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At least 991 records · Page 55Linked to original sources

PubMed2005

Development of a combined audiovisual and extremity dose monitoring software tool for use in nuclear medicine.

OBJECTIVES: Conventional extremity dose monitoring in nuclear medicine, using thermoluminescent dosimeters, provides a convenient method of determining integral doses from a series of procedures. Although semiconductor extremity probes are able to add time information and allow doses from individual procedures to be determined, it can be difficult to relate individual operations to the dose-time curve. Solutions to this problem have been identified and developed. METHODS: A novel software tool (Extremity Dose Information Package, EDIP) has been developed that uniquely combines and synchronizes two audiovisual and extremity probe data-streams. The value of this extra information was assessed by acquiring audiovisual and extremity dose information in nuclear medicine and radiopharmacy settings. RESULTS: The ability of the software tool to synchronize audiovisual and dose data-streams was verified. Preliminary studies of handling techniques in radiopharmacy and radioiodine administrations using this tool showed areas in which techniques could be adapted to reduce extremity doses, which would have been difficult or impossible to identify using the dose-time information alone. CONCLUSIONS: This low-cost multimedia extremity dose monitoring package can be used, for example, to aid staff training and pinpoint issues with current operating procedures within a clinical nuclear medicine department. Its unique ability to combine and synchronize audiovisual and dosimetry data is also likely to be of benefit to other industries handling unsealed radioactive materials.

Diagnostic Techniques, Radioisotope↗

PubMed2002

Analysis of 435 screw-vent dental implants placed in 161 patients: software enhancement of clinical evaluation.

This paper demonstrates how a computer software program was utilized in a private practice to supplement the clinical evaluation of one implant system. Clinical data were entered into a computer database at the time of implant placement and up to 13 years for follow-up appointments. Data were divided into two groups and subjected to lifetable analyses. The focus group consisted of a machined-titanium, screw-type implant with an internal abutment connection from one manufacturer. The residual database consisted of mixed implant designs with a variety of abutment connections and surfaces from several other manufacturers. Lifetable survival data between the two groups were generated. Cumulative survival rates from 0 to 13 years were 94.2% (n = 435) for the focus group and 90.1% (n = 2339) for the reference group. There were 25 implants lost in the focus group and 11 other implants were deemed "at risk." Survival results from other lifetable analyses are also presented for the two groups. Documentation of empirical clinical data in a computer software database over a period of time can help private practice clinicians better evaluate the dental implant systems used in their practices.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Validation by school nurses of the Nursing Intervention Classification for computer software.

Validation of standardized nursing language for use by specialty nurses is important for the design of computer software. The purposes of this study were to validate the usefulness of the 433 interventions in the Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC) for school nurses and to identify interventions that could be omitted from computer software for school nurses. A school nursing listserv, SCHLRN-L, was used to recruit volunteers. Ninety-three volunteers from the listserv also recruited 26 school nurses who were not members of the listserv. The total sample was 102 school nurses from 25 states and other areas, 76 listserv volunteers, and 26 others. E-mail was used to send and receive the survey forms to portions of the sample. A majority of interventions (n = 241; 56%) were selected as used by more than 50% of the sample. Of these, 53 direct care interventions were selected as used by more than 80% of the sample. Fifty interventions were not used by 100% of the sample. E-mail was a useful means to obtain a national sample and collect data.

Classification↗

PubMed1994

Clinical evaluation of a computerized topography software method for fitting rigid gas permeable contact lenses.

Computerized videokeratoscope software programs now have the ability to assist in the design of rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses and simulate fluorescein patterns. We evaluated the performance of Computed Anatomy's Topographic Modeling System (TMS-1) and its Contact Lens Fitting Program (version 1.41) in fitting RGP lenses in 31 subjects. Computerized topographic analysis, balanced manifest refraction, slit lamp examination, and keratometry were performed. Initial lens parameters were ordered according to manufacturer's programmed recommendations for base curve, power, lens diameter, optic zone diameter, and edge lift. Final lens parameters were based on clinical performance. Lenses were recorded for base curve changes of 0.1 mm or more, power alterations of +/- 0.50 D or more, or for any alteration in diameter/optic zone. Twenty-seven patients were analyzed for all five recommended parameters. Thirteen of 27 patients (48%) required no parameter changes. Nine of 27 patients (33%) required one parameter change, four of 27 patients (15%) required two parameter changes, and one patient (4%) needed three parameters altered. The most prevalent change was a power alteration, required in nine of 27 patients (33%); however, comparisons of all initial to final parameters showed no statistically significant differences. Comparison of initial base curves to that which would have been chosen via standard keratometry also showed no significant difference. This study found the TMS-1 default lens recommendations to be clinically unacceptable. This system, however, could be an alternative method of initial lens selection if used to titrate a fit or if software enhancements are incorporated to account for lens movement and flexure.

Astigmatism↗

PubMed2003

A software tool for analyzing multichannel cochlear implant signals.

A useful and convenient means to analyze the radio frequency (RF) signals being sent by a speech processor to a cochlear implant would be to actually capture and display them with appropriate software. This is particularly useful for development or diagnostic purposes. sCILab (Swiss Cochlear Implant Laboratory) is such a PC-based software tool intended for the Nucleus family of Multichannel Cochlear Implants. Its graphical user interface provides a convenient and intuitive means for visualizing and analyzing the signals encoding speech information. Both numerical and graphic displays are available for detailed examination of the captured CI signals, as well as an acoustic simulation of these CI signals. sCILab has been used in the design and verification of new speech coding strategies, and has also been applied as an analytical tool in studies of how different parameter settings of existing speech coding strategies affect speech perception. As a diagnostic tool, it is also useful for troubleshooting problems with the external equipment of the cochlear implant systems.

Cochlear Implants↗

PubMed2005

Functional cardiac CT and MR: effects of heart rate and software applications on measurement validity.

This study sought to validate different software applications for cardiac function analysis using ECG-gated CT and MR datasets in correlation with underlying heart rate. Ten patients and a set of ventricular phantoms underwent concurrent multislice-CT and cine-MR imaging for evaluation of cardiac function. Datasets from both imaging modalities were evaluated utilizing 2 volumetric analysis tools to determine left ventricular volume and mass. Initially, intraobserver measurement variability was assessed. Detected measurement variability was correlated with underlying absolute magnitude of cardiac volumes and masses. Subsequently, results were statistically evaluated by determining significant data variability depending on imaging modality and choice of evaluation software. Finally, the data variability was correlated with underlying heart rates. This study showed that all analyzed datasets uniformly presented intraobserver variations below 2%, and variability was not related to the magnitude of measurement. Significant measurement accuracy was proven in all calculated parameters obtained from the cardiac phantoms. Acquired patient datasets and calculated functional parameters showed significant data homogeneity, with measurement variability coefficients ranging from 0.935-0.955. CT datasets showed maximal data variability at heart rates below 60 BpM. MR datasets showed maximal data variability at heart rates above 90 BpM. In conclusion, CT and MR datasets allowed an interchangeable utilization of volumetric analysis tools. However, reliable volumetric analysis was limited to an optimal range of cardiac rates for each modality, thus emphasizing the necessity of reporting volumetric measurement results in combination with heart rate to allow for consideration of this possible cause for measurement variation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Software for automated analysis of DNA fingerprinting gels.

Here we describe software tools for the automated detection of DNA restriction fragments resolved on agarose fingerprinting gels. We present a mathematical model for the location and shape of the restriction fragments as a function of fragment size, with model parameters determined empirically from "marker" lanes containing molecular size standards. Automated identification of restriction fragments involves several steps, including: image preprocessing, to put the data in a form consistent with a linear model; marker lane analysis, for determination of the model parameters; and data lane analysis, a procedure for detecting restriction fragment multiplets while simultaneously determining the amplitude curve that describes restriction fragment amplitude as a function of mobility. In validation experiments conducted on fingerprinted and sequenced Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) clones, sensitivity and specificity of restriction fragment identification exceeded 96% on restriction fragments ranging in size from 600 base pairs (bp) to 30,000 bp. The integrated suite of software tools, written in MATLAB and collectively called BandLeader, is in use at the BC Cancer Agency Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) and the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center, and has been provided to the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the Whitehead Institute. Employed in a production mode at the GSC, BandLeader has been used to perform automated restriction fragment identification for more than 850,000 BAC clones for mouse, rat, bovine, and poplar fingerprint mapping projects.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Nonlinear software sensor for monitoring genetic regulation processes with noise and modeling errors.

Nonlinear control techniques by means of a software sensor that are commonly used in chemical engineering could be also applied to genetic regulation processes. We provide here a realistic formulation of this procedure by introducing an additive white Gaussian noise, which is usually found in experimental data. Besides, we include model errors, meaning that we assume we do not know the nonlinear regulation function of the process. In order to illustrate this procedure, we employ the Goodwin dynamics of the concentrations [B. C. Goodwin, (Academic, New York, 1963)] in the simple form recently applied to single gene systems and some operon cases [H. De Jong, J. Comput. Biol. 9, 67 (2002)], which involves the dynamics of the mRNA, given protein and metabolite concentrations. Further, we present results for a three gene case in coregulated sets of transcription units as they occur in prokaryotes. However, instead of considering their full dynamics, we use only the data of the metabolites and a designed software sensor. We also show, more generally, that it is possible to rebuild the complete set of nonmeasured concentrations despite the uncertainties in the regulation function or, even more, in the case of not knowing the mRNA dynamics. In addition, the rebuilding of concentrations is not affected by the perturbation due to the additive white Gaussian noise and also we managed to filter the noisy output of the biological system.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2002

PHENIX: building new software for automated crystallographic structure determination.

Structural genomics seeks to expand rapidly the number of protein structures in order to extract the maximum amount of information from genomic sequence databases. The advent of several large-scale projects worldwide leads to many new challenges in the field of crystallographic macromolecular structure determination. A novel software package called PHENIX (Python-based Hierarchical ENvironment for Integrated Xtallography) is therefore being developed. This new software will provide the necessary algorithms to proceed from reduced intensity data to a refined molecular model and to facilitate structure solution for both the novice and expert crystallographer.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2000

A modular software system for computer-aided surgery and its first application in oral implantology.

Development of complex software applications in image guided therapy (IGT) is often complicated by the fact that providing basic functionality for image processing and user interaction from a graphical user interfaces (GUI) requires considerable manpower for software development. We present a programming environment that combines the high-level image processing library AVW, in-house developed patient-to-image registration procedures, and an interface to position measurement hardware. A specific application can be developed by using Tcl/Tk, a simple platform-independent scripting language, for GUI development. This environment was applied to developing VISIT, a navigation system for computer-aided implant dentistry. VISIT is presented as a result of this paper. Parts of the development environment were made accessible to the public. Future work includes the implementation of video input for connecting ultrasound or fluoroscopy units. We conclude that our approach is well suited to accelerate the development of exploratory new applications of IGT.

Dental Implantation↗

PubMed1999

Techniques for development of safety-related software for surgical robots.

Regulatory bodies require evidence that software controlling potentially hazardous devices is developed to good manufacturing practices. Effective techniques used in other industries assume long timescales and high staffing levels and can be unsuitable for use without adaptation in developing electronic healthcare devices. This paper discusses a set of techniques used in practice to develop software for a particular innovative medical product, an endoscopic camera manipulator. These techniques include identification of potential hazards and tracing their mitigating factors through the project lifecycle.

Marketing of Health Services↗

PubMed2005

Efficient algorithms and software for detection of full-length LTR retrotransposons.

LTR retrotransposons constitute one of the most abundant classes of repetitive elements in eukaryotic genomes. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for detection of full-length LTR retrotransposons in genomic sequences. The algorithm identifies regions in a genomic sequence that show structural characteristics of LTR retrotransposons. Three key components distinguish our algorithm from that of current software - (i) a novel method that preprocesses the entire genomic sequence in linear time and produces high quality pairs of LTR candidates in running time that is constant per pair, (ii) a thorough alignment-based evaluation of candidate pairs to ensure high quality prediction, and (iii) a robust parameter set encompassing both structural constraints and quality controls providing users with a high degree of flexibility. Validation of both our serial and parallel implementations of the algorithm against the yeast genome indicates both superior quality and performance results when compared to existing software.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2003

A software package for the decomposition of long-term multichannel EMG signals using wavelet coefficients.

This paper presents a method to decompose multichannel long-term intramuscular electromyogram (EMG) signals. In contrast to existing decomposition methods which only support short registration periods or single-channel recordings of signals of constant muscle effort, the decomposition software EMG-LODEC (ElectroMyoGram LOng-term DEComposition) is especially designed for multichannel long-term recordings of signals of slight muscle movements. A wavelet-based, hierarchical cluster analysis algorithm estimates the number of classes [motor units (MUs)], distinguishes single MUAPs from superpositions, and sets up the shape of the template for each class. Using three channels and a weighted averaging method to track action potential (AP) shape changes improve the analysis. In the last step, nonclassified segments, i.e., segments containing superimposed APs, are decomposed into their units using class-mean signals. Based on experiments on simulated and long-term recorded EMG signals, our software is capable of providing reliable decompositions with satisfying accuracy. EMG-LODEC is suitable for the study of MU discharge patterns and recruitment order in healthy subjects and patients during long-term measurements.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2006

A comparative study of available software for high-accuracy homology modeling: from sequence alignments to structural models.

An open question in protein homology modeling is, how well do current modeling packages satisfy the dual criteria of quality of results and practical ease of use? To address this question objectively, we examined homology-built models of a variety of therapeutically relevant proteins. The sequence identities across these proteins range from 19% to 76%. A novel metric, the difference alignment index (DAI), is developed to aid in quantifying the quality of local sequence alignments. The DAI is also used to construct the relative sequence alignment (RSA), a new representation of global sequence alignment that facilitates comparison of sequence alignments from different methods. Comparisons of the sequence alignments in terms of the RSA and alignment methodologies are made to better understand the advantages and caveats of each method. All sequence alignments and corresponding 3D models are compared to their respective structure-based alignments and crystal structures. A variety of protein modeling software was used. We find that at sequence identities >40%, all packages give similar (and satisfactory) results; at lower sequence identities (<25%), the sequence alignments generated by Profit and Prime, which incorporate structural information in their sequence alignment, stand out from the rest. Moreover, the model generated by Prime in this low sequence identity region is noted to be superior to the rest. Additionally, we note that DSModeler and MOE, which generate reasonable models for sequence identities >25%, are significantly more functional and easier to use when compared with the other structure-building software.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2006

Clinical evaluation using Custom Control Software technology in coaxial phacoemulsification.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of the Custom Control Software technology in coaxial phacoemulsification. METHODS: This prospective, randomized, double-masked clinical trial was conducted at the Eye Center, Affiliated Second Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University. The patients were grouped according to nuclear sclerosis and randomly assigned to undergo conventional phacoemulsification or phacoemulsification using Millennium Custom Control Software (CCS). All surgeries were performed by a single surgeon. The phaco time and average power of phacoemulsification were recorded and then calculated as absolute phaco time (APT). Visual acuity, pachymetry, endothelial cell density and anterior chamber flare count of both groups were noted at preoperatively day 1 and 3 months after surgery. RESULTS: The APT of the CCS group was statistically lower than Conventional group in grades II, III and IV (P < 0.05) nuclear sclerosis, but the two groups had no statistically significant differences in the grade I group. At day 1 post surgery, there were significant differences in the thickened pachymetry (P = 0.047) and anterior chamber flare counts (P = 0.008) between two groups. At 3 months post surgery, the endothelial cell loss ratio showed statistical difference (P = 0.032) between two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Using CCS technology in coaxial phacoemulsification can provide lower APT and better power efficiency. This new power modulation may make the surgery safer and more effective than Conventional phacoemulsification.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

"Blogs" and "wikis" are valuable software tools for communication within research groups.

Appropriate software tools may improve communication and ease access to knowledge for research groups. A weblog is a website which contains periodic, chronologically ordered posts on a common webpage, whereas a wiki is hypertext-based collaborative software that enables documents to be authored collectively using a web browser. Although not primarily intended for use as an intranet-based collaborative knowledge warehouse, both blogs and wikis have the potential to offer all the features of complex and expensive IT solutions. These tools enable the team members to share knowledge simply and quickly-the collective knowledge base of the group can be efficiently managed and navigated.

Communication↗

PubMed1996

A PC-based software test for measuring alcohol and drug effects in human subjects.

A new software-based visual search and divided-attention test of cognitive performance was developed and evaluated in an alcohol dose-response study with 24 human subjects aged 21-62 years. The test used language-free, color, graphic displays to represent the visuospatial demands of driving. Cognitive demands were increased over previous hardware-based tests, and the motor skills required for the test involved minimal eye movements and eye-hand coordination. Repeated performance on the test was evaluated with a latin-square design by using a placebo and two alcohol doses, low (0.48 g/kg/LBM) and moderate (0.72 g/kg/LBM). The data on 7 females and 17 males yielded significant falling and rising impairment effects coincident with moderate rising and falling breath alcohol levels (mean peak BrALs = 0.045 g/dl and 0.079 g/dl). None of the subjects reported eye-strain or psychomotor fatigue as compared with previous tests. The high sensitivity/variance relative to use in basic and applied research, and worksite fitness-for-duty testing, was discussed. The most distinct advantage of a software-based test that operates on readily available PCs is that it can be widely distributed to researchers with a common reference to compare a variety of alcohol and drug effects.

Adult↗

PubMed1984

How should the software pacemaker be programmed during manufacturing and after implantation?

The different possibilities for programming modern pacemakers are discussed. A pacemaker based on hardware alone provides highly reliable pacing within narrow limits. On the other hand, a totally software-based pacemaker would provide maximum flexibility in terms of programming but would remain more susceptible to errors in software. A middle solution might be one that divides the program between passive ROM and active RAM memories. This alternative may provide sophistication without sacrificing safety.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗