Activity

The activity of SNS and RAS were also inhibited. The results of the c-fos immunofluorescence assay showed that US stimulation of the vlPAG significantly enhanced the neuronal activity both in vlPAG and caudal ventrolateral medulla (CVLM) regions. And the US stimulation used in this study did not cause significant tissue damage, hemorrhage and cell apoptosis in the sonication region. CONCLUSION The results support that LIFU stimulation of the vlPAG could relieve hypertension in SHRs. SIGNIFICANCE The LIFU stimulation of the vlPAG could potentially be a new alternative non-invasive device therapy for hypertension.Conventional long-term ventricular assist devices continue to be extremely problematic due to infections caused by percutaneous drivelines and thrombotic events associated with the use of blood-contacting surfaces. Here we describe a muscle-powered cardiac assist device that avoids both these problems by using an internal muscle energy converter to drive a non-blood-contacting extra-aortic balloon pump. The technology was developed previously in this lab and operates by converting the contractile energy of the latissimus dorsi muscle into hydraulic power that can be used, in principle, to drive any blood pump amenable to pulsatile actuation. The two main advantages of this implantable power source are that it 1) significantly reduces infection risk by avoiding a constant skin wound, and 2) improves patient quality-of-life by eliminating all external hardware components. The counterpulsatile balloon pumps, which compress the external surface of the ascending aorta during the diastolic phase of the cardiac cycle, offer another critical advantage in the setting of long-term circulatory support in that they increase cardiac output and improve coronary perfusion without touching the blood. The goal of this work is to combine these two technologies into a single circulatory support system that eliminates driveline complications and avoids surface-mediated thromboembolic events, thereby providing a safe, tether-free means to support the failing heart over extended – or even indefinite – periods of time.OBJECTIVE Prediction of post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH) outcome-i.e. whether it requires intervention or not-in premature neonates using cranial ultrasound (CUS) images is challenging. In this paper, we present a novel fully-automatic method to perform phenotyping of the brain lateral ventricles and predict PHH outcome from CUS. METHODS Our method consists of two parts ventricle quantification followed by prediction of PHH outcome. First, cranial bounding box and brain interhemispheric fissure are detected to determine the anatomical position of ventricles and correct the cranium rotation. Then, lateral ventricles are extracted using a new deep learning-based method by incorporating the convolutional neural network into a probabilistic atlas-based weighted loss function and an image-specific adaption. PHH outcome is predicted using a support vector machine classifier trained using ventricular morphological phenotypes and clinical information. RESULTS Experiments demonstrated that our method achieves accurate ventricle segmentation results with an average Dice similarity coefficient of 0.86, as well as very good PHH outcome prediction with accuracy of 0.91. CONCLUSION Automatic CUS-based ventricular phenotyping in premature newborns could objectively and accurately predict the progression to severe PHH. SIGNIFICANCE Early prediction of severe PHH development in premature newborns could potentially advance criteria for diagnosis and offer an opportunity for early interventions to improve outcome.Youth spend substantial time on social media, which can foster self-critical processes that increase risk of body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and depressed mood. To date, there have been few investigations of interventions to decrease the negative impacts of social media engagement in adolescent boys and girls. This paper outlines the protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a four-lesson social media literacy program that was developed based on pilot results and aims to decrease body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, and strategies to increase muscles. The RCT will be conducted with grades 7-8 students from Australian secondary schools. selleckchem Using block randomization, grade levels within schools will be assigned to either the SoMe program (intervention) or health lessons as usual (control). Primary outcomes will be body satisfaction, dietary restraint, and strategies to increase muscles. Secondary outcomes will be self-esteem and depressed mood. Participants will complete assessments on four occasions – baseline, five-weeks post-baseline, and six- and 12-month post-baseline. Analyses will compare outcomes in the intervention compared to the control group. This study will be the first to implement a RCT design to evaluate the impact of a school-based social media literacy program designed to mitigate negative impacts of social media. Living with a visible difference (e.g., disfigurement) can compromise a child’s psychological wellbeing. Although some children can adjust well, others can develop a range of appearance-related issues such as social anxiety, low self-esteem, and body dissatisfaction. However, current research fails to confirm what factors contribute to appearance-related distress, and what factors buffer the consequences of living with a visible difference. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 Australian specialist health professionals who care for children with visible differences. Interviews explored the type of appearance-related psychosocial concerns presented to a pediatric hospital, perspectives on the impact of appearance-related distress, as well as factors and processes that health professionals perceive influence adjustment. Data were subjected to inductive thematic analysis. Rich evidence was offered by health professionals, which demonstrated deep understanding of the psychological wellbeing of their patients. Three themes were identified Mind, Body, and Soul; Stages of Life; and Individual Differences. Findings highlighted the complexity of appearance-related distress, with individual differences in adjustment, and the powerful impact it can have on a child’s short and long-term psychosocial wellbeing. The importance of reaching consensus in the conceptualisation and measurement of psychological wellbeing is stressed, and key domains associated with adjustment are proposed.