Evaluation of an algorithm for optical pulse detection in children for application to the Pepper robot

To engage in socio-emotional interactions, children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) need support to understand and convey emotions. In our approach, a humanoid robot (Pepper, Softbanks Robotics) acts as a tutor for the child within autism care. The robot, equipped with multimodal sensor technology to acquire the emotional feedback of the child, stimulates the child to perform tasks, adapted to its current arousal state. By in-, or decreasing the difficulties of implemented training modules, the child can be given the appropriate task according to its emotional state. The child’s arousal is measured with different techniques implemented in and on the robot: emotion detection based on audio recordings of the speech signal and camera detected facial expressions, or heart rate. To this end, the remote Photoplethysmography (rPPG) signal from camera recordings of the subjects’ face is acquired. While its unintrusive measurement is an advantage, a major drawback for rPPG is its proneness to motion and light artefacts requiring de-noising steps. A wavelet transform based on log-Gabor wavelets and a filter bank with 32 filters was implemented. The signal was filtered with a prior filter and afterwards with a Markov chain in order to extract the underlying pulse rate. Within an initial study, five children were observed watching videos with different co-notated emotions. As reference for the heart rate (HR), a wristband (empatica E4) was used. The captured emotions of all subjects were annotated to identify low and high arousal parts and positive and negative emotions. Extracted HR from rPPG-data indicated a correlation with the annotated emotions.

[Arthroscopic posterior shoulder stabilization with an iliac bone graft and capsular repair]

OBJECTIVE

Arthroscopic posterior shoulder stabilization with an iliac bone graft and capsulolabral repair, which should combine the pre-existing open procedure with the advantages of improved arthroscopic visualization.

INDICATIONS

Posterior instability with concomitant pathologies (e.g. capsular insufficiency, posterior Bankart lesion, posterior glenoid dysplasia) and recurrent posterior instability after failed soft tissue reconstruction.

CONTRAINDICATIONS

Instability osteoarthritis, locked posterior shoulder dislocation, large reverse Hill-Sachs lesion, extended posterior defect of the glenoid.

SURGICAL TECHNIQUE

After arthroscopic evaluation of the shoulder joint and treatment of concomitant pathologies, a tricortical bone graft is harvested from the iliac crest. The posterior capsule is arthroscopically detached from the labrum and the posterior deltoid and rotator cuff are split in line of the muscle fibers. Then the bone graft is positioned and fixed to the posterior scapular neck as an extension of the articular glenoid surface. Thereafter, capsular reconstruction is performed after insertion of suture anchors in the posterior glenoid rim.

POSTOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT

During the first 6 weeks 60° of abduction and flexion are permitted without any rotation and full range of motion is developed gradually. Internal rotation is allowed after 8 weeks and return to sports after 12 weeks.

RESULTS

For posterior shoulder instability 13 of these operations were performed in our hospital since 2011. Until now, no recurrent instability was observed. After remodelling of the graft, one patient complained about posterior soft tissue irritation so the screws were removed.

[Stability versus mobility of the shoulder. Biomechanical aspects in athletes]

The demand profile of athletes shoulders is high. On the one hand the shoulder has to provide a maximum active range of motion that allows rapid movements of the arm and on the other hand it has to be sufficiently stabilized to decelerate rapid movements and to neutralize the resulting translational forces. Two general types of instability can be differentiated in athletes shoulders: the macroinstability typically occurring in athletes involved in contact sports and the microinstability occurring in athletes involved in overhead sports.Repetitive abduction and external rotation movements of athletes involved in overhead sports lead to adaptation of the glenohumeral joint capsule and ligaments. The anterior capsule becomes stretched while the posterior capsule develops tightness. These adaptations can result in an anterior microinstability as well as posterosuperior impingement (PSI) which implicates a pathological contact of the posterosuperior rotator cuff with the posterior glenoid and which is also associated with SLAP lesions. In contrast the shoulders of swimmers are prone to anterosuperior impingement because the arm stroke involves a forceful combined anteflexion, adduction and internal rotation of the arm.The macroinstability of contact athletes is caused by sufficient trauma and characterized by a structural lesion of capsulolabral or bony lesion. While the empirical recurrence risk of young contact athletes is already high, it can be further impaired by bony defects of the glenoid. In suspected cases, critical glenoid defects should be quantified by computed tomography (CT) scans and treated by bony augmentation of the glenoid.

Brofaromine--a review of its pharmacological properties and therapeutic use

The antidepressant activity of monoamine oxidase inhibitors has been well established for 30 years. Nevertheless, this group of compounds was handled with great care, mainly because of the interaction potential with tyramine-containing foodstuff. With the discovery of reversible and selective inhibitors of monoamine oxidase type A a renaissance of these compounds has begun. In this paper one of these new substances--brofaromine--will be described in detail. Biochemical and pharmacological aspects will be reviewed, showing that brofaromine is a selective and reversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase type A with additional serotonin reuptake inhibiting properties. Both mechanisms of action may synergize in the antidepressant effect of the compound. The main results of clinical trials in depression and other indication areas will also be covered. Special attention will be put on the side effect profile.

Reduced echogenicity of brainstem raphe specific to unipolar depression: a transcranial color-coded real-time sonography study

Echogenicity of the brainstem raphe was assessed in patients with major depression, bipolar affective disorders, and schizophrenia and compared with healthy adults employing transcranial color-coded real-time sonography. Forty probands were enrolled in each group. A highly significant reduction in raphe echogenicity was detected only in patients suffering from major depression. Echogenicity of the raphe was independent of age or sex and did not correlate with severity of the depressive syndrome or patient state. These findings are suggestive of structural desintegration of the brainstem raphe in unipolar depression, an anatomical region assumed to be a biological focus in the pathogenesis of depressive syndromes.

Dietary mustard, rape seed oils and selenium exert distinct effects on serum Se, lipids, peroxidation products and platelet aggregability

OBJECTIVE

A degenerative cardiomyopathy (DCM) has been observed among mustard oil (MUST) users in China who eat 150 ml/week. Though the condition may be a selenium (Se) deficiency, MUST, rich in erucic acid (22:1), may bear a cardiotoxic or pro-oxidant substrate(s). The purpose of this feeding study was to compare the effects of feeding MUST, high erucic acid rape seed oil (HEAR), low erucic acid rape seed oil (LEAR) and corn oil, with or without Se addenda, on serum cholesterol, triglycerides, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), alpha-tocopherol, platelet aggregation and hepatic glutathione peroxidase (GSHPXase). Heart muscle pathology was evaluated.

METHODS

Eighty male, weanling Wistar rats were divided into four dietary groups and fed AIN76A diet for 8 weeks with one of four oils: 1) MUST, 2) HEAR, 3) LEAR, or CORN oil. Half of each group received 0.43 mg/kg Se supplement. A purified diet was fed for 8 weeks.

RESULTS

Neither Se nor oil type affected growth, though serum Se rose with dietary Se addendum (p < 0.01), and hepatic GSHPXase rose for each oil (p < 0.01). Se deprivation led to elevated serum cholesterol, except for the CORN oil group (p < 0.01). Only with LEAR did HDL cholesterol decrease. Serum triglycerides decreased with MUST and LEAR feedings (p < 0.05). In Se deficiency, HEAR led to elevated TBARS (p < 0.01), though not MUST, which contained twice as much alpha-tocopherol. Though supplementary Se protected the HEAR-fed animals from secondary peroxidation as TBARS (p < 0.01), the MUST group was not so protected. Ration Se also spared serum alpha-tocopherol for each diet group except the MUST/Se group (p < 0.05). MUST oil feeding resulted in increased platelet aggregation; MUST and HEAR resulted in increased platelet ATP release compared with CORN oil.

CONCLUSION

Oxidative mechanisms may be involved in the DCM involving both Se limitation and pro-oxidant stress related to the usual intake of MUST. Human studies have been undertaken to test this thesis.

Cholinergic neurotransmission seems not to be involved in depression but possibly in personality

Concordant with the adrenergic-cholinergic imbalance hypothesis of affective psychosis, there is a cholinergic supersensitivity in depression. Thus, the anticholinergic properties of some antidepressants might contribute to their efficacy. However, in the present double-blind studies (n = 20) with mianserin and viloxazine, respectively, which lack anticholinergic properties, adjunctive treatment with the anticholinergic biperiden versus placebo did not enhance the antidepressive efficacy. Therefore, we hypothesized that cholinergic supersensitivity might be linked to some possibly predisposing dimension of personality. Indeed, in healthy male volunteers (n = 11) the behavioral and cardiovascular sensitivity to physostigmine correlated significantly with "irritability" and "emotional lability" as well as with habitually passive strategies in stress coping. The rise in plasma cortisol and norepinephrine correlated with "retardation"; that of epinephrine with active coping. Thus, the cholinergic supersensitivity in affective psychoses might be linked to a personality dimension like stress sensitivity rather than to the diagnostic category itself.

Flowering phenology in the arid winter rainfall region of southern Africa

The impact of physical factors on the flowering phenology of a succulent karroid community in the winter rainfall region of the northwestern Cape, South Africa, based upon a three year study on permanent plots, is examined, (in the permanent plots, flowering of the shrubby species extended over a period of 4 to 4'/i months each year, while blooming ot the therophytes peaked m the first half of the flowering season. Species composition and numbers of individuals in the therophytes and geophytes offering flowers varied greatly according to the pattern and amount of seasonal precipitation. Despite these variations a consistent flowering sequence between the years was observed. Possible relations between the flowering phenology and the climatic variables are discussed in detail. The present data suggest that the onset of flowering is determined indirectly by the first drop in temperature in autumn, indicating the beginning of the rainy season and presumably the start of the growing period, and/or by the increase of temperatures in the beginning of spring. The pattern and amount of rainfall within a given season mainly influenced the duration of anthesis and the number of flowers produced.

Echogenicity of the brainstem raphe in patients with major depression

A novel transcranial ultrasound technique was used to detect differences in the echogenicity and echotexture of the brainstem dorsal raphe nucleus in 20 patients with major depression compared with 20 age- and sex-matched healthy adults. Transcranial color-coded real-time sonography visualized the mesencephalic and pontine brainstem and its midline structure. The echogenicity of the raphe was classified in a four-point scale. Compared with healthy subjects, the depressed patients were characterized by a significant decrease in the echogenicity of the brainstem raphe. The echogenicity score was not correlated, however, with measures of psychopathology such as the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Clinical Global Impression Scale, the Global Assessment Scale, or the Depression Scale of von Zerssen. These preliminary findings suggest that the brainstem raphe may be involved in the etiopathogenesis of major depression. The echogenicity score should be further evaluated as a possible trait marker in different types of affective disorders.

gamma-Tocotrienol as a hypocholesterolemic and antioxidant agent in rats fed atherogenic diets

This study was designed to determine whether incorporation of gamma-tocotrienol or alpha-tocopherol in an atherogenic diet would reduce the concentration of plasma cholesterol, triglycerides and fatty acid peroxides, and attenuate platelet aggregability in rats. For six weeks, male Wistar rats (n = 90) were fed AIN76A semisynthetic test diets containing cholesterol (2% by weight), providing fat as partially hydrogenated soybean oil (20% by weight), menhaden oil (20%) or corn oil (2%). Feeding the ration with menhaden oil resulted in the highest concentrations of plasma cholesterol, low and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and fatty acid hydroperoxides. Consumption of the ration containing gamma-tocotrienol (50 mg/kg) and alpha-tocopherol (500 mg/kg) for six weeks led to decreased plasma lipid concentrations. Plasma cholesterol, low and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides each decreased significantly (P < 0.001). Plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances decreased significantly (P < 0.01), as did the fatty acid hydroperoxides (P < 0.05), when the diet contained both chromanols. Supplementation with gamma-tocotrienol resulted in similar, though quantitatively smaller, decrements in these plasma values. Plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations were lowest in rats fed menhaden oil without either chromanol. Though plasma alpha-tocopherol did not rise with gamma-tocotrienol supplementation at 50 mg/kg, gamma-tocotrienol at 100 mg/kg of ration spared plasma alpha-tocopherol, which rose from 0.60 +/- 0.2 to 1.34 +/- 0.4 mg/dL (P < 0.05). The highest concentration of alpha-tocopherol was measured in plasma of animals fed a ration supplemented with alpha-tocopherol at 500 mg/kg.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Status of amine hypotheses in depressive disorders]

The biochemical effects of drugs modulating mood are the basis for still relevant hypotheses relating depressive disorders to dysfunctions of noradrenergic, serotonergic and/or cholinergic neurotransmission. The time course as well as the dose-effect-relationships point to the relevance for mood elevation of secondary adaptive processes rather than the direct actions of antidepressants. Direct evidence of dysfunctions sufficiently explaining the actual illness of the single individual has not been obtained at the level of transmitters, metabolites and receptors. Deficits of serotonergic transmission seem to be related to a personality dimension of poor impulse control closer than to nosological categories. This dimensional concept might also be valid for the relationships between cholinergic sensitivity and stress tolerance. Depression itself is possibly due to imbalances of multiple neuronal systems.

Clinical, biochemical and psychometric findings with the new MAO-A-inhibitors moclobemide and brofaromine in patients with major depressive disorder

N = 53 inpatients with major depressive disorder have been treated with the reversible, selective MAO-A-inhibitors moclobemide (double-blind versus maprotiline) and brofaromine (open study), respectively. Clinically, significant improvement of depression and an activating profile of action could be observed, typical side effects were sleep disturbances, agitation and weight loss. The neurobiochemical data showed an increase of noradrenaline plasma concentrations under treatment with moclobemide. Visual reaction times improved with antidepressant treatment. MAO-A inhibitors proved to be effective antidepressants in the treatment of hospitalized patients with predominantly endogenous depressions.

[Treatment of depression using MAO-A inhibitors: an open study of a direct switch from moclobemide to tri-/tetracyclic antidepressants]

In an open study 13 depressed inpatients received moclobemide, a selective and reversible MAO-A-inhibitor (300 mg/d) for one week and subsequently were switched to a three-week course of a tricyclic or tetracyclic antidepressant (TCA) without medication-free interval. There were no drop-out, two patients needed additional ECT. Depressive symptomatology declined during treatment which was well tolerated. Mild adverse CNS effects and gastrointestinal symptoms prevailed under moclobemide. Subsequent TCA prompted autonomic symptoms. Overall adverse drug effects decreased over the treatment period. Cardiovascular monitoring revealed no clinically relevant side effects.

Action of aldosterone on citrate synthase in cultured renal collecting duct cells

Cultured renal collecting duct cells from neonatal rabbit kidney were used to examine the influence of aldosterone on enzymatic activity of citrate synthase during increase in Na+ transport. Control epithelia showed citrate synthase activity of 71 +/- 3 mU/mg protein (n = 28), while after aldosterone treatment citrate synthase activity was significantly increased to 79 +/- 6 mU/mg at 1 h (n = 5), to 88 +/- 6 mU/mg at 2 h (n = 6) and to 93 +/- 8 mU/mg protein at 3 h (n = 5). Citrate synthase activity subsequently decreased to basal values. Spironolactone fully blocked the aldosterone-induced increase in citrate synthase activity. The time course of enzyme stimulation after aldosterone administration indicates that the hormone activates citrate synthase during the physiological early response phase.

Active-site geometry of proteinase K. Crystallographic study of its complex with a dipeptide chloromethyl ketone inhibitor

Proteinase K (EC 3.4.21.14) from the fungus Tritirachium album Limber is the most active known serine endopeptidase. The sequence of its 275-residue long polypeptide chain and its three-dimensional folding show a high degree of homology with the bacterial subtilisin proteases. Using difference Fourier methods, the binding mode of the synthetic carbobenzoxy-Ala-Ala-chloromethyl ketone inhibitor to the active site of proteinase K was determined. In several cycles of restrained least-squares, the enzyme-inhibitor complex was refined to a current R = 22% for 9400 X-ray diffraction data between 2.2 and 5.0 A resolution. The inhibitor is attached to proteinase K by two covalent bonds: one between the methylene carbon of the inhibitor and N epsilon 2 of the catalytic His 68, the other between the ketone carbon atom of the inhibitor and O gamma of the catalytic Ser 221. In addition, two hydrogen bonds donated by the peptide NH of Ser 221 and by the side chain NH2 of Asn 160 hold the hemiketal O- in the oxyanion hole. The peptide inhibitor is further hydrogen bonded to the proteinase polypeptide chain in a three-stranded antiparallel pleated sheet.