Jamal Hussaini

A signal processing based analysis and prediction of seizure onset in patients with epilepsy

One of the main areas of behavioural neuroscience is forecasting the human behaviour. Epilepsy is a central nervous system disorder in which nerve cell activity in the brain becomes disrupted, causing seizures or periods of unusual behaviour, sensations and sometimes loss of consciousness. An estimated 5% of the world population has epileptic seizure but there is not any method to cure it. More than 30% of people with epilepsy cannot control seizure. Epileptic seizure prediction, refers to forecasting the occurrence of epileptic seizures, is one of the most important but challenging problems in biomedical sciences, across the world. In this research we propose a new methodology which is based on studying the EEG signals using two measures, the Hurst exponent and fractal dimension. In order to validate the proposed method, it is applied to epileptic EEG signals of patients by computing the Hurst exponent and fractal dimension, and then the results are validated versus the reference data. The results of these analyses show that we are able to forecast the onset of a seizure on average of 25.76 seconds before the time of occurrence.

Analysis of the influence of memory content of auditory stimuli on the memory content of EEG signal

One of the major challenges in brain research is to relate the structural features of the auditory stimulus to structural features of Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal. Memory content is an important feature of EEG signal and accordingly the brain. On the other hand, the memory content can also be considered in case of stimulus. Beside all works done on analysis of the effect of stimuli on human EEG and brain memory, no work discussed about the stimulus memory and also the relationship that may exist between the memory content of stimulus and the memory content of EEG signal. For this purpose we consider the Hurst exponent as the measure of memory. This study reveals the plasticity of human EEG signals in relation to the auditory stimuli. For the first time we demonstrated that the memory content of an EEG signal shifts towards the memory content of the auditory stimulus used. The results of this analysis showed that an auditory stimulus with higher memory content causes a larger increment in the memory content of an EEG signal. For the verification of this result, we benefit from approximate entropy as indicator of time series randomness. The capability, observed in this research, can be further investigated in relation to human memory.

The fractal based analysis of human face and DNA variations during aging

Human DNA is the main unit that shapes human characteristics and features such as behavior. Thus, it is expected that changes in DNA (DNA mutation) influence human characteristics and features. Face is one of the human features which is unique and also dependent on his gen. In this paper, for the first time we analyze the variations of human DNA and face simultaneously. We do this job by analyzing the fractal dimension of DNA walk and face during human aging. The results of this study show the human DNA and face get more complex by aging. These complexities are mapped on fractal exponents of DNA walk and human face. The method discussed in this paper can be further developed in order to investigate the direct influence of DNA mutation on the face variations during aging, and accordingly making a model between human face fractality and the complexity of DNA walk.

Gastroprotective effects of Dicranopteris linearis leaf extract against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats.

Dicranopteris linearis is a medicinal plant commonly used traditionally in the treatment of many ailments. This study was performed to evaluate the gastroprotective effect of ethanolic extracts of D. linearis leaf extract (DLELE) against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury in experimental rats. The rats were divided into four groups respectively pre-treated orally with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solution (ulcer control groups), omeprazole 20 mg/kg (reference group), 250 and 500 mg/kg of DLELE (experimental groups) one hour before oral administration of absolute ethanol to generate gastric mucosal damage. After an additional hour, the rats were sacrificed and the ulcer areas of the gastric walls were determined. The ulcer control group exhibited severe mucosal injury, whereas groups pretreated with DLELE exhibited significant protection of gastric mucosa. These findings were also confirmed by histology of gastric wall. Significant increases in gastric mucus production and decrease in acidity of gastric content were observed in treated groups with DLELE compare to ulcer control group. In conclusion, treatment with DLELE prior to absolute alcohol has significantly protect gastric mucosa as ascertained grossly by significant reduction of ulcer area, increases in gastric mucus production and decrease the acidity of gastric content and histology by comparatively decreases in gastric mucosal injury, reduction or absence of edema and leucocytes infiltration of submucosal layer compared to ulcer control group. DLELE was able to decrease the acidity and increase the mucosal defense in the gastric area, thereby justifying its use as an antiulcerogenic agent.