Effects of acute administration of d-amphetamine and haloperidol on procedural learning in man

The effects of an indirect dopamine-agonist, d-amphetamine, and a non-selective dopamine receptor antagonist, haloperidol, were investigated in normal male volunteers using a between-subjects double-blind design in a procedural learning task, thought mainly to involve unconscious/automatic learning. The results showed: (1) d-amphetamine facilitated response speed, whereas haloperidol inhibited it, in comparison to placebo; (2) the linear increase in procedural learning corresponded with pharmacological manipulation of degree of dopaminergic activity, i.e. subjects given haloperidol showed the least, and subjects given d-amphetamine the greatest, procedural learning. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to investigation of abnormalities of procedural learning processes in schizophrenia. Received: 28 June 1996/Final version: 2 October 1996     

Lithium increases slow wave sleep: possible mediation by brain 5-HT2 receptors?

The effect of lithium on slow wave sleep (SWS) was studied in ten normal male volunteers using home based cassette sleep recording and automatic sleep stage analysis. Lithium increased SWS, an effect consisten with a reduction in brain 5-HT₂ receptor function.     

血压自动控制系统应用于抗失血性休克的实验研究

本文设计的８模型血压自适应控制系统，试用于造成失血休克模型的家兔的血压自控治疗，２２只休克家兔中１８只能控制血压于预置水平。根据血压控制期间药物输注速率变化规律，可将２２只家兔分为三类，剂量上升型、剂量下降型和迟钝型。实验表明多模型血压自适应控制系统应用于失血性休克家兔的血压控制治疗是可行的，能做到剂量个体化，按需给药。在血压控制期间显示的药物输注速率变化能在一定程度上反映机体休克状况，有可能为及     

Automatic analysis of electro-encephalogram sleep spindle frequency throughout the night

A fully automatic method to analyse electro-encephalogram (EEG) sleep spindle frequency evolution during the night was developed and tested. Twenty allnight recordings were studied from ten healthy control subjects and ten sleep apnoea patients. A total of 22 868 spindles were detected. The overall mean spindle frequency was significantly higher in the control subjects than in the apnoea patients (12.5Hz against 11.7Hz, respectively; p<0.004). The proposed method further identified the sleep depth cycles, and the mean spindle frequency was automatically determined inside each sleep depth cycle. In control subjects, the mean spindle frequency increased from 12.0Hz in the first sleep depth cycle to 12.6Hz in the fifth cycle. No such increase was observed in the sleep apnoea patients. This difference in the spindle frequency evolution was statistically significant (p<0.004). The advantage of the method is that no EEG amplitude thresholds are needed.     

白细胞图像自动识别系统的研究

我们所用的图像分割方法是在对图像距离变换的基础上,综合区域和边界方法,充分利用图像中包含的信息,实现白细胞图像的分割。根据细胞的形状、纹理、颜色等的特点选取并测定22个特征值,用统计分类的方法设计分类器。通过对560幅图像共831个细胞的测试表明,此系统的识别正确率为96%,经临床专家评估,本系统运用模式识别技术对外周血中的白细胞图像实现自动识别,具有较好的实用价值。     

动物实验模型中多极导管心室除颤系统电除颤对心脏功能的影响

评价新型的双极和三极导管自动心室除颤系统电除颤对左心室收缩和舒张功能的影响。动物麻醉后,在X光机指导下,分别在10只犬心脏内装置双极导管自动除颤系统（组Ⅰ）;在10只猪心脏内装置三极导管自动除颤系统（组Ⅱ）;并行电除颤试验。使用食管超声心动图在电除颤前后记录二维、M型和多谱勒超声图像。组I动物接受4次电除颤,电量为64J;组Ⅱ接受平均8次电除颤,电量为210J。结果显示：左室收缩面积分数、左室等容舒张时间和二尖瓣血流E波与A波速度比值以及时间-流速积分比值等反映左室舒缩功能的指标在两组动物除颤后均无显著改变。研究表明：两种经静脉导管自动心室除颤系统中反复低能量心内膜电除颤对左室舒缩功能无明显损伤作用;研究结果为经静脉多极导管自动心室除颤系统在临床的应用和电生理研究提供了可靠的实验数据。     

Automatic analysis of immunocytochemically stained tissue samples

An automatic colour image segmentation and cell counting software system has been developed for immunocytochemical analysis of stained tissue samples. The system was designed to count the total number of positive and negative cells in tissue samples treated with cytokine DNA probes from pigs naturally parasitised with Taenia solium metacestodes, using in situ hybridisation. A reaction index was calculated as the ratio of the number of cells with a positive reaction to the total number of cells (positives plus negatives) for each of five different probes. The objectives of automatic counting were to improve the reproducibility of the analysis and reduce the processing time of large image batches. A fast KNN classifier was used for colour segmentation. Watershed segmentation combined with edge detection was used to isolate individual cells that were then automatically labelled, using the results of the corresponding colour segmented image. Validation was performed on 122 non-training digital images with a total of 1069 positive cells and 1459 negative cells, with the following results: a mean true positive rate of 90.2% for positive cells and a mean true positive rate of 85.4% for negative cells. The corresponding mean false positive rates were 9.6% and 6.6%. The mean reaction index error of the automatic analysis was 5.35%. The processing of each digital image took 10 s on a Pentium IV PC.     

Automatic decomposition electromyography in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies

Automatic decomposition electromyography (ADEMG) is a commercially available software package with installed reference values that enables the objective measurement of motor unit action potentials (MUAPs). To assess the diagnostic yield of this package in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) we performed biceps brachii ADEMG in 17 patients with polymyositis, dermatomyositis and inclusion body myositis. Results were compared with those in 12 controls, and with the results of conventional EMG of the biceps and other muscles. Decreased mean values for MUAP duration occurred significantly more frequently in IIM patients than in controls; other MUAP characteristics did not differ. In IIM patients, decreased mean amplitude and increased mean number of turns occurred significantly less frequently on ADEMG than did corresponding abnormalities on conventional biceps EMG. Decreased mean values for duration and amplitude, and increased mean values for number of turns were seen significantly less often on ADEMG than corresponding abnormalities on conventional EMG of four different, individually chosen muscles. Overall evaluation of ADEMG resulted in a diagnosis of possible myopathy in 1 and probable myopathy in 8 patients, whereas overall evaluation of conventional EMG led to a diagnosis suggestive of IIM in 13 patients. We conclude that, although measurement of mean MUAP duration might be valuable in IIM diagnosis, our results do not favour the use of biceps brachii ADEMG and the installed reference values for the diagnosis of IIM. We suggest modifications to improve ADEMG's applicability.