Two rare cases of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disorder in children with leukodystrophy-like imaging findings.

BACKGROUND: Children with acquired demyelinating syndromes (ADS) whose sera are positive for myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) immunoglobulin (IgG) can be diagnosed with MOG-IgG associated disorder (MOGAD). Cases with leukodystrophy-like imaging findings with recurrent MOGAD have rarely been reported. CASE PRESENTATION: Two children with MOGAD, whose onset age was 6 months and 3 years, respectively, were admitted to the hospital due to fever and altered consciousness. In both children, MOG-IgG was detected in the serum using live cell-based assay. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed leukodystrophy-like lesions with diffuse bilateral white matter. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis showed mild pleocytosis with normal or slightly increased protein levels and no oligoclonal bands. Metabolic and inflammatory blood/CSF markers were all negative. Full exon gene testing revealed normal results, and nuclear and mitochondrial DNA were normal. Despite regular immunotherapy and reduction of lesions based on brain MRI results, the patients repeatedly relapsed and had residual neurological dysfunction at 3-4 years of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Although MOGAD is a monophasic and benign condition, certain MOGAD patients can experience multiple relapses and residual neurologic deficits. The spectrum of clinical manifestations in MOGAD is wider in children than in previously reported cases, including cases with leukodystrophy-like imaging findings. Such imaging findings along with MOG-IgG may occur recurrently and result in severe neurological prognosis. Patients with extensive and confluent white matter lesions should undergo early testing of MOG-IgG to ensure early therapy. In refractory cases, MOGAD treatment may need to be escalated beyond the current therapy, which means second-line immunotherapy should be performed as early as possible and hormone levels should not be rapidly reduced. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment may improve the prognosis of children with MOGAD.

Semantic characteristic grading of pulmonary nodules based on deep neural networks.

BACKGROUND: Accurate grading of semantic characteristics is helpful for radiologists to determine the probabilities of the likelihood of malignancy of a pulmonary nodule. Nevertheless, because of the complex and varied properties of pulmonary nodules, assessing semantic characteristics (SC) is a difficult task. METHOD: In this paper, we first analyze a set of important semantic characteristics of pulmonary nodules and extract the important SCs relating to pulmonary nodule malignancy by Pearson's correlation approach. Then, we propose three automatic SC grading models based on deep belief network (DBN) and a multi-branch convolutional neural network (CNN) classifier, MBCNN. The first DBN model takes grayscale and binary nodule images as the input, and the second DBN model takes grayscale nodule images and 72 features extracted from pulmonary nodules as the input. RESULTS: Experimental results indicate that our algorithms can achieve satisfying results on semantic characteristic grading. Especially, the MBCNN can obtain higher semantic characteristic grading results with an average accuracy of 89.37%. CONCLUSIONS: Quantitative and automatic grading of semantic characteristics proposed in this paper can assist radiologists effectively assess the likelihood of pulmonary nodules being malignant and further promote the early expectant treatment of malignant nodules.

Circular RNA expression alteration in whole blood of premature infants with periventricular white matter damage.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved and tissue-specific types of non-coding RNA and can serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers for disease. However, the clinical significance and levels of expression of circRNAs for whole blood samples of prematurely born infants afflicted by diseases such as periventricular white matter damage (PWMD) are largely unknown. Therefore, we sought to identify measures of expression of circRNAs in whole blood samples obtained from prematurely born infants afflicted by PWMD and comparatively in samples from prematurely born infants without PWMD. We found the expression levels of circRNAs which from premature with PWMD has changed. Further analysis suggests that these circRNAs have important roles in PWMD. This study can improve the understanding for the potential of the circRNAs to serve as biomarkers in PWMD. Moreover, these circRNAs may provide evidence for improving diagnosis and treatment for infants afflicted by PWMD, and merits continued research.

Long non-coding RNA Snhg3 protects against hypoxia/ischemia-induced neonatal brain injury.

Hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the preterm and term infant. However, the precise mechanism of HIBD remains largely elusive. As a newly discovered long non-coding RNA, small nucleolar RNA host gene 3 (Snhg3) has shown its important roles in cell apoptosis, proliferation, and disease development. In this study, we determined the role of Snhg3 in the pathogenesis of HIBD. Snhg3 expression was significantly down-regulated in the neonatal brain and primary hippocampal cells response to hypoxic/ischemic stress. Snhg3 overexpression protected against hypoxic/ischemic-induced brain injury in vivo and hippocampal cell injury in vitro. Snhg3 acted as the sponge of miR-196 in the hippocampal cells by regulating the expression of miR-196 target genes, XIAP and CAAP1. Moreover, Snhg3 overexpression decreased brain infarct size and ameliorated hypoxic-ischemic neonatal brain damage. This study suggests that Snhg3 is a potential target for the treatment of HIBD.

Risk factors and outcomes of acute kidney injury in ventilated newborns.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the occurrence and risk factors of acute kidney injury (AKI) in ventilated newborns.Methods: In total, 139 newborns receiving mechanical ventilation (MV) were reviewed in this retrospective study. The demographic and clinical data were collected. Then, the independent risk factors for AKI were evaluated using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.Results: The incidence rate of AKI was 15.11% (21/139) in ventilated newborns. Univariate analysis showed significant differences in gestational age, birth weight, Apagar scores, the highest oxygen concentration, serum creatinine levels at admission and 48 h after MV, history of asphyxia, urine output at 48 h after MV, invasive MV, noninvasive MV, and outcomes between AKI and non-AKI groups (all p < .05). The lower gestational age (odd ratio (OR): 1.194, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.013-1.407, p = .035), the increased use of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) (OR: 4.790, 95% CI: 1.115-20.575, p = .035), and lower birth weight (OR: 0.377, 95% CI: 0.178-0.801, p = .011) were independent risk factors for the occurrence of AKI. Additionally, higher stage of AKI was significantly associated with poor prognosis of AKI (p = .018).Conclusion: In this retrospective study, it was found that lower gestational age, birth weight, and increased use of IMV were independent risk factors for AKI in ventilated newborns. The poor prognosis might be indicated by the higher AKI stage.

Robust Normal Estimation for 3D LiDAR Point Clouds in Urban Environments.

Normal estimation is a crucial first step for numerous light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data-processing algorithms, from building reconstruction, road extraction, and ground-cover classification to scene rendering. For LiDAR point clouds in urban environments, this paper presents a robust method to estimate normals by constructing an octree-based hierarchical representation for the data and detecting a group of large enough consistent neighborhoods at multiscales. Consistent neighborhoods are mainly determined based on the observation that an urban environment is typically comprised of regular objects, e.g., buildings, roads, and the ground surface, and irregular objects, e.g., trees and shrubs; the surfaces of most regular objects can be approximatively represented by a group of local planes. Even in the frequent presence of heavy noise and anisotropic point samplings in LiDAR data, our method is capable of estimating robust normals for kinds of objects in urban environments, and the estimated normals are beneficial to more accurately segment and identify the objects, as well as preserving their sharp features and complete outlines. The proposed method was experimentally validated both on synthetic and real urban LiDAR datasets, and was compared to state-of-the-art methods.

A Rapid Terrestrial Laser Scanning Method for Coastal Erosion Studies: A Case Study at Freeport, Texas, USA.

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has become a powerful data acquisition technique for high-resolution high-accuracy topographic and morphological studies. Conventional static TLS surveys require setting up numerous reflectors (tie points) in the field for point clouds registration and georeferencing. To reduce surveying time and simplify field operational tasks, we have developed a rapid TLS surveying method that requires only one reflector in the field. The method allows direct georeferencing of point clouds from individual scans to an East-North-Height (ENH) coordinate system tied to a stable geodetic reference frame. TLS datasets collected at a segment of the beach-dune-wetland area in Freeport, Texas, USA are used to evaluate the performance of the rapid surveying method by comparing with kinematic GPS measurements. The rapid surveying method uses two GPS units mounted on the scanner and a reflector for calculating the northing angle of the scanner's own coordinate system (SOCS). The Online Positioning User Service (OPUS) is recommended for GPS data processing. According to this study, OPUS Rapid-Static (OPUS-RS) solutions retain 1-2 cm root mean square (RMS) accuracy in the horizontal directions and 2-3 cm accuracy in the vertical direction for static observational sessions of approximately 30 min in the coastal region of Texas, USA. The rapid TLS surveys can achieve an elevation accuracy (RMS) of approximately 3-5 cm for georeferenced points and 2-3 cm for digital elevation models (DEMs). The elevation errors superimposed into the TLS surveying points roughly fit a normal distribution. The proposed TLS surveying method is particularly useful for morphological mapping over time in coastal regions, where strong wind and soft sand prohibit reflectors from remaining strictly stable for a long period. The theories and results presented in this paper are beneficial to researchers who frequently utilize TLS datasets in their research, but do not have opportunities to be involved in field data acquisition.

Circular RNA Expression in the Brain of a Neonatal Rat Model of Periventricular White Matter Damage.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Periventricular white matter damage (PWMD) is the predominant neurologic lesion in preterm infants who survive brain injury. In this study, we assessed the global changes in and characteristics of the transcriptome of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in the brain tissues of rats with PWMD. METHODS: We compared the expression profiles of circRNAs in brain samples from three rats with PWMD and three paired control tissues using deep RNA sequencing. Bioinformatics analysis was applied to investigate these differentially expressed circRNAs, and quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis was performed to confirm the results. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were performed to predict associated cell signaling pathways and functions. Network analysis was performed to predict circRNAs-microRNAs, and target genes related to PWMD. RESULTS: A total of 2151 more reliable circRNAs were dysregulated in the brain tissues of rats with PWMD, indicating a potential role in the condition. Of the 98 circRNAs significantly differentially expressed in rat brains with PWMD (P< 0.05), 52 were significantly over-expressed and 46 were significantly under-expressed. The expression profiles of seven of 10 randomly selected circRNAs were confirmed by qRT-PCR analysis. The glutamatergic synapse pathway and the VEGF signaling pathway, both associated with hypoxia/ischemia induced brain damage, were inriched. Relationship between miRNA (rno-miR-433-3p and rno-miR-206-3p) and HIF-1α were evident and potential associations between chr6: 48820833|48857932 and their target genes (rno-miR-433-3p and rno-miR-206-3p) were identified. CONCLUSION: The distinct expression patterns of circRNAs in the brain tissues of rats with PWMD suggest that circRNAs actively respond to hypoxia-ischemia. These findings could assist the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets for PWMD therapy.

GAS5 silencing protects against hypoxia/ischemia-induced neonatal brain injury.

Hypoxic/ischemic brain damage (HIBD) leads to high neonatal mortality and severe neurologic morbidity. However, the molecular mechanism of HIBD in the neonatal infant is still elusive. Long non-coding RNAs are shown as important regulators of brain development and many neurological diseases. Here, we determined the role of long noncoding RNA-GAS5 in HIBD. GAS5 expression was significantly up-regulated in hypoxic/ischemic-injured neonatal brain and hippocampal neurons. GAS5 silencing protected against hypoxic/ischemic-induced brain injury in vivo and primary hippocampal neuron injury in vitro. Mechanistically, GAS5 regulated hippocampal neuron function by sponging miR-23a. Intracerebroventricular injection of GAS5 shRNA significantly decreased brain GAS5 expression, reduced brain infarct size, and improved neurological function recovery. Collectively, this study suggests a promising therapeutic approach of GAS5 inhibition in the treatment of neonatal HIBD.

Differential Expression of Mir-1 26 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Retinal Cells of Metabolic Acidosis-Induced Neonatal Rats.

In present study, we aimed at investigating the expression level of microRNA and the related gene which might be involved in retinopathy of prematurity. Neonatal SD rats were randomly divided into 2 groups, the first one having rats with NH4CI induced acidosis, as experimental group. We observed retinal vascular morphology and hyperplasia using microscope, for both experimental and control groups, in days 3, 5, 8, 10, 13 and 20 after birth. Total RNA from the retinal samples was obtained at each time point. MiR-126 and VEGF mRNA were measured by quantitative RT-PCR, while immunohistochemistry was applied to analyze the protein expression level of VEGF. Results showed significant differential expression of miR-126 in the acidosis-induced neonatal rats at day 8 when compared with control rats. The VEGF mRNA and protein quantitative results also demonstrated corresponding differential expression among the experimental and control groups. Results from this study revealed that VEGF mRNA and protein expression levels increased in day 10, while the expression of miR-126 was remarkably down-regulated. It is thus suggested that the miR-126 plays an important role in the development of acidosis-induced retinopathy.

miRNA-dependent cross-talk between VEGF and Ang-2 in hypoxia-induced microvascular dysfunction.

Ocular neovascularization is a vision-threatening complication of ischemic retinopathy that develops in various ocular disorders, such as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and diabetic retinopathy. Both Ang-2 and VEGF are implicated in this pathogenesis. However, their inter-regulation still remains elusive. Competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) are messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that affect each other expression through the competition for the shared miRNA. Herein, we assessed whether the expression of Ang-2 and VEGF is interdependent through the sequestration of common miRNAs. Bioinformatics prediction and 3'-UTR luciferase assay revealed that Ang-2 and VEGF is commonly targeted by miR-351. Silencing either Ang-2 or VEGF increases the availabilities of shared miR-351, therefore reduces the activity of Luc-Ang-2 3'-UTR. The interdependence of VEGF and Ang-2 is miRNA- and 3'-UTR dependent, as silencing Dicer abolishes the interdependence. We also found that miR-351 dependency of VEGF-Ang-2 crosstalk occurs in retinal endothelial cells and rat retinas. miR-351 over-expression significantly reduces the level of VEGF and Ang-2 expression in vivo and in vitro. Overall, miRNA-dependent crosstalk between Ang-2 and VEGF plays a role in hypoxia-induced microvascular response. miRNA-based therapy can affect the expression of Ang-2 and VEGF, which represents a therapeutic potential for the treatment of vascular disease.

Identification of retinopathy of prematurity related miRNAs in hyperoxia-induced neonatal rats by deep sequencing.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) remains a major problem for many preterm infants. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level and have been studied in many diseases. To understand the roles of miRNAs in ROP model rats, we constructed two small RNA libraries from the plasma of hyperoxia-induced rats and normal controls. Sequencing data revealed that 44 down-regulated microRNAs and 22 up-regulated microRNAs from the hyperoxia-induced rats were identified by deep sequencing technology. Some of the differentially expressed miRNAs were confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR). A total of 594 target genes of the differentially expressed microRNAs were identified using a bioinformatics approach. Functional annotation analysis indicated that a number of pathways might be involved in angiogenesis, cell proliferation and cell differentiation, which might be involved in the genesis and development of ROP. The elevated expression level of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein in the hyperoxia-induced neonatal rats was also confirmed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). This study provides some insights into the molecular mechanisms that underlie ROP development, thereby aiding the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

Automated Quality Evaluation of Large-Scale Benchmark Datasets for Vision-Language Tasks.

Large-scale benchmark datasets are crucial in advancing research within the computer science communities. They enable the development of more sophisticated AI models and serve as "golden" benchmarks for evaluating their performance. Thus, ensuring the quality of these datasets is of utmost importance for academic research and the progress of AI systems. For the emerging vision-language tasks, some datasets have been created and frequently used, such as Flickr30k, COCO, and NoCaps, which typically contain a large number of images paired with their ground-truth textual descriptions. In this paper, an automatic method is proposed to assess the quality of large-scale benchmark datasets designed for vision-language tasks. In particular, a new cross-modal matching model is developed, which is capable of automatically scoring the textual descriptions of visual images. Subsequently, this model is employed to evaluate the quality of vision-language datasets by automatically assigning a score to each 'ground-truth' description for every image picture. With a good agreement between manual and automated scoring results on the datasets, our findings reveal significant disparities in the quality of the ground-truth descriptions included in the benchmark datasets. Even more surprising, it is evident that a small portion of the descriptions are unsuitable for serving as reliable ground-truth references. These discoveries emphasize the need for careful utilization of these publicly accessible benchmark databases.

Investigation of the soybean infiltration process utilizing low-field nuclear magnetic resonance technology.

This paper employs low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) technology to meticulously analyze and explore the intricate soybean infiltration process. The methodology involves immersing soybeans in distilled water, with periodic implementation of Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) pulse sequence experiments conducted at intervals of 20 to 30 minutes to determine the relaxation time T2. Currently, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is conducted every 30 minutes. The analysis uncovers the existence of three distinct water phases during the soybean infiltration process: bound water denoted as T21, sub-bound water represented by T22, and free water indicated as T23. The evolution of these phases unfolds as follows: bound water T21 displays a steady oscillation within the timeframe of 0 to 400 minutes; sub-bound water T22 and free water T23 exhibit a progressive pattern characterized by a rise-stable-rise trajectory. Upon scrutinizing the magnetic resonance images, it is discerned that the soybean infiltration commences at a gradual pace from the seed umbilicus. The employment of LF-NMR technology contributes significantly by affording an expeditious, non-destructive, and dynamic vantage point to observe the intricate motion of water migration during soybean infiltration. This dynamic insight into the movement of water elucidates the intricate mass transfer pathway within the soybean-water system, thus furnishing a robust scientific foundation for the optimization of processing techniques.

Detection method for unrecognized spatial disorientation based on optical flow stimuli.

BACKGROUND: Flight accidents caused by spatial disorientation (SD) greatly affect flight safety. OBJECTIVE: Few studies have been devoted to the evaluation of SD. METHODS: 10 pilots and 10 non-pilots were recruited for the experimental induction of SD. Videos for giving optical flow stimuli were played at two different flow speeds to induce SD. Subjective judgment and center of foot pressure (CoP) data were collected from the tests. The data were combined to determine the occurrence of SD and analyze the SD types. RESULTS: The number of self-reported SD events was slightly smaller in the pilots than in the non-pilots. The average upper bound of the confidence interval for the standard deviation of CoP was 0.32 ± 0.09 cm and 0.38 ± 0.12 cm in the pilots and non-pilots, respectively. This indicator was significantly lower in the pilots than in the non-pilots (P= 0.03). The success rate of the experimental induction of unrecognized SD was 26.7% and 45.0% in the pilots and non-pilots, respectively. CONCLUSION: The method offered a new to analyze unrecognized SD. We could determine the occurrence unrecognized SD. This is an essential means of reducing flight accidents caused by unrecognized SD.

[Development of a wrist wearing and remote heart rate alarm apparatus].

We have developed a new wrist wearing heart rate monitoring alarm apparatus, which can detect the patients' real-time pulse waves. When the abnormal heart rate appears or pulse disappears, the monitoring alarm will sound and dial the remote telephone for help simultaneously. This apparatus uses the switch circuit to control the keyboard of mobile phone, and dials remote telephone in the help of mature technology and communication platform of mobile phones. The intelligent program can distinguish digital pulse signal, pick out the correct cycle of heartbeat intelligently. The new wrist wearing heart rate monitoring alarm apparatus will calculate an average heart rate when it captures consecutively five correct electrocardiograph waveforms. It really provides a simple, inexpensive and effective way for the patients with heart disease.

Clinical analysis of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated demyelination in children: A single-center cohort study in China.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibodies (MOG-Abs) are detected at a high rate in childhood of acquired demyelinating syndrome (ADS), but the spectrum and characteristics of MOG-Abs-associated disorders (MOGAD) in children are to be determined. This study aimed to identify clinical features in Chinese children with MOGAD. METHODS: Of 48 children in whom MOGAD were diagnosed in our hospital, we analyzed the manifestations, laboratory test results, imaging characteristics, autoimmune antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid and serum, and response to treatment. We used a cell transfection immunofluorescence assay to test for MOG-Abs in serum. RESULTS: Of the 48 children, the most common phenotypes were acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) (20/48, 41.7%) and optic neuritis (ON) (13/48, 27.1%). The onset ages of ON were significantly higher than those of ADEM (8.68±2.86 & 4.80±2.77, P<0.01). Cerebral lesions manifested as ADEM-like, leukodystrophy-like and other patterns. All children received first-line immunomodulatory therapy and some of them received second-line drugs, whose acute clinical symptoms were alleviated to some extent. 34 patients (34/48,70.8%) experienced one episode, the main phenotypes were ADEM (19/34,55.9%) and encephalitis (9/34,26.5%), and 14 children (14/48,29.2%) had two or more episodes, the primary expressions were ADEM-ON (8/14,57.1%) and recurrent ON (3/14,21.4%). During our follow-up, 8 patients suffered relapsed, but the MOG-Ab titers were not increase during acute stages. 4 patients (4/9,44.4%) of ADEM with ON were developed cognitive impairment, epilepsy and other sequelae, and 2 patients (2/3, 66.7%) of repeated ON suffered visual impairment. CONCLUSION: The clinical phenotypes of MOGAD are age-dependent, the onset ages of ADEM are significantly younger than those of the ON children, and leukodystrophy-like pattern could occur in infancy. Cerebral lesions of MRI were extensive and various, manifested as ADEM-like, leukodystrophy-like, ON and other patterns. The titers of MOG-Ab should not be used as the only basis for recurrence and long-term immunoregulatory treatment. Most children had a good prognosis, however, the phenotype of ADEM-ON at onset was tend to relapse, sometimes with cognitive impairment, epilepsy, and other sequelae. Repeated ON could cause visual impairment.

Design of automatic urine collection system for medical system applications.

BACKGROUND: The results of urine tests are often affected by improper midstream urine collection time, urine spilling, and urine pollution, all of which can lead to an increase in the test error. OBJECTIVE: To solve this problem, aiming at improving the toilet environment at the hospitals and public physical examination centers, this paper designs an automatic urine collection system. It can automatically adjust the position of the urine cup with an infrared remote controller, or manually, adjust the position of the urine cup in special situations according to the needs of the user. It also has an alarm function. METHODS: The overall size and shape are designed based on the squatting pan, suitable for disposable plastic urine cups of different shapes and sizes. It can realize the automatic collection of midstream urine, manual collection in exceptional cases, emergency stops, and rescue calls. RESULTS: Through the trial survey, there was a significant difference between the statistical results of using the device and not using the device (t= 13.937, P= 0.000). 96% of the subjects thought that the design of the system was reasonable, 22% thought that it was inconvenient to use, and 91.7% of the medical staff thought that the system met the sampling requirements. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, the trial evaluation is satisfactory, and the proposed collection system is suitable for use in hospitals at all levels and public health examination centers with a large amount of inspection.

Detection of unrecognized spatial disorientation: A theoretical perspective.

BACKGROUND: Spatial disorientation (SD) is a problem that pilots often encounter during a flight. One reason for this problem is that among the three types of SD, there is no validated method to detect the Type I (unrecognized) SD. OBJECTIVE: In this pursuit, initially we reviewed the problems and the evaluation methods of associated with SD. Subsequently, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the subjective questionnaire evaluation method and the behavior evaluation method. METHODS: On the basis of these analyses, we proposed a method to detect the unrecognized SD that improved the assessment of SD to a significant extent. We developed a new direction to study the unrecognized SD based on the subjective report and the center of pressure (CoP). RESULTS: The proposed evaluation method can assist the pilots to understand the feelings and physical changes, when exposed to unrecognized SD. CONCLUSION: We hope that this evaluation method can provide a strong support in developing a countermeasure against the unrecognized SD and fundamentally solve the severe flight accidents arising due to them.

Organophosphorus-based chemical additives induced behavioral changes in zebrafish (Danio rerio): Swimming activity is a sensitive stress indicator.

Organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) have been extensively used as chemical additives in polymer based consumer products. Among them, Isopropylphenyl phosphate (IPPP) and tripropyl phosphate (TPP) are predominant, which have potential to cause neuro-toxic effects on non-target organisms. As behavior (swimming activity) response is the first adjustment due to neurotoxic stress on the fitness of fish. In this study, the quantified swimming activity of zebrafish (Danio rerio) under IPPP and TPP exposure in an online monitoring system was investigated to assess the neurotoxin effects under long-term exposure periods, no swimming anomalies were observed in the control group. Whereas, in the OPFR exposures ((treatment I: 5 µg/L and treatment II: 25 µg/L), a series of anomalies were identified. Hyperactivity was shown in IPPP treatment I group (5 µg/L), whereas zebrafish swimming activity was declined throughout the study period in IPPP treatment II (25 µg/L), and TPP groups (5 µg/L and 25 µg/L) when compared to the control group. Circadian rhythm was not affected in the present study. The results of the present study indicated that the fitness of test individuals was a valid biomarker for eco-toxicity assessment under unescapable conditions. Hypoactivity of zebrafish signified the neurotoxic effects of IPPP and TPP. A concentration based improvement in swimming activity was observed under recovery conditions, which suggested that recovery capacity along with toxicity responses could be a comprehensive non-invasive technique to assess the eco-toxicity of waterborne chemicals.