Computers in biology and medicine
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Comparative Study
An integrative framework for 3D cobb angle measurement on CT images.
Measuring the Cobb angle on computed tomography (CT) images remains a challenging but requisite task for clinical diagnoses of scoliosis. Traditionally, clinical practitioners resort to manual demarcation, but this approach is inefficient and subjective. Most of the existing computerized algorithms are two-dimensional (2D) and incapable of multi-angle calibration. ⋯ The new integrative framework is able to measure the Cobb angles in three imaging planes simultaneously and is therefore clinically advantageous.
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Comparative Study
Derivation of respiration rate from ambulatory ECG and PPG using Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition: Comparison and fusion.
A new method for extracting the respiratory rate from ECG and PPG obtained via wearable sensors is presented. The proposed technique employs Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition in order to identify the respiration "mode" from the noise-corrupted Heart Rate Variability/Pulse Rate Variability and Amplitude Modulation signals extracted from ECG and PPG signals. The technique was validated with respect to a Respiratory Impedance Pneumography (RIP) signal using the mean absolute and the average relative errors for a group ambulatory hospital patients. ⋯ Our method outperformed state-of-the-art ECG- and PPG-based algorithms and gave the best results over the whole database with a mean error of 1.8bpm for 1min estimates when using the fused ECG modulations, which was a relative error of 10.3%. No statistically significant differences were found when comparing the ECG-, PPG- and ECG/PPG-based approaches, indicating that the PPG can be used as a valid alternative to the ECG for applications using wearable sensors. While the presence of both the ECG and PPG signals did not provide an improvement in the estimation error, it increased the proportion of windows for which an estimate was obtained by at least 9%, indicating that the use of two simultaneously recorded signals might be desirable in high-acuity cases where an RR estimate is required more frequently.
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To introduce T2-adjusted computed DWI (T2-cDWI), a method that provides synthetic images at arbitrary b-values and echo times (TEs) that improve tissue contrast by removing or increasing T2 contrast in diffusion-weighted images. ⋯ T2-cDWI is a promising clinical tool for improving image signal-to-noise, image contrast, and tumour detection through suppression of T2 shine-through effects.
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This paper introduces a methodology for the detection of sleep apnea based on single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) of the patient. In the proposed technique, each QRS complex of the ECG signal is approximated using a linear combination of the lower order Hermite basis functions. The coefficients of the Hermite expansion are then used to discriminate the apnea and normal segments along with three features based on R-R time series (mean of R-R intervals, the standard deviation of R-R intervals) and energy in the error of the QRS approximation. ⋯ By considering the events of apnea and hypopnea together, an accuracy of about 84% is achieved on the minute-by-minute basis classification using the LS-SVM classifier with the Gaussian radial basis function (RBF) kernel. On the other hand, an accuracy of about 97.14% is achieved for per-recording classification using the SVM, and LS-SVM classifiers. From the results, it is observed that the proposed methodology provides comparable accuracy with the methods existing in the literature at reduced computational cost due to the lesser number of features selected for the classification.
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Clinical Trial
Adaptive pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modelling to predict propofol effect using BIS-guided anesthesia.
Propofol is widely used for hypnosis induction and maintenance of general anesthesia. Its effect can be assessed using the bispectral index (BIS). Many automatic infusion systems are based in pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) models to predict the response of the patient to the drug. However, all these models do not take into account intra and inter-patient variability. An adjusted intraoperative drug administration allows faster recovery and provides post-operative side-effect mitigation ⋯ The real time PK/PD model proposed provides a closer description of the patient real state at each sample time. This allows for greater control of the drug infusion, and thus the quantity of drug administered can be titrated to achieve the desired effect for the desired duration, and reduce unnecessary waste or post-operative effects.