The Clinical Validation of Modulated Electro-Hyperthermia (mEHT)

The mEHT method uses tissues' thermal and bioelectromagnetic heterogeneity for the selective mechanisms. The success of the therapy for advanced, relapsed, and metastatic aggressive tumors can only be demonstrated by measuring survival time and quality of life (QoL). The complication is that mEHT-treated patients cannot be curatively treated any longer with "gold standards", where the permanent progression of the disease, the refractory, relapsing situation, the organ failure, the worsening of blood counts, etc., block them. Collecting a cohort of these patients is frequently impossible. Only an intent-to-treat (ITT) patient group was available. Due to the above limitations, many studies have single-arm data collection. The Phase III trial of advanced cervix tumors subgrouping of HIV-negative and -positive patients showed the stable efficacy of mEHT in all patients' subgroups. The single-arm represents lower-level evidence, which can be improved by comparing the survival data of various studies from different institutes. The Kaplan-Meier probability comparison had no significant differences, so pooled data were compared to other methods. Following this approach, we demonstrate the feasibility and superiority of mEHT in the cases of glioblastoma multiform, pancreas carcinomas, lung tumors, and colorectal tumors.

Learning to Sort: Few-shot Spike Sorting with Adversarial Representation Learning

Spike sorting has long been used to obtain activities of single neurons from multi-unit recordings by extracting spikes from continuous data and assigning them to putative neurons. A large body of spike sorting algorithms have been developed that typically project spikes into a low-dimensional feature space and cluster them through iterative computations. However, there is no reached consensus on the optimal feature space or the best way of segmenting spikes into clusters, which often leads to the requirement of human intervention. It is hence desirable to effectively and efficiently utilize human knowledge in spike sorting while keeping a minimum level of manual intervention. Furthermore, the iterative computations that are commonly involved during clustering are inherently slow and hinder real-time processing of large-scale recordings. In this paper, we propose a novel few-shot spike sorting paradigm that employs a deep adversarial representation neural network to learn from a handful of annotated spikes and robustly classify unseen spikes sharing similar properties to the labeled ones. Once trained, the deep neural network can implement a parametric function that encodes analytically the categorical distribution of spike clusters, which can be significantly accelerated by GPUs and support processing hundreds of thousands of recording channels in real time. The paradigm also includes a clustering routine termed DidacticSortto aid users for labeling spikes that will be used to train the deep neural network. We have validated the performance of the proposed paradigm with both synthetic and in vitro datasets.

Neural Interfaces for Intracortical Recording: Requirements, Fabrication Methods, and Characteristics

Implantable neural interfaces for central nervous system research have been designed with wire, polymer, or micromachining technologies over the past 70 years. Research on biocompatible materials, ideal probe shapes, and insertion methods has resulted in building more and more capable neural interfaces. Although the trend is promising, the long-term reliability of such devices has not yet met the required criteria for chronic human application. The performance of neural interfaces in chronic settings often degrades due to foreign body response to the implant that is initiated by the surgical procedure, and related to the probe structure, and material properties used in fabricating the neural interface. In this review, we identify the key requirements for neural interfaces for intracortical recording, describe the three different types of probes-microwire, micromachined, and polymer-based probes; their materials, fabrication methods, and discuss their characteristics and related challenges.

Long-term synchronized electrophysiological and behavioral wireless monitoring of freely moving animals

Parallel electrophysiological recording and behavioral monitoring of freely moving animals is essential for a better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying behavior. In this paper we describe a novel wireless recording technique, which is capable of synchronously recording in vivo multichannel electrophysiological (LFP, MUA, EOG, EMG) and activity data (accelerometer, video) from freely moving cats. The method is based on the integration of commercially available components into a simple monitoring system and is complete with accelerometers and the needed signal processing tools. LFP activities of freely moving group-housed cats were recorded from multiple intracortical areas and from the hippocampus. EMG, EOG, accelerometer and video were simultaneously acquired with LFP activities 24-h a day for 3 months. These recordings confirm the possibility of using our wireless method for 24-h long-term monitoring of neurophysiological and behavioral data of freely moving experimental animals such as cats, ferrets, rabbits and other large animals.

A 3D slim-base probe array for in vivo recorded neuron activity

This paper introduces the first experimental results of a new implantable slim-base three-dimensional (3D) probe array for cerebral applications. The probes are assembled perpendicularly into the slim-base readout platform where electrical and mechanical connections are achieved simultaneously. A new type of micromachined interconnect has been developed to establish electrical connection using extreme planarization techniques. Due to the modular approach of the platform, probe arrays of different dimensions and functionality can be assembled. The platform is only several hundred microns thick which is highly relevant for chronic experiments in which the probe array should be able to float on top of the brain. Preliminary tests were carried out with the implantation of a probe array into the auditory cortex of a rat.

A case of tracheal fibrolipoma

We report the case of a tracheal fibrolipoma in a 40-year-old man successfully treated by laser photocoagulation. The clinical and pathological aspects, as well as the therapeutical options of this rare upper airway benign tumor are discussed.

Specific induction of erythroleukemia and myelogenous leukemia in Sprague-Dawley rats

The experimental induction of leukemias of two sorts by two powerful chemical carcinogens was investigated in rats of a single strain. In Sprague-Dawley rats a series of intravenous injections of N-nitroso-N-methylurea selectively elicited myelogenous leukemia in high yields, whereas erythroleukemia was not evoked. Conversely, a set of intravenous injections of 7,8,12-trimethylbenz[a]anthracene specifically elicited erythro-leukemia in high incidence in the rats, whereas myelogenous leukemia was not produced.

Hundred day leukemia: preferential induction in rat by pulse-doses of 7,8,12-trimethylbenz(a)anthracene

A series of pulse-doses of 7, 8, 12-trimethylbenz(a)anthracene-induced leukemia rapidly and consistently in very high yield in rats of Long-Evans (L-E) strain. The predominant type was a diffuse hepatic leukemia of erythroblastic stem cells. Progressive hypothermia and a decline in pituitary function are newly recognized signs of advanced leukemia in rat.