| 1. |
- Memedi, Mevludin, et al.
(author)
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Validity and responsiveness of at-home touch-screen assessments in advanced Parkinson's disease
- 2015
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In: IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 2168-2194 .- 2168-2208. ; 19:6, s. 1829-1834
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of this study was to investigate if a telemetry test battery can be used to measure effects of Parkinson’s disease (PD) treatment intervention and disease progression in patients with fluctuations. Sixty-five patients diagnosed with advanced PD were recruited in an open longitudinal 36-month study; 35 treated with levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) and 30 were candidates for switching from oral PD treatment to LCIG. They utilized a test battery, consisting of self-assessments of symptoms and fine motor tests (tapping and spiral drawings), four times per day in their homes during week-long test periods. The repeated measurements were summarized into an overall test score (OTS) to represent the global condition of the patient during a test period. Clinical assessments included ratings on Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS) and 39-item PD Questionnaire (PDQ-39) scales. In LCIG-naïve patients, mean OTS compared to baseline was significantly improved from the first test period on LCIG treatment until month 24. In LCIG-non-naïve patients, there were no significant changes in mean OTS until month 36. The OTS correlated adequately with total UPDRS (rho = 0.59) and total PDQ-39 (0.59). Responsiveness measured as effect size was 0.696 and 0.536 for OTS and UPDRS respectively. The trends of the test scores were similar to the trends of clinical rating scores but dropout rate was high. Correlations between OTS and clinical rating scales were adequate indicating that the test battery contains important elements of the information of well-established scales. The responsiveness and reproducibility were better for OTS than for total UPDRS.
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| 2. |
- Mastinu, Enzo, 1987, et al.
(author)
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An Alternative Myoelectric Pattern Recognition Approach for the Control of Hand Prostheses : A Case Study of Use in Daily Life by a Dysmelia Subject
- 2018
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In: IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 2168-2372. ; 6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The functionality of upper limb prostheses can be improved by intuitive control strategies that use bioelectric signals measured at the stump level. One such strategy is the decoding of motor volition via myoelectric pattern recognition (MPR), which has shown promising results in controlled environments and more recently in clinical practice. Moreover, not much has been reported about daily life implementation and real-time accuracy of these decoding algorithms. This paper introduces an alternative approach in which MPR allows intuitive control of four different grips and open/close in a multifunctional prosthetic hand. We conducted a clinical proof-of-concept in activities of daily life by constructing a self-contained, MPR-controlled, transradial prosthetic system provided with a novel user interface meant to log errors during real-time operation. The system was used for five days by a unilateral dysmelia subject whose hand had never developed, and who nevertheless learned to generate patterns of myoelectric activity, reported as intuitive, for multi-functional prosthetic control. The subject was instructed to manually log errors when they occurred via the user interface mounted on the prosthesis. This allowed the collection of information about prosthesis usage and real-time classification accuracy. The assessment of capacity for myoelectric control test was used to compare the proposed approach to the conventional prosthetic control approach, direct control. Regarding the MPR approach, the subject reported a more intuitive control when selecting the different grips, but also a higher uncertainty during proportional continuous movements. This paper represents an alternative to the conventional use of MPR, and this alternative may be particularly suitable for a certain type of amputee patients. Moreover, it represents a further validation of MPR with dysmelia cases.
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| 3. |
- Memedi, Mevludin, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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A web application for follow-up of results from a mobile device test battery for Parkinson’s disease patients
- 2011
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In: Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine. - Amsterdam : Elsevier BV. - 0169-2607 .- 1872-7565. ; 104:2, s. 219-226
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A test battery consisting of self-assessments and motor tests for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) was constructed and implemented on a hand computer with touch screen in a telemedicine setting. In this work, a Web-based system was developed to deliver decision support information to treating clinical staff for assessing PD symptoms in their patients. Test results from the hand unit are transferred to a central server and processed into scores for different symptom dimensions and an “overall test score” reflecting the overall condition of the patient during a test period. The IBM Computer System Usability Questionnaire was administered to assess the users’ satisfaction with the system. Results showed that a majority of users who completed the evaluation were quite satisfied with the usability although a sizeable minority were not. Response times were tested by simulating up to 100 users accessing the web application at the same time. The average page completion times were in the range of 0.5 seconds indicating fast response. The system was able to summarize the test-battery data and present them in a useful manner. Its main contribution is a novel way to easily access symptom information from the home environment of patients.
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| 4. |
- Svärd, Anna, 1985-, et al.
(author)
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Elastin levels are higher in healing tendons than in intact tendons and influence tissue compliance
- 2020
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In: The FASEB Journal. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0892-6638 .- 1530-6860. ; 34:10, s. 13409-13418
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Elastic fibers containing elastin play an important role in tendon functionality, but the knowledge on presence and function of elastin during tendon healing is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate elastin content and distribution in intact and healing Achilles tendons and to understand how elastin influence the viscoelastic properties of tendons. The right Achilles tendon was completely transected in 81 Sprague-Dawley rats. Elastin content was quantified in intact and healing tendons (7, 14, and 28 days post-surgery) and elastin distribution was visualized by immunohistochemistry at 14 days post-surgery. Degradation of elastin by elastase incubation was used to study the role of elastin on viscoelastic properties. Mechanical testing was either performed as a cyclic test (20x 10 N) or as a creep test. We found significantly higher levels of elastin in healing tendons at all time-points compared to intact tendons (4% in healing tendons 28 days post-surgery vs 2% in intact tendons). The elastin was more widely distributed throughout the extracellular matrix in the healing tendons in contrast to the intact tendon where the distribution was not so pronounced. Elastase incubation reduced the elastin levels by approximately 30% and led to a 40%-50% reduction in creep. This reduction was seen in both intact and healing tendons. Our results show that healing tendons contain more elastin and is more compliable than intact tendons. The role of elastin in tendon healing and tissue compliance indicates a protective role of elastic fibers to prevent re-injuries during early tendon healing. Plain Language Summary Tendons transfer high loads from muscles to bones during locomotion. They are primarily made by the protein collagen, a protein that provide strength to the tissues. Besides collagen, tendons also contain other building blocks such as, for example, elastic fibers. Elastic fibers contain elastin and elastin is important for the extensibility of the tendon. When a tendon is injured and ruptured the tissue heals through scar formation. This scar tissue is different from a normal intact tendon and it is important to understand how the tendons heal. Little is known about the presence and function of elastin during healing of tendon injuries. We have shown, in animal experiments, that healing tendons have higher amounts of elastin compared to intact tendons. The elastin is also spread throughout the tissue. When we reduced the levels of this protein, we discovered altered mechanical properties of the tendon. The healing tendon can normally extend quite a lot, but after elastin removal this extensibility was less obvious. The ability of the healing tissue to extend is probably important to protect the tendon from re-injuries during the first months after rupture. We therefore propose that the tendons heal with a large amount of elastin to prevent re-ruptures during early locomotion.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Sarve, Hamid, et al.
(author)
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Methods for visualization of bone tissue in the proximity of implants
- 2010
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In: Computer vision and graphics. - Berlin : Springer. - 9783642159060 ; 6375, s. 243-250
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this work we present two methods for visualization of SRμCT-scanned 3D volumes of screw-shaped bone implant samples: thread fly-through and 2D unfolding. The thread fly-through generates an animation by following the thread helix and extracting slices along it. Relevant features, such as bone ratio and bone implant contact, are computed for each slice of the animation and displayed as graphs beside the animation. The 2D unfolding, on the other hand, maps the implant surface onto which feature information is projected to a 2D image, providing an instant overview of the whole implant. The unfolding is made area-preserving when appropriate. These visualization methods facilitate better understanding of the bone-implant integration and provides a good platform for communication between involved experts.
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| 7. |
- Sävenstrand, Helena, et al.
(author)
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A Pisum sativum glyoxysomal malate dehydrogenase induced by cadmium exposure
- 2004
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In: DNA Sequence. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1042-5179 .- 1029-2365. ; 15:3, s. 206-208
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The glyoxysomal malate dehydrogenase (gMDH) catalyses the formation of oxaloacetate from malate during beta-oxidation of fatty acids in the glyoxysome. A partial Pisum sativum L. (cv. Greenfeast) cDNA was first isolated from a suppression subtractive hybridisation cDNA library obtained from heavy metal stressed plants. The full length cDNA was then isolated by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The translated sequence showed strong similarity to Cucumis sativus and Citrullus lanatus gMDH including a typical glyoxysome-targeting presequence comprising the PTS2 motif and a cleavage site for a cystein-directed protease. Exposure of pea plants to Cd2+ induced expression of the gMDH gene in mature pea leaves indicating that the enzyme is under environmental control in addition to the normal developmental regulation pattern.
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| 8. |
- von Schantz, Laura, et al.
(author)
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Affinity maturation generates greatly improved xyloglucan-specific carbohydrate binding modules
- 2009
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In: BMC Biotechnology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1472-6750. ; 9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Molecular evolution of carbohydrate binding modules (CBM) is a new approach for the generation of glycan-specific molecular probes. To date, the possibility of performing affinity maturation on CBM has not been investigated. In this study we show that binding characteristics such as affinity can be improved for CBM generated from the CBM4-2 scaffold by using random mutagenesis in combination with phage display technology. Results: Two modified proteins with greatly improved affinity for xyloglucan, a key polysaccharide abundant in the plant kingdom crucial for providing plant support, were generated. Both improved modules differ from other existing xyloglucan probes by binding to galactose-decorated subunits of xyloglucan. The usefulness of the evolved binders was verified by staining of plant sections, where they performed better than the xyloglucan-binding module from which they had been derived. They discriminated non-fucosylated from fucosylated xyloglucan as shown by their ability to stain only the endosperm, rich in non-fucosylated xyloglucan, but not the integument rich in fucosylated xyloglucan, on tamarind seed sections. Conclusion: We conclude that affinity maturation of CBM selected from molecular libraries based on the CBM4-2 scaffold is possible and has the potential to generate new analytical tools for detection of plant carbohydrates.
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| 9. |
- Persson, Henrik, et al.
(author)
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Spatial mapping of affinity changes for the integrin LFA-1 during cell migration using clusters identified based on local density
- 2019
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In: Journal of Biophotonics. - : Wiley. - 1864-063X .- 1864-0648. ; 12:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Localization microscopy methods like Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM) are very well suited for exploring clustering of proteins, as the data inherently provide a list of molecular coordinates. Here we use state-of-art cluster analysis algorithms (DBSCAN) to explore the clustering behaviour of different affinity forms of the integrin LFA-1. It has been suggested that LFA-1 may form clusters, in order to increase the avidity to ICAM-1. However, this hypothesis still seems to be controversial. In this study, we found, variations in clustering behaviour among the different affinity forms of LFA-1 in migrating T-cells. We found that panLFA-1 is located in clusters throughout the polarised cell on ICAM-1, with an increased density of molecules and clusters in the mid area and rear of the cell, whereas the intermediate and high affinity form of LFA-1 showed an increased number in the mid area of a migrating cell and the high affinity form of LFA-1 in the front and rear. Together, these data suggest that, in addition to LFA-1 conformation, protein clustering might play a role in controlling cell-substrate adhesion on ICAM-1.By applying the cluster analysis algorithm DBSCAN to localization microscopy data, integrin clusters could be identified and different cluster parameters could be quantified.
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| 10. |
- Fursatz, Marian, et al.
(author)
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Functionalization of bacterial cellulose wound dressings with the antimicrobial peptide ε-poly-L-Lysine
- 2018
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In: Biomedical Materials. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 1748-6041 .- 1748-605X. ; 13
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Wound dressings based on bacterial cellulose (BC) can form a soft and conformable protective layer that can stimulate wound healing while preventing bacteria from entering the wound. Bacteria already present in the wound can, however, thrive in the moist environment created by the BC dressing which can aggravate the healing process. Possibilities to render the BC antimicrobial without affecting the beneficial structural and mechanical properties of the material would hence be highly attractive. Here we present methods for functionalization of BC with ε-Poly-L-Lysine (ε-PLL), a non-toxic biopolymer with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Low molecular weight ε-PLL was cross-linked in pristine BC membranes and to carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) functionalized BC using carbodiimide chemistry. The functionalization of BC with ε-PLL inhibited growth of S. epidermidis on the membranes but did not affect the cytocompatibility to cultured human fibroblasts as compared to native BC. The functionalization had no significant effects on the nanofibrous structure and mechanical properties of the BC. The possibility to functionalize BC with ε-PLL is a promising, green and versatile approach to improve the performance of BC in wound care and other biomedical applications.
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