Publications by authors named "Ulf Kulau"

Article Synopsis
  • Modern ballistocardiography (BCG) and seismocardiography (SCG) utilize acceleration sensors to track body movements caused by heartbeat and blood flow, but artifacts from sensor rotations complicate signal interpretation.
  • This observational study seeks to develop strategies for detecting and eliminating these acceleration artifacts from sensor rotation, distinguishing them from genuine heart-induced signals.
  • Data from four healthy participants will be collected during parabolic flights to analyze acceleration and angular velocity changes, leading to hypotheses about improving BCG-SCG methods using advanced multi-sensor technology.
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Background: An integration of digital medicine into medical education can help future physicians shape the digital transformation of medicine.

Objective: We aim to describe and evaluate a newly developed course for teaching digital medicine (the Bielefeld model) for the first time.

Methods: The course was held with undergraduate medical students at Medical School Ostwestfalen-Lippe at Bielefeld University, Germany, in 2023 and evaluated via pretest-posttest surveys.

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The DR.BEAT project aims to develop an accelerometer-based, wearable sensor system for measuring ballistocardiographic (BCG) signals, coupled with signal processing and visualization, to support cardiac health monitoring. A rule-based heartbeat detection was developed to enable the derivation of health parameters independent of an existing reference.

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In recent decades, much work has been implemented in heart rate (HR) analysis using electrocardiographic (ECG) signals. We propose that algorithms developed to calculate HR based on detected R-peaks using ECG can be applied to seismocardiographic (SCG) signals, as they utilize common knowledge regarding heart rhythm and its underlying physiology. We implemented the experimental framework with methods developed for ECG signal processing and peak detection to be applied and evaluated on SCGs.

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The DR.BEAT project aims at the further development of a measurement system for recording ballistocardiographic signals into a body-worn sensor system combined with extensive signal processing, data evaluation and visualization. With a first breadboard prototype, an explorative feasibility study for acquiring initial signals of healthy cardiac activity in adults was performed.

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We describe the background, features and functions of a custom application for the acquisition, live presentation, and convenient recording of ballistocardiography data acquired by external accelerometric sensors.

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For a decade, seismocardiography (SCG) on smartphones has been an interesting topic within the technical community, but mobile applications for this topic are rare on the market. The transition from laboratory to bedside application seems to have not yet been completed. To possibly increase the chances of a successful implementation, the added value of the method needs to be addressed clearly and backed up by research.

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This paper describes the protocol of the microgravity experiment BEAT (Ballistocardiography for Extraterrestrial Applications and Long-Term Missions). The current study makes use of signal acquisition of cardiac parameters with a high-precision Ballistocardiography (BCG)/Seismocardiography (SCG) measurement system, which is integrated in a smart shirt (SmartTex). The goal is to evaluate the feasibility of this concept for continuous wearable monitoring and wireless data transfer.

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For cardiological datasets acquired via different methodologies, ECG signals that are recorded in parallel allow for relatively accurate matching. Some research issues, e.g.

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Ballistocardiography is a method to gain detailed information about body movements imparted by the ballistic forces associated with cardiac contraction. We measured using different setups and sensor positions to gain information of a reference signal of healthy adults. We used two resting state recordings and two recordings under physical stress (ergometer and treadmill) with stepwise increasing load.

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Ballistocardiography (BCG) has gained more attention due to the fundamental goal of medical intervention in diagnostics and follow-up. BCG is particularly suitable for the study of heart failure, which a recent study has shown. The results of this working group shall be validated and reproduced with another study trial.

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The project SCARAB2 (Scalable, Robust and Adaptive on Board Ballistocardiography) aims to use Ballistocardiography (BCG) to monitor flight passengers. In order to show that recorded BCG data from flights give evaluable information even in the noisy environment of an airplane, we monitored a heart-healthy passenger using BCG. Furthermore, we show that there can be a conclusion to heart activities from the recorded ballistocardiogram by comparing the data to a concurrently recorded electrocardiogram (ECG).

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With regard to the growing number of older adults, it needs smart solutions for fall prevention. Especially at geriatric institutions, the risk of falling is very high and frequently leads to injuries, resulting in serious consequences. We present the Inexpensive Node for Bed Exit Detection (INBED), a comprehensive signaling system for fall prevention.

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Objective: In geriatric institutions, the risk of falling of patients is very high and frequently leads to fractures of the femoral neck, which can result in serious consequences and medical costs. With regard to the current numbers of elderly people, the need for smart solutions for the prevention of falls in clinical environments as well as in everyday life has been evolving.

Methods: Hence, in this paper, we present the Inexpensive Node for bed-exit Detection (INBED), a comprehensive, favourable signaling system for bed-exit detection and fall prevention, to support the clinical efforts in terms of fall reduction.

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Fall detection, gait analysis and context recognition are examples of applications where capacitive accelerometers are widely used in health care. In most of the existing work, algorithms were developed for a specific platform and accelerometers were used without explicitly choosing a specific type. With this work we present an inexpensive and practical test setup for replicable and repeatable testing of accelerometers.

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