Search results for "Physics - Medical Physics"
showing 10 items of 32 documents
Permanent magnet system to guide superparamagnetic particles
2017
A new concept of permanent magnet systems for guiding superparamagnetic particles on arbitrary trajectories is proposed. The basic concept is to use one magnet system with a strong and homogeneous (dipolar) magnetic field to magnetize and orient the particles. A second constantly graded field (quadrupolar) is superimposed to the first to generate a force. In this configuration the motion of the particles is driven solely by the component of the gradient field which is parallel to the direction of the homogeneous field. Then the particles are guided with constant force in a single direction over the entire volume. The direction can be adjusted by varying the angle between quadrupole and dipo…
Simple Muscle Architecture Analysis (SMA): An ImageJ macro tool to automate measurements in B-mode ultrasound scans
2020
In vivo measurements of muscle architecture (i.e. the spatial arrangement of muscle fascicles) are routinely included in research and clinical settings to monitor muscle structure, function and plasticity. However, in most cases such measurements are performed manually, and more reliable and time-efficient automated methods are either lacking completely, or are inaccessible to those without expertise in image analysis. In this work, we propose an ImageJ script to automate the entire analysis process of muscle architecture in ultrasound images: Simple Muscle Architecture Analysis (SMA). Images are filtered in the spatial and frequency domains with built-in commands and external plugins to hi…
The tear turnover and tear clearance tests – a review
2018
Introduction. The aim is to provide a summary of methods available for the assessment of tear turnover and tear clearance rates. The review defines tear clearance and tear turnover and describes their implication for ocular surface health. Additionally, it describes main types of techniques for measuring tear turnover, including fluorescein tear clearance tests, techniques utilizing electromagnetic spectrum and tracer molecule and novel experimental techniques utilizing optical coherence tomography and fluorescein profilometry. Areas covered. Internet databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar) and most frequently cited references were used as a principal resource of information on t…
Evaluating tear clearance rate with optical coherence tomography
2017
Purpose: To assess the early-phase of tear clearance rate (TCR) with anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to determine the association between TCR and other clinical measures of the tear film in a group of young subjects with different levels of tear film quality. Methods: TCR was classified as the percentage decrease of the inferior tear meniscus height 30s after instillation of 5uL 0.9% saline solution. Fifty subjects (32F and 18M) aged (mean +/- standard deviation) 25.5 +/- 4.3 years volunteered for the study. It consisted of a review of medical history, Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire, tear film osmolarity measurements, slit lamp examination and TCR …
Approximate 3-Dimensional Electrical Impedance Imaging
2001
We discuss a new approach to three-dimensional electrical impedance imaging based on a reduction of the information to be demanded from a reconstruction algorithm. Images are obtained from a single measurement by suitably simplifying the geometry of the measuring chamber and by restricting the nature of the object to be imaged and the information required from the image. In particular we seek to establish the existence or non-existence of a single object (or a small number of objects) in a homogeneous background and the location of the former in the (x,y)-plane defined by the measuring electrodes. Given in addition the conductivity of the object rough estimates of its position along the z-a…
Automated detection of lung nodules in low-dose computed tomography
2007
A computer-aided detection (CAD) system for the identification of pulmonary nodules in low-dose multi-detector computed-tomography (CT) images has been developed in the framework of the MAGIC-5 Italian project. One of the main goals of this project is to build a distributed database of lung CT scans in order to enable automated image analysis through a data and cpu GRID infrastructure. The basic modules of our lung-CAD system, consisting in a 3D dot-enhancement filter for nodule detection and a neural classifier for false-positive finding reduction, are described. The system was designed and tested for both internal and sub-pleural nodules. The database used in this study consists of 17 low…
Can persistent Epstein-Barr virus infection induce Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as a Pavlov reflex of the immune response?
2012
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a protracted illness condition (lasting even years) appearing with strong flu symptoms and systemic defiances by the immune system. Here, by means of statistical mechanics techniques, we study the most widely accepted picture for its genesis, namely a persistent acute mononucleosis infection, and we show how such infection may drive the immune system toward an out-of-equilibrium metastable state displaying chronic activation of both humoral and cellular responses (a state of full inflammation without a direct "causes-effect" reason). By exploiting a bridge with a neural scenario, we mirror killer lymphocytes $T_K$ and $B$ cells to neurons and helper lymphocytes $…
GPCALMA, a mammographic CAD in a GRID connection
2003
Purpose of this work is the development of an automatic system which could be useful for radiologists in the investigation of breast cancer. A breast neoplasia is often marked by the presence of microcalcifications and massive lesions in the mammogram: hence the need for tools able to recognize such lesions at an early stage. GPCALMA (Grid Platform Computer Assisted Library for MAmmography), a collaboration among italian physicists and radiologists, has built a large distributed database of digitized mammographic images (at this moment about 5500 images corresponding to 1650 patients). This collaboration has developed a CAD (Computer Aided Detection) system which, installed in an integrated…
Semi-automated labelling of medical images: benefits of a collaborative work in the evaluation of prostate cancer in MRI
2018
Purpose: The goal of this study is to show the advantage of a collaborative work in the annotation and evaluation of prostate cancer tissues from T2-weighted MRI compared to the commonly used double blind evaluation. Methods: The variability of medical findings focused on the prostate gland (central gland, peripheral and tumoural zones) by two independent experts was firstly evaluated, and secondly compared with a consensus of these two experts. Using a prostate MRI database, experts drew regions of interest (ROIs) corresponding to healthy prostate (peripheral and central zones) and cancer using a semi-automated tool. One of the experts then drew the ROI with knowledge of the other expert's…
A rule‐based method to model myocardial fiber orientation in cardiac biventricular geometries with outflow tracts
2019
Rule-based methods are often used for assigning fiber orientation to cardiac anatomical models. However, existing methods have been developed using data mostly from the left ventricle. As a consequence, fiber information obtained from rule-based methods often does not match histological data in other areas of the heart such as the right ventricle, having a negative impact in cardiac simulations beyond the left ventricle. In this work, we present a rule-based method where fiber orientation is separately modeled in each ventricle following observations from histology. This allows to create detailed fiber orientation in specific regions such as the endocardium of the right ventricle, the inter…