{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T02:42:51Z","timestamp":1760236971179,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,30]],"date-time":"2020-01-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1580342400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["UID\/DTP\/04567\/2019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UID\/DTP\/04567\/2019"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The quantitative assessment of cardiovascular functions is particularly complicated, especially during any physiological challenge (e.g., exercise), with physiological signals showing intricate oscillatory properties. Signal complexity is one of such properties, and reflects the adaptability of the physiological systems that generated them. However, it is still underexplored in vascular physiology. In the present study, we calculate the complexity of photoplethysmography (PPG) signals and their frequency components obtained with the wavelet transform (WT), with two analytical tools\u2014(i) texture analysis (TA) of WT scalograms, and (ii) multiscale entropy (MSE) analysis. PPG signals were collected from twelve healthy young subjects (26.0 \u00b1 5.0 y.o.) during a unilateral leg lowering maneuver to evoke the venoarteriolar reflex (VAR) while lying supine, with the contralateral leg remaining stationary. Results showed that TA was able to detect a decrease in complexity, viewed as an increase in texture entropy (TE), of the PPG scalograms during VAR, similarly to MSE, suggesting that a decrease in the competence of vascular regulation mechanisms might be present during VAR. Nonetheless, TA showed lower sensitivity than MSE for low frequency spectral regions. TA seems to be a promising and straightforward analytical tool for the assessment of the complexity of PPG perfusion signals.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/app10030911","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,31]],"date-time":"2020-01-31T05:55:46Z","timestamp":1580450146000},"page":"911","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Texture Analysis is a Useful Tool to Assess the Complexity Profile of Microcirculatory Blood Flow"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3258-5851","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Henrique","family":"Silva","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CBIOS (Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies), School of Health Sciences and Technologies, Lus\u00f3fona University, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4323-3942","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hugo A.","family":"Ferreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IBEB Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Clemente","family":"Rocha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CBIOS (Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies), School of Health Sciences and Technologies, Lus\u00f3fona University, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Lu\u00eds","family":"Monteiro Rodrigues","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CBIOS (Research Center for Biosciences and Health Technologies), School of Health Sciences and Technologies, Lus\u00f3fona University, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1109\/EMB.2007.907088","article-title":"Coupled Oscillators: Complex but Not Complicated Cardiovascular and Brain Interactions","volume":"26","author":"Stefanovska","year":"2007","journal-title":"IEEE Eng. 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