Rice is a staple crop in Asia, with more than 400 million tons consumed annually worldwide. The protein content of rice is a major determinant of its unique structural, physical, and nutritional properties. Chemical analysis, a traditional method for measuring rice\'s protein content, demands considerable manpower, time, and costs, including preprocessing such as removing the rice husk. Therefore, of the technology is needed to rapidly and nondestructively measure the protein content of paddy rice during harvest and storage stages. In this study, the nondestructive technique for predicting the protein content of rice with husks (paddy rice) was developed using near-infrared spectroscopy and deep learning techniques. The protein content prediction model based on partial least square regression, support vector regression, and deep neural network (DNN) were developed using the near-infrared spectrum in the range of 950 to 2200 nm. 1800 spectra of the paddy rice and 1200 spectra from the brown rice were obtained, and these were used for model development and performance evaluation of the developed model. Various spectral preprocessing techniques was applied. The DNN model showed the best results among three types of rice protein content prediction models. The optimal DNN model for paddy rice was the model with first-order derivative preprocessing and the accuracy was a coefficient of determination for prediction, Rp 2 = 0.972 and root mean squared error for prediction, RMSEP = 0.048%. The optimal DNN model for brown rice was the model applied first-order derivative preprocessing with Rp 2 = 0.987 and RMSEP = 0.033%. These results demonstrate the commercial feasibility of using near-infrared spectroscopy for the non-destructive prediction of protein content in both husked rice seeds and paddy rice.

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The masticatory function of patients with skeletal anterior open bite (OPEN) is reported to be impaired compared with that of patients with normal occlusion (NORM). In this study, we compared brain blood flow (BBF) in patients with OPEN and NORM and investigated the factors related to BBF during mastication in patients with OPEN. The study included 17 individuals with NORM and 33 patients with OPEN. The following data were collected: number of occlusal contacts, jaw movement variables during mastication, and BBF measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy during chewing. The number of occlusal contacts, maximum closing and opening speeds, closing angle, and vertical amplitude were smaller in the OPEN than in the NORM group. Interestingly, BBF increased less in the OPEN group. Correlation analysis revealed that several parameters, including number of occlusal contacts and closing angle, were correlated with changes in BBF during mastication. These results suggest that not only occlusion but also jaw movement variables and factors related to masticatory muscles contribute to the chewing-related increase in BBF. In conclusion, BBF increases less during mastication in patients with OPEN than in those with NORM. In addition, the higher increase in BBF is correlated with jaw movement. Together, we discovered that OPEN exhibits significant adverse effects not only on masticatory function but also on brain function.

UNASSIGNED: Although aortic aneurysm is associated with vascular aging and atherosclerosis, carotid and intracranial vascular disease prevalence in patients with aortic arch aneurysm remains unclear. Similarly, the effect of carotid and intracranial lesions on postoperative outcomes is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of carotid artery stenosis and intracranial lesions in patients with aortic arch aneurysm and its association with intraoperative regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rScO2) and postoperative neurological outcomes, including delirium and cerebral infarction.
UNASSIGNED: This retrospective observational study included 133 patients with true aortic arch aneurysm who underwent preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We evaluated the prevalence of carotid and intracranial arterial lesions. Symptomatic cerebral infarction and delirium, defined by the confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit, were evaluated for their association with preoperative cerebrovascular lesions. Additionally, changes in regional saturation of the cerebral tissue at different surgical phases were evaluated for patients with and without cerebrovascular lesions.
UNASSIGNED: Fifteen (11.3%) patients experienced symptomatic cerebral infarction, and 64 (48.1%) had postoperative delirium. Preoperative MRI showed old infarction, microbleeds, significant carotid artery stenosis, and intracranial lesions in 21.1%, 14.3%, 10.5%, and 7.5% of the patients, respectively. White matter hyperintensities with Fazekas scale 2 were observed in 40.6% of the patients, while Fazekas scale 3 were observed in 18.8% of the patients. Preoperative MRI findings and postoperative neurological outcomes were not significantly different. Seventy-six patients underwent rScO2 monitoring intraoperatively. Changes in rScO2 in patients with and without carotid/cerebrovascular lesions were not significantly different. However, rScO2 was significantly lower in patients who developed cerebral infarction.
UNASSIGNED: Significant carotid artery stenosis and intracranial lesions were observed in 10.5% and 7.5% of the patients, respectively. Although preoperative MRI findings and changes in rScO2 or postoperative outcomes showed no significant association, patients with postoperative cerebral infarction showed significantly lower rScO2 intraoperatively.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common causes of death and an important burden to the worldwide healthcare system and society. There is a lack of guidelines for types of monitoring or neuroprotective therapy. The aim of this pilot study was to assess its feasibility and, furthermore, to evaluate the impact of Cerebrolysin on the following clinical outcomes: length of stay, Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) and mortality.
METHODS: A cohort of 56 patients was included in this non-randomised, real-time, pre-post-interventional study. The patients were assessed with the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and divided into two groups: severe (GCS < 8) and non-severe (GCS > 8). After the radiological examination (CT scan), the patients were qualified for an immediate neurosurgical procedure if needed. The patients were admitted to the intensive care unit, where a standardised protocol for TBI treatment was implemented. Additional neuromonitoring was applied.
RESULTS: There were 56 patients (19 females; 33.9%), of which 41 were considered severe cases; the patients were allocated to the Cerebrolysin (n = 25) or control groups (n = 31). In a generalised linear model (GLM) approach, the use of Cerebrolysin was associated with a decrease in the probability of death in non-severe patients (by 0.333 (standard error (SE) = 0.157, p = 0.034)) but not in severe patients (estimate (Est.) = -0.115, SE = 0.127, p = 0.364). Patients who received Cerebrolysin and who were neuromonitored had favourable outcomes and better survival rates.
CONCLUSIONS: A multimodal treatment approach with monitoring and Cerebrolysin may have a beneficial effect on patients with less severe TBIs; however, the present study has multiple limitations, and further research is needed.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a vital emergency procedure providing respiratory and circulatory support to critically ill patients, especially those with compromised cardiopulmonary function. Its use has grown due to technological advances and clinical demand. Prolonged ECMO usage can lead to complications, necessitating the timely assessment of peripheral microcirculation for an accurate physiological evaluation. This study utilizes non-invasive near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to monitor knee-level microcirculation in ECMO patients. After processing oxygenation data, machine learning distinguishes high and low disease severity in the veno-venous (VV-ECMO) and veno-arterial (VA-ECMO) groups, with two clinical parameters enhancing the model performance. Both ECMO modes show promise in the clinical severity diagnosis. The research further explores statistical correlations between the oxygenation data and disease severity in diverse physiological conditions, revealing moderate correlations with the acute physiologic and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II) scores in the VV-ECMO and VA-ECMO groups. NIRS holds the potential for assessing patient condition improvements.

The human vestibular system is crucial for motion perception, balance control, and various higher cognitive functions. Exploring how the cerebral cortex responds to vestibular signals is not only valuable for a better understanding of how the vestibular system participates in cognitive and motor functions but also clinically significant in diagnosing central vestibular disorders. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) provides a portable and non-invasive brain imaging technology to monitor cortical hemodynamics under physical motion.
UNASSIGNED: This study aimed to investigate the cerebral cortical response to naturalistic vestibular stimulation induced by real physical motion and to validate the vestibular cerebral cortex previously identified using alternative vestibular stimulation.
UNASSIGNED: Functional NIRS data were collected from 12 right-handed subjects when they were sitting in a motion platform that generated three types of whole-body passive translational motion (circular, lateral, and fore-and-aft).
UNASSIGNED: The study found that different cortical regions were activated by the three types of motion. The cortical response was more widespread under circular motion in two dimensions compared to lateral and fore-and-aft motions in one dimensions. Overall, the identified regions were consistent with the cortical areas found to be activated in previous brain imaging studies.
UNASSIGNED: The results provide new evidence of brain selectivity to different types of motion and validate previous findings on the vestibular cerebral cortex.

Gastrodin is one of the most important biologically active components of Gastrodia elata, which has many health benefits as a dietary and health food supplement. However, gastrodin measurement traditionally relies on laboratory and sophisticated instruments. This research was aimed at developing a rapid and non-destructive method based on Fourier transform near infrared (FT-NIR) to predict gastrodin content in fresh Gastrodia elata. Auto-ordered predictors selection (autoOPS) and successive projections algorithm (SPA) were applied to select the most informative variables related to gastrodin content. Based on that, partial least squares regression (PLSR) and multiple linear regression (MLR) models were compared. The autoOPS-SPA-MLR model showed the best prediction performances, with the determination coefficient of prediction (Rp2), ratio performance deviation (RPD) and range error ratio (RER) values of 0.9712, 5.83 and 27.65, respectively. Consequently, these results indicated that FT-NIRS technique combined with chemometrics could be an efficient tool to rapidly quantify gastrodin in Gastrodia elata and thus facilitate quality control of Gastrodia elata.

UNASSIGNED: Non-contrast T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) with cardiac magnetic resonance enables to evaluate the intensity of coronary plaque. Plaque-to-myocardial signal intensity ratio (PMR) has been shown to associate with an elevated risk of future coronary events. Of note, PMR >1.4 is a best cut-off value to identify high-risk plaque causing future coronary events. One recent study has reported intraluminal thrombus as a contributor to PMR. However, whether plaque material itself is associated with PMR has not been fully characterized yet. We present three cases with coronary artery stenosis evaluated by non-contrast T1WI-magnetic resonance imaging, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)-intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging.
UNASSIGNED: Case 1 exhibited one lesion with high PMR (2.79) at the proximal segment of left anterior descending (LAD) artery. OCT imaging did not identify any obvious intra-luminal thrombus but the presence of lipid-rich plaque harboring cholesterol crystal at the corresponding lesion. In addition, an elevated maximum 4-mm lipid-core burden index (maxLCBI4mm) (=873) was observed at this lesion by NIRS/IVUS imaging. In case 2, PMR of coronary stenosis at the middle segment of LAD artery was 1.88. This lesion harboured lipidic materials without any thrombus on OCT imaging. NIRS-derived maxLCBI4mm was 725. Case 3 had a severe stenosis at the middle segment of LAD artery. This lesion exhibited a low PMR (0.90). On OCT and NIRS/IVUS imaging, this lesion was characterized as the presence of small lipid arc with a low maxLCBI4mm (=386).
UNASSIGNED: These cases showed the possible relationship of T1WI-derived PMR with the degree of lipidic plaque components.

UNASSIGNED: To investigate the clinical significance of the disturbance coefficient (DC) and regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) as obtained through the use of electrical bioimpedance and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in pediatric neurocritical care.
UNASSIGNED: We enrolled 45 pediatric patients as the injury group and 70 healthy children as the control group. DC was derived from impedance analysis of 0.1 mA-50 kHz current via temporal electrodes. rSO2 was the percentage of oxyhemoglobin measured from reflected NIR light on the forehead. DC and rSO2 were obtained at 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h after surgery for the injury group and during the health screening clinic visit for the control group. We compared DC and rSO2 between the groups, their changes over time within the injury group and their correlation with intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score, Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) score, and their ability to diagnose postoperative cerebral edema and predict poor prognosis.
UNASSIGNED: DC and rSO2 were significantly lower in the injury group than in the control group. In the injury group, ICP increased over the monitoring period, while DC, CPP and rSO2 decreased. DC was negatively correlated with ICP and positively correlated with GCS score and GOS score. Additionally, lower DC values were observed in patients with signs of cerebral edema, with a DC value of 86.5 or below suggesting the presence of brain edema in patients aged 6-16 years. On the other hand, rSO2 was positively correlated with CPP, GCS score, and GOS score, with a value of 64.4% or below indicating a poor prognosis. Decreased CPP is an independent risk factor for decreased rSO2.
UNASSIGNED: DC and rSO2 monitoring based on electrical bioimpedance and near-infrared spectroscopy not only reflect the degree of brain edema and oxygenation, but also reflect the severity of the disease and predict the prognosis of the patients. This approach offers a real-time, bedside, and accurate method for assessing brain function and detecting postoperative cerebral edema and poor prognosis.