Hasil untuk "Physiology"

Xinyue Ma, Xiao Wang, XiaoXiao Jia et al.

IntroductionHyaluronic acid (HA) is a crucial biological molecule whose diverse functions are strongly influenced by its molecular weight. In particular, low molecular weight HA (LMW-HA) fragments—such as HA60 (average 60 kDa), HA35 (average 35 kDa), and HA24 (average 24 kDa)—exhibit enhanced tissue permeability and unique interactions with cell surfaces compared to high molecular weight HA (HMW-HA). This study investigates the size-dependent aggregation effects of LMW-HA on erythrocytes and examines the implications for bioactivity, quality control, and therapeutic applications.MethodsWe investigated the effects of LMW-HA fragments on erythrocyte aggregation across molecular sizes using erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) assays, CD44 receptor blocking assays, and molecular weight assessment via gel electrophoresis and GPC-MALLS. LMW-HA samples were applied at varying concentrations to measure their binding affinity to erythrocytes, while CD44 antibodies were used to assess receptor involvement. Species-specificity of aggregation was examined by comparing erythrocytes from different animals.ResultsLMW-HA induced erythrocyte aggregation in a size-dependent manner, with HA60 exhibiting the strongest binding affinity, followed by HA35 and HA24. Aggregation was partially reversible and could be inhibited by CD44 antibodies, indicating a receptor-mediated interaction. Minimum effective concentrations for aggregation were inversely related to molecular weight, with lower molecular weight fragments requiring higher concentrations. Species-specific effects were also observed, highlighting variations in erythrocyte-HA interactions across different animals.DiscussionThe study suggests that LMW-HA facilitates erythrocyte aggregation through CD44-mediated binding, offering insights into HA’s role in erythrocyte physiology and its effects on blood rheology. The findings support the potential of LMW-HA for therapeutic applications in pain and inflammation management, given its enhanced tissue permeability and reversible interaction with erythrocytes. Additionally, the size-dependent aggregation provides a valuable parameter for quality control, enabling consistency in LMW-HA products. These results underscore the importance of molecular weight in determining HA’s physiological and pharmacological activity, paving the way for further clinical research to confirm species-specific effects and optimize safe therapeutic uses of LMW-HA.

Li Che, Yijia Zhou, Ying Wang

BackgroundPilates Reformer training is a scientifically validated method for enhancing body control. However, research on its application to improve the technical quality of Latin dance movements, particularly the Cha-Cha circular chase step, is limited. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Pilates Reformer training in enhancing this technique, with the goal of providing a theoretical foundation for its use in improving Latin dance performance and preventing injuries.MethodsOur study involved 18 Latin dance students specializing in sports dance, aged 18–30 years, with at least 3 years of Latin dance experience. Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 9) and a control group (n = 9). Over a 12-week period, the experimental group underwent Pilates Reformer training, while the control group continued with their regular training. Biomechanical data were collected before and after each session to assess joint angles, movement speed, muscle activation, and technical quality scores using the WDSF 3.0 evaluation criteria. Data analysis and visualization were performed using Graph Prism 10.0 software, and statistical analyses were conducted with SPSS software (Version 22). Paired-sample t-tests were used for within-group comparisons, and independent-sample t-tests were used for between-group comparisons, with a significance level set at p < 0.05.Results(1) The experimental group showed significant (P < 0.05) or highly significant (P < 0.01) differences in the joint angles of the hip, knee, and ankle at key points across all three axes (X, Y, Z) compared to the control group. The experimental group also exhibited significant improvements (P < 0.05) in the flexion and extension speeds of these joints during the movement phases, while the control group showed minimal changes (P > 0.05). (2) Pilates Reformer training led to significant increases (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01) in the RMS normalized muscle activation values in both legs during the Cha-Cha circular chase step. In contrast, the control group showed increased iEMG values, but these did not reach statistical significance (P > 0.05). (3) The experimental group showed significant improvements (P < 0.05) in posture (B1), foot movements (B4), and Latin characteristics (B5), as well as highly significant improvements (P < 0.01) in basic movements (B6) and preparation-action-recovery (B7) compared to the control group. Additionally, the experimental group exhibited consistent improvements in the average TQ scores across all evaluated components.ConclusionPilates Reformer training significantly enhances joint angles, movement speeds, muscle activation, and technical quality in Latin dance, particularly the Cha-Cha circular chase step. These findings demonstrate the potential of Pilates Reformer training to improve dance technique, optimize movement quality, and support injury prevention in Latin dance athletes, providing strong evidence for its effectiveness in this domain.

Jessica Harvey-Carroll, Daire Carroll, Jose Luis Crespo-Picazo et al.

Abstract Background Understanding animal behaviour is critical for the design of effective conservation and management strategies. Animal-borne tri-axial accelerometers constitute a type of biologging device which have the potential to provide continuous high-resolution behavioural data. For marine animals, device attachment position may influence both the accuracy of behavioural predictions and the hydrodynamic profile of the animal. We present a case study on the use of accelerometers for the behavioural classification of two sea turtle species in captivity: the loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green (Chelonia mydas) turtle. Accelerometers were placed on the first and third scute to represent extreme placement scenarios. We trained Random Forest (RF) models to classify behaviour and assessed the impact of placement and sampling frequency on accuracy. In addition, we assessed the impact of device position on carapace drag coefficient using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Results We achieved a high accuracy for behavioural classification (0.86 for loggerhead and 0.83 for green turtles). We determined that overall RF accuracy for both species is significantly higher for devices positioned on the third scute compared to the first scute (P < 0.001) and with a smoothing window of 2 s compared to 1 s (P < 0.001). We found no significant effect of sampling frequency and therefore recommend the use of 2 Hz in future work to optimise battery life and device memory. CFD modelling indicated an increase in drag coefficient from a maximum of 0.028 without a device to a maximum of 0.064 with a device for an isolated turtle carapace. Attachment to the first scute significantly (P < 0.001) increased drag coefficient relative to the third scute. Conclusions Moving forward, the attachment and sampling protocols we present here may be adopted in future studies involving captive sea turtles. Further research is needed to assess their applicability and effectiveness under free-ranging conditions to enable their use in wild populations.

Qianli Liao, Liu Ziyin, Yulu Gan et al.

Over the last four decades, the amazing success of deep learning has been driven by the use of Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) as the main optimization technique. The default implementation for the computation of the gradient for SGD is backpropagation, which, with its variations, is used to this day in almost all computer implementations. From the perspective of neuroscientists, however, the consensus is that backpropagation is unlikely to be used by the brain. Though several alternatives have been discussed, none is so far supported by experimental evidence. Here we propose a circuit for updating the weights in a network that is biologically plausible, works as well as backpropagation, and leads to verifiable predictions about the anatomy and the physiology of a characteristic motif of four plastic synapses between ascending and descending cortical streams. A key prediction of our proposal is a surprising property of self-assembly of the basic circuit, emerging from initial random connectivity and heterosynaptic plasticity rules.

Ildar Rakhmatulin

Physiological fatigue, a state of reduced cognitive and physical performance resulting from prolonged mental or physical exertion, poses significant challenges in various domains, including healthcare, aviation, transportation, and industrial sectors. As the understanding of fatigue's impact on human performance grows, there is a growing interest in developing effective fatigue monitoring techniques. Among these techniques, electroencephalography (EEG) has emerged as a promising tool for objectively assessing physiological fatigue due to its non-invasiveness, high temporal resolution, and sensitivity to neural activity. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the current state of the use of EEG for monitoring physiological fatigue.

Verner Marijančić, Stanislav Peharec, Gordana Starčević-Klasan et al.

<b>Background/Aim:</b> University students are a particularly vulnerable population, as they spend increasing amounts of time sitting, which poses a major threat to their musculoskeletal health and posture. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate gender differences in the relationships between physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior, spinal curvatures and mobility, the endurance and balance of the trunk muscles, and the possible presence of non-specific low back pain (NS-LBP) in young adults aged 18–25 years. <b>Methods:</b> A total of 139 students completed all required tests. <b>Results:</b> Male students engaged in significantly more PA related to recreation, sports and leisure and were significantly more likely to be hyperkyphotic than female students. The more the male students participated in sports, the more pronounced the thoracic kyphosis. Female students had significantly more pronounced lumbar lordosis and anterior pelvic tilt that correlated with lumbar lordosis. Female students generally had significantly higher trunk extensor endurance and more balanced trunk musculature than males. NS-LBP correlated with PA in female students who generally had higher levels of NS-LBP than male students, with a statistically significant difference between those who practiced the most PA. <b>Conclusions:</b> Our results suggest that female students practice less PA and have pronounced lordosis and trunk extensor endurance, in contrast to males who practice more PA and have pronounced trunk flexor endurance and hyperkyphosis. Our findings suggest that more PA should be encouraged but implemented with caution and as an individualized gender-specific approach to prevent postural deformities and chronic musculoskeletal disorders, including NS-LBP.

Manel Mili, Asma Kerkeni, Asma Ben Abdallah et al.

Extensive bedside monitoring in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) has resulted in complex temporal data regarding patient physiology, which presents an upscale context for clinical data analysis. In the other hand, identifying the time-series patterns within these data may provide a high aptitude to predict clinical events. Hence, we investigate, during this work, the implementation of an automatic data-driven system, which analyzes large amounts of multivariate temporal data derived from Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and extracts high-level information so as to predict in-hospital mortality and Length of Stay (LOS) early. Practically, we investigate the applicability of LSTM network by reducing the time-frame to 6-hour so as to enhance clinical tasks. The experimental results highlight the efficiency of LSTM model with rigorous multivariate time-series measurements for building real-world prediction engines.

David G. Fielder, Todd A. Hayden, Thomas R. Binder et al.

Abstract Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auratus), Walleyes (Sander vitreus), and Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) are migratory predators that undergo extensive movements in Lake Huron. Stocking of juvenile salmonid fish (Oncorhynchus and Salmo sp.) is an important component of fishery management in Lake Huron and assessing the spatial and temporal extent of predator movements is a useful consideration for determining when and where to stock juvenile fish to reduce predation and maximize survival. Previous investigation indicated that some Walleyes migrate to the main basin of Lake Huron in spring from Saginaw Bay. Similarly, telemetry studies of Lake Trout movement in Lake Huron have indicated an onshore movement in the spring. We used detection histories of Walleyes implanted with acoustic transmitters tagged in Saginaw Bay and Lake Trout implanted in northern Lake Huron to estimate the arrival date of migrating adults at eight ports in Lake Huron, where hatchery reared juvenile salmonids are stocked. Satellite telemetry of Cormorants that return to nesting grounds in northern Lake Huron were used to estimate their arrival dates at the same Lake Huron ports. Arrival of Walleye at Lake Huron ports ranged from April 10th to May 7th. Cormorants arrived earlier than Walleye at most Lake Huron ports (April 11th–April 18th). Lake Trout were more variable with a range of onshore movement from March 28th to May 16th. Our results suggested stocking efforts at these ports should generally occur before April 14th to decrease predatory impact from Cormorants, Walleyes, and Lake Trout.

Joseph P. Riordan

Orientation: Dyadic trauma is contagious. Converging neurosynchronistic constructs and the application of attachment focused-somatic experiencing (AF-SE) to traumatised dyads have revealed phenomena that required examination of the relationship between trauma, attachment and community psychopathology. Research purpose: The phylogenetic impact of trauma on attachment is under-reported in attachment traumatology. The purpose of the study was to introduce the theory of dyadic trauma, and SPA and interpersonal neurosynchronistic phylogenesis (INP) as constructs to explain the relationship between trauma, attachment and community psychopathology. Motivation for the study: Widespread loneliness and loss of social cohesion indicate significant, trauma-driven phylogenetic shifts in secure phylogenetic attachment (SPA). Interpersonal neurosynchronistic constructs emerged to elucidate the phenomena. Research approach/design and method: Conceptualisation based on a synthesis of pertinent research provided for an analysis with theory adaptation as an approach. Secure phylogenetic attachment transposed interpersonally is compromised by maladaptive-interpersonal neurosynchronistic phylogenesis (M-INP). Attachment traumatology was chosen as the domain theory and INP as the method theory. Main findings: Maladaptive-interpersonal neurosynchronistic phylogenesis is complicit in community psychopathology. It was found that INP served as a valuable method theory in generating new insights regarding dyadic trauma, attachment and psychopathology. Three unique categories of attachment, namely SPA, the antithesis of trauma, traumatic and monozygotic attachment were proposed. Implications for practice: Attachment traumatologists are provided with a theoretical model, dyadic trauma and descriptive terminology to elucidate the phylogenetic impact of trauma on attachment. Contribution/value add: Specific nomenclature described the interpersonal neuro-dynamics of INP and its functional role in traumatic attachment thereby indicating a paradigm shift in attachment traumatology.

Bravo Francisca Isabel, López-Fernández-Sobrino Raú, Begoña Muguerza

Resumen Algunos coproductos vitivinícolas se han utilizado para obtener extractos enriquecidos en (poli)fenoles con efectos antihipertensivos. Sin embargo, aún se desconoce si las lías de vino (LV) contienen compuestos antihipertensivos. Este estudio se centró en estudiar si las LV podría ser fuente de estos compuestos. Se evaluó la actividad antihipertensiva de cinco LV (fracción líquida, 5 mL/kg) en ratas hipertensas (SHR). Una de las LV mostró un fuerte efecto antihipertensivo, que se asoció con su alto contenido en flavanoles y antocianinas. La reducción del estrés oxidativo y mejora del estado redox y disfunción endotelial fueron algunos mecanismos involucrados en su bioactividad. Además, las LV se sometieron a extracción asistida por enzimas (Flavourzyme®), lo cual solubilizó compuestos fenólicos (57.20%) inicialmente no solubles. Ácido gálico, catequina y malvidina-3-glucósido fueron los principales (poli)fenoles de este hidrolizado. Además, el hidrolizado mostró una mayor actividad inhibitoria de la enzima convertidora de angiotensina, antioxidante y antihipertensiva que las LV. Los péptidos FKTTDQQTRTTVA, NPKLVTIV, TVTNPARIA, LDSPSEGRAPG y LDSPSEGRAPGAD, identificados en el hidrolizado, exhibieron actividad antihipertensiva en SHR (10 mg/kg). LV son una buena fuente de compuestos antihipertensivos con potencial para usarse como nutracéuticos o ingredientes funcionales. Esto permitiría la valorización de las mismas y contribuiría a la economía circular de la industria vitivinícola.

Ayham Saleh Al-Tai, Hashem Al-Issa

Educational supervision is considered one of the most important elements of the educational process, as it has a major role in improving and developing all elements of the educational process. Indeed, the first and basic task of educational supervision is to develop and develop the teacher's capabilities, improve his level of performance, help him solve problems facing him, and provide him with expertise. Occasion . Educators also unanimously agree that the educational supervision process is a specialized technical service provided by the competent educational supervisor to the teachers who work with him in order to improve the teaching and learning process and work to develop it in all its fields. males and females), to lead and influence those under their responsibility in order to raise the level of performance in the field of work That is, the educational supervisor must possess multiple qualifications, including (leadership, administrative, and personal), in order to ensure the achievement of the desired goals of supervision, and this is the responsibility of those in charge of the process of selecting supervisors to find ways to ensure the success of the selection process. The importance of the current research lies in comparing the personal and administrative characteristics of choosing the supervisor (educational and specialist) for physical education teachers and teachers between male and female supervisors through the level of their performance on these standards. The researchers used the descriptive approach, where the research community included (514) male and female supervisors, and the researchers put out a questionnaire on a sample of the community amounted to (285) male and female supervisors. The results showed that there are significant differences in personal and administrative characteristics between male and female educational supervisors and specialists, and in favor of males.

Seesma Subramaniyan, P. T. Dinesh, S.Sooryadas et al.

A study was conducted to assess the prevalence of canine hip dysplasia (CHD) among dog population during a period of one year from January 2021 to December 2021. Canine hip dysplasia was confirmed by clinical orthopedic and radiographic examinations. Of the 231 dogs presented with lameness suspected to be originating from hip joint, 140 animals had dysplastic hips. The incidence was more in large breeds of dogs in an age group of 6 months to 12 months. Thirty five percent of the animals showed unilateral affection while in the remaining 65 percent it was bilateral. Females were more affected with this condition as per the findings of this study. Other than hip dysplasia, traumatic hip dislocation and osteoarthritis contributed to lameness originating from hip joints.

Haipeng Liu, Fan Pan, Xinyue Lei et al.

Background: Intracranial photoplethysmography (PPG) signals can be measured from extracranial sites using wearable sensors and may enable long-term non-invasive monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP). However, it is still unknown if ICP changes can lead to waveform changes in intracranial PPG signals.Aim: To investigate the effect of ICP changes on the waveform of intracranial PPG signals of different cerebral perfusion territories.Methods: Based on lump-parameter Windkessel models, we developed a computational model consisting three interactive parts: cardiocerebral artery network, ICP model, and PPG model. We simulated ICP and PPG signals of three perfusion territories [anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral arteries (ACA, MCA, and PCA), all left side] in three ages (20, 40, and 60 years) and four intracranial capacitance conditions (normal, 20% decrease, 50% decrease, and 75% decrease). We calculated following PPG waveform features: maximum, minimum, mean, amplitude, min-to-max time, pulsatility index (PI), resistive index (RI), and max-to-mean ratio (MMR).Results: The simulated mean ICPs in normal condition were in the normal range (8.87–11.35 mm Hg), with larger PPG fluctuations in older subject and ACA/PCA territories. When intracranial capacitance decreased, the mean ICP increased above normal threshold (&gt;20 mm Hg), with significant decreases in maximum, minimum, and mean; a minor decrease in amplitude; and no consistent change in min-to-max time, PI, RI, or MMR (maximal relative difference less than 2%) for PPG signals of all perfusion territories. There were significant effects of age and territory on all waveform features except age on mean.Conclusion: ICP values could significantly change the value-relevant (maximum, minimum, and amplitude) waveform features of PPG signals measured from different cerebral perfusion territories, with negligible effect on shape-relevant features (min-to-max time, PI, RI, and MMR). Age and measurement site could also significantly influence intracranial PPG waveform.

Pei Jun Zhao

Willem Einthoven is widely considered the father of the electrocardiogram (ECG). In 1912, he proposed a method of determining the electric axis of the heart by using an imaginary equilateral triangle connecting the limb leads, now known as Einthoven's triangle. In 1924, Einthoven was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the mechanisms of the electrocardiogram. More than a century later, Einthoven's triangle is still at the heart of ECG interpretation. It defines the axes of the ECG leads in the frontal plane, that in turn, determines the axis of the cardiac electric dipole. The method is ubiquitously taught in lectures and applied in clinical settings. But Einthoven did not provide a proof for choosing the equilateral triangle. Future medical literature have not explored its origins. This paper provides a formal proof of its derivation to complete this important chapter in medical history and medical education. In addition, the proof determines the geometric conditions for alternative systems of bipolar ECG lead configurations in the frontal plane.

Yingqi Zhao, Aliaksandr Hubarevich, Jian-An Huang et al.

Solid-state nanopores are emerging platforms for single-molecule protein sequencing due to their tolerance to hash physiology environment and compatibility with different electrical and optical detection methods. However, they suffer from poor molecular manipulations that were twisted with and thus limited by the detection methods. Here, we report a bowl-shaped plasmonic gold nanopore on silicon nitride with hydrogel to demonstrate near-field nanofluidic manipulation of DNA translocation for plasmon-enhanced Raman spectroscopic detection. The hydrogel linearized the DNA, and the linear DNA was trapped in the nanopore for tens of seconds due assumably to bipolar effect of the nanopore that generate electroosmotic sheath flow and bipolar surface charge distribution. Their combination led to a near-field confinement of the DNA in the nanopore hot spot to allow stable Raman detection. We envision that a combination of Raman spectroscopy with the bowl-shaped nanopores can succeed in single-molecule protein sequencing in a label-free way

Rickie Xian

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP), one of the leading causes of vision loss and blindness globally, is a progressive retinal disease involving the degradation of photoreceptors (7) and/or retinal pigment epithelial cells (14). Affecting approximately 1 in 4000 people, RP is caused by a series of genetic mutations; each specific mutation presents a specific pathological pattern in the patient, with the same mutation even presenting in different phenotypes in different patients (14). RP generally starts with peripheral vision loss, attacking the rods first, causing nyctalopia or night blindness (22). In later stages of the disease, the cones start to atrophy, further narrowing the field of vision and obscuring central vision (22). Luckily, with recent advances in medical imaging techniques and novel therapeutic treatments, both early detection and the overall prognosis of RP in patients have improved dramatically in the past few decades. This review will trace RP's physiological causes, how it affects retinal and ocular physiology, the techniques through which we can diagnose and image it, and the various treatments developed to try to combat it. The medical imaging techniques to be discussed include but are not limited to adaptive optics (AO), OCT including SD-OCT and OCTA, fundus autofluorescence (FAF) and its associated fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (FLIO), colour Doppler flow imaging (CDFI), microperimetry, and MRI. The treatments to be discussed include stem cell therapy, gene therapy, cell transplantation, pharmacological therapy, and artificial retinal implants. Throughout this review, it will be made evident of not just the severity and diversity through which RP can present, but also the advanced made in medical imaging and innovative treatments designed to combat this pathology.

Peibei Cao, Chenyang Le, Yuming Fang et al.

With the increasing popularity and accessibility of high dynamic range (HDR) photography, tone mapping operators (TMOs) for dynamic range compression are practically demanding. In this paper, we develop a two-stage neural network-based TMO that is self-calibrated and perceptually optimized. In Stage one, motivated by the physiology of the early stages of the human visual system, we first decompose an HDR image into a normalized Laplacian pyramid. We then use two lightweight deep neural networks (DNNs), taking the normalized representation as input and estimating the Laplacian pyramid of the corresponding LDR image. We optimize the tone mapping network by minimizing the normalized Laplacian pyramid distance (NLPD), a perceptual metric aligning with human judgments of tone-mapped image quality. In Stage two, the input HDR image is self-calibrated to compute the final LDR image. We feed the same HDR image but rescaled with different maximum luminances to the learned tone mapping network, and generate a pseudo-multi-exposure image stack with different detail visibility and color saturation. We then train another lightweight DNN to fuse the LDR image stack into a desired LDR image by maximizing a variant of the structural similarity index for multi-exposure image fusion (MEF-SSIM), which has been proven perceptually relevant to fused image quality. The proposed self-calibration mechanism through MEF enables our TMO to accept uncalibrated HDR images, while being physiology-driven. Extensive experiments show that our method produces images with consistently better visual quality. Additionally, since our method builds upon three lightweight DNNs, it is among the fastest local TMOs.

Camille Gontier, Simone Carlo Surace, Igor Delvendahl et al.

Bayesian Active Learning (BAL) is an efficient framework for learning the parameters of a model, in which input stimuli are selected to maximize the mutual information between the observations and the unknown parameters. However, the applicability of BAL to experiments is limited as it requires performing high-dimensional integrations and optimizations in real time: current methods are either too time consuming, or only applicable to specific models. Here, we propose an Efficient Sampling-Based Bayesian Active Learning (ESB-BAL) framework, which is efficient enough to be used in real-time biological experiments. We apply our method to the problem of estimating the parameters of a chemical synapse from the postsynaptic responses to evoked presynaptic action potentials. Using synthetic data and synaptic whole-cell patch-clamp recordings, we show that our method can improve the precision of model-based inferences, thereby paving the way towards more systematic and efficient experimental designs in physiology.

Nilda Espinola-Zavaleta, Nilda Espinola-Zavaleta, Neftali Eduardo Antonio-Villa et al.

BackgroundIncreased systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (sPAP) could lead to the mechanical dysfunction and myocardial fibrosis of the right heart chambers. Echocardiographic strain analysis has not been adequately studied in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH).Study design and methodsA cross-sectional cohort of patients with suspected PH and echocardiographic strain evaluation was recruited. The cut-off values of peak tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TRV) with the low probability of PH (≤2.8 m/s), intermediate probability (2.9–3.4 m/s, without other echo PH signs), and high probability of PH (2.9–3.4 m/s with other echo PH signs and &gt;3.4 m/s) categories were studied by right ventricular and right atrial (RA) strain analysis in a sample of 236 patients.ResultsThe results showed that 58 (56.9%) patients had low, 15 (14.7%) had intermediate, and 29 (28.4%) had a high probability of PH. We observed a negative association between right ventricular free wall strain (RV-FWS) and atrial global strain with sPAP. With the increase in PH severity, RA reservoir, conduit, and contraction (booster) strain values decreased. The identified cut-off values of strain parameters had an adequate ability to detect PH severity categories. In addition, the post-mortem biopsies of right heart chambers from subjects with known severe PH were analyzed to quantify myocardial fibrosis. Our sample of right heart biopsies (n = 12) demonstrated an association between increased sPAP before death and right ventricular and RA fibrosis.ConclusionMechanical dysfunction and fibrosis in the right chambers are associated with increased sPAP. Right ventricular and atrial strain could provide enhancement in the diagnosis and categorization of subjects with suspected PH.

Matthew Boyko, Benjamin F. Gruenbaum, Ilan Shelef et al.

Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions of people worldwide, many of whom are affected with post-TBI mood disorders or behavioral changes, including aggression or social withdrawal. Diminished functionality can persist for decades after TBI and delay rehabilitation and resumption of employment. It has been established that there is a relationship between these mental disorders and brain injury. However, the etiology and causal relationships behind these conditions are poorly understood. Rodent models provide a helpful tool for researching mood disorders and social impairment due to their natural tendencies to form social hierarchies. Here, we present a rat model of mental complications after TBI using a suite of behavioral tests to examine the causal relationships between changes in social behavior, including aggressive, hierarchical, depressive, and anxious behavior. For this purpose, we used multivariate analysis to identify causal relationships between the above post-TBI psychiatric sequelae. We performed statistical analysis using principal component analysis, discriminant analysis, and correlation analysis, and built a model to predict dominant-submissive behavior based on the behavioral tests. This model displayed a predictive accuracy of 93.3% for determining dominant-submissive behavior in experimental groups. Machine learning algorithms determined that in rats, aggression is not a principal prognostic factor for dominant-submissive behavior. Alternatively, dominant-submissive behavior is determined solely by the rats’ depressive-anxious state and exploratory activity. We expect the causal approach used in this study will guide future studies into mood conditions and behavioral changes following TBI.