Electric Field Measurement of the Living Human Body for Biomedical Applications: Phase Measurement of the Electric Field Intensity

The authors are developing a technique for conducting measurements inside the human body by applying a weak electric field at a radio frequency (RF). Low RF power is fed to a small antenna, and a similar antenna located 15–50 cm away measures the electric field intensity. Although the resolution of the method is low, it is simple, safe, cost-effective, and able to be used for biomedical applications. One of the technical issues suggested by the authors' previous studies was that the signal pattern acquired from measurement of a human body was essentially different from that acquired from a phantom. To trace the causes of this difference, the accuracy of the phase measurements was improved. This paper describes the new experimental system that can measure the signal phase and amplitude and reports the results of experiments measuring a human body and a phantom. The results were analyzed and then discussed in terms of their contribution to the phase measurement.ope

Evaluation Factors of Clinical Decision Support System in u_Healthcare Service

Automated intelligent, clinical decision support systems generally promote to help or to assist physicians and patients regarding to prevention of diseases or treatment of illnesses using computer represented knowledge and information. In this paper, assessment factors affecting the proper design of clinical decision support system were investigated. The required procedure steps for gathering the data from clinical trial and extracting the information from large volume of healthcare repositories were listed, which are necessary for validation and verification of evidence-based implementation of clinical decision support system. The goal of this paper is to extract useful evaluation factors affecting the quality of the clinical decision support system in the design, development, and implementation of a computer-based decision support system.ope

Study of The Amorphous Selenium (a-Se) using 2-dimensional Device Simulator

Digital X-ray image detector has been applied for medical and industrial fields. Photoconductors have been used to convert the X-ray energy to electrical signal on the direct digital X-ray image detector and amorphous selenium (a-Se) has been used as a photoconductor, normally. In this work, we use 2-dimensional device (2-D) simulator to study about physical phenomena in the a-Se, when we irradiate electromagnetic radiation (λ=486 ㎚) on the a-Se surface. We evaluate the electron-hole generation rate, electron-hole recombination rate, and electron/hole distribution in the a-Se using 2-D simulator. This simulator divides the device into triangle and calculates using interpolation method. This simulation method has been proposed for the first time and we expect that it will be applied for the development of digital X-ray image detector.ope

Gas Typed Digital X-ray Image Sensor Using PDP Fabrication Process

Parallel-plate-type scanning sensors have been commercially used for X-ray imaging sensors. In this study, we manufactured the scan typed 1D X-ray image sensor that can be used to obtain scanning images, by using the plasma display panel (PDP) fabrication process. We fabricated drift and pixel electrodes in the glass chamber and injected Xe gas at atmospheric pressure. We evaluated the intensity of a pixel signal depending on the bias voltage on the drift electrode and investigated the characteristics of shielding effect on the single pixel using lead (Pb). The adsorption rate of X-ray photon is low (4%) on the soda lime glass (1.1㎜) and the electrical signal detected on the X-ray sensor was increased in the high bias voltage. We acquired digital X-ray scanning image with our DAS (data acquisition system) and sensor scanning system.ope

Improvement of Fetal Heart Rate Extraction from Doppler Ultrasound Signal

Continuous fetal heart beat monitoring has assisted clinicians in assuring fetal well-being during antepartum and intrapartum. Fetal heart rate (FHR) is an important parameter of fetal health during pregnancy. The Doppler ultrasound is one of very useful methods that can non-invasively measure FHR. Although it has been commonly used in clinic, inaccurate heart rate reading has not been completely resolved.. The objective of this study is to improve detection algorithm of FHR from Doppler ultrasound signal with simple method. We modified autocorrelation function to enhance signal periodicity and adopted adaptive window size and shifted for data segment to be analysed. The proposed method was applied to real measured data, and it was verified that beat-to-beat FHR estimation result was comparable with the reference fetal ECG data. This simple and effective method is expected to be implemented in the embedded system.ope

Measurement of the excessive stimulus time after the sensory threshold level during electric pulp testing

Use of electric pulp testing elicits painful response in vital teeth. In this study, we examined the excessive time from pain feeling to stimulation disconnection in clinical situation. D626D (Parkell Inc., USA.) scan type electric pulp tester was used in total of 23 young healthy individuals. Each of the right central incisors and first premolars were used as testing teeth. Stimulation disconnection was achieved by EMG in anterior belly of digastric muscle, finger span, and voice and the excessive stimulation time over the sensory threshold was recorded. As a result, we found that the short responses before the stimulation disconnection appeared following order; EMG, finger span, and voice. The EMG disconnection is suggested to be used to reduce the excessive stimulus time in electric pulp testing.ope

Real-Time Measurement of 3-Dimensional Eye Movements by Videooculography

Background and Objectives：In order to analyze and understand the oculomotor system completely, it is essential to measure horizontal, vertical, and torsional eye movements. We developed a new system of 3-dimensional videooculography that can accurately estimate the pupil center and measure torsional eye movement in real time while minimizing the errors caused by upper eyelid droop, eyelashes, corneal reflection, and eye blinking. Materials and Method：For accurate estimation of the center and diameter of the pupil, the edges of the pupil were searched by using a sector-form window and circle fitting was performed using the least square regression. Torsional eye movement was measured using polar cross-correlation technique with modification to lessen the errors produced by the change in pupil size. Calibrations were performed and to verify the proposed system, the linearity between the measured and actual eye movements was measured. Also, the results of the proposed system were compared with those of another commercialized system. Results： The linearity between the measured and actual eye movements showed errors of less than 1%. The spatial resolutions of the system for horizontal, vertical, and torsional eye movements were 0.3, 0.4, and 0.2, respectively whereas the temporal resolution was 30 frames/sec. In comparison to the commercialized system, our system showed less artifact by eye blinking when measuring vertical eye movement. Conclusion：We proposed an algorithm and a system for measuring horizontal, vertical, and torsional eye movements which minimized the influence of partial eyelid closure, eyelashes, corneal reflections, and change in pupil size. Key Words：Eye movement Vestibulo ocular reflex, Measurement.ope

Comparison of Survival Prediction of Rats with Hemorrhagic Shocks Using Artificial Neural Network and Support Vector Machine

shock makes it possible for physician to treat successfully. The objective of this paper was to select an optimal classifier model using physiological signals from rats measured during hemorrhagic experiment. This data set was used to train and predict survival rate using artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM). To avoid over-fitting, we chose the best classifier according to performance measured by a 10-fold cross validation method. As a result, we selected ANN having three hidden nodes with one hidden layer and SVM with Gaussian kernel function as trained prediction model, and the ANN showed 88.9 % of sensitivity, 96.7 % of specificity, 92.0 % of accuracy and the SVM provided 97.8 % of sensitivity, 95.0 % of specificity, 96.7 % of accuracy. Therefore, SVM was better than ANN for survival prediction.ope

Development of Time Varying Kalman Smoother for Extracting Fetal ECG using Independent Component Analysis : Preliminary Study

Fetal heart rate monitoring is important information to assess fetal well-being. Non-invasive fetal ECG (electrocardiography) can be derived from maternal abdominal signal. And various promising signal processing methods have been introduced to extract fetal ECG from mother’s composite abdominal signal. However, non-invasive fetal ECG monitoring still has not been widely used in clinical practice due to insufficient reliable measurement and difficulty of signal processing. In application of signal processing method to extract fetal ECG, it might be lower signal to noise ratio due to time varying white Gaussian noise. In this paper, time varying Kalman smoother is proposed to remove white noise in fetal ECG and its feasibility is confirmed. Wiener process was set as Kalman system model and covariance matrix was modified according to white Gaussian noise level. Modified error covariance matrix changed Kalman gain and degree of smoothness. Optimal covariance matrix according to various amplitude in Gaussian white noise was extracted by 5 channel fetal ECG model, and feasibility of proposed method could be confirmed.ope

The location of locoregional recurrence in pathologic T3N0, non-irradiated lower rectal cancer

PURPOSE: To investigate the patterns of locoregional recurrence of pathologic T3N0 (pT3N0) lower rectal cancer omitting postoperative radiotherapy (RT) and explore the potential of modification of a RT field. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From Jan 2003 to Nov 2011, 35 patients omitting preoperative or postoperative RT for pT3N0 lower rectal cancer were included. We defined the lower rectal cancer as the tumor with the inferior margin located below the virtual line-a convergent level between rectal wall and levator ani muscle. All patients had radiologic examinations for recurrence evaluation during the follow-up duration. RESULTS: The median follow-up duration was 66.4 months (range, 1.4 to 126.1 months). Eight (22.9%) of the 35 patients had recurrence. Three (8.6%) was local recurrence (LR) only, 3 (8.6%) was distant metastasis (DM) only, and 2 (5.7%) was LR with DM. All LR were located at primary tumor sites. The overall survival rate, LR-free survival rate, and DM-free survival rate at 5 years was 79.8%, 83%, and 87%, respectively. All LR developed from tumors over 5 cm. However, there was no statistical significance (p = 0.065). There was no other risk factor for LR. CONCLUSION: Even though the patients included in this study had pathologically favorable pT3N0 rectal cancer, LR developed in 14.3% of patients. Most of the LR was located at primary tumor sites prior to surgery. Based on these findings, it might seem reasonable to consider postoperative RT with a smaller radiation field to the primary tumor site rather than the conventional whole pelvic irradiation.ope