Selected Topics on Computed Tomography

This book is a research publication that covers developments within the Diagnostics field of study. The book is a collection of reviewed scholarly contributions written by different authors and edited by an expert with specific expertise. Each scholarly contribution represents a chapter which is complete in itself but related to the major topics and objectives. The target audience comprises scholars and specialists in the field

Challenges in Optimal Bandwidth for Medical Image Transfer

Disertační práce je zaměřena na optimalizaci parametrů přenosového pásma pro transport medicínských obrazových dat mezi zdravotnickými zařízeními a vzdálenými datovými úložišti. Jako reálná a plně funkční struktura, jež bude v této práci analyzována, byl zvolen systém MeDiMed (Metropolitan Digital Imaging System in Medicine). Práce nejprve rozebírá provoz menších zdravotnických organizací a jejich modalit, které využívají tento systém pro vzdálenou archivaci dat. Analýza provozu je poté statisticky zpracována. Disertační práce se dále zabývá analýzou zvýšení zabezpečení přístupu pracovních stanic do zdravotnického systému a posuzuje jeho vliv na přenášená data. Je zde porovnáván vliv nastavení přenosových parametrů a nejpoužívanějších typů šifer na rychlost přenosu.This dissertation thesis is focused on the optimization of bandwidth parameters for the transport of medical image data between medical devices and remote data storage. As real and fully functional structure, which will be analyzed in this work. It was selected system MeDiMed (Metropolitan Digital Imaging System in Medicine). The thesis examines the operation of the small health organizations and their modalities, which use this system for remote data archiving. Traffic analysis is then statistically processed. The thesis also deals with the analysis of increasing the security during accessing health system, and assesses its impact on transmitted data. The effect of setting the transmission parameters and the most widely used types of ciphers on the transfer speed is also compared.

Využití tenchnologie GRID při zpracování medicínské informace

Práce se soustředí na vybrané oblasti biomedicínského výzkumu, které mohou profitovat ze současných výpočetních infrastruktur vybudovaných ve vědecké komunitě v evropském a světovém prostoru. Teorie výpočtu, paralelismu a distribuovaného počítání je stručně uvedena s ohledem na počítání v gridech a cloudech. Práce se zabývá oblastí výměny medicínských snímků a představuje propojení Gridového PACS systému s existujícími distribuovanými systémy pro sdílení DICOM snímků. Práce se dál zaměřuje na studium vědy týkající se lidského hlasu. Práce představuje vzdálený způsob přístupu k aplikaci pro analýzu hlasu v reálném čase pomocí úpravy protokolů pro vzdálenou plochu a pro přenos zvukových nahrávek. Tento dílčí výsledek ukazuje možnost využití stávajících aplikací na dálku specialisty na hlas. Oblast lidské fyziologie a patofyziologie byla studována pomocí přístupu tzv. systémové biologie. Práce přispívá v oblasti metodologie modelování lidské fyziologie pro tvorbu komplexních modelů založených na akauzálním a objektově orientovaném modelovacím přístupu. Metody pro studium parametrů byly představeny pomocí technologie počítání v gridech a v cloudech. Práce ukazuje, že proces identifikaci parametrů středně komplexních modelů kardiovasculárního systému a komplexního modelu lidské fyziologie lze významně zrychlit...This thesis focuses on selected areas of biomedical research in order to benefit from current computational infrastructures established in scientific community in european and global area. The theory of computation, parallelism and distributed computing, with focus on grid computing and cloud computing, is briefly introduced. Exchange of medical images was studied and a seamless integration of grid-based PACS system was established with the current distributed system in order to share DICOM medical images. Voice science was studied and access to real-time voice analysis application via remote desktop technology was introduced using customized protocol to transfer sound recording. This brings a possibility to access current legacy application remotely by voice specialists. The systems biology approach within domain of human physiology and pathophysiology was studied. Modeling methodology of human physiology was improved in order to build complex models based on acausal and object-oriented modeling techniques. Methods for conducting a parameter study (especially parameter estimation and parameter sweep) were introduced using grid computing and cloud computing technology. The identification of parameters gain substantial speedup by utilizing cloud computing deployment when performed on medium complex models of...nezařazení_neaktivníFirst Faculty of Medicine1. lékařská fakult

3rd EGEE User Forum

We have organized this book in a sequence of chapters, each chapter associated with an application or technical theme introduced by an overview of the contents, and a summary of the main conclusions coming from the Forum for the chapter topic. The first chapter gathers all the plenary session keynote addresses, and following this there is a sequence of chapters covering the application flavoured sessions. These are followed by chapters with the flavour of Computer Science and Grid Technology. The final chapter covers the important number of practical demonstrations and posters exhibited at the Forum. Much of the work presented has a direct link to specific areas of Science, and so we have created a Science Index, presented below. In addition, at the end of this book, we provide a complete list of the institutes and countries involved in the User Forum

Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2014, nr 2

kwartalni

Uma proposta de arquitetura de alto desempenho para sistemas PACS baseada em extensões de banco de dados

Orientador : Prof. Dr. Aldo Von WangenheimTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Exatas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática. Defesa: Curitiba, 25/07/2014Inclui referênciasResumo: O uso de imagens digitais no processo de diagnóstico médico é observável em diferentes escalas e cenários de aplicação, tendo evoluído em termos de volume de dados adquiridos e número de modalidades de exame atendidas. A organização desse conteúdo digital, comumente representado por conjuntos de imagens no pa-drão DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine), costuma ser dele-gada a sistemas PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) baseados na agregação de componentes heterogêneos de hardware e software. Parte desses componentes interage de forma a compor a camada de armazenamento do PACS, responsável pela persistência de toda e qualquer imagem digital que, em algum momento, foi adquirida ou visualizada/manipulada via sistema. Apesar de emprega-rem recursos altamente especializados como SGBDs (Sistemas Gerenciadores de Banco de Dados), as camadas de armazenamento PACS atuais são visualizadas e utilizadas como simples repositórios de dados, assumindo um comportamento pas-sivo (ou seja, sem a agregação de regras de negócio) quando comparadas a outros componentes do sistema. Neste trabalho, propõe-se uma nova arquitetura PACS simplificada baseada em alterações na sua camada de armazenamento. As alterações previstas baseiam-se na troca do perfil passivo assumido atualmente por essa camada por um perfil ativo, utilizando-se de recursos de extensibilidade e de distribuição de dados (hoje não empregados) disponibilizados por seus componentes. A arquitetura proposta concentra-se na comunicação e no armazenamento de dados, utilizando-se de ex-tensões de SGBDs e de estruturas heterogêneas para armazenamento de dados convencionais e não convencionais, provendo alto desempenho em termos de es-calabilidade, suporte a grandes volumes de conteúdo e processamento descentrali-zado de consultas. Estruturalmente, a arquitetura proposta é formada por um con-junto de módulos projetados de forma a explorar as opções de extensibilidade pre-sentes em SGBDs, incorporando características e funcionalidades originalmente dis-tribuídas entre outros componentes do PACS (na forma de regras de negócio). Em nível de protótipo, resultados obtidos a partir de experimentos indicam a viabilidade de uso da arquitetura proposta, explicitando ganhos de desempenho na pesquisa de metadados e na recuperação de imagens DICOM quando comparados a arquiteturas PACS convencionais. A flexibilidade da proposta quanto à adoção de tecnologias de armazenamento heterogêneas também é avaliada positivamente, permitindo estender a camada de armazenamento PACS em termos de escalabili-dade, poder de processamento, tolerância a falhas e representação de conteúdo. Palavras-chave: PACS, DICOM, SGBD, extensibilidade, alto desempenho.Abstract: The use of digital images on medical diagnosis is observable in a number of application scenarios and in different scales, growing in terms of volume of data and contemplated medical specialties. To organize this digital content composed by image datasets in DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine), it is usual to adopt PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), an architecture built as an aggregation of hardware and software components. Some of these components compose the so-called PACS's storage layer, responsible for the persistence of every digital image acquired or visualized/manipulated through the system. Despite their high-specialized components (e.g., DBMS - Database Management System), PACS storage layers used today are visualized as simple data repositories, assuming a passive role (i.e., without the implementation of business rules) when compared to other components. In this work, a simplified, new architecture is proposed for PACS, based in modifications on its storage layer. The modifications are based in the replacement of the current passive role by an active one, using extensibility and data distribution resources available on its components. The proposed architecture focuses on communication and data storage, using DBMS extensions and heterogeneous structures for the storage of conventional and non-conventional data, providing high-performance in terms of scalability, support to large volumes of data and decentralized query processing. Structurally, the proposed architecture is composed by a set of modules designed to explore extensibility options available in DBMSs, incorporating characteristics and functionalities originally distributed as business rules among other components of PACS. At prototype level, results obtained through experiments indicate the viability of the proposal, making explicit the performance gains in the search for metadata and image retrieval when compared to conventional PACS architectures. The flexibility of the proposal regarding the adoption of heterogeneous storage technologies is also positively evaluated, allowing the extension of the PACS storage layer in terms of scalability, processing power, fault tolerance and content representation. Keywords: PACS, DICOM, DBMS, extensibility, High-Performance Computing

Risk management in health care in South Africa

Risk management strategy is a broad discipline aimed at identifying, evaluating and handling risks by both physical and financial means. The medical aid industry in South Africa has experienced a disproportionate increase in expenditure relative to the overall economic growth. These cost pressures have placed restraints on their ability to obtain new members, which is vital when subsidizing higher risks with younger healthier members, and has resulted in losses for many schemes. Compounding the problem has been political and regulatory health care reforms as well as technological advances, which have initiated a complete restructure of the industry. This dissertation reviews the risk management strategies implemented by medical insurers in South Africa. An analysis of alternate risk management strategies is taken with the view of recommending a tentative means of making medical aids more efficient in an increasingly difficult market.Business ManagementM. Comm. (Business Management

Porous silicon–polycaprolactone composites for orthopaedic tissue engineering

Silicon is an essential element in human nutrition, with the symptoms of a silicon-deficient diet being abnormal bone development (Carlisle, 1972). Similarly, animals and bone forming osteoblast-like cells in vitro show an increase in bone growth when supplemented with the soluble, bioavailable form of silicon, orthosilicic acid [Si(OH4)] (Carlisle, 1988). Certain bioactive glass compositions can form a strong chemical bond with bone, doing so by dissolving to form a solution that includes orthosilicic acid which re-polymerises to form a hydrated silica gel layer that adsorbs growth factors, supports cell growth and acts a nucleation bed for bone mineral (Hench, 1980). Bioactive glass degradation products alone have also been shown to significantly enhance the activity of osteoblasts in vitro (Xynos et al, 2001). Pure, crystalline silicon is not soluble in water or body fluids, but when electrochemically etched with hydrofluoric acid, nanoscale silicon hydride-lined pores are formed through the material which render it soluble in aqueous solutions, yielding orthosilicic acid (Canham, 1996). Porous silicon has therefore been proposed as a novel orthopaedic biomaterial, acting in a similar way to bioactive glasses. In addition, the long, narrow pores can be filled with pharmaceuticals, creating a dissolvable drug delivery material with release kinetics that are easily controllable by adjusting the pore morphology and drug loading density (Anglin et al, 2008). This research aims to evaluate porous silicon (pSi) as a therapeutic biomaterial for bone tissue engineering applications in the form of a composite with the biodegradable polymer, polycaprolactone (PCL). pSi microparticles were incorporated into a polycaprolactone matrix and the composites characterised in terms of the ability to generate orthosilicic acids under various conditions. It was found that the composites released silicic acids at a rate proportional to the loading proportion of pSi, with 8% composites (20mg pSi in 230mg PCL) eluting ~400 ng.ml-1 Si per day. At this composition, pSi increased the amount of calcium phosphate formed on the composite in a simulated body fluid and this had the morphology and molar ratio of biological apatite (Ca:P ≈ 1.5). The addition of 8% pSi to polymers enhanced the electroconductivity of hydrogels by two orders of magnitude and did not significantly affect mechanical strength. The release profiles of small molecules such as gentamicin and large hydrophobic proteins such as alkaline phosphatase were enhanced by pre-loading sample drugs into pSi rather than directly loading drugs into PCL. Crucially, the molecules retained their activity following release. Other proteins such as bovine serum albumin were adsorbed onto the surface silica gel layer, suggesting a method for localising growth factors onto biomaterial surfaces. Osteoblasts responded well to 8% pSi-PCL composites, producing significantly more collagen and glycosaminoglycans in vitro. Collagen in the extracellular matrix (ECM) was also significantly more highly crosslinked as determined by the pyridinium content of ECM lysates and was more mineralised than the ECM on PCL alone. The breakdown products of pSi also significantly enhanced the osteoblastic phenotype of cells in vitro. This research demonstrates that porous silicon can be added to polymer-based materials to enhance their effectiveness as biomaterials for orthopaedic tissue engineering