MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications' source. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:41:24 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5488100&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fjbb%2F2011%2F248613%2F In this study, we tested whether mass spectrometry and iTRAQ-based protein quantification might be used in proteomic analysis of human plasma during liver transplantation surgery to characterize changes in protein abundances occurring during early graft reperfusion. We sampled blood from systemic circulation as well as blood entering and exiting the liver. After immunodepletion of six high-abundant plasma proteins, trypsin digestion, iTRAQ labeling, and cation-exchange fractionation, the peptides were analyzed by reverse phase nano-LC-MS/MS. In total, 72 proteins were identified of which 31 could be quantified in all patient specimens collected. Of these 31 proteins, ten, mostly medium-to-high abundance plasma proteins with a concentration range of 50–2000 mg/L, displayed rela... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5488100 Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:13:50 +0100 5488100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5488099&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fah%2F2011%2F427863%2F Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent a heterogeneous population of stromal cells with pluripotent mesenchymal differentiation potential. They have been found to have immunosuppressive properties and the ability to modulate angiogenesis and endogenous tissue repair by in vitro and animal studies. Clinical trials have examined the utility of these cells in autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. In particular, in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), multiple studies have been conducted to explore the use of MSC to treat acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and for cotransplantation with HSCT to promote HSC engraftment and prevent GVHD. We review here the results of these studies and discuss some challenges of this treatment modality in this disease setting. ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5488099 Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:13:50 +0100 5488099 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5488098&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijmi%2F2011%2F356730%2F Conclusion. The kinetics of FDG uptake in the lungs of mice can be noninvasively quantified by PET with a 3-compartment model approach based on an image-derived input function. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5488098 Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:13:50 +0100 5488098 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5488097&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fmpe%2F2011%2F679531%2F A real undisturbed soil-column infiltrating experiment in Zibo, Shandong, China, is investigated, and a nonlinear transport model for a solute ion penetrating through the column is put forward by using nonlinear Freundlich's adsorption isotherm. Since Freundlich's exponent and adsorption coefficient and source/sink terms in the model cannot be measured directly, an inverse problem of determining these parameters is encountered based on additional breakthrough data. Furthermore, an optimal perturbation regularization algorithm is introduced to determine the unknown parameters simultaneously. Numerical simulations are carried out and then the inversion algorithm is applied to solve the real inverse problem and reconstruct the measured data successfully. The computational results show... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5488097 Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:13:50 +0100 5488097 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5477533&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fecon%2F2011%2F368131%2F The policy view, which argues that foreign aid is effective only in a good policy environment, suggests that aid ought to be given to countries with good policies. This has generated a lot of interest and controversy. We argue that the key recommendation of the policy view runs contrary to other prescriptions, particularly those that arise under asymmetric information. Inefficiencies that derive from information problems often require that policy makers do not base the amount of foreign assistance on the recipient's policy effort. This suggests that donors should be cautious in applying the policy view. We also briefly discuss problems that are likely to emerge in estimating aid's productivity given policy in the light of potential information problems. (Source: International Journ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5477533 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:43:34 +0100 5477533 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5432558&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fjtd%2F2011%2F432132%2F The experimental evaluation of the vapor pressure of saturated aqueous solutions of potassium sulfate was carried out in the range of temperatures 310 K≤T≤345 K. The experimental data were used to determine the corresponding values of the water activity in such solutions. The analytical expressions as a function of temperature of both, vapor pressure and water activity, were obtained from the correlation of the experimental results. The vapor pressure expression was also extrapolated to a different temperature range in order to make a comparison with the results obtained by other authors. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5432558 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:33:02 +0100 5432558 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5432557&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fija%2F2011%2F754658%2F The objective of this study was to investigate whether there was diversity in these two putative traits for drought resistance among nine US commercial peanut cultivars. When the response to VPD was measured at an average temperature of 32°C, eight of the nine cultivars expressed a restricted transpiration rate at high VPD. However, at 24°C none of the cultivars exhibited a restriction of transpiration rate at high VPD. No differences were found among the nine cultivars in their response to soil drying. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5432557 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:33:02 +0100 5432557 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5432556&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijeb%2F2011%2F938308%2F The glutathione-S-transferase (GST) proteins represent an extended family involved in detoxification processes. They are divided into various classes with high diversity in various organisms. The Ure2p class is especially expanded in saprophytic fungi compared to other fungi. This class is subdivided into two subclasses named Ure2pA and Ure2pB, which have rapidly diversified among fungal phyla. We have focused our analysis on Basidiomycetes and used Phanerochaete chrysosporium as a model to correlate the sequence diversity with the functional diversity of these glutathione transferases. The results show that among the nine isoforms found in P. chrysosporium, two belonging to Ure2pA subclass are exclusively expressed at the transcriptional level in presence of polycyclic aromatic compounds.... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5432556 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:33:02 +0100 5432556 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5432555&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijhep%2F2011%2F490463%2F Conclusions. Neoadjuvant oxaliplatin but not irinotecan impairs early LR in a posthepatectomy murine model which correlates with decreased DNA synthesis. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5432555 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:33:02 +0100 5432555 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5262057&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijp%2F2011%2F261828%2F An external lightguide (EL) for enhancing the light-harvesting efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was designed and developed. The EL attached to the exterior of a DSSC photoelectrode directed light on a dye-covered nanoporous TiO2 film (D-NTF) of the photoelectrode. Experimental tests confirmed that the EL increased the light-harvesting efficiency of a DSSC with an active area of 0.25 cm2 by 30.69%. Photocurrent density and the power conversion efficiency were also increased by 38.12% and 25.09%, respectively. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5262057 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:07:17 +0100 5262057 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5262056&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijo%2F2011%2F714265%2F Experimental investigation of a compact 40-kV diode-type photoelectric DC gun driven by 100 fs laser pulses revealed that the space-charge-limited current density could exceed 30 kA/cm2 and that the density increased linearly with the accelerating voltage. We explained these important properties by the balance between the cathode surface field and the field produced by sheet-like electron bunches near the cathode surface. Our simple physical model agreed well with the experimental results. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5262056 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:07:17 +0100 5262056 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5262055&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fcrim%2Fradiology%2F2011%2F601803%2F We present the computed tomography (CT) imaging findings of a 44-year-old male with incidentally discovered right adrenal hemangioma displaying imaging pattern of nonadenomatous pattern, associated with multiple hepatic hemangiomata using 64-slice multidetector scanner with reviewing published CT imaging findings with short review of the literature. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5262055 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:07:17 +0100 5262055 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5262054&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fcrim%2F2011%2F801290%2F A rectovesical fistula (RVF) is an uncommon complication of urooncologic surgery. Although several RVFs have been reported, our case is the first reported RVF in the literature that iatrogenically occurred after transurethral resection of the bladder. A single-stage primary repair with omental flap interposition without a colostomy was successfully performed because of the persistence of the fistula during followup. After 6 months of followup, no fistula or bladder mass was detected. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5262054 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:07:17 +0100 5262054 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5262053&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fddns%2F2011%2F594945%2F This paper first constructs a tiered network model of the interbank market. Then, from the perspective of contagion risk, it studies numerically the resilience of four types of interbank market network models to shocks, namely, tiered networks, random networks, small-world networks, and scale-free networks. This paper studies the interbank market with homogeneous and heterogeneous banks and analyzes random shocks and selective shocks. The study reveals that tiered interbank market networks and random interbank market networks are basically more vulnerable against selective shocks, while small-world interbank market networks and scale-free interbank market networks are generally more vulnerable against random shocks. Besides, the results indicate that, in the four types of interbank market ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5262053 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:07:17 +0100 5262053 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5262052&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fcrim%2F2011%2F939808%2F Endobronchial lipoma is a rare benign tumor. It is difficult to differentiate benign endobronchial lipoma from their malignant counterparts, as their symptoms and complications are almost alike. Here, we describe the clinical and radiological features of EL in two cases. Multislice CT (MSCT) may play an important role in the diagnosis for EL. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5262052 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:07:17 +0100 5262052 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5197131&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fjr%2F2011%2F489695%2F Based on the kineto-elastodynamic assumptions, the dynamic model of the six-degree-of-freedom parallel structure seismic simulator is developed by virtue of the finite element method and the substructure synthesis technique. The kineto-elastodynamic characteristics represented by the natural frequency, the sensitivity analysis, the energy ratios, and the displacement response of the moving platform are investigated. It is shown that the second-order natural frequency is much higher than the first-order natural frequency, and the first-order natural frequency is sensitive to the radius of the strut and the radius of the lead screw. In order to improve the dynamic characteristic of the manipulator, the mass of the moving platform should be reduced or the stiffness of the strut should be incr... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5197131 Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:21:24 +0100 5197131 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5197130&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fcrim%2Furology%2F2011%2F932973%2F Conclusion. This is one more reported case of primary melanoma of the urinary bladder. The previously reported cases of bladder melanoma are reviewed. Therapy and prognosis are discussed. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5197130 Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:21:24 +0100 5197130 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070812&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fcardiology%2F2011%2F146267%2F We report a case of bilateral subclavian steal secondary to total occlusion of the innominate and left subclavian arteries in a patient who presented with cardiomyopathy and flow reversal in the right carotid and bilateral vertebral arteries. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070812 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070812 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070811&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fcardiology%2F2011%2F275659%2F We report the case of a patient with an Optimizer III system delivering cardiac contractility modulating signals (CCM) for heart failure therapy and an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) who underwent CE. No interferences between the devices were found. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070811 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070811 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070810&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fcc%2F2011%2F451819%2F We present an unusual case of pseudoaneurysm that includes the origin of left subclavian artery in the context of severe multiple injuries after a traffic accident. There were not clavicular or rib fractures, or another type of chest trauma to justify such a vascular injury. Once the injuries that were life threatening for the patient were stabilized, it proceeded to the treatment of the pseudoaneurysm by placing an endovascular prosthesis successfully with a favorable clinical evolution. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070810 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070810 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070809&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fcc%2F2011%2F492564%2F We report the case of two-year-old girl with hypovolemic shock caused by bleeding from an abdominal cystic lymphangioma. The whole blood was contained within a large omental bag that could be completely removed. There were no associated anomalies. The child progressed satisfactorily. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070809 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070809 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070808&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fcc%2F2011%2F562516%2F Acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE) is a severe neurological complication of influenza infection, including H1N1 influenza. Many cases of ANE have been reported in the pediatric literature, but very few cases have been described in adults. The cause of ANE remains unknown—the influenza virus is not known to be neurotropic, and evidence of direct viral involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) has not been demonstrated in the limited cases of ANE in which pathological specimens have been obtained. Here we report a fatal case of ANE from H1N1 influenza infection in an adult. Neuroimaging and postmortem analysis both showed widespread brain edema, necrosis, and hemorrhage, but molecular studies and postmortem pathology revealed no evidence of direct viral involvement of the CNS... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070808 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070808 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070807&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fcardiology%2F2011%2F579805%2F We describe the case of a 17-year-old man who presented with anoxic brain injury secondary to hemorrhagic shock from a stab wound to the neck. His recovery was complicated by prolonged periods of sinus arrest and asystole, lasting over 60 seconds per episode. This case illustrates that sustained asystolic episodes may occur following significant neurologic injury, and may continue to recur even months after an initial insult. Pacemaker implantation for such patients should be strongly considered. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070807 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070807 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070806&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fddns%2F2011%2F147926%2F We establish a necessary and sufficient condition for global stability of the nonlinear discrete red blood cells survival model and demonstrate that local asymptotic stability implies global stability. Oscillation and solution bounds are investigated. We also show that, for different values of the parameters, the solution exhibits some time-varying dynamics, that is, if the system is moved in a direction away from stability (by increasing the parameters), then it undergoes a series of bifurcations that leads to increasingly long periodic cycles and finally to deterministic chaos. We also study the chaotic behavior of the model with a constant positive perturbation and prove that, for large enough values of one of the parameters, the perturbed system is again stable. (Source: International ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070806 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070806 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070805&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fam%2F2011%2F786427%2F An approach of representing meanings of images based on associative values with lexicons is proposed. For this, the semantic tolerance relation model (STRM) that reflects the tolerance degree between defined lexicons is generated, and two factors of semantic relevance (SR) and visual similarity (VS) are involved in generating associative values. Furthermore, the algorithm of calculating associative values using pixel-based bidirectional associative memories (BAMs) in combination with the STRM, which is easy in implementation, is depicted. The experiment results of multilexicons-based retrieval by individuals show the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed method in finding the expected images and the improvement in retrieving accuracy because of incorporating SR with VS in representi... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070805 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070805 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070804&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fbtri%2F2011%2F897931%2F Aspergillus niger FETL FT3, a local extracellular tannase producer strain that was isolated from one of dumping sites of tannin-rich barks of Rhizophora apiculata in Perak, Malaysia. This fungus was cultivated in 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask under submerged fermentation system. Various physical parameters were studied in order to maximize the tannase production. Maximal yield of tannase production, that is, 2.81 U per mL was obtained on the fourth day of cultivation when the submerged fermentation was carried out using liquid Czapek-Dox medium containing (percent; weight per volume) 0.25% NaNO3, 0.1% KH2PO4, 0.05% MgSO4 ⋅7H2O, 0.05% KCl, and 1.0% tannic acid. The physical parameters used initial medium pH of 6.0, incubation temperature of 30∘C, ag... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070804 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070804 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070803&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fnephrology%2F2011%2F754369%2F Conclusion. FBS is a rare disease due to mutation in GLUT2 gene; many mutations were reported, about half were novel mutations; yet none of these mutations is more frequent. A more extensive survey for the most frequent mutations among FBS has to be contemplated to allow for use of molecular screening tests like ARMS. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070803 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070803 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070802&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Faop%2F2011%2F516382%2F We report three cases of spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma (SSEH) with hemiparesis. The first patient was a 73-year-old woman who presented with left hemiparesis, neck pain, and left shoulder pain. A cervical MRI scan revealed a left posterolateral epidural hematoma at the C3–C6 level. The condition of the patient improved after laminectomy and evacuation of the epidural hematoma. The second patient was a 62-year-old man who presented with right hemiparesis and neck pain. A cervical MRI scan revealed a right posterolateral dominant epidural hematoma at the C6-T1 level. The condition of the patient improved after laminectomy and evacuation of the epidural hematoma. The third patient was a 60-year-old woman who presented with left hemiparesis and neck pain. A cervical MRI scan revea... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070802 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070802 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5070801&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fmse%2F2011%2F541743%2F This contribution is dealing with experimental and computational evaluation of the deposition baffle that is transparent to radio frequency (RF) magnetic fields generated by an external antenna in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source but opaque to the deposition of the metal onto a dielectric wall in ionized physical vapor deposition (IPVD) system. Various engineering aspects related to the deposition baffle are discussed. Among the many requirements focus is on specific structure of the slots and analysis to minimize deposition on the baffle (we used a string model for simulating the profile evolution) and deposition through the DB on dielectric components of the ICP source. Transparency of the baffle to RF magnetic fields is computed using a three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic f... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5070801 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:10:13 +0100 5070801 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582833&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Faor%2F2011%2F216790%2F We consider two coupled queues with a generalized processor sharing service discipline. The second queue has a much smaller Poisson arrival rate than the first queue, while the customer service times are of comparable magnitude. The processor sharing server devotes most of its resources to the first queue, except when it is empty. The fraction of resources devoted to the second queue is small, of the same order as the ratio of the arrival rates. We assume that the primary queue is heavily loaded and that the secondary queue is critically loaded. If we let the small arrival rate to the secondary queue be O(ε), where 0≤ε≪1, then in this asymptotic limit the number of customers in the first queue will be large, of order O(ε-1), while that in the secon... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582833 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582833 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582832&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Ffpta%2F2011%2F589725%2F In this paper we consider the so called a cone metric type space, which is a generalization of a cone metric space. We prove some common fixed point theorems for four mappings in those spaces. Obtained results extend and generalize well-known comparable results in the literature. All results are proved in the settings of a solid cone, without the assumption of continuity of mappings. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582832 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582832 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582831&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fasp%2F2011%2F748430%2F Motivated by the fact that in computer vision data samples are matrices, in this paper, we propose a matrix-variate probabilistic model for canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Unlike probabilistic CCA which converts the image samples into the vectors, our method uses the original image matrices for data representation. We show that the maximum likelihood parameter estimation of the model leads to the two-dimensional canonical correlation directions. This model helps for better understanding of two-dimensional Canonical Correlation Analysis (2DCCA), and for further extending the method into more complex probabilistic model. In addition, we show that two-dimensional Linear Discriminant Analysis (2DLDA) can be obtained as a special case of 2DCCA. (Source: International Journal of Telemedici... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582831 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582831 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582830&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijgp%2F2011%2F763527%2F The goal of this study is to determine whether principal component analysis (PCA) can be used to process latitude-time ionospheric TEC data on a monthly basis to identify earthquake associated TEC anomalies. PCA is applied to latitude-time (mean-of-a-month) ionospheric total electron content (TEC) records collected from the Japan GEONET network to detect TEC anomalies associated with 18 earthquakes in Japan (M≥6.0) from 2000 to 2005. According to the results, PCA was able to discriminate clear TEC anomalies in the months when all 18 earthquakes occurred. After reviewing months when no M≥6.0 earthquakes occurred but geomagnetic storm activity was present, it is possible that the maximal principal eigenvalues PCA returned for these 18 earthquakes indicate earthquake associated ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582830 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582830 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582829&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fjtran%2F2011%2F913094%2F Some studies suggest that Sirolimus (SRL) is associated with an increased risk of death in liver transplant recipients compared to treatment with calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs). We compared patients who received SRL or CNI in the first year after liver transplant. Our database included 688 patients who received a liver transplant. The patients were divided into groups. (1) CNI + MPS (mycophenolate sodium) at time of discharge. (2) CNI + MPS at time of discharge; SRL was added within the first 6 months and continued through the first year. (3) CNI + MPS at time of discharge; SRL was added within the first 6 months and discontinued before the first year. (4) SRL as primary immunosuppression. (5) SRL as primary immunosuppression and discontinued before the first year. We used mortality and gra... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582829 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582829 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582828&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fisrn%2Fpharmacology%2F2011%2F949686%2F Conclusion. VCO is efficacious for WC reduction especially in males and it is safe for use in humans. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582828 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582828 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582827&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Faaa%2F2011%2F123656%2F Using fixed point methods, we prove the superstability and generalized Hyers-Ulam stability of ring homomorphisms on non-Archimedean Banach algebras. Moreover, we investigate the superstability of ring homomorphisms in non-Archimedean Banach algebras associated with the Jensen functional equation. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582827 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582827 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582826&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fwcn%2F2011%2F849105%2F Cognitive radio systems can utilize dispersed spectrum, and thus such approach is known as dispersed spectrum cognitive radio systems. In this paper, we first provide the performance analysis of such systems over fading channels. We derive the average symbol error probability of dispersed spectrum cognitive radio systems for two cases, where the channel for each frequency diversity band experiences independent and dependent Nakagami-m fading. In addition, the derivation is extended to include the effects of modulation type and order by considering M-ary phase-shift keying (M-PSK) and M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation M-QAM) schemes. We then consider the deployment of such cognitive radio systems in an ad hoc fashion. We consider an ad hoc dispersed spectrum cognitive radio network, whe... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582826 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582826 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582825&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fbca%2F2011%2F453759%2F Magnesium-substituted fluorapatite powders were synthesized by hydrothermal method, and their sintering behavior was investigated by dilatometry in the temperature range 25–1100°C. Analysis of the obtained powders by X-ray diffraction and 31P NMR spectroscopy showed that the powders consisted of a single apatite phase and no amorphous phase has been formed. Compared to pure fluorapatite, the shrinkage of the substituted samples occurred in two steps and the temperature at which the sintering rate was maximum is lower. In addition, the shrinkage was interrupted by an expansion of the samples due to the formation of a liquid phase. The latter phase led to the crystallization of needle-crystals by a dissolution-diffusion-reprecipitation process. (Source: International Journal ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582825 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582825 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582824&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fisrn%2Fgastroenterology%2F2011%2F909121%2F Conclusion. The study revealed the existence of novel pathogenic mutations in Chinese patients with FAP. Somatic mutations are of particular interest because of the unusual phenotypic features shown by patients. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582824 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582824 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582823&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fecam%2F2011%2F953686%2F We present a case of a 24-year-old man who presented hematuria after the orthopedic tuina, which has not been recorded previously in the literature. We review complications of tuina in the literature too. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582823 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582823 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582822&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fasp%2F2011%2F490289%2F This paper studies the problem of direction finding and polarization estimation of coherent sources using a uniform linear electromagnetic vector-sensor (EmVS) array. A novel preprocessing algorithm based on EmVS subarray averaging (EVSA) is firstly proposed to decorrelate sources' coherency. Then, the proposed EVSA algorithm is combined with the propagator method (PM) to estimate the EmVS steering vector, and thus estimate the direction-of-arrival (DOA) and the polarization parameters by a vector cross-product operation. Compared with the existing estimate methods, the proposed EVSA-PM enables decorrelation of more coherent signals, joint estimation of the DOA and polarization of coherent sources with a lower computational complexity, and requires no limitation of the intervector sens... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582822 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582822 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582821&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fecam%2F2011%2F239659%2F Sasang constitutional medicine (SCM), traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda are three different forms of Asian traditional medicine. Although these traditions share a lot in common as holistic medicines, the different philosophical foundations found in each confer distinguishing attributes and unique qualities. SCM is based on a constitution-based approach, and is in this way relatively more similar to the Ayurvedic tradition than to the TCM, although many of the basic SCM theories were originally derived from TCM, a syndrome-based medicine. SCM and TCM use the same botanical materials that are distributed mainly in the East Asian region, but the basic principles of usage and the underlying rationale are completely different from each other. Meanwhile, the principles of the Ayurv... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582821 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582821 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582820&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fjia%2F2011%2F479576%2F Let α≥0, the authors introduce in this paper a class of the hypersingular Marcinkiewicz integrals along surface with variable kernels defined by μΩ,αΦ(f)(x)=(∫0∞|∫|y|≤t(Ω(x,y)/|y|n-1)f(x-Φ(|y|)y')dy|2(dt/t3+2α))1/2, where Ω(x,z)∈L∞(Rn)×Lq(Sn-1) with q>max⁡{1,2(n-1)/(n+2α)}. The authors prove that the operator μΩ,αΦ is bounded from Sobolev space Lαp(Rn) to Lp(Rn) space for 1<p≤2, and from Hardy-Sobolev space Hαp(Rn) to Lp(Rn) space for n/(n+α)<p≤1. As corollaries of the result, they also prove the L̇α2(Rn)-L2(Rn) boundedness of the ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582820 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582820 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582819&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fjia%2F2011%2F183297%2F Firstly, a generalized weak convexlike set-valued map involving the relative interior is introduced in separated locally convex spaces. Secondly, a separation property is established. Finally, some optimality conditions, including the generalized Kuhn-Tucker condition and scalarization theorem, are obtained. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582819 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582819 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582818&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Ffpta%2F2011%2F867932%2F This paper investigates the global stability and the global asymptotic stability independent of the sizes of the delays of linear time-varying Caputo fractional dynamic systems of real fractional order possessing internal point delays. The investigation is performed via fixed point theory in a complete metric space by defining appropriate nonexpansive or contractive self-mappings from initial conditions to points of the state-trajectory solution. The existence of a unique fixed point leading to a globally asymptotically stable equilibrium point is investigated, in particular, under easily testable sufficiency-type stability conditions. The study is performed for both the uncontrolled case and the controlled case under a wide class of state feedback laws. (Source: International Journal of T... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582818 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582818 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582817&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fecam%2F2011%2F529053%2F Serum from men undergoing a low-fat, high-fiber diet and exercise intervention has previously been shown to decrease growth and increase apoptosis in serum-stimulated, androgen-dependent LNCaP cells associated with a reduction in serum IGF-I. Here we sought to determine the underlying mechanisms for these anticancer effects. Again, the intervention slowed growth and increased apoptosis in LNCaP cells; responses that were eliminated when IGF-I was added back to the post-intervention samples. The p53 protein content was increased and NFκB activation reduced in the post serum-stimulated LNCaP cells. Similar results were observed when the IGF-I receptor was blocked in the pre-intervention serum. In androgen-independent PC-3 cells, growth was reduced while none of the other factors were... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582817 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582817 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4582816&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fecam%2F2011%2F574524%2F The objective of the present study was to evaluate the potential of seabuckthorn (SBT) (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) leaf extract (LE) in curtailing hypoxia-induced transvascular permeability in the lungs by measuring lung water content, leakage of fluorescein dye into the lungs and further confirmation by quantitation of albumin and protein in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Exposure of rats to hypoxia caused a significant increase in the transvascular leakage in the lungs. The SBT LE treated animals showed a significant decrease in hypoxia-induced vascular permeability evidenced by decreased water content and fluorescein leakage in the lungs and decreased albumin and protein content in the BALF. The SBT extract was also able to significantly attenuate hypoxia-induced increase in the... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4582816 Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:53:10 +0100 4582816 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4306339&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F563903.html Wireless telemetry is crucial for long-term implantable neural recording systems. RF-encoded neurological signals often require high data-rates to transmit information from multiple electrodes with a sufficient sampling frequency and resolution. In this work, we quantify the effects of interferers and tissue attenuation on a wireless link for optimal design of future systems. The wireless link consists of an external receiver capable of demodulating FSK/OOK transmission at speeds up to 8 Mbps, with <1e-5 bit-error rate (BER) without error correction, and a fully implanted transmitter consuming about 1.05 mW. The external receiver is tested with the transmitter in vivo to show demodulation efficacy of the transcutaneous link at high data-rates. Transmitter/Receiver link... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4306339 Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:29:13 +0100 4306339 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4037964&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F235031.html An estimated 5 million Americans have congestive heart failure (CHF) and one in five over the age of 40 will develop CHF. There are numerous examples of CHF patients living beyond the years normally expected for people with the disease, usually attributed to taking an active role in disease management. A relatively new alternative for CHF outpatient care is telemedicine and e-health. We investigated the effects of a 6-week in-home telemedicine education and monitoring program for those with systolic dysfunction on the utilization of health care resources. We also measured the effects of the unit 4.5 months after its removal (a total of 6 months post introduction of the unit into the home). Concurrently, we assessed participants' perceptions of the value of having a telemedicine unit. ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4037964 Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:02:34 +0100 4037964 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4037963&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F159276.html This study demonstrates the feasibility and acceptance of a school-based asthma program using a telemedicine link to an asthma specialist. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4037963 Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:02:34 +0100 4037963 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4037962&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F217909.html Transtelephonic electrocardiographic transmission (TET) is the most widespread form of telecardiology since it enables clinicians to assess patients at a distance. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and effectiveness of TET either by fixed telephone line (POTS) or by mobile phone in the preparticipation screening of young athletes. A total of 506 players, aged 20.5 ± 6.2 years, from 23 soccer clubs in the prefecture of Thessaloniki, Greece, were physically examined in their playfields by a general practitioner (GP) and had their ECG recorded. In 142 cases, and on the judgment of the GP, the ECG was transmitted via POTS and/or global system for mobile communications (GSM) to a specialised medical centre where it was evaluated by a cardiologist. The mean total time f... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4037962 Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:02:34 +0100 4037962 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4037961&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F639019.html This paper surveys diabetes therapies from telemedicine viewpoint. In type 1 diabetes therapies, the exogenous insulin replacement is generally considered as a primary treatment. However, the complete replacement of exogenous insulin is still a challenging issue because of its complexity of modeling the dynamics, which is typically modeled nonlinearly. On the other hand, thanks to the progress of medical devices, currently the diabetes therapies are being automated. These medical devices include automated insulin pumps and blood glucose sensors. Insulin pumps are designed to create artificial insulin perfusion while they largely rely on the blood glucose profile measurements and these measurements are achieved by one or more blood glucose sensors. The blood glucose measurements are also im... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4037961 Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:02:34 +0100 4037961 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3989851&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F127639.html Mobile solutions for patient cardiac monitoring are viewed with growing interest, and improvements on current implementations are frequently reported, with wireless, and in particular, wearable devices promising to achieve ubiquity. However, due to unavoidable power consumption limitations, the amount of data acquired, processed, and transmitted needs to be diminished, which is counterproductive, regarding the quality of the information produced. Compressed sensing implementation in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) promises to bring gains not only in power savings to the devices, but also with minor impact in signal quality. Several cardiac signals have a sparse representation in some wavelet transformations. The compressed sensing paradigm states that signals can be recovered from a few pr... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3989851 Thu, 23 Sep 2010 07:02:08 +0100 3989851 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3939970&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F357156.html Tile-Ippokratis proposed an integrated platform for the provision of low-cost ehealth services to citizens in southeast Mediterranean area (Island of Chios and Cyprus). The aim of the paper is to present the architecture, the design, and the evaluation results of this platform. The platform based on already evaluated state-of-the-art mobile ehealth systems and using wireless and terrestrial telecommunication networks is able to provide the following health care services: (i) telecollaboration and teleconsultation services between health care personnel and between health care personnel and patients and (ii) ehealth services for “at risk” citizens such as elderly and patients with chronic diseases (Island of Chios) and postsurgery patients (Cyprus). The ehealth systems suppor... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3939970 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:35:02 +0100 3939970 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3856403&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F181806.html The great epidemiological significance and costs associated with chronic heart failure pose a challenge to health systems in Western industrial countries. In the past few years, controlled randomised studies have shown that patients with chronic heart failure benefit from telemedical monitoring; specifically, telemonitoring of various vital parameters combined with a review of the symptoms, drug compliance and patient education. In Germany, various telemedical monitoring projects for patients with chronic heart failure have been initiated in the past few years; seven of them are presented here. Currently 7220 patients are being monitored in the seven selected projects. Most patients (51.1%) are in NYHA stage II, 26.3% in NYHA stage III, 14.5% in NYHA stage I and only 6.6% i... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3856403 Thu, 12 Aug 2010 06:56:56 +0100 3856403 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3825207&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F127519.html We present a methodology based on H.264 medical video compression and Flexible Macroblock Ordering (FMO) for ROI identification. Two different unequal error protection methodologies, providing higher protection to the most diagnostically relevant data, are presented. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3825207 Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:02:50 +0100 3825207 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3810315&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F507071.html Conclusion. This study illustrated that a stroke center VN-NP, in partnership with a vascular neurologist, could deliver timely telemedicine consultations, accurate diagnoses, and correct treatments in acute stroke patients who presented to remotely located rural emergency departments within a hub and spoke network. VN-NPs may fulfill the role of a telestroke provider. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3810315 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:57:53 +0100 3810315 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3708394&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F916868.html Conclusions. This investigation showed that there is a high acceptance for teleneuromedicine among co-operating hospitals. However these facilities have goals in addition to improved quality in stroke treatment. Therefore the use of teleneuromedicine must be also associated with long term incentives for the overall health care system, particularly since the implementation of a teleneuromedicine network system is time consuming and associated with high implementation costs. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3708394 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:52:23 +0100 3708394 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3708393&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F450418.html This exploratory study assessed the self-management learning needs, experiences, and perspectives of COPD patients treated at a Certified Federal Rural Health Clinic to inform the development of a COPD self-management DVD. A purposive, homogeneous sample of COPD patients participated in focus group interviews. Data from these interviews were referenced to edit a library of Rvision COPD self-management DVDs into a single condensed DVD containing only the most pertinent self-management topics. Patients reported a lack of knowledge and skill development related to purse lipped breathing, controlled coughing, and stress management; while medication management skills were found to be quite adequate. Engaging rural communities in formal qualitative inquiries to describe COPD specific needs for s... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3708393 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:52:23 +0100 3708393 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3634448&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F137201.html Standard Communication Protocol for Computer-assisted Electrocardiography (SCP-ECG) provides standardized communication among different ECG devices and medical information systems. This paper extends the use of this protocol in order to be included in health monitoring systems. It introduces new sections into SCP-ECG structure for transferring data for positioning, allergies, and five additional biosignals: noninvasive blood pressure (NiBP), body temperature (Temp), Carbon dioxide (CO2), blood oxygen saturation (SPO2), and pulse rate. It also introduces new tags in existing sections for transferring comprehensive demographic data. The proposed enhanced version is referred to as e-SCP-ECG+ protocol. This paper also considers the pilot implementation of the new protocol as a software compone... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3634448 Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:31:48 +0100 3634448 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3575140&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F870959.html Remote monitoring (RM) of homebound heart failure (HF) patients has previously been shown to reduce hospital admissions. We conducted a pilot trial of ambulatory, non-homebound patients recently hospitalized for HF to determine whether RM could be successfully implemented in the ambulatory setting. Eligible patients from Massachusetts General Hospital (n=150) were randomized to a control group (n=68) or to a group that was offered RM (n=82). The participants transmitted vital signs data to a nurse who coordinated care with the physician over the course of the 6-month study. Participants in the RM program had a lower all-cause per person readmission rate (mean=0.64, SD±0.87) compared to the usual care group (mean=0.73, SD±1.51; P-value=.75) although the difference was not stat... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3575140 Wed, 19 May 2010 13:28:19 +0100 3575140 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3550398&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F536237.html A typical telemedicine system involves a small set of hospitals providing remote healthcare services to a small section of the society using dedicated nodal centers. However, in developing nations like India where majority live in rural areas that lack specialist care, we envision the need for much larger Internet-based telemedicine systems that would enable a large pool of doctors and hospitals to collectively provide healthcare services to entire populations. We propose a scalable, Internet-based P2P architecture for telemedicine integrating multiple hospitals, mobile medical specialists, and rural mobile units. This system, based on the store and forward model, features a distributed context-aware scheduler for providing timely and location-aware telemedicine services. Other features li... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3550398 Tue, 11 May 2010 13:45:29 +0100 3550398 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3417847&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2010%2F920704.html Battery-operated medical implants—such as pacemakers or cardioverter-defibrillators—have already been widely used in practical telemedicine and telecare applications. However, no solution has yet been found to mitigate the effect of the fading that the in-body to off-body communication channel is subject to. In this paper, we reveal and assess the potential of cooperative diversity to combat fading—hence to improve system performance—in medical implant communication systems. In the particular cooperative communication scenario we consider, multiple cooperating receiver units are installed across the room accommodating the patient with a medical implant inside his/her body. Our investigations have shown that the application of cooperative diversity is a promising app... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3417847 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:36:36 +0100 3417847 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3376062&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F740712.html The ability to obtain information about the structure of tissue without taking a sample for pathology has opened the way for new diagnostic techniques. The present paper reviews all currently available techniques capable of producing an optical biopsy, with or without morphological images. Most of these techniques are carried out by physicians who are not specialized in pathology and therefore not trained to interpret the results as a pathologist would. In these cases, the use of telepathology or distant consultation techniques is essential. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3376062 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:36:20 +0100 3376062 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2717907&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F859232.html A mobile monitoring system utilizing Bluetooth and mobile messaging services (MMS/SMSs) with low-cost hardware equipment is proposed. A proof of concept prototype has been developed and implemented to enable transmission of an Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal and body temperature of a patient, which can be expanded to include other vital signs. Communication between a mobile smart-phone and the ECG and temperature acquisition apparatus is implemented using the popular personal area network standard specification Bluetooth. When utilizing MMS for transmission, the mobile phone plots the received ECG signal and displays the temperature using special application software running on the client mobile phone itself, where the plot can be captured and saved as an image before transmission. Alternat... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2717907 Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:33:49 +0100 2717907 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465708&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F132890.html This study shows that it is possible for experts at the hospital to conduct clinical examinations and decision making at a distance, in close cooperation with the visiting nurse and the patient. The visiting nurse experienced increased confidence with the treatment of the foot ulcer and characterized the consultations as a learning situation. All patients expressed satisfaction and felt confidence with this new way of working. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465708 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465708 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465707&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F328597.html A new system-on-a-chip radar sensor for next-generation wearable wireless interface applied to the human health care and safeguard is presented. The system overview is provided and the feasibility study of the radar sensor is presented. In detail, the overall system consists of a radar sensor for detecting the heart and breath rates and a low-power IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee radio interface, which provides a wireless data link with remote data acquisition and control units. In particular, the pulse radar exploits 3.1–10.6 GHz ultra-wideband signals which allow a significant reduction of the transceiver complexity and then of its power consumption. The operating principle of the radar for the cardiopulmonary monitoring is highlighted and the results of the system analysis are reporte... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465707 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465707 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465706&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F678302.html We propose a method utilizing a derived social security number with the same reliability as the social security number. We show the anonymity techniques classically based on unidirectional hash functions (such as the secure hash algorithm (SHA-2) function that can guarantee the security, quality, and reliability of information if these techniques are applied to the Social Security Number). Hashing produces a strictly anonymous code that is always the same for a given individual, and thus enables patient data to be linked. Different solutions are developed and proposed in this article. Hashing the social security number will make it possible to link the information in the personal medical file to other national health information sources with the aim of completing or validating the personal... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465706 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465706 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465705&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F142803.html In the context of a constantly increasing aging population with cognitive deficiencies, insuring the autonomy of the elders at home becomes a priority. The DOMUS laboratory is addressing this issue by conceiving a smart home which can both assist people and preserve their quality of life. Obviously, the ability to monitor properly the occupant’s activities and thus provide the pertinent assistance depends highly on location information inside the smart home. This paper proposes a solution to localize the occupant thanks to Bayesian filtering and a set of anonymous sensors disseminated throughout the house. The localization system is designed for a single person inside the house. It could however be used in conjunction with other localization systems in case more people are present. O... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465705 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465705 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465704&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F290431.html We present a unique solution to the problem of home sleep monitoring that has the possibility to take the place of and expand on the data from a sleep center. PATHOS focuses not only on analyzing patterns during the night, but also on collecting data about the subject lifestyle that is relevant and important to the diagnosis of his/her sleep. PATHOS means “evoking emotion.” Here, we mean Pathos will help us to keep healthy: both mentally and physically. Our solution uses existing technology to keep down cost and is completely wireless in order to provide portability and be easily to customize. The daytime collection also utilizes existing technology and offers a wide range of input methods to suit any type of person. We also include an in-depth look at the hardware we used to ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465704 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465704 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465703&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F136054.html This research takes place in the S(MA)2D project which proposes software architecture to monitor elderly people in their own homes. We want to build patterns dynamically from data about activity, movements, and physiological information of the monitored people. To achieve that, we propose a multiagent method of classification: every agent has a simple know-how of classification. Data generated at this local level are communicated and adjusted between agents to obtain a set of patterns. The patterns are used at a personal level, for example to raise an alert, but also to evaluate global risks (epidemic, heat wave). These data are dynamic; the system has to maintain the built patterns and has to create new patterns. So, the system is adaptive and can be spread on a large scale. (Source: Inte... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465703 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465703 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465702&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F135808.html We present a framework for a wireless health monitoring system using wireless networks such as ZigBee. Vital signals are collected and processed using a 3-tiered architecture. The first stage is the mobile device carried on the body that runs a number of wired and wireless probes. This device is also designed to perform some basic processing such as the heart rate and fatal failure detection. At the second stage, further processing is performed by a local server using the raw data transmitted by the mobile device continuously. The raw data is also stored at this server. The processed data as well as the analysis results are then transmitted to the service provider center for diagnostic reviews as well as storage. The main advantages of the proposed framework are (1) the ability to detect s... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465702 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465702 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465701&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F436870.html A novel method of detecting mechanical movement of the heart, Mechanocardiography (MCG), with no connection to the subject's body is presented. This measurement is based on radar technology and it has been proven through this research work that the acquired signal is highly correlated to the phonocardiograph signal and acceleration-based ballistocardiograph signal (BCG) recorded directly from the sternum. The heart rate and respiration rate have been extracted from the acquired signal as two possible physiological monitoring applications of the radar-based MCG device. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465701 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465701 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465700&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F739385.html We survey blood glucose control schemes for insulin-dependent diabetes therapies and systems. These schemes largely rely on mathematical models of the insulin-glucose relations, and these models are typically derived in an empirical or fundamental way. In an empirical way, the experimental insulin inputs and resulting blood-glucose outputs are used to generate a mathematical model, which includes a couple of equations approximating a very complex system. On the other hand, the insulin-glucose relation is also explained from the well-known facts of other biological mechanisms. Since these mechanisms are more or less related with each other, a mathematical model of the insulin-glucose system can be derived from these surrounding relations. This kind of method of the mathematical model deriva... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465700 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465700 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465699&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F459185.html New wireless technologies, such as wireless LAN and sensor networks, for telecardiology purposes give new possibilities for monitoring vital parameters with wearable biomedical sensors, and give patients the freedom to be mobile and still be under continuous monitoring and thereby better quality of patient care. This paper will detail the architecture and quality-of-service (QoS) characteristics in integrated wireless telecardiology platforms. It will also discuss the current promising hardware/software platforms for wireless cardiac monitoring. The design methodology and challenges are provided for realistic implementation. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465699 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465699 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465698&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F753064.html Patients suffering from chronic respiratory disease need to follow a rehabilitative exercise programme, in order to self-manage their illness and improve quality of life. Adherence to the programme is highly dependent on professional support from a physiotherapist and hence declines when patients seek to self-manage in the home. A number of requirements were identified for a Smartphone-based application in which patients are supported remotely and given automatic feedback during exercise. An application is described which will improve adherence during pulmonary rehabilitation. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465698 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465698 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465697&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F405796.html (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465697 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465697 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465696&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F763534.html Electronic health record (EHR) projects have been launched in most developed countries to increase the quality of healthcare while decreasing its cost. The benefits provided by centralizing the healthcare information in database systems are unquestionable in terms of information quality, availability, and protection against failure. Yet, patients are reluctant to give to a distant server the control over highly sensitive data (e.g., data revealing a severe or shameful disease). This paper capitalizes on a new hardware portable device, associating the security of a smart card to the storage capacity of a USB key, to give back to the patient the control over his medical data. This paper shows how this device can complement a traditional EHR server to (1) protect and share highly sensitive da... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465696 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465696 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465695&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F867639.html Continuous care models for chronic diseases pose several technology-oriented challenges for home-based continuous care, where assistance services rely on a close collaboration among different stakeholders such as health operators, patient relatives, and social community members. Here we describe Emilia Romagna Mobile Health Assistance Network (ERMHAN) a multichannel context-aware service platform designed to support care networks in cooperating and sharing information with the goal of improving patient quality of life. In order to meet extensibility and flexibility requirements, this platform has been developed through ontology-based context-aware computing and a service oriented approach. We also provide some preliminary results of performance analysis and user survey activity. (Source: I... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465695 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465695 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465694&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F946082.html (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465694 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465694 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465693&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F279091.html Agent Technology is an emerging and promising research area in software technology, which increasingly contributes to the development of value-added information systems for large healthcare organizations. Through the MediMAS prototype, resulting from a case study conducted at a local Swiss hospital, this paper aims at presenting the advantages of reinforcing such a complex E-health man-machine information organization with software agents. The latter will work on behalf of human agents, taking care of routine tasks, and thus increasing the speed, the systematic, and ultimately the reliability of the information exchanges. We further claim that the modeling of the software agent layer can be methodically derived from the actual “classical” laboratory organization and practices, ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465693 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465693 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465692&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F987046.html We consider interconnection of IEEE 802.15.4 beacon-enabled network cluster with IEEE 802.11b network. This scenario is important in healthcare applications where IEEE 802.15.4 nodes comprise patient's body area network (BAN) and are involved in sensing some health-related data. BAN nodes have very short communication range in order to avoid harming patient's health and save energy. Sensed data needs to be transmitted to an access point in the ward room using wireless technology with higher transmission range and rate such as IEEE 802.11b. We model the interconnected network where IEEE 802.15.4-based BAN operates in guaranteed time slot (GTS) mode, and IEEE 802.11b part of the bridge conveys GTS superframe to the 802.11b access point. We then analyze the network delays. Performance... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465692 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465692 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465691&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F853524.html Our aging population has exacerbated strong and divergent trends between health human resource supply and demand. One way to mitigate future inequities is through the adoption of health information technology (HIT). Our previous research showed a number of risks and mitigating factors which affected HIT implementation success. We confirmed these findings through semistructured interviews with nine Alberta clinics. Sociotechnical factors significantly affected physicians' implementation success. Physicians reported that the time constraints limited their willingness to investigate, procure, and implement an EMR. The combination of antiquated exam room design, complex HIT user interfaces, insufficient physician computer skills, and the urgency in patient encounters precipitated by a fee-... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465691 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465691 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465690&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F181842.html This study showed that all mothers and newborns were included in the regional database; the data for all mothers were linked to those for their infant(s) in all cases. Additional data (gestational age) were obtained for 99.9% of newborns. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465690 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465690 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465689&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F461560.html Nowadays in modern and ubiquitous computing environments, it is imperative more than ever the necessity for deployment of pervasive healthcare architectures into which the patient is the central point surrounded by different types of embedded and small computing devices, which measure sensitive physical indications, interacting with hospitals databases, allowing thus urgent medical response in occurrences of critical situations. Such environments must be developed satisfying the basic security requirements for real-time secure data communication, and protection of sensitive medical data and measurements, data integrity and confidentiality, and protection of the monitored patient's privacy. In this work, we argue that the MPEG-21 Intellectual Property Management and Protection (IPMP) co... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465689 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465689 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465688&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F417870.html The present paper studies the prospective and the performance of a forthcoming high-speed third generation (3.5G) networking technology, called enhanced uplink, for delivering mobile health (m-health) applications. The performance of 3.5G networks is a critical factor for successful development of m-health services perceived by end users. In this paper, we propose a methodology for performance assessment based on the joint uplink transmission of voice, real-time video, biological data (such as electrocardiogram, vital signals, and heart sounds), and healthcare records file transfer. Various scenarios were concerned in terms of real-time, nonreal-time, and emergency applications in random locations, where no other system but 3.5G is available. The accomplishment of quality of service (QoS) ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465688 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465688 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465687&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F767145.html We present one of the first approaches of the use of telehaematology for the inclusion of patients in the GOELAMS chronic lymphocytic leukaemia 98 trial. The advantages were (1) the creation of a unique, protected, stable data bank that could be remotely consulted, (2) the use of digitized pictures which made expertise on identical documents possible, (3) the facility of computer exchanges between experts, in terms of reception as well as replying time delays. We were able to set out new standards of image sampling for CLL, solve the semantic divergences, and point out interobserver variability as regards morphology. The limiting factors were the important need for expert investment, but they more importantly concerned the first line morphologists who should benefit from adequate tools, in... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465687 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465687 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465686&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F519417.html A novel adaptive source-channel coding with feedback for progressive transmission of medical images is proposed here. In the source coding part, the transmission starts from the region of interest (RoI). The parity length in the channel code varies with respect to both the proximity of the image subblock to the RoI and the channel noise, which is iteratively estimated in the receiver. The overall transmitted data can be controlled by the user (clinician). In the case of medical data transmission, it is vital to keep the distortion level under control as in most of the cases certain clinically important regions have to be transmitted without any visible error. The proposed system significantly reduces the transmission time and error. Moreover, the system is very user friendly since the sele... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465686 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465686 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465685&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F101382.html Healthcare industry is facing a major reform at all levels—locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Healthcare services and systems become very complex and comprise of a vast number of components (software systems, doctors, patients, etc.) that are characterized by shared, distributed and heterogeneous information sources with varieties of clinical and other settings. The challenge now faced with decision making, and management of care is to operate effectively in order to meet the information needs of healthcare personnel. Currently, researchers, developers, and systems engineers are working toward achieving better efficiency and quality of service in various sectors of healthcare, such as hospital management, patient care, and treatment. This paper presents a novel i... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465685 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465685 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465684&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2008%2F210471.html This paper presents a method to reconstruct and to calculate geometric invariants on brain tumors. The geometric invariants considered in the paper are the volume, the area, the discrete Gauss curvature, and the discrete mean curvature. The volume of a tumor is an important aspect that helps doctors to make a medical diagnosis. And as doctors seek a stable calculation, we propose to prove the stability of some invariants. Finally, we study the evolution of brain tumor as a function of time in two or three years depending on patients with MR images every three or six months. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465684 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465684 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465683&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F917826.html Requirement volatility is an issue in software engineering in general, and in Web-based clinical applications in particular, which often originates from an incomplete knowledge of the domain of interest. With advances in the health science, many features and functionalities need to be added to, or removed from, existing software applications in the biomedical domain. At the same time, the increasing complexity of biomedical systems makes them more difficult to understand, and consequently it is more difficult to define their requirements, which contributes considerably to their volatility. In this paper, we present a novel agent-based approach for analyzing and managing volatile and dynamic requirements in an ontology-driven laboratory information management system (LIMS) designed for Web-... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465683 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465683 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465682&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F308710.html (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465682 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465682 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465681&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F627625.html The objective is to track tumor boundaries over time to improve the segmentation stage in each image of the sequence to facilitate the tracking and localization of the tumor. It makes use of an attributed string matching technique to find the correspondence between tumor boundaries over time. Relationships are then exploited to reconstitute the tumor boundaries and remove the inconsistencies coming from the detection errors. Input data are free form shapes of different length representing the tumor boundary, extracted at a previous stage. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465681 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465681 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465680&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F406753.html In real-time remote diagnosis of emergency medical events, mobility can be enabled by wireless video communications. However, clinical use of this potential advance will depend on definitive and compelling demonstrations of the reliability of diagnostic quality video. Because the medical domain has its own fidelity criteria, it is important to incorporate diagnostic video quality criteria into any video compression system design. To this end, we used flexible algorithms for region-of-interest (ROI) video compression and obtained feedback from medical experts to develop criteria for diagnostically lossless (DL) quality. The design of the system occurred in three steps-measurement of bit rate at which DL quality is achieved through evaluation of videos by medical experts, incorporation of th... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465680 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465680 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2465679&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2Fjournals%2Fijta%2F2009%2F435849.html Remote surgery information requires quick and reliable transmission between the surgeon and the patient site. However, the networks that interconnect the surgeon and patient sites are usually time varying and lossy which can cause packet loss and delay jitter. In this paper we propose SURGNET, a telesurgery system for which we developed the architecture, algorithms and implemented it on a testbed. The algorithms include adaptive packet prediction and buffer time adjustment techniques which reduce the negative effects caused by the lossy and time varying networks. To evaluate the proposed SURGNET system, at the therapist site, we implemented a therapist panel which controls the force feedback device movements and provides image analysis functionality. At the patient site we controlled a vir... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2465679 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:17:44 +0100 2465679 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2393109&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F406753 In real-time remote diagnosis of emergency medical events, mobility can be enabled by wireless video communications. However, clinical use of this potential advance will depend on definitive and compelling demonstrations of the reliability of diagnostic quality video. Because the medical domain has its own fidelity criteria, it is important to incorporate diagnostic video quality criteria into any video compression system design. To this end, we used flexible algorithms for region-of-interest (ROI) video compression and obtained feedback from medical experts to develop criteria for diagnostically lossless (DL) quality. The design of the system occurred in three steps-measurement of bit rate at which DL quality is achieved through evaluation of videos by medical experts, incorporation of th... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2393109 Thu, 07 May 2009 15:57:40 +0100 2393109 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2334468&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F627625 The objective is to track tumor boundaries over time to improve the segmentation stage in each image of the sequence to facilitate the tracking and localization of the tumor. It makes use of an attributed string matching technique to find the correspondence between tumor boundaries over time. Relationships are then exploited to reconstitute the tumor boundaries and remove the inconsistencies coming from the detection errors. Input data are free form shapes of different length representing the tumor boundary, extracted at a previous stage. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2334468 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:38:45 +0100 2334468 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2310035&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F917826 Requirement volatility is an issue in software engineering in general, and in Web-based clinical applications in particular, which often originates from an incomplete knowledge of the domain of interest. With advances in the health science, many features and functionalities need to be added to, or removed from, existing software applications in the biomedical domain. At the same time, the increasing complexity of biomedical systems makes them more difficult to understand, and consequently it is more difficult to define their requirements, which contributes considerably to their volatility. In this paper, we present a novel agent-based approach for analyzing and managing volatile and dynamic requirements in an ontology-driven laboratory information management system (LIMS) designed for Web-... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2310035 Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:35:44 +0100 2310035 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2310034&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F308710 (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2310034 Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:35:44 +0100 2310034 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2288912&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F101382 Healthcare industry is facing a major reform at all levels—locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Healthcare services and systems become very complex and comprise of a vast number of components (software systems, doctors, patients, etc.) that are characterized by shared, distributed and heterogeneous information sources with varieties of clinical and other settings. The challenge now faced with decision making, and management of care is to operate effectively in order to meet the information needs of healthcare personnel. Currently, researchers, developers, and systems engineers are working toward achieving better efficiency and quality of service in various sectors of healthcare, such as hospital management, patient care, and treatment. This paper presents a novel i... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2288912 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:05:04 +0100 2288912 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2288911&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F210471 This paper presents a method to reconstruct and to calculate geometric invariants on brain tumors. The geometric invariants considered in the paper are the volume, the area, the discrete Gauss curvature, and the discrete mean curvature. The volume of a tumor is an important aspect that helps doctors to make a medical diagnosis. And as doctors seek a stable calculation, we propose to prove the stability of some invariants. Finally, we study the evolution of brain tumor as a function of time in two or three years depending on patients with MR images every three or six months. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2288911 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:05:04 +0100 2288911 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2132713&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F767145 We present one of the first approaches of the use of telehaematology for the inclusion of patients in the GOELAMS chronic lymphocytic leukaemia 98 trial. The advantages were (1) the creation of a unique, protected, stable data bank that could be remotely consulted, (2) the use of digitized pictures which made expertise on identical documents possible, (3) the facility of computer exchanges between experts, in terms of reception as well as replying time delays. We were able to set out new standards of image sampling for CLL, solve the semantic divergences, and point out interobserver variability as regards morphology. The limiting factors were the important need for expert investment, but they more importantly concerned the first line morphologists who should benefit from adequate tools, in... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2132713 Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:11:10 +0100 2132713 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2132712&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F519417 A novel adaptive source-channel coding with feedback for progressive transmission of medical images is proposed here. In the source coding part, the transmission starts from the region of interest (RoI). The parity length in the channel code varies with respect to both the proximity of the image subblock to the RoI and the channel noise, which is iteratively estimated in the receiver. The overall transmitted data can be controlled by the user (clinician). In the case of medical data transmission, it is vital to keep the distortion level under control as in most of the cases certain clinically important regions have to be transmitted without any visible error. The proposed system significantly reduces the transmission time and error. Moreover, the system is very user friendly since the sele... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2132712 Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:11:10 +0100 2132712 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2075958&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F461560 Nowadays in modern and ubiquitous computing environments, it is imperative more than ever the necessity for deployment of pervasive healthcare architectures into which the patient is the central point surrounded by different types of embedded and small computing devices, which measure sensitive physical indications, interacting with hospitals databases, allowing thus urgent medical response in occurrences of critical situations. Such environments must be developed satisfying the basic security requirements for real-time secure data communication, and protection of sensitive medical data and measurements, data integrity and confidentiality, and protection of the monitored patient's privacy. In this work, we argue that the MPEG-21 Intellectual Property Management and Protection (IPMP) co... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2075958 Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:24:59 +0100 2075958 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2075957&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F417870 The present paper studies the prospective and the performance of a forthcoming high-speed third generation (3.5G) networking technology, called enhanced uplink, for delivering mobile health (m-health) applications. The performance of 3.5G networks is a critical factor for successful development of m-health services perceived by end users. In this paper, we propose a methodology for performance assessment based on the joint uplink transmission of voice, real-time video, biological data (such as electrocardiogram, vital signals, and heart sounds), and healthcare records file transfer. Various scenarios were concerned in terms of real-time, nonreal-time, and emergency applications in random locations, where no other system but 3.5G is available. The accomplishment of quality of service (QoS) ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2075957 Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:24:59 +0100 2075957 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2062429&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F181842 This study showed that all mothers and newborns were included in the regional database; the data for all mothers were linked to those for their infant(s) in all cases. Additional data (gestational age) were obtained for 99.9% of newborns. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2062429 Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:39:33 +0100 2062429 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2012042&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F853524 Our aging population has exacerbated strong and divergent trends between health human resource supply and demand. One way to mitigate future inequities is through the adoption of health information technology (HIT). Our previous research showed a number of risks and mitigating factors which affected HIT implementation success. We confirmed these findings through semistructured interviews with nine Alberta clinics. Sociotechnical factors significantly affected physicians' implementation success. Physicians reported that the time constraints limited their willingness to investigate, procure, and implement an EMR. The combination of antiquated exam room design, complex HIT user interfaces, insufficient physician computer skills, and the urgency in patient encounters precipitated by a fee-... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2012042 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:30:51 +0100 2012042 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2007267&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F987046 We consider interconnection of IEEE 802.15.4 beacon-enabled network cluster with IEEE 802.11b network. This scenario is important in healthcare applications where IEEE 802.15.4 nodes comprise patient's body area network (BAN) and are involved in sensing some health-related data. BAN nodes have very short communication range in order to avoid harming patient's health and save energy. Sensed data needs to be transmitted to an access point in the ward room using wireless technology with higher transmission range and rate such as IEEE 802.11b. We model the interconnected network where IEEE 802.15.4-based BAN operates in guaranteed time slot (GTS) mode, and IEEE 802.11b part of the bridge conveys GTS superframe to the 802.11b access point. We then analyze the network delays. Performance... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2007267 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:16:54 +0100 2007267 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1999621&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2009%2F279091 Agent Technology is an emerging and promising research area in software technology, which increasingly contributes to the development of value-added information systems for large healthcare organizations. Through the MediMAS prototype, resulting from a case study conducted at a local Swiss hospital, this paper aims at presenting the advantages of reinforcing such a complex E-health man-machine information organization with software agents. The latter will work on behalf of human agents, taking care of routine tasks, and thus increasing the speed, the systematic, and ultimately the reliability of the information exchanges. We further claim that the modeling of the software agent layer can be methodically derived from the actual “classical” laboratory organization and practices, ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1999621 Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:53:53 +0100 1999621 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1826950&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F946082 (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1826950 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:15:31 +0100 1826950 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1680192&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F867639 Continuous care models for chronic diseases pose several technology-oriented challenges for home-based continuous care, where assistance services rely on a close collaboration among different stakeholders such as health operators, patient relatives, and social community members. Here we describe Emilia Romagna Mobile Health Assistance Network (ERMHAN) a multichannel context-aware service platform designed to support care networks in cooperating and sharing information with the goal of improving patient quality of life. In order to meet extensibility and flexibility requirements, this platform has been developed through ontology-based context-aware computing and a service oriented approach. We also provide some preliminary results of performance analysis and user survey activity. (Source: I... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1680192 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:47:18 +0100 1680192 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1582409&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F639019 This paper surveys diabetes therapies from telemedicine viewpoint. In type 1 diabetes therapies, the exogenous insulin replacement is generally considered as a primary treatment. However, the complete replacement of exogenous insulin is still a challenging issue because of its complexity of modeling the dynamics, which is typically modeled nonlinearly. On the other hand, thanks to the progress of medical devices, currently the diabetes therapies are being automated. These medical devices include automated insulin pumps and blood glucose sensors. Insulin pumps are designed to create artificial insulin perfusion while they largely rely on the blood glucose profile measurements and these measurements are achieved by one or more blood glucose sensors. The blood glucose measurements are also im... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1582409 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:57:32 +0100 1582409 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1582408&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F763534 Electronic health record (EHR) projects have been launched in most developed countries to increase the quality of healthcare while decreasing its cost. The benefits provided by centralizing the healthcare information in database systems are unquestionable in terms of information quality, availability, and protection against failure. Yet, patients are reluctant to give to a distant server the control over highly sensitive data (e.g., data revealing a severe or shameful disease). This paper capitalizes on a new hardware portable device, associating the security of a smart card to the storage capacity of a USB key, to give back to the patient the control over his medical data. This paper shows how this device can complement a traditional EHR server to (1) protect and share highly sensitive da... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1582408 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:57:32 +0100 1582408 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1582407&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F405796 (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1582407 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:57:32 +0100 1582407 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1564844&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F753064 Patients suffering from chronic respiratory disease need to follow a rehabilitative exercise programme, in order to self-manage their illness and improve quality of life. Adherence to the programme is highly dependent on professional support from a physiotherapist and hence declines when patients seek to self-manage in the home. A number of requirements were identified for a Smartphone-based application in which patients are supported remotely and given automatic feedback during exercise. An application is described which will improve adherence during pulmonary rehabilitation. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1564844 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:56:32 +0100 1564844 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1554959&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F459185 New wireless technologies, such as wireless LAN and sensor networks, for telecardiology purposes give new possibilities for monitoring vital parameters with wearable biomedical sensors, and give patients the freedom to be mobile and still be under continuous monitoring and thereby better quality of patient care. This paper will detail the architecture and quality-of-service (QoS) characteristics in integrated wireless telecardiology platforms. It will also discuss the current promising hardware/software platforms for wireless cardiac monitoring. The design methodology and challenges are provided for realistic implementation. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1554959 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:47:35 +0100 1554959 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1514565&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F739385 We survey blood glucose control schemes for insulin-dependent diabetes therapies and systems. These schemes largely rely on mathematical models of the insulin-glucose relations, and these models are typically derived in an empirical or fundamental way. In an empirical way, the experimental insulin inputs and resulting blood-glucose outputs are used to generate a mathematical model, which includes a couple of equations approximating a very complex system. On the other hand, the insulin-glucose relation is also explained from the well-known facts of other biological mechanisms. Since these mechanisms are more or less related with each other, a mathematical model of the insulin-glucose system can be derived from these surrounding relations. This kind of method of the mathematical model deriva... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1514565 Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:58:40 +0100 1514565 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489844&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F235031 An estimated 5 million Americans have congestive heart failure (CHF) and one in five over the age of 40 will develop CHF. There are numerous examples of CHF patients living beyond the years normally expected for people with the disease, usually attributed to taking an active role in disease management. A relatively new alternative for CHF outpatient care is telemedicine and e-health. We investigated the effects of a 6-week in-home telemedicine education and monitoring program for those with systolic dysfunction on the utilization of health care resources. We also measured the effects of the unit 4.5 months after its removal (a total of 6 months post introduction of the unit into the home). Concurrently, we assessed participants' perceptions of the value of having a telemedicine unit. P... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489844 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489844 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489843&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F159276 This study demonstrates the feasibility and acceptance of a school-based asthma program using a telemedicine link to an asthma specialist. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489843 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489843 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489842&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F217909 Transtelephonic electrocardiographic transmission (TET) is the most widespread form of telecardiology since it enables clinicians to assess patients at a distance. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and effectiveness of TET either by fixed telephone line (POTS) or by mobile phone in the preparticipation screening of young athletes. A total of 506 players, aged 20.5 ± 6.2 years, from 23 soccer clubs in the prefecture of Thessaloniki, Greece, were physically examined in their playfields by a general practitioner (GP) and had their ECG recorded. In 142 cases, and on the judgment of the GP, the ECG was transmitted via POTS and/or global system for mobile communications (GSM) to a specialised medical centre where it was evaluated by a cardiologist. The mean total time f... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489842 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489842 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489841&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F639019 This paper surveys diabetes therapies from telemedicine viewpoint. In type 1 diabetes therapies, the exogenous insulin replacement is generally considered as a primary treatment. However, the complete replacement of exogenous insulin is still a challenging issue because of its complexity of modeling the dynamics, which is typically modeled nonlinearly. On the other hand, thanks to the progress of medical devices, currently the diabetes therapies are being automated. These medical devices include automated insulin pumps and blood glucose sensors. Insulin pumps are designed to create artificial insulin perfusion while they largely rely on the blood glucose profile measurements and these measurements are achieved by one or more blood glucose sensors. The blood glucose measurements are also im... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489841 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489841 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489840&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F132890 This study shows that it is possible for experts at the hospital to conduct clinical examinations and decision making at a distance, in close cooperation with the visiting nurse and the patient. The visiting nurse experienced increased confidence with the treatment of the foot ulcer and characterized the consultations as a learning situation. All patients expressed satisfaction and felt confidence with this new way of working. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489840 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489840 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489839&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F328597 A new system-on-a-chip radar sensor for next-generation wearable wireless interface applied to the human health care and safeguard is presented. The system overview is provided and the feasibility study of the radar sensor is presented. In detail, the overall system consists of a radar sensor for detecting the heart and breath rates and a low-power IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee radio interface, which provides a wireless data link with remote data acquisition and control units. In particular, the pulse radar exploits 3.1–10.6 GHz ultra-wideband signals which allow a significant reduction of the transceiver complexity and then of its power consumption. The operating principle of the radar for the cardiopulmonary monitoring is highlighted and the results of the system analysis are reporte... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489839 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489839 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489838&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F678302 We propose a method utilizing a derived social security number with the same reliability as the social security number. We show the anonymity techniques classically based on unidirectional hash functions (such as the secure hash algorithm (SHA-2) function that can guarantee the security, quality, and reliability of information if these techniques are applied to the Social Security Number). Hashing produces a strictly anonymous code that is always the same for a given individual, and thus enables patient data to be linked. Different solutions are developed and proposed in this article. Hashing the social security number will make it possible to link the information in the personal medical file to other national health information sources with the aim of completing or validating the personal... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489838 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489838 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489837&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F142803 In the context of a constantly increasing aging population with cognitive deficiencies, insuring the autonomy of the elders at home becomes a priority. The DOMUS laboratory is addressing this issue by conceiving a smart home which can both assist people and preserve their quality of life. Obviously, the ability to monitor properly the occupant’s activities and thus provide the pertinent assistance depends highly on location information inside the smart home. This paper proposes a solution to localize the occupant thanks to Bayesian filtering and a set of anonymous sensors disseminated throughout the house. The localization system is designed for a single person inside the house. It could however be used in conjunction with other localization systems in case more people are present. O... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489837 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489837 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489836&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F290431 We present a unique solution to the problem of home sleep monitoring that has the possibility to take the place of and expand on the data from a sleep center. PATHOS focuses not only on analyzing patterns during the night, but also on collecting data about the subject lifestyle that is relevant and important to the diagnosis of his/her sleep. PATHOS means “evoking emotion.” Here, we mean Pathos will help us to keep healthy: both mentally and physically. Our solution uses existing technology to keep down cost and is completely wireless in order to provide portability and be easily to customize. The daytime collection also utilizes existing technology and offers a wide range of input methods to suit any type of person. We also include an in-depth look at the hardware we used to ... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489836 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489836 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489835&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F136054 This research takes place in the S(MA)2D project which proposes software architecture to monitor elderly people in their own homes. We want to build patterns dynamically from data about activity, movements, and physiological information of the monitored people. To achieve that, we propose a multiagent method of classification: every agent has a simple know-how of classification. Data generated at this local level are communicated and adjusted between agents to obtain a set of patterns. The patterns are used at a personal level, for example to raise an alert, but also to evaluate global risks (epidemic, heat wave). These data are dynamic; the system has to maintain the built patterns and has to create new patterns. So, the system is adaptive and can be spread on a large scale. (Source: Inte... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489835 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489835 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489834&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F135808 We present a framework for a wireless health monitoring system using wireless networks such as ZigBee. Vital signals are collected and processed using a 3-tiered architecture. The first stage is the mobile device carried on the body that runs a number of wired and wireless probes. This device is also designed to perform some basic processing such as the heart rate and fatal failure detection. At the second stage, further processing is performed by a local server using the raw data transmitted by the mobile device continuously. The raw data is also stored at this server. The processed data as well as the analysis results are then transmitted to the service provider center for diagnostic reviews as well as storage. The main advantages of the proposed framework are (1) the ability to detect s... International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489834 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489834 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1489833&cid=s_37042_21_f&fid=37042&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindawi.com%2FGetArticle.aspx%3Fdoi%3D10.1155%2F2008%2F436870 A novel method of detecting mechanical movement of the heart, Mechanocardiography (MCG), with no connection to the subject's body is presented. This measurement is based on radar technology and it has been proven through this research work that the acquired signal is highly correlated to the phonocardiograph signal and acceleration-based ballistocardiograph signal (BCG) recorded directly from the sternum. The heart rate and respiration rate have been extracted from the acquired signal as two possible physiological monitoring applications of the radar-based MCG device. (Source: International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications) International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications journals http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1489833 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:25:15 +0100 1489833