred shortly after vaccination and indicated an early immune response after vaccination.

Diverse activity of miR-150 in Tumor development: shedding light on the potential mechanisms.

There is a growing interest to understand the role and mechanism of action of microRNAs (miRNAs) in cancer. The miRNAs are defined as short non-coding RNAs (18-22nt) that regulate fundamental cellular processes through mRNA targeting in multicellular organisms. The miR-150 is one of the miRNAs that have a crucial role during tumor cell progression and metastasis. Based on accumulated evidence, miR-150 acts as a double-edged sword in malignant cells, leading to either tumor-suppressive or oncogenic function. An overview of miR-150 function and interactions with regulatory and signaling pathways helps to elucidate these inconsistent effects in metastatic cells. Aberrant levels of miR-150 are detectable in metastatic cells that are closely related to cancer cell migration, invasion, and angiogenesis. The ability of miR-150 in regulating of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process, a critical stage in tumor cell migration and metastasis, has been highlighted. Depending on the cancer cells type and gene expression profile, levels of miR-150 and potential target genes in the fundamental cellular process can be different. Interaction between miR-150 and other non-coding RNAs, such as long non-coding RNAs and circular RNAs, can have a profound effect on the behavior of metastatic cells. MiR-150 plays a significant role in cancer metastasis and may be a potential therapeutic target for preventing or treating metastatic cancer.

Assessing the Risk of Secondary Cancer Induction in Radiosensitive Organs During Trigeminal Neuralgia Treatment With Gamma Knife Radiosurgery: Impact of Extracranial Dose.

Purpose: Gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) delivers high-dose external radiation to a small intracranial lesion. However, scattering and leaked radiation can deposit a portion of the dose outside the radiation field, which may pose a risk to radiation-sensitive patients, such as pregnant women. Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) is treated with one of the highest GKRS doses (80-90 Gy). This study aimed to estimate the risk of secondary cancer induction in the uterus, ovaries, thyroid gland, and eyes of TN patients undergoing GKRS. Methods: Radiation doses to the uterus, ovary, eyes, and thyroid gland were measured for 25 female TN patients, with a mean age of 35 years, utilizing Thermo Luminescent Dosimeters (TLD). Results: The mean absorbed dose for the uterus, ovary, thyroid gland, and eyes were .63 ± .24, .471 ± .2, 8.26 ± 1.01, and 10.64 ± 1.08 cGy, respectively. Lifetime Attributable Risk (LAR) has been calculated using BEIR VII (2006) method. LAR for the uterus, ovary, and thyroid gland was 1, 2, and 23, respectively. Conclusion: The results of this study and its comparison with standard values demonstrate that on average, mean doses to mentioned organs were smaller than their tolerance doses, and there is no limitation to treating patients suffering from TN by GK.

Efficacy and safety of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) in moderately ill patients with COVID-19: a randomized controlled trial.

Licorice extract (glycyrrhizin), a potent antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant remedy, is a potential therapeutic option for COVID-19. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of licorice in patients with moderate COVID-19. In this study, 60 patients with confirmed COVID-19 were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive licorice (at a dose of 760 mg three times a day for seven days) or control groups. The primary outcomes were SPO2, body temperature, and respiratory rate (RR) after the end of the intervention. The findings indicated that SPO2, body temperature, and RR had no significant difference between the groups at the end of the intervention. However, CRP and ALT improved in the licorice group toward the baseline. The number of patients with worse prognoses, LOS, mortality, and the incidence of adverse events were not different between the groups at the end of the study. Licorice had no beneficial effect on the clinical symptoms of COVID-19. Moreover, this intervention demonstrated a safe profile of adverse events. The confirmation of the results of this preparatory trial requires more detailed multiple-center trials with a larger sample size.

[Prediction of renal transplantation outcome using artificial neural networks and investigating important risk factors].

BACKGROUND: Renal Transplantation is the final choice for some patients with ESRD (End-Stage Renal Disease), but some transplantations suffer from acute or chronic rejection, so its very important to predict the outcome of transplantation. METHOD: s. The dataset was extracted from records of 4572 patients with kidney transplantations. We applied an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model to predict transplantation outcome. Moreover, novel features have been explored which enhanced the prediction performance. RESULTS: The results show that the well configured neural networks can predict renal transplant outcome with a sensitivity and specificity of higher than 86%. The results show creatinine is the most important risk factor that affects the renal transplantation outcome. CONCLUSION: The designed neural networks can properly predict the transplantation outcome with the accuracy of 86%. Recipient creatinine is the most important variable in the prediction of the renal outcome.

Rapid identification of bacteria by the pattern of redox reactions rate using 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate.

Bacterial infection is a life-threatening situation, and its rapid diagnosis is essential for treatment. Apart from medical applications, rapid identification of bacteria is vital in the food industry or the public health system. There are various bacterial identification techniques, including molecular-based methods, immunological approaches, and biosensor-based procedures. The most commonly used methods are culture-based methods, which are time-consuming. The objective of this study is to find a fingerprint of bacteria to identify them. Three strains of bacteria were selected, and seven different concentrations of each bacterium were prepared. The bacteria were then treated with two different molar concentrations of the fluorescent fluorophore, dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate for 30 minutes. Then, using the fluorescence mode of a multimode reader, the fluorescence emission of each bacterium is scanned twice during 60 minutes. Plotting the difference between two scans versus the bacteria concentration results in a unique fluorescence pattern for each bacterium. Observation of the redox state of bacteria, during 90 minutes, results in a fluorescence pattern that is clearly a fingerprint of different bacteria. This pattern is independent of fluorophore concentration. Mean Squares Errors (MSE) between the fluorescence patterns of similar bacteria is less than that of different bacteria, which shows the method can properly identify the bacteria. In this study, a new label-free method is developed to detect and identify different species of bacteria by measuring the redox activity and using the fluorescence fluorophore, dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate. This robust and low-cost method can properly identify the bacteria, uses only one excitation and emission wavelength, and can be simply implemented with current multimode plate readers.

On the Mechanical Behaviour of Biomimetic Cornstalk-Inspired Lightweight Structures.

This paper presents an investigation on the stiffness and energy absorption capabilities of three proposed biomimetic structures based on the internal architecture of a cornstalk. 3D printing was used to manufacture specimens using a tough and impact-resistant thermoplastic material, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The structural stiffness, maximum stress, densification strain, and energy absorption were extracted from the compression tests performed at a strain rate of 10-3 s-1. A numerical model was developed to analyse the behaviour of the biomimetic structures under compression loading. Further, a damage examination was conducted through optical microscopy and profilometry. The results showed that the cornstalk-inspired biomimetic structure exhibited a superior specific energy absorption (SEA) capability that was three times higher than that of the other core designs as reported in the literature.

Efficacy and safety of oral melatonin in patients with severe COVID-19: a randomized controlled trial.

Patients with COVID-19 have shown melatonin deficiency. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of administration oral melatonin in patients with COVID-19-induced pneumonia. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive melatonin plus standard treatment or standard treatment alone. The primary outcomes were mortality rate and requirement of IMV. The clinical status of patients was recorded at baseline and every day over hospitalization based on seven-category ordinal scale from 1 (discharged) to 7 (death). A total of 226 patients (109 in the melatonin group and 117 in the control group) were enrolled (median age; in melatonin group: 54.60 ± 11.51, in control group: 54.69 ± 13.40). The mortality rate was 67% in the melatonin group and 94% in the control group (OR; 7.75, 95% CI, 3.27-18.35, P < 0.001). The rate of IMV requirement was 51.4% in the melatonin group and 70.9% in the control group, for an OR of 2.31 (95% CI, 1.34-4.00, P < 0.001). The median number of days to hospital discharge was 15 days (13-17) in the melatonin group and 21 days (14-24) in the control group (OR; 5.00, 95% CI, 0.15-9.84, P = 0.026). Time to clinical status improvement by ≥ 2 on the ordinal scale in was 12 days (9-13) in the melatonin group and 16 days (10-19) in the control group (OR; 3.92, 95% CI, 1.69-6.14, P = 0.038). Melatonin significantly improved clinical status with a safe profile in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

The Influence of Noise Exposure at Different Loudness Levels on EEG Index and Types of Attention.

Bachground: Noise is one of the most important harmful factors in the environment. There are limited studies on the effect of noise loudness on brain signals and attention. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between exposure to different loudness levels with brain index, types of attention, and subjective evaluation. Methods: Four noises with different loudness levels were generated. Sixty-four male students participated in this study. Each subject performed the integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test (IVA-2) test before and during exposure to noise loudness signals while their electroencephalography was recorded. Finally, the alpha-to-gamma ratio (AGR), five types of attention, and the subjective evaluation results were examined. Results: During exposure to loudness levels, the AGR and types of attention decreased while the NASA-Tax Load Index (NASA-TLX) scores increased. The noise exposure at lower loudness levels (65 and 75 phon) leads to greater attention dysfunction than at higher loudness. The AGR was significantly changed during exposure to 65 and 75 phon and audio stimuli. This significant change was observed in exposure at all loudness levels except 85 phon and visual stimuli. The divided and sustained attention changed significantly during exposure to all loudness levels and visual stimuli. The AGR had a significant inverse correlation with the total score of NASA-TLX during noise exposure. Conclusions: These results can lead to the design of methods to control the psychological effects of noise at specific frequencies (250 and 4000 Hz) and can prevent non-auditory damage to human cognitive performance in industrial and urban environments.

Skin Cancer Detection Based on Deep Learning.

Background: The conventional procedure of skin-related disease detection is a visual inspection by a dermatologist or a primary care clinician, using a dermatoscope. The suspected patients with early signs of skin cancer are referred for biopsy and histopathological examination to ensure the correct diagnosis and the best treatment. Recent advancements in deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved excellent performance in automated skin cancer classification with accuracy similar to that of dermatologists. However, such improvements are yet to bring about a clinically trusted and popular system for skin cancer detection. Objective: This study aimed to propose viable deep learning (DL) based method for the detection of skin cancer in lesion images, to help physicians in diagnosis. Material and Methods: In this analytical study, a novel DL based model was proposed, in which other than the lesion image, the patient's data, including the anatomical site of the lesion, age, and gender were used as the model input to predict the type of the lesion. An Inception-ResNet-v2 CNN pretrained for object recognition was employed in the proposed model. Results: Based on the results, the proposed method achieved promising performance for various skin conditions, and also using the patient's metadata in addition to the lesion image for classification improved the classification accuracy by at least 5% in all cases investigated. On a dataset of 57536 dermoscopic images, the proposed approach achieved an accuracy of 89.3%±1.1% in the discrimination of 4 major skin conditions and 94.5%±0.9% in the classification of benign vs. malignant lesions. Conclusion: The promising results highlight the efficacy of the proposed approach and indicate that the inclusion of the patient's metadata with the lesion image can enhance the skin cancer detection performance.

Recent advances in atezolizumab-based programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) blockade therapy for breast cancer.

Breast cancer, the most common cancer in women worldwide, is curable in âˆ¼ 70-80 % of patients with early-stage, non-metastatic disorder. However, advanced breast cancer with distant organ metastases is incurable with available therapeutics. Thus, scientists have sought emerging strategies for treating metastatic breast cancers., Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have represented a significant development in breast cancer immunotherapy. Now, targeting immune checkpoint molecules (e.g., programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)) have attracted increasing attention in the context of breast cancer therapy, chiefly triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Atezolizumab, a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody (mAb), has been designed to interfere with the binding of the PD-L1 ligand to its receptor. Targeting PD-L1 using atezolizumab potentiates T-cell responses to the tumor and consequently boosts tumor responses. The results of the IMpassion130 trial have recently led to the approval of the combination of atezolizumab and nab-paclitaxel to treat unresectable locally advanced or metastatic patients with PD-L1-positive TNBC. Herein, we summarize the clinical efficacy of atezolizumab in treating breast cancer and briefly discuss the possible immune-related adverse events (irAEs).

Compression of EMG Signals Using Deep Convolutional Autoencoders.

Efficient storage and transmission of electromyogram (EMG) data are important for emerging applications such as telemedicine and big data, as a vital tool for further advancement of the field. However, due to limitations in internet speed and hardware resources, transmission and storage of EMG data are challenging. As a solution, this work proposes a new method for EMG data compression using deep convolutional autoencoders (CAE). Eight-channel EMG data from 10 subjects, and high-density EMG data from 18 subjects, were investigated for compression. The CAE architecture was designed to extract an abstract data representation that is heavily compressed, but from which the salient information for classification can be effectively reconstructed. The proposed method attained efficient compression; for CR = 1600, the average PRDN (percentage RMS difference normalized) was 31.5% and the wrist motions classification accuracy (CA) reduced roughly 5%. The CAE substantially outperformed the state-of-the-art high-efficiency video coding and a well-known wavelet-thresholding compression technique. Moreover, by reducing the bit-resolution of the CAE's compressed data from 24 bits to 6 bits, an additional 4-fold compression was achieved without significant degradation of the reconstruction performance. Furthermore, the CAE's inter-subject performance was promising; e.g., for CR = 1600, the PRDN for the inter-subject case was only 2.6% less than that of the within-subject performance. The powerful EMG compression performance with remarkable reconstruction results reflects the CAEs potential as an automatic end-to-end approach with the ability to learn the complete encoding and decoding process. Furthermore, the excellent inter-subject performance demonstrates the generalizability and usability of the proposed approach.

Contribution to the Ophioninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) of Iran with the description of 16 new species and an illustrated key to the Eremotylus of the Western Palaearctic.

In this study, material of Iranian Ophioninae was examined. In total, 63 species are recognized as occurring in Iran. Sixteen species are described as new to science: Enicospilus amerii Johansson sp. nov., E. apocalypticus Johansson sp. nov., E. haladai Johansson sp. nov., Enicospilus peri sp. nov., Ophion al Johansson sp. nov., Ophion angustigena Johansson sp. nov., Ophion breviflagellator Johansson sp. nov., Ophion golestanicus Johansson sp. nov., Ophion klimenkoi Johansson sp. nov., Ophion persicus Johansson sp. nov., Ophion schmidti Johansson sp. nov., Ophion sinuosus Johansson sp. nov., Ophion sistanicus Johansson sp. nov., Ophion transcarinatus Johansson sp. nov., Ophion vasi Johansson sp. nov. and Ophion xrafstra Johansson sp. nov. Sixteen species: Enicospilus combustus (Gravenhorst, 1829); E. intermedius (Johansson, 2018); E. undulatus (Gravenhorst, 1829); Ophion angularis Johansson Cederberg, 2019; Ophion bipictor Aubert, 1980; Ophion crassicornis Brock, 1982; Ophion confusus Johansson, 2019; Ophion ellenae Johansson, 2019; Ophion eremita Kokujev, 1906; Ophion kallanderi Johansson, 2019; Ophion rostralis Meyer, 1935; Ophion rufoniger Kohl, 1905; Ophion semipullatus Kokujev, 1909; Ophion tenuicornis Johansson, 2019; Hellwigiella dichromoptera (Costa, 1886) and Eremotylus curvinervis (Kriechbaumer, 1878) are new records for the fauna of Iran. Enicospilus flavocephalus (Kirby, 1900), Enicospilus monostigma (Vollenhoven, 1879) and Eremotylus sibiricus Szpligeti, 1905 are excluded from the Iranian checklist due to previous misidentifications. Enicospilus tarsalis Hedwig, 1957 syn. nov. is excluded from synonymy with E. ahngeri and instead introduced as a junior synonym of E. cruciator Viktorov, 1957. Enicospilus affinis Hedwig, 1957 stat. rev. is excluded from synonymy with E. ocellatus Shestakov, 1926 and reinstated as a valid species. Enicospilus splendidus Rousse, Soliman Gadallah, 2017 syn. nov. is a junior synonym of Enicospilus stenopsis Kohl, 1905. Enicospilus grandiflavus Townes Townes, 1973 (= E. grandis Morley) syn. nov. is synonymized with Enicospilus unicallosus (Vollenhoven, 1878). Enicospilus contributus Shestakov, 1926 is confirmed as a junior synonym of E. merdarius (Gravenhorst, 1829). Ophion fossulatus Hedwig, 1957 stat. rev. is excluded from synonymy with Ophion mocsaryi Brauns, 1899 and reinstated as a valid species close to Ophion parvulus Kriechbaumer. Ophion mocsaryi var. decedens Hedwig, 1961 syn. nov. is a synonym of Ophion bipictor Aubert, 1980. Ophion obscuratus var. heratensis Hedwig, 1961 syn. nov. is treated as a synonym of Ophion turcomanicus Szpligeti, 1905. Ophion pravinervis Kokujev, 1906, previously only known from the lost type collected in Georgia, is redescribed. Despite the relatively high number of new species here presented, the Iranian fauna most likely still harbours additional species awaiting discovery.

Association of Toll-like receptors 4 (TLR-4) gene expression and polymorphisms in patients with severe asthma.

Innate immunity plays a central role in the pathogenesis of severe asthma, and it is closely linked to elevated IgE and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) levels. However, there is a scarcity of information about the association of the TLR-4 receptor polymorphism in the pathogenesis of severe asthma. This study highlights the level of gene expression of different alleles in asthmatic patients compared to healthy control individuals. This was a randomized control trial, which included 150 patients with asthma (with high serum levels of IgE) with a matching 150 healthy control individuals. Participants had a series of blood tests to measure various immune parameters: interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM1) and detect allele type and gene expression of the TLR-4 gene. Patients with asthma had significantly higher levels of IL-8 when compared to the healthy control participants. In addition, in the rs91 genotyping, there were significant differences in the levels of IL-8 and TNF between CC and TT genotyping. While in rs90 TLR-4, TNF levels were significantly higher in AA vs. AG and GG genotypes among the asthmatic patients when compared to the control group. The results showed that in TLR-4, rs4986791 were significantly associated with asthma risk. Polymorphisms in TLRs play essential roles in asthma.

Evaluation of the effect of melatonin in patients with COVID-19-induced pneumonia admitted to the Intensive Care Unit: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: We investigate the effects of melatonin, compared to the usual therapeutic regimen on clinical symptoms and laboratory signs in severely ill patients with confirmed COVID-19 who are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). TRIAL DESIGN: This is a single-center, open-label, randomized, clinical trial with a parallel-group design. This study is being conducted at Shahid Mohammadi Hospital, Bandar Abbas, Iran. PARTICIPANTS: All patients admitted to the ICU of Shahid Mohammadi Hospital, Bandar Abbas, Iran, will be screened for the following criteria. Inclusion criteria 1. Age >20 years 2. Definitive diagnosis of COVID-19 based on RT-PCR or/and serological testing 3. Severe pneumonia and lung involvement in imaging 4. Signing informed consent Exclusion criteria 1. Underlying diseases, including convulsive disorders, chronic hepatic and renal diseases 2. Use of mechanical ventilation 3. History of known allergy to Melatonin 4. Pregnancy and breastfeeding INTERVENTION AND COMPARATOR: Intervention group: The standard treatment regimen for COVID-19, according to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education's protocol, along with Melatonin soft gelatin capsule (Danna Pharmaceutical Company) at a dose of 5 mg twice a day for a period of seven days. CONTROL GROUP: The standard treatment for COVID-19 based on the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education's protocol for a period of seven days. MAIN OUTCOMES: The primary outcomes are the recovery rate of clinical symptoms and checking arterial blood gas (ABG), C-reactive protein (C-RP), Ferritin, Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) within seven days of randomization. The secondary outcomes are time to improvement of clinical and paraclinical features and length of stay in the ICU, need for mechanical ventilation, and mortality rate within seven days of randomization. RANDOMIZATION: Included patients will be allocated to one of the study arms using block randomization in a 1:1 ratio (each block consists of 6 patients). This randomization method ensures a balanced allocation between the arms during the study. A web-based system will generate random numbers for the allocation sequence and concealment of participants. Each number relates to one of the study arms. BLINDING (MASKING): This is an open-label trial without blinding and placebo control. NUMBERS TO BE RANDOMIZED (SAMPLE SIZE): A total of 60 participants randomizes (30 patients allocated to the intervention group and 30 patients allocated to the control group). TRIAL STATUS: The protocol is Version 1.0, February 16, 2021. Recruitment began February 28, 2021, and is anticipated to be completed by July 31, 2021. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial protocol has been registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT). The registration number is " IRCT20200506047323N7 ". The registration date was February 16, 2021. FULL PROTOCOL: The full protocol is attached as an additional file, accessible from the Trials website (Additional file 1). In the interest of expediting the dissemination of this material, the familiar formatting has been eliminated; this Letter serves as a summary of the key elements of the full protocol.

EMG-based Estimation of Wrist Motion Using Polynomial Models.

BACKGROUND: Myoelectric control is a method of decoding the motor intent from the electromyogram (EMG) data and using the estimated intent to control prostheses and robots. This work investigates estimation of the wrist kinematics from EMG signals using polynomial models. Due to their low complexity, polynomial models are potentially the perfect choice for EMG-kinematics modeling. METHODS: Ten ablebodied individuals participated in this study, where the EMG signals from the forearm and the wrist kinematics from the contralateral wrist were measured during mirrored contractions. Two sets of EMG features were employed including the time domain (TD) set, and TD features along with autoregressive coefficients (TDAR). Polynomial models of order 1 to 4 were applied to map the EMG signals to the wrist motions. The performance was directly compared to that of a multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network. RESULTS: The estimation accuracy of the wrist kinematics improved with increasing the order of the model, but saturated at the 4th order. When using the TD set, the MLP significantly outperformed all polynomial models. However, when using the TDAR set, the polynomial models' performance improved so that the 4th order model performance was not significantly different than that of the MLP in two DoFs, although it was lower than MLP in one DoF. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that polynomial models are not as effective as more complex models such as neural networks, in learning the highly nonlinear mapping between the EMG data and motion intent. However, using a sufficiently high number of various EMG features, would reduce the mapping nonlinearities, and thereby may increase the polynomial models' performance to levels similar to those of complex black box models.

A Curious Case of Pseudothrombocytopenia due to In Vitro Agglutination.

Pseudothrombocytopenia (PTCP) is a laboratory phenomenon that can occur in hospitalized patients, with approximately 0.1 to 0.2% due to ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (ETDA). The EDTA-dependent mechanism of PTCP occurs due to a conformational change of platelet surface glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GPIIb/IIIa) caused by EDTA, which allows natural IgM or IgG auto-antibodies to bind to GPIIb/IIIa, leading to platelet agglutination. In most cases, PTCP resolves when a repeat blood sample is drawn in collection tubes containing either citrate or heparin. Here, we report a case of a 23-year-old female presenting with symptoms of gastroenteritis. She exhibited PTCP with blood draws obtained in not only collection tubes containing ETDA, but also with collection tubes containing heparin and citrate, which is highly unusual. The lack of resolution of platelet clumping in collection tubes containing either heparin or citrate suggests that heparin or citrate may also cause conformational changes to platelet surface glycoproteins in a similar mechanism as that of EDTA that allows binding of certain auto-antibodies.