Zhangwestermann3489

5 T and 3 T. These results are in agreement with previous simulation studies and suggest MRI may be performed safely in patients with fragmented retained leads.Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) access remains conditional to patients with conductive medical implants, as RF heating generated around the implant during scanning may cause tissue burns. Experiments have been traditionally used to assess this heating, but they are time-consuming and expensive, and in many cases cannot faithfully replicate the in-vivo scenario. Alternatively, ISO TS 10974 outlines a four-tier RF heating assessment approach based on a combination of experiments and full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulations with varying degrees of complexity. From these, Tier 4 approach relies entirely on EM simulations. There are, however, very few studies validating such numerical models against direct thermal measurements. In this work, we evaluated the agreement between simulated and measured RF heating around wire implants during RF exposure at 63.6 MHz (proton imaging at 1.5 T). Heating was assessed around wire implants with 25 unique trajectories within an ASTM phantom. The root mean square percentage error (RMSPE) of simulated vs. measured RF heating remained less then 1.6% despite the wide range of observed heating (0.2 °C-53 °C). Our results suggest that good agreement can be achieved between experiments and simulations as long as important experimental features such as characteristics of the MRI RF coil, implant's geometry, position, and trajectory, as well as electric and thermal properties of gel are closely mimicked in simulations.Clinical Relevance- This work validates the application of full-wave EM simulations for modeling and predicting RF heating of conductive wires in an MRI environment, providing researchers with a validated tool to assess MRI safety in patients with implants.Radiofrequency (RF) heating of tissue during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a known safety risk in the presence of active implantable medical devices (AIMDs). As a result, access to MRI is limited for patients with these implants including those with deep brain stimulation (DBS) systems. Numerous factors contribute to excessive RF tissue heating at the DBS lead-tip, most notable being the trajectory of the lead. Phantom studies have demonstrated that looping the extracranial portion of the DBS lead at the surgical burr hole reduces the heating at the lead-tip; however, clinical implementation of this technique is challenging due to surgical constraints. As such, the intended looped trajectory is usually different from what is implanted in patients. To date, no data is available to quantify the extent by which surgical trajectory modification reduces RF heating of DBS leads compared to the typical surgical approach. In this work, we measured RF heating of a commercial DBS system during 3 T MRI, where the trajectory of the lead and extension cable mimicked lead trajectories constructed from postoperative CT images of 13 patients undergoing modified DBS surgery and 2 patients with unmodified trajectories. Two manually created trajectories mimicking typical heating cases seen in the literature were also evaluated. We found that modified lead trajectories reduced the average heating by 3-folds compared to unmodified lead trajectories.Clinical Relevance- This study evaluates the performance of a surgical modification in the routing of DBS leads in reducing RF-induced heating during MRI at 3 T.Passive detection of footsteps in domestic settings can allow the development of assistive technologies that can monitor mobility patterns of older adults in their home environment. Acoustic footstep detection is a promising approach for non-intrusive detection of footsteps. So far there has been limited work in developing robust acoustic footstep detection systems that can operate in noisy home environments. In this paper, we propose a novel application of the Attention based Recurrent Deep Neural Network to detect human footsteps in noisy overlapping audio streams. The model is trained on synthetic data which simulates the acoustic scene in a home environment. To evaluate performance, we reproduced two footstep detection models from literature and compared them using the newly developed Polyphonic Sound Detection Scores (PSDS). Our model achieved the highest PSDS and is close to the highest score achieved by generic indoor AED models in DCASE. The proposed system is designed to both detect and track footsteps within a home setting, and to enhance state-of-the-art digital health-care solutions for empowering older adults to live autonomously in their own homes.Information transmission security is an important issue in many scenarios such as password input. Traditional approaches such as typing or voice input are prone to peep, leading to a risk of information leakage. Brain computer interface (BCI) can read information directly from the brain, which is confidential inherently, thus it may be an ideal way for secure information input. This paper proposes a novel BCI-based secure input approach with encrypted feedback. The encrypted feedback is specially designed to notify users and confuse peepers at the same time. We give the theoretical guarantee of accuracy and evaluate the system with both simulation and experiments. The results show that our method can transmit messages effectively.If patients are at risk of self-removal of a catheter, it is necessary to check the condition of the catheter frequently. If this is the only way to prevent self-removal, physical restraint of the patient is required. Furthermore, it is currently necessary to reduce human-to-human contact to prevent COVID-19 infection. Therefore, the development of a sensor system to prevent self-removal of a catheter and reduce human-to-human contact is urgent. The purpose of this study is to examine a sensor system that detects the contact of a patient's hand to a peripheral intravenous catheter in order to prevent self-removal in patients with dementia. This study analyzes the use of a capacitance sensor and an energization sensor to detect the contact of a patient's hand to a catheter. Additionally, the time required from the start of peeling the sensor sheet to the removal of the needle was measured. As the results, the capacitance sensor was difficult to use in a clinical setting because the connection between the seat it will make it possible to remotely detect their actions to prevent self-removal while also minimizing the risk of COVID-19 infection.Soft Tissue Manipulation (STM), a form of mechanotherapy, offers a clinical modality to examine and treat Neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) pain disorders and dysfunction. The, current STM practice is mostly subjective and reliant on anecdotal patient feedback and lacks quantification with objective metrics. Selleck Epigenetic inhibitor This paper proposes Quantifiable Soft Tissue Manipulation (QSTM™), a sensor based computerized technological advancement in Soft tissue examination and treatment enabling new standard of practice in manual therapy. This novel medical device technology aims to produce optimum STM prescriptions using ergonomic, portable, handheld medical tools with specially contoured tips designed to palpate and assess tissue anomalies of specific musculoskeletal conditions. QSTM™ captures three-dimensional forces and motion of the mechatronic handheld tools to quantify STM treatment parameters, such as (resultant force, force application angle, rate, direction, and treatment time). Clinical practice using QSTM™ facilitates real-time visual feedback of treatment metrics and subsequent treatment documentation for comparison and analysis on a Windows based computer software (Q-Ware©). Pre-clinical testing using the QSTM™ medical device system clearly identifies inconsistencies among practitioners and distinguishes STM practice variabilities. Thus, QSTM™ is an apt tool for soft tissue treatment assessment, analysis, and individualized prescriptions for targeted STM dosing and commercialization.Formula car racing is highly competitive and induces significant physical stress. Previous studies have shown that intense physical stresses, such as g-force, accelerate the driver's heart rate (HR). In contrast, it remains unclear whether psychological stress affects the physiological states of racers and racing performance. To investigate this phenomenon, we developed a wearable monitor that can track the driver's HR during a race. The HR and driving performance of two professional drivers were monitored in real racing situations. Changes in HR were then evaluated based on changes in the racing situation and car behavior. The results suggest that HR acceleration is strongly correlated with race situations such as free practice or qualifying sessions, and that such changes are related to subsequent driving performance.Social skills training by human coaches is a well-established method to obtain appropriate social interaction skills and strengthen social self-efficacy. Our previous works automated social skills training by developing a virtual agent that teaches social skills through interaction. This study attempts to investigate the effect of virtual agent design on automated social skills training. We prepared images and videos of a virtual agent, and a total of 912 crowdsourced workers rated the virtual agents by answering questions. We investigated the acceptability, likeability, and other impressions of the virtual agents and their relationship to the individuals' characteristics to design personalized virtual agents. As a result, a female anime-type virtual agent was rated as the most likable. We also confirmed that participants' gender, age, and autistic traits are related to the ratings. We believe our findings are important in designing a personalized virtual trainer.Clinical relevance- This study examines the effect of virtual agent design on social skills training. Our findings are important in designing a personalized virtual trainer.Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a medically complex and life-disrupting condition. It is estimated that 17,700 new traumatic SCI cases are reported each year in the United States. Approximately half of those cases, involves paralysis, sensory loss, and impaired motor control in the upper extremity (UE) and lower extremities. Such impairments could affect the person's independence as well as their family members and caregiver. The limitation at the UE can significantly limit the general activities of daily living (ADL). The purpose of this paper is to determine the daily utilization effects on changing the handgrip AROM and handgrip forces before and after providing upper extremity in-clinic rehabilitation along with at-home utilization using an UE myoelectric powered wearable orthosis (UE-MPWO) in a person with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI). This device helps restore function to the weakened or paralyzed UE muscles. We demonstrate that the handgrip AROM and handgrip force improved after 6-weeks of training with the UE-MPWO. The overall goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of UE-MPWO (MyoPro) when utilized for in-clinic rehabilitation combined with at-home daily use in improving UE movement and function of people with iSCI.Clinical Relevance- The results of in-clinic rehabilitation combined with at-home daily utilization suggest that this UE-MPWO may improve UE function. The examined UE-MPWO could represent a relatively good example as a rehabilitation and assistive tool for persons with iSCI.