Evaluation of mechanomyogram efficacy as a tool for assessing paired-pulse inhibition of blink reflex early R1 component.

INTRODUCTION/AIMS: Paired-pulse stimulation provides clinically useful information regarding sensory inhibition. When supraorbital nerve stimulation is repeated within a short interval, the response to the second stimulation is reduced to varying degrees. This magnitude of change in stimulation response can be monitored by electromyogram (EMG) or by mechanomyogram (MMG) as in this report. MMG has some advantages such as being less time consuming and lacking stimulus artifact. We compared the use of MMG and EMG to validate MMG as an effective method of assessing blink reflex paired-pulse inhibition. METHODS: Eight volunteers participated. Participants received electrical stimulation to the supraorbital nerve of each side. A paired-pulse paradigm was employed, varying the conditioning-test interval between 5 and 800 ms. The R1 component of the induced blink reflex was simultaneously recorded by EMG using a pair of electrodes placed on the lower eyelid and by MMG using an accelerometer placed between the electrodes. RESULTS: The correlation coefficient of the R1 amplitude between MMG and EMG of the grand-averaged waveforms was 0.99. The average participant r value was .91 (range .76-.99). Similar analyses were performed for the amplitude variation of the second response relative to the first response. Results correlated well, yielding r values of .97 and .86 for the grand-averaged waveform and the average for each subject. DISCUSSION: The present results demonstrate that MMG could be an alternative to EMG in assessing paired-pulse inhibition of the electrical blink reflex R1 component.

Mechanomyography reflects the changes in oxygenated hemoglobin during electrically evoked cycling in individuals with spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND: Functional electrical stimulation (FES) cycling has been reported to enhance muscle strength and improve muscle fatigue resistance after spinal cord injury (SCI). Despite its proposed benefits, the quantification of muscle fatigue during FES cycling remains poorly documented. This study sought to quantify the relationship between the vibrational performance of electrically-evoked muscles measured through mechanomyography (MMG) and its oxidative metabolism through near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) characteristics during FES cycling in fatiguing paralyzed muscles in individuals with SCI. METHODS: Six individuals with SCI participated in the study. They performed 30 min of FES cycling with MMG and NIRS sensors on their quadriceps throughout the cycling, and the signals were analyzed. RESULTS: A moderate negative correlation was found between MMG root mean square (RMS) and oxyhaemoglobin (O2Hb) [r = -0.38, p = 0.003], and between MMG RMS and total hemoglobin (tHb) saturation [r = -0.31, p = 0.017]. Statistically significant differences in MMG RMS, O2Hb, and tHb saturation occurred during pre- and post-fatigue of FES cycling (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: MMG RMS was negatively associated with O2Hb and muscle oxygen derived from NIRS. MMG and NIRS sensors showed good inter-correlations, suggesting a promising use of MMG for characterizing metabolic fatigue at the muscle oxygenation level during FES cycling in individuals with SCI.

Targeting Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation Using a Supervised Machine Learning Approach Based on Mechanomyography.

Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) provides a promising therapy option for individuals with injured spinal cords and multiple sclerosis patients with spasticity and gait deficits. Before the therapy, the examiner determines a suitable electrode position and stimulation current for a controlled application. For that, amplitude characteristics of posterior root muscle (PRM) responses in the electromyography (EMG) of the legs to double pulses are examined. This laborious procedure holds potential for simplification due to time-consuming skin preparation, sensor placement, and required expert knowledge. Here, we investigate mechanomyography (MMG) that employs accelerometers instead of EMGs to assess muscle activity. A supervised machine-learning classification approach was implemented to classify the acceleration data into no activity and muscular/reflex responses, considering the EMG responses as ground truth. The acceleration-based calibration procedure achieved a mean accuracy of up to 87% relative to the classical EMG approach as ground truth on a combined cohort of 11 healthy subjects and 11 patients. Based on this classification, the identified current amplitude for the tSCS therapy was in 85%, comparable to the EMG-based ground truth. In healthy subjects, where both therapy current and position have been identified, 91% of the outcome matched well with the EMG approach. We conclude that MMG has the potential to make the tuning of tSCS feasible in clinical practice and even in home use.

Influence of age on force and re-lengthening dynamics after tetanic stimulation withdrawal in the tibialis anterior muscle.

PURPOSE: During alternate movements across a joint, the changeover from one direction of rotation to the opposite may be influenced by the delay and rate of tension reduction and the compliance to re-lengthening of the previously active muscle group. Given the aging process may affect the above-mentioned factors, this work aimed to compare the dynamics of both the ankle torque decline and muscle re-lengthening, mirrored by mechanomyogram (MMG), in the tibialis anterior because of its important role in gait. METHODS: During the relaxation phase, after a supramaximal 35 Hz stimulation applied at the superficial motor point, in 20 young (Y) and 20 old (O) subjects, the torque (T) and MMG dynamics characteristics were measured. RESULTS: The T and MMG analysis provided: (I) the beginning of the decay after cessation of stimulation (T: 22.51 ± 5.92 ms [Y] and 51.35 ± 15.21 ms [O]; MMG: 27.38 ± 6.93 ms [Y] and 61.41 ± 18.42 ms [O]); (II) the maximum rate of reduction (T: - 110.4 ± 45.56 Nm/s [Y] and - 52.72 ± 32.12 Nm/s [O]; MMG: - 24.47 ± 10.95 mm/s [Y] and - 13.76 ± 6.54 mm/s [O]); (III) the muscle compliance, measuring the MMG reduction of every 10% reduction of torque (bin 20-10%: 15.69 ± 7.5[Y] and 10.8 ± 3.3 [O]; bin 10-0%: 22.12 ± 10.3 [Y] and 17.58 ± 5.6 [O]). CONCLUSION: Muscle relaxation results are different in Y and O and can be monitored by a non-invasive method measuring physiological variables of torque and re-lengthening dynamics at the end of the electromechanical coupling previously induced by the neuromuscular stimulation.

Mucous membrane grafting for cicatricial entropion repair: review of surgical techniques and outcomes.

Mucous membrane graft (MMG) is used for moderate-to-severe cicatricial entropion repair either in primary or recurrent cases. We conducted a review to comprehensively summarize the various surgical techniques, outcomes, and complications of using MMG for cicatricial entropion. Though the comparison between different techniques is limited by multiple factors like small numbers of cicatricial entgropion patients, variable severity and success criteria across studies, and different underlying cicatricial entropion etiologies, the author has brought forth the nuances of the use of MMG for cicatricial entropion repair along with its outcomes and complications. MMG use in moderate-to-severe cicatricial entropion gives favourable outcomes. The shortened tarsoconjunctiva is lengthened using MMG, which is used either with terminal tarsal rotation or anterior lamellar recession (ALR) or tarsotomy alone. Non-trachomatous entropion has poor outcomes compared to trachomatous entropion. The most common source of MMG is labial or buccal mucosa and the exact size of MMG harvested is variable according to the defect, and very few prefer oversizing the graft by 10-30%. The outcomes of ALR+MMG appear similar to tarsal rotation and MMG for severe cicatricial entropion. The recurrences of trichiasis or entropion can occur for up to one year after surgery, irrespective of the technique used. Factors affecting the outcomes of cicatricial entropion repair are not well known. There is a non-uniformity in data reporting across literature; hence, future studies with details on severity of entropion, ocular surface changes, forniceal depth and ocular surface inflammation, and the degree of dry eye disease would be informative.

Immunocorrelates of CAF family adjuvants.

The development of the CAF family adjuvant was initiated around 20 years ago when Statens Serum Institut was preparing its first generation protein based recombinant subunit vaccine against tuberculosis for clinical testing, but realized that there were no clinically relevant adjuvants available that would support the strong CMI response needed. Since then the aim for the adjuvant research at Statens Serum Institut has been to provide adjuvants with distinct immunogenicity profiles correlating with protection for any given infectious disease. Two of the adjuvants CAF01 and CAF09 are currently being evaluated in human clinical trials. The purpose of this review is to give an overview of the immunocorrelates of those CAF adjuvants furthest in development. We further aim at giving an overview of the mechanism of action of the CAF adjuvants.

Estimation of Knee Extension Force Using Mechanomyography Signals Based on GRA and ICS-SVR.

During lower-extremity rehabilitation training, muscle activity status needs to be monitored in real time to adjust the assisted force appropriately, but it is a challenging task to obtain muscle force noninvasively. Mechanomyography (MMG) signals offer unparalleled advantages over sEMG, reflecting the intention of human movement while being noninvasive. Therefore, in this paper, based on MMG, a combined scheme of gray relational analysis (GRA) and support vector regression optimized by an improved cuckoo search algorithm (ICS-SVR) is proposed to estimate the knee joint extension force. Firstly, the features reflecting muscle activity comprehensively, such as time-domain features, frequency-domain features, time-frequency-domain features, and nonlinear dynamics features, were extracted from MMG signals, and the relational degree was calculated using the GRA method to obtain the correlation features with high relatedness to the knee joint extension force sequence. Then, a combination of correlated features with high relational degree was input into the designed ICS-SVR model for muscle force estimation. The experimental results show that the evaluation indices of the knee joint extension force estimation obtained by the combined scheme of GRA and ICS-SVR were superior to other regression models and could estimate the muscle force with higher estimation accuracy. It is further demonstrated that the proposed scheme can meet the need of muscle force estimation required for rehabilitation devices, powered prostheses, etc.

Effects of 4-weeks of elastic variable resistance training on the electrochemical and mechanical components of voluntary electromechanical delay durations.

PURPOSE: Literature is conflicted on whether electromechanical delay durations decrease following resistance training programs. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the contributions and durations of the electrochemical (EMDE-M) and mechanical (EMDM-F) components to the overall electromechanical delay (EMDE-F) during step isometric muscle actions following 4-weeks of structured, multi-joint, lower-body variable resistance training (VRT) program. METHODS: Twelve men performed 4-weeks of VRT leg press training utilizing combination of steel plates (80% total load) and elastic bands (20% total load). Training consisted of 3 sets of 10 repetitions at a 10 repetition maximum load, 3 day week-1 for 4-weeks. EMDE-M, EMDM-F, and EMDE-F was measured at Baseline, Week-2, and Week-4 during voluntary step isometric muscle actions (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% of maximal voluntary isometric contraction) from the vastus lateralis using electromyographic, mechanomyographic, and force signals. RESULTS: The EMDE-M, EMDM-F, and EMDE-F exhibited decreases in duration following 4-weeks of VRT. In addition, EMDE-M contributed significantly less (42-47%) than EMDM-F (53-58%) to the total duration of EMDE-F across the 4-weeks of VRT. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicated that a structured, VRT program utilizing multi-joint exercise was sufficient to induce decreases in the electrochemical and mechanical processes associated with step isometric muscle contractions. In addition, the utilization of the electromyographic, mechanomyographic, and force signals were capable of quantifying electrochemical and mechanical component changes associated with voluntary muscle contraction. Thus, EMDE-M, EMDM-F, and EMDE-F can be useful in quantifying physiological changes in athletic, clinical, and applied research interventions.

Sonomechanomyography (SMMG): Mapping of Skeletal Muscle Motion Onset during Contraction Using Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging and Multiple Motion Sensors.

BACKGROUND: Available methods for studying muscle dynamics, including electromyography (EMG), mechanomyography (MMG) and M-mode ultrasound, have limitations in terms of spatial resolution. METHODS: This study developed a novel method/protocol of two-dimensional mapping of muscle motion onset using ultrafast ultrasound imaging, i.e., sono-mechano-myo-graphy (SMMG). The developed method was compared with the EMG, MMG and force outputs of tibialis anterior (TA) muscle during ankle dorsiflexion at different percentages of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) force in healthy young adults. RESULTS: Significant differences between all pairwise comparisons of onsets were identified, except between SMMG and MMG. The EMG onset significantly led SMMG, MMG and force onsets by 40.0 ± 1.7 ms (p < 0.001), 43.1 ± 5.2 ms (p < 0.005) and 73.0 ± 4.5 ms (p < 0.001), respectively. Muscle motion also started earlier at the middle aponeurosis than skin surface and deeper regions when viewed longitudinally (p < 0.001). No significant effect of force level on onset delay was found. CONCLUSIONS: This study introduced and evaluated a new method/protocol, SMMG, for studying muscle dynamics and demonstrated its feasibility for muscle contraction onset research. This novel technology can potentially provide new insights for future studies of neuromuscular diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy.

Exercise-induced muscle damage on the contractile properties of the lumbar paraspinal muscles: a laser displacement mechanomyographic approach.

PURPOSE: This study investigated whether laser displacement mechanomyography (MMG) could detect acute injury of low back muscles following strenuous eccentric exercise. METHODS: Sixteen healthy adults (10 females, 6 males, mean ± standard deviation, age 21 ± 2.90 years, BMI 21.63 ± 1.99 kg/m2), without low back pain or low back resistance training, were recruited. Strength [maximum voluntary isometric contraction force (MVC)], pain intensity [visual analogue scale (VAS)], biological markers of muscle injury (serum myoglobin and creatine kinase levels), and MMG-derived muscle contractile properties were measured at seven different time points. Pre-exercise 'control' measures were taken prior to a strenuous eccentric exercise task, followed by an immediate post-exercise measurement and further four consecutive daily measurements. A final post-exercise measurement was completed on day 12 post-exercise. RESULTS: Compared to pre-exercise control, MVC was lower immediately post-exercise (day 1) and on days 2-3. VAS scores were higher post-exercise (day 1) and from days 2-5. Myoglobin was significantly higher on day 4, whilst creatine kinase was significantly higher on days 4-5. MMG-derived maximum muscle displacement (Dmax) was significantly diminished post-exercise (day 1) at all vertebral segments (L1-MT), while contraction velocity (Vc) was significantly slower at all segments except sacral multifidus. Vc recovered rapidly (by day 2), while mid-lumbar Dmax resolved on day 12. Dmax had moderate correlations with MVC (R = 0.61) and VAS (R = - 0.50), and low correlations with myoglobin (R = - 0.36). CONCLUSION: MMG appears capable of detecting changes in muscle contractile properties associated with an acute bout of low back pain.

Towards Wearable Comprehensive Capture and Analysis of Skeletal Muscle Activity during Human Locomotion.

BACKGROUND: Motion capture and analyzing systems are essential for understanding locomotion. However, the existing devices are too cumbersome and can be used indoors only. A newly-developed wearable motion capture and measurement system with multiple sensors and ultrasound imaging was introduced in this study. METHODS: In ten healthy participants, the changes in muscle area and activity of gastrocnemius, plantarflexion and dorsiflexion of right leg during walking were evaluated by the developed system and the Vicon system. The existence of significant changes in a gait cycle, comparison of the ankle kinetic data captured by the developed system and the Vicon system, and test-retest reliability (evaluated by the intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC) in each channel's data captured by the developed system were examined. RESULTS: Moderate to good test-retest reliability of various channels of the developed system (0.512 ≤ ICC ≤ 0.988, p < 0.05), significantly high correlation between the developed system and Vicon system in ankle joint angles (0.638R ≤ 0.707, p < 0.05), and significant changes in muscle activity of gastrocnemius during a gait cycle (p < 0.05) were found. CONCLUSION: A newly developed wearable motion capture and measurement system with ultrasound imaging that can accurately capture the motion of one leg was evaluated in this study, which paves the way towards real-time comprehensive evaluation of muscles and joint motions during different activities in both indoor and outdoor environments.

Development and characterization of a human microglia cell model of HIV-1 infection.

Microglia cells are the major reservoir of HIV-1 (HIV) within the CNS. However, current models using transformed cell lines are not representative of primary microglia and fetal brain samples for isolation of primary human microglia (HMG) are increasingly difficult to obtain. Here, we describe a monocyte-derived microglia (MMG) cell model of HIV infection that recapitulates infection of primary HMG. CD14+ cells isolated from healthy donors were cultured with M-CSF, beta-nerve growth factor, GM-CSF, and CCL2, and compared to HMG. MMG and HMG cells were infected with HIV and viral replication was detected by p24 antigen. Both MMG and HMG cells were found to acquire spindle shape with few branched or unbranched processes at their ends during the second week in culture and both were found to be CD11b+/ CD11c+/ CD14+/ CD45+/ CD195+/ HLADRlow/ CD86low/ CD80+. Whereas hT-Hµglia and HMC3 transformed cell lines are deficient in human microglia signature genes (C1Q, GAS6, GPR34, MERTK, PROS1, and P2RY12), MMG cells expressed all of these genes. Additionally, MMG expressed all the microglia signature miRNA (miR-99a, miR125b-5p, and miR-342-3p). Both MMG and HMG produced ROS and phagocytosed labeled zymosan particles upon PMA stimulation. MMG and HMG infected with HIV produced equivalent levels of HIV p24 antigen in culture supernatants for 30 days post-infection. Thus, we have developed and characterized a microglia cell model of HIV infection derived from primary monocytes that recapitulates the phenotypic and molecular properties of HMG, is superior to transformed cell lines, and has similar HIV replication kinetics to HMG.

Nano-Self-Assemblies Based on Synthetic Analogues of Mycobacterial Monomycoloyl Glycerol and DDA: Supramolecular Structure and Adjuvant Efficacy.

The mycobacterial cell-wall lipid monomycoloyl glycerol (MMG) is a potent immunostimulator, and cationic liposomes composed of a shorter synthetic analogue (MMG-1) and dimethyldioctadecylammonium (DDA) bromide represent a promising adjuvant that induces strong antigen-specific Th1 and Th17 responses. In the present study, we investigated the supramolecular structure and in vivo adjuvant activity of dispersions based on binary mixtures of DDA and an array of synthetic MMG-1 analogues (MMG-2/3/5/6) displaying longer (MMG-2) or shorter (MMG-3) alkyl chain lengths, or variations in stereochemistry of the polar headgroup (MMG-5) or of the hydrophobic moiety (MMG-6). Synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering experiments and cryo transmission electron microscopy revealed that DDA:MMG-1/2/5/6 dispersions consisted of unilamellar and multilamellar vesicles (ULVs/MLVs), whereas a coexistence of both ULVs and hexosomes was observed for DDA:MMG-3, depending on the DDA:MMG molar ratio. The studies also showed that ULVs were formed, regardless of the structural characteristics of the neat MMG analogues in excess buffer [lamellar (MMG-1/2/5) or inverse hexagonal (MMG-3/6) phases]. Immunization of mice with a chlamydia antigen surface-adsorbed to DDA:MMG-1/3/6 dispersions revealed that all tested adjuvants were immunoactive and induced strong Th1 and Th17 responses with a potential for a central effector memory profile. The MMG-1 and MMG-6 analogues were equally immunoactive in vivo upon incorporation into DDA liposomes, despite the reported highly different immunostimulatory properties of the neat analogues in vitro, which were attributed to the different nanostructural characteristics. This clearly demonstrates that optimal formulation and delivery of MMG analogues to the immune system is of major importance and challenges the use of in vitro screening assays with nondispersed compounds to identify potential new vaccine adjuvants.

The effect of exercise hypertrophy and disuse atrophy on muscle contractile properties: a mechanomyographic analysis.

PURPOSE: To determine whether mechanomyographic (MMG) determined contractile properties of the biceps brachii change during exercise-induced hypertrophy and subsequent disuse atrophy. METHODS: Healthy subjects (mean ± SD, 23.7 ± 2.6 years, BMI 21.8 ± 2.4, n = 19) performed unilateral biceps curls (9 sets × 12 repetitions, 5 sessions per week) for 8 weeks (hypertrophic phase) before ceasing exercise (atrophic phase) for the following 8 weeks (non-dominant limb; treatment, dominant limb; control). MMG measures of muscle contractile properties (contraction time; T c, maximum displacement; D max, contraction velocity; V c), electromyographic (EMG) measures of muscle fatigue (median power frequency; MPF), strength measures (maximum voluntary contraction; MVC) and measures of muscle thickness (ultrasound) were obtained. RESULTS: Two-way repeated measures ANOVA showed significant differences (P < 0.05) between treatment and control limbs. During the hypertrophic phase treatment MVC initially declined (weeks 1-3), due to fatigue (decline in MPF), followed by improvement against control during weeks 6-8. Between weeks 5 and 8 treatment, muscle thickness was greater than control, reflecting gross hypertrophy. MMG variables Dmax (weeks 2, 7) and Vc (weeks 7, 8) declined. During the atrophic phase, MVC (weeks 9-12) and muscle thickness (weeks 9, 10) initially remained high before declining to control levels, reflecting gross atrophy. MMG variables D max (weeks 9, 14) and V c (weeks 9, 14, 15) also declined during the atrophic phase. No change in T c was found throughout the hypertrophic or atrophic phases. CONCLUSIONS: MMG detects changes in contractile properties during stages of exercise-induced hypertrophy and disuse atrophy suggesting its applicability as a clinical tool in musculoskeletal rehabilitation.

Blood flow restriction attenuates surface mechanomyography lateral and longitudinal, but not transverse oscillations during fatiguing exercise.

Objective. Surface mechanomyography (sMMG) can measure oscillations of the activated muscle fibers in three axes (i.e.X,Y, andZ-axes) and has been used to describe motor unit activation patterns (X-axis). The application of blood flow restriction (BFR) is common in exercise studies, but the cuff may restrict muscle fiber oscillations. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to examine the acute effects of submaximal, fatiguing exercise with and without BFR on sMMG amplitude in theX,Y, andZ-axes among female participants.Approach. Sixteen females (21 ± 1 years) performed two separate exercise bouts to volitional exhaustion that consisted of unilateral, submaximal (50% maximal voluntary isometric contraction [MVIC]) intermittent, isometric, leg extensions with and without BFR. sMMG was recorded and examined across percent time to exhaustion (%TTE) in 20% increments. Separate 2-way repeated measures ANOVA models were constructed: (condition [BFR, non-BFR]) × (time [20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% TTE]) to examine absolute (m·s-2) and normalized (% of pretest MVIC) sMMG amplitude in theX-(sMMG-X),Y-(sMMG-Y), andZ-(sMMG-Z) axes.Main results. The absolute sMMG-X amplitude responses were attenuated with the application of BFR (mean ± SD = 0.236 ± 0.138 m·s-2) relative to non-BFR (0.366 ± 0.199 m·s-2, collapsed across time) and for sMMG-Y amplitude at 60%-100% of TTE (BFR range = 0.213-0.232 m·s-2versus non-BFR = 0.313-0.445 m·s-2). Normalizing sMMG to pretest MVIC removed most, but not all the attenuation which was still evident for sMMG-Y amplitude at 100% of TTE between BFR (72.9 ± 47.2%) and non-BFR (98.9 ± 53.1%). Interestingly, sMMG-Z amplitude was not affected by the application of BFR and progressively decreased across %TTE (0.332 ± 0.167 m·s-2to 0.219 ± 0.104 m·s-2, collapsed across condition.)Significance. The application of BFR attenuated sMMG-X and sMMG-Y amplitude, although normalizing sMMG removed most of this attenuation. Unlike theXandY-axes, sMMG-Z amplitude was not affected by BFR and progressively decreased across each exercise bout potentially tracking the development of muscle fatigue.

Comparison of non-invasive magnetomyography to Brink score for assessment of pelvic floor muscle strength.

Objective.Levator ani muscles undergo significant stretching and micro-trauma at childbirth. The goal was to assess the neuromuscular integrity of this muscle group by means of magnetomyography (MMG) and correlate with Brink score-a commonly used digital assessment of pelvic floor muscle strength.Approach.Non-invasive MMG data was collected on 22 pregnant women during rest and voluntary contraction of the pelvic-floor muscles (Kegels). The mean amplitude and power spectral density (PSD) of the Kegels were correlated to Brink pressure score.Main Results.The modified Brink pressure score demonstrated medium correlations (⩾0.3) with MMG amplitude and PSD with the average Kegel of medium intensity and rest. Data showed that the 'resting state' of the pelvic floor is, in actuality, quite dynamic and may have implications for pelvic floor disorder propensity postpartum.Significance.These results confirm the ability of non-invasive MMG to reliably capture pelvic floor contraction as these signals correlate with clinical measure.

Diagnostic Utility of Expression Pattern of S100/Mammaglobin/SOX10/DOG 1 Immunohistochemistry in Differentiation of Secretory and Acinic Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Secretory carcinoma (SC) is a relatively new disease entity, separate from acinic cell carcinoma (AciCC), which frequently displays ETV6-NTRK3 gene fusion. However, the differences between SC and AciCC remain ambiguous. Genetic diversity makes its diagnosis complicated. In this regard combined expression of immunohistochemistry markers S100/Mammaglobin/SOX10 and DOG1 is need of the hour as alternative methodology. The current systematic review was to investigate the diagnostic utility of combined immunohistochemical expression of S100/Mammaglobin/SOX10/DOG1 in distinction of SC from AciCC histologically. An electronic search of databases was carried out using MEDLINE by PubMed, Google scholar, Scopus and Web of science. Articles inclusive of SC and AciCC were assessed with S100/Mammaglobin/SOX10/DOG1 immunohistochemistry and their predominant expression pattern, predictive values, sensitivity and specificity were gathered. Fourteen eligible articles were analysed, which revealed predominant immunostaining pattern of S100 + /Mammaglobin + /SOX10 + /DOG1- by nearly all ETV6::NTRK3 fusion prevalent SCs alongside with other gene fusions like RET, MET and MAML3 with 98.4% sensitivity as well as 86.1% specificity. The evidence supports that S100/Mammaglobin/SOX10/DOG1 combined immunostaining can serve as a reliable diagnostic method to differentiate secretory from acinic cell carcinoma.

MMG22 Potently Blocks Hyperalgesia in Cisplatin-treated Mice.

MMG22 is a bivalent ligand containing MOR agonist and mGluR5 antagonist pharmacophores connected by a 22-atom linker. Intrathecal (i.t.) administration of MMG22 to inflamed mice has been reported to produce fmol-range antinociception in the reversal of LPS-induced hyperalgesia. MMG22 reduced hyperalgesia in the spared nerve injury (SNI) model of neuropathic pain at 10 days after injury but not at 30 days after injury, perhaps related to the inflammation that occurs early after injury but subsequently subsides. The present study determined the efficacy of MMG22 in cisplatin-treated male mice in order to provide data relating to the efficacy of MMG22 in the treatment of neuropathic pain that is associated with inflammation. Groups of eight mice each received daily intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of cisplatin for seven days to produce robust mechanical allodynia defined by the decrease in withdrawal threshold using an electronic von Frey applied to the plantar surface of the hind paw. Intrathecal administration of MMG22 potently reduced mechanical hyperalgesia (ED50 0.04 fmol/mouse) without tolerance, whereas MMG10 was essentially inactive. Morphine was less potent than MMG22 by >5-orders of magnitude and displayed tolerance. Subcutaneous MMG22 was effective (ED50 = 2.41 mg/kg) and devoid of chronic tolerance. We propose that MMG22 induces the formation of a MOR-mGluR5 heteromer through selective interaction with the upregulated NR2B subunit of activated NMDAR, in view of the 4600-fold reduction of i.t. MMG22 antinociception by the selective NR2B antagonist, Ro25-6981. A possible explanation for the substantially reduced potency for MMG22 in the SNI model is discussed.

High-density magnetomyography is superior to high-density surface electromyography for motor unit decomposition: a simulation study.

Objective.Studying motor units is essential for understanding motor control, the detection of neuromuscular disorders and the control of human-machine interfaces. Individual motor unit firings are currently identifiedin vivoby decomposing electromyographic (EMG) signals. Due to our body's properties and anatomy, individual motor units can only be separated to a limited extent with surface EMG. Unlike electrical signals, magnetic fields do not interact with human tissues. This physical property and the emerging technology of quantum sensors make magnetomyography (MMG) a highly promising methodology. However, the full potential of MMG to study neuromuscular physiology has not yet been explored.Approach.In this work, we performin silicotrials that combine a biophysical model of EMG and MMG with state-of-the-art algorithms for the decomposition of motor units. This allows the prediction of an upper-bound for the motor unit decomposition accuracy.Main results.It is shown that non-invasive high-density MMG data is superior over comparable high-density surface EMG data for the robust identification of the discharge patterns of individual motor units. Decomposing MMG instead of EMG increased the number of identifiable motor units by 76%. Notably, MMG exhibits a less pronounced bias to detect superficial motor units.Significance.The presented simulations provide insights into methods to study the neuromuscular system non-invasively andin vivothat would not be easily feasible by other means. Hence, this study provides guidance for the development of novel biomedical technologies.

A novel COVID diagnosis and feature extraction based on discrete wavelet model and classification using X-ray and CT images.

Recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has affected several lives of people globally, and there is a need for a massive number of screening tests to diagnose the existence of coronavirus. For the medical specialist, detecting COVID-19 cases is a difficult task. There is a need for fast, cheap and accurate diagnostic tools. The chest X-ray and the computerized tomography (CT) play a significant role in the COVID-19 diagnosis. The advancement of deep learning (DL) approaches helps to introduce a COVID diagnosis system to achieve maximum detection rate with minimum time complexity. This research proposed a discrete wavelet optimized network model for COVID-19 diagnosis and feature extraction to overcome these problems. It consists of three stages pre-processing, feature extraction and classification. The raw images are filtered in the pre-processing phase to eliminate unnecessary noises and improve the image quality using the MMG hybrid filtering technique. The next phase is feature extraction, in this stage, the features are extracted, and the dimensionality of the features is diminished with the aid of a modified discrete wavelet based Mobile Net model. The third stage is the classification here, the convolutional Aquila COVID detection network model is developed to classify normal and COVID-19 positive cases from the collected images of the COVID-CT and chest X-ray dataset. Finally, the performance of the proposed model is compared with some of the existing models in terms of accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, precision, f-score, negative predictive value (NPV) and positive predictive value (PPV), respectively. The proposed model achieves the performance of 99%, 100%, 98.5%, and 99.5% for the CT dataset, and the accomplished accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, and precision values of the proposed model for the X-ray dataset are 98%, 99%, 98% and 97% respectively. In addition, the statistical and cross validation analysis is conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed model.