Suboptimal Exposure to Facial Expressions When Viewing Video Messages From a Small Screen: Effects on Emotion, Attention, and Memory.

The authors examined the effects of suboptimally presented facial expressions on emotional and attentional responses and memory among 39 young adults viewing video (business news) messages from a small screen. Facial electromyography (EMG) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia were used as physiological measures of emotion and attention, respectively. Several congruency priming effects were found. In particular, happy facial primes prompted increased (a) pleasure ratings, (b) orbicularis oculi EMG activity, (c) perceived trustworthiness, and (d) recognition memory for video messages with a positive emotional tone. Emotional and other responses to video messages presented on a small screen can be modified with suboptimal affective primes, but even small differences in the emotional tone of the messages should be allowed for. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The association between emotional upset and cardiac arrhythmia during daily life": Correction to Carels et al. (2003).

Reports an error in the original article by R. A. Carels et al (Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 2003[Jun], Vol 71[3], 613-618). On page 615, Lines 18, 20, 22, of Table 1, the data in the rows that read "Tachycardia in min per hr," "Repetitive PVCs per hr," and "PVCs per hr" are incorrectly reported in the n and % columns. They should have been reported in the M and SD columns. The corrected table is provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2003-00756-023.) Ventricular arrhythmia exhibits considerable within-subject variability that cannot be attributed to clinical status alone. This investigation examined the extent to which cardiac arrhythmia was associated with psychological and physical factors assessed during the hour preceding arrhythmic or nonarrhythmic activity. Approximately twice hourly, 46 patients randomly completed a diary assessing mood and physical symptoms during 24-hr electrocardiographic monitoring. Greater negative emotion was associated with increased arrhythmia. Additionally, greater negative emotion was significantly associated with increased arrhythmia among participants in a low left ventricular ejection fraction group (LVEF). However, this relationship between negative emotion and arrhythmia was not... (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

iPSC-Cardiomyocyte Models of Brugada Syndrome—Achievements,Challenges and Future Perspectives

Brugada syndrome (BrS) is an inherited cardiac arrhythmia that predisposes to ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac death. It originates from oligogenic alterations that affect cardiac ion channels or their accessory proteins. The main hurdle for the study of the functional effects of those variants is the need for a specific model that mimics the complex environment of human cardiomyocytes. Traditionally, animal models or transient heterologous expression systems are applied for electrophysiological investigations, each of these models having their limitations. The ability to create induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs), providing a source of human patient-specific cells, offers new opportunities in the field of cardiac disease modelling. Contemporary iPSC-CMs constitute the best possible in vitro model to study complex cardiac arrhythmia syndromes such as BrS. To date, thirteen reports on iPSC-CM models for BrS have been published and with this review we provide an overview of the current findings, with a focus on the electrophysiological parameters. We also discuss the methods that are used for cell derivation and data acquisition. In the end, we critically evaluate the knowledge gained by the use of these iPSC-CM models and discuss challenges and future perspectives for iPSC-CMs in the study of BrS and other arrhythmias.     

Antisense Oligonucleotide-Based Rescue of Aberrant Splicing Defects Caused by 15 Pathogenic Variants in ABCA4

The discovery of novel intronic variants in the ABCA4 locus has contributed significantly to solving the missing heritability in Stargardt disease (STGD1). The increasing number of variants affecting pre-mRNA splicing makes ABCA4 a suitable candidate for antisense oligonucleotide (AON)-based splicing modulation therapies. In this study, AON-based splicing modulation was assessed for 15 recently described intronic variants (three near-exon and 12 deep-intronic variants). In total, 26 AONs were designed and tested in vitro using a midigene-based splice system. Overall, partial or complete splicing correction was observed for two variants causing exon elongation and all variants causing pseudoexon inclusion. Together, our results confirm the high potential of AONs for the development of future RNA therapies to correct splicing defects causing STGD1.     

基于FFNN和1D-CNN的实时心律失常诊断系统与算法

为了解决心律失常实时诊断的问题,设计并实现了实时心律失常诊断系统,并提出了一种基于前向反馈神经网络(FFNN)和一维卷积神经网络(1D-CNN)的实时心律失常诊断算法。系统利用可穿戴的心电图(ECG)采集设备采集心电信号并实时无线传输到客户端软件进行心律失常诊断,然后将诊断结果自动上传至服务器。心律失常诊断算法以原始胸导联ECG并采用200 ms时间窗的片段作为输入,首先使用一个基于FFNN模型的分类器实时检测R波的位置,然后提取出每3个R波之间的心电序列并重采样为长度360点作为ECG_RRR特征,最后使用一个基于1D-CNN模型的分类器进行实时心律失常分类。利用MIT-BIH心律失常数据库中MLII导联ECG数据训练算法模型并对系统进行测试。结果表明,提出的实时心律失常诊断系统与算法具有正确率高、实时性强且易部署的特点,对于跨病人的R波位置检测查全率为98.0%,查准率为99.5%以及整体正确率为97.6%,对于5分类的心律失常检测正确率为91.5%。     

人脸检测的继承式集成学习方法

基于"遗传+变异"模式,提出继承式集成学习方法框架,它可以训练出四种不同形式的层叠分类器。除了基于"无遗传"模式的基本层叠分类器与基于"全部遗传"模式的嵌入式层叠分类器两种传统方法之外,还有基于"部分遗传+部分变异"模式的特征继承层叠分类器与弱分类器继承层叠分类器。虽然后两种层叠分类器都有一定的继承代价,但是其拟合性更好,可以更好地均衡收敛速度和扩展性能,其综合性能优于传统方法。基于RAB、GAB算法与LUT弱分类器的正面直立人脸检测实验结果表明了新的继承式集成学习方法的有效性。     

GIS环境下的最佳路径规划

本文从沈阳市消防通信指挥系统的实际需要出 发,在GIS环境下求解从消防中队到火灾发生地的最佳路径．采用了离线搜索、建立最佳路 径库来解决实际应用中对实时性的要求,叙述了如何建立最佳路径的数学模型和利用遗传算 法通过样本路径来求解模型中的参数．     

QT间期离散度与急性心肌梗死患者预后的关系

通过观察急性心肌梗死(AMI)患者QT间期离散度(QTd)变化,探讨其与临床关系。应用体表同步十二导联心电图对168例AMI患者进行心电图QTd和校正QT间期离散度(QTcd)测定,并与168例正常人做对照。结果表明:AMI患者入院后心电图的QTd、QTcd均明显长于对照组(P<0.01);室性心律失常组、心衰组、死亡组QTd、QTcd均明显长于非心律失常组、非心衰组、生存组(P<0.01);前壁组QTd、QTcd明显长于下后壁组(P<0.01);AMI组中QTmax存在于梗死或缺血区导联163例,占97%。AMI中发生室性心律失常组QTd增加均>60 ms,其中6例室颤QTd均>100 ms。综上得出结论:AMI患者QTd、QTcd明显延长,为AMI发生室性心律失常、心力衰竭和猝死简单而实用的重要预测指标。QTd>60 ms可以作为预测心肌梗死患者发生室性心律失常的指标,而QTd>100 ms是识别高危心律失常的敏感指标。     

Stationary and Progressive Phenotypes Caused by the p.G90D Mutation in Rhodopsin Gene

Mutations in rhodopsin gene (RHO) are a frequent cause of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and less often, congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB). Mutation p.G90D has previously been associated with CSNB based on the examination of one family. This study screened 60 patients. Out of these 60 patients, 32 were affected and a full characterization was conducted in 15 patients. We described the clinical characteristics of these 15 patients (12 male, median age 42 years, range 8–71) from three families including visual field (Campus Goldmann), fundus autofluorescence (FAF), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and electrophysiology. Phenotypes were classified into four categories: CSNB (N = 3, 20%) sector RP (N = 3, 20%), pericentral RP (N = 1, 6.7%) and classic RP (N = 8, 53.3% (8/15)). The phenotypes were not associated with family, sex or age (Kruskal–Wallis, p > 0.05), however, cystoid macular edema (CME) was observed only in one family. Among the subjects reporting nyctalopia, 69% (22/32) were male. The clinical characteristics of the largest p.G90D cohort so far showed a large frequency of progressive retinal degeneration with 53.3% developing RP, contrary to the previous report.     

Computational approaches to understand the adverse drug effect on potassium,sodium and calcium channels for predicting TdP cardiac arrhythmias

Ion channels play a crucial role in the cardiovascular system. Our understanding of cardiac ion channel function has improved since their first discoveries. The flow of potassium, sodium and calcium ions across cardiomyocytes is vital for regular cardiac rhythm. Blockage of these channels, delays cardiac repolarization or tend to shorten repolarization and may induce arrhythmia. Detection of drug risk by channel blockade is considered essential for drug regulators. Advanced computational models can be used as an early screen for torsadogenic potential in drug candidates. New drug candidates that are determined to not cause blockage are more likely to pass successfully through preclinical trials and not be withdrawn later from the marketplace by manufacturer. Several different approved drugs, however, can cause a distinctive polymorphic ventricular arrhythmia known as torsade de pointes (TdP), which may lead to sudden death. The objective of the present study is to review the mechanisms and computational models used to assess the risk that a drug may TdP. Key points: There is strong evidence from multiple studies that blockage of the L-type calcium current reduces risk of TdP. Blockage of sodium channels slows cardiac action potential conduction, however, not all sodium channel blocking antiarrhythmic drugs produce a significant effect, while late sodium channel block reduces TdP. Interestingly, there are some drugs that block the hERG potassium channel and therefore cause QT prolongation, but they are not associated with TdP. Recent studies confirmed the necessity of studying multiple distinctionic ion channels which are responsible for cardiac related diseases or TdP, to obtain an improved clinical TdP risk prediction of compound interactions and also for designing drugs.