Molecular Evaluation of Joubert Syndrome and Hearing Impairment in a Patient with Ataxic Cerebral Palsy

Joubert syndrome (JBTS) is a rare autosomal recessive or X-linked congenital brain malformation with strong genetic heterogeneity. Other neurological features of JBTS include hypotonia, ataxia, developmental delay, and cognitive impairment. Hearing loss with JBTS has been reported in the literature. We present the case of a 3.5-year-old boy born to a healthy consanguineous South Indian couple who was presented with ataxic cerebral palsy (CP) and hearing impairment; medical reports confirmed typical brain malformations of JBTS. Hearing impairment was screened by audiological assessment, which confirmed the presence of severe-profound hearing loss with outer hair cell dysfunction. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed to know the molecular aspects of the condition and to detect any novel mutations. The homozygous mutation AHI1 c.2023G > A associated with JBTS type 3 and GJB2 c.71G > A mutation associated with hearing impairment were identified. Sanger sequencing was performed to validate the result and it identified heterozygous AHI1 c.2023G > A and GJB2 c.71G > A in the patient's parents. This study confirms the diagnosis of JBTS by WES helps identify the genetic causes of hereditary disorders that accelerate genetic evaluation and counseling for at-risk families.

Acquisition of Pragmatic Skills in Paediatric Cochlear Implant Users

Pragmatic language skills are one of the most complex language skills. Children with hearing loss face difficulty in social participation and effective communication during mainstreaming. Without mastery of these skills, children may encounter significant challenges with abstract conversational communication and literacy. This study aimed to explore the age and pattern of acquisition of pragmatic skills in hearing-impaired children. Twelve (12) children with Cochlear Implants (CI) in the age range of 5 to 10 years with minimum 1-year post-implantation regular therapy and twelve (12) age-matched normal hearing children participated in the study. All participants were administered the 'Test of Pragmatic Skills' (Shulman, 1986) comprising different domains of pragmatics. Their responses were rated on a six-point rating scale from 0 to 5. A qualitative analysis of various domains revealed that paediatric cochlear implant users used varied pragmatic skills at approximately 3 years on average during the post-implantation period compared to the typically developing children who acquired the skills well below 3 years on average. Pragmatics is very well correlated to the child's cognition; hence, the higher the cognitive age, the earlier the acquisition of pragmatic skills. The results prove that pragmatic skills developed proportionately to their implant age but need to be at par with their cognitive age. Rehabilitation of CI children, thus, should levy heavy focus on varied pragmatic domains, which will facilitate contextually appropriate communication at the earliest possible time during the post-implantation period.

Validation of Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) in the South Indian Population

BACKGROUND

Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) is an acoustic model which equates to the auditory-perceptual (A-P) measure of breathiness. Globally, ABI has been validated in multiple languages. To date, empirical studies validating ABI in the South Indian population have not been carried out. Moreover, there is only minimal evidence on the impact of language and gender on ABI.

OBJECTIVES

This study attempted to validate ABI in languages of Malayalam and Kannada with "B" and "G" of GRBAS. The authors also examined the influence of language and gender on ABI.

METHODS

The authors retrospectively analyzed a dataset consisting of 160 voice samples (91 normophonic and 69 dysphonic). Five speech-language pathologists perceptually evaluated these samples on the GRBAS scale. PRAAT software was used to calculate ABI for each voice sample. The authors also determined the effects of language and gender on ABI. Following this, ABI's concurrent validity and diagnostic accuracy were examined relating to "B" and "G" of the GRBAS scale.

RESULTS

The judges reached a moderate agreement on the perceptual evaluation of voice quality. The authors observed neither language nor gender differences in ABI. The concurrent validity of ABI was strong (r = 0.761) when correlated against "B". Further, evaluations revealed that an ABI value of >3.66 could distinguish between breathy and non-breathy voice samples with an area under the curve of 0.816 (Sensitivity = 61.73%; Specificity = 94.93%). On the other hand, the concurrent validity of ABI in correlation with "G" did not yield the optimal result.

CONCLUSIONS

ABI is a valid acoustic tool for identifying breathiness in the languages of Malayalam and Kannada. ABI correlates better with "B" than "G" on the GRBAS scale. ABI is independent of language and gender.

Comparison and Validation of Acoustic Voice Quality Index Version 2 and Version 3 among South Indian Population

BACKGROUND

Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) has emerged in the recent past as a robust multiparametric voice quality evaluation tool. Two versions of AVQI derived using the program PRAAT have found extensive clinical and research applications. These versions have been validated in several languages around the world. However, no research reports are available on validation of AVQI in the South Indian population. Further, studies comparing the performance of the two versions of AVQI are limited in the literature.

OBJECTIVES

This study was designed to validate and compare the two versions of AVQI (AVQIv02.02 and AVQIv03.01) in South Indian languages (Malayalam and Kannada).

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of previously recorded voice samples was carried out on a total of 160 (91 normophonic and 69 dysphonic) voice samples. These samples were perceptually rated on a GRBAS scale by five experienced speech-language pathologists. Standardized Syllable Number (SSN) necessary to derive AVQIv03.01 was computed. Following this, these samples were analyzed to obtain the AVQIv02.02 and AVQIv03.01. The concurrent validity and diagnostic accuracy of these measures were then examined and compared.

RESULTS

A moderate agreement was obtained across the judges on perceptual evaluation of voice quality. SSN in Malayalam and Kannada languages were identified to be 29 and 25 syllables respectively. Language differences were not observed on both versions of AVQI. The concurrent validity of AVQIv03.01 (r = 0.788) was superior to that of AVQIv02.02 (r = 0.655). Further, the threshold of differentiating normophonic and dysphonic samples were determined to be >3.45 for AVQIv02.02 and >2.45 for AVQIv03.01.

CONCLUSIONS

AVQIv03.01 is superior to AVQIv02.02 in terms of its diagnostic accuracy and concurrent validity. Current findings also extend the application of AVQI as a robust tool for the evaluation of voice characteristics to the South Indian population.

Mapping of elasticity and damping in an α + β titanium alloy through atomic force acoustic microscopy

The distribution of elastic stiffness and damping of individual phases in an α + β titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) measured by using atomic force acoustic microscopy (AFAM) is reported in the present study. The real and imaginary parts of the contact stiffness k (*) are obtained from the contact-resonance spectra and by using these two quantities, the maps of local elastic stiffness and the damping factor are derived. The evaluation of the data is based on the mass distribution of the cantilever with damped flexural modes. The cantilever dynamics model considering damping, which was proposed recently, has been used for mapping of indentation modulus and damping of different phases in a metallic structural material. The study indicated that in a Ti-6Al-4V alloy the metastable β phase has the minimum modulus and the maximum damping followed by α'- and α-phases. Volume fractions of the individual phases were determined by using a commercial material property evaluation software and were validated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) studies on one of the heat-treated samples. The volume fractions of the phases and the modulus measured through AFAM are used to derive average modulus of the bulk sample which is correlated with the bulk elastic properties obtained by ultrasonic velocity measurements. The average modulus of the specimens estimated by AFAM technique is found to be within 5% of that obtained by ultrasonic velocity measurements. The effect of heat treatments on the ultrasonic attenuation in the bulk sample could also be understood based on the damping measurements on individual phases using AFAM.

Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition based methodology for ultrasonic testing of coarse grain austenitic stainless steels

A signal processing methodology is proposed in this paper for effective reconstruction of ultrasonic signals in coarse grained high scattering austenitic stainless steel. The proposed methodology is comprised of the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) processing of ultrasonic signals and application of signal minimisation algorithm on selected Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) obtained by EEMD. The methodology is applied to ultrasonic signals obtained from austenitic stainless steel specimens of different grain size, with and without defects. The influence of probe frequency and data length of a signal on EEMD decomposition is also investigated. For a particular sampling rate and probe frequency, the same range of IMFs can be used to reconstruct the ultrasonic signal, irrespective of the grain size in the range of 30-210 μm investigated in this study. This methodology is successfully employed for detection of defects in a 50mm thick coarse grain austenitic stainless steel specimens. Signal to noise ratio improvement of better than 15 dB is observed for the ultrasonic signal obtained from a 25 mm deep flat bottom hole in 200 μm grain size specimen. For ultrasonic signals obtained from defects at different depths, a minimum of 7 dB extra enhancement in SNR is achieved as compared to the sum of selected IMF approach. The application of minimisation algorithm with EEMD processed signal in the proposed methodology proves to be effective for adaptive signal reconstruction with improved signal to noise ratio. This methodology was further employed for successful imaging of defects in a B-scan.

An absolute method for determination of misalignment of an immersion ultrasonic transducer

An absolute methodology has been developed for quantification of misalignment of an ultrasonic transducer using a corner-cube retroreflector. The amplitude based and the time of flight (TOF) based C-scans of the reflector are obtained for various misalignments of the transducer. At zero degree orientation of the transducer, the vertical positions of the maximum amplitude and the minimum TOF in the C-scan coincide. At any other orientation of the transducer with the horizontal plane, there is a vertical shift in the position of the maximum amplitude with respect to the minimum TOF. The position of the minimum (TOF) remains the same irrespective of the orientation of the transducer and hence is used as a reference for any misalignment of the transducer. With the measurement of the vertical shift and the horizontal distance between the transducer and the vertex of the reflector, the misalignment of the transducer is quantified. Based on the methodology developed in the present study, retroreflectors are placed in the Indian 500MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor for assessment of the orientation of the ultrasonic transducer prior to the under-sodium ultrasonic scanning for detection of any protrusion of the subassemblies.

Medical applications of infrared thermography: A review

Abnormal body temperature is a natural indicator of illness. Infrared thermography (IRT) is a fast, passive, non-contact and non-invasive alternative to conventional clinical thermometers for monitoring body temperature. Besides, IRT can also map body surface temperature remotely. Last five decades witnessed a steady increase in the utility of thermal imaging cameras to obtain correlations between the thermal physiology and skin temperature. IRT has been successfully used in diagnosis of breast cancer, diabetes neuropathy and peripheral vascular disorders. It has also been used to detect problems associated with gynecology, kidney transplantation, dermatology, heart, neonatal physiology, fever screening and brain imaging. With the advent of modern infrared cameras, data acquisition and processing techniques, it is now possible to have real time high resolution thermographic images, which is likely to surge further research in this field. The present efforts are focused on automatic analysis of temperature distribution of regions of interest and their statistical analysis for detection of abnormalities. This critical review focuses on advances in the area of medical IRT. The basics of IRT, essential theoretical background, the procedures adopted for various measurements and applications of IRT in various medical fields are discussed in this review. Besides background information is provided for beginners for better understanding of the subject.

Infrared thermal imaging for detection of peripheral vascular disorders

Body temperature is a very useful parameter for diagnosing diseases. There is a definite correlation between body temperature and diseases. We have used Infrared Thermography to study noninvasive diagnosis of peripheral vascular diseases. Temperature gradients are observed in the affected regions of patients with vascular disorders, which indicate abnormal blood flow in the affected region. Thermal imaging results are well correlated with the clinical findings. Certain areas on the affected limbs show increased temperature profiles, probably due to inflammation and underlying venous flow changes. In general the temperature contrast in the affected regions is about 0.7 to 1° C above the normal regions, due to sluggish blood circulation. The results suggest that the thermal imaging technique is an effective technique for detecting small temperature changes in the human body due to vascular disorders.

Single-fiber grid for improved spatial resolution in distributed fiber optic sensor

The spatial resolution of an optical-fiber-based Raman distributed temperature sensor is limited by the pulse width of the laser used. We discuss a methodology of increasing spatial resolution by using a single-fiber grid. Spatial resolution improvement of up to 10 times is demonstrated.

Ultrasonic properties of nanoparticles-liquid suspensions

A polymer colloidal solution having dispersed nanoparticles of Cu and Au metals have been developed using a novel chemical method. Average size of the nanoparticles could be varied in the 4-10 nm range by conducting the reaction at an elevated temperature of 50-70 degrees C. Colloidal solutions of representative concentrations of 0.1-2.0 wt% Cu/Au contents in the primary solutions are used to study the modified ultrasonic attenuation and ultrasonic velocity in PVA polymer molecules on incorporating the Cu/Au particles. A characteristic behaviour of the ultrasonic velocity and the attenuation are observed at the particular temperature/particle concentration. The results demonstrate that the primary reaction during the nanoparticles-PVA colloidal formation occurs in divided groups in small micelles. The results are analyzed predicting the enhanced thermal conductivity of the samples.

Nondestructive characterization of musical pillars of Mahamandapam of Vitthala Temple at Hampi, India

This paper presents the first scientific investigation on the musical pillars of the Vitthala Temple at Hampi, India. The solid stone columns in these pillars produce audible sound, when struck with a finger. Systematic investigations on the acoustic characteristics of the musical pillars of mahamandapam (great stage) of the Vitthala Temple have been carried out. The 11 most popular pillars that produce sounds of specific musical instruments are considered for the investigations. The sound produced from these 11 most popular musical pillars was recorded systematically and different nondestructive testing techniques such as low frequency ultrasonic testing, impact echo testing, and in situ metallography were employed on the musical columns of these pillars. The peak frequencies in the amplitude spectrum of the sound produced from various columns in these pillars are correlated with the dimensional measurements and ultrasonic velocity determined using impact echo technique. The peak frequencies obtained experimentally have been found to have excellent correlation with the calculated flexural frequencies based on the dimensional measurements and ultrasonic velocities of the columns.

Effect of digestion time and alkali addition rate on physical properties of magnetite nanoparticles

We investigate the effect of digestion time and alkali addition rate on the size and magnetic properties of precipitated magnetite nanoparticles. It is observed that the time required to complete the growth process for magnetite nanocrystals is very short (approximately 300 s), compared to long digestion times (20-190 min) required for MnO and CdSe nanocrystals. The rapid growth of magnetite nanoparticles suggests that Oswald ripening is insignificant during the precipitation stage, due to the low solubility of the oxides and the domination of a solid-state reaction where high electron mobility between Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions drives a local cubic close-packed ordering. During the growth stage (0-300 s), the increase in the particle size is nominal (6.7-8.2 nm). The effect of alkali addition rate on particle size reveals that the nanocrystal size decreases with increasing alkali addition rate. The particle size decreases from 11 to 6.8 nm as the alkali addition rate is increased from 1 to 80 mL/s. During the size decrease, the lattice parameter decreases from 0.838 to 0.835 nm, which is attributed to an increase in the amount of Fe3+ atoms at the surface due to oxidation. As the alkali addition rate increases, the solution reaches supersaturation state rapidly leading to the formation of large number of initial nuclei at the nucleation stage, resulting in large number of particles with smaller size. When alkali addition rate is increased from 1 to 80 mL/s, the saturation magnetization of the particles decreases from 60 to 46 emu/g due to the reduced particle size.

Antioxidant activity of the oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus, on CCl(4)-induced liver injury in rats

This study was undertaken to investigate the putative antioxidant activity of the oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus on CCl(4)-induced liver damage in male Wistar rats. Intraperitoneal administration of CCl(4) (2ml/kg) to rats for 4 days resulted in significantly elevated (p<0.05) serum levels of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), glutamic pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) and alkaline phosphatase (SALP) compared to controls. In the liver, significantly elevated levels (p<0.05) of malondialdehyde (MDA) and lowered levels (p<0.05) of reduced glutathione (GSH) were observed following CCl(4) administration. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (Gpx) revealed lower activities of these antioxidant enzymes in the liver of CCl(4)-administered rats. An analysis of the isozyme pattern of these enzymes revealed variations in relative concentration presumably due to hepatotoxicity. When rats with CCl(4)-induced hepatotoxicity were treated with the extract of P. ostreatus, the serum SGOT, SGPT and SALP levels reverted to near normal, while the hepatic concentration of GSH, CAT, SOD and Gpx were significantly increased (p<0.05) and that of MDA significantly (p<0.05) lowered, when compared to CCl(4)-exposed untreated rats. Histopathological studies confirmed the hepatoprotective effect conferred by the extract of P. ostreatus. These results suggest that an extract of P. ostreatus is able to significantly alleviate the hepatotoxicity induced by CCl(4) in the rat.