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 2014
Facilitating medical information search using Google Glass connected to a content-based medical image retrieval system.
Wearable computing devices are starting to change the way users interact with computers and the Internet. Among them, Google Glass includes a small screen located in front of the right eye, a camera filming in front of the user and a small computing unit. Google Glass has the advantage to provide online services while allowing the user to perform tasks with his/her hands. ⋯ In this paper, we developed a Google Glass application able to take a photo and send it to a medical image retrieval system along with keywords in order to retrieve similar cases. As a preliminary assessment of the usability of the application, we tested the application under three conditions (images of the skin; printed CT scans and MRI images; and CT and MRI images acquired directly from an LCD screen) to explore whether using Google Glass affects the accuracy of the results returned by the medical image retrieval system. The preliminary results show that despite minor problems due to the relative stability of the Google Glass, images can be sent to and processed by the medical image retrieval system and similar images are returned to the user, potentially helping in the decision making process.
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Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc · Jan 2014
Wearable seismocardiography for the beat-to-beat assessment of cardiac intervals during sleep.
Seismocardiogram (SCG) can be detected during sleep by a textile-based wearable system. This pilot study preliminarily explores the feasibility of a beat-to-beat estimation of cardiac mechanical features (RR interval, RRI, Pre-Ejection Period, PEP, Isovolumic Contraction Time, ICT, Left Ventricular Ejection Time, LVET, Isovolumic Relaxation Time, IRT) from the joint ECG and SCG assessment during sleep. ⋯ These findings represent the very first description of the beat-to-beat variability of cardiac mechanical indexes. Further investigations on a larger population are in progress to confirm the present results.
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Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc · Jan 2014
Design and fabrication of a multi-electrode array for spinal cord epidural stimulation.
A detailed design, fabrication, characterization and test of a flexible multi-site platinum/polyimide based electrode array for electrical epidural stimulation in spinal cord prosthesis is described in this paper. Carefully designed 8.4 μm-thick structure fabrication flow achieves an electrode surface modification with 3.8 times enhanced effective surface area without extra process needed. Measured impedance and phase of two type of electrodes are 2.35±0.21 KΩ and 2.10±0.11 KΩ, -34.25±8.07° and -27.71±8.27° at 1K Hz, respectively. ⋯ The measured charge transfer resistance, double layer capacitance, and solution resistance are 1.9 KΩ, 220 nF and 15 KΩ, respectively. The results show that the fabricated array is applicable for electrical stimulation with well characterized parameters. Combined with a multichannel stimulator, this system provides a full solution for versatile neural stimulation applications.
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Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc · Jan 2014
Automatic lung tidal volumes estimation from tracheal sounds.
This paper presents a method to automatically estimate lung tidal volumes from the acoustic signals generated in the respiratory track. The signal is measured with an acoustic based sensor placed in the suprasternal notch. The method does not require any previous knowledge or modelling of the individual respiratory track, and relies on just one calibration parameter. ⋯ The subjects were simultaneously wearing a Wright respirometer which was used as a gold standard for comparison. Agreement between the two methods was assessed with Bland-Altman techniques. The results show the potential the technique has, integrated with a small acoustic sensor, for less-intrusive and even remote and/or continuous monitoring of lung tidal volumes.
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Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc · Jan 2014
Respiratory rate assessment from photoplethysmographic imaging.
We present a study investigating the suitability of a respiratory rate estimation algorithm applied to photoplethysmographic imaging on a mobile phone. The algorithm consists of a cascade of previously developed signal processing methods to detect features and extract respiratory induced variations in photoplethysmogram signals to estimate respiratory rate. With custom-built software on an Android phone (Camera Oximeter), contact photoplethysmographic imaging videos were recorded using the integrated camera from 19 healthy adults breathing spontaneously at respiratory rates between 6 and 40 breaths/min. ⋯ The algorithm detected 22 recordings with poor photoplethysmogram quality and 46 recordings with insufficient respiratory information. Of the 232 remaining recordings, a root mean square error of 5.9 breaths/min and a median absolute error of 2.3 breaths/min was obtained. The study showed that it is feasible to estimate respiratory rates by placing a finger on a mobile phone camera, but that it becomes increasingly challenging at respiratory rates higher than 20 breaths/min.