Applied Sciences-Basel最新文献

{"title":"Intramedullary Stress and Strain Correlate with Neurological Dysfunction in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy.","authors":"Mahmudur Rahman, Karthik Banurekha Devaraj, Omkar Chauhan, Balaji Harinathan, Narayan Yoganandan, Aditya Vedantam","doi":"10.3390/app15020886","DOIUrl":"10.3390/app15020886","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is characterized by progressive neurological dysfunction, yet the contribution of intramedullary stress and strain during neck motion remains unclear. This study used patient-specific finite element models (FEMs) of the cervical spine and spinal cord to examine the relationship between spinal cord biomechanics and neurological dysfunction. Twenty DCM patients (mean age 62.7 ± 11.6 years; thirteen females) underwent pre-surgical MRI-based modeling to quantify von Mises stress and maximum principal strains at the level of maximum spinal cord compression during simulated neck flexion and extension. Pre-surgical functional assessments included hand sensation, dexterity, and balance. During flexion, the mean intramedullary stress and strain at the level of maximum compression were 7.6 ± 3.7 kPa and 4.3 ± 2.0%, respectively. Increased intramedullary strain during flexion correlated with decreased right-hand sensation (r = -0.58, <i>p</i> = 0.014), impaired right-hand dexterity (r = -0.50, <i>p</i> = 0.048), and prolonged dexterity time (r = 0.52, <i>p</i> = 0.039). Similar correlations were observed with intramedullary stress. Patients with severe DCM exhibited significantly greater stress during flexion than those with mild/moderate disease (<i>p</i> = 0.03). These findings underscore the impact of dynamic spinal cord biomechanics on neurological dysfunction and support their potential utility in improving DCM diagnosis and management.</p>","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":"15 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11845244/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143484398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Optimizing Automated Hematoma Expansion Classification from Baseline and Follow-Up Head Computed Tomography.","authors":"Anh T Tran, Dmitriy Desser, Tal Zeevi, Gaby Abou Karam, Julia Zietz, Andrea Dell'Orco, Min-Chiun Chen, Ajay Malhotra, Adnan I Qureshi, Santosh B Murthy, Shahram Majidi, Guido J Falcone, Kevin N Sheth, Jawed Nawabi, Seyedmehdi Payabvash","doi":"10.3390/app15010111","DOIUrl":"10.3390/app15010111","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hematoma expansion (HE) is an independent predictor of poor outcomes and a modifiable treatment target in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Evaluating HE in large datasets requires segmentation of hematomas on admission and follow-up CT scans, a process that is time-consuming and labor-intensive in large-scale studies. Automated segmentation of hematomas can expedite this process; however, cumulative errors from segmentation on admission and follow-up scans can hamper accurate HE classification. In this study, we combined a tandem deep-learning classification model with automated segmentation to generate probability measures for false HE classifications. With this strategy, we can limit expert review of automated hematoma segmentations to a subset of the dataset, tailored to the research team's preferred sensitivity or specificity thresholds and their tolerance for false-positive versus false-negative results. We utilized three separate multicentric cohorts for cross-validation/training, internal testing, and external validation (<i>n</i> = 2261) to develop and test a pipeline for automated hematoma segmentation and to generate ground truth binary HE annotations (≥3, ≥6, ≥9, and ≥12.5 mL). Applying a 95% sensitivity threshold for HE classification showed a practical and efficient strategy for HE annotation in large ICH datasets. This threshold excluded 47-88% of test-negative predictions from expert review of automated segmentations for different HE definitions, with less than 2% false-negative misclassification in both internal and external validation cohorts. Our pipeline offers a time-efficient and optimizable method for generating ground truth HE classifications in large ICH datasets, reducing the burden of expert review of automated hematoma segmentations while minimizing misclassification rate.</p>","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11882137/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143568650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ground Reaction Forces and Joint Moments Predict Metabolic Cost in Physical Performance: Harnessing the Power of Artificial Neural Networks.","authors":"Arash Mohammadzadeh Gonabadi, Farahnaz Fallahtafti, Prokopios Antonellis, Iraklis I Pipinos, Sara A Myers","doi":"10.3390/app14125210","DOIUrl":"10.3390/app14125210","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding metabolic cost through biomechanical data, including ground reaction forces (GRFs) and joint moments, is vital for health, sports, and rehabilitation. The long stabilization time (2-5 min) of indirect calorimetry poses challenges in prolonged tests. This study investigated using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict metabolic costs from the GRF and joint moment time series. Data from 20 participants collected over 270 walking trials, including the GRF and joint moments, formed a detailed dataset. Two ANN models were crafted, net_GRF for the GRF and net_Moment for joint moments, and both underwent training, validation, and testing to validate their predictive accuracy for metabolic cost. Net_GRF (six hidden layers, two input delays) showed significant correlations: 0.963 (training), 0.927 (validation), 0.883 (testing), <i>p</i> < 0.001. Net_Moment (three hidden layers, one input delay) had correlations of 0.920 (training), 0.956 (validation), 0.874 (testing), <i>p</i> < 0.001. The models' low mean squared errors reflect their precision. Using Partial Dependence Plots, we demonstrated how gait cycle phases affect metabolic cost predictions, pinpointing key phases. Our findings show that the GRF and joint moments data can accurately predict metabolic costs via ANN models, with net_GRF being notably consistent. This emphasizes ANNs' role in biomechanics as a crucial method for estimating metabolic costs, impacting sports science, rehabilitation, assistive technology development, and fostering personalized advancements.</p>","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":"14 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11735018/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143014612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Application of Digital Holographic Imaging to Monitor Real-Time Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy Dynamics in Response to Norepinephrine Stimulation.","authors":"Wahida Akter, Herman Huang, Jacquelyn Simmons, Alexander Y Payumo","doi":"10.3390/app14093819","DOIUrl":"10.3390/app14093819","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, characterized by an increase in cell size, is associated with various cardiovascular diseases driven by factors including hypertension, myocardial infarction, and valve dysfunction. In vitro primary cardiomyocyte culture models have yielded numerous insights into the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms driving hypertrophic growth. However, due to limitations in current approaches, the dynamics of cardiomyocyte hypertrophic responses remain poorly characterized. In this study, we evaluate the application of the Holomonitor M4 digital holographic imaging microscope to track dynamic changes in cardiomyocyte surface area and volume in response to norepinephrine treatment, a model hypertrophic stimulus. The Holomonitor M4 permits non-invasive, label-free imaging of three-dimensional changes in cell morphology with minimal phototoxicity, thus enabling long-term imaging studies. Untreated and norepinephrine-stimulated primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were live-imaged on the Holomonitor M4, which was followed by image segmentation and single-cell tracking using the HOLOMONITOR App Suite software version 4.0.1.546. The 24 h treatment of cultured cardiomyocytes with norepinephrine increased cardiomyocyte spreading and optical volume as expected, validating the reliability of the approach. Single-cell tracking of both cardiomyocyte surface area and three-dimensional optical volume revealed dynamic increases in these parameters throughout the 24 h imaging period, demonstrating the potential of this technology to explore cardiomyocyte hypertrophic responses with greater temporal resolution; however, technological limitations were also observed and should be considered in the experimental design and interpretation of results. Overall, leveraging the unique advantages of the Holomonitor M4 digital holographic imaging system has the potential to empower future work towards understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying cardiomyocyte hypertrophy with enhanced temporal clarity.</p>","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11138140/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141181150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Anthropometric Measurements, Physical Fitness Performance and Specific Throwing Strength in Adolescent Track-and-Field Throwers: Age, Sex and Sport Discipline","authors":"Yifan Zhao, Kewei Zhao","doi":"10.3390/app131810118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/app131810118","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose: The aims of this study were: (1) to profile anthropometric, physical fitness, and specific throwing strength characteristics among 14–18 years boys and girls throwers; (2) to evaluate which factors vary with age, and which correlate with specific throwing strength; (3) to identify the measured variables that best predict specific throwing strength. Methods: Anthropometric, physical fitness, and specific throwing strength of 154 boys and 104 girls, who participated in track-and-field throw (Shot put, Javelin, Discus and Hammer throw) from four age categories (U15, U16, U17, U18), were measured in September 2022. The differences and correlations in parameters among different age, sex and throwing groups were analyzed using parametric and non-parametric testing. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to identify the variables that best explain the specific throwing strength. Results: Disparities in height between boys and girls of the same age have consistently existed, however, the dissimilarity in weight tends to diminish as they grow older. Boys and girls of identical age groups exhibit noteworthy disparities in terms of speed, agility, and jumping prowess. These disparities tend to amplify as they advance in age. Significant differences were observed among boys of different ages in Height (p = 0.038), Body Mass (p = 0.02), BMI (p = 0.025), sit and reach test (p = 0.035), standing long jump (p = 0.012), standing triple jump (p < 0.01), forward overhead medicine ball throw (p = 0.002) and the hexagon agility test (p < 0.01). No differences were found in anthropometric measurements among girls, but differences were found in the hexagon agility test (p = 0.017) and plank test (p = 0.041). Specific throwing strength exhibits variations due to differences in events, age, and gender. Additionally, physical fitness performance, especially lower limb power, linear sprint speed, forward overhead medicine ball throw and backward overhead shot throw, have a high correlation with specific throwing strength. Conclusions: These findings broaden the existing knowledge base for coaches and practitioners, enabling them to discern the distinctive attributes of track and field throwers and capture the crucial physical markers that are pivotal for nurturing the progression of track-and-field throwers. The study suggests that throwers aged 14 to 18 should strive to comprehensively cultivate their athletic abilities.","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47967148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Anti-Muscle Atrophy Effects of Ishige sinicola in LPS-Induced C2C12 Myotubes through Its Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Actions","authors":"Mi-Bo Kim, Hyeju Lee, Chaehyeon Lee, Yuqing Tan, Sang Gil Lee","doi":"10.3390/app131810115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/app131810115","url":null,"abstract":"Inflammation and oxidative stress are known to be major factors in muscle atrophy. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the antioxidant activity of Ishige sinicola ethanol extract (ISE) and fractions from ISE could prevent lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced muscle atrophy in C2C12 myotubes. IS was extracted with ethanol and fractionated with five organic solvents. Then, ISE and five fractions from ISE were used to evaluate the total antioxidant activity and the protective effect of LPS-induced muscle atrophy in C2C12 myotubes. The ISE and butanol (BuOH) fraction showed higher total antioxidant activity and higher total phenol content than other fractions of ISE. The ISE and BuOH fraction significantly attenuated the LPS-induced diameter of C2C12 myotubes as well as the mRNA and protein expression levels of the muscle-specific E3 ubiquitin ligases. The mRNA expression of forkhead box O type 3α was stimulated by LPS, which was suppressed by the BuOH fraction but not ISE. Furthermore, ISE and the BuOH fraction significantly reduced LPS-stimulated gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and inflammation-inducible enzymes, which was mediated by through the inhibition of the p38/extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling pathway. Thus, ISE exerts a protective effect against muscle atrophy in LPS-induced C2C12 myotubes through the antioxidant activity and anti-inflammatory effects of ISE.","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46322707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Repair Method and Muéganos Structure Applied to the Nesting Problem in Finite Materials","authors":"Anabel Rodríguez, Francisco Cuevas, Daniela Esparza","doi":"10.3390/app131810117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/app131810117","url":null,"abstract":"During an optimization process which uses a metaheuristic strategy applied to the nesting problem, it is required to apply a repair method if the random solution contains overlapping items. In this paper, a repair method is proposed to avoid the overlap of pixels between items obtained by a randomly generated solution using metaheuristics. The proposed procedure runs through each one of the items. When it finds at least one overlapping pixel, it performs four moves: up, down, left, and right, and it is repeated until no more overlaps appear. In addition, a structure called muéganos is defined. It contains items that are nested more compactly to minimize waste. This structure allows the nesting of elements in a more efficient way. To complete the procedure, a sequential greedy algorithm (SGA) was implemented to nested the items in the available area of the material. A comparison was made between nesting without and with muéganos, obtaining better results using muéganos, with a material utilization of more than 70%. From the experimental results, it was obtained that the solutions are improved by more than 1% through our proposed method, which is competitive when compared to other methods proposed in the literature.","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43166496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phytogenic Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Metallic/Bimetallic Nanoparticles Using Beta vulgaris L. Extract and Assessments of Their Potential Biological Activities","authors":"Khaled M. Elattar, A. A. Ghoniem, Fatimah Al-Otibi, Mohammed S. El-Hersh, Yosra A. Helmy, W. Saber","doi":"10.3390/app131810110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/app131810110","url":null,"abstract":"The synthesis of novel nanomedicines through eco-friendly protocols has been applied on a large scale with the prediction of discovering alternate therapies. The current work attained phytogenic synthesis of Ag-mNPs, AgSeO2-bmNPs, and Ag-TiO2-bmNPs through bio-reduction using an aqueous extract of Beta vulgaris (red beetroot). The phytochemical profile of the eco-friendly synthesized metallic/bimetallic nanoparticles was studied. The optical properties of nano-solutions were studied via UV-visible spectroscopy. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectral analyses revealed that stretching vibrations at wavenumbers 3303.81–3327.81 cm−1 attributed to phenolic hydroxyl groups documented shifts in the values in this range owing to proton dissociation through the bio-reduction of the metal ions. The surface morphology and the charge of the nanoparticles were investigated using a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and zeta potential analyses. The prepared nano-solutions showed lower antioxidant activity (1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) and phosphomolybdate assays) than the plant extract. These results together with phytochemical analyses support the participation of the reactive species (phenolic contents) in the bio-reduction of the metal ions in the solutions through the formation of metallic/bimetallic nanoparticles. Ag-mNPs, AgSeO2-bmNPs, and Ag-TiO2-bmNPs showed antibacterial potentiality. AgSeO2-bmNPs were superior with inhibitory zone diameters of 34.7, 37.7, 11.7, and 32.7 mm against Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella enterica, respectively. Applying the Methylthiazole Tetrazolium (MTT) assay, the Ag-TiO2 bmNPs revealed potent cytotoxicity against the HePG2 tumor cell line (IC50 = 18.18 ± 1.5 µg/mL), while Ag-SeO2 bmNPs revealed the most potent cytotoxicity against the MCF-7 cell line (IC50 = 17.92 ± 1.4 µg/mL).","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47243811","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Special Issue on Promising Research and Strategies in Wastewater Treatment, Sludge Management, and Valorisation: Volume I","authors":"A. Laca, Yolanda Patiño","doi":"10.3390/app131810121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/app131810121","url":null,"abstract":"Rapid urbanization and industrialization, together with new contaminants arising from many different sources, make it necessary to move forwards with research to face future challenges regarding water pollution [...]","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43287287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Clustering Analysis of Wind Turbine Alarm Sequences Based on Domain Knowledge-Fused Word2vec","authors":"Lu Wei, Liliang Wang, Feng Liu, Zheng Qian","doi":"10.3390/app131810114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/app131810114","url":null,"abstract":"The alarm data contain abundant fault information related to almost all components of the wind turbine. Reasonable analysis and utilization of alarm data can assist wind farm maintenance personnel in quickly identifying the types of turbine faults, reducing operation and maintenance costs. This paper proposes a clustering analysis method that groups similar alarm sequences with the same fault type. Firstly, the alarm data are preprocessed, where alarm sequences are segmented, and redundant alarms are removed. Then, a domain knowledge-fused Word2vec (DK-Wrod2vec) method is introduced to transform non-numeric alarm codes into numeric vector representations. Finally, new distance metrics are incorporated into the K-means clustering algorithm to improve clustering performance. The performance of the proposed clustering method is assessed by applying it to labeled alarm sequences. The results demonstrate that the clustering performance is the best when using DK-Word2vec and the word rotator’s distance compared with other methods. Additionally, with the optimal parameter combination, the fault types of unlabeled alarm sequences are also analyzed.","PeriodicalId":48760,"journal":{"name":"Applied Sciences-Basel","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42069937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}