Blood miRNAs miR-549a, miR-552, and miR-592 serve as potential disease-specific panels to diagnose colorectal cancer.

Introduction: miRNAs originating from colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue receive significant focus in the early diagnosis of CRC due to their stability in body fluids. However, if these miRNAs originated from alternative organs, their prognostic value will diminish. Thus, in this study, we aim to identify disease-specific miRNAs for colorectal cancer (CRC) by employing bioinformatics and experimental methodologies. Method: To identify CRC-specific miRNAs, we retrieved miRNA profiles of CRC and normal tissues from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Subsequently, computational strategies were utilized to select potential candidate miRNAs. Following this, the expression levels of the potent miRNAs were assessed through RT-qPCR in both CRC tissue and serum samples from patients (N = 46), as well as healthy individuals (N = 46). Additionally, the associations between clinicopathological characteristics, survival outcomes, and diagnostic accuracy were evaluated. Results: A total of 8893 RNA-seq expression data were acquired from TCGA, comprising 8250 data from 19 distinct cancer types and 643 corresponding healthy samples. Based on the computational methodology, miR-549a, miR-552, and miR-592 were identified as the principal expressed miRNAs in colorectal cancer (CRC). Within these miRNAs, miR-552 displayed a substantial association with tumors at the N and T stages. miR-549a and miR-592 were observed to be linked exclusively to the invasion of tumor depth and tumor stage (TNM), respectively. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis conducted on the miRNA expression in serum samples revealed that all miRNAs exhibited an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of up to 0.86, thereby indicating their high diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion: Considering the strong associations of these three identified miRNAs with CRC, they can collectively serve as a panel for specific discrimination of CRC from other types of cancer within the body. Although this study focused solely on CRC, this approach can potentially be applied to other cancer types as well.

Genotyping of candida albicans isolates obtained from vulvovaginal candidiasis patients in Zanjan, Iran, based on ABC and RPS typing systems.

Background and Purpose: Genotyping of pathogenic microorganisms is important for epidemiological studies and the adoption of appropriate strategies to control infectious diseases. In this regard, the present study aimed to genotype Candida albicans strains isolated from vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) patients using combined ABC type (25SrDNA) and repetitive sequence (RPS) typing systems. using combined typing systems of ABC type (25SrDNA) and repetitive sequence (RPS). Materials and Methods: In total, 140 patients with VVC were investigated. Vaginal discharges were collected on Sabouraud dextrose agar and identified by CHROMagar. After species identification, a polymerase chain reaction system targeting 25S rDNA as well as ALT repeats in the RPS was designed to determine C. albicans genotypes. The dendrogram was constructed by zero-one matrix data based on the combination of ABC and RPS typing systems. Statistical analysis of data was performed in SPSS software (version 23). Results: In total, 41 (29.3%) Candida isolates were obtained from 140 VVC patients. The most common Candida species that were identified included C. glabrata (56.1%) and C. albicans (39%). Genotype A3 with five isolates (31.25%) had the highest frequency, followed by B2/3 with three isolates (18.3%), A3/4, C3/4, and B3/4 with two isolates (12.5%), and C2/3 and C3 with one isolate (6.25%), respectively. No significant association was found between the genotypes and antifungal resistance (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results showed that non-albicans Candida species are more prevalent in VVC patients, compared to C. albicans. The results also indicated that ABC and RPS typings are useful for rapid genotyping and differentiation of C. albicans isolates in regional and small-scale studies.

Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking studies of indeno [1, 2-c] pyrazol derivatives as inhibitors of mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase 2 (MDH2).

Hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a pivotal transcription factor, which is strongly correlated with the induction of angiogenesis, tumor survival, metastasis, and cell proliferation, making it a pivotal therapeutic target for solid tumor therapeutic agents. Herein, a new series of multi-functional chemical probes were designed including principal groups, viz. adamantyl and indene, at various locations of the parent compound LW6. Molecular docking studies were performed on the designed compounds and their relationship with HIF-1α and malate dehydrogenase 2 (MDH2). Inhibition of MDH2 by our compounds was expected to decrease the NADH level. Indeed, treatment of the breast cancer cell line 4T1 led to a strong reduction of the NADH concentration. The greatest reduction in NADH production in mitochondria was observed with (E)-3-(4-((3r, 5r, 7r)-adamantan-1-yl) phenoxy)-N-(5-(piperidine-1-carbonyl)-1, 4-dihydroindeno [1, 2-c] pyrazol-3-yl) acrylamide (18: IC50 = 59 nM), and has the best inhibitory potential under hypoxic conditions (MCF-7: IC50 = 57 nM). This compound also gave one of the highest docking "higher than the score obtained with LW6 in parallel (-31.63 kcal/mol) in the initial docking runs (PDB Code: 4WLO). Other related compounds with good yields were also synthesized from docking results, and all the synthesized compounds (14, 18, 22, 26, 29, 30) were evaluated in vitro on human adenocarcinoma cell lines.

Association between Endothelial nitric oxide synthase and Hepatic lipase gene polymorphisms with the risk of coronary artery disease in Southern Iran population - A case control study.

Coronary artery disease is a multifactorial genetic disease caused by the interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Angiography is the gold standard method for the diagnosis and determining the stage of cardiac disorder. The rs1800588 at the Hepatic Lipase gene and rs1799983 at the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene are two candidate SNP that result in increased risk of this disease. The aim of this study was to find out the associations of the two mentioned polymorphisms with angiographically proven coronary artery patients in a southern Iranian population. In this study, this two polymorphisms in 287 patients and 229 matched controls were confirmed by angiography and analyzed. Genotype analysis was carried out by PCR and RFLP. Data showed that a significant difference for the eNOS gene polymorphism (p = 0.004) and a non-significant difference for the Hepatic lipase polymorphism (p = 0.261) and increasing severity of angiographic evidences of coronary artery disease were observed. Conclusively the significant association of the G894T with the narrowing of two or three coronary vessels of this patients in an Iranian population have been detected.

Can fractional excretion of sodium predict worsening of renal function, in-hospital mortality, and length of hospital stay in acute decompensated heart failure?

BACKGROUND: Fractional excretion of sodium (FENa), the reflection of sodium (Na) handling by the kidney during natriuresis, is influenced by exo- and endogenous factors that have a powerful impact on renal function. We performed this study to define the correlation between FENa and worsening renal function (WRF) and assess the value of FENa in the length of hospital stay and in-hospital mortality in the patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). METHODS: This prospective observational study was performed in two tertiary governmental heart centers located in Ahvaz, Iran, from March 2019 to March 2020. Any individual suffering from ADHF who had no renal failure, received only loop diuretics, and was on a low Na diet was eligible for recruitment in this study. The urine sample used to calculate FENa was a 24-hour sample. RESULTS: Over the one year, 56 patients met the inclusion criteria. The total study population had a mean age of 61.46 ± 14.22 years with the dominance of women (51.8%). The mean age of men and women was 58.59 ± 14.35 and 64.13 ± 13.80 years, respectively. During hospitalization, 13 (23.2%) patients experienced WRF. In patients who experienced WRF during hospitalization, FENa of < 1% was mostly observed compared to FENa of 1%-2% (42.9% vs. 0%, P < 0.05). Post-hoc test of data on mean hospitalization days indicated that those with lower FENa had longer admission periods than those with other FENa groups (< 1%: 3.04 ± 1.02 days vs. 1%-2%: 1.58 ± 0.66 days, P < 0.001 and < 1%: 3.04 ± 1.02 days vs. > 2%: 2.30 ± 0.92 days, P = 0.02). There was no significant relation in terms of in-hospital death across different categories of FENa (P = 0.69). CONCLUSION: Our data suggested that FENa less than 1% was associated with WRF and could be associated with a longer hospitalization period. We did not find any association between FENa and in-hospital mortality. Further studies with a larger number of patients are required to determine the cut-off value.

Functional characterization of the gene promoter for an Elaeis guineensis phosphate starvation-inducible, high affinity phosphate transporter in both homologous and heterologous model systems.

Oil palm is grown in tropical soils with low bioavailability of Pi. A cDNA clone specifically expressed under phosphate-starvation condition in oil palm roots was identified as a high-affinity phosphate transporter (EgPHT1). The deduced amino acid sequence has 6 transmembrane domains each at the N- and C-termini separated by a hydrophilic linker. Comparison of promoter motifs within 1500 bp upstream of ATG of 10 promoters from high- and low-affinity phosphate transporter from both dicots and monocots including EgPHT1 was performed. The EgPHT1 promoter was fused to ß-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene and its activity was analysed by histochemical and fluorometric GUS assays in transiently transformed oil palm tissues and T3 homozygous transgenic Arabidopsis plants. In response to Pi-starvation, no GUS activity was detected in oil palm leaves, but a strong inducible activity was observed in the roots (1.4 times higher than the CaMV35S promoter). GUS was specifically expressed in transgenic Arabidopsis roots under Pi deficiency and starvation of the other macronutrients (N and K) did not induce GUS activity. Eight motifs including ABRERATCAL (abscisic-acid responsive), RHERPATEXPA7 (root hair-specific), SURECOREATSULTR11 (sulfur-deficiency response), LTRECOREATCOR15 (temperature-stress response), MYB2CONSENSUSAT and ACGTATERD1 (water-stress response) as well as two novel motifs, 3 (TAAAAAAA) and 26 (TTTTATGT) identified through pattern discovery, occur at significantly higher frequency (p < 0.05) in the high-than the low-affinity phosphate transporter promoters. The Pi deficiency-responsive elements in EgPHT1 includes the P1BS, W-box, E-box and the G-box. Thus, EgPHT1 is important for improving Pi uptake in oil palm with potential for engineering efficient Pi acquisition.

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis-Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset.

Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees) has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE) voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech.

Validated Spectrophtometric Method for Simultaneous Determination of Buprenorphine and Naloxone in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms.

Buprenorphine is a partial mu agonist and kappa antagonist which is used for the treatment of pain and opioid addiction. A mixture of buprenorphine hydrochloride and naloxone hydrochloride has been approved for the treatment of opioid dependence. In this study a third order derivative spectrophotometric method based on zero-crossing technique has been used for the simultaneous determination of buprenorphine hydrochloride and naloxone hydrochloride in tablets. The measurements were carried out at wavelengths of 257.8 (zero-crossing point of naloxone hydrochloride) and 252.2 nm (zero-crossing point of buprenorphice hydrochloride) for buprenorphine hydrochloride and naloxone hydrochloride, respectively in the third order derivative spectra obtained in methanol and 0.1 M NaOH (50:50) as solvent. The method was found to be linear in the range of 20-80 µg/mL for buprenorphine hydrochloride and 5-20 µg/mL for naloxone hydrochloride. The within-day and between-day coefficient of variation and error values were less than 2.5% and 1.8%, respectively. The proposed method was successfully used for simultaneous determination of these drugs in pharmaceutical dosage form without any interference from excipients or need to prior separation before analysis.

Evaluation of prognostic factors effect on survival time in patients with colorectal cancer, based on Weibull Competing-Risks Model.

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the association between survival of patients with colorectal cancer and prognostic factors in a competing risk parametric model using Weibull distribution. BACKGROUND: The prognosis of colorectal cancer is relatively good in terms of survival time. In many prognostic studies, patients may be exposed to several types of competing events. These different causes of death are called competing risks. METHODS: Data was recorded from 372 patients with colorectal cancer who registered in the Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (Tehran, Iran) from 2004 to 2015 in a retrospective study. Analysis was performed using competing risks model and Weibull distribution. Software used for data analysis was R, and significance level was regarded as 0.05. RESULTS: The result indicated that, at the end of follow-up, 111 (29.8%) deaths were from colorectal cancer and 14 (3.8%) deaths were due to other diseases. The average body mass index (BMI) was 24.61(SD 3.98). The mean survival time for a patient in 372 was 62.05(SD 48.78) month with median equals to 48 months. According to competing-risks method, only stageIII (HR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.246-2.315 ), stageIV( HR, 4.51; 95% CI,2.91-6.99 ) and BMI( HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.96-0.975) have a significant effect on patient's survival time. CONCLUSION: This study indicated pathologic stage (III,IV) and BMI as the prognosis, using a Weibull model with competing risks analysis, while other models without the competing events lead to significant predictors which may be due to over-estimation.

Relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein serum levels and the severity of coronary artery stenosis in patients with coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) inflammatory biomarker is one of the best informative markers of prognosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) that has been studied. Some studies have found that hs-CRP has a direct correlation with CAD. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between serum levels of hs-CRP and the severity of coronary artery stenosis in patients with stable and unstable angina. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 150 patients undergoing coronary angiography in Golestan Hospital Ahvaz, Iran in 2012, were studied in three groups of stable angina (n = 50), unstable angina (n = 50), and normal coronary angiography (n = 50). Hs-CRP levels were measured in patients before angiography by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method, were compared between the three groups and its correlation with the degree of stenosis was evaluated. RESULTS: The mean levels of hs-CRP in the stable angina group, unstable angina group and the group with normal coronary angiography were 2.46 ± 1.79, 4.84 ± 3.38, and 2.95 ± 2.57 mg/L, respectively. The results show that the mean levels of hs-CRP in patients with unstable angina was significantly higher compared to patients with stable angina (P < 0.050) and patients with normal coronary angiography (P < 0.001). However, a statistical difference between the mean CRP levels in patients with stable angina and patients with normal angiography results was not seen (P > 0.050). A significant relationship between arterial stenosis points and hs-CRP levels in patients with stable angina was not seen (P = 0.985). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that it seems hs-CRP level in patients with unstable angina were significantly higher than those in patients with stable angina and patients with normal coronary angiography. It also appears that the level of hs-CRP in patients with unstable angina is associated with the severity of coronary stenosis. Given the finding of consistent results, the use of hs-CRP as a prognostic factor in these patients may be useful.

Relationships between Family Levels of Socioeconomic Status and Distribution of Breast Cancer Risk Factors.

BACKGROUND: Not only the expand development of knowledge for reducing risk factors, but also the improvement in early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and socioeconomic inequalities could affect cancer incidence, diagnosis stage, and mortality. The aim of this study was investigation the relationships between family levels of socioeconomic status and distribution of breast cancer risk factors. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study has conducted on 526 patients who were suffering from breast cancer, and have registered in Cancer Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences from March 2008 to December 2013. A reliable and valid questionnaire about family levels of socioeconomic status has filled by interviewing the patients via phone. For analyzing the data, Multinomial logistic regression, Kendal tau-b correlation coefficient and Contingency Coefficient tests have executed by SPSS19. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 48.30 (SD=11.41). According to the results of this study, there was a significant relationship between family socioeconomic status and patient's age at diagnosis of breast cancer (p value<0.001). Also, the relationships between socioeconomic status and number of pregnancies, and duration of breast feeding were significant (p value> 0.001). In the multiple logistic regressions, the relationship between excellent socioeconomic status and number of abortions was significant (p value> 0.007). Furthermore, the relationships between moderate and good socioeconomic statuses and smoking were significant (p value=0.05 and p value=0.02, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results have indicated that among those patients having better socioeconomic status, age at cancer diagnosis, number of pregnancies and duration of breast feeding was lower, and then number of abortions was more than the others. According to the results of this study, it was really important to focus on family socioeconomic status as a critical and effective variable on breast cancer risk factors among the Iranian women.

A new mechanical index for gauging the human bioeffects of low frequency ultrasound.

Low frequency ultrasound has a diverse set of industrial and medical applications ranging from high power industrial ultrasound equipment through to various therapeutic medical applications. In recent years, several speech interface applications have also been developed which exploit the low ultrasonic frequency region to augment human-computer interfacing. These devices tend to operate just above the threshold of human hearing where signals can be generated and detected using off-the-shelf audio hardware components. Mechanical index has long been one of the main criteria used for determining safety limits for human exposure to ultrasound, however it is known to be inaccurate below about 500 kHz. This paper revisits the mathematical and physical foundations of the mechanical index, in particular transient cavitation, and applies these to the low-frequency ultrasound region. Simulations are performed to evaluate the effects on both blood and water. From the results, a new mechanical index formulation is proposed, which extends down to significantly lower frequencies. The aim is to provide a gauge for determining bio-effects of emerging and future low frequency ultrasonic applications operating around 20 kHz to 100 kHz.

Effect of home-based walking on performance and quality of life in patients with heart failure.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic heart failure defined as the inability of the heart to meet the demands of the tissues, which results in symptoms of fatigue or dyspnoea on energy progressing to dyspnoea at rest. The inability to perform the exercise without discomfort and poor quality of life may be one of the first symptoms experienced by patients with heart failure and is often the principal reason for seeking medical care. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to find the effect of a home walking programme on the performance and quality of life in the patients with heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS: Sixty patients with New York Heart Association class II and III heart failure were divided into two matched and equal groups. The quality of life scores and 6-minute walking scores were measured for each patient at entry and after 8 weeks. Both groups were followed for 8 weeks. The results showed between mean walking distance on the 6 minutes at entry and after 8 weeks in the training group (p < 0.001), but no significance was seen between the control groups (p = 0.351). Furthermore, results showed a significant difference between mean of quality of life scores at entry and after 8 weeks in the training group, but such significance was not reported between before and after control group scores. CONCLUSION: The home-based walking showed improvement in the performance, exercise tolerance time and quality of life in heart failure patients. Therefore, Nurses should employ alternatives such as home exercises in the caring of heart failure patients.

The Estimation of Survival Function for Colon Cancer Data in Tehran Using Non-parametric Bayesian Model.

BACKGROUND: Colon cancer is the third cause of cancer deaths. Although colon cancer survival time has increased in recent years, the mortality rate is still high. The Cox model is the most common regression model often used in medical research in survival analysis, but most of the time the effect of at least one of the independent factors changes over time, so the model cannot be used. In the current study, the survival function for colon cancer patients in Tehran is estimated using non-parametric Bayesian model. METHODS: In this survival study, 580 patients with colon cancer who were recorded in the Cancer Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences since April 2005 to November 2006 were studied and followed up for a period of 5 years. Survival function was plotted with non-parametric Bayesian model and was compared with the Kaplan-Meier curve. RESULTS: Of the total of 580 patients, 69.9% of patients were alive. 45.9% of patients were male and the mean age of cancer diagnosis was 65.12 (SD= 12.26) and 87.7 of the patients underwent surgery. There was a significant relationship between age at diagnosis and sex and the survival time while there was a non-significant relationship between the type of treatment and the survival time. The survival functions corresponding to the two treatment groups cross, in comparison with the patients who had no surgery in the first 30 months, showed a higher level of risk in the patients who underwent a surgery. After that, the survival probability for the patients undergoing a surgery has increased. CONCLUSION: The study showed that survival rate has been higher in women and in the patients who were below 60 years at the time of diagnosis.

Bio-effects and safety of low-intensity, low-frequency ultrasonic exposure.

Low-frequency (LF) ultrasound (20-100 kHz) has a diverse set of industrial and medical applications. In fact, high power industrial applications of ultrasound mainly occupy this frequency range. This range is also used for various therapeutic medical applications including sonophoresis (ultrasonic transdermal drug delivery), dentistry, eye surgery, body contouring, the breaking of kidney stones and eliminating blood clots. While emerging LF applications such as ultrasonic drug delivery continue to be developed and undergo translation for human use, significant gaps exist in the coverage of safety standards for this frequency range. Accordingly, the need to understand the biological effects of LF ultrasound is becoming more important. This paper presents a broad overview of bio-effects and safety of LF ultrasound as an aid to minimize and control the risk of these effects. Its particular focus is at low intensities where bio-effects are initially observed. To generate a clear perspective of hazards in LF exposure, the mechanisms of bio-effects and the main differences in action at low and high frequencies are investigated and a survey of harmful effects of LF ultrasound at low intensities is presented. Mechanical and thermal indices are widely used in high frequency diagnostic applications as a means of indicating safety of ultrasonic exposure. The direct application of these indices at low frequencies needs careful investigation. In this work, using numerical simulations based on the mathematical and physical rationale behind the indices at high frequencies, it is observed that while thermal index (TI) can be used directly in the LF range, mechanical index (MI) seems to become less reliable at lower frequencies. Accordingly, an improved formulation for the MI is proposed for frequencies below 500 kHz.

Increase in concentration of soluble HLA-G in high-quality embryos after intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

Non-invasive methods are normally preferred to conventional invasive methods when selecting suitable embryos to improve pregnancy rates after assisted reproduction techniques. One of the most recognized non-invasive methods is to examine the supernatants of embryo culture media. Soluble human leukocyte antigen, class I, G (sHLA-G) antigen is a non-classical class I molecule that has been widely considered as a marker of pregnancy failure or implantation success. In the current study of some Iranian patients, we examined the concentration of sHLA-G at different time points after intracytoplasmic sperm injection and compared the rates to the morphology and quality of the selected embryos. We showed that the concentration of sHLA-G increases over time in high-quality embryos. We conclude that there is a positive relationship between morphology, quality, and sHLA-G concentration. We suggest that this relationship can be used to increase the chance of a successful pregnancy.

Tetrabutylammonium bromide media aza-Michael addition of 1,2,3,6-tetrahydrophthalimide to symmetrical fumaric esters and acrylic esters under solvent-free conditions.

The aza-Michael addition of 1,2,3,6-tetrahydrophthalimide with symmetrical fumaric esters has been performed efficiently in a solvent-free system at 100 °C and using 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) as a base in the presence of tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB). The products were obtained in good to high yields within 2.5-7.0 h. This reaction worked well on linear alkyl fumarates and was not effective with nonlinear alkyl fumarates. Although the reaction was also applicable to acrylates such as n-butyl acrylate, methacrylates and crotonates were not suitable Michael acceptors for this reaction.

Reconstruction of normal sounding speech for laryngectomy patients through a modified CELP codec.

Whispered speech can be useful for quiet and private communication, and is the primary means of unaided spoken communication for many people experiencing voice-box deficiencies. Patients who have undergone partial or full laryngectomy are typically unable to speak anything more than hoarse whispers, without the aid of prostheses or specialized speaking techniques. Each of the current prostheses and rehabilitative methods for post-laryngectomized patients (primarily oesophageal speech, tracheo-esophageal puncture, and electrolarynx) have particular disadvantages, prompting new work on nonsurgical, noninvasive alternative solutions. One such solution, described in this paper, combines whisper signal analysis with direct formant insertion and speech modification located outside the vocal tract. This approach allows laryngectomy patients to regain their ability to speak with a more natural voice than alternative methods, by whispering into an external prosthesis, which then, recreates and outputs natural-sounding speech. It relies on the observation that while the pitch-generation mechanism of laryngectomy patients is damaged or unusable, the remaining components of the speech production apparatus may be largely unaffected. This paper presents analysis and reconstruction methods designed for the prosthesis, and demonstrates their ability to obtain natural-sounding speech from the whisper-speech signal using an external analysis-by-synthesis processing framework.

Ventricular asynchrony of time-to-peak systolic velocity in structurally normal heart by tissue Doppler imaging.

BACKGROUND: Echocardiographic measurements of time-to-peak systolic velocities (Ts) are helpful for assessing the degree of cardiac asynchrony. We assessed the degree of ventricular asynchrony in structurally normal heart according to Ts by tissue Doppler imaging. METHODS: We performed conventional echocardiography and tissue velocity imaging for 65 healthy adult volunteers to measure the Ts of 12 left ventricular segments in the mid and basal levels delay of Ts and standard deviation (SD) of Ts in all and basal segments. Six frequently used markers of dyssynchrony were measured and were also compared between men and women. Data are presented as median (25th and 75th percentile). RESULTS: Septal-lateral and anteroseptal-posterior delays were 50 (20, 90) and 20 (0, 55) ms. The delay between the longest and the shortest Ts in basal and all segments were 100 (80, 120) and 110 (83, 128) ms, respectively. SD of Ts was 39 (24, 52) ms for basal and 41 (28, 51) ms for all segments. Overall, 76.9% of cases had at least one marker of dyssynchrony. Frequencies of dyssynchrony markers were almost significantly higher in women compared to men. The most frequently observed dyssynchrony marker was SD of Ts of all segments (70.8%) and the lowest was anteroseptal-posterior delay (21.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Normal population almost had dyssynchrony by previously described markers and many of these markers were more frequent in women. Conducting more studies on normal population by other tissue Doppler modalities may give better description of cardiac synchronicity.

Longitudinal tissue velocity and deformation imaging in inferobasal left ventricular aneurysm.

BACKGROUND: Longitudinal myocardial tissue velocity imaging (TVI) and strain rate imaging (SRI) quantify regional myocardial function. We aimed to measure TVI and SRI indices for inferobasal aneurysmal segments by echocardiography at rest. METHOD: Sixteen patients with inferobasal left ventricular (LV) aneurysm, LV ejection fraction (EF) ≤50%, and 14 normal coronaries with normal echocardiography (control group) were studied. In SRI, peak systolic strain (ST), strain rate (SR), and pattern of strain curves and in TVI, peak systolic inward motion (Sm) were evaluated all at rest. Ascending curve means systolic expansion and descending means shortening. RESULTS: LVEF was significantly lower in the patient group. Mean ST, SR, and Sm of inferobasal segment showed significant difference between patient and control groups; for ST: 1.45 ± 7.18% versus -17.64 ± 7.45%, P < 0.0001; SR: -0.25 ± 0.26 versus -1.44 ± 0.64 sec(-1) , P < 0.0001; and Sm: 3.85 ± 1.26 versus 5.56 ± 1.28 cm/sec, P = 0.006, respectively. All inferobasal aneurysmal segments had ascending curve while normal segments showed a descending curve. In patient group, aneurysmal segments had significantly reduced ST and SR compared to normal segments. Normal functioning segments of patients showed significant reduction of ST and SR compared to normal LV segments in control subjects. The range of SR and ST for inferobasal aneurysmal segments did not overlap with that of the normal segments (-0.60, 0.19 and -3.00, -0.80 sec(-1) for SR, and -8.30, 23.30 and -35.30, -10.00% for ST, respectively). CONCLUSION: SRI indices were significantly reduced in inferobasal aneurysmal segment in comparison with either the same segment in normal subjects or normal functioning segments in the same patients. SR and ST may be superior to Sm in the evaluation of inferobasal aneurysmal segments.