A Deep Learning Approach for the Assessment of Signal Quality of Non-Invasive Foetal Electrocardiography.

Non-invasive foetal electrocardiography (NI-FECG) has become an important prenatal monitoring method in the hospital. However, due to its susceptibility to non-stationary noise sources and lack of robust extraction methods, the capture of high-quality NI-FECG remains a challenge. Recording waveforms of sufficient quality for clinical use typically requires human visual inspection of each recording. A Signal Quality Index (SQI) can help to automate this task but, contrary to adult ECG, work on SQIs for NI-FECG is sparse. In this paper, a multi-channel signal quality classifier for NI-FECG waveforms is presented. The model can be used during the capture of NI-FECG to assist technicians to record high-quality waveforms, which is currently a labour-intensive task. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is trained to distinguish between NI-FECG segments of high and low quality. NI-FECG recordings with one maternal channel and three abdominal channels were collected from 100 subjects during a routine hospital screening (102.6 min of data). The model achieves an average 10-fold cross-validated AUC of 0.95 ± 0.02. The results show that the model can reliably assess the FECG signal quality on our dataset. The proposed model can improve the automated capture and analysis of NI-FECG as well as reduce technician labour time.

Clinical assessment of cardiac impairment favored by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiology in patients with systemic sclerosis.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac involvement is a major cause of death in SSc, while early detection remains a challenge. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical implications of cardiac impairment in SSc. METHODS: Ninety-five consecutive SSc patients [55.6 (13.8) years old, 5.3 (8.1) years from diagnosis] were included in the study. Patients with heart diseases onset prior to SSc were excluded. All patients underwent two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiology (2D-STE) with measuring left and right ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS/RGLS). Clinical manifestation, laboratory evaluation (CRP, cTnI, antibodies, etc.) and ECG were collected at the same time. Comparisons between the SSc subgroups (lcSSc and dcSSc) were performed using Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U or Fisher's exact test. Binary logistic regression was applied to determine the independent effects of variables in cardiac impairment. RESULTS: Early left and right ventricular impairment measured by GLS and RGLS were detected in 22.1% and 24.2% of the SSc patients, respectively. In comparison, only 2.1% showed reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Impaired GLS was mainly observed in the basal and medial segments of anterior, lateral and posterior left ventricle walls, and more profound in dcSSc. Elevated CRP (OR 3.561 95% CI: 1.071, 11.839, P <0.05) was associated with reduced GLS/RGLS. The adoption of GLS/RGLS enhanced the efficacy of routine screening for cardiac impairment that 52.6% of patients showed potential cardiac impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac impairment is a common manifestation in SSc. Increasing awareness of early cardiac impairment is warranted with elevated CRP and dcSSc.

Seasonal Variation in Activity Budget of Assamese Macaques in Limestone Forest of Southwest Guangxi, China.

The activity budget is important for understanding behavioural variability and adaptation in primates. Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) found in the limestone forest of Guangxi Nonggang National Nature Reserve, Southwest China, primarily feed on young leaves of Bonia saxatilis (a shrubby, karst-endemic bamboo). To understand how a specific bamboo leaf-based diet and ecological factors affect activity budget, one group of Assamese macaques was studied using instantaneous scan sampling for 1 year. The macaques spent most of their time feeding (32.7 ± 5.4%), followed by resting (28.6 ± 6.3%), moving (28.6 ± 5.3%), grooming (8.0 ± 3.0%), playing (1.7 ± 1.6%) and other activities (0.4 ± 0.2%). Their activity budget was similar to that of typical frugivorous primates and bamboo-dominated primates, which spent more time on active behaviours (feeding and moving, 61.3 ± 6.0%) than on inactive behaviours (resting and grooming, 36.6 ± 6.4%). The macaques spent significantly more time resting during the fruit-lean season and more time moving during the fruit-rich season. Their activity budget was significantly affected by diet. Resting time increased with decreased fruit consumption, whereas moving time decreased with the increasing mature leaf consumption. Playing time decreased when the macaques consumed more young bamboo leaves. The activity budget was also influenced by food availability and climatic factors. Resting time increased with decreasing temperature, whereas moving time increased with increasing day length and young leaf availability. Grooming time increased with decreasing day length and increasing temperature, and playing time increased with increasing day length. Our findings provide evidence of the importance of diet, food availability, temperature and day length in coping with seasonal variation in ecological factors, highlighting the need to increase knowledge of the behavioural ecology of the Assamese macaques living in the unique limestone forest and to understand the influence of a bamboo-dominated diet and ecological factors on their survival.

Employee conscientiousness, agreeableness, and supervisor justice rule compliance: A three-study investigation.

Researchers have paid limited attention to what makes organizational authority figures decide to treat their employees either justly or unjustly. Drawing from the actor-focused model of justice, as well as the stereotype content model, we argue that employee conscientiousness and agreeableness can impact the extent to which supervisors adhere to normative rules for distributive, procedural, informational, and interpersonal justice, as a result of supervisors' evaluations of their employees' effort and their liking of the employees. Supervisory compliance with justice rules may, in turn, impact the extent to which employees judge themselves to be treated either justly or unjustly. We tested these possibilities in 3 studies. In Study 1, we utilized a meta-analysis to demonstrate positive relationships between employees' conscientiousness, agreeableness, and their justice perceptions. In Study 2, we conducted 3 experiments to test the causal relationship between employee personality and supervisor intentions to comply with justice rules. In Study 3, we conducted an employee-supervisor dyadic field survey to examine the entire mediation model. Results are discussed in terms of the potential roles that both employees and supervisors may play in shaping employees' justice perceptions. (PsycINFO Database Record

Establishment of a decision tree model for diagnosis of early rheumatoid arthritis by proteomic fingerprinting.

AIM: The objective of this study was to identify proteomic biomarkers specific for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) in combination with weak cationic exchange (WCX) magnetic beads. METHODS: Serum samples from 50 patients with RA and 110 disease controls (50 SLE and 60 SS) and 51 healthy individuals were analyzed. The samples were randomly divided into a training set or test set to develop a diagnostic model for RA. RESULTS: A total of 83 protein peaks were identified to be related with RA, in which four of the peaks with mass-charge ratio (m/z) at 8133.85, 5844.60, 13 541.3 and 14 029.0 were selected to establish a model for diagnosis of RA. This classification model could separate patients with RA from diseased and healthy controls with sensitivity of 84.0% and specificity of 92.5%, and its accuracy was confirmed in the blind testing set with high sensitivity and specificity of 80.0% and 93.3%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that potential serum biomarkers for RA diagnosis could be discovered by MALDI-TOF-MS. The classification tree model set up in this study might be used as a novel diagnostic tool for RA.

Quantitative assessment of the association between miR-196a2 rs11614913 polymorphism and cancer risk: evidence based on 45,816 subjects.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules, which participate in diverse biological processes and may regulate tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in miRNA may contribute to diverse functional consequences, including cancer development, by altering miRNA expression. Numerous studies have shown the association between miR-196a2 rs11614913 SNPs and cancer risk; however, the results are generally debatable and inconclusive, mainly due to limited statistical power. We carried out a meta-analysis of 46 studies including 20,673 cases and 25,143 controls to assess the association between the miR-196a2 rs11614913 and cancer risk by pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). Overall, we found a significant association between the rs11614913 (C > T) polymorphism and cancer susceptibility (recessive model, OR = 0.89, 95 % CI = 0.81-0.98). In the stratified analysis by cancer type, significant association of cancer risk was observed in lung cancer (allelic contrast, OR = 0.89, 95 % CI = 0.82-0.97; homozygote comparison, OR = 0.79, 95 % CI = 0.67-0.94; recessive model, OR = 0.84, 95 % CI = 0.74-0.96) and liver cancer (allelic contrast, OR = 0.88, 95 % CI = 0.79-0.99; homozygote comparison, OR = 0.77, 95 % CI = 0.61-0.98; heterozygote comparison, OR = 0.84, 95 % CI = 0.74-0.95; dominant model, OR = 0.82, 95 % CI = 0.73-0.92). During further stratified analysis by ethnicity, the rs11614913 polymorphism showed statistically significant association with increased risks of cancer in Asians (heterozygote model, OR = 1.15, 95 % CI = 1.01-1.30) but not in Caucasians. This meta-analysis suggests that the miR-196a2 rs11614913 polymorphism may contribute to decreased susceptibility to cancer, especially including liver cancer and lung cancer. However, it may be a risk factor for cancer development in Asians. Larger, better studies of homogeneous cancer patients are needed to further assess the correlation between this polymorphism and cancer risk.

Assessment of the tumorigenesis and drug susceptibility of three new canine mammary tumor cell lines.

Three canine mammary tumor (CMT) cell lines, namely DE-E, DE-F and DE-SF, have been established from a surgically excised specimen of a malignant mammary tumor. These CMT cell lines have been cultured for over 200 passages. The cell doubling time was estimated to be approximately 30 h for all three cell lines. DE-E, DE-F and DE-SF were epithelial, fibroblast and spindle fibroblast in morphology, respectively. Under electron microscope, DE-F and DE-SF cells displayed a higher nucleus/cytoplasm ratio as compared with DE-E. Variation in chromosome number was also observed in the three cell lines. In addition to the morphological characteristics, these cell lines displayed differential patterns of several known mammary tumor cell markers. Following xenotransplantation of the CMT cells into nude mice, DE-F and DE-SF developed tumors within 2 weeks, whereas DE-E failed to develop any visible tumor up to 8 weeks after injection. Lastly, the CMT cell lines exhibited differential chemoresistance to several anti-tumor drugs, including melatonin, cyclosporine A, tamoxifen and indole, suggesting that these cell lines can be used as a comparative experimental model for the tumorigenesis of mammary carcinomas and a valuable tool for anti-cancer drug screening.