An intelligent mobile-enabled expert system for tuberculosis disease diagnosis in real time

This paper presents an investigation into the development of an intelligent mobile-enabled expert system to perform an automatic detection of tuberculosis (TB) disease in real-time. One third of the global population are infected with the TB bacterium, and the prevailing diagnosis methods are either resource-intensive or time consuming. Thus, a reliable and easy–to-use diagnosis system has become essential to make the world TB free by 2030, as envisioned by the World Health Organisation. In this work, the challenges in implementing an efficient image processing platform is presented to extract the images from plasmonic ELISAs for TB antigen-specific antibodies and analyse their features. The supervised machine learning techniques are utilised to attain binary classification from eighteen lower-order colour moments. The proposed system is trained off-line, followed by testing and validation using a separate set of images in real-time. Using an ensemble classifier, Random Forest, we demonstrated 98.4% accuracy in TB antigen-specific antibody detection on the mobile platform. Unlike the existing systems, the proposed intelligent system with real time processing capabilities and data portability can provide the prediction without any opto-mechanical attachment, which will undergo a clinical test in the next phase.</p

How 5G wireless (and concomitant technologies) will revolutionize healthcare?

The need to have equitable access to quality healthcare is enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which defines the developmental agenda of the UN for the next 15 years. In particular, the third SDG focuses on the need to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. In this paper, we build the case that 5G wireless technology, along with concomitant emerging technologies (such as IoT, big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning), will transform global healthcare systems in the near future. Our optimism around 5G-enabled healthcare stems from a confluence of significant technical pushes that are already at play: apart from the availability of high-throughput low-latency wireless connectivity, other significant factors include the democratization of computing through cloud computing; the democratization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing (e.g., IBM Watson); and the commoditization of data through crowdsourcing and digital exhaust. These technologies together can finally crack a dysfunctional healthcare system that has largely been impervious to technological innovations. We highlight the persistent deficiencies of the current healthcare system and then demonstrate how the 5G-enabled healthcare revolution can fix these deficiencies. We also highlight open technical research challenges, and potential pitfalls, that may hinder the development of such a 5G-enabled health revolution

Automatic diagnosis of tuberculosis disease based on Plasmonic ELISA and color-based image classification

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the most devastating infectious diseases and its treatment efficiency is majorly influenced by the stage at which infection with the TB bacterium is diagnosed. The available methods for TB diagnosis are either time consuming, costly or not efficient. This study employs a signal generation mechanism for biosensing, known as Plasmonic ELISA, and computational intelligence to facilitate automatic diagnosis of TB. Plasmonic ELISA enables the detection of a few molecules of analyte by the incorporation of smart nanomaterials for better sensitivity of the developed detection system. The computational system uses k-means clustering and thresholding for image segmentation. This paper presents the results of the classification performance of the Plasmonic ELISA imaging data by using various types of classifiers. The five-fold cross-validation results show high accuracy rate (>97%) in classifying TB images using the entire data set. Future work will focus on developing an intelligent mobile-enabled expert system to diagnose TB in real-time. The intelligent system will be clinically validated and tested in collaboration with healthcare providers in Malaysia

Assay Type Detection Using Advanced Machine Learning Algorithms

The colourimetric analysis has been used in diversified fields for years. This paper provides a unique overview of colourimetric tests from the perspective of computer vision by describing different aspects of a colourimetric test in the context of image processing, followed by an investigation into the development of a colorimetric assay type detection system using advanced machine learning algorithms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to define colourimetric assay types from the eyes of a machine and perform any colorimetric test using deep learning. This investigation utilizes the state-of-the-art pre-trained models of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to perform the assay type detection of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and lateral flow assay (LFA). The ELISA dataset contains images of both positive and negative samples, prepared for the plasmonic ELISA based TB-antigen specific antibody detection. The LFA dataset contains images of the universal pH indicator paper of eight pH levels. It is noted that the pre-trained models offered 100% accurate visual recognition for the assay type detection. Such detection can assist novice users to initiate a colorimetric test using his/her personal digital devices. The assay type detection can also aid in calibrating an image-based colorimetric classification

Mobile Application to Improve the Follow-up and Control Process in Patients with Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a severe and life-threatening illness that affects numerous individuals worldwide every day. The key objective of this study was to create a system that could enhance the monitoring and management of tuberculosis patients. To achieve this goal, the Mobile D methodology was utilized because of its effectiveness in project management. This methodology emphasizes test-driven development, continuous integration, and optimization to enhance software processes. The outcome of this research was a prototype of a mobile application specifically designed for individuals with tuberculosis. Professionals and people affected by the disease assessed the quality of the prototype. They evaluated its effectiveness, user-friendliness, design, and functionality and gave ratings of 4.77 and 4.69 on a Likert scale, respectively. These figures indicate that the prototype meets high-quality criteria. In conclusion, this research successfully created an efficient prototype that enhances the monitoring and control of tuberculosis patients. The prototype includes features such as real-time consultations for immediate interaction between physicians and patients, clinical history visualization, and medication reminders, all of which improve the user’s experience

A Convolutional Neural Network for the Automatic Diagnosis of Collagen VI related Muscular Dystrophies

The development of machine learning systems for the diagnosis of rare diseases is challenging mainly due the lack of data to study them. Despite this challenge, this paper proposes a system for the Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) of low-prevalence, congenital muscular dystrophies from confocal microscopy images. The proposed CAD system relies on a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) which performs an independent classification for non-overlapping patches tiling the input image, and generates an overall decision summarizing the individual decisions for the patches on the query image. This decision scheme points to the possibly problematic areas in the input images and provides a global quantitative evaluation of the state of the patients, which is fundamental for diagnosis and to monitor the efficiency of therapies.Comment: Submitted for review to Expert Systems With Application

Towards using Cough for Respiratory Disease Diagnosis by leveraging Artificial Intelligence: A Survey

Cough acoustics contain multitudes of vital information about pathomorphological alterations in the respiratory system. Reliable and accurate detection of cough events by investigating the underlying cough latent features and disease diagnosis can play an indispensable role in revitalizing the healthcare practices. The recent application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advances of ubiquitous computing for respiratory disease prediction has created an auspicious trend and myriad of future possibilities in the medical domain. In particular, there is an expeditiously emerging trend of Machine learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL)-based diagnostic algorithms exploiting cough signatures. The enormous body of literature on cough-based AI algorithms demonstrate that these models can play a significant role for detecting the onset of a specific respiratory disease. However, it is pertinent to collect the information from all relevant studies in an exhaustive manner for the medical experts and AI scientists to analyze the decisive role of AI/ML. This survey offers a comprehensive overview of the cough data-driven ML/DL detection and preliminary diagnosis frameworks, along with a detailed list of significant features. We investigate the mechanism that causes cough and the latent cough features of the respiratory modalities. We also analyze the customized cough monitoring application, and their AI-powered recognition algorithms. Challenges and prospective future research directions to develop practical, robust, and ubiquitous solutions are also discussed in detail.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, 9 table