Home Automation-Based Health Assessment Along Gesture Recognition via Inertial Sensors

Hand gesture recognition (HGR) is used in a numerous applications,including medical health-care, industrial purpose and sports detection.We have developed a real-time hand gesture recognition system using inertialsensors for the smart home application. Developing such a model facilitatesthe medical health field (elders or disabled ones). Home automation has alsobeen proven to be a tremendous benefit for the elderly and disabled. Residentsare admitted to smart homes for comfort, luxury, improved quality of life,and protection against intrusion and burglars. This paper proposes a novelsystem that uses principal component analysis, linear discrimination analysisfeature extraction, and random forest as a classifier to improveHGRaccuracy.We have achieved an accuracy of 94% over the publicly benchmarked HGRdataset. The proposed system can be used to detect hand gestures in thehealthcare industry as well as in the industrial and educational sectors.

A natural model of behavioral depression in postpartum adult female cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis)

Postpartum depression （PPD） is a modified form of major depressive disorders （MDD） that can exert profound negative effects on both mothers and infants than MDD. Within the postpartum period, both mothers and infants are susceptible; but because PPD typically occurs for short durations and has moderate symptoms, there exists challenges in exploring and addressing the underlying cause of the depression. This fact highlights the need for relevant animal models. In the present study, postpartum adult female cynomolgus monkeys （Macaca fascicularis） living in breeding groups were observed for typical depressive behavior. The huddle posture behavior was utilized as an indicator of behavioral depression postpartum （BDP） as it has been established as the core depressive-like behavior in primates. Monkeys were divided into two groups： A t3DP group （n=6）, which were found to spend more time huddling over the first two weeks postpartum than other individuals that formed a non-depression control group （n=4）. The two groups were then further analyzed for locomotive activity, stressful events, hair cortisol levels and for maternal interactive behaviors. No differences were found between the BDP and control groups in locomotive activity, in the frequencies of stressful events experienced and in hair cortisol levels. These findings suggested that the postpartum depression witnessed in the monkeys was not related to external factors other than puerperium period. Interestingly, the BDP monkeys displayed an abnormal maternal relationship consisting of increased infant grooming. Taken together, these findings suggest that the adult female cynomolgus monkeys provide a natural model of behavioral postpartum depression that holds a number of advantages over commonly used rodent systems in PPD modeling. The cynomolgus monkeys have a highly-organized social hierarchy and reproductive characteristics without seasonal restriction--similar to humans--as well as much greater homology to humans than rodents. As such, this model may provide a greater translational efficiency and research platform for systematically investigating the etiology, treatment, prevention of PPD.

Application of a paraplegic gait orthosis in thoracolumbar spinal cord injury

Paraplegic gait orthosis has been shown to help paraplegic patients stand and walk, although this method cannot be individualized for patients with different spinal cord injuries and functional recovery of the lower extremities. There is, however, a great need to develop individualized paraplegic orthosis to improve overall quality of life for paraplegic patients. In the present study, 36 spinal cord（below T4） injury patients were equally and randomly divided into control and observation groups. The control group received systematic rehabilitation training, including maintenance of joint range of motion, residual muscle strength training, standing training, balance training, and functional electrical stimulation. The observation group received an individualized paraplegic locomotion brace and functional training according to the various spinal cord injury levels and muscle strength based on comprehensive systematic rehabilitation training. After 3 months of rehabilitation training, the observation group achieved therapeutic locomotion in 8 cases, family-based locomotion in 7 cases, and community-based locomotion in 3 cases. However, locomotion was not achieved in any of the control group patients. These findings suggest that individualized paraplegic braces significantly improve activity of daily living and locomotion in patients with thoracolumbar spinal cord injury.

Optogenetics stimulates nerve reorganization in the contralesional anterolateral primary motor cortex in a mouse model of ischemic stroke

The anterolateral motor cortex of rodents is an important motor auxiliary area,and its function is similar to that of the premotor area in humans.Activation and inhibition of the contralesional anterolateral motor cortex(cALM)have been shown to have direct effects on motor behavior.However,the significance of cALM activation and inhibition in the treatment of stroke remains unclear.This study investigated the role of optogenetic cALM stimulation in a mouse model of cerebral stroke.The results showed that 21-day optogenetic cALM inhibition,but not activation,improved neurological function.In addition,optogenetic cALM stimulation substantially altered dendritic structural reorganization and dendritic spine plasticity,as optogenetic cALM inhibition resulted in increased dendritic length,number of dendritic spines,and number of perforated synapses,whereas optogenetic activation led to an increase in the number of multiple synapse boutons and the number of dendritic intersections.Furthermore,RNA-seq analysis showed that multiple biological processes regulated by the cALM were upregulated immediately after optogenetic cALM inhibition,and that several immediate-early genes(including cFOS,Erg1,and Sema3f)were expressed at higher levels after optogenetic inhibition than after optogenetic activation.These results were confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.Finally,immunofluorescence analysis showed that the c-FOS signal in layer V of the primary motor cortex in the ischemic hemisphere was higher after optogenetic cALM activation than it was after optogenetic cALM inhibition.Taken together,these findings suggest that optogenetic cALM stimulation promotes neural reorganization in the primary motor cortex of the ischemic hemisphere,and that optogenetic cALM inhibition and activation have different effects on neural plasticity.The study was approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Fudan University(approval No.201802173 S)on March 3,2018.