Unconstrained video monitoring of breathing behavior and application to diagnosis of sleep apnea

This paper presents a new real-time automated infrared video monitoring technique for detection of breathing anomalies, and its application in the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea. We introduce a novel motion model to detect subtle, cyclical breathing signals from video, a new 3-D unsupervised self-adaptive breathing template to learn individuals' normal breathing patterns online, and a robust action classification method to recognize abnormal breathing activities and limb movements. This technique avoids imposing positional constraints on the patient, allowing patients to sleep on their back or side, with or without facing the camera, fully or partially occluded by the bed clothes. Moreover, shallow and abdominal breathing patterns do not adversely affect the performance of the method, and it is insensitive to environmental settings such as infrared lighting levels and camera view angles. The experimental results show that the technique achieves high accuracy (94% for the clinical data) in recognizing apnea episodes and body movements and is robust to various occlusion levels, body poses, body movements (i.e., minor head movement, limb movement, body rotation, and slight torso movement), and breathing behavior (e.g., shallow versus heavy breathing, mouth breathing, chest breathing, and abdominal breathing). © 2013 IEEE

Augmentation of Mind-body Therapy and Role of Deep Slow Breathing

Mind-body therapies have been shown to be effective in clinical treatment of disorders such as high blood pressure and stress. Significant differences in the effectiveness of mind–body therapies have been shown and a common link among the therapies has yet to be defined. This article overviews the role of slow rhythmic breathing in physiological as well as therapeutic effects of mind-body therapies. Slow deep breathing practice has important implications as it may underlie the basic mechanism that synchronizes the brain with the autonomic response. This article reviews studies that include the effect of deep slow breathing with or without mind-body therapy exercises. In utero studies that monitor patterns of fetal breathing reveal sympathetic activation with irregular, shallow fast breathing movements compared to slow deep breathing. Recognition of respiratory mechanisms in mind-body therapies can lead to development of more effective relaxation exercises that may incorporate deep slow breathing in clinical applications

Flow in New Zealand high-performance athletes and their intentions to use regulated breathing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

Flow, or being “in the zone” (Jackson & Csikszentmihalyi, 1999, p. 12), is associated with athletes’ best-perceived performance (Jackson, Thomas, Marsh, & Smethurst, 2001). Practising regulated breathing could be associated with experiencing flow; the current research sought to identify this potential relationship with New Zealand high-performance adult athletes. New Zealand high-performance adult athletes’ intentions to use regulated breathing in two behaviours (‘practising regulated breathing in a training routine’ or ‘using regulated breathing as a mental skills tool during competition’) along with the components of an individual’s intentions (instrumental and experiential attitudes, injunctive and descriptive norms and capacity and autonomy; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) were also researched. A cross-sectional survey was used to gather data. A t-test showed there was no statistically significant difference in the frequency flow was experienced between participants currently practising regulated breathing against those that were not, t(40) = 0.96, p = .342. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVAs showed the majority of the sample responded that they intended to practice regulated breathing in a training routine (64%) and use regulated breathing as a mental skills tool during competition in the future (76%) with no significant difference across the competition level competing at, F(2,87) = 0.26, p = .774 and F(2,87) = 0.56, p = .575, respectively. Finally, multiple linear regression models showed instrumental attitudes were the only significant predictor of intentions to perform regulated breathing in a training routine (Beta = .68, p < .001) or during competition as a mental skills tool (Beta = .82, p < .001). Participants’ components (instrumental and experiential attitudes, injunctive and descriptive norms and capacity and autonomy) estimated 67% of the variation in their intentions to practice regulated breathing in a training routine and 70% of the variation in their intentions to use regulated breathing as a mental skills tool during competition. Further evidence is needed to confirm the relationship between practising regulated breathing and how frequently flow is experienced. However, regulated breathing interventions could be appealing to New Zealand high-performance athletes

Counter lung

Counter lung, incorporated in closed-loop rebreathing system, accommodates user's breathing tidal volume so that the loop pressure is relatively constant during breathing cycles

Deep Breathing Relaxation Techniques Improve Emotional Control on Tuberculosis Patients

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by Tuberculosis Mycobacterium. Based on WHO report in 2014, the world population suffering from tuberculosis were 9.6 million people while in Indonesia it was amounted 324 539 people. Tuberculosis patients have a tendency to experience emotional disturbance due to the illness. A deep breathing relaxation is a nursing action for controlling emotions of tuberculosis patients. The study design is quasi-experimental design with one group pre-test-post-test. Data were collected by using a questionnaire adapted from Gross and John (2003). Data were analyzed using paired t test. The results of this research is deep breathing relaxation technique is effective to control emotions of tuberculosis patients with p value = 0,001

Breathing mode in the Bose-Hubbard chain with a harmonic trapping potential

We investigate the breathing mode of harmonically trapped bosons in an optical lattice at small site occupancies. The Bose-Hubbard model with a trapping potential is used to describe the breathing-mode dynamics initiated through weak quenches of the trap strength. We connect to results for continuum bosons (Lieb-Liniger and Gross-Pitaevskii results) and also present deviations from continuum physics. We take a spectral perspective, identifying the breathing mode frequency with a particular energy gap in the spectrum of the trapped Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian. We present the low energy eigenspectrum of the trapped many-boson system, and study overlaps of the initial state with eigenstates of the quenched Hamiltonian. There is an intermediate interaction regime, between a "free-boson" limit and a "free-fermion" limit, in which the Bose-Hubbard breathing mode frequency approaches the Gross-Pitaevskii prediction. In addition, we present a striking failure of the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation for describing breathing modes.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Spectral Properties of Holstein and Breathing Polarons

We calculate the spectral properties of the one-dimensional Holstein and breathing polarons using the self-consistent Born approximation. The Holstein model electron-phonon coupling is momentum independent while the breathing coupling increases monotonically with the phonon momentum. We find that for a linear or tight binding electron dispersion: i) for the same value of the dimensionless coupling the quasiparticle renormalization at small momentum in the breathing polaron is much smaller, ii) the quasiparticle renormalization at small momentum in the breathing polaron increases with phonon frequency unlike in the Holstein model where it decreases, iii) in the Holstein model the quasiparticle dispersion displays a kink and a small gap at an excitation energy equal to the phonon frequency w0 while in the breathing model it displays two gaps, one at excitation energy w0 and another one at 2w0. These differences have two reasons: first, the momentum of the relevant scattered phonons increases with increasing polaron momentum and second, the breathing bare coupling is an increasing function of the phonon momentum. These result in an effective electron-phonon coupling for the breathing model which is an increasing function of the total polaron momentum, such that the small momentum polaron is in the weak coupling regime while the large momentum one is in the strong coupling regime. However the first reason does not hold if the free electron dispersion has low energy states separated by large momentum, as in a higher dimensional system for example, in which situation the difference between the two models becomes less significant.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Breathing feedback system with wearable textile sensors

Breathing exercises form an essential part of the treatment for respiratory illnesses such as cystic fibrosis. Ideally these exercises should be performed on a daily basis. This paper presents an interactive system using a wearable textile sensor to monitor breathing patterns. A graphical user interface provides visual real-time feedback to patients. The aim of the system is to encourage the correct performance of prescribed breathing exercises by monitoring the rate and the depth of breathing. The system is straightforward to use, low-cost and can be installed easily within a clinical setting or in the home. Monitoring the user with a wearable sensor gives real-time feedback to the user as they perform the exercise, allowing them to perform the exercises independently. There is also potential for remote monitoring where the user’s overall performance over time can be assessed by a clinician

Breathing dissipative solitons in optical microresonators

Dissipative solitons are self-localized structures resulting from a double balance between dispersion and nonlinearity as well as dissipation and a driving force. They occur in a wide variety of fields ranging from optics, hydrodynamics to chemistry and biology. Recently, significant interest has focused on their temporal realization in driven optical microresonators, known as dissipative Kerr solitons. They provide access to coherent, chip-scale optical frequency combs, which have already been employed in optical metrology, data communication and spectroscopy. Such Kerr resonator systems can exhibit numerous localized intracavity patterns and provide rich insights into nonlinear dynamics. A particular class of solutions consists of breathing dissipative solitons, representing pulses with oscillating amplitude and duration, for which no comprehensive understanding has been presented to date. Here, we observe and study single and multiple breathing dissipative solitons in two different microresonator platforms: crystalline $\mathrm{MgF_2}$ resonator and $\mathrm{Si_3N_4}$ integrated microring. We report a deterministic route to access the breathing state, which allowed for a detailed exploration of the breathing dynamics. In particular, we establish the link between the breathing frequency and two system control parameters - effective pump laser detuning and pump power. Using a fast detection, we present a direct observation of the spatiotemporal dynamics of individual solitons, revealing irregular oscillations and switching. An understanding of breathing solitons is not only of fundamental interest concerning nonlinear systems close to critical transition, but also relevant for applications to prevent breather-induced instabilities in soliton-based frequency combs.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure