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Needle artifact reduction during interventional CT procedures using a silver filter BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2024-03-11 Carlos A. Reynoso-Mejia, Jonathan Troville, Martin G. Wagner, Bernice Hoppel, Fred T. Lee, Timothy P. Szczykutowicz
MAR algorithms have not been productized in interventional imaging because they are too time-consuming. Application of a beam hardening filter can mitigate metal artifacts and doesn’t increase computational burden. We evaluate the ability to reduce metal artifacts of a 0.5 mm silver (Ag) additional filter in a Multidetector Computed Tomography (MDCT) scanner during CT-guided biopsy procedures. A biopsy
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Prediction of the synergistic effect of antimicrobial peptides and antimicrobial agents via supervised machine learning BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2024-01-17 Basak Olcay, Gizem D. Ozdemir, Mehmet A. Ozdemir, Utku K. Ercan, Onan Guren, Ozan Karaman
Infectious diseases not only cause severe health problems but also burden the healthcare system. Therefore, the effective treatment of those diseases is crucial. Both conventional approaches, such as antimicrobial agents, and novel approaches, like antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are used to treat infections. However, due to the drawbacks of current approaches, new solutions are still being investigated
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A pressure monitoring approach for pressure ulcer prevention BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2023-08-11 Bethel Osuagwu, Euan McCaughey, Mariel Purcell
A pressure ulcer (PU) is a debilitating condition that disproportionately affects people with impaired mobility. PUs facilitate tissue damage due to prolonged unrelieved pressure, degrading quality of life with a considerable socio-economic impact. While rapid treatment is crucial, an effective prevention strategy may help avoid the development of PUs altogether. While pressure monitoring is currently
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A novel wearable device for automated real-time detection of epileptic seizures BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2023-07-17 Mikael Habtamu, Keneni Tolosa, Kidus Abera, Lamesgin Demissie, Samrawit Samuel, Yeabsera Temesgen, Elbetel Taye Zewde, Ahmed Ali Dawud
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that has a variety of origins. It is caused by hyperexcitability and an imbalance between excitation and inhibition, which results in seizures. The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have classified epilepsy as a major public health concern. Over 50 million individuals globally are affected by epilepsy which shows that the patient’s family, social,
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Assistive technology: opportunities for societal inclusion of persons with disabilities and independence of the elderly BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2023-07-03 Aliaa Rehan Youssef, Ahmed Morsy
Assistive technology (AT) development worldwide aims to enhance the quality of life for persons with disabilities and elderly, yet its development and commercialization may face challenges. This collection aims at obtaining a better understanding of the hurdles that various stakeholders may face in the successful development and commercialization of AT.
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Effect of cartilaginous rings in tracheal flow with stenosis BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2023-06-01 Humberto Bocanegra Evans, Jose Montoya Segnini, Ali Doosttalab, Joehassin Cordero, Luciano Castillo
In respiratory fluid dynamics research, it is typically assumed that the wall of the trachea is smooth. However, the trachea is structurally supported by a series of cartilaginous rings that create undulations on the wall surface, which introduce perturbations into the flow. Even though many studies use realistic Computer Tomography (CT) scan data to capture the complex geometry of the respiratory
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Optimization design of interdigitated microelectrodes with an insulation layer on the connection tracks to enhance efficiency of assessment of the cell viability BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2023-05-01 Sameh. Sherif, Yehya H. Ghallab, Omnia AbdelRaheem, Laila Ziko, Rania Siam, Yehea Ismail
Microelectrical Impedance Spectroscopy (µEIS) is a tiny device that utilizes fluid as a working medium in combination with biological cells to extract various electrical parameters. Dielectric parameters of biological cells are essential parameters that can be extracted using µEIS. µEIS has many advantages, such as portability, disposable sensors, and high-precision results. The paper compares different
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Fourteen days free-living evaluation of an open-source algorithm for counting steps in healthy adults with a large variation in physical activity level BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2023-04-14 Ivar Holm, Jonatan Fridolfsson, Mats Börjesson, Daniel Arvidsson
The number of steps by an individual, has traditionally been assessed with a pedometer, but increasingly with an accelerometer. The ActiLife software (AL) is the most common way to process accelerometer data to steps, but it is not open source which could aid understanding of measurement errors. The aim of this study was to compare assessment of steps from the open-source algorithm part of the GGIR
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Parametric study of a bubble removing device for hemodialysis BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2023-04-01 Poonnapa Chaichudchaval, Nunthapat Fuangkamonvet, Supajitra Piboonlapudom, Teeranoot Chanthasopeephan
This paper sets out to design a device for removing bubbles during the process of hemodialysis. The concept is to guide the bubbles while traveling through the device and eventually the bubbles can be collected. The design focuses on the analysis of various parameters i.e. inlet diameter, inlet velocity and size of the pitch. The initial diameters of Models 1 and 2 have thread regions of 6 and 10 mm
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Wavelet image scattering based glaucoma detection BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2023-03-02 Hafeez Alani Agboola, Jesuloluwa Emmanuel Zaccheus
The ever-growing need for cheap, simple, fast, and accurate healthcare solutions spurred a lot of research activities which are aimed at the reliable deployment of artificial intelligence in the medical fields. However, this has proved to be a daunting task especially when looking to make automated diagnoses using biomedical image data. Biomedical image data have complex patterns which human experts
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Experimental validation of a portable tidal volume indicator for bag valve mask ventilation BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2022-11-17 Maxey, Benjamin S., White, Luke A., Solitro, Giovanni F., Conrad, Steven A., Alexander, J. Steven
Short-term emergency ventilation is most typically accomplished through bag valve mask (BVM) techniques. BVMs like the AMBU® bag are cost-effective and highly portable but are also highly prone to user error, especially in high-stress emergent situations. Inaccurate and inappropriate ventilation has the potential to inflict great injury to patients through hyper- and hypoventilation. Here, we present
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An open-access plug-in program for 3D modelling distinct material properties of cortical and trabecular bone BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2022-09-24 Roytman, Gregory R., Cutler, Matan, Milligan, Kenneth, Tommasini, Steven M., Wiznia, Daniel H.
Finite element modelling the material behavior of bone in-silico is a powerful tool to predict the best suited surgical treatment for individual patients. We demonstrate the development and use of a pre-processing plug-in program with a 3D modelling image processing software suite (Synopsys Simpleware, ScanIP) to assist with identifying, isolating, and defining cortical and trabecular bone material
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The effects of electrical stimulation on glial cell behaviour BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2022-09-03 Tsui, Christopher T., Lal, Preet, Fox, Katelyn V. R., Churchward, Matthew A., Todd, Kathryn G.
Neural interface devices interact with the central nervous system (CNS) to substitute for some sort of functional deficit and improve quality of life for persons with disabilities. Design of safe, biocompatible neural interface devices is a fast-emerging field of neuroscience research. Development of invasive implant materials designed to directly interface with brain or spinal cord tissue has focussed
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Biomechanical validation of additively manufactured artificial femoral bones BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2022-08-04 Metzner, F., Neupetsch, C., Carabello, A., Pietsch, M., Wendler, T., Drossel, W.-G.
Replicating the mechanical behavior of human bones, especially cancellous bone tissue, is challenging. Typically, conventional bone models primarily consist of polyurethane foam surrounded by a solid shell. Although nearly isotropic foam components have mechanical properties similar to cancellous bone, they do not represent the anisotropy and inhomogeneity of bone architecture. To consider the architecture
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Gold-based nanoplatform for a rapid lateral flow immunochromatographic test assay for gluten detection BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2022-05-20 Momeni, Arefe, Rostami-Nejad, Mohammad, Salarian, Reza, Rabiee, Mohammad, Aghamohammadi, Elham, Zali, Mohammad Reza, Rabiee, Navid, Tay, Franklin R., Makvandi, Pooyan
Gluten, a food allergen, is available in foods derived from wheat, rye and barley. It damages the small intestine and causes celiac disease. Herein, we designed a rapid immunochromatographic lateral flow test assay for detecting the gluten contents of raw materials. In this rapid test, the presence of gluten was screened through the capturing of gliadin (a toxic component of gluten) by two identical
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Prediction of glioma-subtypes: comparison of performance on a DL classifier using bounding box areas versus annotated tumors BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2022-05-19 Ali, Muhaddisa Barat, Gu, Irene Yu-Hua, Lidemar, Alice, Berger, Mitchel S., Widhalm, Georg, Jakola, Asgeir Store
For brain tumors, identifying the molecular subtypes from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is desirable, but remains a challenging task. Recent machine learning and deep learning (DL) approaches may help the classification/prediction of tumor subtypes through MRIs. However, most of these methods require annotated data with ground truth (GT) tumor areas manually drawn by medical experts. The manual
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The size of via holes influence the amplitude and selectivity of neural signals in Micro-ECoG arrays BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2022-03-21 Sethia, Manan, Sahin, Mesut
Electrocorticography (ECoG) arrays are commonly used to record the brain activity both in animal and human subjects. There is a lack of guidelines in the literature as to how the array geometry, particularly the via holes in the substrate, affects the recorded signals. A finite element (FE) model was developed to simulate the electric field generated by neurons located at different depths in the rat
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Efficacy and safety testing of a COVID-19 era emergency ventilator in a healthy rabbit lung model BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2022-03-14 White, Luke A., Maxey, Benjamin S., Solitro, Giovanni F., Takei, Hidehiro, Conrad, Steven A., Alexander, J. Steven
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a substantial and unmet need for low-cost, easily accessible mechanical ventilation strategies for use in medical resource-challenged areas. Internationally, several groups developed non-conventional COVID-19 era emergency ventilator strategies as a stopgap measure when conventional ventilators were unavailable. Here, we compared our FALCON emergency ventilator in a rabbit
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Development of computational models for microtesla-level magnetic brain scanning: a novel avenue for device development BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2022-01-24 Shahrestani, Shane, Zada, Gabriel, Tai, Yu-Chong
Detection of locally increased blood concentration and perfusion is critical for assessment of functional cortical activity as well as diagnosis of conditions such as intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Current paradigms for assessment of regional blood concentration in the brain rely on computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and perfusion blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic
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Training muscle activation patterns of the lower paretic extremity using directional exertion improves mobility in persons with hemiparesis: a pilot study BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-10-29 Bourbonnais, Daniel, Pelletier, René, Azar, Joëlle, Sille, Camille, Goyette, Michel
Controlled static exertion performed in the sagittal plane on a transducer attached to the foot requires coordinated moments of force of the lower extremity. Some exertions and plantarflexion recruit muscular activation patterns similar to synergies previously identified during gait. It is currently unknown if persons with hemiparesis following stroke demonstrate similar muscular patterns, and if force
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Single-cell conventional pap smear image classification using pre-trained deep neural network architectures BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-06-29 Mohammed Aliy Mohammed, Fetulhak Abdurahman, Yodit Abebe Ayalew
Automating cytology-based cervical cancer screening could alleviate the shortage of skilled pathologists in developing countries. Up until now, computer vision experts have attempted numerous semi and fully automated approaches to address the need. Yet, these days, leveraging the astonishing accuracy and reproducibility of deep neural networks has become common among computer vision experts. In this
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3D Printed frames to enable reuse and improve the fit of N95 and KN95 respirators BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-06-07 Malia McAvoy, Ai-Tram N. Bui, Christopher Hansen, Deborah Plana, Jordan T. Said, Zizi Yu, Helen Yang, Jacob Freake, Christopher Van, David Krikorian, Avilash Cramer, Leanne Smith, Liwei Jiang, Karen J. Lee, Sara J. Li, Brandon Beller, Kimberley Huggins, Michael P. Short, Sherry H. Yu, Arash Mostaghimi, Peter K. Sorger, Nicole R. LeBoeuf
In response to supply shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs or “masks”), which are typically single-use devices in healthcare settings, are routinely being used for prolonged periods and in some cases decontaminated under “reuse” and “extended use” policies. However, the reusability of N95 masks is limited by degradation of fit. Possible substitutes, such
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Parameterization of physical properties of layered body structure into equivalent circuit model BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-05-20 Jiho Lee, Sung-Min Park
This study presents a novel technique to develop an equivalent circuit model (ECM) for analyzing the responses of the layered body structure to transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) by parameterizing electrical and geometrical properties.Many classical ECMs are non-parametric because of the difficulty in projecting intrapersonal variability in the physical properties into ECM. However
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Investigation of clinically acceptable agreement between two methods of automatic measurement of limb occlusion pressure: a randomised trial BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-05-08 Luke Hughes, James McEwen
Development of automatic, pneumatic tourniquet technology and use of personalised tourniquet pressures has improved the safety and accuracy of surgical tourniquet systems. Personalisation of tourniquet pressure requires accurate measurement of limb occlusion pressure (LOP), which can be measured automatically through two different methods. The ‘embedded LOP’ method measures LOP using a dual-purpose
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Drug target ranking for glioblastoma multiforme BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-04-26 Radhika Saraf, Shaghayegh Agah, Aniruddha Datta, Xiaoqian Jiang
Glioblastoma Multiforme, an aggressive primary brain tumor, has a poor prognosis and no effective standard of care treatments. Most patients undergoing radiotherapy, along with Temozolomide chemotherapy, develop resistance to the drug, and recurrence of the tumor is a common issue after the treatment. We propose to model the pathways active in Glioblastoma using Boolean network techniques. The network
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3D-printed microplate inserts for long term high-resolution imaging of live brain organoids BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-04-01 Mariana Oksdath Mansilla, Camilo Salazar-Hernandez, Sally L. Perrin, Kaitlin G. Scheer, Gökhan Cildir, John Toubia, Kristyna Sedivakova, Melinda N. Tea, Sakthi Lenin, Elise Ponthier, Erica C. F. Yeo, Vinay Tergaonkar, Santosh Poonnoose, Rebecca J. Ormsby, Stuart M. Pitson, Michael P. Brown, Lisa M. Ebert, Guillermo A. Gomez
Organoids are a reliable model used in the study of human brain development and under pathological conditions. However, current methods for brain organoid culture generate tissues that range from 0.5 to 2 mm of size, which need to be constantly agitated to allow proper oxygenation. The culture conditions are, therefore, not suitable for whole-brain organoid live imaging, required to study developmental
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A carbon nanotubes based in situ multifunctional power assist system for restoring failed heart function BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-03-26 Quanfu Xu, Yuli Yang, Jianwen Hou, Taizhong Chen, Yudong Fei, Qian Wang, Qing Zhou, Wei Li, Jing Ren, Yi-Gang Li
End-stage heart failure is a major risk of mortality. The conductive super-aligned carbon nanotubes sheets (SA-CNTs) has been applied to restore the structure and function of injured myocardium through tissue engineering, and developed as efficient cardiac pacing electrodes. However, the interfacial interaction between SA-CNTs and the surface cells is unclear, and it remains challenge to restore the
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Modified U-Net for liver cancer segmentation from computed tomography images with a new class balancing method BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-03-01 Yodit Abebe Ayalew, Kinde Anlay Fante, Mohammed Aliy Mohammed
Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. It is mostly diagnosed with a computed tomography scan. Nowadays deep learning methods have been used for the segmentation of the liver and its tumor from the computed tomography (CT) scan images. This research mainly focused on segmenting liver and tumor from the abdominal CT scan images using a deep learning method and minimizing the effort
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Approaches in cooling of resistive coil-based low-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems for application in low resource settings BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-02-12 Faith Natukunda, Theodora M. Twongyirwe, Steven J. Schiff, Johnes Obungoloch
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a non-invasive method for the diagnosis of diverse health conditions has experienced growing popularity over other imaging modalities like ultrasound and Computer Tomography. Initially, proof-of-concept and earlier MRI systems were based on resistive and permanent magnet technology. However, superconducting magnets have long held monopoly of the market for MRI systems
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Quantifying the variability between multiple multiplanar reconstructions of computed tomography scans BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-02-01 James E. Miles, Lene E. Buelund
Multiplanar reconstructions of computed tomography (CT) scans can alleviate issues with bone or joint positioning during scan acquisition. The repeatability of these reconstructions is dependent on human operators applying reconstruction criteria, and therefore is subject to error, which could affect measurement reliability for angular or spatial measurements made for orthopaedic surgery. We describe
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Electric field stimulation for tissue engineering applications BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2021-01-05 Christina N. M. Ryan, Meletios N. Doulgkeroglou, Dimitrios I. Zeugolis
Electric fields are involved in numerous physiological processes, including directional embryonic development and wound healing following injury. To study these processes in vitro and/or to harness electric field stimulation as a biophysical environmental cue for organised tissue engineering strategies various electric field stimulation systems have been developed. These systems are overall similar
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Bismuth nanoparticles obtained by a facile synthesis method exhibit antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-10-14 Roberto Vazquez-Munoz, M. Josefina Arellano-Jimenez, Jose L. Lopez-Ribot
Bismuth compounds are known for their activity against multiple microorganisms; yet, the antibiotic properties of bismuth nanoparticles (BiNPs) remain poorly explored. The objective of this work is to further the research of BiNPs for nanomedicine-related applications. Stable Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-coated BiNPs were produced by a chemical reduction process, in less than 30 min. We produced stable
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A novel suprachoroidal microinvasive glaucoma implant: in vivo biocompatibility and biointegration BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-10-14 Ian Grierson, Don Minckler, Marian K. Rippy, Andrew J. Marshall, Nathalie Collignon, Jessica Bianco, Benoit Detry, Murray A. Johnstone
A major challenge for any glaucoma implant is their ability to provide long-term intraocular pressure lowering efficacy. The formation of a low-permeability fibrous capsule around the device often leads to obstructed drainage channels, which may impair the drainage function of devices. These foreign body-related limitations point to the need to develop biologically inert biomaterials to improve performance
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An open-source phase correction toolkit for transcranial focused ultrasound. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-08-14 Changzhu Jin,David Moore,John Snell,Dong-Guk Paeng
The phase correction on transcranial focused ultrasound is essential to regulate unwanted focal point shift caused by skull bone aberration. The aim of the current study was to design and investigate the feasibility of a ray-based phase correction toolkit for transcranial focused ultrasound. The peak pressure at focal area was improved by 140.5 ± 7.0% on target I and 134.8 ± 19.1% on target II using
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Workplace activity classification from shoe-based movement sensors. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-06-24 Jonatan Fridolfsson,Daniel Arvidsson,Frithjof Doerks,Theresa J Kreidler,Stefan Grau
High occupational physical activity is associated with lower health. Shoe-based movement sensors can provide an objective measurement of occupational physical activity in a lab setting but the performance of such methods in a free-living environment have not been investigated. The aim of the current study was to investigate the feasibility and accuracy of shoe sensor-based activity classification in
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Tourniquet-induced nerve compression injuries are caused by high pressure levels and gradients - a review of the evidence to guide safe surgical, pre-hospital and blood flow restriction usage. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-05-28 Bassam A Masri,Andrew Eisen,Clive P Duncan,James A McEwen
Tourniquets in orthopaedic surgery safely provide blood free surgical fields, but their use is not without risk. Tourniquets can result in temporary or permanent injury to underlying nerves, muscles, blood vessels and soft tissues. Advances in safety, accuracy and reliability of surgical tourniquet systems have reduced nerve-related injuries by reducing pressure levels and pressure gradients, but that
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Mechanisms of action, chemical characteristics, and model systems of obesogens. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-04-30 Mallory D Griffin,Sean R Pereira,Megan K DeBari,Rosalyn D Abbott
There is increasing evidence for the role of environmental endocrine disrupting contaminants, coined obesogens, in exacerbating the rising obesity epidemic. Obesogens can be found in everyday items ranging from pesticides to food packaging. Although research shows that obesogens can have effects on adipocyte size, phenotype, metabolic activity, and hormone levels, much remains unknown about these chemicals
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Quaternions as a solution to determining the angular kinematics of human movement. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-03-23 John H Challis
The three-dimensional description of rigid body kinematics is a key step in many studies in biomechanics. There are several options for describing rigid body orientation including Cardan angles, Euler angles, and quaternions; the utility of quaternions will be reviewed and elaborated. The orientation of a rigid body or a joint between rigid bodies can be described by a quaternion which consists of
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A deep error correction network for compressed sensing MRI. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-02-27 Liyan Sun,Yawen Wu,Zhiwen Fan,Xinghao Ding,Yue Huang,John Paisley
CS-MRI (compressed sensing for magnetic resonance imaging) exploits image sparsity properties to reconstruct MRI from very few Fourier k-space measurements. Due to imperfect modelings in the inverse imaging, state-of-the-art CS-MRI methods tend to leave structural reconstruction errors. Compensating such errors in the reconstruction could help further improve the reconstruction quality. In this work
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Human motion component and envelope characterization via wireless wearable sensors. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-02-27 Kaitlyn R Ammann,Touhid Ahamed,Alice L Sweedo,Roozbeh Ghaffari,Yonatan E Weiner,Rebecca C Slepian,Hongki Jo,Marvin J Slepian
The characterization of limb biomechanics has broad implications for analyzing and managing motion in aging, sports, and disease. Motion capture videography and on-body wearable sensors are powerful tools for characterizing linear and angular motions of the body, though are often cumbersome, limited in detection, and largely non-portable. Here we examine the feasibility of utilizing an advanced wearable
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Exploring the role of transtibial prosthetic use in deep tissue injury development: a scoping review. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-01-29 Marisa Graser,Sarah Day,Arjan Buis
The soft tissue of the residual limb in transtibial prosthetic users encounters unique biomechanical challenges. Although not intended to tolerate high loads and deformation, it becomes a weight-bearing structure within the residuum-prosthesis-complex. Consequently, deep soft tissue layers may be damaged, resulting in Deep Tissue Injury (DTI). Whilst considerable effort has gone into DTI research on
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Patterns of lower limb muscular activity and joint moments during directional efforts using a static dynamometer. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2020-01-08 Mathieu Lalumiere,Cloé Villeneuve,Cassandra Bellavance,Michel Goyette,Daniel Bourbonnais
Strength and coordination of lower muscle groups typically identified in healthy subjects are two prerequisites to performing functional activities. These physical qualities can be impaired following a neurological insult. A static dynamometer apparatus that measures lower limb joint moments during directional efforts at the foot was developed to recruit different patterns of muscular activity. The
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Developing preclinical models of neuroblastoma: driving therapeutic testing. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-12-20 Kimberly J Ornell,Jeannine M Coburn
Despite advances in cancer therapeutics, particularly in the area of immuno-oncology, successful treatment of neuroblastoma (NB) remains a challenge. NB is the most common cancer in infants under 1 year of age, and accounts for approximately 10% of all pediatric cancers. Currently, children with high-risk NB exhibit a survival rate of 40–50%. The heterogeneous nature of NB makes development of effective
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Correction to: Osteogenic potential of heterogeneous and CD271-enriched mesenchymal stromal cells cultured on apatite-wollastonite 3D scaffolds. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-12-11 Sylvia Müller,Lyndsey Nicholson,Naif Al Harbi,Elena Mancuso,Elena Jones,Anne Dickinson,Xiao Nong Wang,Kenneth Dalgarno
In the original publication of this article [1] the figures and captions were linked incorrectly. In this correction article the figures & captions are correctly published.
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Exploring physiological signals on people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy for an active trunk support: a case study. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-12-09 Stergios Verros,Laura Peeters,Arjen Bergsma,Edsko E G Hekman,Gijsbertus J Verkerke,Bart F J M Koopman
Arm support devices are available to support people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), but active trunk support devices are lacking. An active trunk support device can potentially extend the reach of the arm and stabilize the unstable trunk of people with DMD. In a previous study, we showed that healthy people were able to control an active trunk support using four different control interfaces
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The problem with skeletal muscle series elasticity. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-12-03 Walter Herzog
Muscles contain contractile and (visco-) elastic passive components. At the latest since Hill’s classic works in the 1930s, it has been known that these elastic components affect the length and rate of change in length of the contractile component, and thus the active force capability of dynamically working muscles. In an attempt to elucidate functional properties of these muscle elastic components
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Models of tendon development and injury. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-11-29 Sophia K Theodossiou,Nathan R Schiele
Tendons link muscle to bone and transfer forces necessary for normal movement. Tendon injuries can be debilitating and their intrinsic healing potential is limited. These challenges have motivated the development of model systems to study the factors that regulate tendon formation and tendon injury. Recent advances in understanding of embryonic and postnatal tendon formation have inspired approaches
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A portable assist-as-need upper-extremity hybrid exoskeleton for FES-induced muscle fatigue reduction in stroke rehabilitation. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-11-19 Ashley Stewart,Christopher Pretty,Xiaoqi Chen
Hybrid exoskeletons are a recent development which combine Functional Electrical Stimulation with actuators to improve both the mental and physical rehabilitation of stroke patients. Hybrid exoskeletons have been shown capable of reducing the weight of the actuator and improving movement precision compared to Functional Electrical Stimulation alone. However little attention has been given towards the
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Determination of physiological parameters for endogenous glucose production in individuals using diurnal data. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-11-15 Mariël F van Stee,Shaji Krishnan,Albert K Groen,Albert A de Graaf
Triple tracer meal experiments used to investigate organ glucose-insulin dynamics, such as endogenous glucose production (EGP) of the liver are labor intensive and expensive. A procedure was developed to obtain individual liver related parameters to describe EGP dynamics without the need for tracers. The development used an existing formula describing the EGP dynamics comprising 4 parameters defined
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In vitro tissue-engineered adipose constructs for modeling disease. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-10-29 Connor S Murphy,Lucy Liaw,Michaela R Reagan
Adipose tissue is a vital tissue in mammals that functions to insulate our bodies, regulate our internal thermostat, protect our organs, store energy (and burn energy, in the case of beige and brown fat), and provide endocrine signals to other organs in the body. Tissue engineering of adipose and other soft tissues may prove essential for people who have lost this tissue from trauma or disease. In
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An automatic nuclei segmentation method based on deep convolutional neural networks for histopathology images. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-10-17 Hwejin Jung,Bilal Lodhi,Jaewoo Kang
Since nuclei segmentation in histopathology images can provide key information for identifying the presence or stage of a disease, the images need to be assessed carefully. However, color variation in histopathology images, and various structures of nuclei are two major obstacles in accurately segmenting and analyzing histopathology images. Several machine learning methods heavily rely on hand-crafted
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Technical feasibility of constant-load and high-intensity interval training for cardiopulmonary conditioning using a re-engineered dynamic leg press. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-10-03 Farouk Chrif,Tobias Nef,Kenneth J Hunt
Leg-press devices are one of the most widely used training tools for musculoskeletal strengthening of the lower-limbs, and have demonstrated important cardiopulmonary benefits for healthy and patient populations. Further engineering development was done on a dynamic leg-press for work-rate estimation by integrating force and motion sensors, power calculation and a visual feedback system for volitional
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Lights, camera, path splitter: a new approach for truly simultaneous dual optical mapping of the heart with a single camera. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-09-27 Rafael Jaimes,Damon McCullough,Bryan Siegel,Luther Swift,James Hiebert,Daniel Mclnerney,Nikki Gillum Posnack
Background Optical mapping of transmembrane voltage and intracellular calcium is a powerful tool for investigating cardiac physiology and pathophysiology. However, simultaneous dual mapping of two fluorescent probes remains technically challenging. We introduce a novel, easy-to-use approach that requires a path splitter, single camera and excitation light to simultaneously acquire voltage and calcium
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Detection of stretch reflex onset based on empirical mode decomposition and modified sample entropy. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-09-26 Mingjia Du,Baohua Hu,Feiyun Xiao,Ming Wu,Zongjun Zhu,Yong Wang
Accurate spasticity assessment provides an objective evaluation index for the rehabilitation treatment of patients with spasticity, and the key is detecting stretch reflex onset. The surface electromyogram of patients with spasticity is prone to false peaks, and its data length is unstable. These conditions decrease signal differences before and after stretch reflex onset. Therefore, a method for detecting
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Human motor decoding from neural signals: a review. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-09-03 Wing-Kin Tam,Tong Wu,Qi Zhao,Edward Keefer,Zhi Yang
Many people suffer from movement disability due to amputation or neurological diseases. Fortunately, with modern neurotechnology now it is possible to intercept motor control signals at various points along the neural transduction pathway and use that to drive external devices for communication or control. Here we will review the latest developments in human motor decoding. We reviewed the various
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User perspective and higher cognitive task-loads influence movement and performance in immersive training environments. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-08-30 Juan Trelles Trabucco,Andrea Rottigni,Marco Cavallo,Daniel Bailey,James Patton,G Elisabeta Marai
In virtual reality (VR) applications such as games, virtual training, and interactive neurorehabilitation, one can employ either the first-person user perspective or the third-person perspective to perceive the virtual environment; however, applications rarely offer both perspectives for the same task. We used a targeted-reaching task in a large-scale virtual reality environment (N=30 healthy volunteers)
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Treadmill training augmented with real-time visualisation feedback and function electrical stimulation for gait rehabilitation after stroke: a feasibility study. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-08-22 Chanwit Phongamwong,Philip Rowe,Karen Chase,Andrew Kerr,Lindsay Millar
Stroke rehabilitation often uses the motor relearning concept that require patients to perform active practice of skill-specific training and to receive feedback. Treadmill training augmented with real-time visualisation feedback and functional electrical stimulation may have a beneficial synergistic effect on motor recovery. This study aims to determine the feasibility of this kind of enhanced treadmill
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Telemetry-controlled simultaneous stimulation-and-recording device (SRD) to study interhemispheric cortical circuits in rat primary somatosensory (SI) cortex. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-08-08 John T Ramshur,Bashir I Morshed,Amy L de Jongh Curry,Robert S Waters
A growing need exists for neuroscience platforms that can perform simultaneous chronic recording and stimulation of neural tissue in animal models in a telemetry-controlled fashion with signal processing for analysis of the chronic recording data and external triggering capability. We describe the system design, testing, evaluation, and implementation of a wireless simultaneous stimulation-and-recording
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Perfusion culture maintained with an air-liquid interface to stimulate epithelial cell organization in renal organoids in vitro. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-07-23 Sachiko Sekiya,Tetsutaro Kikuchi,Tatsuya Shimizu
Organoids derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) or embryonic stem (ES) cells have been evaluated as in vitro models of development and disease. However, maintaining these cells under long-term static culture conditions is difficult because of nutrition shortages and waste accumulation. To overcome these issues, perfusion culture systems are required for organoid technology. A system with a stable
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Skin substitutes are more potent than dermal or epidermal substitutes in stimulating endothelial cell sprouting. BMC Biomed. Eng. Pub Date : 2019-07-17 Hanneke N Monsuur,Ester M Weijers,Susan Gibbs,Lenie J van den Broek
Therapy resistant ulcers are wounds that remain open for a long time period and often arise from chronic venous disease, prolonged pressure or diabetes. For healing of chronic wounds, revitalization of the inert wound bed, which is achieved by angiogenic sprouting of new blood vessels is of great importance. An alternative treatment option to conventional therapies is the use of skin substitutes: dermal