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Abstract Electroencephalography (EEG) is widely used to monitor epileptic seizures, and standard clinical practice consists of monitoring patients in dedicated epilepsy monitoring units via video surveillance and cumbersome EEG caps. Such a setting is not compatible with long-term tracking under typical living conditions, thereby motivating the development of unobtrusive wearable solutions. However, wearable EEG devices present the challenges of fewer channels, restricted computational capabilities, and lower signal-to-noise ratio. Moreover, artifacts presenting morphological similarities to seizures act as major noise sources and can be misinterpreted as seizures. This paper presents a combined seizure and artifacts detection framework targeting wearable EEG devices based on Gradient Boosted Trees. The seizure detector achieves nearly zero false alarms with average sensitivity values of $$65.27\%$$ 65.27 % for 182 seizures from the CHB-MIT dataset and $$57.26\%$$ 57.26 % for 25 seizures from the private dataset with no preliminary artifact detection or removal. The artifact detector achieves a state-of-the-art accuracy of $$93.95\%$$ 93.95 % (on the TUH-EEG Artifact Corpus dataset). Integrating artifact and seizure detection significantly reduces false alarms—up to $$96\%$$ 96 % compared to standalone seizure detection. Optimized for a Parallel Ultra-Low Power platform, these algorithms enable extended monitoring with a battery lifespan reaching 300 h. These findings highlight the benefits of integrating artifact detection in wearable epilepsy monitoring devices to limit the number of false positives.

To resolve conflicts over limited resources, animals often communicate about their motivation to compete. When signals are transient, the resolution of conflicts may be achieved after an interactive process, with each contestant adjusting its signaling level according to the rival's behavior. Unfortunately, the importance of the real-time signal adjustment in conflict resolution remains understudied, especially using experimental approaches. Here we developed a novel “automatic interactive playback” that interacts real-time with a live individual. It allowed us to experimentally test the efficacy of different behavioral strategies to dominate conflicts in nestling barn owls (Tyto alba). In this species, nestlings vocally negotiate for priority access to the impending food item in the absence of parents. Two opposite vocal strategies were tested for their prospects of success: under the “matching” vs. “mismatching” strategy, the playback behaves in the same vs. opposed way as the nestling, respectively. We evaluated how these two strategies affected the two main negotiation parameters: call duration and call rate. We found that the best strategies to reduce the nestling's vocalizations and hence dominate the negotiation are to match the call duration of the opponent and to mismatch its call rate. However, the latter strategy is the only one that allowed the playback to dominate the vocal interaction by inducing the opponent to become totally silent. Therefore, to prevail in a negotiation session, barn owl nestlings should delay the transmission of signals rather than simultaneously escalate vocalizations as commonly observed in animal competitive interactions. In addition, we showed that matching call duration and mismatching call rate require a larger investment by the playback, in terms of number and duration of calls, than the less effective strategies. Assuming that vocalizations are costly, this suggests that such behavioral strategies are honest. Our results highlight the importance of real-time signaling adjustment in communication processes over resource competition and emphasize the power of using interactive playback settings to investigate conflict resolution in animals.

The regulation of the Glucocorticoid Receptor (GR) transcript was investigated in the gills of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) during the parr-smolt transformation. Sampling of parr and smolt fish was performed between December and July and in particular during the smoltification period occurring in spring. Quantification of GR transcripts revealed differences between the two groups in March and at the beginning of April. During these dates, the amounts of GR mRNA in parr gills were respectively three and two fold lower than those measured in smolts. In order to determine which factors are responsible for these differences, we studied the long-term effects of prolactin and Cortisol treatments on GR transcript in the gills of presmolt fish. The plasma levels of these two hormones respectively drop and rise during smoltification. Contrary to Cortisol long-term treatment which did not modify the amount of gill GR transcript, short-term treatment induced a significant decrease within 12 hours. Prolactin long-term treatment caused a significant increase of GR transcript abundance after 13 days of implant treatment. This result is unexpected with regard to those obtained in the smoltification analysis but is in agreement with previous studies performed in mammary gland revealing a positive control of PRL on GR in epithelial cells. Our data suggest that the regulation of the GR transcript during the parr-smolt transformation probably involves several hormonal factors.

The distribution of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR)within the forebrain of rainbow trout has been studied by means of in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (ICC) using probes and antibodies directed against the AB-domain of the rainbow trout GR (rtGR). Both rtGR mRNA and protein exhibited the same pattern of distribution. A strong labelling was observed in all subdivisions of the preoptic nucleus, in the thalamic region and in the mediobasal hypothalamus (nucleus recessus lateralis, nucleus lateralis tuberis).It was notably found that all magnocellular neurons of the nucleus preopticus pars magnocellularis (NPOmc) were positive with both ISH and ICC. Furthermore, numerous cells of the anterior lobe of the pituitary were positively stained. Double staining studies allowed to identify part of the rtGR expressing cells. At the telencephalic level, it was found that GnRH neurons frequently express rtGR in vitellogenic females. Virtually all tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) cells in the anteroventral part of the preoptic nucleus (NPOav) were rtGR-positive. In this same area, a colocalization between rainbow trout estradiol receptor (rtER) and TH has already been documented, indirectly demonstrating that rtER and rtGR are colocalized. The same holds true for the GTH-II cells of the anterior pituitary which express both types of receptors. These results provide information on the potential sites of cortisol action on the reproductive axis directly at the pituitary level or indirectly on neuroendocrine Systems controllingGTH-II secretion, possibly via GR-ER interactions.

Engineers at work are regularly confronted with situations where productivity and socio-ecological issues are at odds. In order to rule on the resulting ethical issues and find a satisfying compromise, they mobilize their scientific knowledge but also their subjectivity. The purpose of our article is to suggest ways to understand and certify this new aspect of the engineers competencies who must, on the one hand, be able to perceive the human dimension of work more clearly and, on the other hand, provide their collaborators with benchmarks in order to better understand the challenges of CSR and adapt their practices.

Discusses findings which show that modulation of hyperpolarization-activated current controls cardiac pacing by muscarinic receptor stimulation.