e-SCP-ECG+ Protocol: An Expansion on SCP-ECG Protocol for Health Telemonitoring—Pilot Implementation

Standard Communication Protocol for Computer-assisted Electrocardiography (SCP-ECG) provides standardized communication among different ECG devices and medical information systems. This paper extends the use of this protocol in order to be included in health monitoring systems. It introduces new sections into SCP-ECG structure for transferring data for positioning, allergies, and five additional biosignals: noninvasive blood pressure (NiBP), body temperature (Temp), Carbon dioxide (CO2), blood oxygen saturation (SPO2), and pulse rate. It also introduces new tags in existing sections for transferring comprehensive demographic data. The proposed enhanced version is referred to as e-SCP-ECG+ protocol. This paper also considers the pilot implementation of the new protocol as a software component in a Health Telemonitoring System

Acute Myocardial Infarction Manifested with Headache

We report a very rare case of a patient who presented with headache as the sole symptom of an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The patient underwent primary percutaneous coronary angioplasty followed by drug-eluting stent implantation and the headache was immediately relieved. The pathophysiologic explanation of the occurrence of headache as a sole manifestation of an AMI is discussed

Environmental Policy and Science Management: Using a Scientometric-specific GIS for E-learning Purposes

Who is the "good scientist" in rural-environmental policy? This is not so self-evident as in the case of private high-tech industry. Developing e-learning system in environmental science management is a challenging task in the area of forest and general rural development policy. Who determines the most "important" scientific information and who controls it? There are algorithms for measuring centrality in information networks. The concepts of closeness and betweenness centrality are used as basic metadata for categorizing the communication type in the rural-environmental policy networks. This paper discusses the development of a GIS-based model which includes region-based scientometrics, regarding policy field communication

eCAD System Design - Applications in Architecture

The rapid advances in learning technologies, computer modeling, multimedia and spatial sciences, as well as the availability of many powerful graphics PCs and workstations, make 3-D modeling-based methods for personalized e-learning with eCAD (modeling) functionality feasible. Personalized eCAD learning is a new term in engineering, environment and architecture education, related to the development of learning educational units (3-D learning objects) with re-usable digital architecture functionality, and introduced to literature for the first time within this paper. In particular, for university education courses in eCAD, digital architecture, design computing and CAAD (reagarding spatial information systems, architectures, monuments, cultural heritage sites, etc.), such a e-learning methodolgy must be able to derive spatial, pictorial, geometric, spatial, topological, learning and semantic information from the target object (a 3-D model) or scene (a 3-D landscape environment) or procedure (a 3-D simulation approach to a phenomenon), in such a way that it can be directly used for e-learning purposes regarding the spatial topology, the history, the architecture, the structure and the temporal (time-based) 3-D geometry of the projected object, scene or procedure. This paper is about the system design of such a e-learning method. For this purpose, the requirements, objectives and pedagogical extensions are presented and discussed. Finaly, a practical project is used to demonstrate the functionality and the performance of the proposed methodology in architectur

Personalized e-Learning Implementation - The GIS Case

Personalized e-learning implementation is recognized as among one of the most interesting research areas in the distance learning Web-based education. In particular, the GIS e-learning initiatives that incorporate —by default— a number of sequencing spatial techniques (i.e. spatial objects selection and sequencing), will well benefit from a welldefined personalized e-learning implementation with embedded spatial functionality. This is the case addressed in this paper. The GIS e-learning implementation introduced in the current paper is based on a set of teaching (lecturing) rules according to the cognitive style of learning preferences of both the learners and the lecturers as well. It is important to note that, in spite of the fact that most of these teaching rules are generic (i.e. domain, view and user independent), there are no so far well-defined and commonly accepted rules on how the learning spatial GIS objects and techniques should be selected and how they should be sequenced to make “instructional sense" in a Web-based GIS course

Mapping the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Emotional Processing: An MEG Study Across Arousal and Valence Dimensions

Electrophysiological and functional neuroimaging findings indicate that the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of emotional dimensions (i.e., valence, arousal) constitute a spatially and temporally distributed emotional network, modulated by the arousal and/or valence of the emotional stimuli. We examined the time course and source distribution of gamma time-locked magnetoencephalographic activity in response to a series of emotional stimuli viewed by healthy adults. We used a beamformer and a sliding window analysis to generate a succession of spatial maps of event-related brain responses across distinct levels of valence (pleasant/unpleasant) and arousal (high/low) in 30–100 Hz. Our results show parallel emotion-related responses along specific temporal windows involving mainly dissociable neural pathways for valence and arousal during emotional picture processing. Pleasant valence was localized in the left inferior frontal gyrus, while unpleasant valence in the right occipital gyrus, the precuneus, and the left caudate nucleus. High arousal was processed by the left orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, and inferior frontal gyrus, as well as the right middle temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, and occipital gyrus. Pleasant by high arousal interaction was localized in the left inferior and superior frontal gyrus, as well as the right caudate nucleus, putamen, and gyrus rectus. Unpleasant by high arousal interaction was processed by the right superior parietal gyrus. Valence was prioritized (onset at ∼60 ms) to all other effects, while pleasant valence was short lived in comparison to unpleasant valence (offsets at ∼110 and ∼320 ms, respectively). Both arousal and valence × arousal interactions emerged relatively early (onset at ∼150 ms, and ∼170 ms, respectively). Our findings support the notion that brain regions differentiate between valence and arousal, and demonstrate, for the first time, that these brain regions may also respond to distinct combinations of these two dimensions within specific time windows

Ibutilide for the Cardioversion of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation during Radiofrequency Ablation of Supraventricular Tachycardias

Direct current electrical cardioversion (DC-ECV) is the preferred treatment for the termination of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) that occurs during radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of supraventricular tachycardias (SVT). Intravenous Ibutilide may be an alternative option in this setting. Thirty-four out of 386 patients who underwent SVT-RFA presented paroxysmal AF during the procedure and were randomized into receiving ibutilide or DC-ECV. Ibutilide infusion successfully cardioverted 16 out of 17 patients (94%) within 17.37 ± 7.87  min. DC-ECV was successful in all patients (100%) within 17.29 ± 3.04  min. Efficacy and total time to cardioversion did not differ between the study groups. No adverse events were observed. RFA was successfully performed in 16 patients (94%) in the ibutilide arm and in all patients (100%) in the DC-ECV arm, p = NS. In conclusion, ibutilide is a safe and effective alternative treatment for restoring sinus rhythm in cases of paroxysmal AF complicating SVT-RFA

Neuroplastic Effects of Combined Computerized Physical and Cognitive Training in Elderly Individuals at Risk for Dementia: An eLORETA Controlled Study on Resting States

The present study investigates whether a combined cognitive and physical training may induce changes in the cortical activity as measured via electroencephalogram (EEG) and whether this change may index a deceleration of pathological processes of brain aging. Seventy seniors meeting the clinical criteria of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were equally divided into 5 groups: 3 experimental groups engaged in eight-week cognitive and/or physical training and 2 control groups: active and passive. A 5-minute long resting state EEG was measured before and after the intervention. Cortical EEG sources were modelled by exact low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA). Cognitive function was assessed before and after intervention using a battery of neuropsychological tests including the minimental state examination (MMSE). A significant training effect was identified only after the combined training scheme: a decrease in the post-compared to pre-training activity of precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex in delta, theta, and beta bands. This effect was correlated to improvements in cognitive capacity as evaluated by MMSE scores. Our results indicate that combined physical and cognitive training shows indices of a positive neuroplastic effect in MCI patients and that EEG may serve as a potential index of gains versus cognitive declines and neurodegeneration. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02313935

E-Learning & Environmental Policy: The case of a politico-administrative GIS

Is an effective knowledge exchange and cooperation between academic community and practitioners possible? Implementation of e-learning in specialized policy fields pertains to the most challenging priorities of ICTs and software engineering. In multidisciplinary academic areas which combine environmental policy studies with positivist subjects (like environmental issues, forest policy, rural development, Landscape Architecture etc), the using of e-learning system in analyzing policy issues steadily gains in importance and is a method which connects the academic community and the researchers with the practitioners and field experts. Such initiatives incorporate a number of politometrics- relevant algorithms embedded in a context of political geography (i.e. visualized hierarchies in different regionrelated policy issues). This is the case addressed in this paper. The GIS learning management system introduced in this paper is based on certain criteria concerning organizational models and region-specific politico-administrative hierarchies. Scenarios of politico-administrative metadata achieving optimal power synergy are extracted through a sequencing technique, combining vector-algebra software and statistics and can be used for both teaching and research purposes

Risk factors for sudden cardiac death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Aim of this study was the evaluation of six non invasive clinical indices as risk factors for sudden death (SD)in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Previous syncope, family history of SD, non sustained ventricular tachycardia, abnormalblood pressure response during exercise, excessive hypertrophy ≥3 cm and left ventricular outflow tract obstructionwith a peak gradient ≥30 mmHg were evaluated in a cohort of 166 patients(112 males, 51.8 ± 15.6 years), followed up for amedian of 32.4 months (range 1 to 209 months). During follow up 13 patients reached study’s endpoints: SD, cardiac arrest,documented sustained ventricular tachycardia and/or Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD)-discharge. Patients havingexperienced syncope or presenting with a Maximum Wall Thickness ≥3cm in echocardiography were more sensitive to SDemergence since they had a 13.07 (95%CI: 4.00-46.95, p < 0.0001) and a 10.07 (95%CI: 2.92-34.79, p = 0.003) greater relativerisk respectively. In our cohort of patients only two of the six ‘recognised’ potential risk factors for SD were found sensitive,a result causing scepticism about the validity of criteria used for ICD implantation in HCM patients for SD prevention