Search Results (4)

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) treatment outcomes are commonly assessed through visual evaluation of facial wrinkle patterns, a process that remains inherently subjective despite structured grading systems. This study evaluated whether contemporary multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) systems can identify facial changes associated with BoNT treatment, using region-specific wrinkle patterns as surrogate markers of underlying muscle activity. A dataset of 46 facial images (23 pre-treatment, 23 post-treatment) was analyzed using four multimodal models, each assessed across five independent runs. Models were tasked with classifying treatment state from single images, detecting wrinkle presence in the forehead, glabella, and periorbital regions, and generating exploratory severity scores and age estimates. Two models achieved 100% accuracy in distinguishing pre- from post-treatment images in this dataset, while region-specific wrinkle detection was variable and frequently did not exceed majority-class baselines. Inter-run reliability varied substantially across models. Exploratory wrinkle severity scores showed directional differences between treatment states, whereas apparent age estimates demonstrated minimal systematic variation. These findings suggest that global facial changes associated with BoNT treatment appear to be detectable in model outputs, but region-specific assessment remains limited, underscoring the need for cautious interpretation and further validation. Full article

Emotional communication is a multi-modal phenomenon involving posture, gestures, facial expressions, and the human voice. Affective states systematically modulate the acoustic signals produced during speech production through the laryngeal muscles via the central nervous system, transforming the acoustic signal into a means of affective transmission. Additionally, a substantial body of research in sonobiology has shown that audible acoustic waves (AAW) can affect cellular dynamics. This pilot study explores whether the physical–acoustic changes induced by gratitude states in human speech could influence cell proliferation and Ki67 expression in non-auditory cells (661W cell line). We conduct a series of assays, including affective electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements, an affective text quantification algorithm, and a passive vibro-acoustic treatment (PVT), to control the CO₂ incubator environment acoustically, and a proliferation assay with immunolabeling to quantify cell dynamics. Although a larger sample size is needed, the hypothesis that emotions can act as biophysical agents remains a plausible possibility, and feasible physical and biological pathways are discussed. In summary, studying the impact of gratitude AAW on cell biology represents an unexplored research area with the potential to enhance our understanding of the interaction between human cognition and biology through physics principles. Full article

Backgrounds and Objective: Facial palsy is a complex pathophysiological condition affecting the personal and professional lives of the involved patients. Sudden muscle weakness or paralysis needs to be rehabilitated to recover a symmetric and expressive face. Computer-aided decision support systems for facial rehabilitation have been developed. However, there is a lack of facial muscle baseline data to evaluate the patient states and guide as well as optimize the rehabilitation strategy. In this present study, we aimed to develop a novel baseline facial muscle database (static and dynamic behaviors) using the coupling between statistical shape modeling and in-silico trial approaches. Methods: 10,000 virtual subjects (5000 males and 5000 females) were generated from a statistical shape modeling (SSM) head model. Skull and muscle networks were defined so that they statistically fit with the head shapes. Two standard mimics: smiling and kissing were generated. The muscle strains of the lengths in neutral and mimic positions were computed and recorded thanks to the muscle insertion and attachment points on the animated head and skull meshes. For validation, five head and skull meshes were reconstructed from the five computed tomography (CT) image sets. Skull and muscle networks were then predicted from the reconstructed head meshes. The predicted skull meshes were compared with the reconstructed skull meshes based on the mesh-to-mesh distance metrics. The predicted muscle lengths were also compared with those manually defined on the reconstructed head and skull meshes. Moreover, the computed muscle lengths and strains were compared with those in our previous studies and the literature. Results: The skull prediction’s median deviations from the CT-based models were 2.2236 mm, 2.1371 mm, and 2.1277 mm for the skull shape, skull mesh, and muscle attachment point regions, respectively. The median deviation of the muscle lengths was 4.8940 mm. The computed muscle strains were compatible with the reported values in our previous Kinect-based method and the literature. Conclusions: The development of our novel facial muscle database opens new avenues to accurately evaluate the facial muscle states of facial palsy patients. Based on the evaluated results, specific types of facial mimic rehabilitation exercises can also be selected optimally to train the target muscles. In perspective, the database of the computed muscle lengths and strains will be integrated into our available clinical decision support system for automatically detecting malfunctioning muscles and proposing patient-specific rehabilitation serious games. Full article

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is a health problem that affects many people worldwide. This study is the first to evaluate the potential effect of bee venom (BV) and its major components in a model of PNI in the mouse. For that, the BV used in this study was analyzed using UHPLC. All animals underwent a distal section-suture of facial nerve branches, and they were randomly divided into five groups. Group 1: injured facial nerve branches without any treatment. Group 2: the facial nerve branches were injured, and the normal saline was injected similarly as in the BV-treated group. Group 3: injured facial nerve branches with local injections of BV solution. Group 4: injured facial nerve branches with local injections of a mixture of PLA2 and melittin. Group 5: injured facial nerve branches with local injection of betamethasone. The treatment was performed three times a week for 4 weeks. The animals were submitted to functional analysis (observation of whisker movement and quantification of nasal deviation). The vibrissae muscle re-innervation was evaluated by retrograde labeling of facial motoneurons in all experimental groups. UHPLC data showed 76.90 ± 0.13%, 11.73 ± 0.13%, and 2.01 ± 0.01%, respectively, for melittin, phospholipase A2, and apamin in the studied BV sample. The obtained results showed that BV treatment was more potent than the mixture of PLA2 and melittin or betamethasone in behavioral recovery. The whisker movement occurred faster in BV-treated mice than in the other groups, with a complete disappearance of nasal deviation two weeks after surgery. Morphologically, a normal fluorogold labeling of the facial motoneurons was restored 4 weeks after surgery in the BV-treated group, but no such restoration was ever observed in other groups. Our findings indicate the potential of the use of BV injections to enhance appropriate functional and neuronal outcomes after PNI. Full article