Domestic violence against pregnant women: The role of healthcare professionals

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Improved speech presence probability estimation based on wavelet denoising

A reliable estimator for speech presence probability (SPP) can significantly improve the performance of many speech enhancement algorithms. Previous work showed that a good SPP estimator can be obtained by using a smooth a-posteriori signal to noise ratio (SNR) function, which can be achieved by reducing the noise variance when estimating the speech power spectrum. In this paper, a wavelet based denoising algorithm is proposed for such purpose. We first apply the wavelet transform to the periodogram of a noisy speech signal to generate an oracle for indicating the locations of the noise floor in the periodogram. We then make use of that oracle to selectively remove the wavelet coefficients of the noise floor in the log multitaper spectrum (MTS) of the noisy speech. The remaining wavelet coefficients are then used to reconstruct a denoised MTS and in turn generate a smooth a-posteriori SNR function. Simulation results show that the new SPP estimator outperforms the traditional approaches and enables a significantly improvement in the quality and intelligibility of the enhanced speeches. © 2012 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

New acute treatments for headache

Although we have several acute care medications for the treatment of migraine, we are always looking for new medications to treat our patients. Patients often say that their headaches are not under optimal control and would be happy to try another medication. Patients look for faster onset of relief, more complete relief, no recurrent headache and no adverse events. This article will cover some new and some anticipated acute care products, CGRP antagonists, sumatriptan by iontophoretic patch, sumatriptan by needle-free injections, DHE by oral inhalation and diclofenac potassium in a sachet. Botulinum toxin therapy, although a preventive measure, will be mentioned at the end

Stridor in Asian infants: assessment and treatment

Stridor is the main symptomof upper airway obstruction in infants. It can be congenital or acquired, acute or chronic. Pathologies can be located from the nose down to the trachea. Common causes include laryngomalacia, vocal cord palsy, subglottic stenosis, tracheal anomaly, laryngeal cleft, vascular and lymphatic malformation, laryngeal papillomas, craniofacial abnormalities and even head and neck tumours. In this paper, we will discuss our approach to infants with stridor including assessment with flexible and rigid endoscopy and treatments to various conditions in a tertiary centre. Causes of stridor in infants undergoing rigid laryngotracheobronchoscopy in Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong Medical Centre between 2005 and 2011 will be retrospectively reviewed. Treatments according to various conditions will be discussed. Successful management of these neonates requires accurate diagnosis, early intervention, and multidisciplinary care by ENT surgeons, paediatricians, and paediatric anaesthetists.published_or_final_versio

Live birth and cumulative live birth rates in expected poor ovarian responders defined by the Bologna criteria following IVF/ICSI treatment

Objective: To determine the live birth and cumulative live birth rates of expected poor ovarian responders according to the Bologna criteria and to compare their outcomes with those of expected normal responders Design: Retrospective analysis Setting: University infertility clinic Patients: A total of 1,152 subfertile women undergoing their first in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle Interventions: Women were classified into 4 groups according to the Bologna criteria for comparison Main Outcome Measure(s): Live birth and cumulative live birth rates Results: Women with expected poor response (POR) had the lowest live birth rate than the other 3 groups (23.8%, p = 0.031). Cumulative live birth rates were significantly lower in those with expected POR than those with expected normal ovarian response (NOR) (35.8% vs 62.8%, p3 oocytes, p = 0.006) whereas the live birth rates in fresh cycle did not differ (17.8% vs 30.9%, p = 0.108). Conclusion: Women who were expected POR according to the Bologna criteria had lower live birth and cumulative live birth than expected NOR but they still can achieve reasonable treatment outcomes and IVF treatment should not be precluded. © 2015 Chai et al.published_or_final_versio

Change in volumes and radiation doses of parotid and submandibular glands during intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

This journal suppl. entitled: Proceedings of the American Society for Radiation Oncology 53rd Annual MeetingPoster Viewing Session - PV-Head and Neck: abstract no. 2626OBJECTIVES: To investigate the changes in volumes and radiation doses to parotid and submandibular glands during IMRT for nasopharyngeal carcinoma in an attempt to justify re-planning in the mid-course of IMRT to minimize radiation-induced xerostomia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 33 consecutive patients with stage III to stage IVB nasopharyngeal carcinoma (AJCC Staging Manual 6th Edition) who received concurrent chemoradiation were included in this study. Computed tomography (CT) scans were performed for IMRT planning purposes (PLCT) and at mid-course of IMRT (MCCT) with head and neck …published_or_final_versio

Asymmetric-detection time-stretch optical microscopy (ATOM) for high-contrast and high-speed microfluidic cellular imaging

High-throughput cellular imaging is acclaimed as captivating yet challenging in biomedical diagnostics. We have demonstrated a new imaging modality, asymmetric-detection time-stretch optical microscopy (ATOM), by incorporating a simple detection scheme which is a further advancement in time-stretch microscopy - a viable solution to achieve high-speed and high-throughput cellular imaging. Through the asymmetric-detection scheme in ATOM, the time-stretch image contrast is enhanced through accessing to the phase-gradient information. With the operation in the 1 μm wavelength range, we demonstrate high-resolution and high-contrast cellular imaging in ultrafast microfluidic flow (up to 10 m/s) by ATOM - achieving an imaging throughput equivalent to 100,000 cells/sec. © 2014 SPIE.published_or_final_versio

Construction of online catalog topologies using decision trees

Organization of a Web site is important to help users get the most out of the site. A good Web site should help visitors find the information they want easily. Visitors typically find information by searching for selected terms of interest or by following links from one Web page to another. The first approach is more useful if the visitor knows exactly what he is seeking, while the second approach is useful when the visitor has less of a preconceived notion about what he wants. The organization of a Web site is especially important in the latter case. Traditionally, Web site organization is done by hand. In this paper, we introduce the problem of automatic Web site construction and propose a solution for solving a major step of the problem based on decision tree algorithms. The solution is found to be useful in automatic construction of product catalogs.published_or_final_versio

Views from within a narrative : Evaluating long-term human-robot interaction in a naturalistic environment using open-ended scenarios

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited. Date of acceptance: 16/06/2014This article describes the prototyping of human–robot interactions in the University of Hertfordshire (UH) Robot House. Twelve participants took part in a long-term study in which they interacted with robots in the UH Robot House once a week for a period of 10 weeks. A prototyping method using the narrative framing technique allowed participants to engage with the robots in episodic interactions that were framed using narrative to convey the impression of a continuous long-term interaction. The goal was to examine how participants responded to the scenarios and the robots as well as specific robot behaviours, such as agent migration and expressive behaviours. Evaluation of the robots and the scenarios were elicited using several measures, including the standardised System Usability Scale, an ad hoc Scenario Acceptance Scale, as well as single-item Likert scales, open-ended questionnaire items and a debriefing interview. Results suggest that participants felt that the use of this prototyping technique allowed them insight into the use of the robot, and that they accepted the use of the robot within the scenarioPeer reviewe

Evidence of Airborne Transmission of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Virus

BACKGROUND: There is uncertainty about the mode of transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus. We analyzed the temporal and spatial distributions of cases in a large community outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong and examined the correlation of these data with the three-dimensional spread of a virus-laden aerosol plume that was modeled using studies of airflow dynamics. METHODS: We determined the distribution of the initial 187 cases of SARS in the Amoy Gardens housing complex in 2003 according to the date of onset and location of residence. We then studied the association between the location (building, floor, and direction the apartment unit faced) and the probability of infection using logistic regression. The spread of the airborne, virus-laden aerosols generated by the index patient was modeled with the use of airflow-dynamics studies, including studies performed with the use of computational fluid-dynamics and multizone modeling. RESULTS: The curves of the epidemic suggested a common source of the outbreak. All but 5 patients lived in seven buildings (A to G), and the index patient and more than half the other patients with SARS (99 patients) lived in building E. Residents of the floors at the middle and upper levels in building E were at a significantly higher risk than residents on lower floors; this finding is consistent with a rising plume of contaminated warm air in the air shaft generated from a middle-level apartment unit. The risks for the different units matched the virus concentrations predicted with the use of multizone modeling. The distribution of risk in buildings B, C, and D corresponded well with the three-dimensional spread of virus-laden aerosols predicted with the use of computational fluid-dynamics modeling. CONCLUSIONS: Airborne spread of the virus appears to explain this large community outbreak of SARS, and future efforts at prevention and control must take into consideration the potential for airborne spread of this virus. Copyright © 2004 Massachusetts Medical Society.published_or_final_versio