Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre

The study compared dietary protein intake and urinary nitrogen excretion between vegetarian and non-vegetarian adults. Eighty healthy participants (40 vegetarians, 40 non-vegetarians) aged 20 to 50 years were randomly selected. Baseline anthropometric data were collected, and dietary protein intake was assessed using a 24-hour dietary recall. Participants also provided 24-hour food samples, analyzed using the Kjeldahl method, and 24-hour urine samples, analyzed for nitrogen excretion using the Pyrogallol red method. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 23.0, employing Chi-square, T-tests, and Mann-Whitney tests. Results indicated that vegetarians consumed slightly more protein (44.76 ± 21.54 g/day) than non-vegetarians (41.97 ± 21.44 g/day), meeting 74 and 60% of the recommended daily allowances, respectively, though this difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.568). Vegetarians also exhibited higher urinary nitrogen excretion (92.46 ± 55.69 mg/day) compared to non-vegetarians (78.96 ± 58.68 mg/day), which could be attributed to their increased protein intake. These findings emphasize the importance of ensuring adequate protein intake in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets and suggest further research is necessary to explore the health impacts of different protein sources.

Abstract Background Arterial stiffness independently predicts cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. It is shown to be increased in vascular mediated conditions, such as preeclampsia and foetal growth restriction. ARTSENS Plus device assesses arterial stiffness and is validated in older populations. The study aimed to validate its use for measuring arterial stiffness in pregnant women by comparing it with SphygmoCor XCEL as a reference standard. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in two centres in the south-eastern region of India, recruiting 147 pregnant women. Arterial stiffness was assessed by the carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) using both devices and validated according to the ‘2024 recommendations for validation of non-invasive arterial pulse wave velocity measurement devices.’ Bland–Altman plot and coefficient of variation of the test–retest reproducibility were calculated. Results The mean age of the included women was 28 ± 4 years, and their mean gestational age was 24.6 ± 9.5 weeks. The mean difference in cfPWV values obtained from SphygmoCor XCEL and ARTSENS Plus was 0.16 ± 0.54 m/s ( p = 0.12) with a measurement error of 0.85 m/s, indicating good accuracy of the ARTSENS plus device in assessing arterial stiffness. Both devices demonstrated good intra-observer reproducibility, with coefficients of variation of 2.53% for ARTSENS Plus and 3.48% for SphygmoCor XCEL. Conclusions ARTSENS Plus assesses arterial stiffness with good accuracy and intra-observer reproducibility when validated amongst pregnant women.

Monitoring the internal jugular vein (IJV) pulse is crucial for cardiovascular assessment, but interference from the common carotid artery (CCA) complicates wearable accelerometer-based measurements. This study leverages Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to extract IJV signals from Skin Acceleration Plethysmography (APG) data, effectively minimizing CCA interference. An in-vivo study involving 22 participants revealed a 45.9% drop in %RMSE and a 137.1% rise in correlation (R) for IJV-APG post-ICA. Likewise, IJV-pulse signals exhibited a 41.1% reduction in %RMSE and a 31.6% correlation boost, demonstrating significant improvements (p < 0.05). The results confirm ICA's effectiveness in refining IJV pulse measurements via wearable accelerometry, reinforcing its potential for non-invasive, real-time cardiovascular health monitoring.Clinical Relevance- Utilizing ICA for wearable IJV pulse monitoring substantially improves measurement precision by mitigating CCA interference, making it a valuable tool for cardiovascular health assessment.

Cancer remains a leading cause of mortality, accounting for over 10 million deaths worldwide annually. Despite decades of research aimed at identifying cancer-specific biomarkers and improving prognosis, genetic variability and the neoplastic nature of cancer continue to hinder effective treatment, particularly in advanced stages. Recent advances in nanotechnology have enabled the development of nanocarriers for targeted drug delivery in cancer therapy. However, the design and distribution of nanocarriers for personalized cancer treatment remain in the early stages. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to streamline complex pharmacological processes involved in developing and optimizing nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems. Effective integration of AI with nanotechnology requires a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and mechanisms of current drug delivery strategies. This review discusses drug delivery techniques using various nanocarriers loaded with clinically approved cancer drugs and examines the role of AI in overcoming existing barriers in drug delivery.

Non-invasive blood pressure (BP) monitoring using photoplethysmography (PPG) has significant potential, yet accurately predicting systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure from PPG remains challenging. One key factor influencing prediction accuracy is the choice of input representation, as different signal transformations can impact model performance. This study investigates the impact of different input configurations on the performance of deep learning models for BP estimation. We evaluate U-Net and Squeeze U-Net using three input strategies: PPG alone, PPG with its first and second derivatives, and PPG with derivatives up to the fourth order, while keeping all other parameters constant. This is to ensure that no advantage is given other than changing input configuration. The models are trained on 3,641 subjects data and tested on 317 subjects data. Our findings show that incorporating the first and second derivatives significantly improves prediction accuracy, achieving clinically acceptable results that meet AAMI standards. Specifically, U-Net achieves mean absolute errors (MAEs) of 3.53 mmHg for DBP and 4.11 mmHg for SBP, while Squeeze U-Net attains MAEs of 3.96 mmHg for DBP and 4.57 mmHg for SBP. On the other 2 sets of inputs, the model fails to perform well for both the models. This study highlights the importance of selecting an optimal input representation, demonstrating that it can significantly influence the learning and performance of deep learning models in BP estimation.

Spinal posture significantly affects cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health by altering central aortic hemody-namics. Despite this, its influence on cardiovascular function remains largely unquantified in unobtrusive monitoring methods. This study investigates posture-induced variations in Ballisto-cardiogram (BCG) signals to quantify the relationship between spinal alignment and cardiovascular function. A custom-built strain-gauge BCG platform was developed to acquire BCG from eleven healthy participants in three postures: neutral sitting, simulated kyphosis, and simulated lordosis with simultaneous Electrocardiogram (ECG) as a reference from the AD8232 AFE board. Key BCG timing intervals (H-I, I-J, J-K, H-K) and amplitude ratios (I-J/H-I and I-J/J-K) were extracted and statistically analysed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD post-hoc test to evaluate posture dependent changes in cardiovascular dynamics. Results revealed that the I-J interval was significantly prolonged in the lordotic posture <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$(\mathbf{p} &lt; 0.05)$</tex>, indicating delayed aortic pulse transmission, while the H-K interval increased in both kyphotic and lordotic postures <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$(\mathbf{p} &lt; 0.05)$</tex>, suggesting altered systolic duration. Additionally, posture significantly affected the I-J/J-K amplitude ratio <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$(\mathbf{p} &lt; 0.05)$</tex>, reflecting vascular compliance and pressure regulation variations. However, the J- K interval and I-J/H - I ratio remained stable <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$(\mathbf{p} &gt; 0.05)$</tex>, implying that peripheral blood pressure propagation was unaffected. These findings support the hypothesis that spinal alignment alters aortic pressure transmission, producing measurable changes in BCG waveforms. This study suggests BCG as an unobtrusive tool for detecting posture-induced cardiovascular changes, with potential applications in spinal health monitoring, cardiac rehabilitation, and ergonomic evaluations. Future research should explore long-term postural effects and real-time monitoring strategies to enhance further the clinical applications of BCG in personalised health assessment.

Background. Despite its clinical promise in non-solid tumor, immunotherapy is yet to show significant clinical efficacy for brain tumors including pediatric diffuse midline glioma (DMG). This indicated the need to fully explore DMG immune tumor microenvironment (TME). Method. Whole brains (49 DMGs, 20 non-DMG, 10 non-malignant) from 79 pediatric patients were used to establish a tissue microarray (918 cores) representing primary, metastatic, and adjacent healthy sites. CellDIVE MxIF multiplex assay was used to probe for 33 immune and cell type markers. RNA sequencing (n=62 patients) defined additional immune signatures. Findings were validated using patient plasma and DMG PDX models. Our annotated single-cell atlas was used to train a spatial AI model to predict antigens from H&amp;E staining. Findings. We found enrichment of M1-activated microglia in primary versus adjacent healthy tissue. PD1 positive cells were significantly (p&lt;0.01) higher in tumor compared to adjacent controls. This was validated by mRNA profiling, further indicating two distinct groups with top 35 significant (p&lt;0.05) genes revealing synaptic signature in the metastatic cohort. We stratified the patient cohort by treatment. Imipridone cohort (n=5) showed decreased progenitor (Nestin+, Vimentin+, and SOX2+) and increased macrophages/microglia infiltration. Increased T and B cells was validated in patient plasma following imipridone therapy. Combination therapy of imipridone and immunotherapy (n=7) resulted in increased myeloid (Iba1, CD68, CD163) and lymphoid (CD3, CD8) cells. Enhanced immune engagement was validated in DMG PDX models. Machine learning resulted in a spatial AI model capable of predicting 22 antigens using H&amp;E slides. Interpretations. DMG tumors maintain a cold immune microenvironment, which is nevertheless dynamic and responsive to therapy, indicating the need to explore combination therapies. AI-assisted antigen detection is suitable for rapid interpretation of clinical biospecimens.

The inferior colliculus (IC) is an important midbrain station of the auditory pathway, as well as an important hub of multisensory integration. The adult mammalian IC can be subdivided into three nuclei, with distinct cyto- and myeloarchitectonical profiles and distinct calcium binding proteins expression patterns. Despite several studies about its structural and functional development, the knowledge about the human fetal IC is rather limited. In this paper we first systematically describe the histological development of the human fetal IC and its subparts in five stages of the second trimester of pregnancy: 15 gestation weeks (GW), 18 GW, 21 GW, 24 GW, and 27 GW. We 3D reconstruct and calculate the volumetric growth of IC from one stage to another, which increases from 12.85 mm3 at 15 GW to 34.27 mm3 at 27 GW in the left hemisphere. The volumetric changes in the IC were further evaluated at the cellular level using serial Nissl-stained sections, as well as glial fibrillary acidic proteins (GFAP) and calretinin immunohistochemistry. We identify stellate-like and round neurons in the central nucleus of the IC (CNIC) at 24 GW and 27 GW, comparable to the adult human IC. Novel in this study, we investigate the differential calretinin expression patterns in the IC subparts, from 15 GW to 27 GW. CR labeling is identified mainly in the cortical IC rather than in the central nucleus. Furthermore, using GFAP, we describe the radial glial fibers patterns in IC, which are dominant at 18 GW and gradually taper off at later developmental stages. Finally, we describe the development of astroglia in each of the five developmental stages. All these results indicate that the human fetal IC development and cellular maturation occur in two major stages during the second trimester.