Analysis of neuromuscular disorders using statistical and entropy metrics on surface EMG

This paper introduces the surface electromyogram (EMG) classification system based on statistical and entropy metrics. The system is intended for diagnostic use and enables classification of examined subject as normal, myopathic or neuropathic, regarding to the acquired EMG signals. 39 subjects in total participated in the experiment, 19 normal, 11 myopathic and 9 neuropathic. Surface EMG was recorded using 4-channel surface electrodes on the biceps brachii muscle at isometric voluntary contractions. The recording time was only 5 seconds long to avoid muscle fatigue, and contractions at fiveforce levels were performed, i.e. 10, 30, 50, 70 and 100 % of maximal voluntary contraction. The feature extraction routine deployed the wavelet transform and calculation of the Shannon entropy across all the scales in order to obtain a feature set for each subject. Subjects were classified regarding the extracted features using three machine learning techniques, i.e. decision trees, support vector machines and ensembles of support vector machines. Four 2-class classifications and a 3-class classification were performed. The scored classification rates were the following: 64+-11% for normal/abnormal, 74+-7% for normal/myopathic, 79+-8% for normal/neuropathic, 49+-20% for myopathic/neuropathic, and 63+-8% for normal/myopathic/neuropathic

The Education and training of clinical medical physicists in 25 European, 2 North American and 2 Australasian countries: Similarities and differences

Purpose: The clinical medical physicist is part of a team responsible for safe and competent provision of radiation-based diagnostic examinations and therapeutic practices. To ensure that the physicist can provide an adequate service, sufficient education and training is indispensable. The aim of this study is to provide a structured description of the present status of the clinical medical physicist education and training framework in 25 European, 2 North American and 2 Australasian countries. Methods: For this study, data collection was based on a questionnaire prepared by the European Federation of Organizations in Medical Physics (EFOMP) and filled-in either by the corresponding scientific societies-organizations or by the authors. Results: In the majority of cases, a qualified medical physicist should have an MSc in medical physics and 1–3 years of clinical experience. Education and training takes place in both universities and hospitals and the total duration of the programs ranges from 2.5 to 9 years. In 56% of all European countries, it is mandatory to hold a diploma or license to work as a medical physicist, the situation being similar in Australasian and 4 states of USA. Generally, there are national registers of medical physicists with inclusion on the register being voluntary. There are renewal mechanisms in the registers usually based on a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) system. Conclusions: In conclusion, a common policy is followed in general, on topics concerning education and training as well as the practice of the medical physicist profession, notwithstanding the presence of a few differences

The international context of education, training and certification for medical physicists in Europe, North America and Australasia

A common international education, training and certification framework for medical physicists is not available. Because of this an agreed uniform level of skills and knowledge, which is considered as a prerequisite for the free movement of professionals, does not exist. The aim of this study is to provide a description of the present status of the medical physicist education, training and certification framework in 25 European, 2 North American and 2 Australasian countries and compare this with an international certification model. We find that a common policy is generally followed on education, training and certification as well as on professional practice, notwithstanding a few national differences. Attempts to formulate general guidelines are already in progress based on common features and differences between countries which could be used to inform the development of a truly international certification process for medical physicists