899 research outputs found

    Raman Spectroscopy Techniques for the Detection and Management of Breast Cancer

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    Breast cancer has recently become the most common cancer worldwide, and with increased incidence, there is increased pressure on health services to diagnose and treat many more patients. Mortality and survival rates for this particular disease are better than other cancer types, and part of this is due to the facilitation of early diagnosis provided by screening programmes, including the National Health Service breast screening programme in the UK. Despite the benefits of the programme, some patients undergo negative experiences in the form of false negative mammograms, overdiagnosis and subsequent overtreatment, and even a small number of cancers are induced by the use of ionising radiation. In addition to this, false positive mammograms cause a large number of unnecessary biopsies, which means significant costs, both financially and in terms of clinicians' time, and discourages patients from attending further screening. Improvement in areas of the treatment pathway is also needed. Surgery is usually the first line of treatment for early breast cancer, with breast conserving surgery being the preferred option compared to mastectomy. This type of operation achieves the same outcome as mastectomy - removal of the tumour - while allowing the patient to retain the majority of their normal breast tissue for improved aesthetic and psychological results. Yet, re-excision operations are often required when clear margins are not achieved, i.e. not all of the tumour is removed. This again has implications on cost and time, and increases the risk to the patient through additional surgery. Currently lacking in both the screening and surgical contexts is the ability to discern specific chemicals present in the breast tissue being assessed/removed. Specifically relevant to mammography is the presence of calcifications, the chemistry of which holds information indicative of pathology that cannot be accessed through x-rays. In addition, the chemical composition of breast tumour tissue has been shown to be different to normal tissue in a variety of ways, with one particular difference being a significant increase in water content. Raman spectroscopy is a rapid, non-ionising, non-destructive technique based on light scattering. It has been proven to discern between chemical types of calcification and subtleties within their spectra that indicate the malignancy status of the surrounding tissue, and differentiate between cancerous and normal breast tissue based on the relative water contents. Furthermore, this thesis presents work aimed at exploring deep Raman techniques to probe breast calcifications at depth within tissue, and using a high wavenumber Raman probe to discriminate tumour from normal tissue predominantly via changes in tissue water content. The ability of transmission Raman spectroscopy to detect different masses and distributions of calcified powder inclusions within tissue phantoms was tested, as well as elucidating a signal profile of a similar inclusion through a tissue phantom of clinically relevant thickness. The technique was then applied to the measurement of clinically active samples of bulk breast tissue from informed and consented patients to try to measure calcifications. Ex vivo specimens were also measured with a high wavenumber Raman probe, which found significant differences between tumour and normal tissue, largely due to water content, resulting in a classification model that achieved 77.1% sensitivity and 90.8% specificity. While calcifications were harder to detect in the ex vivo specimens, promising results were still achieved, potentially indicating a much more widespread influence of calcification in breast tissue, and to obtain useful signal from bulk human tissue is encouraging in itself. Consequently, this work demonstrates the potential value of both deep Raman techniques and high wavenumber Raman for future breast screening and tumour margin assessment methods

    Effects of municipal smoke-free ordinances on secondhand smoke exposure in the Republic of Korea

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    ObjectiveTo reduce premature deaths due to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among non-smokers, the Republic of Korea (ROK) adopted changes to the National Health Promotion Act, which allowed local governments to enact municipal ordinances to strengthen their authority to designate smoke-free areas and levy penalty fines. In this study, we examined national trends in SHS exposure after the introduction of these municipal ordinances at the city level in 2010.MethodsWe used interrupted time series analysis to assess whether the trends of SHS exposure in the workplace and at home, and the primary cigarette smoking rate changed following the policy adjustment in the national legislation in ROK. Population-standardized data for selected variables were retrieved from a nationally representative survey dataset and used to study the policy action’s effectiveness.ResultsFollowing the change in the legislation, SHS exposure in the workplace reversed course from an increasing (18% per year) trend prior to the introduction of these smoke-free ordinances to a decreasing (−10% per year) trend after adoption and enforcement of these laws (β2 = 0.18, p-value = 0.07; β3 = −0.10, p-value = 0.02). SHS exposure at home (β2 = 0.10, p-value = 0.09; β3 = −0.03, p-value = 0.14) and the primary cigarette smoking rate (β2 = 0.03, p-value = 0.10; β3 = 0.008, p-value = 0.15) showed no significant changes in the sampled period. Although analyses stratified by sex showed that the allowance of municipal ordinances resulted in reduced SHS exposure in the workplace for both males and females, they did not affect the primary cigarette smoking rate as much, especially among females.ConclusionStrengthening the role of local governments by giving them the authority to enact and enforce penalties on SHS exposure violation helped ROK to reduce SHS exposure in the workplace. However, smoking behaviors and related activities seemed to shift to less restrictive areas such as on the streets and in apartment hallways, negating some of the effects due to these ordinances. Future studies should investigate how smoke-free policies beyond public places can further reduce the SHS exposure in ROK

    Beam scanning by liquid-crystal biasing in a modified SIW structure

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    A fixed-frequency beam-scanning 1D antenna based on Liquid Crystals (LCs) is designed for application in 2D scanning with lateral alignment. The 2D array environment imposes full decoupling of adjacent 1D antennas, which often conflicts with the LC requirement of DC biasing: the proposed design accommodates both. The LC medium is placed inside a Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) modified to work as a Groove Gap Waveguide, with radiating slots etched on the upper broad wall, that radiates as a Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA). This allows effective application of the DC bias voltage needed for tuning the LCs. At the same time, the RF field remains laterally confined, enabling the possibility to lay several antennas in parallel and achieve 2D beam scanning. The design is validated by simulation employing the actual properties of a commercial LC medium

    Undergraduate and Graduate Course Descriptions, 2023 Spring

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    Wright State University undergraduate and graduate course descriptions from Spring 2023

    Design and Development of Biofeedback Stick Technology (BfT) to Improve the Quality of Life of Walking Stick Users

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    Biomedical engineering has seen a rapid growth in recent times, where the aim to facilitate and equip humans with the latest technology has become widespread globally. From high-tech equipment ranging from CT scanners, MRI equipment, and laser treatments, to the design, creation, and implementation of artificial body parts, the field of biomedical engineering has significantly contributed to mankind. Biomedical engineering has facilitated many of the latest developments surrounding human mobility, with advancement in mobility aids improving human movement for people with compromised mobility either caused by an injury or health condition. A review of the literature indicated that mobility aids, especially walking sticks, and appropriate training for their use, are generally prescribed by allied health professionals (AHP) to walking stick users for rehabilitation and activities of daily living (ADL). However, feedback from AHP is limited to the clinical environment, leaving walking stick users vulnerable to falls and injuries due to incorrect usage. Hence, to mitigate the risk of falls and injuries, and to facilitate a routine appraisal of individual patient’s usage, a simple, portable, robust, and reliable tool was developed which provides the walking stick users with real-time feedback upon incorrect usage during their activities of daily living (ADL). This thesis aimed to design and develop a smart walking stick technology: Biofeedback stick technology (BfT). The design incorporates the approach of patient and public involvement (PPI) in the development of BfT to ensure that BfT was developed as per the requirements of walking stick users and AHP recommendations. The newly developed system was tested quantitatively for; validity, reliability, and reproducibility against gold standard equipment such as the 3D motion capture system, force plates, optical measurement system for orientation, weight bearing, and step count. The system was also tested qualitatively for its usability by conducting semi-informal interviews with AHPs and walking stick users. The results of these studies showed that the newly developed system has good accuracy, reported above 95% with a maximum inaccuracy of 1°. The data reported indicates good reproducibility. The angles, weight, and steps recorded by the system during experiments are within the values published in the literature. From these studies, it was concluded that, BfT has the potential to improve the lives of walking stick users and that, with few additional improvements, appropriate approval from relevant regulatory bodies, and robust clinical testing, the technology has a huge potential to carve its way to a commercial market

    A Systematic Review of Intercultural Communication Competence Development in CEFR- Aligned English Proficiency Textbooks

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    The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is a well-established outline that describes language learners’ abilities to use language and categorises what a learner can do using a six-point scale from basic users (A1) to proficient users (C2). CEFR offers a structure for developing language curriculum and syllabus, textbook, testing, and measuring and evaluating learning outcomes from kindergarten to tertiary levels (Little, 2016). As CEFR gains prominence within the curriculum and the global landscape becomes increasingly diverse, the question arises as to whether the learning resources in CEFR-aligned English textbooks adequately address ICC’s objectives and provide a comprehensive representation of cultural knowledge. Hence, the primary objective of this systematic review is to analyse current studies that investigate the incorporation of cultural material within English textbooks aligned with the CEFR framework, explicitly focusing on university-level students. The anticipated outcomes of this review are poised to provide a more lucid understanding of the prevailing theoretical and pedagogical challenges concerning integrating cultural elements into CEFR-aligned textbooks and ultimately seek to augment the level of ICC of university students

    Brain Computations and Connectivity [2nd edition]

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    This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Brain Computations and Connectivity is about how the brain works. In order to understand this, it is essential to know what is computed by different brain systems; and how the computations are performed. The aim of this book is to elucidate what is computed in different brain systems; and to describe current biologically plausible computational approaches and models of how each of these brain systems computes. Understanding the brain in this way has enormous potential for understanding ourselves better in health and in disease. Potential applications of this understanding are to the treatment of the brain in disease; and to artificial intelligence which will benefit from knowledge of how the brain performs many of its extraordinarily impressive functions. This book is pioneering in taking this approach to brain function: to consider what is computed by many of our brain systems; and how it is computed, and updates by much new evidence including the connectivity of the human brain the earlier book: Rolls (2021) Brain Computations: What and How, Oxford University Press. Brain Computations and Connectivity will be of interest to all scientists interested in brain function and how the brain works, whether they are from neuroscience, or from medical sciences including neurology and psychiatry, or from the area of computational science including machine learning and artificial intelligence, or from areas such as theoretical physics

    1-D broadside-radiating leaky-wave antenna based on a numerically synthesized impedance surface

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    A newly-developed deterministic numerical technique for the automated design of metasurface antennas is applied here for the first time to the design of a 1-D printed Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA) for broadside radiation. The surface impedance synthesis process does not require any a priori knowledge on the impedance pattern, and starts from a mask constraint on the desired far-field and practical bounds on the unit cell impedance values. The designed reactance surface for broadside radiation exhibits a non conventional patterning; this highlights the merit of using an automated design process for a design well known to be challenging for analytical methods. The antenna is physically implemented with an array of metal strips with varying gap widths and simulation results show very good agreement with the predicted performance

    Occupational Therapy Strategies for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome

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    Effectiveness of occupational therapy strategies with adults with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome

    Applications

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    Volume 3 describes how resource-aware machine learning methods and techniques are used to successfully solve real-world problems. The book provides numerous specific application examples: in health and medicine for risk modelling, diagnosis, and treatment selection for diseases in electronics, steel production and milling for quality control during manufacturing processes in traffic, logistics for smart cities and for mobile communications
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