IEEE Final Year Projects 2011-2012 :: Bio Medical:::: Elysium Technologies PVT LTD

Elysium Technologies Private Limited
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Madurai | Chennai | Trichy | Coimbatore | Kollam| Singapore Website: elysiumtechnologies.com, elysiumtechnologies.info Email: info@elysiumtechnologies.com
IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012
Abstract
BIO-MEDICAL
2011 - 2012
01
A Bayesian Hierarchical Correlation Model for fMRI Cluster Analysis
Data-driven cluster analysis is potentially suitable to search for, and discriminate between, distinct response signals in blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI), which appear during cerebrovascular disease. In contrast to model-driven methods, which test for a particular BOLD signal whose shape must be given beforehand, datadriven methods generate a set of BOLD signals directly from the fMRI data by clustering voxels into groups with correlated time signals. Here, we address the problem of selecting only the clusters that represent genuine responses to the experimental stimulus by modeling the correlation structure of the clustered data using a Bayesian hierarchical model. The model is empirically justified by demonstrating the hierarchical organization of the voxel correlations after cluster analysis. BOLD signal discrimination is demonstrated using: 1) simulations that contain multiple pathological BOLD response signals; and 2) fMRI data acquired during an event-related motor task. These demonstrations are compared with results from a model-driven method based on the general linear model. Our simulations show that the data-driven method can discriminate between the BOLD response signals, while themodeldriven method only finds one signal. For fMRI, the data-driven method distinguishes between the BOLD signals appearing in the sensorimotor cortex and those in basal ganglia and putamen, while themodel-drivenmethod combines these signals into one activation map.We conclude that the proposed data-driven method provides an objective framework to identify and discriminate between distinct BOLD response signals.
02
A Brain-Deformation Framework Based on a Linear Elastic Model and Evaluation Using Clinical Data
In image-guided neurosurgery, brain tissue displacement and deformation during neurosurgical procedures are a major source of error. In this paper, we implement and evaluate a linear-elastic-model-based framework for correction of brain shift using clinical data from five brain tumor patients. The framework uses a linear elastic model to simulate brain-shift behavior. The model is driven by cortical surface deformations, which are tracked using a surface-tracking algorithm combined with a laser-range scanner. The framework performance was evaluated using displacements of anatomical landmarks, tumor contours and self-defined evaluation parameters. The results show that tumor deformations predicted by the present framework agreed well with the ones observed intraoperatively, especially in the parts of the larger deformations. On average, a brain shift of 3.9 mm and a tumor margin shift of 4.2 mm were corrected to 1.2 and 1.3 mm, respectively. The entire correction process was performed in less than 5 min. The data from this study suggest that the technique is a suitable candidate for intraoperative brain-deformation correction
03
A Classification Tree Approach for Cardiac Ischemia Detection Using Spatiotemporal Information from Three Standard ECG Leads
The accurate noninvasive diagnosis of cardiac ischemia remains a great challenge. To this end, the ECG is the main source of information, and personal health systems may now embed intelligence for enabling any citizen to self-record an ECG anywhere at any time. Our objective is to find a decision-support approach that makes best use of these resources. A new classification tree based on conditions combinations competition (T-3C) is proposed for building a multibranch tree of combined decision rules, and its performance is compared to usual methods based either on discriminant analysis or on
Madurai
Elysium Technologies Private Limited 230, Church Road, Annanagar, Madurai , Tamilnadu 625 020. Contact : 91452 4390702, 4392702, 4394702. eMail: info@elysiumtechnologies.com
Trichy
Elysium Technologies Private Limited 3rd Floor,SI Towers, 15 ,Melapudur , Trichy, Tamilnadu 620 001. Contact : 91431 - 4002234. eMail: elysium.trichy@gmail.com
Kollam
Elysium Technologies Private Limited Surya Complex,Vendor junction, kollam,Kerala 691 010. Contact : 91474 2723622. eMail: elysium.kollam@gmail.com


classification trees. Moreover, we assessed with these methods, the diagnosis content for ischemia detection of the spatiotemporal ECG information that can be retrieved either from the standard 12-lead ECG or from only the three orthogonal leads subset (I, II, and V2), easy to set-up in selfcare. The diagnostic accuracy of 14 decision-making strategies was compared for ischemia detection induced by angioplasty on a test set from a study population of 90 patients. The best performance is obtained with the T-3C algorithm on three-lead ECG, reaching 98% of sensitivity and of specificity, thus exceeding 23% of the diagnostic accuracy of the recommended and currently used standard ECG criteria.
04
A Linear Correction for Principal Component Analysis of Dynamic Fluorescence Diffuse Optical Tomography Images
The analysis of dynamic fluorescence diffuse optical tomography (D-FDOT) is important both for drug delivery research and for medical diagnosis and treatment. The low spatial resolution and complex kinetics, however, limit the ability of FDOT in resolving drug distributions within small animals. Principal component analysis (PCA) provides the capability of detecting and visualizing functional structures with different kinetic patterns from D-FDOT images. A particular challenge in using PCA is to reduce the level of noise in D-FDOT images. This is particularly relevant in drug study, where the time-varying fluorophore concentration (drug concentration) will result in the reconstructed images containing more noise and, therefore, affect the performance of PCA. In this paper, a new linear corrected method is proposed for modeling these timevarying fluorescence measurements before performing PCA. To evaluate the performance of the new method in resolving drug biodistribution, the metabolic processes of indocyanine green within mouse is dynamically simulated and used as the input data of PCA. Simulation results suggest that the principal component (PC) images generated using the new method improve SNR and discrimination capability, compared to the PC images generated using the uncorrected D-FDOT images.
05
A Minimally Invasive Antenna for Microwave Ablation Therapies: Design, Performances, and Experimental Assessment
A new coaxial antenna for microwave ablation therapies is proposed. The antenna design includes a miniaturized choke and an arrowhead cap to facilitate antenna insertion into the tissues. Antenna matching and the shape and dimension of the area of ablated tissue (thermal lesion) obtained in ex vivo conditions are evaluated both numerically and experimentally, finding an optimal agreement between numerical and experimental data. Results showthat the antenna is wellmatched, and that it is able to produce a thermal lesion with an average length of 6.5 cm and an average diameter of 4.5 cm in ex vivo bovine liver when irradiates 60 W for 10 min. Finally, the dependence of antenna performances on possible changes in the antennas structure is investigated, finding an optimal stability with respect to manufacturing tolerances and highlighting the fundamental role played by the antennas choke.
06
A New Measure of Movement Symmetry in Early Parkinsons Disease Patients Using Symbolic Processing of Inertial Sensor Data
Movement asymmetry is one of the motor symptoms associated with Parkinsons disease (PD). Therefore, being able to detect and measure movement symmetry is important for monitoring the patients condition. The present paper introduces a novel symbol based symmetry index calculated from inertial sensor data. The method is explained, evaluated, and compared to six other symmetrymeasures. Thesemeasures were used to determine the symmetry of both upper and lower limbs during walking of 11 early-to-mid-stage PD patients and 15 control subjects. The patients included in the study showed minimal motor abnormalities according to the unified Parkinsons disease rating scale (UPDRS). The symmetry indices were used to classify subjects into two different groups corresponding to PD or control. The proposed method presented high sensitivity and specificity with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.872, 9% greater than the second best method. The proposed method also showed an excellent intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.949, 55% greater than the second best method. Results suggest that the proposed symmetry index is appropriate for this particular group of patients.
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07
A Portable Image Overlay Projection Device for Computer-Aided Open Liver Surgery
Image overlay projection is a form of augmented reality that allows surgeons to view underlying anatomical structures directly on the patient surface. It improves intuitiveness of computer-aided surgery by removing the need for sight diversion between the patient and a display screen and has been reported to assist in 3-D understanding of anatomical structures and the identification of target and critical structures. Challenges in the development of image overlay technologies for surgery remain in the projection setup. Calibration, patient registration, view direction, and projection obstruction remain unsolved limitations to image overlay techniques. In this paper, we propose a novel, portable, and handheld-navigated image overlay device based onminiature laser projection technology that allows images of 3-D patient-specific models to be projected directly onto the organ surface intraoperatively without the need for intrusive hardware around the surgical site. The device can be integrated into a navigation system, thereby exploiting existing patient registration and model generation solutions. The position of the device is tracked by the navigation systems position sensor and used to project geometrically correct images from any position within the workspace of the navigation system. The projector was calibrated using modified camera calibration techniques and images for projection are rendered using a virtual camera defined by the projectors extrinsic parameters. Verification of the devices projection accuracy concluded a mean projection error of 1.3 mm. Visibility testing of the projection performed on pig liver tissue found the device suitable for the display of anatomical structures on the organ surface. The feasibility of use within the surgical workflow was assessed during open liver surgery. We show that the device could be quickly and unobtrusively deployed within the sterile environment
08
A Radio-Frequency Coupling Network for Heating of Citrate-Coated Gold Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy: Design and Analysis
Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are nontoxic, can be functionalized with ligands, and preferentially accumulate in tumors. We have developed a 13.56-MHz RF-electromagnetic field (RFEM) delivery system capable of generating high E-field strengths required for noninvasive, noncontact heating of GNPs. The bulk heating and specific heating rates were measured as a function of NP size and concentration. It was found that heating is both size and concentration dependent, with 5 nm particles producing a 50.6 0.2 C temperature rise in 30 s for 25 g/mL gold (125 W input). The specific heating rate was also size and concentration dependent, with 5 nm particles producing a specific heating rate of 356 78 kW/g gold at 16 g/mL (125 W input). Furthermore, we demonstrate that cancer cells incubated with GNPs are killed when exposed to 13.56 MHz RF-EM fields. Compared to cells that were not incubated with GNPs, three out of four RF-treated groups showed a significant enhancement of cell death with GNPs (p < 0.05). GNP-enhanced cell killing appears to require temperatures above 50 C for the experimental parameters used in this study. Transmission electron micrographs showextensive vacuolizationwith the combination of GNPs andRF treatment.
09
A Real-time Heart Rate Analysis for a Remote Millimeter Wave IQ Sensor
This paper analyzes heart rate (HR) information from physiological tracings collected with a remote millimeter wave (mmW) IQ sensor for biometric monitoring applications. A parameter optimization method based on the nonlinear Levenberg Marquardt algorithm is used. The mmW sensor works at 94 GHz and can detect the vital signs of a human subject from a few to tens of meters away. The reflected mmW signal is typically affected by respiration, body movement, background noise, and electronic system noise. Processing of the mmW radar signal is, thus, necessary to obtain the true HR. The downconverted received signal in this case consists of both the real part (I-branch) and the imaginary part (Q-branch), which can be considered as the cosine and sine of the received phase of the HR signal. Instead of fitting the converted phase angle signal, the method directly fits the real and imaginary parts of the HR signal, which circumvents the need for phase unwrapping. This is particularly useful when the SNR is low. Also, the method identifies both beat-to-beat HR and individual
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heartbeat magnitude, which is valuable for some medical diagnosis applications. The mean HR here is compared to that obtained using the discrete Fourier transform.
10
A Self-Powered Telemetry System to Estimate the Postoperative Instability of a Knee Implant
Estimating in vivo the life span of a total knee replacement prosthesis is currently done by estimating the polyethylene (PE) wear rate from measurement of the femorotibial distance using X-ray photographies. This efficient method requires, however, waiting for few years to obtain a readout. This letter proposes using another metric that can be obtained within a couple of months of surgery, namely the center of pressure (COP). This metric represents the point, where the axial force applies the most onto the tibial tray. The displacement of the COP with respect to its ideal position can be used to estimate the wear and the life span of the PE. This requires the implant to be fitted with a telemetry system described briefly. The proposed method is supported by measures and simulations.
11
A Web-Based System for Home Monitoring of Patients With Parkinsons Disease Using Wearable Sensors
This letter introduces MercuryLive, a platform to enable home monitoring of patients with Parkinsons disease (PD) using wearable sensors.MercuryLive contains three tiers: a resourceaware data collection engine that relies upon wearable sensors, web services for live streaming and storage of sensor data, and a web-based graphical user interface client with video conferencing capability. Besides, the platform has the capability of analyzing sensor (i.e., accelerometer) data to reliably estimate clinical scores capturing the severity of tremor, bradykinesia, and dyskinesia. Testing results showed an average data latency of less than 400 ms and video latency of about 200 ms with video frame rate of about 13 frames/s when 800 kb/s of bandwidth were available and we used a 40% video compression, and data feature upload requiring 1 min of extra time following a 10 min interactive session. These results indicate that the proposed platform is suitable to monitor patients with PD to facilitate the titration of medications in the late stages of the disease.
12
A Web-Based System for the Quantitative and Reproducible Assessment of Clinical Indexes From the Retinal Vasculature
A novel system for the vascular tree identification and the quantitative estimation of arteriolar venular ratio clinical index in retinal fundus images is presented. The system is composed of a module for automatic vascular tracking, an interactive editing interface to correct errors and set the required parameters of analysis, and a module for the computation of clinical indexes. The system was organized as a clientserver structure to allow clinicians and researchers from all over the world to work remotely. The system was evaluated by three graders analyzing 30 fundus images. The evaluation of the Pearsons correlation coefficient and p-value of a paired t-test for each pair of graders demonstrates the high reproducibility of the measures provided by the system.
13
Improving Adaptive SleepWake Discrimination for Wearable Devices
Sleep/wake classification systems that rely on physiological signals suffer from intersubject differences that make accurate classification with a single, subject-independent model difficult. To overcome the limitations of intersubject variability, we suggest a novel online adaptation technique that updates the sleep/wake classifier in real time. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the performance of a newly developed adaptive classification algorithm that was embedded on a wearable sleep/wake classification system called SleePic. The algorithm processed ECG and respiratory effort signals for the classification task and applied behavioral measurements (obtained from accelerometer and press-button data) for the automatic adaptation task.Whentrained as a subject-independent classifier algorithm, the SleePic device was only able to
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correctly classify 74.94 6.76% of the humanrated sleep/wake data. By using the suggested automatic adaptation method, the mean classification accuracy could be significantly improved to 92.98 3.19%. A subject-independent classifier based on activity data only showed a comparable accuracy of 90.44 3.57%. We demonstrated that subject-independent models used for online sleepwake classification can successfully be adapted to previously unseen subjects without the intervention of human experts or off-line calibration.
14
An Adaptive Kalman Filter for ECG Signal Enhancement
The ongoing trend of ECG monitoring techniques to become more ambulatory and less obtrusive generally comes at the expense of decreased signal quality. To enhance this quality, consecutive ECG complexes can be averaged triggered on the heartbeat, exploiting the quasi-periodicity of the ECG. However, this averaging constitutes a tradeoff between improvement of the SNR and loss of clinically relevant physiological signal dynamics. Using a Bayesian framework, in this paper, a sequential averaging filter is developed that, in essence, adaptively varies the number of complexes included in the averaging based on the characteristics of the ECG signal. The filter has the form of an adaptive Kalman filter. The adaptive estimation of the process and measurement noise covariances is performed by maximizing the Bayesian evidence function of the sequential ECG estimation and by exploiting the spatial correlation between several simultaneously recorded ECG signals, respectively. The noise covariance estimates thus obtained render the filter capable of ascribing more weight to newly arriving data when these data contain morphological variability, and of reducing this weight in cases of no morphological variability. The filter is evaluated by applying it to a variety of ECG signals. To gauge the relevance of the adaptive noise-covariance estimation, the performance of the filter is compared to that of a Kalman filter with fixed, (a posteriori) optimized noise covariance. This comparison demonstrates that, without using a priori knowledge on signal characteristics, the filter with adaptive noise estimation performs similar to the filter with optimized fixed noise covariance, favoring the adaptive filter in cases where no a priori information is available or where signal characteristics are expected to fluctuate.
15
An Asynchronous P300 BCI with SSVEP-Based Control State Detection
In this paper, an asynchronous braincomputer interface (BCI) system combining the P300 and steady-state visually an evoked potentials (SSVEPs) paradigm is proposed. The information transfer is accomplished using P300 event-related potential paradigm and the control state (CS) detection is achieved using SSVEP, overlaid on the P300 base system. Offline and online experiments have been performed with ten subjects to validate the proposed system. It is shown to achieve fast and accurate CS detection without significantly compromising the performance. In online experiments, the system is found to be capable of achieving an average data transfer rate of 19.05 bits/min, with CS detection accuracy of about 88%.
16
Arrhythmia Discrimination in Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators Using SupportMachines Representation of Electrograms
Arrhythmia classification remains a major challenge for appropriate therapy delivery in implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). The purpose of this paper is to present a new algorithm for arrhythmia discrimination based on a statistical classification by support vector machines of a novel 2-D representation of electrograms (EGMs) named spatial projection of tachycardia (SPOT) EGMs. SPOT-based discrimination algorithm provided sensitivity and specificity of 98.8% and 91.3%, respectively, on a test database. A simplified version of the algorithm is also presented, which can be directly implemented in the ICD.
17
Assessments of Alterations in the Electrical Impedance of Muscle After Experimental Nerve Injury via Finite-Element Analysis
The
surface
measurement
of
electrical
impedance
of
muscle,
incorporated
as
the
technique
of
electrical
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impedancemyography (EIM), provides a noninvasive approach for evaluating neuromuscular diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.However, the relationship between alterations in surface impedance and the electrical properties of muscle remains uncertain. In order to investigate this further, a group of healthy adult rats, a group of rats two weeks postsciatic crush, and a group of animals six months postcrush underwent EIM of the gastrocnemiussoleus complex. The animals were then killed and the conductivity and permittivity of the extracted muscle measured. Finiteelement models based on MRI data were then constructed for each group. The characteristic EIM parameter, 50 kHz phase (standard error), obtained with surface impedance measurements was 17.3 0.3 for normal animals, 13.8 0.7 for acutely injured animals, and 16.1 0.5 for chronically injured animals. The models predicted parallel changes with phase values of 24.3, 18.8, and 21.2 for the normal, acute, and chronic groups, respectively. Other multifrequency impedance parameters showed similar alterations. These results confirm that surface impedance measurements taken in conjunction with anatomical data and finite-element models may offer a noninvasive approach for assessing biophysical alterations in muscle in neuromuscular disease states.
18
Automated Segmentation of Cells With IHC Membrane Staining
This study presents a fully automatedmembrane segmentation technique for immunohistochemical tissue images with membrane staining, which is a critical task in computerized immunohistochemistry (IHC). Membrane segmentation is particularly tricky in immunohistochemical tissue images because the cellular membranes are visible only in the stained tracts of the cell, while the unstained tracts are not visible. Our automated method provides accurate segmentation of the cellularmembranes in the stained tracts and reconstructs the approximate location of the unstained tracts using nuclear membranes as a spatial reference. Accurate cell-by-cell membrane segmentation allows per cell morphological analysis and quantification of the target membrane proteins that is fundamental in several medical applications such as cancer characterization and classification, personalized therapy design, and for any other applications requiring cell morphology characterization. Experimental results on real datasets from different anatomical locations demonstrate the wide applicability and high accuracy of our approach in the context of IHC analysis.
19
Automated Segmentation of the Lumbar Pedicle in CT Images for Spinal Fusion Surgery
Exact information about the shape of a lumbar pedicle can increase operation accuracy and safety during computeraided spinal fusion surgery, which requires extreme caution on the part of the surgeon, due to the complexity and delicacy of the procedure. In this paper, a robust framework for segmenting the lumbar pedicle in computed tomography (CT) images is presented. The framework that has been designed takes a CT image, which includes the lumbar pedicle as input, and provides the segmented lumbar pedicle in the form of 3-D voxel sets. This multistep approach begins with 2-D dynamic thresholding using local optimal thresholds, followed by procedures to recover the spine geometry in a high curvature environment. A subsequent canal reference determination using proposed thinning-based integrated cost is then performed. Based on the obtained segmented vertebra and canal reference, the edge of the spinal pedicle is segmented. This framework has been tested on 84 lumbar vertebrae of 19 patients requiring spinal fusion. It was successfully applied, resulting in an average success rate of 93.22% and a final mean error of 0.140.05 mm. Precision errors were smaller than 1% for spine pedicle volumes. Intra- and interoperator precision errors were not significantly different.
20
Automatic and Unsupervised Snore Sound Extraction From Respiratory Sound Signals
In this paper, an automatic and unsupervised snore detection algorithm is proposed. The respiratory sound signals of 30 patients with different levels of airway obstruction were recorded by twomicrophones: one placed over the trachea (the tracheal microphone), and the other was a freestanding microphone (the ambient microphone). All the recordings were done simultaneously with full-night polysomnography during sleep. The sound activity episodes were identified using the vertical
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box (V-Box) algorithm. The 500-Hz subband energy distribution and principal component analysis were used to extract discriminative features from sound episodes. An unsupervised fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm was then deployed to label the sound episodes as either snore or no-snore class, which could be breath sound, swallowing sound, or any other noise. The algorithm was evaluated using manual annotation of the sound signals. The overall accuracy of the proposed algorithm was found to be 98.6% for tracheal sounds recordings, and 93.1% for the sounds recorded by the ambient microphone.
21
Automatic Detection of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Using Speech Signals
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder associated with anatomical abnormalities of the upper airways that affects 5% of the population. Acoustic parameters may be influenced by the vocal tract structure and soft tissue properties. We hypothesize that speech signal properties of OSA patients will be different than those of control subjects not having OSA. Using speech signal processing techniques, we explored acoustic speech features of 93 subjects who were recorded using a text-dependent speech protocol and a digital audio recorder immediately prior to polysomnography study. Following analysis of the study, subjects were divided into OSA (n = 67) and non-OSA (n = 26) groups. A Gaussian mixture modelbased system was developed to model and classify between the groups; discriminative features such as vocal tract length and linear prediction coefficients were selected using feature selection technique. Specificity and sensitivity of 83% and 79% were achieved for the male OSA and 86% and 84% for the female OSA patients, respectively. We conclude that acoustic features from speech signals during wakefulness can detect OSA patients with good specificity and sensitivity. Such a system can be used as a basis for future development of a tool for OSA screening.
22
Automatic Optic Disc Detection From Retinal Images by a Line Operator
Under the framework of computer-aided eye disease diagnosis, this paper presents an automatic optic disc (OD) detection technique. The proposed technique makes use of the unique circular brightness structure associated with the OD, i.e., the OD usually has a circular shape and is brighter than the surrounding pixels whose intensity becomes darker gradually with their distances from the OD center. A line operator is designed to capture such circular brightness structure, which evaluates the image brightness variation along multiple line segments of specific orientations that pass through each retinal image pixel. The orientation of the line segment with the minimum/maximum variation has specific pattern that can be used to locate the OD accurately. The proposed technique has been tested over four public datasets that include 130, 89, 40, and 81 images of healthy and pathological retinas, respectively. Experiments show that the designed line operator is tolerant to different types of retinal lesion and imaging artifacts, and an average OD detection accuracy of 97.4% is obtained.
23
Automatic Tracking of Muscle Fascicles in Ultrasound Images Using Localized Radon Transform
Ultrasound images of muscle fascicles have been widely used to investigate muscle properties under static/dynamic and pathologic conditions. Fascicle images are usually detected and measured manually, which is subjective and time consuming, especially when dealing with large number of images. In this study, an automatic linear extraction method based on localized Radon transform and revoting strategy is proposed to detect and track muscle fascicles in ultrasound images. The performance of the proposed method is compared to another automatic linear feature extraction method of revoting Hough transform using both simulated images generated by Field II and clinical images from two human subjects. The proposed tracking method is further validated using experimental data. Both the simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method is robust in the presence of speckle noise, accurate in terms of orientation and position measurement, and feasible for analyzing clinical data.
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24
Basilar-Membrane Responses to Broadband Noise Modeled Using Linear Filters With Rational Transfer Functions
Basilar-membrane responses to white Gaussian noise were recorded using laser velocimetry at basal sites of the chinchilla cochlea with characteristic frequencies near 10 kHz and first-order Wiener kernels were computed by cross correlation of the stimuli and the responses. The presence or absence of minimum-phase behavior was explored by fitting the kernels with discrete linear filters with rational transfer functions. Excellent fits to the kernels were obtained with filters with transfer functions including zeroes located outside the unit circle, implying nonminimum-phase behavior. These filters accurately predicted basilar-membrane responses to other noise stimuli presented at the same level as the stimulus for the kernel computation. Fits with all-pole and other minimumphase discrete filters were inferior to fits with nonminimum-phase filters. Minimum-phase functions predicted from the amplitude functions of theWiener kernels by Hilbert transforms were different from the measured phase curves. These results, which suggest that basilar-membrane responses do not have the minimumphase property, challenge the validity of models of cochlear processing, which incorporate minimum-phase behavior.
25
Bayesian Regularization Applied to Ultrasound Strain Imaging
Noise artifacts due to signal decorrelation and reverberation are a considerable problem in ultrasound strain imaging. For block-matching methods, information from neighboring matching blocks has been utilized to regularize the estimated displacements. We apply a recursive Bayesian regularization algorithm developed by Hayton et al. [Artif. Intell., vol. 114, pp. 125 156, 1999] to phase-sensitive ultrasound RF signals to improve displacement estimation. The parameter of regularization is reformulated, and its meaning examined in the context of strain imaging. Tissue-mimicking experimental phantoms and RF data incorporating finite-element models for the tissue deformation and frequency-domain ultrasound simulations are used to compute the optimal parameter with respect to nominal strain and algorithmic iterations. The optimal strain regularization parameter was found to be twice the nominal strain and did not vary significantly with algorithmic iterations. The technique demonstrates superior performance overmedian filtering in noise reduction at strains 5%and higher for all quantitative experiments performed. For example, the strain SNR was 11 dB higher than that obtained using amedian filter at 7% strain. It has to be noted that for applied deformations lower than 1%, since signal decorrelation errors are minimal, using this approach may degrade the displacement image.
26
Breaking the Fixed-Arrival-Time Restriction in Reaching Movements of Neural Prosthetic Devices
We routinely generate reaching arm movements to function independently. For paralyzed users of upper extremity neural prosthetic devices, flexible, high-performance reaching algorithms will be critical to restoring quality-of-life. Previously, algorithms called real-time reach state equations (RSE) were developed to integrate the users plan and execution-related neural activity to drive reaching movements to arbitrary targets. Preliminary validation under restricted conditions suggested that RSE might yield dramatic performance improvements. Unfortunately, real-world applications of RSE have been impeded because the RSE assumes a fixed, known arrival time. Recent animal-based prototypes attempted to break the fixed-arrival-time assumption by proposing a standard model (SM) that instead restricted the users movements to a fixed, known set of targets. Here, we leverage general purpose filter design (GPFD) to break both of these critical restrictions, freeing the paralyzed user to make reaching movements to arbitrary target sets with various arrival times and definitive stopping. In silico validation predicts that the new approach, GPFD-RSE, outperforms the SM while offering greater flexibility. We demonstrate the GPFD-RSE against SM in the simulated control of an overactuated 3-D virtual robotic arm with a real-time inverse kinematics engine.
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27
Changes in Body-Surface Electrocardiograms From Geometric Remodeling With Obesity
Both diabetes and obesity cause cardiac dysfunction. To separate consequences of geometric changes due to obesity from electrophysiological ones, we investigated how changes in cardiac and torso geometry affected body-surface ECGs. For this study, we modified the realistic heart and torso models of the simulation package ECGSIM. ECGs were calculated from action potentials on the heart surface using our bidomain forward-problem solution. These ECGs were studied using spectral- and principalcomponent analyses and isopotential and energy maps. We found relative errors over the bodysurface during the QT interval of 12%, 14%, and 68% for hypertrophy of the heart, extension of the abdomen, and heart displacement with obesity, respectively. The major change to the standard 12-lead set also occurred with heart displacement. The mean relative error over the QT interval in the precordial leads was 78% with heart displacement. These results demonstrate the limitations of using standard lead sets to characterize electrocardiographic changes in obese subjects and point to the need for more inclusive measures, such as body-surface mapping and inverse electrocardiography, to describe electrical remodeling in the presence of habitus changes due to obesity
28
Classification of Paroxysmal and Persistent Atrial Fibrillation in Ambulatory ECG Recordings
The problem of classifying short atrial fibrillatory segments in ambulatory ECG recordings as being either paroxysmal or persistent is addressed by investigating a robust approach to signal characterization. The method comprises preprocessing estimation of the dominant atrial frequency for the purpose of controlling the subbands of a filter bank, computation of the relative subband (harmonics) energy, and the subband sample entropy. Using minimum-error-rate classification of different feature vectors, a data set consisting of 24-h ambulatory recordings from 50 subjects with either paroxysmal (26) or persistent (24) atrial fibrillation (AF) was analyzed on a 10-s segment basis; a total of 212,196 segments were classified. The best performance in terms of area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was obtained for a feature vector defined by the subband sample entropy of the dominant atrial frequency and the relative harmonics energy, resulting in a value of 0.923, whereas that of the dominant atrial frequency was equal to 0.826. It is concluded that paroxysmal and persistent AFs can be discriminated from short segments with good accuracy at any time of an ambulatory recording.
29
Comparison of RootMUSIC and Discrete Wavelet Transform Analysis of Doppler Ultrasound Blood Flow Waveforms I Diabetes
The earliest signs of cardiovascular disease occur in microcirculations. Changes to mechanical and structural properties of these small resistive vessels alter the impedance to flow, subsequent reflected waves, and consequently, flow waveform morphology. In this paper, we compare two frequency analysis techniques: 1) rootMUSIC and 2) the discretewavelet transform (DWT) to extract features of flow velocity waveform morphology captured using Doppler ultrasound from the ophthalmic artery (OA) in 30 controls and 38 age and sex matched Type I diabetics. Conventional techniques for characterizing Doppler velocity waveforms, such as mean velocity, resistive index, and pulsatility index, revealed no significant differences between the groups. However, rootMUSIC and the DWT provided highly correlated results with the spectral content in bands 27 (300.8 Hz) significantly elevated in the diabetic group (p< 0.05). The spectral distinction between the groups may be attributable to manifestations of underlying pathophysiological processes in vascular impedance and consequent wave reflections, with bands 5 and 7 related to age. Spectral descriptors of OA blood velocity waveforms are better indicators of preclinical microvascular abnormalities in Type I diabetes than conventional measures. Although highly correlated DWT proved slightly more discriminatory than rootMUSIC and has the advantage of extending to subheart rate frequencies, which may be of interest.
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30
Continuous Intra-Arterial Blood pH Monitoring by a Fiber-Optic Fluorosensor
In the
Continuous intra-arterial blood pH monitoring is highly desirable in clinical practice. However, devices with
appreciable accuracy are still not commercially available to date. In this study, we present a fiber-optic fluorosensor that can be used to continuously and accurately measure blood pH changes. The pH sensor is developed based on a protonsensitive fluorescence dye, N-allyl-4-(4_-methyl-piperazinyl)-1,8-naphthalimide, which is bonded covalently to an optical fiber through heat polymerization. Fluorescence intensity was recorded after the sensor was exposed to different pH buffer solutions or intra-arterial blood in rabbits. Fluorescence intensity with emission peak at 510 nm decreased immediately as the blood pH increased. Linear and reproducible responses were observed when pH ranges from 6.8 to 8.0 with resolution of 0.03 pH units. The correlation coefficient between the pH sensor and the conventional blood gas analyzer was 0.93 in vivo (n = 75, p < 0.001) with a bias and precision of 0.02 0.08 pH units. The pH sensor was stable during measurement for at least 72 h. The pH sensor is not sensitive to fluctuations of various ions concentrations and plasma osmosis at pathophysiological limits, suggesting that it is useful for the continuous measurement of blood pH at various clinical settings.
31
Continuous Intra-Arterial Blood pH Monitoring by a Fiber-Optic Fluorosensor
Continuous intra-arterial blood pH monitoring is highly desirable in clinical practice. However, devices with appreciable accuracy are still not commercially available to date. In this study, we present a fiber-optic fluorosensor that can be used to continuously and accurately measure blood pH changes. The pH sensor is developed based on a proton-sensitive fluorescence dye, N-allyl-4-(4_-methyl-piperazinyl)-1,8-naphthalimide, which is bonded covalently to an optical fiber through heat polymerization. Fluorescence intensity was recorded after the sensor was exposed to different pH buffer solutions or intra-arterial blood in rabbits. Fluorescence intensity with emission peak at 510 nm decreased immediately as the blood pH increased. Linear and reproducible responses were observed when pH ranges from 6.8 to 8.0 with resolution of 0.03 pH units. The correlation coefficient between the pH sensor and the conventional blood gas analyzer was 0.93 in vivo (n = 75, p < 0.001) with a bias and precision of 0.02 0.08 pH units. The pH sensor was stable during measurement for at least 72 h. The pH sensor is not sensitive to fluctuations of various ions concentrations and plasma osmosis at pathophysiological limits, suggesting that it is useful for the continuous measurement of blood pH at various clinical settings.
32
Control of Action Potential Duration Alternans in Canine Cardiac Ventricular Tissue
Cardiac electrical alternans, characterized by a beatto- beat alternation in action potential waveform, is a naturally occurring phenomenon, which can occur at sufficiently fast pacing rates. Its presence has been putatively linked to the onset of cardiac reentry, which is a precursor to ventricular fibrillation. Previous studies have shown that closed-loop alternans control techniques that apply a succession of externally administered cycle perturbations at a single site provide limited spatially-extended alternans elimination in sufficiently large cardiac substrates. However, detailed experimental investigations into the spatial dynamics of alternans control have been restricted to Purkinje fiber studies. A complete understanding of alternans control in the more clinically relevant ventricular tissue is needed. In this paper, we study the spatial dynamics of alternans and alternans control in arterially perfused canine right ventricular preparations using an optical mapping system capable of high-resolution fluorescence imaging. Specifically, we quantify the spatial efficacy of alternans control along 2.5 cm of tissue, focusing on differences in spatial control between different subregions of tissue. We demonstrate effective control of spatially-extended alternans up to 2.0 cm, with control efficacy attenuating as a function of distance. Our results provide a basis for future investigations into electrode-based control interventions of alternans in cardiac tissue.
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33
Depth of Anesthesia During Multidrug Infusion: Separating the Effects of Propofol and Remifentanil Using the Spectral Features of EEG
General anesthesia is usually induced with a combination of drugs. In addition to the hypnotic agent, such as propofol, opioids are often used due to their synergistic hypnotic and analgesic properties. However, the effects of opioids on the EEG changes and the clinical state of the patient during anesthesia are complex and hinder the interpretation of the EEG-based depth of anesthesia indexes. In this paper, a novel technology for separating the anesthetic effects of propofol and an ultrashort-acting opioid, remifentanil, using the spectral features of EEG is proposed. By applying a floating search method, a well-performing feature set is achieved to estimate the effects of propofol during induction of anesthesia and to classify whether or not remifentanil has been coadministered. It is shown that including the detection of the presence of opioids to the estimated effect of propofol significantly improves the determination of the clinical state of the patient, i.e., if the patient will respond to a painful stimulation.
34
Detection of Viruses Via Statistical Gene Expression Analysis
We develop a new Bayesian construction of the elastic net (ENet), with variational Bayesian analysis. This modeling framework is motivated by analysis of gene expression data for viruses, with a focus on H3N2 and H1N1 influenza, as well as Rhino virus and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). Our objective is to understand the biological pathways responsible for the host response to such viruses, with the ultimate objective of developing a clinical test to distinguish subjects infected by such viruses from subjects with other symptom causes (e.g., bacteria). In addition to analyzing these new datasets, we provide a detailed analysis of the Bayesian ENet and compare it to related models. .
35
Development of a Flexible System for Measuring Muscle Area Using Ultrasonography
Muscular strength can be estimated by quantification of muscle area. For this purpose, we developed a flexible measuring system for muscle area using ultrasonography. This method is completely safe and is particularly suitable for elderly people because the subjects are not required to perform any muscular contraction during measurement. The ultrasound probe is installed on a mechanical arm, and continuously scans fragmental images along the body surface.Awide-area crosssectional image is then constructed using the measured images. The link mechanism is very flexible, enabling the operator to measure images for any body posture and body site. Use of the spatial compounding method reduces speckle and artifact noise in the resultant cross-sectional images. The operator can observe individual muscles (extensor, flexor muscle, etc.) in detail. We conducted experiments to evaluate the performance of the system. In the experiments, the position of the ultrasound probe was calculated with high accuracy according to the link posture. In addition, a high degree of correlation was verified between MR images and those of the developed system. We observed a reduction in noise due to use of the spatial compounding method, and propose a new calibration method for correcting the measured muscle area, which were slightly deformed by the contact pressure of the ultrasound probe. Finally, we examined the relation between muscular area and muscular strength in young and middle-aged subjects. The results of these experiments confirm that the developed system can estimate muscular strength based on muscular area.
36
Directed Differential Connectivity Graph of Interictal Epileptiform Discharges
In this paper, we study temporal couplings between interictal events of spatially remote regions in order to localize the leading epileptic regions from intracerebral EEG (iEEG). We aim to assess whether quantitative epileptic graph analysis during interictal period may be helpful to predict the seizure onset zone of ictal iEEG. Using wavelet transform, cross-
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correlation coefficient, and multiple hypothesis test, we propose a differential connectivity graph (DCG) to represent the connections that change significantly between epileptic and nonepileptic states as defined by the interictal events. Postprocessings based on mutual information and multiobjective optimization are proposed to localize the leading epileptic regions through DCG. The suggested approach is applied on iEEG recordings of five patients suffering from focal epilepsy. Quantitative comparisons of the proposed epileptic regions within ictal onset zones detected by visual inspection and using electrically stimulated seizures, reveal good performance of the present method.
37
Driver Drowsiness Classification Using Fuzzy Wavelet-Packet-Based Feature-Extraction Algorithm
Driver drowsiness and loss of vigilance are a major cause of road accidents. Monitoring physiological signals while driving provides the possibility of detecting and warning of drowsiness and fatigue. The aim of this paper is to maximize the amount of drowsiness-related information extracted from a set of electroencephalogram (EEG), electrooculogram (EOG), and electrocardiogram (ECG) signals during a simulation driving test. Specifically, we develop an efficient fuzzy mutualinformation (MI)- based wavelet packet transform (FMIWPT) feature-extraction method for classifying the driver drowsiness state into one of predefined drowsiness levels. The proposed method estimates the requiredMI using a novel approach based on fuzzy memberships providing an accurate-information content-estimation measure. The quality of the extracted features was assessed on datasets collected from 31 drivers on a simulation test. The experimental results proved the significance of FMIWPT in extracting features that highly correlate with the different drowsiness levels achieving a classification accuracy of 95%97% on an average across all subjects.
38
Duodenum Identification Mechanism for Capsule Endoscopy
The aim of this study is to implement a duodenum identificationmechanism for capsule endoscopes because commercially available capsule endoscopes sometimes present a false negative diagnosis of the duodenum. One reason for the false negative diagnosis is that the duodenum is the fastest moving part within the gastrointestinal tract and the current frame rate of the capsule is not fast enough. When the capsule can automatically identify that it is in the duodenum, the frame rate of the capsule can be temporarily increased to reduce the possibility of a false negative diagnosis. This study proposes a mechanism to identify the duodenum using capacitive proximity sensors that can distinguish the surrounding tissue and transmit data using RF communication. The implemented capsule (D11 mm L22 mm) was smaller than the commercially available capsule endoscopes, and power consumption was as low as 0.642 mW. Preexperiments were conducted to select an appropriate electrode width in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and in vitro experiments were conducted to verify whether the implemented capsule could identify the duodenum within 3 s. The experiment showed that the identification rate of duodenum was 93% when the velocity of the capsule was less than 1 cm/s.
39
Dynamic Brain Phantom for Intracranial Volume Measurements
Knowledge of intracranial ventricular volume is important for the treatment of hydrocephalus, a disease in which cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) accumulates in the brain. Current monitoring options involve MRI or pressure monitors (InSite, Medtronic). However, there are no existing methods for continuous cerebral ventricle volume measurements. In order to test a novel impedance sensor for direct ventricular volume measurements, we present a model that emulates the expansion of the lateral ventricles seen in hydrocephalus. To quantify the ventricular volume, sensor prototypes were fabricated and tested with this experimental model. Fluidwas injected andwithdrawn cyclically in a controlledmanner and volume measurements were tracked over 8 h. Pressure measurements were also comparable to conditions seen clinically. The results from the bench-top model served to calibrate the sensor for preliminary animal experiments. A hydrocephalic rat model was used to validate a scaled-down, microfabricated prototype sensor. CSF was removed from the enlarged ventricles and a dynamic volume decrease was properly recorded. This method of testing new designs on brain phantoms prior to animal experimentation accelerates medical device design by determining sensor specifications and optimization in a
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rational process.
40
Evaluation of Scaffolds based on -Tricalcium Phosphate Cements for Tissue Engineering Applications
Growth of cells in 3-D porous scaffolds has gained importance in the field of tissue engineering. The scaffolds guide cellular growth, synthesize extracellular matrix and other biological molecules, and make the formation of tissues and functional organs easier. The aim of this study is to use -tricalcium phosphate cement in order to obtain new types of scaffolds with the aid of paraffin spheres as pore generators. The porosity of the scaffolds produced with paraffin spheres was analyzed and compared to the literature, and the study of scaffold permeability using the Forchheimer equation allowed the analysis of pore interconnectivity. In vitro tests showed the behavior of scaffolds in solutions of simulated body fluid, and viability and cell proliferation were also evaluated. The results show the potential use of the materials developed for scaffolds for use in tissue engineering applications.
41
Fast Technique for Noninvasive Fetal ECG Extraction
This letter describes a fast and very simple algorithm for estimating the fetal electrocardiogram (FECG). It is based on independent component analysis, but we substitute its computationally demanding calculations for a much simpler procedure. The resulting method consists of two steps: 1) a dimensionality reduction step and 2) a computationally light postprocessing stage used to enhance the FECG signal.
42
FEM-Based 3-D Tumor Growth Prediction for Kidney Tumor
It is important to predict the tumor growth so that appropriate treatment can be planned in the early stage. In this letter, we propose a finite-element method (FEM)-based 3-D tumor growth prediction system using longitudinal kidney tumor images. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first kidney tumor growth prediction system. The kidney tissues are classified into three types: renal cortex, renal medulla, and renal pelvis. The reactiondiffusion model is applied as the tumor growth model. Different diffusion properties are considered in the model: the diffusion for renal medulla is considered as anisotropic, while those of renal cortex and renal pelvis are considered as isotropic. The FEM is employed to solve the diffusion model. Themodel parameters are estimated by the optimization of an objective function of overlap accuracy using a hybrid optimization parallel search package. The proposed method was tested on two longitudinal studies with seven time points on five tumors. The average true positive volume fraction and false positive volume fraction on all tumors is 91.4% and 4.0%, respectively. The experimental results showed the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed method.
43
Finite-Element-Based Discretization and Regularization Strategies for 3-D Inverse Electrocardiography
We consider the inverse electrocardiographic problem of computing epicardial potentials from a body-surface potential map. We study how to improve numerical approximation of the inverse problem when the finite-element method is used. Being illposed, the inverse problem requires different discretization strategies from its corresponding forward problem. We propose refinement guidelines that specifically address the ill-posedness of the problem. The resulting guidelines necessitate the use of hybrid finite elements composed of tetrahedra and prism elements. Also, in order to maintain consistent numerical quality when the inverse problem is discretized into different scales, we propose a new family of regularizers using the variational principle underlying finiteelement methods. These variational-formed regularizers serve as an alternative to the traditional Tikhonov regularizers, but preserves the L2 norm and thereby achieves consistent regularization in multiscale simulations. The variational formulation also enables a simple construction of the discrete gradient operator over irregularmeshes, which is difficult to define in traditional discretization schemes.We validated our hybrid element technique and the variational
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regularizers by simulations on a realistic 3-D torso/heart model with empirical heart data. Results show that discretization based on our proposed strategies mitigates the ill-conditioning and improves the inverse solution, and that the variational formulation may benefit a broader range of potential-based bioelectric problems.
44
HilbertHuang-Based Tremor Removal to Assess Postural Properties From Accelerometers
Tremor is one of the symptoms of several disorders of the central and peripheral nervous system, such as Parkinsons disease (PD). The impairment of postural control is another symptom of PD. The conventional method of posture analysis uses force plates, but accelerometers can be a valid and reliable alternative. Both these measurement techniques are sensitive to tremor.Tremor affects postural measures and may thus lead to misleading results or interpretations. Linear lowpass filters (LPFs) are commonly employed for tremor removal. In this study, an alternative method, based on HilbertHuang transformation (HHT), is proposed. We examined 20 PD subjects, with and without tremor, and 20 control subjects. We compared the effectiveness of LPF and HHT-based filtering on a set of postural parameters extracted from acceleration signals. HHT has the advantage of providing a filter, which with no a priori knowledge, efficiently manages the nonlinear, nonstationary interference due to tremor, and beyond tremor, gives descriptive measures of postural function. Some of the differences found using LPF can instead be ascribed to inefficient noise/tremor suppression. Filter order and cutoff frequency are indeed critical when subjects exhibit a tremorous behavior, in which case LPF parameters should be chosen very carefully.
45
Identification and Control for Automated Regulation of Hemodynamic Variables During Hemodialysis
This paper proposes a novel model-based control methodology for a computer-controlled hemodialysis system, designed to maintain the hemodynamic stability of end-stage renal failure patients undergoing fluid removal during hemodialysis. The first objective of this paper is to introduce a linear parameter varying system to model the hemodynamic response of patients during hemodialysis. Ultrafiltration rate (UFR) and dialysate sodium concentration (DSC) are imposed as the inputs, and the model computes the relative blood volume (RBV), percentage change in heart rate (HR), and systolic blood pressure (SBP) during the course of hemodialysis. The model parameters were estimated based on data collected from 12 patients undergoing 4 profiled hemodialysis sessions. The modeling results demonstrated that the proposed model could be useful for estimating the individual patients hemodynamic behavior during hemodialysis. Based on the model, the second objective is to implement a computer-controlled hemodialysis system for the regulation of RBV and HR during hemodialysis while maintaining SBP within stable range. The proposed controller is based on a model predictive control approach utilizing pre-defined constraints on the control inputs (UFR and DSC) as well as the output (SBP). The designed control system was experimentally verified on four patients. The results demonstrated that the proposed computer-controlled hemodialysis system regulated the RBV and HR of the patients according to individual reference profiles with an average mean square error of 0.24% and 2.6%, respectively, and thus can be potentially useful for ensuring the stability of patients undergoing hemodialysis by avoiding sudden changes in hemodynamic variables.
46
Improved PressureFrequency Sensing Subxiphoid Pericardial Access System: Performance Characteristics During In Vivo Testing
We have designed, synthesized, and tested an improved version of our original subxiphoid access system intended to facilitate epicardial electrophysiology. The new version of the system incorporates a precision fiber-optic pressure sensor and a novel signal analysis algorithm for identifying pressurefrequency signatures which, in the clinical setting, may allow for safer access to the pericardial space. Following in vivo studies on ten adult canine models, we analyzed 215 pressure frequency measurements made at the distal tip of the access needle, of which 98 were from nonpericardial, 112 were from pericardial, and five were from ventricular locations. The needle locations as identified by the algorithm were significantly different from each other (p < 0.01), and the algorithm had improved performance when compared to a standard fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis of the same data. Moreover, the structure of the algorithm can potentially overcome the time lags
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intrinsic to FFT analysis such that the needles location can be determined in nearreal time. Hydrodynamic pressure frequencymeasurementsmade during traversal of the pericardial membrane revealed a distinct change in signal structure between the pericardial and nonpericardial anatomy. We present and discuss the design principles, details of construction, and performance characteristics of this system.
47
Incremental Fuzzy Mining of Gene Expression Data for Gene Function Prediction
Due to the complexity of the underlying biological processes, gene expression data obtained from DNA microarray technologies are typically noisy and have very high dimensionality and these make the mining of such data for gene function prediction very difficult. To tackle these difficulties, we propose to use an incremental fuzzy mining technique called incremental fuzzy mining (IFM). By transforming quantitative expression values into linguistic terms, such as highly or lowly expressed, IFM can effectively capture heterogeneity in expression data for pattern discovery. It does so using a fuzzy measure to determine if interesting association patterns exist between the linguistic gene expression levels. Based on these patterns, IFM can make accurate gene function predictions and these predictions can be made in such a way that each gene can be allowed to belong to more than one functional class with different degrees of membership. Gene function prediction problem can be formulated both as classification and clustering problems, and IFM can be used either as a classification technique or together with existing clustering algorithms to improve the cluster groupings discovered for greater prediction accuracies. IFM is characterized also by its being an incremental data mining technique so that the discovered patterns can be continually refined based only on newly collected data without the need for retraining using the whole dataset. For performance evaluation, IFM has been tested with real expression datasets for both classification and clustering tasks. Experimental results show that it can effectively uncover hidden patterns for accurate gene function predictions.
48
Intervention in Biological Phenomena Modeled by S-Systems
Recent years have witnessed extensive research activity in modeling biological phenomena as well as in developing intervention strategies for such phenomena. S-systems, which offer a good compromise between accuracy and mathematical flexibility, are a promising framework for modeling the dynamical behavior of biological phenomena. In this paper, two different intervention strategies, namely direct and indirect, are proposed for the S-system model. In the indirect approach, the prespecified desired values for the target variables are used to compute the reference values for the control inputs, and two control algorithms, namely simple sampled-data control and model predictive control (MPC), are developed for transferring the control variables from their initial values to the computed reference ones. In the direct approach, a MPC algorithm is developed that directly guides the target variables to their desired values. The proposed intervention strategies are applied to the glycolyticglycogenolytic pathway and the simulation results presented demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.
49
Model-Based Human Circadian Phase Estimation Using a Particle Filter
We present a method for tracking an individuals circadian phase that integrates dynamic models of circadian physiology with physiological measurements in a Bayesian statistical framework. A model of the circadian pacemakers response to light exposure is transformed into a nonlinear state-space model with a circadian phase state. The probability distribution of the circadian phase is estimated by a particle filter that predicts changes over time based on themodel, and performs updates with information gained fromphysiologicalmeasurements. Simulations demonstrate how probability distributions allow flexible initialization of model states and enable statistical quantification of entrainment and divergence properties of the circadian pacemaker. The combined use of sleepwake scheduling data and physiological measurements is demonstrated in a case study highlighting advantages for addressing the challenge of noninvasive ambulatory monitoring of circadian physiology.
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50
Modeling and Percept of Transcorneal Electrical Stimulation in Humans
Retinal activation via transcorneal electrical stimulation (TcES) in normal humans was investigated by comparing subject perception, model predictions, and brain activation patterns. The preferential location of retinal stimulation was predicted from3-D admittancemodeling. Visual cortex activation was measured using positron emission tomography (PET) and 18 Ffluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Two different corneal electrodes were investigated: DTL-Plus and ERG-Jet. Modeling results predicted preferential stimulation of the peripheral, inferior, nasal retina during right eye TcES using DTL-Plus, but more extensive activation of peripheral, nasal hemiretina using ERG-Jet. The results from human FDG PET study using both corneal electrodes showed areas of visual cortex activation that consistently corresponded with the reported phosphene percept and modeling predictions. ERG-Jet was able to generate brighter phosphene percept than DTL-Plus and elicited retinotopically mapped primary visual cortex activation. This study demonstrates that admittance modeling and PET imaging consistently predict the perceived location of electrically elicited phosphenes produced during TcES.
51
Modeling Conserved Structure Patterns for Functional Noncoding RNA
This RNA regulation has been increasingly recognized as a potential and perhaps overlooked genetics of higher organisms. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNA) may play various catalytic and regulatory roles in the genetic operating system. Recent studies using comparative genomics andmolecular genetics show evidence of the presence of varied ncRNAs. Unlike protein coding genes, there is a lack of comparable information or outstanding signal for ncRNAs. Traditional computational linguistics show limitations in modeling complicated secondary structures and prevent us from identifying structurefunction relationships of ncRNAs. This paper presents a novel approach, based on a set of distance constraints, to model the predicted RNA secondary structures. Further, a filtering schema is presented to identify matched models for the queried secondary structures.
52
Modeling Study of the Light Stimulation of a Neuron Cell With Channelrhodopsin-2 Mutants
Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) has become a widely used tool for stimulating neurons with light. Nevertheless, the underlying dynamics of the ChR2-evoked spikes are still not yet fully understood. Here, we develop a model that describes the response of ChR2-expressing neurons to light stimuli and use the model to explore the light-to-spike process. We show that an optimal stimulation yield is achieved when the optical energies are delivered in short pulses. The model allows us to theoretically examine the effects of using various types of ChR2 mutants. We show that while increasing the lifetime and shuttering speed of ChR2 have limited effect, reducing the threshold irradiance by increased conductance will eliminate adaptation and allow constant dynamic range. The model and the conclusion presented in this study can help to interpret experimental results, design illumination protocols, and seek improvement strategies in the nascent ontogenetic field..
53
Modified Kinematic Technique for Measuring Pathological Hyperextension and Hypermobility of the Interphalangeal Joints
Dynamic finger joint motion is difficult to measure using optical motion analysis techniques due to the limited surface area allowed for adequate marker placement. This paper describes an extension of a previously validated kinematic measurement technique using a reduced surface marker set and outlines the required calculations based on a specific surface marker placement to calculate flexion/extension and hyperextension of the metacarpophalangeal, proximal interphalangeal, and distal interphalangeal joints. The modified technique has been assessed for accuracy using a series of static reference frames (absolute residual error = 3.7, cross correlation between new method and reference
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frames; r = 0.99). The method was then applied to a small group of participantswith rheumatoid arthritis (seven females, one male; mean age = 62.8 years 12.04) and illustrated congruent strategies of movement for a participant and a large range of finger joint movement over the sample (5.871.1, smallest to largest active range of motion). This method used alongside the previous paper [1] provides a comprehensive, validated method for calculating 3-D wrist, hand, fingers, and thumb kinematics to date and provides a valuable measurement tool for clinical research.
54
MRI-Compatible Intensity-Modulated Force Sensor for Cardiac Catheterization Procedures
This paper presents a novel, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-compatible, force sensor suitable for cardiac catheterization procedures. The miniature, fiber-optic sensor is integrated with the tip of a catheter to allow the detection of interaction forces with the cardiac walls. The optical fiber light intensity is modulated when a force acting at the catheter tip deforms an elastic element, which, in turn, varies the distance between a reflector and the optical fiber. The tip sensor has an external diameter of 9 Fr (3mm) and can be used during cardiac catheterization procedures. The sensor is able to measure forces in the range of 00.85 N, with relatively small hysteresis. A nonlinear method for calibration is used and real-time MRI in vivo experiments are carried out, to prove the feasibility of this low-cost sensor, enabling the detection of catheter-tip contact forces under dynamic conditions.
55
Multiclass Filters by a Weighted Pairwise Criterion for EEG Single-Trial Classification
The filtering technique for dimensionality reduction of multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings,modeled using common spatial patterns and its variants, is commonly used in two-class braincomputer interfaces (BCI). For a multiclass problem, the optimization of certain separability criteria in the output space is not directly related to the classification error of EEG single-trial segments. In this paper, we derive a new discriminant criterion, termed weighted pairwise criterion (WPC), for optimizing multiclass filters by minimizing the upper bound of the Bayesian error that is intentionally formulated for classifying EEG single-trial segments. The WPC approach pays more attention to close class pairs that are more likely to be misclassified than far away class pairs that are already well separated. Moreover, we extend WPC by integrating temporal information of EEG series. Computationally, we employ the rank-one update and power iteration technique to optimize the proposed discriminant criterion. The experiments of multiclass classification on the datasets of BCI competitions demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.
56
Multiple-Object 2-D3-D Registration for Noninvasive Pose Identification of Fracture Fragments
This paper presents a multiple-object 2-D3-D registration technique for noninvasively identifying the poses of fracture fragments in the space of a preoperative treatment plan. The plan is made by manipulating and aligning computer models of individual fracture fragments that are segmented from a diagnostic computed tomography. The registration technique iteratively updates the treatment plan and matches its digitally reconstructed radiographs to a small number of intraoperative fluoroscopic images. The proposed approach combines an image similarity metric that integrates edge information with mutual information, and a globallocal optimization scheme, to deal with challenges associated with the registration of multiple small fragments and limited imaging orientations in the operating room. The method is easy to use as minimum user interaction is required. Experiments on simulated fractures and two distal radius fracture phantoms demonstrate clinically acceptable target registration errors with capture range as large as 10 mm.
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57
Neural Control of Posture During Small Magnitude Perturbations: Effects of Aging and Localized Muscle Fatigue
This study investigated the effects of aging and localized muscle fatigue on the neural control of upright stance during small postural perturbations. Sixteen young (aged 1824 years) and 16 older (aged 5574 years) participants were exposed to small magnitude, anteriorly-directed postural perturbations before and after fatiguing exercises (lumbar extensors and ankle plantar flexors). A single degree of freedom model of the human body was used to simulate recovery kinematics following the perturbations. Central to the model was a simulated neural controller that multiplied time-delayed kinematics by invariant feedback gains. Feedback gains and time delay were optimized for each participant based on measured kinematics, and a novel delay margin analysis was performed to assess system robustness. A 10.9% longer effective time delay (p = 0.010) was found among the older group, who also showed a greater reliance upon velocity feedback information (31.1% higher differential gain, p = 0.001) to control upright stance. Based on delay margins, older participants adopted a more robust control scheme to accommodate the small perturbations, potentially compensating for longer time delays or degraded sensory feedback. No fatigue-induced changes in neural controller gains, time delay, or delay margin were found in either age group, indicating that integration of this feedback information was not altered by muscle fatigue. The sensitivity of this approach to changes with fatigue may have been limited by model simplifications.
58
Novel Dry Polymer Foam Electrodes for Long-Term EEG Measurement
A novel dry foam-based electrode for long-term EEG measurement was proposed in this study. In general, the conventional wet electrodes are most frequently used for EEG measurement. However, they require skin preparation and conduction gels to reduce the skinelectrode contact impedance. The aforementioned procedures when wet electrodes were used usually make trouble to users easily. In order to overcome the aforesaid issues, a novel dry foam electrode, fabricated by electrically conductive polymer foam covered by a conductive fabric, was proposed. By using conductive fabric, which provides partly polarizable electric characteristic, our dry foam electrode exhibits both polarization and conductivity, and can be used to measure biopotentials without skin preparation and conduction gel. In addition, the foam substrate of our dry electrode allows a high geometric conformity between the electrode and irregular scalp surface to maintain low skinelectrode interface impedance, even under motion. The experimental results presented that the dry foam electrode performs better for long-termEEGmeasurement, and is practicable for daily life applications.
59
On Decomposing Stimulus and Response Waveforms in Event-Related Potentials Recordings
Event-related potentials (ERPs) reflect the brain activities related to specific behavioral events, and are obtained by averaging across many trial repetitions with individual trials aligned to the onset of a specific event, e.g., the onset of stimulus (s-aligned) or the onset of the behavioral response (r-aligned). However, the s-aligned and r-aligned ERP waveforms do not purely reflect, respectively, underlying stimulus (S-) or response (R-) component waveform, due to their cross-contaminations in the recorded ERP waveforms. Zhang [J. Neurosci. Methods, 80, pp. 4963, 1998] proposed an algorithm to recover the pure S-component waveform and the pure R-component waveform from the s-aligned and raligned ERP average waveformshowever, due to the nature of this inverse problem, a direct solution is sensitive to noise that disproportionally affects low-frequency components, hindering the practical implementation of this algorithm. Here, we apply the Wiener deconvolution technique to deal with noise in input data, and investigate a Tikhonov regularization approach to obtain a stable solution that is robust against variances in the sampling of reaction-time distribution (when number of trials is low). Our method is demonstrated using data from a Go/NoGo experiment about
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image classification and recognition.was not altered by muscle fatigue. The sensitivity of this approach to changes with fatigue may have been limited by model simplifications.
60
Open- and Closed-Loop Multiobjective Optimal Strategies for HIV Therapy Using NSGA-II
In this paper, multiobjective open- and closed-loop optimal treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS are presented. It is assumed that highly active antiretroviral therapy is available for treatment of HIV infection. Amount of drug usage and the quality of treatment are defined as two objectives of a biobjective optimization problem, and Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II is used to solve this problem. Open- and closed-loop control strategies are used to produce optimal control inputs, and the Pareto frontiers obtained from these two strategies are compared. Pareto frontier, resulted from the optimization process, suggests a set of treatment strategies, which all are optimal from a perspective, and can be used in different medical and economic conditions. Robustness of closed-loop system in the presence of measurement noises is analyzed, assuming various levels of noise
61
Optimizing the Channel Selection and Classification Accuracy in EEG-Based BCI
Multichannel EEG is generally used in brain computer interfaces (BCIs), whereby performing EEG channel selection 1) improves BCI performance by removing irrelevant or noisy channels and 2) enhances user convenience from the use of lesser channels. This paper proposes a novel sparse common spatial pattern (SCSP) algorithm for EEG channel selection. The proposed SCSP algorithm is formulated as an optimization problem to select the least number of channels within a constraint of classification accuracy. As such, the proposed approach can be customized to yield the best classification accuracy by removing the noisy and irrelevant channels, or retain the least number of channels without compromising the classification accuracy obtained by using all the channels. The proposed SCSP algorithm is evaluated using two motor imagery datasets, one with a moderate number of channels and another with a large number of channels. In both datasets, the proposed SCSP channel selection significantly reduced the number of channels, and outperformed existing channel selection methods based on Fisher criterion, mutual information, support vector machine, common spatial pattern, and regularized common spatial pattern in classification accuracy. The proposed SCSP algorithm also yielded an average improvement of 10% in classification accuracy compared to the use of three channels (C3, C4, and Cz).
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Prediction of Biomechanical Properties of Trabecular Bone in MR Images With Geometric Features and Support Vector Regression
Whole knee joint MR image datasets were used to compare the performance of geometric trabecular bone features and advanced machine learning techniques in predicting biomechanical strength propertiesmeasured on the corresponding ex vivo specimens. Changes of trabecular bone structure throughout the proximal tibia are indicative of several musculoskeletal disorders involving changes in the bone quality and the surrounding soft tissue. Recent studies have shown that MR imaging also allows non-invasive 3-D characterization of bone microstructure. Sophisticated features like the scaling index method (SIM) can estimate local structural and geometric properties of the trabecular bone and may improve the ability of MR imaging to determine local bone quality in vivo. A set of 67 bone cubes was extracted from knee specimens and their biomechanical strength estimated by the yield stress (YS) [inMPa] was determined throughmechanical testing. The regional apparent bone volume fraction (BVF) and SIM derived features were calculated for each bone cube. A linear multiregression analysis (MultiReg) and a optimized support vector regression (SVR) algorithm were used to predict the YS from the image features. The prediction accuracy was measured by the root mean square error (RMSE) for each image feature on independent test sets. The best prediction result with the lowest prediction error of RMSE = 1.021 MPa was obtained with a combination of BVF and SIM features and by using SVR. The prediction accuracy with only SIM features and SVR (RMSE= 1.023 MPa) was still significantly better than BVF alone
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and MultiReg (RMSE=1.073MPa). The current study demonstrates that the combination of sophisticated bone structure features and supervised learning techniques can improve MR-based determination of trabecular bone quality.
63
Quantification of Restitution Dispersion From the Dynamic Changes of the T-Wave Peak to End, Measured at the Surface ECG
Action potential duration restitution (APDR) curves present spatial variations due to the electrophysiological heterogeneities present in the heart. Enhanced spatial APDR dispersion in ventricle has been suggested as an arrhythmic risk marker. In this study, we propose a method to noninvasively quantify dispersion of APDR slopes at tissue level by making only use of the surface electrocardiogram (ECG). The proposed estimate accounts for rate normalized differences in the steady-state T -wave peak to T -wave end interval (Tpe). A methodology is developed for its computation, which includes compensation for the Tpe memory lag after heart-rate (HR) changes. The capability of the proposed estimate to reflect APDR dispersion is assessed using a combination of ECG signal processing, and computational modeling and simulation. Specifically, ECG recordings of control subjects undergoing a tilt test trial are used to measure that estimate, while its capability to provide a quantification of APDR dispersion at tissue level is assessed by using a 2-D ventricular tissue simulation. From this simulation, APDR dispersion, denoted as SIM, is calculated, and pseudo-ECGs are derived. Estimates of APDR dispersion measured from the pseudo-ECGs show to correlate withSIM, being the mean relative error below 5%. A comparison of the ECGestimates obtained fromtilt test recordings and the SIM values measured in silico simulations at tissue level show that differences between them are below 20%, which is within physiological variability limits. Our results provide evidence that the proposed estimate is a noninvasive measurement of APDR dispersion in ventricle. Additional results fromthis study confirm that Tpe adapts to HR changes much faster than the QT interval.
65
Quasi-Monte Carlo Estimation Approach for Denoising MRI Data Based on Regional Statistics
An important post processing step for MR data is noise reduction. Noise in MR data is difficult to suppress due to its signal-dependence. To address this issue, a novel stochastic approach to noise reduction for MR data is presented. The estimation of the noise-free signal is formulated as a general Bayesian least-squares estimation problem and solved using a quasi-Monte Carlo method that takes into account the statistical characteristics of the underlying noise and the regional statistics of the observed signal in a data-adaptive manner. A set of experiments were performed to compare the proposed quasi-Monte Carlo estimation (QMCE) method to state-of-the-art wavelet-based MR noise reduction (WAVE) and nonlocal means MR noise reduction (NLM) methods using MR data volumes with synthetic noise, as well as real noise-contaminated MR data. Experimental results show that QMCE is capable of achieving state-of-the-art performance when compared to WAVE and NLM methods quantitatively in SNR, mean structural similarity (MSSIM), and contrast measures. Visual comparisons show that QMCE provides effective noise suppression, while better preserving tissue structural boundaries and restoring contrast..
66
Rayleigh Mixture Model for Plaque Characterization in Intravascular Ultrasound
Vulnerable plaques are the major cause of carotid and coronary vascular problems, such as heart attack or stroke. A correct modeling of plaque echomorphology and composition can help the identification of such lesions. The Rayleigh distribution is widely used to describe (nearly) homogeneous areas in ultrasound images. Since plaques may contain tissues with heterogeneous regions, more complex distributions depending on multiple parameters are usually needed, such as Rice, K or Nakagami distributions. In such cases, the problem formulation becomesmore complex, and the optimization procedure to estimate the plaque echomorphology is more difficult. Here, we propose to model the tissue echomorphology by means of a mixture of Rayleigh distributions, known as the Rayleigh mixture model (RMM). The problem formulation is still simple, but its ability to describe complex textural patterns is very powerful. In this paper, we present a method for the automatic estimation of the RMM mixture parameters by means of the expectation
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maximization algorithm, which aims at characterizing tissue echomorphology in ultrasound (US). The performance of the proposed model is evaluated with a database of in vitro intravascular US cases. We show that the mixture coefficients and Rayleigh parameters explicitly derived from the mixture model are able to accurately describe different plaque types and to significantly improve the characterization performance of an already existing methodology.
67
Real-Time Multispectral Imager for Home-Based Health Care
Multispectral imaging (MSI) is becoming a powerful tool for tissue abnormality detection. Conventional MSI systems, however, are not readily suitable for challenges of routine clinical uses due to the fact that they are expensive, bulky, and time consuming to acquire the data. In this letter we report a novel approach to instrument MSI technology into a handheld, low-cost, standing alone, real-time operational device that is suitable for home-based health care. It covers techniques used to produce multiple images at discrete signature wavelengths of tissues with a single shot.
68
Recognizing Architectural Distortion in Mammogram: A Multiscale Texture Modeling Approach with GMM
We propose a generative model for constructing an efficient set of distinctive textures for recognizing architectural distortion in digital mammograms. In the first layer of the proposed two-layer architecture, the mammogram is analyzed by a multiscale oriented filter bank to form texture descriptor of vectorized filter responses. Our model presumes that every mammogram can be characterized by a bag of primitive texture patterns and the set of textural primitives (or textons) is represented by a mixture of Gaussians which builds up the second layer of the proposed model. The observed textural descriptor in the first layer is assumed to be a stochastic realization of one (hardmapping) ormore (soft mapping) textural primitive(s) from the second layer. The results obtained on two publicly available datasets, namely Mammographic Image Analysis Society (MIAS) and Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM), demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.
69
Reduced Conductivity Dependence Method for Increase of Dipole Localization Accuracy in the EEG Inverse Problem
The EEG is a neurological diagnostic tool with high temporal resolution. However, when solving the EEG inverse problem, its localization accuracy is limited because of noise in measurements and available uncertainties of the conductivity value in the forward model evaluations. This paper proposes the reduced conductivity dependence (RCD) method for decreasing the localization error in EEG source analysis by limiting the propagation of the uncertain conductivity values to the solutions of the inverse problem. We redefine the traditional EEG cost function, and in contrast to previous approaches, we introduce a selection procedure of the EEG potentials. The selected potentials are, as low as possible, affected by the uncertainties of the conductivity when solving the inverse problem. We validate the methodology on the widely used three-shell spherical headmodel with a single electrical dipole and multiple dipoles as source model. The proposed RCD method enhances the source localization accuracy with a factor ranging between 2 and 4, dependent on the dipole location and the noise in measurements
70
Region-Based Current-Source Reconstruction for the Inverse EEG Problem
This paper presents a new method for the reconstruction of current sources for the electroencephalography (EEG) inverse problem, which produces reconstructed sources, which are confined to a few anatomical regions. The method is based on a partition of the gray matter into a set of regions, and in the construction of a simple linear model for the potential produced by feasible source configurations inside each one of these regions. The proposed method computes
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the solution in two stages: in the first one, a subset of active regions is found so that the combined potentials produced by sources inside them approximate the measured potential data. In the second stage, a detailed reconstruction of the current sources inside each active region is performed. Experimental results with synthetic data are presented, which show that the proposed scheme is fast, computationally efficient and robust to noise, producing results that are competitive with other published methods, especially when the current sources are effectively distributed in few anatomical regions. The proposed method is also validated with real data from an experiment with visual evoked potentials.
71
Registration Under Topological Change for CT Colonography
Computed tomography (CT) colonography is a minimally invasive screening technique for colorectal polyps, in which Xray CT images of the distended colon are acquired, usually in the prone and supine positions of a single patient. Registration of segmented colon images from both positions will be useful for computer-assisted polyp detection. We have previously presented algorithms for registration of the prone and supine colons when both are well distended and there is a single connected lumen. However, due to inadequate bowel preparation or peristalsis, theremay be collapsed segments in one or both of the colon images resulting in a topological change in the images. Such changes make deformable registration of the colon images difficult, and at present, there are no registration algorithms that can accommodate them. In this paper, we present an algorithm that can perform volume registration of prone/supine colon images in the presence of a topological change. For this purpose, 3-D volume images are embedded as a manifold in a 4-D space, and the manifold is evolved for nonrigid registration. Experiments using data from 24 patients show that the proposed method achieves good registration results in both the shape alignment of topologically different colon images from a single patient and the polyp location estimation between supine and prone colon images.
72
Remote Health Monitoring of Heart Failure With Data Mining via CART Method on HRV Features
Disease management programs, which use no advanced information and computer technology, are as effective as telemedicine but more efficient because less costly. We proposed a platform to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of home monitoring using data mining for early detection of any worsening in patients condition. These worsenings could require more complex and expensive care if not recognized. In this letter, we briefly describe the remote health monitoring platform we designed and realized, which supports heart failure (HF) severity assessment offering functions of data mining based on the classification and regression tree method. The system developed achieved accuracy and a precision of 96.39% and 100.00% in detecting HF and of 79.31% and 82.35% in distinguishing severe versus mild HF, respectively. These preliminary results were achieved on public databases of signals to improve their reproducibility. Clinical trials involving local patients are still running and will require longer experimentation.
73
Remote Sensing of Heart Rate and Patterns of Respiration on a Stationary Subject Using 94-GHz Millimeter-Wave Interferometry
Using continuous wave, 94-GHz millimeter-wave interferometry, a signal representing chest wall motion can be obtained that contains both the heart rate and respiration patterns of a human subject.These components have to be separated fromeach other in the received signal. Our method was to use the quadrature and in-phase components of the signal, after removing the mean of each, to find the phase, unwrap it, and convert it to a displacement measurement. Using this, the power spectrum was examined for peaks, which corresponded to the heart rate and respiration rate. The displacement waveform of the chest was also analyzed for discrete heartbeats using a novel wavelet decomposition technique.
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74
Retinal Image Analysis Using Curvelet Transform and Multistructure Elements Morphology by Reconstruction
Retinal images can be used in several applications, such as ocular fundus operations as well as human recognition. Also, they play important roles in detection of some diseases in early stages, such as diabetes, which can be performed by comparison of the states of retinal blood vessels. Intrinsic characteristics of retinal images make the blood vessel detection process difficult. Here, we proposed a new algorithm to detect the retinal blood vessels effectively. Due to the high ability of the curvelet transform in representing the edges, modification of curvelet transform coefficients to enhance the retinal image edges better prepares the image for the segmentation part. The directionality feature of the multistructure elements method makes it an effective tool in edge detection. Hence, morphology operators using multistructure elements are applied to the enhanced image in order to find the retinal image ridges. Afterward, morphological operators by reconstruction eliminate the ridges not belonging to the vessel tree while trying to preserve the thin vessels unchanged. In order to increase the efficiency of the morphological operators by reconstruction, they were applied using multistructure elements. A simple thresholding method alongwith connected components analysis (CCA) indicates the remained ridges belonging to vessels. In order to utilize CCA more efficiently, we locally applied the CCA and length filtering instead of considering the whole image. Experimental results on a known database, DRIVE, and achieving to more than 94% accuracy in about 50 s for blood vessel detection, proved that the blood vessels can be effectively detected by applying our method on the retinal images.
75
Revealing Action Representation Processes in Audio Perception Using Fractal EEG Analysis
Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, and especially the Mu-rhythm over the sensorimotor cortex that relates to the activation of the mirror neuron system (MNS), were acquired from two subject groups (orchestral musicians and nonmusicians), in order to explore action representation processes involved in the perception and performance of musical pieces. Two types of stimuli were used, i.e., an auditory one consisting of an excerpt of Beethovens fifth symphony and a visual one presenting a conductor directing an orchestra performing the same excerpt of the piece. Three tasks were conducted including auditory stimulation, audiovisual stimulation, and visual stimulation only, and the acquired signals were processed using fractal [time-dependent fractal dimension (FD) estimation] and statistical analysis (analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney). Experimental results showed significant differences between the two groups while desychronization of the Mu-rhythm, which can be linked to MNS activation, was observed during all tasks for the musicians group, as opposed to the nonmusicians group who exhibited similar response onlywhen the visual stimulus was present. The mobility of the conductor was also correlated to the estimated FD signals, showing significantly higher correlation for the case of musicians compared to nonmusicians one. The present study sheds light upon the difference in action representation in auditory perception between musicians and nonmusicians and paves the way for better comprehension of the underlying mechanisms of the MNS.
76
Selective Classification for Improved Robustness of Myoelectric Control Under Nonideal Conditions
Recent literature in pattern recognition-based myoelectric control has highlighted a disparity between classification accuracy and the usability of upper limb prostheses. This paper suggests that the conventionally defined classification accuracy may be idealistic and may not reflect true clinical performance. Herein, a novel myoelectric control system based on a selective multiclass one-versus-one classification scheme, capable of rejecting unknown data patterns, is introduced. This scheme is shown to outperform nine other popular classifiers when compared using conventional classification accuracy as well as a form of leave-oneout analysis thatmay be more representative of real prosthetic use. Additionally, the classification scheme allows for real-time, independent adjustment of individual class-pair boundaries making it flexible and intuitive for clinical use.
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77
Single-Trial Subspace-Based Approach for VEP Extraction
A signal subspace approach for extracting visual evoked potentials (VEPs) from the background electroencephalogram (EEG) colored noise without the need for a prewhitening stage is proposed.Linear estimation of the clean signal is performed by minimizing signal distortion while maintaining the residual noise energy below some given threshold. The generalized eigendecomposition of the covariance matrices of a VEP signal and brain background EEG noise is used to transform them jointly to diagonal matrices. The generalized subspace is then decomposed into signal subspace and noise subspace. Enhancement is performed by nulling the components in the noise subspace and retaining the components in the signal subspace. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested with simulated and real data, and compared with the recently proposed signal subspace techniques. With the simulated data, the algorithms are used to estimate the latencies of P100, P200, and P300 of VEP signals corrupted by additive colored noise at different values of SNR. With the real data, the VEP signals are collected at Selayang Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the capability of the proposed algorithm in detecting the latency of P100 is obtained and compared with other subspace techniques. The ensemble averaging technique is used as a baseline for this comparison. The results indicated significant improvement by the proposed technique in terms of better accuracy and less failure rate..
78
Temporal Sequence Parameters in Isodistributional Surrogate Data: Model and Exact Expressions
In this paper, a set of formulae for the temporal spontaneous baroreceptor reflex (sBRR) sequence parameters in isodis tributional (ID) surrogate data is derived. This is facilitated by representing successive positive or negative amplitude changes as a Markov chain model. The obtained analytical tool measures the effect of random fluctuations on the overall number of sequences, estimated from the original biomedical time series. The formulae are tested using ID surrogates of systolic blood pressure and pulse-interval signals recorded from 13 healthy male Wistar rats at baseline conditions.
79
Termination of Reentrant Cardiac Action Potential Propagation Using Far-Field Electrical Pacing
Several different types of rapid cardiac rhythm disorders, including atrial and ventricular fibrillation, are likely caused by multiple, rapidly rotating, action potential (AP) waves. Thus, an electrical pacing therapy, whose effectiveness is based on being delivered with a particular timing relative to one of these waves, is unlikely to be useful in terminating the remaining waves. Here, we develop pacing protocols that are designed to terminate rotating waves independently of when the sequences of stimuli are imposed or where each wave is in its rotation at the time the sequences are initiated. These protocols are delivered as far-field stimuli, and therefore are capable of simultaneously influencing all the waves present. The pacing intervals for these protocols are, in general, of unequal duration and are determined through examination of the dynamics of AP propagation in a 1-D ring model. Series of two or three stimuli with interstimulus intervals chosen in this way are shown to be effective in terminating these waves over a wide range of ring circumferences and AP dynamical parameters. Stimulus sequences of this type may form the basis for developing new defibrillation protocols to test in experiments ormore realisticmodels of the electrical heart
80
Textureless Macula Swelling Detection With Multiple Retinal Fundus Images
Retinal fundus images acquired with nonmydriatic digital fundus cameras are versatile tools for the diagnosis of various retinal diseases. Because of the ease of use of newer camera models and their relatively lowcost, these cameras can be employed by operators with limited training for telemedicine or point-of-care (PoC) applications. We propose a novel
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technique that uses uncalibrated multiple-view fundus images to analyze the swelling of the macula. This innovation enables the detection and quantitative measurement of swollen areas by remote ophthalmologists. This capability is not available with a single image and prone to error with stereo fundus cameras.We also present automatic algorithms to measure features fromthe reconstructed image,which are useful in PoC automated diagnosis of early macular edema, e.g., before the appearance of exudation. The technique presented is divided into three parts: first, a preprocessing technique simultaneously enhances the dark microstructures of the macula and equalizes the image; second, all available views are registered using nonmorphological sparse features; finally, a dense pyramidal optical flow is calculated for all the images and statistically combined to build a naive height map of the macula. Results are presented on three sets of synthetic images and two sets of real-world images. These preliminary tests show the ability to infer a minimum swelling of 300 m and to correlate the reconstruction with the swollen location.
81
The Effect of Anthropometric Variations on Acoustical Flow Estimation: Proposing a Novel Approach Flow Estimation Need for Individual Calibration
Tracheal sound average power is directly related to the breathing flow rate and recently it has attracted considerable attention for acoustical flow estimation. However, the flowsound relationship is highly variable among people and it also changes for the same person at different flow rates. Hence, a robust model capable of estimating flow from tracheal sounds at different flow rates in a large group of individuals does not exist. In this paper, a model is proposed to estimate respiratory flow from tracheal sounds. The proposed model eliminates the dependence of the previous methods on calibrating the model for every individual and at different flow rates. To validate the model, it was applied to the respiratory sound and flow data of 93 healthy individuals. We investigated the statistical correlation between the model parameters and anthropometric features of the subjects. The results have shown that gender, height, and smoking are the most significant factors that affect the model parameters. Hence, we grouped nonsmoker subjects into four groups based on their gender and height. The average of model parameters in each group was defined as the group-calibrated model parameters. These models were applied to estimate flow from data of subjects within the same group and in the other groups. The results show that flow estimation error based on the group-calibrated model is less than 10%. The low estimation errors confirm the possibility of defining a general flow estimation model for subjectswith similar anthropometric features with no need for calibrating the model parameters for every individual. This technique simplifies the acoustical flow estimation in general applications including sleep studies and patients screening in health care facilities.
82
The Inverse Problem Utilizing the Boundary Element Method for a Nonstandard Female Torso
This paper proposes a new method of rapidly deriving the transfer matrix for the boundary element method (BEM) forward problem from a tailored female torso geometry in the clinical setting. The method allows rapid calculation of epicardial potentials (EP) from body surface potentials (BSP). The use of EPs in previous studies has been shown to improve the successful detection of the life-threatening cardiac conditionacute myocardial infarction.TheMRIscanning of a cardiac patient in the clinical setting is not practical and other methods are required to accurately deduce torso geometries for calculation of the transfer matrix. The new method allows the noninvasive calculation of tailored torso geometries from a standard female torso and five measurements taken from the body surface of a patient. This scaling of the torso has been successfully validated by carrying out EP calculations on 40 scaled torsos and ten female subjects. It utilizes the BEM in the calculation of the transfer matrix as the BEM depends only upon the topology of the surfaces of the torso and the heart, the former can now be accurately deduced, leaving only the latter geometry as an unknown.
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83
Time-Multiplexed Beamforming for Noninvasive Microwave Hyperthermia Treatment
A noninvasive microwave beamforming strategy is proposed for selective localized heating of biological tissue. The proposed technique is based on time multiplexing of multiple beamformers. We investigate the effectiveness of the timemultiplexed beamforming in the context of brain hyperthermia treatment by using a high-fidelity numerical head phantom of an adult female from the Virtual Family (ITIS Foundation) as our testbed. An operating frequency of 1 GHz is considered to balance the improved treatment resolution afforded by higher frequencies against the increased penetration through the brain afforded by lower frequencies. The exact head geometry and dielectric properties of biological tissues in the head are assumed to be available for the creation of patient-specific propagation models used in beamformer design. Electromagnetic and thermal simulations based on the finitedifference time-domain method are used to evaluate the hyperthermia performance of time-multiplexed beamforming and conventional beamforming strategies.The proposed time-multiplexing technique is shown to reduce the unintended heating of healthy tissue without affecting the treatment temperature or volume. The efficacy of the method is demonstrated for target locations in three different regions of the brain. This approach has the potential to improve microwave-induced localized heating for cancer treatment via hyperthermia or heat-activated chemotherapeutic drug release.
84
Towards Brain First-Aid: A Diagnostic Device for Conscious Awareness
When the brain is damaged, evaluating an individuals level of awareness can be a major diagnostic challenge (Is he or she in there?). Existing tests typically rely on behavioral indicators, which are incorrect in as many as one out of every two cases. The current paper presents a diagnostic device that addresses this problem. The technology circumvents behavioral limitations through noninvasive brain wave measurements (electroencephalography, or EEG). Unlike traditional EEG, the device is designed for point-of-care use by incorporating a portable, userfriendly, and stable design. It uses a novel software algorithm that automates subject stimulation, data acquisition/analysis, and the reporting of results.The test provides indicators for five identifiable levels of neural processing: sensation, perception, attention, memory, and language. The results are provided as rapidly obtained diagnostic, reliability, validity, and prognostic scores. The device can be applied to awide variety of patients across a host of different environments. The technology is designed to be wireless-enabled for remote monitoring and assessment capabilities. In essence, the device is developed to scan for conscious awareness in order to optimize subsequent patient care.
85
Tracking Biological Cells in Time-Lapse Microscopy: An Adaptive Technique Combining Motion and Topological Features
This paper presents a vision-based method for automatic tracking of biological cells in time-lapse microscopy by combining themotion features with the topological features of the cells. The automation of tracking frequently faces problems of segmentation error and of finding correct cell correspondence in consecutive frames, since the cells are of varying size and shape, and may have uneven movement; these problems become more acute when the cell population is very high. To reduce the segmentation error, we introduce a cell-detection method based on h-maxima transformation, followed by the fitting of an ellipse for the nucleus shape. To find the correct correspondence between the detected cells, the topological features, namely, color compatibility, area overlap and deformation are combined with the motion features of skewness and displacement. This reduces the ambiguity of matching and constructs accurately the trajectories of the cell proliferation. Finally, a template-matching-based backward tracking procedure is employed to recover any break in a cell trajectory that may occur due to the segmentation errors or the presence of a mitosis. The tracking procedure is tested using a number of different cell sequences with nonuniform illumination, or uneven cell motion, and is shown to provide high accuracy both in the detection and the tracking of the cells.
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86
Tracking of Vessels in Intra-Operative Microscope Video Sequences for Cortical Displacement Estimation
This article presents a method designed to automatically track cortical vessels in intra-operative microscope video sequences. The main application of this method is the estimation of cortical displacement that occurs during tumor resection procedures. The method works in three steps. First, models of vessels selected in the first frame of the sequence are built. These models are then used to track vessels across frames in the video sequence. Finally, displacements estimated using the vessels are extrapolated to the entire image. The method has been tested retrospectively on images simulating large displacement, tumor resection, and partial occlusion by surgical instruments and on 21 video sequences comprising several thousand frames acquired from three patients. Qualitative results show that the method is accurate, robust to the appearance and disappearance of surgical instruments, and capable of dealing with large differences in images caused by resection. Quantitative results show a mean vessel tracking error (VTE) of 2.4 pixels (0.3 or 0.6 mm, depending on the spatial resolution of the images) and an average target registration error (TRE) of 3.3 pixels (0.4 or 0.8 mm).
87
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation: Estimation of the Electric Field and of the Current Density in an Anatomical Human Head Model
This paper investigates the spatial distribution of the electric field and of the current density in the brain tissues induced by transcranial direct current stimulation of the primary motor cortex. A numericalmethod was applied on a realistic human head model to calculate these field distributions in different brain structures, such as the cortex, the white matter, the cerebellum, the hippocampus, the medulla oblongata, the pons, the midbrain, and the thalamus. The influence of varying the anode area, the cathode area, and the injected current was also investigated. An electrode area as the one typically used in clinical practice (i.e., both electrodes equal to35 cm2 ) resulted into complex and diffuse amplitude distributions over all the examined brain structures, with the region of maximum induced field being below or close to the anode. Variations in either the anode or cathode area corresponded to changes in the field amplitude distribution in all the brain tissues, with the former variation producing more diffuse effects. Variations in the injected current resulted, as could be expected, in linearly correlated changes in the field amplitudes.
88
Unconstrained Estimation Method of Delta-Wave Percentage Included in EEG of Sleeping Subjects
This paper describes an unconstrained pneumatic method of estimating the -wave activity of the brain from the heartbeat signal. Based on experiments showing that transinformation of the heartbeat signal corrupted by body movement was correlated with the -wave activity, we developed a method of estimating the percentage of the -wave included in the EEG from the transinformation. The comb filtering technique was used to obtain accurate transinformation. We applied the proposed method to young normal subjects to evaluate the method. As a result, the correlation between the -wave included in the EEG and the transinformation was 0.727 and the average error of the estimates of -wave percentage was 14.9%. The -wave activity and heartbeat activity were shown to be quantitatively related. This suggests that sleep depth can be estimated from the -wave percentage estimated by unconstrained measurement of the heartbeat signal of young normal subjects.
89
Wireless Implantable Electronic Platform for Chronic Fluorescent-Based Biosensors
The development of a long-term wireless implantable biosensor based on fluorescence intensity measurement poses a number of technical challenges, ranging from biocompatibility to sensor stability over time. One of these challenges is
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the design of a power efficient and miniaturized electronics, enabling the biosensor tomove frombench testing to long term validation, up to its final application in human beings. In this spirit, we present a wireless programmable electronic platform for implantable chronic monitoring of fluorescent-based autonomous biosensors. This system is able to achieve extremely low power operation with bidirectional telemetry, based on the IEEE802.15.4-2003 protocol, thus enabling over three-year battery lifetime and wireless networking of multiple sensors. During the performance of single fluorescent-based sensor measurements, the circuit drives a laser diode, for sensor excitation, and acquires the amplified signals from four different photodetectors. In vitro functionality was preliminarily tested for both glucose and calcium monitoring, simply by changing the analyte-binding protein of the biosensor. Electronics performance was assessed in terms of timing, power consumption, tissue exposure to electromagnetic fields, and in vivo wireless connectivity. The final goal of the presented platform is to be integrated in a complete system for blood glucose level monitoring that may be implanted for at least one year under the skin of diabetic patients. Results reported in this paper may be applied to a wide variety of biosensors based on fluorescence intensity measurement.
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IEEE Final Year Projects 2011-2012 :: Bio Medical:::: Elysium Technologies PVT LTD

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Elysium Technologies Private Limited

ISO 9001:2008 A leading Research and Development Division

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

A Bayesian Hierarchical Correlation Model for fMRI Cluster Analysis

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

A Real-time Heart Rate Analysis for a Remote Millimeter Wave IQ Sensor

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

A Self-Powered Telemetry System to Estimate the Postoperative Instability of a Knee Implant

Improving Adaptive SleepWake Discrimination for Wearable Devices

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

An Adaptive Kalman Filter for ECG Signal Enhancement

An Asynchronous P300 BCI with SSVEP-Based Control State Detection

Arrhythmia Discrimination in Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators Using SupportMachines Representation of Electrograms

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Automated Segmentation of Cells With IHC Membrane Staining

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Automatic Detection of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Using Speech Signals

Automatic Optic Disc Detection From Retinal Images by a Line Operator

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Bayesian Regularization Applied to Ultrasound Strain Imaging

Breaking the Fixed-Arrival-Time Restriction in Reaching Movements of Neural Prosthetic Devices

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Changes in Body-Surface Electrocardiograms From Geometric Remodeling With Obesity

Classification of Paroxysmal and Persistent Atrial Fibrillation in Ambulatory ECG Recordings

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Continuous Intra-Arterial Blood pH Monitoring by a Fiber-Optic Fluorosensor

Continuous Intra-Arterial Blood pH Monitoring by a Fiber-Optic Fluorosensor

Control of Action Potential Duration Alternans in Canine Cardiac Ventricular Tissue

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Detection of Viruses Via Statistical Gene Expression Analysis

Development of a Flexible System for Measuring Muscle Area Using Ultrasonography

Directed Differential Connectivity Graph of Interictal Epileptiform Discharges

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Driver Drowsiness Classification Using Fuzzy Wavelet-Packet-Based Feature-Extraction Algorithm

Duodenum Identification Mechanism for Capsule Endoscopy

Dynamic Brain Phantom for Intracranial Volume Measurements

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Fast Technique for Noninvasive Fetal ECG Extraction

FEM-Based 3-D Tumor Growth Prediction for Kidney Tumor

Finite-Element-Based Discretization and Regularization Strategies for 3-D Inverse Electrocardiography

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

HilbertHuang-Based Tremor Removal to Assess Postural Properties From Accelerometers

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Intervention in Biological Phenomena Modeled by S-Systems

Model-Based Human Circadian Phase Estimation Using a Particle Filter

Elysium Technologies Private Limited

IEEE Final Year Project List 2011-2012

Modeling and Percept of Transcorneal Electrical Stimulation in Humans