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Introduction: In the search for objective measures of therapeutic outcomes for patients with spinal cord stimulation (SCS) devices, various metrics of cardiac performance have been linked to pain as well as overall health. To track such measures at home, recent studies have incorporated wearables to monitor cardiac activity over months or years. The drawbacks to wearables, such as patient compliance, would be obviated by on-device sensing that incorporates the SCS lead. This study sought to evaluate the feasibility of using SCS leads to record cardiac electrograms. Methods: The quality of signals sensed by externalized, percutaneous leads in the thoracic spine of 10 subjects at the end of their SCS trial were characterized across various electrode configurations and postures by detecting R-peaks and calculating signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In a subset of 5 subjects, cardiac metrics were then compared to those measured simultaneously with a wearable. Results: The average signal quality was acceptable for R-peak detection (i.e., SNR > 5) for all configurations and positions across all 10 subjects, with higher signal quality achieved when recording in resting positions. Notably, the spinal lead recordings enabled more reliable beat detection compared to the wearable (n = 29 recording pairs; p < 0.001). When excluding wearable recordings with over 35% missed beats, the inter-beat intervals across devices were highly correlated (n = 22 recording pairs; Pearson correlation: R = 0.99, p < 0.001). Further comparisons in these aligned wearable and corresponding spinal-lead recordings revealed significant differences in the frequency domain metrics (i.e., absolute and normalized high and low frequency HRV power, p < 0.05), but not in time domain HRV parameters. Discussion: The ability of an implanted SCS system to record electrocardiograms, as demonstrated here, could provide the basis of automated SCS therapy by tracking potential biomarkers of the patient's overall health state without the need for additional external devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies the factors influencing citizens' adoption of e-government in a distrustful region – where service complexity to prevent fraud and corruption is accepted – and bridges the gap in the relevant body of literature. We selected the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, extended with trust factors, using data from 362 respondents, to study an e-government service, in Colombia, a developing country. Trust was the primary influencing factor, followed by cost-benefit expectancy and facilitating conditions. While government support did not influence behavioural intention, the latter remained a strong predictor of use, even though facilitating conditions had no influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controlled laser air-force detection (CLAFD) technique was developed to explore the feasibility of multi-mechanical property detection of polyurethane by single excitation mode. The adhesiveness, elastic modulus, hardness, resilience, and cohesiveness of polyurethane were predicted by the global variable partial least squares regression (Gv-PLSR) algorithm. Different preprocessing methods were used to preprocess the original laser data. The interval partial least squares regression (I-PLSR) algorithm was used to decrease the influences of the multicollinearity of the global laser variable and increase the stability of the multi-mechanical property prediction models. To further improve the prediction accuracy of the modeling of I-PLSR algorithm, the synergy interval PLSR (Si-PLSR) algorithm was used to combine the intervals with the higher evaluation index root-mean-square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) to predict the multi-properties. The results demonstrated that as a novel mechanical property detection technique, the CLAFD technique predicts in an efficient way. A suitable preprocessing method for the original laser data could greatly improve the effectiveness of prediction. The I-PLSR algorithm was used to improve the model's stability significantly. Nevertheless, the prediction accuracy decreased. Comparing the I-PLSR algorithm with the Si-PLSR algorithm, the prediction accuracy and the modal stability were optimized by the latter. However, the accuracy was still lower than the Gv-PLSR algorithm. Therefore, the Gv-PLSR was the best algorithm to establish the multi-mechanical properties prediction model. This study provided a new comprehensive, nondestructive, and cross-contamination-free method to evaluate the comprehensive mechanical properties (adhesiveness, elastic modulus, hardness, resilience, and cohesiveness) of materials efficiently, especially for the soft materials such as biomaterial and food material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antecedentes: la Coriza infecciosa (CI) es una enfermedad grave del tracto respiratorio de las aves ponedoras. La respuesta a la enfermedad depende del sistema inmune el cual depende de la energía consumida. Objetivos: evaluar la respuesta productiva a la CI en ponedoras alimentadas con diferentes niveles energéticos. Métodos: un total de 2208 aves de la línea Hy-Line Brown de 44 semanas de edad fueron evaluadas bajo un diseño completamente aleatorizado en cuatro tratamientos con diferentes niveles energéticos; T1:2730, T2:2800, T3: 2870 y T4:2920 kcal EM/kg. A la semana 49 las aves naturalmente se infectaron con CI. Las variables medidas fueron producción semanal (PS) y conversión alimenticia kg alimento/12 huevos (CA). Las variables fueron evaluadas a partir de modelos no lineales segmentados en dos momentos; el inicio de la enfermedad y la recuperación. El modelo de mejor ajuste fue seleccionado según el AIC, R2. La comparación entre tratamientos se realizó a partir de los intervalos de confianza (95 %). Resultados: el modelo de mejor ajuste para todas las variables y los dos momentos de la enfermedad fue el de Hill con R2 fluctuando desde 0,8 hasta 0,95. Solo el T3 tuvo diferencias significativas en el PS al inició de la CI, evidenciando una mayor tasa de descenso, pero un valor mínimo de PS (229,71) superior al resto de tratamientos. Entre la semana 50 y 51 la CA del T3 obtuvo la mayor tasa de incremento en comparación al resto de tratamientos, sin embargo, obtuvo los menores valores de CA (2,86). Los mayores valores en CA fueron para el T4 y diferentes al T1 y T3. El T3 obtuvo la mayor tasa de recuperación del PS en comparación a todos los tratamientos. Sin embargo, la PS cuando se estabilizó (recuperación de la CI), fue mayor para el T4, seguido por el T3, T2 y T1, respectivamente. Para la CA en el segundo momento, las tasas fueron iguales para todos los tratamientos, sin embargo, la estabilización fue mayor para T1, seguido por T2, T3 y T4, respectivamente. Conclusión: la utilización de niveles energéticos superiores en la dieta mejora la respuesta productiva a la infección por Coriza, siendo el nivel con 2870 kcal EM/kg el de mejor respuesta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]