Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T17:38:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rogerio Martins Pereira.pdf: 8981376 bytes, checksum: 99bc38e35b4ba47ede892b1ed9f09d6b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-07-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Over 40 years the Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) has been used to investigate pathologies in biological tissues by analyzing its electrical properties and associate them to a tissue equivalent circuit model. The EIS technique consists of applying a multifrequency current of constant amplitude by two electrodes, measuring the resulting potential by other two electrodes and then extract the electrical parameters from a tissue model by calculating the transfer impedance (ZT). The main objective of this work is to develop an EIS multichannel system for impedance probes within the frequency range of 500 Hz to 1 MHz. A voltage controlled current source (VCCS) circuit and a fully controlled multiplexing system were developed. The potentials were measured by a Data Acquisition (DAQ) board. A software developed in LabVIEW was implemented in order to control and calibrate the hardware, and also to process the data in the calculation of the complex impedance and its electric tissue parameters. In order to present the data and to get an easy-to-use front panel, a graphical interface was developed. This allows one to select both injecting and measuring channels, to present the measured signal in real time and in the frequency domain, which can be chosen between the modulus and phase of the transfer impedance ZT. Preliminary tests were made in the hardware by using resistive loads. The results showed that the frequency response of the developed EIS multichannel system is band limited. Therefore, a compensation process technique was implemented and then fully tested. The results showed that the compensation technique increases the accuracy of the system to approximately 95% in the range of 500 Hz to 1 MHz, with resistive loads. Measurements in tissue equivalent circuits (phantoms) were made and its electrical tissue parameters were calculated. The results showed that the measured data can be easily fitted to the phantoms with a maximum error of 5%. Tissue impedances were measured by an electrode impedance probe. Firstly, the probe was calibrated by using saline solutions with conductivities from 1,0 to 10,0 mS/cm. The objective was to reconstruct the conductivities from measured data. The results showed na accuracy of 98% in the reconstruction within the frequency range of 500 Hz to 200 kHz. Second, measurements in five different samples of bovine tissue were made and their respective electrical parameters were calculated. In order to characterize the bovine tissue, the reactive part of the transfer impedance was plotted against the resistive part and their respective electric parameters were calculated. It can be concluded that the performance of the developed EIS multichannel system was achieved in the frequency range of 500 Hz to 200 kHz. Stray capacitances from the multiplexing system, cable capacitances and the input capacitance of the DAQ board reduced the system frequency range. However, feasible tissue data can be obtained by this system and so tissue characterization may be performed for pathologies identification. / O processo em Espectroscopia de Impedância Elétrica (EIE) para levantamento da impedância elétrica consiste na injeção de uma corrente CA de amplitude constante, ao longo de uma faixa de freqüência, através de dois eletrodos, na medição do potencial resultante e, então, no cálculo da impedância de transferência ZT. EIE é uma técnica usada na determinação de patologias em tecidos biológicos através da análise dos parâmetros elétricos equivalentes do tecido. Estes parâmetros são obtidos através da medição da impedância de transferência do material analisado. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver um sistema EIE multicanal, utilizado em sondas com até oito eletrodos, operando na faixa de freqüência de 500 Hz a 1 MHz. No circuito eletrônico do sistema foi desenvolvida uma fonte de corrente controlada por tensão e um sistema de multiplexação e demultiplexação. Através de uma placa de aquisição de dados, uma plataforma de controle foi desenvolvida em LabVIEW, dispondo de funções especiais para o cálculo da impedância complexa e dos parâmetros elétricos dos tecidos, para a calibração e o armazenamento dos dados. Também foi desenvolvida uma interface gráfica amigável para a manipulação dos dados e seleção dos canais de medição e apresentação dos sinais medidos em tempo real e no domínio da freqüência através do espectro da impedância ZT e das suas componentes: módulo e fase. Testes foram realizados no sistema utilizando cargas puramente resistivas. Os resultados mostraram que o sistema EIE responde de maneira não linear com a freqüência. Após o processo de compensação, obteve-se uma exatidão de 95% na faixa de 500 Hz a 1 MHz. Medições em phantoms (circuitos equivalentes elétricos de tecidos) foram feitas, mostrando que seus respectivos parâmetros podem ser calculados com uma exatidão média de 95%. Utilizando uma sonda de eletrodos, o sistema EIE+sonda foi calibrado através de soluções salinas com condutividades na faixa de 1,0 a 10,0 mS/cm. Os resultados mostraram uma exatidão de 98% no cálculo das condutividades até 200 kHz. Medições feitas em leite de vaca mostraram que é possível identificar o seu teor de gordura. Medições em cinco amostras diferentes de tecido bovino foram feitas e seus respectivos parâmetros elétricos foram calculados. De maneira geral, o sistema EIE multicanal desenvolvido apresentou desempenho satisfatório, embora capacitâncias parasitas nos circuitos, no cabo da sonda e na placa de aquisição prejudicaram sua exatidão nas altas freqüências. Pode-se concluir que é de fundamental importância o uso de técnicas de compensação e calibração para que medições em tecidos biológicos sejam possíveis com este equipamento.

O Brasil é sem dúvida um país de grandiosa extensão territorial e clima privilegiado, para o desenvolvimento dentre outras, das plantas herbáceas, propiciando assim excelentes condições para o desenvolvimento da pecuária. Levando-se em conta tal fato, a formação de boas pastagens é de enorme importância, sendo a melhor opção para a alimentação de nossos rebanhos, uma vez que se trata de um alimento disponível e barato e que oferece todos os nutrientes necessários para o desenvolvimento com sucesso dos animais. Obter informações acerca das condições fisiológicas quem compõem estas áreas de pastagem é de extrema importância para boa manutenção das espécies vegetais e do rebanho. O objetivo do trabalho foi verificar se seria possível adquirir sinais bioelétricos de capim Braquiária (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu) utilizando método não invasivo. Foram utilizados na totalidade 29 vasos plásticos forrados com tela e uma camada de pedra, com capacidade para 9 kg de terra cada, onde foram semeados o Capim Marandu (Brachiaria brizantha). Foram estudados 12 vasos, sendo três cultivados sob uma situação de sol pleno (100% de luz) e recebendo a adubação de manutenção; três sendo cultivados sob uma situação de sombreamento (70% de luz) e recebendo a adubação de manutenção; três sendo cultivados sob uma situação de sombreamento (50% de luz) e recebendo a adubação de manutenção e por último três vasos cultivados sob uma situação de sol pleno (100% de luz) e não recebendo a adubação de manutenção. Para interpretar os dados coletados, métodos de análises de sinais foram aplicados, juntamente com o processamento dos dados no Matlab®. Foi positiva a realização da captação de sinais elétricos em Capim Marandu, em crescimento livre e nível distinto de sombreamento, por meio do emprego de técnicas de instrumentação eletrônica, como uma importante ferramenta no estudo da fisiologia das forragens. No entanto vale ressaltar que este presente trabalho é apenas o primeiro degrau para futuros estudos no campo da eletrofisiologia vegetal, requerendo assim pesquisas mais amplas e aprofundadas neste ramo da ciência das plantas. / Brazil is undoubtedly a country of great territorial extension and privileged climate, development among others, herbaceous plants, thereby providing excellent conditions for the development of livestock. Taking into account this fact, the formation of good pasture is of enormous importance, being the best option for feeding our livestock, since this is a food available and affordable and that offers all the nutrients needed for development successfully animals. Get information about the physiological conditions who compose these pastures is extremely important for proper maintenance of plant species and flock. The objective of this study was to investigate whether it would be possible to acquire bioelectrical signals grass Brachiaria (Brachiaria brizantha) using noninvasive method. 29 were used in all plastic pots lined with fabric and a layer of stone, with a capacity of 9 kg of earth where they were each seeded Marandu the grass (Brachiaria brizantha). We studied 12 vessels, three grown under a full sun situation (100% light) and receiving maintenance fertilization, three being grown under a situation of shading (70% light) and receiving maintenance fertilization, three being cultivated under a situation of shading (50% light) and receiving maintenance fertilization and last three vessels grown in a full sun situation (100% light) and not receiving fertilizer. Interpreting the collected data analysis methods were applied signals along with the data processing in Matlab ®. It was the realization of positive uptake of electric signals in Marandu grass, growing freely and distinct level of shading, through the use of electronic instrumentation techniques, as an important tool in the study of physiology fodder. However it is worth mentioning that this study is only the first step for future studies in the field of electrophysiology plant, thus requiring more extensive and in-depth research in this field of plant science.

Background: Overweight and obesity constitutes a threat to public health all around the world, and more individual’s dies from obesity than from hunger. This condition is increasing worldwide and obesity also occurs in children. According to WHO, there are 42 million overweight children in the world. Obesity and overweight in childhood leads to insulin resistance, elevated blood lipids and cardiovascular effects. Obesity is caused by positive energy intake, poor exercise habits, environmental factors, food habits and stress etc. It is also known that hormones influence the incidence of obesity. It has been found that individuals with overweight and obesity has elevated glucagon levels in the bloodstream Purpose: This work aims to investigate whether there is a difference in glucagon concentration between the sexes at ages 10-18 years with obesity, and if there is an association between glucagon concentration and weight, FM and FFM. Materials and Methods: In this study, obesity is determined by BIA and the caliper in combination as three compartment model. Blood samples were taken by venipuncture and glucagon were analyzed in fasting plasma. Results: BIA and the caliper together had a significant correlation with body composition. Blood glucagon was found to be high in obese children. Conclusion: Glucagon concentration in obese children correlates with weight and FM. However, further investigation is needed regard to how glucagon interact with weight, FM and FFM

M.Tech. (Chiropractic) / Purpose: Low back pain affects the general population worldwide. Low back pain is a multi-factorial problem with debate as to the exact aetiology of low back pain. Thus, this study examines the relationship between lumbar spine lordosis, body fat percentage, physical activity level, lumbar spine range of motion and the incidence of low back pain. Method: There was a total of one hundred female participants between and including eighteen and thirty-five years of age. These females were symptomatic or asymptomatic of mechanical low back pain. Potential candidates were examined and accepted based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Participants were evaluated once. No treatment was administered. Procedure: Subjective responses were acquired through the Visual Analog Scale, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and an Oswestry Low Back Pain and Disability Questionnaire. The objective evaluation included a physical examination and a lumbar spine regional examination. The participant’s height was measured using a stadiometer. The Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) measured the participant’s weight, water content, lean tissue mass and body fat percentage. BMI was calculated from the weight and height recordings. Range of motion of the lumbar spine was measured with a Digital Inclinometer. A flexi curve ruler molded the lumbar spine lordosis of each participant, which was then traced onto a piece of paper to measure the magnitude of lumbar spine lordosis. Results: A clinical relationship did not exist between a hyperlordotic lumbar spine posture, the incidence of low back pain, body fat percentage and lumbar spine range of motion. A clinical relationship was evident between a hyperlordotic lumbar spine posture and the level of physical activity. Conclusion: Given that a clinical relationship exists between a hyperlordotic lumbar spine posture and the level of physical activity, physical activity specifically exercise to strengthen the abdominal muscles should be included in a treatment protocol to reduce the degree of lumbar spine lordosis if the degree is excessive.

Obezita představuje ve vyspělých zemích závažný zdravotní problém a hlavní rizikový faktor rozvoje kardiovaskulárních onemocnění, cukrovky 2. typu, nemocí pohybového aparátu a některých nádorových onemocnění. Je také provázena řadou komplikací a výrazně zhoršuje kvalitu života. 27 pacientů, kteří byli hospitalizováni za účelem redukce hmotnosti na oddělení D3 III. interní kliniky Všeobecné fakultní nemocnice v Praze v období ledna až počátku dubna roku 2017 byli sledováni z hlediska výskytu komorbidit a příjmu a výdeje energie za použití aplikace kaloricketabulky.cz, portálu casprozdravi.cz a krokoměrů Garmin Vivofit. Byla hodnocena vhodnost bioimpedanční metody pro sledování změn složení těla pacientů během redukčních pobytů za použití přístroje InBody S10. V souladu s teorií se ve sledované skupině pacientů vyskytovala v důsledku extrémní obezity celá řada komplikací. Diagnostická kritéria pro metabolický syndrom splňovalo 23 (85%) pacientů. Rozdílné hodnoty obsahu energie a jednotlivých živin v aplikacích kaloricketabulky.cz a Nutriservis jsou příčinou průměrného denního rozdílu 717 kJ mezi záznamy pacientů a nemocničním rozpisem. Průměrně pacienti ušli denně 4713 kroků. Pacienti průměrně zredukovali hmotnost o 7,6 kg (SD ±3,54). Bioimpedanční metoda vykazuje příliš vysokou variabilitu a není...

Learning is central to infusing intelligence to any biologically inspired system. This study introduces a novel Cross-Correlated Delay Shift (CCDS) learning method for spiking neurons with the ability to learn and reproduce arbitrary spike patterns in a supervised fashion with applicability tospatiotemporalinformation encoded at the precise timing of spikes. By integrating the cross-correlated term,axonaland synapse delays, the CCDS rule is proven to be both biologically plausible and computationally efficient. The proposed learning algorithm is evaluated in terms of reliability, adaptive learning performance, generality to different neuron models, learning in the presence of noise, effects of its learning parameters and classification performance. The results indicate that the proposed CCDS learning rule greatly improves classification accuracy when compared to the standards reached with the Spike Pattern Association Neuron (SPAN) learning rule and the Tempotron learning rule. Network structureis the crucial partforany application domain of Artificial Spiking Neural Network (ASNN). Thus, temporal learning rules in multilayer spiking neural networks are investigated. As extensions of single-layer learning rules, the multilayer CCDS (MutCCDS) is also developed. Correlated neurons are connected through fine-tuned weights and delays. In contrast to the multilayer Remote Supervised Method (MutReSuMe) and multilayertempotronrule (MutTmptr), the newly developed MutCCDS shows better generalization ability and faster convergence. The proposed multilayer rules provide an efficient and biologically plausible mechanism, describing how delays and synapses in the multilayer networks are adjusted to facilitate learning. Interictalspikes (IS) aremorphologicallydefined brief events observed in electroencephalography (EEG) records from patients with epilepsy. The detection of IS remains an essential task for 3D source localization as well as in developing algorithms for seizure prediction and guided therapy. In this work, we present a new IS detection method using the Wavelet Encoding Device (WED) method together with CCDS learning rule and a specially designed Spiking Neural Network (SNN) structure. The results confirm the ability of such SNN to achieve good performance for automatically detecting such events from multichannel EEG records.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第18646号 / 医博第3945号 / 新制||医||1006(附属図書館) / 31560 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 川上 浩司, 教授 横出 正之, 教授 千葉 勉 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Surface electromyography records the motor unit action potential signals in the vicinity of the electrode to reveal information on muscle activation. Decomposition of sEMG signals for characterization of constituent motor unit action potentials in terms of amplitude and firing times is useful for clinical research as well as diagnosis of neurological disorders. Successful decomposition of sEMG signals would allow for pertinent motor unit action potential information to be acquired without discomfort to the subject or the need for a well-trained operator (compared with intramuscular EMG). To determine amplitudes and firing times for motor unit action potentials in an sEMG recording, Szlavik's perturbation based decomposition may be applied. The decomposition was initially applied to synthetic sEMG signals and then to experimental data collected from the biceps brachii. Szlavik's decomposition estimator yields satisfactory results for synthetic and experimental sEMG signals with reasonable complexity.

Since the 1900s, the number of deaths attributable to cardiovascular disease has steadily risen. With the advent of antihypertensive drugs and non-invasive surgical procedures, such as intravascular stenting, these numbers have begun to level off. Despite this trend, the number of patients diagnosed with some form of cardiovascular disease has only increased. By 2030, prevalence of coronary heart disease is expected to increase approximately by 18% in the United States. By 2050, prevalence of peripheral arterial occlusive disease is expected to increase approximately by 98% in the U.S. No single drug or surgical intervention offers a complete solution to these problems. Thus, a multi-faceted regimen of lifestyle changes, medication, and device or surgical interventions is usually necessary. A potential adjunct therapy and cost-effective solution for treating cardiovascular disease that has been overlooked is neurostimulation. Recent studies show that using neurostimulation techniques, such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), can help to reduce ischemic pain, lower blood pressure, increase blood flow to the periphery, and decrease systemic vascular resistance. The mechanisms by which these hemodynamic changes occur is still under investigation. The primary aim of this thesis is to elucidate these mechanisms through a thorough synthesis of the existing literature on this subject. Neurostimulation, specifically TENS, is thought to modulate both the metaboreflex and norepinephrine release from sympathetic nerve terminals. To test the hypothesis that TENS increases local blood flow, decreases mean arterial pressure, and decreases cutaneous vascular resistance compared to placebo, in which the electrodes are attached but no electrical stimulation is applied, a protocol was developed to test the effect of neurostimulation on healthy subjects. Implementation of this protocol in a pilot study will determine if neurostimulation causes significant changes in blood flow using the most relevant perfusion measurement instrumentation. Before conducting this study, pre-pilot comparison studies of interferential current therapy (IFC) versus TENS, low frequency (4 Hz) TENS versus high frequency (100 Hz) TENS, and electrode placement on the back versus the forearm were conducted. The only statistically significant difference found was that the application of IFC on the back decreased the reperfusion time, meaning that the time required to reach the average baseline perfusion unit value after occlusion decreased. Further pre-pilot work investigating these different modalities and parameters is necessary to ensure that favorable hemodynamic changes can be detected in the pilot study.

This dissertation introduces a novel approach at gauging patterns of informa- tion flow using brain connectivity analysis and partial directed coherence (PDC) in epilepsy. The main objective of this dissertation is to assess the key characteristics that delineate neural activities obtained from patients with epilepsy, considering both focal and generalized seizures. The use of PDC analysis is noteworthy as it es- timates the intensity and direction of propagation from neural activities generated in the cerebral cortex, and it ascertains the coefficients as weighted measures in formulating the multivariate autoregressive model (MVAR). The PDC is used here as a feature extraction method for recorded scalp electroencephalograms (EEG) as means to examine the interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) and reflect the phys- iological changes of brain activity during interictal periods. Two experiments were set up to investigate the epileptic data by using the PDC concept. For the investigation of IEDs data (interictal spike (IS), spike and slow wave com- plex (SSC), and repetitive spikes and slow wave complex (RSS)), the PDC analysis estimates the intensity and direction of propagation from neural activities gener- ated in the cerebral cortex, and analyzes the coefficients obtained from employing MVAR. Features extracted by using PDC were transformed into adjacency matrices using surrogate data analysis and were classified by using the multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural network. The classification results yielded a high accuracy and pre- cision number. The second experiment introduces the investigation of intensity (or strength) of information flow. The inflow activity deemed significant and flowing from other regions into a specific region together with the outflow activity emanating from one region and spreading into other regions were calculated based on the PDC results and were quantified by the defined regions of interest. Three groups were considered for this study, the control population, patients with focal epilepsy, and patients with generalized epilepsy. A significant difference in inflow and outflow validated by the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test was observed for these groups. By taking advantage of directionality of brain connectivity and by extracting the intensity of information flow, specific patterns in different brain regions of interest between each data group can be revealed. This is rather important as researchers could then associate such patterns in context to the 3D source localization where seizures are thought to emanate in focal epilepsy. This research endeavor, given its generalized construct, can extend for the study of other neurological and neurode- generative disorders such as Parkinson, depression, Alzheimers disease, and mental illness.