Medical engineering & physics
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The quality measurement of the reconstructed signal in an electrocardiogram (ECG) compression scheme must be obtained by objective means being the percentage root-mean-square difference (PRD) the most widely used. However, this parameter is dependent on the dc level so that confusion can be stated in the evaluation of ECG compressors. In this communication, it will be shown that if the performance of an ECG coder is evaluated only in terms of quality, considering exclusively the PRD parameter, incorrect conclusions can be inferred. The objective of this work is to propose the joint use of several parameters, as simulations will show, effectiveness and performance of the ECG coder are evaluated with more precision, and the way of inferring conclusions from the obtained results is more reliable.
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Revised spinal surgery is needed when there is a broken pedicle screw in the patient. This study investigated the pedicle screw breakage by conducting retrieval analyses of broken pedicle screws from 16 patients clinically and by performing stress analyses in the posterolateral fusion computationally using finite element (FE) models. Fracture surface of screws was studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM). ⋯ SEM fractography showed that all broken screws exhibited beach marks or striations on the fractured surface, indicating fatigue failure. Screws of patients with spinal fracture showed fatigue striations and final ductile fracture around the edge. Among the 16 patients who had broken pedicle screws 69% of them achieved bone union in the bone graft, showing that bone union in the bone graft did not warrant the prevention of screw breakage.
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Comparative Study
Oxygen saturation determined using a novel wavelet ratio surface.
A wavelet-based method is presented for oxygen saturation measurement using photoplethysmogram signals from a standard pulse oximeter device. The transform moduli of both red and infrared signals are used to derive a novel wavelet ratio surface. Projection of the pulse component onto this surface allows optimal derivation of oxygen saturation.
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Comparative Study
Computational simulations of the total cavo-pulmonary connection: insights in optimizing numerical solutions.
The Fontan procedure is a palliative surgical technique that is used to treat patients with congenital heart defects that include complex lesions such as those with a hypoplastic ventricle. In vitro, in vivo, and computational models of a set of modifications to the Fontan procedure, called the total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC), have been developed. Using these modeling methods, attempts have been made at finding the most energy efficient TCPC circuit. ⋯ Furthermore, our computational modeling results suggest fluctuating flow patterns as well as the magnitudes of these secondary flow structures diminish if the TCPC offset between vena cavae is increased or if flanged connections are added. An association was found between these modifications and improvements in TCPC circuit flow efficiencies. In summary, development of accurate computational simulations in the validation process is critical to efforts in finding the most efficient TCPC circuits, efforts aimed at potentially improving the long term outcome for Fontan patients.
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Nonlinear-analysis of human sleep EEG using detrended fluctuation analysis.
Quantification of the fractal scaling properties of human sleep EEG dynamics was sought and each normal sleep stage was compared with that of sleep apnea. The fractal scaling exponents that quantify power-law correlations were computed using detrended fluctuation analysis. Six healthy subjects, aged 30-35 years, participated and six recordings of the apnea were acquired from MIT/BIH polysomnography database. ⋯ The mean scaling exponents increased from the awake stage to stages 1, 2 and 3-4, but decreased during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The scaling exponents of the apnea were lower than those of the healthy subject for all the stages. The scaling exponents could be attributed to the fractal nature of EEG, which would be more appropriate for describing the complexity of EEG due to its assumption of non-stationarity.