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Biomedical subjects

H Witte

Publications and source records attributed to H Witte.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

[Pilot study of the spectral analysis of the bifrontal EEG in healthy and newborn infants at risk].

The importance of neonatal bifrontal EEG recordings which were easily obtainable during intensive care was tested to improve the possibilities of computer-assisted analysis and to characterize cerebral cortical function of newborns-at-risk. The EEG was computerized by spectral analysis in 9 healthy term newborns and 6 term newborns-at-risk according to the age related patterns. Surprisingly, newborns-at-risk with good outcome show significant higher EEG spectral power than controls. But a secure monitoring is unpossible by bifrontal recordings alone. It was concluded that: 1. the bifrontal EEG recordings should be replaced by at least two interhemispheric recordings for neonatal cerebral monitoring, 2. the pattern-related analysis is necessary and 3. the discontinuous EEG is most suitable to characterize newborns-at-risk.

Brain Damage, Chronic↗

Evidence of a previously undescribed form of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)--the physiological manifestation of "cardiac aliasing".

Within the fluctuations that occur in heart rate, there is a major component known as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), which up to now has been defined as heart rate variability which is synchronous with respiratory movements. We have now discovered that RSA synchronous to respiratory movements is only one example of RSA. If a special relationship exists between mean heart rate (fHR) and mean frequency of breathing (fB) such that fB greater than 1/2 fHR, RSA can be observed in a frequency range which is lower than the frequency of breathing. The mathematical fundamentals of this physiological phenomenon are the same as those for the "aliasing"-effect in signal sampling. Therefore, we have called this phenomenon "cardiac aliasing". We have been able to experimentally demonstrate this, up to now unknown, phenomenon in adult rabbits and dogs as well as in human neonates.

Animals↗

A method for the biocybernetic physiological investigation of postural motor control and its disorders in children.

On a biocybernetic basis, a method for the investigation of human postural motor control with optimal multifrequent binary test-signals is described. The examinations presented demonstrate that a comprehensive and quantitative characterization of normal postural motor control and its disorders is possible by means of this method in children. The examination time is short, the motor task used is simple, and the load is physiologically adequate and standardized.

Child↗

Objective characterization and differentiation of sleep states in healthy newborns and newborns-at-risk by spectral analysis of heart rate and respiration rhythms.

Best parameters of power and coherence spectra of heart rate fluctuations (HR) and respiration rhythms (RR) were established to differentiate sleep states in healthy newborns and newborns-at-risk by means of multivariate variance and discriminant analysis. Nine healthy newborns and 20 newborns with low risk features were examined polygraphically. Long-term-variability of both HR and RR and coherence between HR and RR in the frequency range of 0.26-0.97 Hz, corresponding to Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia, allow the best differentiation of neonatal sleep states S 1 and S2. Differentiation of healthy newborns and newborns-at-risk by these parameters was not possible. Thus, in studies dealing with low risk features in newborns sleep states must be previously classified. State 1 and 2 represent different autonomic organisations. State 1 is a neuro-vegetative, relatively stable state. State 2 shows cyclic increases of coherence between HR and RR within the frequency range of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia. These properties are related to autonomic brain stem functions and were absent in 6 out of the 20 newborns-at-risk.

Heart Rate↗

Differentiation of healthy newborns and newborns-at-risk by spectral analysis of heart rate fluctuations and respiratory movements.

Neonatal heart rate and its interaction with respiration were computerized by spectral and coherence analysis (FFT) to differentiate healthy newborns (n = 9) from newborns with mild neonatal risk (n = 20). An increased mean heart rate and decreased total variability have been found in newborns-at-risk. Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia is diminished in newborns-at-risk possibly caused by an impairment of autonomic brain stem function. Furthermore, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia holds a central position in differentiating healthy newborns and newborns-at-risk with and without neurological abnormalities during the first year of life. Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia is diminished in newborns-at-risk showing these abnormalities. None of the parameters discriminates between the two groups of risk infants. The final prognostic value of our results must be confirmed in further clinical follow-up examinations.

Arrhythmia, Sinus↗

[Neuroautonomic organization of cardiac rhythm and of nonrhythmic oscillations in the frequency of cardiac contractions and respiration].

In 25 chronic adult rabbits, the functional organization of neurally mediated short-term rhythms and patterns of the heart rate (HR) were investigated. The respiration-unrelated arrhythmia seems to be vagally mediated only, being abolished with atropine. The respiration-related arrhythmia exists not only within the range of respiratory frequency but also in lower frequencies as discovered by spectral and coherence analysis. During motor activity, there is a systematic correlation among increasing premotor, motor and amygdaloid multispike activities, increasing HR and depressed HR-rhythms with limbic initiation of motor and concomitant autonomic patterns, "Immobile confrontations" alone produces vagally induced HR-decrease and increased amplitudes of vagal HR-rhythms with a concomitant cortical multispike depression, a mirror image of the autonomic patterns after nociceptive stimulation.

Action Potentials↗

High-frequency and low-frequency heart-rate fluctuation analysis in newborns--a review of possibilities and limitations.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) has been traditionally defined as the high-frequency component of heart-rate fluctuations (HRF) synchronous with the respiratory movements (RM), i.e., the frequency of RSA corresponds to the respiration rate. It can be shown that at defined relations of mean heart and respiration rate some essential effects must be taken into consideration in studies using RSA parameters. The relevance of these effects is shown and a new strategy of RSA quantification demanded, at least in neonates. The diagnostic importance, physiological background and future application of the low-frequency components of the neonatal HRF are reviewed on the basis of our own results. Nonrespiratory cardiovascular HRF cannot always be detected in the neonate by power spectral analysis. Movement-related HRF have a potential diagnostic importance per se, but may also artefactually disturb the quantification of other HRF components. Long-term trends can be used to describe sleep-state related trends and their disturbances.

Arrhythmia, Sinus↗

Quantification of transient quadratic phase couplings within EEG burst patterns in sedated patients during electroencephalic burst-suppression period.

The time dynamics of the quadratic phase coupling within burst patterns during electroencephalic burst-suppression has been quantified. It can be shown that a transient quadratic phase coupling (QPC) exists between the frequency ranges 0 to 2.5 and 3 to 7.5 Hz and between the frequency ranges 0 to 2.5 and 8 to 12 Hz. The QPC can be explained by an amplitude modulation, where the slow rhythm modulates the rhythmic activities with a higher frequency. By means of time-variant bicoherence analysis, a strong phase-locking between the modulating and the modulated component can be identified. The phase-locking is demonstrable within the first 250 ms after the burst onset and comes up to the maximum between 750 and 1250 ms. The effect is maintained over the whole first part of the burst (2 s) with a decreasing tendency after 1250 ms. All these effects cannot be found in the EEG before entering the burst suppression period (BSP). The transient coupling phenomena in the EEG bursts during BSP can be regarded as indicators for short-term interrelations between the underlying electrophysiologic processes.

Brain↗

Microevolutionary analysis of the nematode genus Pristionchus suggests a recent evolution of redundant developmental mechanisms during vulva formation.

To identify the mechanisms by which molecular variation is introduced into developmental systems, microevolutionary approaches to evolutionary developmental biology have to be taken. Here, we describe the molecular and developmental characterization of laboratory strains of the nematode genus Pristionchus, which lays a foundation for a microevolutionary analysis of vulva development. We describe 13 laboratory strains of the Pristionchus genus that are derived from natural isolates from around the world. Mating experiments and ITS sequence analysis indicated that these 13 strains represent four different species: the gonochoristic species P. Iheritieriand three hermaphroditic species, P. pacificus, P. maupasi, and an as yet undescribed species Pristionchus sp., respectively. P. pacificus is represented by five different strains isolated from California, Washington, Hawaii, Ontario, and Poland. Developmental differences during vulva formation are observed between strains from different species but also between strains of P. pacificus, like the strains from California and Poland. In particular, redundant developmental mechanisms present during vulva formation in P. pacificus var. California are absent in other strains. Amplified restriction fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analyses of the P. pacificus strains revealed that the American strains are highly polymorphic. In contrast, the developmentally distinct strain from Poland is identical to the Californian strain, suggesting that the developmental differences rely on a small number of changes in developmental control genes rather than the accumulation of changes at multiple loci.

Animals↗