CASE PRESENTATION: We report a rare case of a young female, with underlying Evans syndrome, who was initially thought to have non-hemorrhagic stroke, eventually diagnosed having isolated non-traumatic, non-aneurysmal convexal subarachnoid haemorrhage.
CONCLUSIONS: Spontaneous non-traumatic, non-aneurysmal convexal subarachnoid hemorrhage is a rare entity - of which there are multiple possible etiologies.
METHODS: We developed a hybrid algorithm that combines features of empirical mode decomposition (EMD) with principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the BCG artefact. The algorithm does not require extra electrocardiogram (ECG) or electrooculogram (EOG) recordings to extract the BCG artefact.
RESULTS: The method was tested with both simulated and real EEG data of 11 participants. From the simulated data, the similarity index between the extracted BCG and the simulated BCG showed the effectiveness of the proposed method in BCG removal. On the other hand, real data were recorded with two conditions, i.e. resting state (eyes closed dataset) and task influenced (event-related potentials (ERPs) dataset). Using qualitative (visual inspection) and quantitative (similarity index, improved normalized power spectrum (INPS) ratio, power spectrum, sample entropy (SE)) evaluation parameters, the assessment results showed that the proposed method can efficiently reduce the BCG artefact while preserving the neuronal signals.
COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: Compared with conventional methods, namely, average artefact subtraction (AAS), optimal basis set (OBS) and combined independent component analysis and principal component analysis (ICA-PCA), the statistical analyses of the results showed that the proposed method has better performance, and the differences were significant for all quantitative parameters except for the power and sample entropy.
CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method does not require any reference signal, prior information or assumption to extract the BCG artefact. It will be very useful in circumstances where the reference signal is not available.
METHODS: Three-month-old Sprague-Dawley male rats (n = 18) were randomized equally into 3 groups. Bilateral orchidectomy was performed on 2 groups. The sham group was subjected to similar surgical stress, but their testes were retained. One of the orchidectomized groups received intramuscular injection of 7 mg/kg testosterone enanthate suspended in peanut oil weekly and the other 2 groups received equivolume of peanut oil injection. After 8 weeks, the rats were sacrificed and their blood was collected for the analysis of the levels of inflammatory cytokines and testosterone.
RESULTS: Testosterone level was significantly lower in the untreated orchidectomized group compared to the sham group. Testosterone replacement significantly increased the level of testosterone in the orchidectomized rats compared to the sham and untreated orchidectomized rats. Interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) showed an increasing trend in orchidectomized rats, albeit not statistically significant. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) level increased significantly in the orchidectomized group compared to the sham group. Testosterone replacement at the supraphysiological dose did not alter the level of inflammatory cytokines significantly in orchidectomized rats.
CONCLUSIONS: Testosterone deficiency can elicit a state of low-grade inflammation, shown by an increase in interleukin-6 level, but exogenous supraphysiological testosterone replacement does not suppress the inflammation.