Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Conference
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Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc · Jan 2012
Frequency dependent transmission characteristics between arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure in rats.
The pulsatile energy transmission between arterial blood pressure (BP) and intracranial pressure (ICP) is affected by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain tissue. Studies in dogs have shown that the transfer function (TF) between BP and ICP shows damping of pulsatile energy around heart rate frequency (1-3Hz) with notch filter characteristics, and the amount of damping is sensitive to cerebral compliance. This investigation aimed to assess whether this notch filter characteristic is an intrinsic property of the brain enclosed in a rigid skull and therefore applies across species with a large difference in body size. ⋯ Findings show that the rat brain acts as a selective frequency pulsation absorber of energy centered at heart rate frequency. This similarity with larger animals indicates a possible allometric mechanism underlying this phenomenon, with notch filter characteristic frequency scaled to body size. This study suggests that the TF between arterial BP and ICP is an intrinsic property of the brain tissue and CSF enclosed in a rigid compartment and can be used to assess changes in cerebral compliance due to abnormal CSF pressure and flow as occur in hydrocephalus.
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Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc · Jan 2012
Moving coil pressure algometer produces consistent force gradient and repeated stimulation.
Computer-controlled pressure stimulation (algometry) offers seemingly good reliability when it comes to pain assessment methods. It is therefore important to ensure through methodological quantification that moving coil pressure algometer (MCPA) exhibits accurate, fast, and precise tissue stimulation techniques. ⋯ Solicited force gradients of 500, 1000, and 1800 g/s showed high correlation values (R(2) > 0.99) for both rubber mat and direct probe-to-sensor contact cases. Through fast switching between different modes of operation of the actuator, force overshoot was reduced from as much as 300 to 20% for the same force magnitude, at the expense of a slight delay in repeated pulse delivery scheme.
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Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc · Jan 2012
Relaxofon: a neuromuscular blockade monitor for patients under general anesthesia.
Anesthesia consists of three components: unconsciousness, analgesia and neuromuscular blockade (NMB). A specific drug is administered by the anesthesiologist to control these different components. In this paper we propose a new system for monitoring the neuromuscular blockade in anesthesized patients during surgery. ⋯ Finally, we calculated the Pearson correlation coefficient to measure the linear dependence between the two methods. Automatic Train-of-Four ratio calculations using this system showed very good agreement with manual calculations. Results from this work may ultimately lead to integration of NMB monitoring to an automated closed-loop anesthesia system.
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Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc · Jan 2012
An elementary analysis of physiologic shock and multi-organ failure: the autodigestion hypothesis.
Physiological shock and subsequent multi-organ failure is one of the most important medical problems from a mortality point of view. No agreement exists for mechanisms that lead to the relative rapid cell and organ failure during this process and no effective treatment. We postulate that the digestive enzymes synthesized in the pancreas and transported in the lumen of the small intestine as requirement of normal food digestion play a central role in multi-organ failure. ⋯ Entry of the digestive enzymes into the wall of the intestine precipitates an autodigestion process as well as an escape of pancreatic enzymes and breakdown products generated by them into the system circulation. The consequence of autodigestion is multiorgan failure. We discuss the possibility to block the digestive enzymes in acute forms of shock as a potential therapeutic intervention.
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Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc · Jan 2012
An implantable neural stimulator for intraspinal microstimulation.
This paper reports on a wireless stimulator device for use in animal experiments as part of an ongoing investigation into intraspinal stimulation (ISMS) for restoration of walking in humans with spinal cord injury. The principle behind using ISMS is the activation of residual motor-control neural networks within the spinal cord ventral horn below the level of lesion following a spinal cord injury. The attractiveness to this technique is that a small number of electrodes can be used to induce bilateral walking patterns in the lower limbs. ⋯ Recent acute animal experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of using ISMS to produce the coordinated walking patterns. Here we described a wireless implantable stimulation system to be used in chronic animal experiments and for providing the basis for a system suitable for use in humans. Electrical operation of the wireless system is described, including a demonstration of reverse telemetry for monitoring the stimulating electrode voltages.