Separation-free bacterial identification in arbitrary media via deep neural network-based SERS analysis.

Universal and fast bacterial detection technology is imperative for food safety analyses and diagnosis of infectious diseases. Although surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has recently emerged as a powerful solution for detecting diverse microorganisms, its widespread application has been hampered by strong signals from surrounding media that overwhelm target signals and require time-consuming and tedious bacterial separation steps. By using SERS analysis boosted with a newly proposed deep learning model named dual-branch wide-kernel network (DualWKNet), a markedly simpler, faster, and effective route to classify signals of two common bacteria E. coli and S. epidermidis and their resident media without any separation procedures is demonstrated. With outstanding classification accuracies up to 98%, the synergistic combination of SERS and deep learning serves as an effective platform for "separation-free" detection of bacteria in arbitrary media with short data acquisition times and small amounts of training data.

Data-driven analysis using multiple self-report questionnaires to identify college students at high risk of depressive disorder.

Depression diagnosis is one of the most important issues in psychiatry. Depression is a complicated mental illness that varies in symptoms and requires patient cooperation. In the present study, we demonstrated a novel data-driven attempt to diagnose depressive disorder based on clinical questionnaires. It includes deep learning, multi-modal representation, and interpretability to overcome the limitations of the data-driven approach in clinical application. We implemented a shared representation model between three different questionnaire forms to represent questionnaire responses in the same latent space. Based on this, we proposed two data-driven diagnostic methods; unsupervised and semi-supervised. We compared them with a cut-off screening method, which is a traditional diagnostic method for depression. The unsupervised method considered more items, relative to the screening method, but showed lower performance because it maximized the difference between groups. In contrast, the semi-supervised method adjusted for bias using information from the screening method and showed higher performance. In addition, we provided the interpretation of diagnosis and statistical analysis of information using local interpretable model-agnostic explanations and ordinal logistic regression. The proposed data-driven framework demonstrated the feasibility of analyzing depressed patients with items directly or indirectly related to depression.

A low-cost EEG system-based hybrid brain-computer interface for humanoid robot navigation and recognition.

This paper describes a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) technique that combines the P300 potential, the steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP), and event related de-synchronization (ERD) to solve a complicated multi-task problem consisting of humanoid robot navigation and control along with object recognition using a low-cost BCI system. Our approach enables subjects to control the navigation and exploration of a humanoid robot and recognize a desired object among candidates. This study aims to demonstrate the possibility of a hybrid BCI based on a low-cost system for a realistic and complex task. It also shows that the use of a simple image processing technique, combined with BCI, can further aid in making these complex tasks simpler. An experimental scenario is proposed in which a subject remotely controls a humanoid robot in a properly sized maze. The subject sees what the surrogate robot sees through visual feedback and can navigate the surrogate robot. While navigating, the robot encounters objects located in the maze. It then recognizes if the encountered object is of interest to the subject. The subject communicates with the robot through SSVEP and ERD-based BCIs to navigate and explore with the robot, and P300-based BCI to allow the surrogate robot recognize their favorites. Using several evaluation metrics, the performances of five subjects navigating the robot were quite comparable to manual keyboard control. During object recognition mode, favorite objects were successfully selected from two to four choices. Subjects conducted humanoid navigation and recognition tasks as if they embodied the robot. Analysis of the data supports the potential usefulness of the proposed hybrid BCI system for extended applications. This work presents an important implication for the future work that a hybridization of simple BCI protocols provide extended controllability to carry out complicated tasks even with a low-cost system.

Novel effects of Nelumbo nucifera rhizome extract on memory and neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the rat hippocampus.

Memory enhancement is a matter of concern in general, and in particular to people suffering from cognitive dysfunction. In this study, we investigated the effect of Nelumbo nucifera rhizome extract on learning and memory function. A step-through passive avoidance test was performed with Wistar rats. In addition, immunohistochemistry was used to investigate cell proliferation and differentiation in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. The methanol extract of N. nucifera rhizome (MNR) resulted in significant improvements of memory functions and neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus. In the passive avoidance test, the retention time of MNR-treated rats was significantly longer than that of controls. Immunohistochemical analyses using BrdU, Ki-67, and DCX showed significantly increased cell proliferation and cell differentiation in the dentate gyrus. These results suggest that N. nucifera rhizome extract may improve learning and memory with enhancing neurogenesis in the DG of the hippocampus.