Medical & biological engineering & computing
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Med Biol Eng Comput · Apr 2018
Apnea and heart rate detection from tracheal body sounds for the diagnosis of sleep-related breathing disorders.
Sleep apnea is one of the most common sleep disorders. Here, patients suffer from multiple breathing pauses longer than 10 s during the night which are referred to as apneas. The standard method for the diagnosis of sleep apnea is the attended cardiorespiratory polysomnography (PSG). ⋯ Heart rate measured with the proposed method was strongly correlated with heart rate derived from conventional ECG (r 2 = 0.8164). No significant signal losses are reported during the study. In conclusion, we demonstrate a novel approach to reliably and noninvasively detect both apneas and heart rate during sleep.
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Med Biol Eng Comput · Aug 2017
EEG artifacts reduction by multivariate empirical mode decomposition and multiscale entropy for monitoring depth of anaesthesia during surgery.
Electroencephalography (EEG) has been widely utilized to measure the depth of anaesthesia (DOA) during operation. However, the EEG signals are usually contaminated by artifacts which have a consequence on the measured DOA accuracy. In this study, an effective and useful filtering algorithm based on multivariate empirical mode decomposition and multiscale entropy (MSE) is proposed to measure DOA. ⋯ The results in this paper verify that entropy values and BIS have a strong correlation for the purpose of DOA monitoring and the proposed filtering method can effectively filter artifacts from EEG signals. The proposed method performs better than the commonly used wavelet denoising method. This study provides a fully adaptive and automated filter for EEG to measure DOA more accuracy and thus reduce risk related to maintenance of anaesthetic agents.
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Med Biol Eng Comput · Jul 2017
Irreversible electroporation as treatment of locally advanced and as margin accentuation in borderline resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
In recent years, many local ablation technologies based on thermal damage have been used in the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma (LAPC) and borderline resectable pancreatic carcinoma (BLRPC). However, they are associated with major complications because of possible vascular and ductal damage. Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a nonthermal ablation technology that seems safe near vital vascular and ductal structures. ⋯ Only one patient has already reached 9-month follow-up and is alive and disease free. Our results are only preliminary. However, IRE ablation of LAPC and BLRPC seems a safe and feasible treatment.
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Med Biol Eng Comput · Apr 2017
Comparative StudyA comparison of four techniques to measure anterior and posterior vertebral body heights and sagittal plane wedge angles in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a three-dimensional (3D) spinal deformity of unknown aetiology. Increased growth of the anterior part of the vertebrae known as anterior overgrowth has been proposed as a potential driver for AIS initiation and progression. ⋯ Significant differences were seen between the techniques in terms of VB heights and VB wedge angles. The low variability, and the fact that the rotation and tilt of the deformed VBs are taken into account, suggests that the proposed technique using the full 3D orientation of the vertebrae is the most reliable method to measure anterior and posterior VB heights and sagittal plane wedge angles in 3D image data sets. These results have relevance for future investigations that aim to quantify anterior overgrowth in AIS patients for comparison with healthy controls.
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Med Biol Eng Comput · Nov 2016
Randomized Controlled TrialNeurofeedback training with a motor imagery-based BCI: neurocognitive improvements and EEG changes in the elderly.
Neurofeedback training (NFT) has shown to be promising and useful to rehabilitate cognitive functions. Recently, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) were used to restore brain plasticity by inducing brain activity with an NFT. In our study, we hypothesized that an NFT with a motor imagery-based BCI (MI-BCI) could enhance cognitive functions related to aging effects. ⋯ Moreover, results from cognitive tests showed significant improvements (p < 0.01) in four cognitive functions after performing five NFT sessions: visuospatial, oral language, memory, and intellectual. This established evidence in the association between NFT performed by a MI-BCI and enhanced cognitive performance. Therefore, it could be a novel approach to help elderly people.