An EEG & eye-tracking dataset of ALS patients & healthy people during eye-tracking-based spelling system usage.

This research presents a dataset consisting of electroencephalogram and eye tracking recordings obtained from six patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in a locked-in state and one hundred seventy healthy individuals. The ALS patients exhibited varying degrees of disease progression, ranging from partial mobility and weakened speech to complete paralysis and loss of speech. Despite these physical impairments, the ALS patients retained good eye function, which allowed them to use a virtual keyboard for communication. Data from ALS patients was recorded multiple times at their homes, while data from healthy individuals was recorded once in a laboratory setting. For each data recording, the experimental design involved nine recording sessions per participant, each corresponding to a common human action or demand. This dataset can serve as a valuable benchmark for several applications, such as improving spelling systems with brain-computer interfaces, investigating motor imagination, exploring motor cortex function, monitoring motor impairment progress in patients undergoing rehabilitation, and studying the effects of ALS on cognitive and motor processes.

Brand-switching and tobacco taxation in Vietnam.

BACKGROUND: The government of Vietnam is embarking on a radical tobacco excise tax reform, switching from the current pure ad valorem scheme to a mixed system by adding a specific component. There have been concerns raised by state-owned tobacco companies against this initiative that switching to a mixed scheme may shift consumption away from cheaper, domestic brands to more expensive, foreign brands (produced locally by joint ventures between multinational tobacco companies and domestic firms) and to illicit cigarettes, thus impairing the domestic industry, rather than reducing cigarette consumption effectively. Unfortunately, although this concern has been one of the biggest obstacles to the tobacco tax reform in the country, no study thus far has attempted to address it due mostly to the unavailability of relevant micro-market data with detailed information on brand choice. OBJECTIVES: This research attempts to study cigarette brand substitution patterns and quantify the potential effect of the proposed tax structure change on cigarette brand choice to inform tax policy discussions in Vietnam. METHODS: A discrete choice experiment is conducted to collect data on smokers' stated brand choice when cigarette prices change exogenously. Combined with data on their current cigarette consumption, random parameter logit models were estimated and then used to calculate brand-level price semielasticities as well as numerically simulate the impact of tax reforms on smoking. RESULTS: Smokers are more likely to substitute a low-priced domestic brand with another domestic brand than either with a foreign brand or with an illicit brand, both of which are more expensive. Furthermore, the opt-out is one of the closest substitutes to low-priced brands and also the most sensitive to a change in their prices, implying that smokers of low-priced brands are more likely to buy none of the studied brands when cigarette prices increase. This provides strong suggestive evidence that they appear more likely to stop smoking when faced with higher cigarette prices. Imposing a specific tax tends to reduce the market share for both low-priced and high-priced licit brands, although the estimated market share reduction is larger for the former. In response to specific tax increases, a large share of current smokers do not intend to switch to illegal cigarette brands, but rather choose none of the experimented brands, suggesting their intention to quit. Finally, the magnitude of substitution to illicit brands tends to be negatively related to change in their prices as a result of the specific excise tax hike. CONCLUSION: Contrary to the raised concern, smokers are more likely to substitute a domestic brand with another domestic brand than with a foreign brand. Moreover, the threat of illicit trade should not be exaggerated, and there are actions that the government of Vietnam can take to mitigate the threat effectively.

Comparison of effective use of implanted vascular pedicles for skin flap prefabrication: an experimental study.

Thin, large, well-vascularized, and axial-pattern flaps are often desired in the clinical practice of defect reconstruction to maximize esthetic and functional results. Flap prefabrication based on the neovascularization development following vascular pedicle implantation allows surgeons to create such flaps as required. Using different types of implanted vascular pedicles, the aim of the study was to identify the most effective and suitable types of pedicles for clinical use. Five models of implanted vascular pedicles in Chinchilla Bastard rabbits were investigated as follows: model 1, arteriovenous (AV) pedicle with end ligation (minimal blood flow in the implanted vascular pedicle); model 2, AV pedicle with end anastomosis (new shunt formation between vein and artery stump for creating maximal blood flow in the implanted vascular pedicle); model 3, purely isolated arterialized venous loop; model 4, purely isolated arterial loop; model 5, AV pedicle with end anastomosis (similar to model 2) combined with flap expansion. These different types of vascular pedicles were implanted into a random-pattern abdominal skin flap as large as 8 x 15 cm. Neovascularization in the various prefabricated flaps was evaluated macroscopically, scintigraphically, microangiographically, and histologically. A total of 150 prefabricated flaps were investigated and randomly assigned to 5 models with 30 flaps each. Each model contained 5 groups of 6 flaps corresponding to the various retention times of 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 days after vascular pedicle implantation. Six flaps were also designated to the control group. Neovascularization was best in model 5, followed by comparable results for models 2, 3, and 4, with the worst results found in model 1, especially for the time intervals of 8, 12, and 16 days. Twenty days remains the minimal length of time required for matured neovascularization in all models (P < 0.05). Models 2 and 3 both appear to be particularly promising for clinical application.

Study of the neovascularisation of prefabrication of flaps using a silicone sheet and an isolated arterial pedicle: experimental study in rabbits.

Use of an isolated artery as an implanted pedicle in prefabricated flaps has rarely been reported either clinically or experimentally. In Chinchilla Bastard rabbits (n = 36), we dissected an isolated arterial pedicle from the femoral and saphenous artery, anastomosed it end-to-end to the femoral vein at the inguinal ligament and created an isolated arterial loop pedicle. This was implanted and fixed with polyglactin 9/0 under a random-pattern vascularised abdominal fasciocutaneous flap. The neovascularisation in the prefabricated flaps was evaluated macroscopically, by blood analysis, selective microangiography, and histology. The results showed a progressive degree of neovascularisation that corresponded to the increasing length of time that the pedicle was implanted in the flaps. Twenty days after prefabrication, the abdominal fasciocutaneous flap was readily perfused by the blood supply from the arterial pedicle. The capacity of the vessels in this group as seen on angiograms had increased to 258 vessels (108%) compared with the control group (239 vessels, 100%).

To compare the active vascularity restoration in microtome flaps after pediculation of arteries and vena

66 flaps including 6 controlled, were divided into two models, each includes 30 flaps and each model was divided into 5 groups, evaluated after 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 days after implantation. From the random implantation of a isolated pedicle of artery or vena in an abdomen skin flap, new blood vessels occurred and connected with the existent system of vessels in the flap. After 20 days, new vascularity was established in both models, as the same in the control group. Blood supply was considered appropriate and the flap could be moved safely along the newly implanted pedicle