Biomedical Engineering

Investigation of the emotional effect of the Datura stramonium (Atse-faris) seed using EEG signal

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Investigation of the emotional effect of the Datura stramonium (Atse-faris) seed using EEG signal Seyifu, Mekonnen Traditional medicine is part of the traditions of a country, employing healing practices handed down from generation to generation. The use of traditional medicine is acceptable due to the cultural acceptability of healers, the relatively low cost of traditional medicine, and difficult access to modern health facilities. Thus, traditional medicine remains popular for both historical and cultural reasons. Datura stramonium is one of the widely well-known folklore medicinal herbs with a broad range of medicinal applications. All parts of the Datura stramonium have traditionally been utilized in Ethiopia treating various kinds of medicinal purposes, with the seed being mostly employed for mental illness. However, the Datura stramonium seed effect on brain activity has not been studied yet. Hence, the objective of this study was to investigate the emotional effect of the Datura stramonium seed on a mentally healthy subject using EEG signal analysis. Subjects of age 23±3 were screened based on their GHQ-12 score to confirm mental health. EEG signals were recorded for 3 minutes in eye-closed condition from 18 subjects (12 pre - and post-inhaling sessions, and 6 controls without inhaling) to investigate the emotional effect of inhaling Datura stramonium seed on brain activity. EEGLAB and MNE-Python software were used for pre-processing, segmentation, and feature extraction. Welch„s method was applied to extract mean power (µV2) for each band (Delta, Theta, Alpha, and Beta) at Temporal (T3, T5 & T4, T6), Parietal (P3 & P4), Frontal (F3, F7 & F4, F8), Occipital (O1 & O2), Central (C3 & C4), Midline (Fz, Cz, Pz) and Prefrontal cortex (Fp1& Fp2) parts of the brain. Then a paired T-test was done at a 0.05 confidence level (P) to determine any significant change before versus after Datura stimuli, before stimuli versus control, and after stimuli versus control in each band mean power. The results showed an increased Alpha mean power at a comparison of before stimuli with after and control. A statistically significant change (p<0.05) was observed alpha mean in all subjects. According to related literature, a statistical increase in alpha power, as well as more scattering in MNE GUI-based analysis, is linked to inducing a relaxing feeling in subjects. The finding provided evidence of the relaxing effect of Datura stramonium seed.

Phytochemical Extraction and Characterization of Gloriosa Superb L. Using Spectrometry and its Anticancer Activity on Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Phytochemical Extraction and Characterization of Gloriosa Superb L. Using Spectrometry and its Anticancer Activity on Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer Mengistu, Eyasu Breast cancer happens when cells in the breast grow and divide in an uncontrolled way. According to WHO, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer type, accounting for 1 in 8 cancer diagnoses worldwide. Even if there are combinations of treatment for receptor positive breast cancer depending on types and stages of the cancer, drugs are very complicated, expensive, and often lead to undesirable side effects. This shows the need for further exploration of drug. Traditionally, medicinal plant extracts are commonly used as a way of treatment for breast cancer in the world. Ethiopian traditional medicine experts/healers use Gloriosa superba L. root for the treatment of breast cancer. However, as far as the researcher knowledge is concerned, no study showed the compound present in the root with different solvent extracts and anticancer activity of the plant in Ethiopia. Knowing the compound present and anticancer activity of the plant helps to lay a base and tell if the plant can be used for receptor-positive breast cancer and future drug development. The current study was aimed to extract, characterize, and perform molecular docking to know the compounds present and anticancer activity of the plant on receptor-positive breast cancer. Different extracts were prepared with petroleum ether, chloroform, acetone and ethanol solvent using soxhlet extraction techniques. UV-Vis spectroscopy and GC-MS were used for the identification of compounds in the study. CB-Dock online server was used to study anticancer activity of the compound from Gloriosa superba L. root with estrogen receptor (PDB ID: 3ERT & 1ERE), progesterone receptor (PDB ID: 4OAR & 1A28) and her2 positive protein (PDB ID: 3RCD) in breast cancer. UV-Vis spectroscopy wavelength range indicates the presence of Terpenoids, Flavonoids and their derivatives, alkaloids, tannins, Chlorophyll and phenolic compounds. The GC-MS result from NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) library revealed the presence of 107 compounds in Gloriosa superba L. root. In docking result, compounds have good binding energy with 3ERT, 1ERE, 4OAR, 1A28 and 3RCD. The study revealed that the root of Gloriosa superba L. has anticancer activity with receptor positive breast cancer and especially a better activity with progesterone receptor cancer type.

Surface Electromyography Features-Based Analysis of Tibia Bone Fractures for Post-Orthopedics Surgery Follow-up

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Surface Electromyography Features-Based Analysis of Tibia Bone Fractures for Post-Orthopedics Surgery Follow-up Oljira, Debelo The importance of assessing bone fracture healing is to ensure restored mobility and avoid long-term issues during orthopedic follow-up. In this assessment the role of statistical analysis to understand the relationships between muscle strength and surface electromyography (sEMG) parameters is paramount. This analysis aims to identify key sEMG indicators to monitor muscle fatigue caused by fractures and to correlate it with the healing process during rehabilitation. Quantifying these relationships can provide evidence-based insights on recovery and optimizing the treatment. Surface electromyography (sEMG) has emerged as a non-invasive technique for assessing muscle activity and fatigue levels. This study explores the application of sEMG signal analysis through quantitative estimation of muscle fatigue in individuals undergoing fracture rehabilitation. This study investigates the important features of surface electromyography (sEMG) signals which can quantitatively assess the fracture healing for follow-up in orthopedics surgery. sEMG data was collected from 16 subjects, considering both normal and abnormal (fractured) legs, by performing ankle dorsiflexion and plantarflexion movements. A total of 43 features from both time and frequency domain were extracted from the sEMG signals recorded on the tibialis anterior and posterior muscles. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was employed for dimensionality reduction and interpreting the distinct clustering of normal and abnormal muscle groups. The biplot analysis identified key features such as wavelength form (ewl), integrated EMG (iemg), and kurtosis (kur), that contributed to group separation. Furthermore, the muscle fatigue index was computed from the specific sEMG features such as MNF and ARV and paired t-test was performed on the mean of the fatigue index between the control and the abnormal group. We found that the fatigue index was significantly different between these groups with a p-value of 0.034 for single-tailed t-test for the chosen significance level of =0.05. Our analysis shows that features from sEMG signal can be used for monitoring the muscle fatigue and guide physicians in personalized follow-up of fracture recovery.

Design and development of Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) system to detect and quantify malaria parasite in low resource setting areas

2024-01-28T00:00:00Z

Design and development of Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) system to detect and quantify malaria parasite in low resource setting areas Dagnachew, Etagegnehu Malaria is a common parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes that is caused by protozoan known as Plasmodium. Among different species, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are being identified as the most lethal and responsible for the majority of deaths, particularly in sub Saharan Africa. Malaria can be diagnosed by parasitological test, rapid diagnostic tests in low resource setting. In central and research laboratories, molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) can be used. In areas where cost reduction is crucial, LAMP addresses PCR's drawbacks by being simpler, cheaper, and faster while still maintaining accuracy, making it a promising tool for diagnosing malaria in field. While the LAMP technique offers a sensitive near point-of-care solution, interpreting results through direct observation is prone to errors and lacks the ability to quantify parasite load, which reduces its effectiveness and can lead to misdiagnosis and improper treatment. The objective of this study is to develop a detection system to test and relative quantification of malaria parasite in LAMP machine in low resource settings. The general frame work mainly consists of sample preparation, isothermal amplification and detection system. To construct the prototype hardware and software components like microcontroller, LCD display, Light source, photodiode, pushbutton, resistor, breadboard, Arduino IDE and Thinkercad, were utilized. The developed system was tested on both malaria positive and negative samples and result also compared with the gold standard. Accordingly, the newly developed system is capable of distinguishing malaria positive and negative samples with 100% accuracy as well as significant correlation was obtained between parasite load and ADC(Analog to digital converted) value (Spearman r = 1.000 with 95% CI, P = 0.0167) using GraphPad prism. Furthermore, student t test has been assessed between ADC Value of positive and negative samples (t = 7.300 and p value of less than 0.001) as well as between positive control and positive samples (t = 1.607 and p-value of 0.159, which is greater than 0.05 the threshold) using SPSS. As a result, significant difference was observed between positive and negative samples and in significant difference was obtained between positive samples and control. Our LAMP technique offers a rapid, cost effective, and user-friendly solution for malaria detection in clinical samples. It aids early treatment, reduces mortality, and combats misdiagnosis and drug resistance.