Using machine learning to improve bovine tuberculosis control in herd level outbreaks.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a chronic disease of cattle, is caused by the Mycobacterium bovis infection. Despite having a serious social and economic impact in the United Kingdom and Ireland, there is no antemortem gold standard diagnostic test. Tuberculin skin tests (CICT) are commonly used as a control measure with the interferon gamma (IFN-γ) assay being applied in certain circumstances.

Evaluation of a novel real-time adaptive assist-as-needed controller for robot-assisted upper extremity rehabilitation following stroke.

Rehabilitation therapy plays an essential role in assisting people with stroke regain arm function. Upper extremity robot therapy offers a number of advantages over manual therapies, but can suffer from slacking behavior, where the user lets the robot guide their movements even when they are capable of doing so by themselves, representing a major barrier to reaching the full potential of robot-assist rehabilitation. This is a pilot clinical study that investigates the use of an electromyography-based adaptive assist-as-needed controller to avoid slacking behavior during robotic rehabilitation for people with stroke.

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: An Updated Overview on the Heat Shock Protein Involvement.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) represent chronic idiopathic disorders, including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), in which one of the trigger factors is represented by aberrant immune interactions between the intestinal epithelium and the intestinal microbiota. The involvement of heat shock proteins (HSPs) as etiological and pathogenetic factors is becoming of increasing interest. HSPs were found to be differentially expressed in the intestinal tissues and sera of patients with CD and UC.

Mixed Reality for Veterinary Medicine: Case Study of a Canine Femoral Nerve Block.

The femoral nerve blockage is a procedure that aims to provide anesthesia to the hip, anterior thigh, and stifle. This procedure presents several challenges when performed in veterinary patients with diverse anatomy and physiology. Successful use of this technique will improve a dog's recovery time after surgery in comparison to the commonly used epidural block.

Heart rate variability as an indicator for morphine pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in critically ill newborn infants.

Morphine is the commonest drug used for analgesia in newborn infants. It is a natural opioid that acts as an agonist at the mu and kappa receptors, which are receptors for analgesia and sedation. Morphine pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PKPD) for the newborn infant population are not well understood.

Integration of drug dosing data with physiological data streams using a cloud computing paradigm.

Many drugs are used during the provision of intensive care for the preterm newborn infant. Recommendations for drug dosing in newborns depend upon data from population based pharmacokinetic research. There is a need to be able to modify drug dosing in response to the preterm infant's response to the standard dosing recommendations.

Dogs mean arterial pressure and heart rate responses during high propofol plasma concentrations estimated by a pharmacokinetic model.

Propofol total intravenous anesthesia should provide stability of the cardiovascular system. In this study, mean arterial pressure and heart rate were evaluated in eight healthy dogs anesthetized with increasing rates of propofol. The cerebral state index (CSI) was studied as an additional parameter.

Anaesthesia synchronization software: target controlled infusion system evaluation.

Target Controlled Infusion (TCI) systems are based in drug Pharmacokinetic (Pk) and Pharmacodynamic (Pd) models implemented in an algorithm to drive an infusion device. Several studies had compare manual titration of anesthesia and TCI system use; some studies evaluate the performance of the control algorithms for TCI systems, and a considerable number of studies assess the performance of Pk/Pd models implemented into TCI systems. This study presents a set of tests to validate the performance of a TCI system as a computer-aided.

Target Controlled Infusion algorithms for anesthesia: theory vs practical implementation.

Target Controlled Infusion (TCI) systems are based in drug pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic models implemented in an algorithm to drive an infusion pump. Infusion control algorithms have been designed, implemented and validated for several anesthetic drugs, devices and controllers. The maintenance phase in these algorithms is represented by an equation that compensates the loss of drug from the central compartment and maintains the set target concentration.

Prevalence and molecular characteristics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among pigs on German farms and import of livestock-related MRSA into hospitals.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and molecular characteristics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among pigs and estimate the impact of this animal reservoir on human healthcare. Nasal swabs were derived from 1,600 pigs at 40 German farms. The MRSA were characterized using S.

A step towards effect-site target-controlled infusion with propofol in dogs: a k(e0) for propofol.

Target-controlled infusion (TCI) anesthesia using target effect-site concentration rather than plasma concentration provides less drug consumption, safer anesthesia, less undesired side effects and improved animal welfare. The aim of this study was to calculate the constant that converts propofol plasma into effect-site concentration (k(e0)) in dogs, and to implement it in a TCI system and compare it with the effect on the central nervous system (CNS). All dogs were subjected to general anesthesia using propofol.

Automation in anesthesia: computer controlled propofol infusion and data acquisition.

This work presents the improvement of a software for a clinical setup, the Anesthesia Synchronization Software (ASYS). The first version presented the data acquisition from cerebral monitors and a partial control with Target Controlled Infusion (TCI) system. Based on pharmacokinetic models, the effect-site and plasma concentrations can be related with the drug dose infused and vice versa.

Brain monitoring in dogs using the cerebral state index during the induction of anaesthesia via target-controlled infusion of propofol.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the cerebral state index (CSI) and the estimated propofol plasma concentrations in dogs during induction of anaesthesia. Fifteen healthy dogs undergoing scheduled routine surgical procedures were enrolled in this study. Target controlled infusion (TCI) software, based on the pharmacokinetic model for propofol, was used to control the syringe pump and to estimate plasma propofol concentrations (PropCp) and the CSI values every five-seconds.

Synchronization software for automation in anesthesia.

This work presents the development of a software for data acquisition and control (ASYS) on a clinical setup. Similar to the industrial Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) the software assembles a Target Controlled Infusion (TCI) monitoring and supervisory control data in real time from devices in a surgical room. The software is not a full controller since the TCI systems comprehend permanent interaction from the anesthesiologist.

Nonlinear modeling of cerebral state index in dogs.

The Cerebral State Index (CSI) is an electroencephalogram derived signal representing the depression of central nervous activity produced by anesthetic drugs. In this study, a nonlinear model was developed to describe the CSI tendency during general anesthesia in dogs, by evaluating the effect of the anesthetic drug propofol. The model was based on a compartmental and Hill Equation structure with individually identified parameters.