Biomedical subjects

R Vandenhouten

Publications and source records attributed to R Vandenhouten.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Phase transitions in the common brainstem and related systems investigated by nonstationary time series analysis.

Neuronal activities of the reticular formation (RF) of the lower brainstem and the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS, first relay station of baroreceptor afferents) were recorded together in the anesthized dog with related parameters of EEG, respiration and cardiovascular system. The RF neurons are part of the common brainstem system (CBS) which participates in regulation and coordination of cardiovascular, respiratory, somatomotor systems, and vigilance. Multiple time series of these physiological subsystems yield useful information about internal dynamic coordination of the organism. Essential problems are nonlinearity and instationarity of the signals, due to the dynamic complexity of the systems. Several time-resolving methods are presented to describe nonlinear dynamic couplings in the time course, particularly during phase transitions. The methods are applied to the recorded signals representing the complex couplings of the physiological subsystems. Phase transitions in these systems are detected by recurrence plots of the instationary signals. The pointwise transinformation and the pointwise conditional coupling divergence are measures of the mutual interaction of the subsystems in the state space. If the signals show marked rhythms, instantaneous frequencies and their shiftings are demonstrated by time frequency distributions, and instantaneous phase differences show couplings of oscillating subsystems. Transient signal components are reconstructed by wavelet packet time selective transient reconstruction. These methods are useful means for analyzing coupling characteristics of the complex physiological system, and detailed analyses of internal dynamic coordination of subsystems become possible. During phase transitions of the functional organization (a) the rhythms of the central neuronal activities and the peripheral systems are altered, (b) changes in the coupling between CBS neurons and cardiovascular signals, respiration and the EEG, and (c) between NTS neurons (influenced by baroreceptor afferents) and CBS neurons occur, and (d) the processing of baroreceptor input at the NTS neurons changes. The results of this complex analysis, which could not be done formerly in this manner, confirm and complete former investigations on the dynamic organization of the CBS with its changing relations to peripheral and other central nervous subsystems.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2000

Nonstationary time-series analysis applied to investigation of brainstem system dynamics.

Previous investigations of the dynamic organization of the lower brainstem and its relation to peripheral and other central nervous systems were predominantly performed by linear methods. These are based on time-averaging algorithms, which merely can be applied to stationary signal intervals. Thus, the current concept of the common brainstem system (CBS) in the reticular formation (RF) of the lower brainstem and basic types of its functional organization have been developed. Here, we present experiments where neuronal activities of the RF and the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS, first relay station of baroreceptor afferents) were recorded together with related parameters of electroencephalogram (EEG), respiration, and cardiovascular system. The RF neurons are part of the CBS, which participates in regulation and coordination of cardiovascular, respiratory, and motor systems, and vigilance. The physiological time series, thus acquired, yield information about the internal dynamic coordination of the participating regulation processes. The major problem in evaluating these data is the nonlinearity and nonstationarity of the signals. We used a set of especially designed time resolving methods to evaluate nonlinear dynamic couplings in the interaction between CBS neurons and cardiovascular signals, respiration and the EEG, and between NTS neurons (influenced by baroreceptor afferents) and CBS neurons.

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PubMedDate not supplied

3D colour visualization of label images using volume rendering techniques.

Volume rendering methods for the visualization of 3D image data sets have been developed and collected in a C library. The core algorithm consists of a perspective ray casting technique for a natural and realistic view of the 3D scene. New edge operator shading methods are employed for a fast and information preserving representation of surfaces. Control parameters of the algorithm can be tuned to have either smoothed surfaces or a very detailed rendering of the geometrical structure. Different objects can be distinguished by different colours. Shadow ray tracing has been implemented to improve the realistic impression of the 3D image. For a simultaneous representation of objects in different depths, hiding each other, two types of transparency mode are used (wireframe and glass transparency). Single objects or groups of objects can be excluded from the rendering (peeling). Three orthogonal cutting planes or one arbitrarily placed cutting plane can be applied to the rendered objects in order to get additional information about inner structures, contours, and relative positions.

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