Oscillations in microvascular flow:their relationship to tissue oxygenation, cellular metabolic function and their diagnostic potential for detecting skin melanoma - clinical, experimental and theoretical investigations

Tumour vasculature is known to be inefficient and abnormal due to poorly regulated angiogenesis during tumour growth. This leads to irregular patterns of blood flow which are spatially and temporally heterogeneous. Many investigations into the characteristics of tumours are invasive and performed on animal models. However, continuous technological and theoretical advancement is leading to the use of non-invasive imaging techniques, providing in vivo information on humans. Here, data recorded using laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) in malignant melanoma and control lesions are analysed using techniques designed for application to non-stationary, time-varying data. Many studies utilising LDF have previously revealed increased blood flow in malignant lesions, but very little attention has been paid to the dynamics of this blood flow, or how it changes over time. As it has been demonstrated previously that the oscillations observed within blood flow data are physiologically significant, failure to extract these characteristics loses information about the underlying dynamical system from which the blood flow data were recorded. Significant differences in blood flow dynamics are revealed and used in the development of a diagnostic test for melanoma. In addition to the characterization of the blood flow dynamics in melanoma, possible causes for the observed changes are investigated and related to two widely observed characteristics of cancer, intermittent hypoxia and altered cellular energy metabolism. The former is explored through the analysis of blood flow and oxygenation data recorded during dry static apnoea, whilst the latter is modelled using coupled phase oscillators

Book of Abstracts 15th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering and 3rd Conference on Imaging and Visualization

In this edition, the two events will run together as a single conference, highlighting the strong connection with the Taylor & Francis journals: Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering (John Middleton and Christopher Jacobs, Eds.) and Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering: Imaging and Visualization (JoãoManuel R.S. Tavares, Ed.). The conference has become a major international meeting on computational biomechanics, imaging andvisualization. In this edition, the main program includes 212 presentations. In addition, sixteen renowned researchers will give plenary keynotes, addressing current challenges in computational biomechanics and biomedical imaging. In Lisbon, for the first time, a session dedicated to award the winner of the Best Paper in CMBBE Journal will take place. We believe that CMBBE2018 will have a strong impact on the development of computational biomechanics and biomedical imaging and visualization, identifying emerging areas of research and promoting the collaboration and networking between participants. This impact is evidenced through the well-known research groups, commercial companies and scientific organizations, who continue to support and sponsor the CMBBE meeting series. In fact, the conference is enriched with five workshops on specific scientific topics and commercial software.info:eu-repo/semantics/draf