Assessment of intraventricular hemorrhage risk in preterm infants using mathematically simulated cerebral blood flow.

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH)4 is one of the most threatening neurological complications associated with preterm birth which can lead to long-term sequela such as cerebral palsy. Early recognition of IVH risk may prevent its occurrence and/or reduce its severity. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, risk factors significantly associated with IVH were identified and integrated into risk scales.

Neonatal Exhaled Breath Sampling for Infrared Spectroscopy: Biomarker Analysis.

Monitoring health conditions in neonates for early therapeutic intervention in case deviations from physiological conditions is crucial for their long-term development. Due to their immaturity preterm born neonates are dependent on particularly careful physical and neurological diagnostic methods. Ideally, these should be noninvasive, noncontact, and radiation free.

Measurement of distances and locations of thoracic and lumbar vertebral bodies from CT scans in cases of spinal deformation.

Background: Spinal deformations, except for acute injuries, are among the most frequent reasons for visiting an orthopaedic specialist and musculoskeletal treatment in adults and adolescents. Data on the morphology and anatomical structures of the spine are therefore of interest to orthopaedics, physicians, and medical scientists alike, in the broad field from diagnosis to therapy and in research.

Methods: Along the course of developing supplementary methods that do not require the use of ionizing radiation in the assessment of scoliosis, twenty CT scans from females and males with various severity of spinal deformations and body shape have been analysed with respect to the transverse distances between the vertebral body and the spinous process end tip and the skin, respectively, at thoracic and lumbar vertebral levels.

Speech and Nonspeech Parameters in the Clinical Assessment of Dysarthria: A Dimensional Analysis.

Nonspeech (or paraspeech) parameters are widely used in clinical assessment of speech impairment in persons with dysarthria (PWD). Virtually every standard clinical instrument used in dysarthria diagnostics includes nonspeech parameters, often in considerable numbers. While theoretical considerations have challenged the validity of these measures as markers of speech impairment, only a few studies have directly examined their relationship to speech parameters on a broader scale.

Scoliosis assessment tools to reduce follow-up X-rays.

Purpose: Clinical examinations of scoliosis often includes X-rays. Regular clinical monitoring is recommended in particular at young age, because of the high risk of progression during periods of rapid growth. Supplementary methods free of ionizing radiation thus could help to reduce the potential risk of ionizing radiation related health problems.

A non-invasive method for scoliosis assessment-A new mathematical concept using polar angle.

Scoliosis is one of the most common pediatric spinal diseases that leads to a three-dimensional deformity of the spine and has a high risk of progression during growth. Regular clinical monitoring and follow-up X-rays are needed to providing proper treatment at that time. Repetitive X-rays can results in an increased risk of radiation related health problems.

Glycocalyx Sensing with a Mathematical Model of Acoustic Shear Wave Biosensor.

The article deals with an idea of exploiting an acoustic shear wave biosensor for investigating the glycocalyx, a polysaccharide polymer molecule layer on the endothelium of blood vessels that, according to recent studies, plays an important role in protecting against diseases. To test this idea, a mathematical model of an acoustic shear wave sensor and corresponding software developed earlier for proteomic applications are used. In this case, the glycocalyx is treated as a layer homogenized over the thin polymer "villi".

Modeling of the cerebral blood circulation in a capillary network accounting for the influence of the endothelial surface layer.

Background And Objective: The paper describes a mathematical model of blood flow in capillaries with accounting for the endothelial surface layer (ESL).

Method: The influence of ESL is modeled by a boundary layer with zero flow velocity. Finite element modeling and an analytical approach based on the homogenization of the core region of blood flow occupied by erythrocytes are developed to describe the resistance of a capillary.

Accounting for arterial and capillary blood gases for calculation of cerebral blood flow in preterm infants.

Unlabelled: One of the most feared neurological complications of premature birth is intraventricular hemorrhage, frequently triggered by fluctuations in cerebral blood flow (CBF). Although several techniques for CBF measurement have been developed, they are not part of clinical routine in neonatal intensive care. A promising tool for monitoring of CBF is its numerical assessment using standard clinical parameters such as mean arterial pressure, carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO) and oxygen partial pressure (pO).

Mathematical modeling of the hematocrit influence on cerebral blood flow in preterm infants.

Premature birth is one of the most important factors increasing the risk for brain damage in newborns. Development of an intraventricular hemorrhage in the immature brain is often triggered by fluctuations of cerebral blood flow (CBF). Therefore, monitoring of CBF becomes an important task in clinical care of preterm infants.

Effects of Piano Training in Unilateral Cerebral Palsy Using Probabilistic and Deterministic Tractography: A Case Report.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term encompassing motor and often additional disabilities, resulting from insult to the developing brain and remaining throughout life. Imaging-detected alterations in white matter microstructure affect not only motor but also sensorimotor pathways. In this context, piano training is believed to promote sensorimotor rehabilitation for the multiplicity of skills and neuronal processes it involves and integrates.

Assessment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis from body scanner image by finite element simulations.

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, is a three-dimensional spinal deformity characterized by lateral curvature and axial rotation around the vertical body axis of the spine, the cause of which is yet unknown. The fast progression entails regular clinical monitoring, including X-rays. Here we present an approach to evaluate scoliosis from the three-dimensional image of a patient's torso, captured by an ionizing radiation free body scanner, in combination with a model of the ribcage and spine.

Assessing haemorrhage-critical values of cerebral blood flow by modelling biomechanical stresses on capillaries in the immature brain.

The development of intraventricular haemorrhages (IVH) in preterm newborns is triggered by a disruption of the vessels responsible for cerebral microcirculation. Analysis of the stresses exerted on vessel walls enables the identification of the critical values of cerebral blood flow (CBF) associated with the development of IVH in preterm infants. The purpose of the present study is the estimation of these critical CBF values using the biomechanical stresses obtained by the finite element modelling of immature brain capillaries.

Nonstationary Model of Oxygen Transport in Brain Tissue.

The paper addresses the mathematical study of a nonstationary continuum model describing oxygen propagation in cerebral substance. The model allows to estimate the rate of oxygen saturation and stabilization of oxygen concentration in relatively large parts of cerebral tissue. A theoretical and numerical analysis of the model is performed.

Molecular identification of bio-fluids in gas phase using infrared spectroscopy.

Bio-fluids are the source of a large number of metabolites. Identification and quantification of them can be an efficient step for understanding the internal chemistry of the body as well as for developing objective diagnostics of diseases. Several techniques have been developed so far; however, their metabolite identification and/or quantification are not reliable enough for acceptance by clinicians.

Breath indeed carries significant information about a disease: Potential biomarkers of cerebral palsy.

Objective and reliable noninvasive medical diagnostics of a large variety of diseases is still a dream. As a step in the direction of realization, a spectroscopic breath study of cerebral palsy (CP) was performed. Principal component analysis revealed data clustering for a healthy group and CP individuals was observed, with a P-value below 10 .

Assessing key clinical parameters before and after intraventricular hemorrhage in very preterm infants.

Intraventricular cerebral hemorrhage (IVH) is one of the most severe complications of premature birth, potentially leading to lifelong disability. The purpose of this paper is the assessment of the evolution of three of the most relevant parameters, before and after IVH: mean arterial pressure (MAP), arterial carbon dioxide pressure (pCO), and cerebral blood flow (CBF). Clinical records of 254 preterm infants with a gestational age of 23-30 weeks, with and without a diagnosis of IVH, were reviewed for MAP and arterial pCO in the period up to 7 days before and 3 days after IVH or during the first 10 days of life in cases without IVH.

Machine learning models for identifying preterm infants at risk of cerebral hemorrhage.

Intracerebral hemorrhage in preterm infants is a major cause of brain damage and cerebral palsy. The pathogenesis of cerebral hemorrhage is multifactorial. Among the risk factors are impaired cerebral autoregulation, infections, and coagulation disorders.

Accounting for Tube Hematocrit in Modeling of Blood Flow in Cerebral Capillary Networks.

The aim of this paper consists in the derivation of an analytic formula for the hydraulic resistance of capillaries, taking into account the tube hematocrit level. The consistency of the derived formula is verified using Finite Element simulations. Such an effective formula allows for assigning resistances, depending on the hematocrit level, to the edges of networks modeling biological capillary systems, which extends our earlier models of blood flow through large capillary networks.

A Noninvasive 3D Body Scanner and Software Tool towards Analysis of Scoliosis.

Purpose: Children with neurological disorders, such as cerebral palsy (CP), have a high risk of developing scoliosis during growth. The fast progression of scoliosis implies in several cases frequent clinical and X-ray examinations. We present an ionizing radiation-free, noncontacting method to estimate the trajectory of the vertebral column and to potentially facilitate medical diagnosis in cases where an X-ray examination is not indicated.

Extended model of impaired cerebral autoregulation in preterm infants: Heuristic feedback control.

Cerebral autoregulation is the ability to keep almost constant cerebral blood flow (CBF) for some range of changing the mean arterial pressure (). In preterm infants, this range is usually very small, even absent, and a passive (linear) dependence of is observed. Also, variations of the partial CO2 pressure and intracranial/venous pressure result in fluctuations of The absence of cerebral autoregulation may be a cause of intracranial hemorrhages due to instability of cerebral blood vessels, especially in the so-called germinal matrix which exists in a developing brain from 22 to 32 weeks of gestation.

Postnatal Paraclinical Parameters Associated to Occurrence of Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Preterm Infants.

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is the most frequent complication in postnatal development of preterm infants. The purpose of the present work is the statistical evaluation of seven standard paraclinical parameters and their association to the development of ICH. Clinical records of 265 preterm infants with gestational age (GA) 23 to 30 weeks were analyzed.

Modeling Cerebral Blood Flow Dependence on Carbon Dioxide and Mean Arterial Blood Pressure in the Immature Brain With Accounting for the Germinal Matrix.

Intraventricular hemorrhage () is one of the most critical complications in the development of preterm infants. The likelihood of is strongly associated with disturbances in cerebral blood flow () and with microvascular fragility in the germinal matrix (). The value and its reactivity to changes in arterial carbon dioxide pressure ( ) and mean arterial blood pressure () are relevant indicators in the clinical assessment of preterm infants.

Characteristics of Lower Leg Muscle Activity in Patients with Cerebral Palsy during Cycling on an Ergometer.

Purpose: Cycling on ergometer is often part of rehabilitation programs for patients with cerebral palsy (CP). The present study analyzed activity patterns of individual lower leg muscle during active cycling on ergometer in patients with CP and compared them to similar recordings in healthy participants.

Methods: Electromyographic (EMG) recordings of lower leg muscle activity were collected from 14 adult patients and 10 adult healthy participants.

Piano jacket for perceiving and playing music for patients with cerebral palsy.

Purpose: Patients with cerebral palsy with severe motor disabilities are limited not only in everyday life activities but also in choice of their hobbies. Playing a musical instrument is for the majority not possible, even though music constitutes a central component of many relaxation activities for people with disabilities. To give affected patients the opportunity to make music and to learn piano playing through somatosensory perception, a prototype of piano jacket was developed.