Efficacy of Biophysiological Measurements at FTFPs for Facial Expression Classification: A Validation

Recent works suggest that thermal intensity values (TIVs) measured around the facial thermal feature points (FTFPs) can help in distinguishing between the facial expression of affective states. This work investigates if the average pixel grey-levels, instead of TIVs, measured in sub-image masks around the FTFPs allow classifying facial expressions. Thermal infrared images from the IEEE OTCBVS database were used to distinguish between facial expressions. The pixel grey-levels measured in sub-image masks were used to measure, for each individual, the Euclidean distance between images of different facial expressions. Linear discriminant analysis was performed to obtain hyper-planes for separating the clusters of sample images. Significant pixel grey-level differences were observed at FTFPs between three facial expressions; neutral, happy, and angry. More than 96 of the original images in a three-expression Gaussian mixture model were separable and clustered around distant centroids in a discriminant space

Rupture of the NovaFlex balloon during transcatheter aortic valve implantation and subsequent dissection of the right iliac arteries

We report a case with a very rare complication of transcatheter aortic valve implantation. Rupture of the NovaFlex balloon (Edwards transfemoral balloon catheter) occurred during the inflation of the Edwards SAPIEN valve, resulting in dissection of the right common and external iliac arteries during withdrawal of the balloon catheter. The NovaFlex balloon is a part of the Edwards NovaFlex XT transfemoral delivery system

Cystatin C and NGAL as Biomarkers for Early Detection of Acute Kidney Injury in Geriatrics

WOS: 000406051800014Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with cardiovascular mortality and morbidity especially in high-risk patients undergoing cardiac surgery. It ranges from 7.7% to 28.1% in different studies. The aim of this study was to compare cystatin C and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) with Creatinine as an early marker for acute kidney injury in geriatrics. From 2013 through 2015, 307 consecutive high-risk elderly patients older than 70 years undergoing emergency coronary artery bypass grafting using extracorporeal circulation were studied. All patients underwent diagnostic coronary angiography and the surgical procedure within 1 week in single hospital stay and were randomized according to timing of interval between coronary angiographyand cardiac procedure as follows: group I, less than 2 days; group II, between 2 and 4 days; and group III, higher than 4 days. Renal function was analyzed by serum cystatin C, NGAL, and creatinine. Blood samples were obtained from each patient at five time points: basal value before operation, in the four hours after operation, and on the first, third, and fifth postoperative days. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was calculated by Cockcroft-Gault (CG). A total of 56 patients developed postoperative acute kidney failure according to the risk, injury, and failure; and loss; and end-stage kidney disease classification. Perioperative fluid requirements, urine output, and vasopressor need during and after cardiopulmonary bypass were similar. 30-day mortality in groups was higher in group I than group II and group III (P = 0.025). AKI was least prominent in group III compared to group I and group II (P = 0.001) and expectedly, postoperative dialysis requirement was least common in group III (15, 16.66%). Patients in group III had the most favorable clinical outcome with regards to the length of ICU and hospital stay. Overall serum creatinine, cystatin C, and urine NGAL levels changed significantly throughout the entire length of following-up period in group I and group II, but not in group III. Changes in serum levels of cystatin, creatinine, and creatinine clearance were prominent in later than 24 hours. Urinary NGAL was the first variable to rise in the immediate postoperative period. Cystatin GFR was a more rapid marker than serum creatinine GFR to show acute kidney injury in three groups was a significant marker

Cystatin C and NGAL as Biomarkers for Early Detection of Acute Kidney Injury in Geriatrics

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with cardiovascular mortality and morbidity especially in high-risk patients undergoing cardiac surgery. It ranges from 7.7% to 28.1% in different studies. The aim of this study was to compare cystatin C and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) with Creatinine as an early marker for acute kidney injury in geriatrics. From 2013 through 2015, 307 consecutive high-risk elderly patients older than 70 years undergoing emergency coronary artery bypass grafting using extracorporeal circulation were studied. All patients underwent diagnostic coronary angiography and the surgical procedure within 1 week in single hospital stay and were randomized according to timing of interval between coronary angiographyand cardiac procedure as follows: group I, less than 2 days; group II, between 2 and 4 days; and group III, higher than 4 days. Renal function was analyzed by serum cystatin C, NGAL, and creatinine. Blood samples were obtained from each patient at five time points: basal value before operation, in the four hours after operation, and on the first, third, and fifth postoperative days. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was calculated by Cockcroft-Gault (CG). A total of 56 patients developed postoperative acute kidney failure according to the risk, injury, and failure; and loss; and end-stage kidney disease classification. Perioperative fluid requirements, urine output, and vasopressor need during and after cardiopulmonary bypass were similar. 30-day mortality in groups was higher in group I than group II and group III (P = 0.025). AKI was least prominent in group III compared to group I and group II (P = 0.001) and expectedly, postoperative dialysis requirement was least common in group III (15, 16.66%). Patients in group III had the most favorable clinical outcome with regards to the length of ICU and hospital stay. Overall serum creatinine, cystatin C, and urine NGAL levels changed significantly throughout the entire length of following-up period in group I and group II, but not in group III. Changes in serum levels of cystatin, creatinine, and creatinine clearance were prominent in later than 24 hours. Urinary NGAL was the first variable to rise in the immediate postoperative period. Cystatin GFR was a more rapid marker than serum creatinine GFR to show acute kidney injury in three groups was a significant marker

Failure characteristics of self-compacting concretes made with recycled aggregates

WOS: 000363069800036This study addresses the properties of self-compacting concretes (SCCs) produced with recycled coarse aggregates (RCAs) and/or recycled fine aggregates (RFAs) compared to SCCs with natural aggregates (NAs). The SCC mixtures were designed with a constant slump flow of 680 +/- 30 mm and two water/binder (w/b) ratios of 0.3 and 0.43. Silica fume (SF) was also used at two replacement levels of 0% and 10%. Hardened properties of the SCCs were evaluated in terms of compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, static modulus of elasticity, and net flexural strength after 56 days of water curing. Failure mechanism of the concretes was also monitored via three-point bending test on the notched beams. The results indicated that failure occurred throughout the recycled aggregates (RAs) which in-turn decreased the mechanical properties of SCCs. However, SCCs with both fine and coarse RAs (RCAs + RFAs) had relatively worse performance than those with only RCAs or RFAs such that the reduction in strength was about 30% as compared to the corresponding reference mixes. Moreover, incorporating SF and decreasing w/b ratio improved the mechanical properties of SCCs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Snowflakes:A Prototyping Tool for Computational Jewelry

Smart-jewelry design has many layers such as comfort, ergonomics, fashionability, interactivity and functionality that create a complex design process, making the form exploration challenging. Various wearable prototyping tools were developed to overcome this chal-lenge; however, they are usually textile-based and do not target smart jewelry design. To bridge this gap, we developed Snowfakes that diferentiates from existing tools by 1) allowing designers to ex-plore diferent jewelry forms, 2) incorporating external materials such as leather, 3) creating form factors that ft body parts with fexible con-nectors. In this paper, we explain the design process of Snowfakeswhich is inspired by 7 design parameters (limbs, materials, grip, fastener, decoration, placement, form) extracted through the ex-amination of non-smart jewelry. We also demonstrate three reim-plementations and design concepts implemented with Snowfakes.Our exploration with Snowfakes contributes to the wearable community in terms of smart-jewelry visual expressions, interaction modalities, and merger of traditional and computational materials.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Staged or Combined Approach for Carotid Endarterectomy in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: A 5-Year-Long Experience

Background: Optimal surgical approach for patients with hemodynamically significant carotid and coronary disease remains controversial. We analyzed our 5-year experience and compared early and long-term outcome following staged and combined carotid and coronary artery bypass

Comparison of camel, buffalo, cow, goat, and sheep yoghurts in terms of various physicochemical, biochemical, textural and rheological properties

Comparative physicochemical, biochemical, textural, and rheological properties of yoghurts produced using buffalo, camel, cow, goat, and sheep milk were analysed. The physicochemical, textural, and rheological properties were determined over a 14-day storage period. Different animal milk types had a significant effect on all physicochemical analyses, fatty acid composition, conjugated linoleic acid content, cholesterol content, all amino acids except asparagine, ACE inhibitory activity, citric acid, and orotic acid, as well as other textural and rheological properties, except flow index n parameter. The storage period had a very significant effect on titratable acidity, pH value, firmness, consistency, cohesiveness, and yield stress τ0 parameters. Compared with other yoghurts studied, camel yoghurt was richer in terms of myristic acid from saturated fatty acids, ∑PUFA, arginine, lysine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, valine from essential amino acids, glutamic acid, and proline from non-essential amino acids, ACE inhibitory activity value, and hippuric and orotic acids

Rupture of the NovaFlex balloon during transcatheter aortic valve implantation and subsequent dissection of the right iliac arteries

We report a case with a very rare complication of transcatheter aortic valve implantation. Rupture of the NovaFlex balloon (Edwards transfemoral balloon catheter) occurred during the inflation of the Edwards SAPIEN valve, resulting in dissection of the right common and external iliac arteries during withdrawal of the balloon catheter. The NovaFlex balloon is a part of the Edwards NovaFlex XT trans-femoral delivery system

Importance of diaphragm thickness in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients with diaphragm pacing system implantation

Introduction Severe respiratory failure develops as a result of the involvement of the respiratory muscles in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Implantation of diaphragm pacing system (DPS) has been carried out on ALS patients since 2005 to avoid these situations, but the importance of diaphragm thickness has not yet been established clearly