Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C Ruggiero

Publications and source records attributed to C Ruggiero.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Magnetic resonance imaging and high-resolution computed tomography in tumors of the lung and the mediastinum.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and high resolution computed tomography (CT) have been compared in 37 patients who had expansive processes of the lung and the mediastinum. MR imaging and CT scanning gave identical results in 32 patients; in 5 patients, CT scanning has proved more useful in evaluating the stag e of primary lung tumors. MR imaging often gives more information about the actual size of the tumor, and the involvement of close structures, although it does not modify staging of the tumor. MR imaging has the advantage to differentiate hilar adenopathy from blood vessel structures. Evaluation of T2 relaxing time (that we have performed in the same location of thin-needle biopsy aspiration), however, did not prove to be of diagnostic significance; this indicates that MR imaging at the moment is not suitable for tissue typification.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

[CT-guided percutaneous fine-needle biopsy in the histological characterization of mediastinal-pulmonary lesions].

CT-guided percutaneous fine-needle biopsy (FNB) is the method of choice in the histological characterization of mediastinum and lung lesions in which a diagnosis could not be reached through noninvasive methods such as cytology of the sputum, or biopsy during bronchoscopy. FNB represents an alternative to diagnostic thoracotomy: it is, in fact, less invasive, it can be carried out with no need for hospitalization, and has a low incidence of complications. FNB diagnostic accuracy is very high, as our results prove: accuracy 89.6%, sensitivity 87.6% and specificity 98%. Our series includes 419 percutaneous fine-needle biopsies.

Biopsy, Needle↗
PubMed1987

Spatio-temporal characterization of intercostal activity during breathing in the cat.

It is envisaged that the motor control of the intercostal musculature--an assembly of mobile structures--can be characterized in terms of a conceptual spatially continuous control function, that underlies the discretely distributed muscular activity and reflects an inferred global dynamic control of the thoracic cage during breathing. The global control function is estimated by the spatio-temporal pattern obtained by averaging in time and space and interpolation of multichannel simultaneous intercostal EMG recording in the anaesthetized cat. Different examples of the experimental preparation in the presence of stimuli of different kinds are analysed. The resultant signal patterns are found to be self-consistent and capable of exhibiting systematically differing features in systematically differing experimental conditions, thus supporting the validity of the analysis and the choice of the estimator. It is concluded that a more detailed analysis of the requirements of this approach is then warranted. Such requirements are discussed, and, specifically, results that bear on the adequacy of spatial sampling rate are presented. It is suggested that such methods offer a promising approach in the study of motor control strategies of the respiratory apparatus.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1987

Outcomes following continuing medical education on flexible sigmoidoscopy.

Ninety-four out of 114 physicians who took part in a continuing medical education course on flexible sigmoidoscopy were contacted 12 to 18 months later. Ninety per cent (85) were now using flexible sigmoidoscopy in their office practice. Complete demographic and procedure-outcome information (number of procedures performed, average depth of insertion, time required for procedure, complications) was acquired from 78 of these physicians. Using a randomly chosen comparison group of 87 physicians matched for sex and specialty, the likelihood of similar continuing medical education during the study period was obtained. Thirty-two physicians had obtained this training and 69% (22 of 32) currently used flexible sigmoidoscopy. Utilization of the method was 9% (four of 45) among physicians who had not obtained this continuing education. Continuing medical education was significantly associated (P less than 0.05) with the acquisition and utilization of flexible sigmoidoscopy. The study group reported 5467 procedures, resulting in one bowel perforation. The utilization of sigmoidoscopy in primary care was significantly greater (P less than 0.05) in the post-continuing education period. After 10 to 20 procedures, insertion depths and procedure times were similar to those reported in other published primary care series.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

A structural model of the thoracic cage in the cat.

A homogeneous shell model of the mechanical characteristics of the thoracic cage in the cat is presented. The global characterization proposed parallels the characterization--presented elsewhere--of the motor control of the intercostal musculature in terms of a conceptual spatially continuous control function, that underlies the discretely distributed muscular activity and reflects an inferred global dynamic control of the intercostal muscles during breathing. Proposing a static, homogeneous shell characterization of the thoracic cage, which is heterogeneous and composed of an assembly of mobile structures, implies assuming that other elements are indirectly giving this system features that make it resemble, from a structure analysis point of view, a homogeneous, static one. The pattern of the lines of stress along the shell structure proposed as a model compares favourably with the shape of the ribs. In agreement with previous findings, supporting the need for muscular activity to satisfy demands of purely structural character, it is suggested that this global shell-like functional character is achieved by neuromuscular global dynamic integration of the components of the rib cage by the nervous control of the intercostal muscles.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

BREASTCAN: an expert system for postoperative breast cancer therapy.

An expert system, named BREASTCAN and designed to assist physicians giving postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer, is described. The system is based on frames, each corresponding to one stage of treatment--either a decision-making stage or a therapeutic stage. The system has been designed to allow fast and easy consultation by general practitioners lacking computer knowledge.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1986

The corrected circumference of human pulmonary trunk and arteries in relation to the size of aorta and principal bronchi.

The corrected circumference of the pulmonary trunk, its branches and ascending aorta as well as the maximum diameter of the principal bronchi, were measured in 120 human fresh cadavers of subjects (60 males and 60 females) aged between 27 and 91 years, died of natural causes. The statistical analysis of the obtained data yielded the following main results: 1) the corrected circumference of the pulmonary trunk, smaller than that of the aorta, is not statistically correlated with the age of the subjects and does not present significant degrees between the 2 sexes; 2) the right and left pulmonary arteries have a corrected circumference quite similar in the 2 sexes and statistically correlated with that of the vessel of origin; 3) both the right pulmonary artery and the right principal bronchus have sizes greater than the left ones, possibly due to the greatest volume and weight of the right lung; 4) the lackness of a correlation between the size of the pulmonary arteries and those of the respective bronchi shows once more the difficulty of identifying general rules concerning the interrelationship between vascular and ductal human structures.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Blood vessel size of circulus arteriosus cerebri (circle of Willis): a statistical research on 100 human subjects.

The brain weight of 100 fresh cadavers of Italian subjects (60 males and 40 females), aged between 17 and 84 years, was obtained and the corrected circumference of the following blood vessels was measured: basilar artery, internal carotid arteries, anterior and posterior cerebral arteries, and anterior and posterior communicating arteries. The cerebral 'potential flow' was expressed in each case by adding the circumference of the basilar artery to that of the internal carotid arteries. Moreover, the sides and the perimeter of the circle of Willis as well as the length of the basilar artery were calculated. The statistical analysis of the obtained data yielded the following main results: (1) the brain weight decreases with aging, is lower in females than in males and and is statistically correlated neither with the circumferences of the considered arteries and the 'potential flow' nor with the perimeter of the arterial polygon (circle of Willis); (2) the arteries of the left side appear to be larger than those of the right one; (3) no significant difference exists in the circumference and length of the arteries between males and females; (4) the increase of the perimeter of the arterial polygon is achieved by means of a harmonious increase of all its sides; (5) the anterior and posterior communicating arteries have an anarchic pattern, because of the relatively frequent anomalies and the lack of a correlation between their circumference and that of the vessel of origin or of outlet.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

The coloscreen self-test for detection of fecal occult blood.

A new method for the detection of fecal occult blood was tested in a clinical setting. The test is performed by placing a chemically treated paper pad in the toilet bowl after a bowel movement and observing for color change on the pad. This method eliminates the mechanical task of handling or gathering stool by the patient. Forty-four valid trials were completed in 19 patients with known risk factors for gastrointestinal disease. A widely used reference standard (Hemoccult II) was utilized as a control method against which the study method was compared. Concordance of the results of the study method was noted in 95.8 percent of positive cases and 100 percent of negative cases. This preliminary study supports further investigation. If the aesthetic aspects of fecal occult blood testing can be improved, there may be improvements in patient compliance with screening protocols for the early detection of colorectal cancer.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Human face representation by means of polynomial expansion of the harmonic descriptors of tomograms.

A method is presented to obtain realistic modifications of faces represented as sequences of tomograms, to be used for geometrical modelling or for planning of plastic surgery. This method uses a mathematical model consisting of the harmonic expansion of tomograms whose harmonic parameters are represented by cubic spline functions of the z variable. Based on this model a three dimensional shape editor is proposed that allows for local modifications. The results obtained using tomograms of a plaster mould are presented.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Statistical variability of biomedical data: part 2. The influence of serial correlations on power estimates, and on comparative testing of samples.

The effect of serial-correlation structure of biomedical data on the statistical-sampling variability of power estimates is investigated, extending a previous study of mean value estimates. The degrees of freedom content for power DFp in a k-point sample is shown to be dependent on the serial-correlation structure in a generally different way from the DFk, the corresponding measure for the mean. The sampling distribution of power is also investigated. The influence of serial correlation structure on the behaviour of traditional small-sample statistical tests is also of interest; in the case of the t-test the effects can be severe but can be compensated, leading to a new variable, ct, which for correlated data, behaves rather like t for uncorrelated data. The approach is applied to the case of long-term records of systolic blood-pressure data.

Blood Pressure↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Statistical variability of biomedical data: Part 1. The influence of serial correlation on mean value estimates.

Many biomedical variables are subject to large short-term fluctuations; so, measurements of the variable requires statistical improvement. Such variables also commonly exhibit longitudinal correlation due to systematic variations contributed by underlying biological mechanisms and sometimes constituting most of the variability. This correlation structure interferes with the operation of statistical procedures, such as longitudinal averaging to improve resolution of the mean value, and manipulations designed to provide objective comparative assessments of data samples. A convenient approach to evaluating and overcoming these problems can be made through the degrees of freedom concept. It is shown how the degrees of freedom content of the sample of serially correlated data is related to the correlation structure of the variable and how this affects variability of the mean in different sized samples. The approach is confirmed both by simulation and by empirical studies on several biomedical variables: various intra-arterial and left ventricular blood-pressure measurements, heart rate, and nystagmus inter-beat intervals in the stimulated electro-oculogram. The implications for measurement are discussed, specifically in respect of sampling protocols to improve resolution to a specified extent (for which a microprocessor instrument has been designed), as well as in determining the inherent longitudinal resolution of a data sequence and the effective precision displayed by the observations.

Blood Pressure Determination↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Artificial intelligence techniques for cancer treatment planning.

An artificial intelligence system, NEWCHEM, for the development of new oncology therapies is described. This system takes into account the most recent advances in molecular and cellular biology and in cell-drug interaction, and aims to guide experimentation in the design of new optimal protocols. Further work is being carried out, aimed to embody in the system all the basic knowledge of biology, physiopathology and pharmacology, to reason qualitatively from first principles so as to be able to suggest cancer therapies.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Visual knowledge processing in computer-assisted radiology: a consultation system.

This paper presents Visual Heuristics, a consultation system for diagnosis based on thorax radiograph recording. Visual Heuristics uses both prototypical representations of physiological and pathological states and reasoning aimed to infer conclusions from pathological or physiological conditions, establishing correspondences between pathological or physiological states and semantic descriptions of images. Images are assembled with groups of descriptors that guide the recognition process, achieving the possibility of comparisons with real images on the basis of 'expected' images. The system may be employed to generate a dynamic atlas that does not contain proper images, but generates them.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Using CommonKADS to create a conceptual model of a guideline system for breast cancer prognosis.

One of the major aspects in breast cancer research is the identification of prognostic factors accurate enough to define different therapeutic decisions; each prognostic factor on its own is insufficient for the prediction of the biological behaviour of the tumour, but a combination of these parameters is necessary. The work described here focuses on the definition of a conceptual knowledge model of the prognosis of breast cancer. Our approach to the conceptualization of the problem follows the CommonKADS (Knowledge Acquisition and Design Structuring) Library for Expertise Modelling. The aim of this work is to provide a first conceptualization of breast cancer prognosis while evaluating the efficacy of the CommonKADS methodology in facing the problem.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Objective evaluation of two markers of HIV-1 infection (p24 antigen concentration and CD4+ cell counts) by a self organizing neural network.

The aim of the present work is to obtain groups of patients with similar profiles of p24 antigen concentration and of CD4+ cell counts. These two markers were chosen because their evaluation represents a significant step in the clinical follow up of HIV-1 infected subjects. The detection methods for p24 antigen concentration and for CD4+ cell counts are well assessed and guarantee easy reproducibility of data obtained in different laboratories. A set of observations with the same time intervals were derived from a continuous function obtained for each patient by a back-propagation neural net trained on the raw data from the patient. The classifications were obtained by a Kohonen neural net trained in three ways: with p24 antigen profiles only, with CD4+ cell count profiles only and with both sets of profiles. The results show that the clustering fashion of the two parameters closely resembles the clustering fashion of CD4+ only, rather than that of p24Ag, both with reference to cluster formation and with reference to distances between clusters.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗