Single fiber electromyography in 78 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Background Single fiber electromyography (SFEMG) is a sensitive technique for detecting abnormalities in neuromuscular transmission and is mainly used in the diagnosis of neuromuscular junction disorders, such as myasthenia gravis While the process of denervation reinnervation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can also result in immature collateral nerve terminals and instability of neuromuscular transmission, the purpose of this study was to investigate the changes and clinical values of SFEMG in patients with ALS Methods Volitional SFEMG was performed on the extensor digitorum communis (EDC) of 78 patients with ALS (men 52, women 26) who had been previously diagnosed by history, clinical features, and neurophysiological studies The mean jitter, the percentage of jitter >55 μs, the impulse blocking percentage, and fiber density (FD) were determined These results were compared to normal controls In addition, the SFEMG indices were analyzed for correlations with the duration of ALS, the EDC strength score on the Medical Research Council (MRC) scale, and spontaneous activity detected by EMG studies Results SFEMG indices were abnormal in all patients with ALS Mean jitter ranged from 30 to 178 μs (mean 80 2 μs); the percentage of jitter >55 μs ranged from 5% to 100% (mean 60 5%) In addition, the impulse blocking percentage ranged from 0% to 90% (mean 28 1%) and FD ranged from 1 4 to 4 1 (mean 2 6) Mean jitter, the percentage of jitter >55 μs, and the blocking percentage in 57 patients with definite or probable ALS were significantly higher than in patients with possible or suspected ALS MRC scores of the EDC negatively correlated with mean jitter, the percentage of jitter >55 μs, blocking percentage, and FD Conclusions SFEMG is the most sensitive tool for diagnosing definite or probable ALS Increased jitter, blocking percentage, and FD can indicate the degree of immature collateral sprouts and motor end plates resulting from the progressive denervation and reinnervation associated with ALS, and may be helpful in evaluating prognosis

Effect of the amount of lignin on tensile properties of single wood fibers

Chemical components are the main factors affecting the mechanical properties of wood fibers. Lignin is one of the main components of wood cell walls and has a critical effect on the mechanical properties of paper pulp and wood fiber based composites. In this study, we carried out tensile tests on single mature latewood tracheids of Chi- nese fir （Cunninghamia lanciolata （Lamb.） Hook.）, using three different delignified treatment methods to obtain different amounts of lignin. We applied single fiber tests to study the effect of the amount of lignin on mechanical tensile proper- ties of single wood fibers at the cellular level. The results show that in their dry state, the modulus of elasticity of single fi- bers decreased with the reduction in the amount of Iignin; even their absolute values were not high. The amount of lignin affects the tensile strength and elongation of single fibers considerably. Tensile strength and elongation of single fibers increase with a reduction in the amount of lignin.

Single fiber electromyography in the diagnosis of ocular myasthenia gravis:report of 90 cases

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate single fiber electromyography (SFEMG) in the diagnosis of ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG),compared with repetitive nerve stimulation (RNS) and blood concentration of antibody to acetylcholine receptor (AchRAb).Methods SFEMG,RNS and AchRAb titration were measured in 90 patients with OMG (44 men,46 women). Results Markedly increased jitter and ratio of block in the frontalis and the extensor digitorum communis (EDC) were observed (83.3% and 61.1%,respectively). The mean jitter was 43.6±14.5 μs,and the percentages of jitter>55 μs and blocking were 16.9%±19% and 3.5%±9.5% respectively in the EDC. The mean jitter was 64.3±25.6 μs,and the percentages of jitter >55 μs and blocking were 33.5%±27.6% and 29.3%±23.2% respectively in the frontalis. The percentage of abnormal RNS was 27.8% (25/90). There was an increased AchRAb titration in 29 (32.2%) of the 90 patients. Increased jitter,blocking was negatively correlated with maximum decrement to RNS ( P <0.01). 11.4% (4/35) of patients with abnormal RNS and 24.1% (7/29) patients with abnormal AchRAb were seen in the patients with normal SFEMG in the EDC. Conclusion SFEMG test showed the highest sensitivity in the diagnosis of OMG. To our knowledge, the three methods (SFEMG,RNS and AchRAb) are complementary in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of OMG.

Single fiber dual-functionality optical tweezers based on graded-index multimode fiber

We propose and demonstrate single fiber dual-functionality optical tweezers based on a graded-index multimode fiber. By using the multi-angle fiber grinding and polishing technology, we fabricate the multimode fiber tip to be a special tapered shape, contributing to focus the outgoing beam with a large intensity gradient for the first functionality--three-dimensional contactless trapping of a microparticle. By adjusting the radial direction offset between the lead-in single mode fiber and the graded-index multimode fiber, we perform the second functionality--axial shift of the trapped microparticle with respect to the fiber tip without need of moving the fiber probe itself. It is convenient for practical applications, The theoretical and experimental results about the relationship between the radial offset and the equilibrium positions of the microparticle have the good consistency. Tailoring the trap and axial shift of the microparticle based on the graded-index multimode fiber provides convenient avenues for fiber optical tweezers a~）Dlied in practical researches.

Wavelength-Tunable Single Frequency Ytterbium-Doped Fiber Laser with Loop Mirror Filter

By using a loop mirror filter, a novel wavelength-tunable single-frequency ytterbium-doped fiber laser is developed to select single longitudinal modes in a linear cavity. The output wavelength could be tuned 2.4 nm intervals range from 1063.3 to 1065.Tnrn with the temperature change of the fiber Bragg grating. The maximum output power could reach 32 m W while the pump power increases to 120 m W. The corresponding optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is 26.7% and the slope efficiency is 33.9%, respectively. The output power fluctuation is below 2%, and its highest signal-to-noise ratio is 60 dB.

Severe Botulism after Intragastric Botulinum Toxin-A Injection: A Case Series

Intragastric botulismus toxin-A (BoNT-A) is one of the new approaches in the treatment of obesity. We aimed to contribute to the literature by presenting the clinical features, laboratory findings and treatment responses of iatrogenic botulism cases due to intragastric BoNT-A administered in our clinic. All detailed medical information was obtained by accessing the medical records of the patients who were hospitalized and followed up and treated between September 2022 and December 2022, and the diagnosis of A.05.1 Botulism was entered according to ICD-10, and whose clinical findings were compatible with botulism disease and who underwent intragastric BoNT-A application beforehand. These records were obtained by examining this information. 10 patients who developed botulism after intragastric BoNT-A application between 01/09/2022 and 28/02/2023 were followed up in our clinic. All of the patients were women. The mean age was 35. The mean hospital stay was 9 days. Only 1 of our cases required intensive care. Good response to treatment was accepted as a complete or near-complete improvement in the clinical findings of the patients and all of them had a good response to treatment. Intragastric BoNT-A administration is a procedure that requires careful indication with a profit/loss calculation considering the potential side effects. In addition, attention should be paid to dilution rates and dose amounts.

Development of Morus alba Reinforced Poly-Lactic Acid with Elevated Mechanical and Thermal Properties

This research investigates the mechanical and thermal properties of Morus alba combined with polylactic acid in comparison with other natural fibers. The study uses three different fiber and PLA compositions - 20%, 30%, and 40% respectively - to produce composite materials. In addition, another composite with the same fiber volume is treated with a 4% NaOH solution to improve mechanical properties. The composites are processed by twin-screw extrusion, granulation, and injection molding. Tensile strength measurements of raw fibers and NaOH-treated fibers were carried out using a single-fiber tensile test with a gauge length of 40 mm. It was observed that the NaOH surface treatment increases the resistance against tensile loading and exhibited improved properties for raw fiber strands. The diameter of the fibers was measured using optical microscopy. During this research, flexural tests, impact tests, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and heat deflection temperature measurements (HDT) were conducted to evaluate the mechanical and thermal properties of the developed composite samples. The results indicate that the mechanical properties of NaOH-treated Morus alba-reinforced polylactic acid outperform both virgin PLA samples and untreated Morus alba samples.

Influence of Heating Rate and Calcining Temperature on Properties of 95 Polycrystalline Alumina Fiber

The swung gel fibers were hea, ted to 400 ℃ at 0. .5 ,1, 1.5,2,2.5,3and4 ℃ min^-1 of heating rate, respectivel, and soaked.for 1 h ; then heated to 600 ℃ at 3 ℃ min ^-1 of.heating rate amt soaked for 1 h at last calcined m 1 000, 1 100, 1 200, 1 300, and 1 400 ℃.for 1 h, respectively.

Analysis of Radio over Fiber system for mitigating four-wave mixing effect

In this paper,an efficient 8-channel 32Gbps RoF(Radio over Fiber)system incorporating Bessel Filter(8/32 RoFBF)has been demonstrated to reduce the impact of non-linear transmission effects,specifically Four-Wave Mixing(FWM).The simulation results indicate that the proposed 8/32 RoF-BF system provides an optimum result w.r.t.channel spacing(75 GHz),input source power(0 dBm)and number of input channels(8).In comparison with the existing RoF system,the proposed 8/32 RoF-BF system has been validated analytically and it is found that the performance of the proposed system is in close proximity particularly in FWM sideband power reduction of the order of 4 dBm for the 8-channel 32Gbps RoF system.

Strain and Temperature Discrimination Based on a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer With Cascaded Single Mode Fibers

An in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer is proposed for the discrimination of strain and temperature.The sensor is based on two cascaded standard single mode fibers using three peanut tapers fabricated by simple splicing.The cascaded structure excites more frequency components,which induce four sets of interference dips in the transmission spectrum.One set of the spectrum dips have different sensitivities to temperature and strain from those of the other three.The sensor can discriminate strain and temperature by monitoring the wavelength shifts of two spectrum dips.Repeated experiments are taken both for strain and temperature increasing and decreasing scenarios.Experimental results show that Dip 1 has an average strain sensitivity of-0.911 pm/με and an average temperature sensitivity of 49.98pm/℃.The strain sensitivity for Dip 2 is negligible and its average temperature sensitivity is 60.52pm/℃.The strain and temperature resolutions are±3.82με and±0.33℃.

Single Crystal Fibers:Diversified Functional Crystal Material

Single crystal fibers(SCF)are considered to be a combination of bulk crystals and conventional fibers,thereby possessing the stable physical and chemical properties accompanied with excellent waveguide properties.This paper gives a detailed introduction to the development history of single crystal fibers,including the evolution of the growth technique and the optimization of the growth process.Laser-heated pedestal growth(LHPG)and Micro-pulling-down(μ-PD)methods are considered to be the most widely used growth techniques for growing single crystal fibers,and the advantages of the two methods are also introduced in detail.The second part of this paper describes the characterization of single crystal fibers,including diameter fluctuation,crystal quality and optical losses.A series of cladding approaches for SCF,such as magnetron sputtering,sol-gel,liquid phase epitaxy,co-drawing LHPG,ion implantation and micro-structure cladding will be reviewed.In addition,the research status of single crystal fiber laser and single crystal fiber sensor are also summarized in view of the current research foundation.

A series of Er3+-activated SrLaGa3O7 single crystal fibers for mid-infrared laser application

A multidisciplinary approach for the production and characterization of a series of high concentration Er3+activated SrLaGa3 O7(abbreviated as Er:SLGO)crystal fibers is shown to have a great promise for implementation in mid-infrared laser applications.The current approach includes the design and formation of unique layered tetrahedral network structures with several kinds of rare earth(RE)ions including Er ions distributing statistically between layers,such as Er:SLGO,Er,Nd:SLGO,Er,Yb,Ho:SLGO,Er,Eu:SLGO and Er,Ho:SLGO.Five kinds of Er:SLGO crystal fibers were designed to grow via a micropulling down method.Spectroscopic analyses show that Er,Yb,Ho:SLGO and Nd,Er:SLGO crystal fibers were superiorly endowed with inhomogeneous broadening absorption and strong emission.The unique structural components design enables the generation of improved absorption and emission recombination,and the inhibition of self-termination as well.Generally,the use of structural components design may warrant high-efficiency emissions in RE-doped crystal fibers.

Optical and scintillation properties of Ce:Y_(3)Al_(5)O_(12) single crystal fibers grown by laser heated pedestal growth method

The single crystal scintillating optical fibers acting as the scintillators and light conductors show potential application in scintillating fiber array detectors with high spatial resolution.In this paper we report the growth of 0.2 at%Ce:Y_(3)Al_(5)O_(12) single crystal fiber.The crystalline phase,surface morphology of the axialsection and cro ss-section,optical and scintillation properties of the as-grown fiber were investigated.The Ce:Y_(3)Al_(5)O_(12) single crystal fiber has a pure YAG phase,a uniform distribution of cerium in the axialsection and cross-section surface.Emission spectrum is composed of broad bands ranging from 440 to700 nm.In addition,the single crystal fiber has a high light yield of 26115±2000 photons/MeV,low energy resolution of 9.44%@662 keV and decay time of a fast component of 78 ns and a slow component of 301 ns.The intensity ratio of fast to slow components is roughly 8:1.

Influence of optical filtering on transmission capacity in single mode fiber communications

This paper presents the design and analysis of optical filters that are placed at the output of directly modulated vertical cavity surface emitting laser （VCSEL） in the process of inexpensive transmitter＇s implementation for upcoming generation optical access network. Generation of non return to zero （NRZ） optical signal from the transmitter for 110 km error-free single mode fiber （SMF） transmission at 10 Gb/s with bit error rate （BER） of 10-30 in the absence of the external modulator and encoder was proposed. Effects of super-Gaussian and Butterworth optical filters at VCSEL output were demonstrated to maximize performance of SMF optical systems without need of any dispersion compensation technique.

4-W single transverse mode Yb^(3+)-doped fiber laser pumped by 915-nm laser diode array

A cladding-pumped ytterbium-doped fiber laser is described in this letter. Using unusual pumping source with 915-nm wavelength, slope efficiency up to 75% with respect to absorbed input power and output power is obtained, a maximum output power of 4.006 W with fundamental mode is measured.

Midinfrared optical frequency comb based on difference frequency generation using high repetition rate Er-doped fiber laser with single wall carbon nanotube film

We demonstrated stable midinfrared(MIR) optical frequency comb at the 3.0 μm region with difference frequency generation pumped by a high power, Er-doped, ultrashort pulse fiber laser system. A soliton mode-locked161 MHz high repetition rate fiber laser using a single wall carbon nanotube was fabricated. The output pulse was amplified in an Er-doped single mode fiber amplifier, and a 1.1–2.2 μm wideband supercontinuum(SC) with an average power of 205 m W was generated in highly nonlinear fiber. The spectrogram of the generated SC was examined both experimentally and numerically. The generated SC was focused into a nonlinear crystal, and stable generation of MIR comb around the 3 μm wavelength region was realized.

Direct Observation of Histone-Induced DNA Shortening

We construct a system of magnetic tweezers and apply it to study the interaction between histones and DNA. The condensation of DNA by purified histones at low ionic strengths is directly monitored by recording the length of the DNA as a function of elapsed time. It is found that DNA condensates in a dynamic manner. The binding of hist, ones to DNA is energetically favoured, but the ten,sion applied on DNA tends to unravel the DNA-histone complex, The competition between the two processes determiners the rate of the DNA condensation.

Amplified spontaneous emission properties of a single mode Er^(3+)-doped tellurite fiber

Spectral characteristics of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from a novel single mode Er^(3+) doped tellurite fiber with D-type cladding is reported in this letter. When pumped at 980 nm, an ASE source that has nearly a 100-nm flat FWHM bandwidth is obtained with a fiber length of 30-60 cm. Variation of ASE spectra with pump powers and fiber lengths are measured. Output power up to 2.0 mW is obtained with a launched pump power of 660 mW.

Efficiency and Output Power Evaluation of a Wavelength Converter Based on FWM in a Single Mode Fiber

A frequency domain analysis is presented to determine the performance characteristics of a tunable all-optical wavelength converter using four-wave mixing (FWM) in a single mode fiber (SMF) around the zero dispersion wavelength using two pump lasers. The output converted signal power as well as efficiency evaluated at a bit rate of 10 Gb/s show that the signal power is substantially higher at lower values of wavelength separation.