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The photocurrent, noise and spectral sensitivity of rods of the monkey Macaca fascicularis.

Visual transduction in rods of the cynomolgus monkey, Macaca fascicularis, was studied by recording membrane current from single outer segments projecting from small pieces of retina. Light flashes evoked transient outward-going photocurrents with saturating amplitudes of up to 34 pA. A flash causing twenty to fifty photoisomerizations gave a response of half the saturating amplitude. The response-stimulus relation was of the form 1-e-x where x is flash strength. The response to a dim flash usually had a time to peak of 150-250 ms and resembled the impulse response of a series of six low-pass filters. From the average spectral sensitivity of ten rods the rhodopsin was estimated to have a peak absorption near 491 nm. The spectral sensitivity of the rods was in good agreement with the average human scotopic visibility curve determined by Crawford (1949), when the human curve was corrected for lens absorption and self-screening of rhodopsin. Fluctuations in the photocurrent evoked by dim lights were consistent with a quantal event about 0.7 pA in peak amplitude. A steady light causing about 100 photoisomerizations s-1 reduced the flash sensitivity to half the dark-adapted value. At higher background levels the rod rapidly saturated. These results support the idea that dim background light desensitizes human scotopic vision by a mechanism central to the rod outer segments while scotopic saturation may occur within the outer segments. Recovery of the photocurrent after bright flashes was marked by quantized step-like events. The events had the properties expected if bleached rhodopsin in the disks occasionally caused an abrupt blockage of the dark current over about one-twentieth of the length of the outer segment. It is suggested that superposition of these events after bleaching may contribute to the threshold elevation measured psychophysically. The current in darkness showed random fluctuations which disappeared in bright light. The continuous component of the noise had a variance of about 0.03 pA2 and a power spectrum that fell to half near 3 Hz. A second component, consisting of discrete events resembling single-photon responses, was estimated to occur at a rate of 0.006 s-1. It is suggested that the continuous component of the noise may be removed from scotopic vision by a thresholding operation near the rod output.

Animals↗

In vitro validation of color velocity imaging and spectral Doppler for velocity determination.

Color velocity imaging (CVI) is a new non-Doppler ultrasound technique for vascular color flow imaging. Using information contained in the two-dimensional B-mode, gray-scale image to determine velocity, CVI offers potential advantages over Doppler color flow imaging methods. In order to be used clinically, velocity determination with CVI must be validated by other current methods. A Doppler string phantom was studied with a Philips CVI ultrasound system. Velocity measurements were obtained by both CVI and duplex Doppler spectral analysis for constant string speeds from 10 to 200 cm/sec, at intervals of 10 cm/sec. Twenty separate estimates were obtained with each method, at each string speed. Linear regression assessed the relationship between estimated and actual string velocities, with CVI and spectral Doppler analysis yielding highly valid results (CVI = -0.713 + 1.000997 x phantom; r 2 = 0.9979). At all string speeds tested, the averaged estimated and the actual velocities for both methods were within the 95% confidence estimates. The range for the CVI 95% confidence limits from the regression line varied from +/-1.07 cm/sec at the lowest speed of 10 cm/sec (11.6%) to +/-7.72 cm/sec at 200 cm/sec (3.87%). Based on in vitro testing, CVI is as accurate as Doppler spectral analysis for the estimation of flow velocity.

Blood Flow Velocity↗

Effects of cardiopulmonary resuscitation on predictors of ventricular fibrillation defibrillation success during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

BACKGROUND: Early defibrillation is considered the most important factor for restoring spontaneous circulation in cardiac arrest patients with ventricular fibrillation. Recent studies have shown that, after prolonged ventricular fibrillation, the rates of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and survival are improved if defibrillation is delayed so that CPR can be given first. To examine whether CPR improves myocardial readiness for defibrillation, we analyzed whether CPR causes changes in predictors of defibrillation success calculated from the ventricular fibrillation waveform. METHODS AND RESULTS: ECG recordings were retrieved for 105 patients from an original study of 200 patients receiving CPR or defibrillation first. Altogether, 267 CPR sequences from 77 patients were identified on which the effect of CPR could be evaluated. Five predictors of ROSC (spectral flatness measure, energy, centroid frequency, amplitude spectrum relationship, and estimated probability of ROSC) were determined from a spectral analysis of the ventricular fibrillation waveform immediately before and immediately after each of the 267 sequences. CPR increased spectral flatness measure, centroid frequency, and amplitude spectrum relationship (P<0.05, P<0.001, P<0.01). In an analysis of the effect of the duration of CPR, the probability of ROSC and amplitude spectrum relationship showed a positive change for CPR sequences lasting >3 minutes (P<0.001, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: During resuscitation from ventricular fibrillation, changes in the predictors calculated from the ventricular fibrillation waveform indicated a positive effect of CPR on the myocardium.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation↗

Correlation of average muscle fiber conduction velocity measured during cycling exercise with myosin heavy chain composition, lactate threshold, and VO2max.

The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation between myosin heavy chain (MHC) composition, lactate threshold (LT), maximal oxygen uptake VO2max, and average muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) measured from surface electromyographic (EMG) signals during cycling exercise. Ten healthy male subjects participated in the study. MHC isoforms were identified from a sample of the vastus lateralis muscle and characterized as type I, IIA, and IIX. At least three days after a measure of LT and VO2max, the subjects performed a 2-min cycling exercise at 90 revolutions per minute and power output corresponding to LT, during which surface EMG signals were recorded from the vastus lateralis muscle with an adhesive electrode array. MFCV and instantaneous mean power spectral frequency of the surface EMG were estimated at the maximal instantaneous knee angular speed. Output power corresponding to LT and VO2max were correlated with percentage of MHC I (R2=0.77; and 0.42, respectively; P<0.05). MFCV was positively correlated with percentage of MHC I, power corresponding to LT and to VO2max (R2=0.84; 0.74; 0.53, respectively; P<0.05). Instantaneous mean power spectral frequency was not correlated with any of these variables or with MFCV, thus questioning the use of surface EMG spectral analysis for indirect estimation of MFCV in dynamic contractions.

Adult↗

Frequency-domain heart rate variability in 24-hour Holter recordings: role of spectral method to assess circadian patterns and pharmacological autonomic modulation.

Different spectral methodologies for heart rate variability were recently shown to provide the same qualitative results in the context of passive tilt test. However, the impact of the method and the use of normalized power units in long-term ECG monitoring is still debated. Autoregressive and Fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectral approaches were applied to assess circadian modulation and the effect of beta-blocker administration in mild hypertensive patients who underwent continuous ambulatory ECG recording (n = 44, 51 +/- 12 years, 30 men). Spectral analysis was applied to 5-minute sequences and spectral parameters representative of each circadian period (24 hour, day, night) were calculated. In baseline recordings, FFT spectral method provided a smaller estimate of total and very low frequency powers. On the contrary, low- and high-frequency components were systematically larger with FFT. Circadian variations were in favor of an increased overall nocturnal variability but of a reduced low frequency normalized power with both spectral methods. Chronic oral administration of beta-blocker induced an increase of all spectral components except for an unchanged low-frequency normalized power, independently from the spectral approach. In spite of quantitative differences, the qualitative assessment of circadian patterns and beta-blockade effect by autoregressive- and FFT-based spectral analyses is equivalent. The low-frequency component of heart rate variability cannot be considered a reliable direct marker of sympathetic activity in long-term ambulatory ECG recording.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

Influence of lutein supplementation on macular pigment, assessed with two objective techniques.

PURPOSE: Macular pigment (MP) may protect against age-related macular degeneration. This study was conducted to determine the extent of changes in the macular pigment density as a consequence of oral supplementation with lutein. A second purpose was to compare two objective measurement techniques. METHODS: In the first technique, reflectance maps were made with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope. Digital subtraction of log reflectance maps and comparison between the foveal area and a 14 degrees temporal site provided MP density estimates. In the second technique, spectral fundus reflectance of the fovea was measured with a fundus reflectometer and analyzed with a detailed optical model, to arrive at MP density values. Eight subjects participated in this study. They took 10 mg lutein per day for 12 weeks. Plasma lutein concentration was measured at 4-week intervals. RESULTS: After 4 weeks, mean blood level of lutein had increased from 0.18 to 0.90 microM. It stayed at this level throughout the intake period and declined to 0.28 microM 4 weeks after termination. Measurement of the density of MP showed a within-subject variation of 10% with MP maps and 17% with spectral reflectance analysis. MP density showed a mean linear 4-week increase of 5.3% (P: < 0.001) and 4.1% (P: = 0. 022), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Supplementation with lutein significantly increased the density of the MP. Analyzing reflectance maps with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope provided very reliable estimates of MP.

Adolescent↗

L, M and L-M hybrid cone photopigments in man: deriving lambda max from flicker photometric spectral sensitivities.

Using heterochromatic flicker photometry, we have measured the corneal spectral sensitivities of the X-chromosome-linked photopigments in 40 dichromats, 37 of whom have a single opsin gene in their tandem array. The photopigments encoded by their genes include: the alanine variant of the normal middle-wavelength sensitive photopigment, M(A180); the alanine and serine variants of the normal long-wavelength sensitive photopigment, L(A180) and L(S180); four different L-M hybrid or anomalous photopigments, L2M3(A180), L3M4(S180), L4M5(A180) and L4M5(S180); and two variants of the L-cone photopigment, encoded by genes with embedded M-cone exon two sequences, L(M2; A180) and L(M2; S180). The peak absorbances (lambda max) of the underlying photopigment spectra associated with each genotype were estimated by correcting the corneal spectral sensitivities back to the retinal level, after removing the effects of the macular and lens pigments and fitting a template of fixed shape to the dilute photopigment spectrum. Details of the genotype-phenotype correlations are summarized elsewhere (Sharpe, L. T., Stockman, A., Jägle, H., Knau, H., Klausen, G., Reitner, A. et al. (1998). J. Neuroscience, 18, 10053-10069). Here, we present the individual corneal spectral sensitivities for the first time as well as details and a comparison of three analyses used to estimate the lambda max values, including one in which the lens and macular pigment densities of each observer were individually measured.

Adult↗

Inflation versus cyclic predictions for spectral tilt.

We present a nearly model-independent estimate that yields the predictions of a class of simple inflationary and ekpyrotic or cyclic models for the spectral tilt of the primordial density inhomogeneities that enables us to compare the two scenarios. Remarkably, we find that the two produce an identical result, n(s) approximately 0.95. For inflation, the same estimate predicts a ratio of tensor to scalar contributions to the low l multipoles of the microwave background anisotropy of T/S approximately 20%; the tensor contribution is negligible for ekpyrotic or cyclic models, as shown in earlier papers.

Journal Article↗

Convergence of temporal and spectral information into acoustic images of complex sonar targets perceived by the echolocating bat, Eptesicus fuscus.

1. FM echolocating bats (Eptesicus fuscus) were trained to discriminate between a two-component complex target and a one-component simple target simulated by electronically-returned echoes in a series of experiments that explore the composition of the image of the two-component target. In Experiment I, echoes for each target were presented sequentially, and the bats had to compare a stored image of one target with that of the other. The bats made errors when the range of the simple target corresponded to the range of either glint in the complex target, indicating that some trace of the parts of one image interfered with perception of the other image. In Experiment II, echoes were presented simultaneously as well as sequentially, permitting direct masking of echoes from one target to the other. Changes in echo amplitude produced shifts in apparent range whose pattern depended upon the mode of echo presentation. 2. Eptesicus perceives images of complex sonar targets that explicitly represent the location and spacing of discrete glints located at different ranges. The bat perceives the target's structure in terms of its range profile along a psychological range axis using a combination of echo delay and echo spectral representations that together resemble a spectrogram of the FM echoes. The image itself is expressed entirely along a range scale that is defined with reference to echo delay. Spectral information contributes to the image by providing estimates of the range separation of glints, but it is transformed into these estimates. 3. Perceived absolute range is encoded by the timing of neural discharges and is vulnerable to shifts caused by neural amplitude-latency trading, which was estimated at 13 to 18 microseconds per dB from N1 and N4 auditory evoked potentials in Eptesicus. Spectral cues representing the separation of glints within the target are transformed into estimates of delay separations before being incorporated into the image. However, because they are encoded by neural frequency tuning rather than the time-of-occurrence of neural discharges, the perceived range separation of glints in images is not vulnerable to amplitude-latency shifts. 4. The bat perceives an image that is displayed in the domain of time or range. The image receives no evident spectral contribution beyond what is transformed into delay estimates. Although the initial auditory representation of FM echoes is spectrogram-like, the time, frequency, and amplitude dimensions of the spectrogram appear to be compressed into an image that has only time and amplitude dimensions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Acoustic Stimulation↗

End-plate electromyography: use of spectral analysis of end-plate noise.

An automated technique for estimating the channel open time of human end-plate acetylcholine receptors (AChR) is described. The method, which is based on the power spectral analysis of electromyographic end-plate noise, is simple and permits a rapid estimation of the dominant AChR ion channel kinetics. Values of AChR channel open time determined by spectral analysis of end-plate noise in adults (1.23 +/- 0.01 ms at 33 degrees C) were consistently shorter than those estimated from the decay phase of extracellularly recorded miniature end-plate potentials. The channel open time extracted from the end-plate noise compared well with that derived from the analysis of in vitro recorded acetylcholine-induced current noise. Therefore, spectral analysis of end-plate noise may provide a good estimation of the kinetics of the human AChR ion channel. The technique is particularly useful in identifying congenital myasthenic syndromes with altered AChR ion channel function.

Adult↗

Evaluation of transcutaneous Doppler ultrasonography for the measurement of blood flow in the femoral artery of pigs.

OBJECTIVE: To compare measurements of blood flow in the common femoral artery obtained by duplex Doppler ultrasonography (DDU) and a reference ultrasonic transit-time flow (TTF) method and to examine the impact of Doppler spectral waveform measurement techniques on volumetric estimates. ANIMALS: 5 healthy female pigs. PROCEDURES: Femoral arterial blood flow was measured simultaneously in anesthetized pigs by use of a TTF probe (left femoral artery) and transcutaneous DDU (right femoral artery). A range of flow states was induced pharmacologically by using xylazine, bradykinin, dobutamine, and isoflurane. Volumetric blood flow was calculated from DDU waveforms, using the product of the flow velocity integral (FVI), the cross-sectional vessel area, and heart rate. Three calculations of FVI were obtained by manually tracing the Doppler spectral envelopes at the outer envelope, the modal, and the inner envelope of the spectral dispersion pattern. Data analysis included calculation of Pearson correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman limits of agreement. RESULTS: Blood flow measured by DDU was more closely correlated with TTF measurements when the modal or inner envelope tracing method was used (r, 0.76 and 0.78; limits of agreement, -100 to 54.2 and -48.5 to 770 mL/min, respectively). Limits of agreement for the outer envelope tracing method were -238.5 to 64 mL/min. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Transcutaneous DDU is a reliable noninvasive technique for measuring blood flow in the femoral artery of pigs over a range of flow states. Tracing the inner envelope of the Doppler spectral dispersion pattern provided the best estimate of blood flow in this study.

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists↗

Interpretation of the spectra of energy scattered by dispersed anchovies.

The spectra of backscattered energy by dispersed anchovies, which were reported by Holliday (1972), reveal several peaks at frequencies that correspond to theoretically calculated resonance frequencies of year classes of anchovies. Theoretical calculations are based on concurrent measurements of distributions of swim bladder dimensions and a modified form of Minnaert's (1933) equation. Differences between calculated and measured values of the mean lengths of the second-, third-, and fourth-year classes are within experimental uncertainties (+/-8%). The calculated mean lengths of juvenile anchovies are in good agreement with historical measurements of the bounds on this parameter (Butler, 1989). Matching of theoretical calculations and measurements of backscattered energy level versus frequency yields estimates of the total Q of the spectral line, QT, and the relative number density per year class. The resultant estimate of QT of adult anchovies is approximately 4.4. This value of QT is consistent with laboratory measurements of the Q of individual anchovies. Q0 (approximately 7 at 15 m) and measurements of length distributions of year classes and depth distributions. Resultant estimates of relative number densities of year classes were consistent with historical measurements of the relative number densities of year classes of anchovies in the Southern California Bight.

Acoustics↗

Noninvasive assessment of baroreflex control in borderline hypertension. Comparison with the phenylephrine method.

In this study, we examined the sensitivity of two recently developed noninvasive baroreflex measurement techniques to assess baroreflex control in hypertension. We assessed baroreflex sensitivity noninvasively from covariations of systolic pressure and RR interval using spectral analysis and sequence detection. The noninvasive estimates of baroreflex control were compared with estimates derived from phenylephrine-induced increases in systolic pressure and RR interval in normotensive subjects (n = 27) and borderline hypertensive subjects (n = 15). Baroreflex sensitivity was significantly reduced in the borderline hypertensive group relative to the normotensive group when assessed with the use of either the noninvasive or invasive methods to index baroreflex control. In addition, estimates obtained from the noninvasive methods were significantly correlated with baroreflex sensitivity assessed with the phenylephrine method (spectral: r = .48, P < .001; sequence: r = .50, P < .001). These findings suggest that spectral analysis and the sequence method provide viable alternatives to the pharmacological approach for estimation of baroreflex sensitivity in hypertension.

Adult↗

Optimizing imaging parameters for the separation of multiple labels in a fluorescence image.

A theoretical analysis is presented on how to separate the contributions from individual, simultaneously present fluorophores in a spectrally resolved image. Equations are derived that allow the calculation of the signal-to-noise ratio of the estimates for such contributions, given the spectral information on the individual fluorophores, the excitation wavelengths and intensities, and the number and widths of the spectral detection channels. We then ask how such imaging parameters have to be chosen for optimal fluorophore separation. We optimize the signal-to-noise ratio or optimize a newly defined 'figure of merit', which is a measure of efficiency in the use of emitted photons. The influence of photobleaching on the resolution and on the choice of imaging parameters is discussed, as well as the additional resolution gained by including fluorescence lifetime information. A surprisingly small number of spectral channels are required for an almost optimal resolution, if the borders of these channels are optimally selected. The detailed consideration of photobleaching is found to be essential, whenever there is significant bleaching. Consideration of fluorescence lifetime information (in addition to spectral information) improves results, particularly when lifetimes differ by more than a factor of two.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Action spectra for human skin cells: estimates of the relative cytotoxicity of the middle ultraviolet, near ultraviolet, and violet regions of sunlight on epidermal keratinocytes.

Action spectra for the cytotoxic action of electromagnetic radiation in the solar range 280-434 nm have been determined for human fibroblasts and epidermal keratinocytes derived from the same foreskin biopsy. The spectra for the two cell types are close to identical and coincide with our previously published data for a human lymphoblastoid line indicating that the mechanism of inactivation of the three human cell types is similar at any given wavelength. Using published data for ultraviolet transmission of human skin and sample spectral irradiance data, we have estimated the relative biological effectiveness of the middle ultraviolet (UVB) (290-320 nm), near ultraviolet (UVA) (320-380 nm), and violet (380-434 nm) regions of sunlight for cytotoxicity at the basal layer of the epidermis. We conclude that the UVB component in noon summer sunlight (the most UVB rich spectral conditions tested) may contribute only about 40% of the total cytotoxic effectiveness of sunlight at 290-434 nm. At lower zenith angles, UVA can account for up to 80% of the cytotoxic effectiveness of the combined UVA and UVB regions. Finally, a comparison of published action spectra data for human erythema with cytotoxicity data corrected for ultraviolet transmission to different depths of the human epidermis suggests that UVA erythema could be causally related to cytotoxicity occurring at an average depth of 40-50 micron into the human epidermis.

Cell Line↗

Quantitative blood speed imaging with intravascular ultrasound.

Previously, we presented a method of real-time arterial color flow imaging using an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging system, where real-time RF A-scans were processed with an FIR (finite-impulse response) filter bank to estimate relative blood speed. Although qualitative flow measurements are clinically valuable, realizing the full potential of blood flow imaging requires quantitative flow speed and volume measurements in real time. Unfortunately, the rate of RF echo-to-echo decorrelation is not directly related to scatterer speed in a side-looking IVUS system because the elevational extent of the imaging slice varies with range. Consequently, flow imaging methods using any type of decorrelation processing to estimate blood speed without accounting for spatial variation of the radiation pattern will have estimation errors that prohibit accurate comparison of speed estimates from different depths. The FIR filter bank approach measures the rate of change of the ultrasound signal by estimating the slow-time spectrum of RF echoes. A filter bank of M bandpass filters is applied in parallel to estimate M components of the slow-time DFT (discrete Fourier transform). The relationship between the slow-time spectrum, aperture diffraction pattern, and scatterer speed is derived for a simplified target. Because the ultimate goal of this work is to make quantitative speed measurements, we present a method to map slow time spectral characteristics to a quantitative estimate. Results of the speed estimator are shown for a simulated circumferential catheter array insonifying blood moving uniformly past the array (i.e., plug flow) and blood moving with a parabolic profile (i.e., laminar flow).

Animals↗

Spectral-daylight recovery by use of only a few sensors.

Linear models have already been proved accurate enough to recover spectral functions. We have resorted to such linear models to recover spectral daylight with the response of no more than a few real sensors. We performed an exhaustive search to obtain the best set of Gaussian sensors with a combination of optimum spectral position and bandwidth. We also examined to what extent the accuracy of daylight estimation depends on the number of sensors and their spectral properties. A set of 2600 daylight spectra [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 18, 1325 (2001)] were used to determine the basis functions in the linear model and also to evaluate the accuracy of the search. The estimated spectra are compared with the original ones for different spectral daylight and skylight sets of data within the visible spectrum. Spectral similarity, colorimetric differences, and integrated spectral irradiance errors were all taken into account. We compare our best results with those obtained by using a commercial CCD, revealing the CCD's potential as a daylight-estimation device.

Journal Article↗

Some effects of spectral shaping on recognition of speech by hearing-impaired listeners.

The effects of spectral shaping on speech recognition were investigated for hearing-impaired listeners with flat and steep audiometric configuration. Three frequency responses were tested: uniform frequency gain, high pass filtering, and a response shaped relative to each subject's loudness discomfort level curve. Speech-recognition performance was measured at four levels (from 80 to 95 dB SPL) using nonsense syllable (NST) and synthetic sentence (SSI) tests, presented against a background of "cafeteria noise." No significant differences in performance on the NST were observed between the two subject groups across all spectral shapes (frequency response) and presentation levels. On the SSI, performance of subjects with flat audiometric configuration was highest using the uniform frequency response, while performance of listeners with steep configuration was poorest for the uniform response. The recognition data were compared with predictions of relative performance using a modification of the Articulation index (AI). The AIs provided accurate estimates of relative performance across spectral shapes but were not consistent with relative performance as a function of presentation level. The results indicate that the selection of spectral shape for optimal performance is influenced by the particular speech task used to test recognition and also suggest that, with further validation, the AI may provide an objective technique for selecting optimal spectral shape.

Aged↗