Influence of Breath-Mimicking Ventilated Incubation on Three-Dimensional Bioprinted Respiratory Tissue Scaffolds.

Development of respiratory tissue constructs is challenging due to the complex structure of native respiratory tissue and the unique biomechanical conditions induced by breathing. While studies have shown that the inclusion of biomechanical stimulus mimicking physiological conditions greatly benefits the development of engineered tissues, to our knowledge no studies investigating the influence of biomechanical stimulus on the development of respiratory tissue models produced through three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting have been reported. This paper presents a study on the utilization of a novel breath-mimicking ventilated incubator to impart biomechanical stimulus during the culture of 3D respiratory bioprinted constructs.

Synchrotron CT of an equine digit at the Australian Synchrotron Imaging and Medical Beamline.

Laminitis is an extremely painful and debilitating condition of horses that can affect their athletic ability and even quality of life. The current gold standard for assessment of laminar tissue is histology, which is the only modality that enables detailed visualization of the lamina. Histology requires dissection of the hoof and therefore can only represent one specific time point.

Aerosol delivery of synthetic DNA containing CpG motifs in broiler chicks at hatch under field conditions using a commercial-scale prototype nebulizer provided protection against lethal Escherichia coli septicemia.

Synthetic DNA containing CpG motifs (CpG-ODN) are potent innate immune stimulators in neonatal and adult broiler chickens against bacterial septicemia. We have recently demonstrated that intrapulmonary (IPL) delivery of CpG-ODN as microdroplets under laboratory conditions can protect neonatal chickens against lethal Escherichia coli septicemia. The objectives of this study were to develop a commercial-scale poultry nebulizer (CSPN) that can deliver CpG-ODN as microdroplets in neonatal broiler chicks in the hatcheries and study the efficacy of CSPN in inducing immune-protective effects under different environmental conditions in 2 geographical locations in Canada.

Cluster Detection Tests in Spatial Epidemiology: A Global Indicator for Performance Assessment.

In cluster detection of disease, the use of local cluster detection tests (CDTs) is current. These methods aim both at locating likely clusters and testing for their statistical significance. New or improved CDTs are regularly proposed to epidemiologists and must be subjected to performance assessment.

An empiric weight computation for record linkage using linearly combined fields' similarity scores.

Record linkage is the task of identifying which records from one or more data sources refer to the same entity. Many record linkage methods were introduced and applied over the last decades. In general, the principle is to compare a range of available identifier fields in record pairs among different data sources, in order to make a linkage decision.

Spatial heterogeneity of type I error for local cluster detection tests.

Background: Just as power, type I error of cluster detection tests (CDTs) should be spatially assessed. Indeed, CDTs' type I error and power have both a spatial component as CDTs both detect and locate clusters. In the case of type I error, the spatial distribution of wrongly detected clusters (WDCs) can be particularly affected by edge effect.

Performance map of a cluster detection test using extended power.

Background: Conventional power studies possess limited ability to assess the performance of cluster detection tests. In particular, they cannot evaluate the accuracy of the cluster location, which is essential in such assessments. Furthermore, they usually estimate power for one or a few particular alternative hypotheses and thus cannot assess performance over an entire region.

Sentinel e-health network on grid: developments and challenges.

Grid technologies have proven their capabilities to settle challenging problems of medical data access. The grid ability to access distributed databases in a secure and reliable way while preserving data ownership opened new perspectives in medical data sharing and disease surveillance. This paper focuses on the implementation challenges of grid-powered sentinel networks within the e-sentinelle project.

Evaluating OPTISAS, a visual method to analyse sleep apnea syndromes.

The sleep apnea syndrome is a real public health problem. Improving its diagnosis using the polysomnography is of huge importance. Optisas was a visual method allowing translating the polysomnographic data into a meaningful image.

Centralised versus decentralised management of patients' medical records.

For more than 20 years, many countries have been trying to set up a standardised medical record at the regional or at the national level. Most of them have not reached this goal, essentially due to two main difficulties related to patient identification and medical records standardisation. Moreover, the issues raised by the centralisation of all gathered medical data have to be tackled particularly in terms of security and privacy.

New advanced technologies to provide decentralised and secure access to medical records: case studies in oncology.

The main problem for health professionals and patients in accessing information is that this information is very often distributed over many medical records and locations. This problem is particularly acute in cancerology because patients may be treated for many years and undergo a variety of examinations. Recent advances in technology make it feasible to gain access to medical records anywhere and anytime, allowing the physician or the patient to gather information from an "ephemeral electronic patient record".

Grid-enabled sentinel network for cancer surveillance.

Recent developments of grid services for secured distributed data management open new perspectives for disease surveillance. In this paper, we report on our initiative to develop a surveillance network for breast cancer in the Auvergne region. The network gathers cytopathology laboratories, structures in charge of cancer screening and institutes in charge of cancer epidemiology.

HOPE, an open platform for medical data management on the grid.

The paper describes a platform developed for the secure management and analysis of medical data and images in a grid environment. Designed for telemedicine and built upon the EGEE gLite middleware and particularly the metadata catalogue AMGA as well as the GridSphere web portal, the platform provides to healthcare professionals the capacity to upload and query medical information stored over distributed servers. A job submission environment is also available for data analysis.

Giving patients secure << Google-like >> access to their medical record.

The main problem for the patient who wants to have access to all of the information about his health is that this information is very often spread over many medical records. Therefore, it would be convenient for the patient, after being identified and authenticated, to use a kind of specific medical search engine as one part of the solution to this main problem. The principal objective is for the patient to have access to his or her medical information at anytime and wherever it has been stored.

Three-dimensional mapping of the lateral ventricles in autism.

In this study, a computational mapping technique was used to examine the three-dimensional profile of the lateral ventricles in autism. T1-weighted three-dimensional magnetic resonance images of the brain were acquired from 20 males with autism (age: 10.1+/-3.

MDRView: a visualization of the polymorphisms of MDR1(ABCB1) GENE in breast cancer.

This paper presents the Generalized CaseView method applied to the study of polymorphisms of MDR1 (Multi Drug Resistant), a gene coding for a trans-membrane transporting protein. The data base contains Single nucleotide polymorphisms, their positions in cDNA, and the Area Under the Curve of drugs concentrations. The generalized CaseView method permits a compact visualization of these data.

Assistance to planning in deep brain stimulation: data fusion method for locating anatomical targets in MRI.

Symptoms of Parkinson's disease can be relieved through deep brain stimulation. This neurosurgical technique relies on high precision positioning of electrodes in specific areas of the basal ganglia and the thalamus. In order to identify these anatomical targets, which are located deep within the brain, we developed a semi-automated method of image analysis, based on data fusion.

[Impact of computed tomography on patient's care in nontraumatic acute abdomen: 90 patients].

Objectives: To determine the contribution of computerized tomography (CT) to the management of nontraumatic acute abdomen, to evaluate interobserver agreement and the contribution of CT to cost control, to look for the predictive factors of CT.

Patients: and method. Ninety prospectively included patients, admitted for nontraumatic acute abdomen and examined by a surgeon, received CT examination.

Localization of Target Structures through Data Fusion Applied to Neurostimulation.

Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease can be relieved by Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which is based on an accurate positionning of electrodes in specific structures of the Basal Ganglia, e.g. the SubThalamic Nucleus (STN) and the Internal Globus Pallidus (GPi), and of the thalamus.

Synthesis of a functional information with anatomical landmarks by multiresolution fusion of brain images.

In order to help clinicians with the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, we provide a synthetic functional information located in relation with anatomical structures. The final image is processed by multimodal data fusion between SPECT and MR images. We propose a new method for the management of such multiresolution data, in which a geometrical model allows an accurate correspondence of voxels from both images, while preserving at best both original pieces of information.

[Femoral superficial artery angioplasty: long term results, initial predictive factors. 101 patients].

Objective: To evaluate immediate results, clinical improvement, long-term patency and predictive factors of long-term outcome after superficial femoral artery percutaneous angioplasty.

Patients And Methods: Restrospective monocentric study of 101 patients (142 lesions: 105 stenoses and 37 occlusions) technical results, long-term patency (19 months), and clinical improvement (27,5 months) were analyzed. A multifactorial analysis was performed.

Comparison of transthoracic echocardiography using second harmonic imaging, transcranial Doppler and transesophageal echocardiography for the detection of patent foramen ovale in stroke patients.

Aims: The comparison of three imaging methods to determine which is the most accurate and reliable for the detection of right-to-left shunt.

Methods And Results: One hundred and seven patients who were hospitalized for stroke underwent: a transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) using second harmonic, a transcranial Doppler (TCD) and a transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) from August 2003 to April 2004. All studies were recorded on a videotape and were studied by a physician blinded to the study.

Radiographic stereometry for non-metal-backed acetubular cups: 3D wear estimation and related uncertainty.

The aim of this work was to assess the 3D wear of non-metal-backed acetubular cups from two conventional digitized radiographs. The centers of the femoral head and the metal ring in the equatorial plane of the cup are located using 3D pose techniques for spheres and circles from sampled points in the images. The method used to locate these points of interest and also estimate their covariance is fully described in previous work.

Monitoring of polyethylene wear in nonmetal-backed acetubular cups by digitized anteroposterior pelvic radiography.

The aim of this study was to assess polyethylene wear in a total hip prosthesis by digitized radiography of the whole pelvis in the anteroposterior (AP) plane. The three-dimensional (3-D) pose of the nonmetal-backed acetubular cup, materialized by its metal ring and the femoral head made of metal or ceramic, was estimated using iterative algebraic algorithms with inner bias correction and bootstrapping for variance reduction. Points of interest were obtained by maximizing the correlation between sampled density profiles and 3-D geometric models degraded by the modulation transfer function (MTF) of the radiographic system and the film scanner.

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of dysplastic stenoses of the renal artery: results on 70 adults.

Purpose: Retrospective analysis of the dilatation (PTRA) of renal arterial dysplastic stenosis (RADS).

Methods: Seventy patients suffering from hypertension (87 RADS) were treated at our institution for medial (83%) or non-classified fibrodysplasias (17%). Four patients suffered from renal insufficiency.