[Design of Pulse and Respiratory Signals Detection System].

A pulse and respiration synchronous detection system is designed to explore the changes of physiological signals in different situations. The system obtains the corresponding signal through STM32 control pulse and respiratory acquisition circuit, calculates and displays real-time parameters such as heart rate and respiratory rate, and transmits the data to the upper computer for storage in the database. The experimental test results show that the system can monitor pulse and respiratory waveform in different situations, and the waveform is in good condition. Compared with medical pulse oximeter, the error of measured heart rate and blood oxygen concentration is less than 3%, and the error of respiratory rate is less than 5% compared with the actual value, which verifies the accuracy of system signal acquisition. The system is small in size, low in cost, and comfortable to wear, and can be applied in experimental research related to pulse and respiratory signals.

Short-Range Graphitic Nanodomains in Hypocrystalline Carbon Nanotubes Realize Fast Potassium Ion Migration and Multidirection Stress Release.

Defect-rich carbon materials are considered as one of the most promising anodes for potassium-ion batteries due to their enormous adsorption sites of K+ , while the realization of both rate capability and cycling stability is still greatly limited by unstable electrochemical kinetics and inevitable structure degradation. Herein, an Fe3+ -induced hydrothermal-pyrolysis strategy is reported to construct well-tailored hybrid carbon nanotubes network architecture (PP-CNT), in which the short-range graphitic nanodomains are in-situ localized in the pea pod shape hypocrystalline carbon. The N,O codoped hypocrystalline carbon region contributes to abundant defect sites for potassium ion storage, ensuring high reversible capacity. Meanwhile, the short-range graphitic nanodomains with expanded interlayer spacing facilitate stable K+ migration and fast electron transfer. Furthermore, the finite element analysis confirms the volume expansion caused by K+ intercalation can be availably buffered due to the multidirection stress release effect of the unique porous pea pod shape, endowing carbon nanotubes with superior structural integrity. Consequently, the PP-CNT anode exhibits superior potassium-storage performance, including high reversible capacity, exceptional rate capability, and ultralong cycling stability. This work opens a new avenue for the fabrication of advanced carbon materials for achieving durable and fast potassium storage.

[Design and Experimental Research of Synchronous Acquisition System of EMG and Blood Oxygen Signal].

In this study, a surface electromyography (sEMG) and blood oxygen signal real-time monitoring system is designed to explore the changes of physiological signals during muscle fatigue, so as to detect muscle fatigue. The analysis method of sEMG and the principle of blood oxygen detection are respectively introduced, and the system scheme is expounded. The hardware part of the system takes STM32 as the core. Conditioning module composition; blood oxygen signal acquisition is based on near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), specifically including light source, light source driving, photoelectric conversion, signal conditioning and other modules. The system software part is based on the real-time uC/OS-III software system. The characteristic parameters of sEMG were extracted by isometric contraction local muscle fatigue experiment; the relative changes of oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) and deoxyhemoglobin (Hb) were calculated in the forearm blocking experiment, thereby verifying that the system collects two signals effectiveness.

One-Pot Synthesis of Substituted 2-Amino Isonicotinic Acids: Reminiscent of the Guareschi-Thorpe Condensation.

This work describes a concise manner to make a wide variety of mono- or disubstituted 2-amino isonicotinic acids via the corresponding 2,4-dioxo-carboxylic acid ethyl esters and ethyl 3-amino-3-iminopropionate hydrochloride. The reaction likely proceeds through an in situ decarboxylation process and is reminiscent of the Guareschi-Thorpe Condensation.

Confining Pyrrhotite Fe7 S8 in Carbon Nanotubes Covalently Bonded onto 3D Few-Layer Graphene Boosts Potassium-Ion Storage and Full-Cell Applications.

The pyrrhotite Fe7 S8 with mixed Fe-valence possesses high theoretical capacity, high conductivity, low discharge/charge voltage plateaus, and superior redox reversibility but suffers from structural degradation upon (de)potassiation process due to severe volume variations. Herein, to conquer this issue, a novel hierarchical architecture of confining nano-Fe7 S8 in carbon nanotubes covalently bonded onto 3D few-layer graphene (Fe7 S8 @CNT@3DFG) is designed for potassium storage. Notably, CNTs could successfully grow on the surface of 3DFG via a tip-growth model under the catalytic effect of Fe3 C. Such structure enables the hierarchical confinement of 0D nano-Fe7 S8 to 1D CNTs and further 1D CNTs to 3DFG, effectively buffering the volume variations, prohibiting the agglomeration of Fe7 S8 nanograins, and boosting the ionic/electronic transportation through the stable and conductive CNTs-grafted 3DFG framework. The as-prepared Fe7 S8 @CNT@3DFG electrode delivers an exceptional rate capability (502 mAh g-1 at 50 mA g-1 with 277 mAh g-1 at 1000 mA g-1 ) and an excellent long-term cyclic stability up to 1300 cycles. Besides, the in-situ XRD and ex-situ XPS/HRTEM results first elucidate the highly reversible potassium-storage mechanism of Fe7 S8 . Furthermore, the designed potassium full-cell employing Fe7 S8 @CNT@3DFG anode and potassium Prussian blue (KPB) cathode delivers a promising energy density of ≈120 Wh kg-1 , demonstrating great application prospects.

[Design of Portable EEG and Blood Oxygen Synchronous Acquisition System].

In order to obtain comprehensive brain activity information conveniently in real time, this study designs a portable EEG and blood oxygen synchronous acquisition system for real-time monitoring of brain functional activities. The EEG electrodes filter and amplify the detected EEG signals, and send them to the microprocessor via Bluetooth to analyze the EEG data; the photoelectric probe converts the optical signals into electrical signals, which are amplified and separated, filtered, and AD converted, calculates the brain's oxygenation and blood-red protein (ΔHbO2) and blood-red protein (ΔHb) by amplification of Lambert-Beer law. Finally, experiments with commercial instruments NuAmps and Oximeter show that the system can calculate ΔHbO2 and ΔHb while collecting EEG signals.

[Design of Paravertebral Muscle Monitoring System Based on Surface Electromyography].

In order to diagnose and evaluate the human spinal lesions through the paravertebral muscles, a paravertebral muscle monitoring system based on surface EMG signals was designed. The system used surface mount electrodes to obtain the surface myoelectric signal (sEMG) of paravertebral muscle. The signal was filtered and amplified by the conditioning circuit. The signal was collected by the microcontroller NRF52832 and was sent to the mobile APP. After the signal was preprocessed by the wavelet threshold denoising algorithm in APP, the time and frequency characteristics of the sEMG signal reflecting the functional state of the muscle were extracted. The calculated characteristic parameters was displayed in real time in the application interface. The experimental results show that the system meets the design requirements in analog signal acquisition, digital processing of signals and calculation of characteristic parameters. The system has certain application value.

Effects of disparity on visual discomfort caused by short-term stereoscopic viewing based on electroencephalograph analysis.

BACKGROUND: Discomfort evoked by stereoscopic depth has been widely concerned. Previous studies have proposed a comfortable disparity range and considered that disparities exceed this range would cause visual discomfort. Brain activity recordings including Electroencephalograph (EEG) monitoring enable better understanding of perceptual and cognitive processes related to stereo depth-induced visual comfort. METHODS: EEG data was collected using a stereo-visual evoked potential (VEP) test system by providing visual stimulus to subjects aged from 21 to 25 with normal stereoscopic vision. For each type of visual stimulus, data were processed using directed transfer function (DTF) and adaptive directed transfer function (ADTF) in combination with subjective feedbacks (comfort or discomfort). The topographies of information flow were constructed to compare responses stimulated by different stereoscopic depth, and to determine the difference in comfort and discomfort situations upon stimulation with same stereoscopic depth. RESULTS: Based on EEG analysis results, we found that the occipital P270 was moderately related to the disparity. Moreover, the ADTF of P270 showed that the information flows at frontal lobe and central-parietal lobe changed when stimulation with different stereoscopic depth applied. As to the stereo images with same stereoscopic depth, the DTF outflows at the temporal and temporal-parietal lobes in δ band, central and central-parietal lobes in α and θ bands, and the comparison of inflows in these three bands could be considered as discriminated indexes for matching the stereoscopic effect with viewers' comfort or discomfort state impacted by disparity. The subjective feedbacks indicated that the comfort judgments remained as a result of cumulative effect. CONCLUSIONS: This study proposed a short-term stereo-VEP experiment that shorted the duration of each stimulus in the experimental scheme to minimize the interference from other factors except the disparity. The occipital P270 had a mid-relevance to the disparity and its ADTF showed the affected areas when viewers are receiving stimulations with different disparities. DTF could be considered as discriminated indexes for matching the stereoscopic effect with viewers' comfort or discomfort state induced by disparity. This study proposed a preferable experiment to observe the single effect of disparity and provided an intuitive and easy-to-read result in a more convenient manner.

[3D-TV health assessment system by the multi-modal physiological signals].

In order to meet the requirements of the multi-physiological signal measurement of the 3D-TV health assessment, try to find the suitable biological acquisition chips and design the hardware system which can detect different physiological signals in real time. The systems mainly uses ARM11/S3C6410 microcontroller to control the EEG/EOG acquisition chip RHA2116 and the ECG acquisition chip ADS1298, and then the microcontroller transfer the data collected by the chips to the PC software by the USB port which can display and save the experimental data in real time, then use the Matlab software for further processing of the data, finally make a final health assessment. In the meantime, for the different varieties in the different brain regions of watching 3D-TV, developed the special brain electrode placement and the experimental data processing methods, then effectively disposed the multi-signal data in the multilevel.

Prediction of steelmaking process variables using K-medoids and a time-aware LSTM network.

A new method is required to address the challenge of predicting process parameters in high-temperature, high-pressure industrial processes. This study proposes a multi-model Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network prediction algorithm with irregular time interval sequences to predict the silicon yield in converter steelmaking. The experimental results demonstrate that this algorithm performs better than comparable neural network models in classifying high-dimensional, redundant industrial production data with noise and outliers. The algorithm is evaluated using data from a steel plant. The proposed algorithm has lower errors for predicting the alloy yield than other neural network models. An average mean absolute error (MAE) of less than 0.01 confirms the algorithm's feasibility and practicality.

A review of tumor treating fields (TTFields): advancements in clinical applications and mechanistic insights.

BACKGROUND: Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) is a non-invasive modality for cancer treatment that utilizes a specific sinusoidal electric field ranging from 100 kHz to 300 kHz, with an intensity of 1 V/cm to 3 V/cm. Its purpose is to inhibit cancer cell proliferation and induce cell death. Despite promising outcomes from clinical trials, TTFields have received FDA approval for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Nevertheless, global acceptance of TTFields remains limited. To enhance its clinical application in other types of cancer and gain a better understanding of its mechanisms of action, this review aims to summarize the current research status by examining existing literature on TTFields' clinical trials and mechanism studies. CONCLUSIONS: Through this comprehensive review, we seek to stimulate novel ideas and provide physicians, patients, and researchers with a better comprehension of the development of TTFields and its potential applications in cancer treatment.

Insights into brain perceptions of the different taste qualities and hedonic valence of food via scalp electroencephalogram.

Investigating brain activity is essential for exploring taste-experience related cues. The paper aimed to explore implicit (unconscious) emotional or physiological responses related to taste experiences using scalp electroencephalogram (EEG). We performed implicit measures of tastants of differing perceptual types (bitter, salty, sour and sweet) and intensities (low, medium, and high). The results showed that subjects were partially sensitive to different sensory intensities, i.e., for high intensities, taste stimuli could induce activation of different rhythm signals in the brain, with α and θ bands possibly being more sensitive to different taste types. Furthermore, the neural representations and corresponding sensory qualities (e.g., "sweet: pleasant" or "bitter: unpleasant") of different tastes could be discriminated at 250-1,500 ms after stimulus onset, and different tastes exhibited distinct temporal dynamic differences. Source localization indicated that different taste types activate brain areas associated with emotional eating, reward processing, and motivated tendencies, etc. Overall, our findings reveal a larger sophisticated taste map that accounted for the diversity of taste types in the human brain and assesses the emotion, reward, and motivated behavior represented by different tastes. This study provided basic insights and a perceptual foundation for the relationship between taste experience-related decisions and the prediction of brain activity.

Quantitative proteomics analysis on the meat quality of processed pale, soft, and exudative (PSE)-like broiler pectoralis major by different heating methods.

This study aims to assess and compare the influences of different heating methods on the quality characteristics of pale, soft, and exudative (PSE)-like and normal (NOR) pectoralis major through quantitative proteomic analysis. A total of 632 proteins were identified, and there were 84, 89, 50, and 43 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) between processed PSE and NOR samples after four thermal treatments, including boiling (BO), steaming (ST), roasting (RO), and microwaving (MV), respectively, where moist heating conditions led to more different protein abundance. Processed PSE muscles resulted in significant changes in structural proteins related to myofibrillar and connective tissue, which could be associated with their structural instability and degraded quality. Collagen, tropomyosin, myoglobin, and hemoglobin could be potential indicators of PSE muscles color stability and variation during thermal processing. The quantitative proteomic analysis will help correlate molecular changes with processed meat quality towards future optimization of PSE poultry meat processing.

[Research on an in vivo near-infrared real-time monitoring system and its application in pharmacokinetics].

The real-time in vivo measurement method has been urgently needed in the research of pharmacokinetics. In the present paper a new in vivo detection method based on fluorescence spectroscopy has been proposed and the monitoring system has been built which is used for pharmacokinetics studies in rats. The relationship between fluorescence intensity and concentration was obtained. By detecting the fluorescent dye Cypate in real-time in rats, the properties of the system have been validated by comparing with the fluorescence imaging system in vitro. The results showed that the system could be feasible for: (1) The linear regression equation of Cypate concentration in the range of 0.098-25 microg/ml is y = 73.249x + 130.97 (R2 = 0.9991 and P < 0.001). RSD of high, medium and low concentration is 1.23%, 6.29% and 13.48%, respectively, and the detecting sensitivity is 0.0981 g/ml; (2) The fluorescent dye concentration from the system is consistent (r = 0.9925) with the fluorescence imaging system in vitro. The fluorescent dye metabolism in rats can be well detected. It can be concluded that a new real-time in vivo detecting method in the paper can be used in pharmacokinetics research.

Deeply Nesting Zinc Sulfide Dendrites in Tertiary Hierarchical Structure for Potassium Ion Batteries: Enhanced Conductivity from Interior to Exterior.

Transition metal sulfides are deemed as attractive anode materials for potassium-ion batteries (KIBs) due to their high theoretical capacities based on conversion and alloying reaction. However, the main challenges are the low electronic conductivity, huge volume expansion, and consequent formation of unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) upon potassiation/depotassiation. Herein, zinc sulfide dendrites deeply nested in the tertiary hierarchical structure through a solvothermal-pyrolysis process are designed as an anode material for KIBs. The tertiary hierarchical structure is composed of the primary ultrafine ZnS nanorods, the secondary carbon nanosphere, and the tertiary carbon-encapsulated ZnS subunits nanosphere structure. The architectural design of this material provides a stable diffusion path and enhances effective conductivity from the interior to exterior for both K+ ions and electrons, buffers the volume expansion, and constructs a stable SEI during cycling. A stable specific capacity of 330 mAh g-1 is achieved after 100 cycles at the current density of 50 mA g-1 and 208 mAh g-1 at 500 mA g-1 over 300 cycles. Using density functional theory calculations, we discover the interactions between ZnS and carbon interface can effectively decrease the K+ ions diffusion barrier and therefore promote the reversibility of K+ ions storage.

Excessive Crossed Disparity Detection by Visual Evoked Potentials to Reduce Visual Discomfort in 3D Viewing.

As excessive crossed disparity is known to cause visual discomfort, this study aims to establish a classification model to discriminate excessive crossed disparity in stereoscopic viewing in combination with subjective assessment of visual discomfort. A stereo-visual evoked potentials (VEPs) experimental system was built up to obtain the VEPs evoked by stereoscopic stimulus with different disparities. Ten volunteers participated in this experiment, and forty VEP datasets in total were extracted when the viewers were under comfortable viewing conditions. Six features of VEPs from three electrodes at the occipital lobe were chosen, and the classification was established using the Fisher's linear discriminant (FLD). Based on FLD results, the correct rate for determining the excessive crossed disparity was 70%, and it reached 80% for other stimuli. The study demonstrated cost-effective discriminant classification modelling to distinguish the stimulus with excessive crossed disparity which inclines to cause visual discomfort.