Modification of a Conventional Deep Learning Model to Classify Simulated Breathing Patterns: A Step toward Real-Time Monitoring of Patients with Respiratory Infectious Diseases.

The emergence of the global coronavirus pandemic in 2019 (COVID-19 disease) created a need for remote methods to detect and continuously monitor patients with infectious respiratory diseases. Many different devices, including thermometers, pulse oximeters, smartwatches, and rings, were proposed to monitor the symptoms of infected individuals at home. However, these consumer-grade devices are typically not capable of automated monitoring during both day and night.

Electrophysiological Evidence for Interhemispheric Connectivity and Communication in Young Human Infants.

Little is known empirically about connectivity and communication between the two hemispheres of the brain in the first year of life, and what theoretical opinion exists appears to be at variance with the meager extant anatomical evidence. To shed initial light on the question of interhemispheric connectivity and communication, this study investigated brain correlates of interhemispheric transmission of information in young human infants. We analyzed EEG data from 12 4-month-olds undergoing a face-related oddball ERP protocol.

Optical Monitoring of Breathing Patterns and Tissue Oxygenation: A Potential Application in COVID-19 Screening and Monitoring.

The worldwide outbreak of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has highlighted the need for a screening and monitoring system for infectious respiratory diseases in the acute and chronic phase. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of using a wearable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) sensor to collect respiratory signals and distinguish between normal and simulated pathological breathing. Twenty-one healthy adults participated in an experiment that examined five separate breathing conditions.

Structured sparse multiset canonical correlation analysis of simultaneous fNIRS and EEG provides new insights into the human action-observation network.

The action observation network (AON) is a network of brain regions involved in the execution and observation of a given action. The AON has been investigated in humans using mostly electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but shared neural correlates of action observation and action execution are still unclear due to lack of ecologically valid neuroimaging measures. In this study, we used concurrent EEG and functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the AON during a live-action observation and execution paradigm.

An fNIRS Study of Brain Lateralization During Observation and Execution of a Fine Motor Task.

Brain activity in the action observation network (AON) is lateralized during action execution, with greater activation in the contralateral hemisphere to the side of the body used to perform the task. However, it is unknown whether the AON is also lateralized when watching another person perform an action. In this study, we use fNIRS to measure brain activity over the left and right cortex while participants completed actions with their left and right hands and watched an actor complete action with their left and right hands.

Studying the Accuracy and Function of Different Thermometry Techniques for Measuring Body Temperature.

The purpose of this study was to determine which thermometry technique is the most accurate for regular measurement of body temperature. We compared seven different commercially available thermometers with a gold standard medical-grade thermometer (Welch-Allyn): four digital infrared thermometers (Wellworks, Braun, Withings, MOBI), one digital sublingual thermometer (Braun), one zero heat flux thermometer (3M), and one infrared thermal imaging camera (FLIR One). Thirty young healthy adults participated in an experiment that altered core body temperature.

Non-invasive transabdominal measurement of placental oxygenation: a step toward continuous monitoring.

This study aimed to assess transabdominal placental oxygenation levels non-invasively. A wearable device was designed and tested in 12 pregnant women with an anterior placenta, 5 of whom had maternal pregnancy complications. Preliminary results revealed that the placental oxygenation level is closely related to pregnancy complications and placental pathology.

Review of the efficacy of infrared thermography for screening infectious diseases with applications to COVID-19.

The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which spread across the globe in a very short period of time, revealed that the transmission control of disease is a crucial step to prevent an outbreak and effective screening for viral infectious diseases is necessary. Since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, infrared thermography (IRT) has been considered a gold standard method for screening febrile individuals at the time of pandemics. The objective of this review is to evaluate the efficacy of IRT for screening infectious diseases with specific applications to COVID-19.

Evaluation of the human placenta optical scattering properties using continuous wave and frequency-domain diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.

Significance: Placenta is an essential organ for fetal development and successful reproduction. Placental insufficiency can lead to fetal hypoxia and, in extreme cases anoxia, leading to fetal death. Of the 145 million deliveries per year worldwide, ∼15 million neonates are small for gestational age and, therefore, at risk for antepartum and intrapartum hypoxia.

Hemodynamics of Prefrontal Cortex in Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency: A Twin Case Study.

Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) is the most common form of urea cycle disorder characterized by the presence of hyperammonemia (HA). In patients with OTCD, HA is known to cause impairments in domains of executive function and working memory. Monitoring OTCD progression and investigating neurocognitive biomarkers can, therefore, become critical in understanding the underlying brain function in a population with OTCD.

Exploring the role of task performance and learning style on prefrontal hemodynamics during a working memory task.

Existing literature outlines the quality and location of activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during working memory (WM) tasks. However, the effects of individual differences on the underlying neural process of WM tasks are still unclear. In this functional near infrared spectroscopy study, we administered a visual and auditory n-back task to examine activation in the PFC while considering the influences of task performance, and preferred learning strategy (VARK score).

Using in vivo fluorescence lifetime imaging to detect HER2-positive tumors.

Background: Assessment of the status of tumor biomarkers in individual patients would facilitate personalizing treatment strategy, and continuous monitoring of those biomarkers and their binding process to the therapeutic drugs would provide a means for early evaluation of the efficacy of therapeutic intervention. Fluorescent probes can accumulate inside the tumor region due to the leakiness of its vascularization and this can make it difficult to distinguish if the measured fluorescence intensity is from probes bound to target receptors or just accumulated unbound probes inside the tumor. In this paper, we have studied the fluorescence lifetime as a means to distinguish bound HER2 specific affibody probes to HER2 receptors.

Prefrontal Hemodynamics in Toddlers at Rest: A Pilot Study of Developmental Variability.

Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive functional neuroimaging modality. Although, it is amenable to use in infants and young children, there is a lack of fNIRS research within the toddler age range. In this study, we used fNIRS to measure cerebral hemodynamics in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in 18-36 months old toddlers ( = 29) as part of a longitudinal study that enrolled typically-developing toddlers as well as those "at risk" for language and other delays based on presence of early language delays.

A machine learning approach to identify functional biomarkers in human prefrontal cortex for individuals with traumatic brain injury using functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

Background: We have explored the potential prefrontal hemodynamic biomarkers to characterize subjects with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) by employing the multivariate machine learning approach and introducing a novel task-related hemodynamic response detection followed by a heuristic search for optimum set of hemodynamic features. To achieve this goal, the hemodynamic response from a group of 31 healthy controls and 30 chronic TBI subjects were recorded as they performed a complexity task.

Methods: To determine the optimum hemodynamic features, we considered 11 features and their combinations in characterizing TBI subjects.

Prefrontal cortex hemodynamics and age: a pilot study using functional near infrared spectroscopy in children.

Cerebral hemodynamics reflect cognitive processes and underlying physiological processes, both of which are captured by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Here, we introduce a novel parameter of Oxygenation Variability directly obtained from fNIRS data -the OV Index-and we demonstrate its use in children. fNIRS data were collected from 17 children (ages 4-8 years), while they performed a standard Go/No-Go task.

Evaluation of non-invasive multispectral imaging as a tool for measuring the effect of systemic therapy in Kaposi sarcoma.

Diffuse multi-spectral imaging has been evaluated as a potential non-invasive marker of tumor response. Multi-spectral images of Kaposi sarcoma skin lesions were taken over the course of treatment, and blood volume and oxygenation concentration maps were obtained through principal component analysis (PCA) of the data. These images were compared with clinical and pathological responses determined by conventional means.

Compact non-contact total emission detection for in vivo multiphoton excitation microscopy.

We describe a compact, non-contact design for a total emission detection (c-TED) system for intra-vital multiphoton imaging. To conform to a standard upright two-photon microscope design, this system uses a parabolic mirror surrounding a standard microscope objective in concert with an optical path that does not interfere with normal microscope operation. The non-contact design of this device allows for maximal light collection without disrupting the physiology of the specimen being examined.

In vivo assessment of HER2 receptor density in HER2-positive tumors by near-infrared imaging, using repeated injections of the fluorescent probe.

HER2 overexpression and amplification of the HER2/neu gene have been found in approximately 25% of invasive breast carcinomas. They are associated with a poor prognosis and resistance to therapy in breast cancer patients. Up to now, clinical evaluation of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression is based on ex vivo methods (immunohistochemistry (IHC) or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) staining of biopsied tissue).

Biophotonics techniques for structural and functional imaging, in vivo.

In vivo optical imaging is being conducted in a variety of medical applications, including optical breast cancer imaging, functional brain imaging, endoscopy, exercise medicine, and monitoring the photodynamic therapy and progress of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In the past three decades, in vivo diffuse optical breast cancer imaging has shown promising results in cancer detection, and monitoring the progress of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The use of near infrared spectroscopy for functional brain imaging has been growing rapidly.

Accurate optical parameter extraction procedure for broadband near-infrared spectroscopy of brain matter.

Modeling behavior of broadband (30 to 1000 MHz) frequency modulated near-infrared (NIR) photons through a phantom is the basis for accurate extraction of optical absorption and scattering parameters of biological turbid media. Photon dynamics in a phantom are predicted using both analytical and numerical simulation and are related to the measured insertion loss (IL) and insertion phase (IP) for a given geometry based on phantom optical parameters. Accuracy of the extracted optical parameters using finite element method (FEM) simulation is compared to baseline analytical calculations from the diffusion equation (DE) for homogenous brain phantoms.

Monitoring LITT thermal penetration depth using real-time analysis of backscattered light.

Real-time monitoring of the thermal penetration depth (TPD) is essential in various clinical procedures, such as Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT). MRI is commonly used to this end, though bulky and expensive. In this paper, we present an alternative novel method for an optical feedback system based on changes in the diffused reflection from the tissue during treatment.

Biophotonics techniques for structural and functional imaging, in vivo.

In vivo optical imaging is being conducted in a variety of medical applications, including optical breast cancer imaging, functional brain imaging, endoscopy, exercise medicine, and monitoring the photodynamic therapy and progress of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In the past three decades, in vivo diffuse optical breast cancer imaging has shown promising results in cancer detection, and monitoring the progress of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The use of near infrared spectroscopy for functional brain imaging has been growing rapidly.