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PubMed1984

Computerized processing of two-dimensional echocardiograms for the quantification of left ventricular regional contractility.

A new practical method of computer digital image processing of two-dimensional echocardiograms was developed for the quantification of the left ventricular regional contractility. Short axis, cross-sectional images of the left ventricle at the levels of the mitral valve, papillary muscle and apex were recorded by a phased array sector scanner. The echo data recorded on video tape were transfered to a minicomputer through the interface circuits and digitized and processed automatically. Automatic edge detection of the endocardial and epicardial walls was performed by applying sequential steps, including smoothing, dynamic thresholding, region growing and filling small holes. The rationale for edge detection depended upon the assumptions that the abrupt changes of the gray levels occurred at the boundaries and that the points with the maximum gradient values are boundaries of the left ventricular wall. Best-fit contours of endocardial and epicardial edges were drawn by fitting a spline. The short axis cross-sectional left ventricular wall at each level was divided into eight segments, with the center of gravity of enddiastolic left ventricular cavity and the axis connecting this with the posterior end of the right side of the septum being used as the reference point and line. The segmental hemiaxis, area and wall thickness were measured every 33 msec from end-diastole during the cardiac cycle and the systolic percent changes were calculated automatically by a computer. Regional contractility of the left ventricle was evaluated by systolic percent changes of the segmental hemiaxis, area and wall thickness. The measured values in a patient with dilated cardiomyopathy were lower than those of a normal subject, probably reflecting myocardial damage of the left ventricle. Although there are some points to be improved, including a better system for transferring echo data to the computer and the evaluation of the validity of this fixed reference system, it is likely that computer analysis of the short axis cross-sectional echocardiogram of the left ventricle will be useful in a clinical setting.

Cardiomyopathy, Dilated↗

PubMed1982

Variation of mechanical energy levels for normal and prosthetic gait.

Mechanical energy levels were investigated for normals and for below-knee amputees during level walking. The weight of the prostheses was varied by attaching 0.5 kg extra weight to the prostheses. The measurements and analyses were made with the ENOCH system consisting of a minicomputer (HP 21 MX), an optoelectronic device for displacement data measurement (Selspot) and a force plate (Kistler) for measurement of ground reaction forces. Results by Winter et al (1976) on the energy changes during normal walking obtained from displacement data on one leg only were verified using data from both legs and the trunk. For the amputees it was concluded that the energy changes increased for the prosthetic shank when the weight increased. For the other body segments and for the body total no significant differences were found.

Adult↗

PubMed1982

An investigation of kinematic and kinetic variables for the description of prosthetic gait using the ENOCH system.

Gait patterns, joint angles, floor reaction forces and joint moments during walking were investigated for normal subjects and above-knee and below-knee amputees. The investigation showed that the hip-knee angle diagram as well as different symmetry diagrams (e.g. left knee angle versus right knee angle) provide an easily interpreted means of evaluating abnormalities in the gait pattern. It was further concluded that a combined gait pattern-force vector diagram is valuable for the evaluation of the joint moments. Floor reaction forces and muscular moments at the joints were also included in the analysis. The joint moments at the knee were quite different for both above-knee and below-knee amputees as compared to the normal subjects. Some interesting trends were also found concerning the knee stability of the amputees. A system called ENOCH was used for the measurement and analysis. This system consists of a minicomputer connected on-line to equipment for measurement of displacement (Selspot) and floor reaction forces (Kistler). A graphic computer terminal (Tektronix) was used for the result presentation.

Amputation, Surgical↗

PubMed1984

Computer-based prescription audit as a research, educational and management tool.

An existing dedicated pharmacy computer system (MIDAS system, Alfred Hospital and Health Computing Services, Victoria) used primarily for pharmacy labelling and dispensing, has been rewritten for an in-house minicomputer, with enhancements that allow it to be used in budgetary predictions, drug use monitoring, therapeutic audit and as a research tool. An automatically updated hard copy record of individual patient prescription profiles is generated and represents a valuable addition to the patient medical record. Allied to automatic "sorting" and retrieval techniques, all patients on nominated drugs can be identified and their records examined for particular combination use. Current application to assessment of nifedipine- beta blocker use will be presented, as will an application to cimetidine audit. Prescriptions can be scanned and segregated in terms of numbers of prescriptions in addition to segregation in terms of a particular therapeutic agent. Initial application to audit has detected an unacceptable level of polypharmacy (more than 26% of all prescriptions involve greater than or equal to 5 items and more than 3% involved greater than or equal to 10 items). Statistical information on the volume and unit cost of outpatient prescribing allows a precise estimate of ongoing budgetary commitments, while trends in discharge medication profiles allow a basis for prediction of budgetary trends, particularly with respect to the use of recent additions to the formulary. The system allows for expansion at minimal cost with potentially revolutionary applications, for example, interactive prescriber education if and when "on-line" capabilities are developed. Cross-linking with relevant data-bases will allow a major expansion of applied research into therapeutic drug use and its consequences.

Australia↗

PubMed1984

Computerization of the GRASP system to determine patient care requirements.

Less than a year after installing its own dedicated data processing system, the 217-bed Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado developed a computerized program that per forms all of the functions of the manual GRASP system for determining patient care requirements. It is one of the few hospitals in the U.S. and Canada to have computerized the system and is believed to be the first to implement it on a minicomputer.

Colorado↗

PubMed1982

Computer analysis versus technician analysis of body plethysmographic analog recordings of airway resistance and thoracic gas volume.

Body plethysmographic analog recordings of airway resistance (Raw) and volume of thoracic gas (Vtg) were repeatedly analyzed by a minicomputer system and by four technicians to determine the consistency of the measurements made by each technician and the difference between the measurements made by the technicians and the computer. Verification of the computer's accuracy enabled it to be used as a standard of comparison. The most experienced technician had the highest consistency and was the only technician whose readings did not differ significantly from those of the computer. I concluded that a skilled and experienced technician will increase the quality of the Raw and Vtg measurements, but not to the level achieved by the computer analysis.

Airway Resistance↗

PubMed1991

A new Pick based computer thyroid register based on the national SAFUR requirements for local usage.

Patients with thyroid disease require lifelong surveillance to detect late onset hypothyroidism and to monitor thyroid replacement therapy. This is best achieved by a shared-care computer system. We describe the introduction to Tayside (Ninewells Hospital) of a new computerised thyroid follow-up programme based on the Patient Record System under a Pick operating system, run on a Honeywell-Bull minicomputer. This new programme has allowed the transfer of patients from the previous Aberdeen based SAFUR centralised service to a locally based unit, offering an improved, updated and cost effective method for thyroid disease surveillance. Audit, clinical and financial, may now be more efficiently achieved, allowing local needs to direct the service provision.

Continuity of Patient Care↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Computer-assisted evaluation of the status of the peripheral nervous system in alcoholics].

The authors present the principles of work of a computer system destined for evaluation of the results of routine electrophysiological examination of two muscles and four sensory nerves in alcohol-dependent subjects. The range of examinations and the programme based on discrimination analysis make possible, as shown in own investigations, an objective and complete evaluation of the state of the peripheral nervous system in these subjects. The programme is owned by the EMG laboratory of the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw where it was introduced for clinical diagnosis, but it may be made available to other persons interested in these problems. An electromyograph with a stimulator with current exit averager and minicomputer, e.g. Commodore 64 with a printer are necessary.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed1989

[The design and implementation of a hospital management information system at Peking Union Medical College hospital].

This paper analyses the environment, necessity, possibility and specificity of the development of a Hospital Information System (HIS) in the People's Republic of China. The overall design and step-by-step implementation of a Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) in Peking Union Medical Collage (PUMC) Hospital are described in great detail. An experimental HMIS consisting of 40 microcomputers and a minicomputer (VAX-730) with a mixed network has been developed and is running perfectly well in PUMC Hospital. It is a distributed data management system. Each department uses microcomputers (work stations) to handle its own work directly facing the end-users to meet the local requirements. The global data concerning the whole system will be stored in network to be shared with all the subsystems. The communication between two subsystems is through 3+ network. As a background support of the distributed data processing, the centralized data bases in VAX-730 could be used to analyse and evaluate activities of the whole hospital.

China↗

PubMed1989

[Adjustment of hearing aids using a computer].

There was developed the programme for the fitting of hearing-aids for minicomputer SHARP PC 1500. According to the audiometric investigation the programme enables to choose the SPPL (Saturation Sound Pressure Level), gain, compression and frequency range. The programme was proved in the fitting of hearing-aids to thirty subjects, mostly with sensorineural hearing impairment. The use of the computer is considered as the simplifying of this work to the audiological personal.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1988

[Quantitative assessment of the status of patients with rheumatic diseases].

A system of operative quantitative assessment of the status of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthrosis (OA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic scleroderma (SSD) was developed using a mathematical model of discriminant analysis. Data contained in case histories of 120 patients with RA, 112 with OA, 106 with SLE and 63 with SSD were used to determine discriminant coefficients of linear discriminant equations of some functional systems: locomotor, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, digestive, nervous, skin and subcutaneous fat, immunological as well as laboratory findings on disease standing. Knowing discriminant coefficients, one can determine an index in any values of functional indicators that characterize the status of one or another system in any phase of the treatment of a patient. The system can be used in practice in a rheumatological hospital using CM-1600 minicomputer.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗

PubMed1987

CYBEST Model 4. Automated cytologic screening system for uterine cancer utilizing image analysis processing.

CYBEST (Cyto-Biologic Electronic Screening System) utilizes image analysis technology for the automated prescreening of cervical cytology specimens. CYBEST Model 3, which includes a television scan system and automatic shading control, achieved our initial goal of rapid specimen processing (no more than three minutes to achieve a final specimen assessment). This paper describes CYBEST Model 4, developed in 1981; with the minicomputer of Model 3 replaced by a microcomputer, Model 4 is considerably smaller, about the size of a business desk. A new parameter, the intranuclear configuration (chromatin pattern), was added to the four parameters used in Model 3. The five parameters now used for the assessment and ranking of cytologic abnormalities are nuclear size, nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio, nuclear optical absorption, nuclear shape and intranuclear configuration. The other features of Model 4 are almost the same as those of Model 3. As an optional function, individual parameter measurement data, assessment of atypicality grade and cell images can be displayed on the CRT monitor by pointing to a cell with a light pen system. After completion of screening of a specimen, the ten cells judged to be most abnormal can be called automatically into the microscope optical field or the CRT monitor (in order ranging from the cell with the highest atypicality rank down) along with their associated data and the system's assessment of the specimen. By connection to a small business computer, all data can be transferred to a floppy disk for later retrieval.

Cytodiagnosis↗

PubMed1986

Study of computer applications in dental practice.

The results of this study indicated that some new patterns are emerging in computer usage by dentists. The majority in this study reported utilizing micro- and minicomputers rather than commercial services. The increasing acceptance of personal computers and their decreasing costs will certainly contribute to increased utilization and the development of additional applications.

California↗

PubMed1987

[Distributed automatic control system for experiments on the cultivation of microorganisms].

Hard- and software of a distributed system for computer control of experiments on cultivation of microorganisms is described. The system is based on microprocessor techniques and minicomputer CM-4(1420). It provides intensification of microbiological studies due to rational management of experiments, accumulation and long-term storage of experimental data and their processing with specific algorithms for providing additional information on biosynthetic processes and optimization of fermentation conditions.

Analog-Digital Conversion↗

PubMed1987

[Complex system of differentiated prediction of strokes].

On the basis of the data on 2287 patients with cerebral strokes (CS) and 800 individuals without this disease, and using discriminant and probability methods, the authors have identified 158 supposed risk factors (RF) of CS development. They have also established the specificity of RFs which depends on the nature of CS, as well as ascertained the dependence of informative value of these factors on the size of samples and the degree of percentage reflection by the main demographic indicators of the studied population. RFs are classified as controllable and uncontrollable. The authors have selected 50 risk factors with 2-5 gradations ranging from the normal to the maximal pathology and reflecting various aspects of CS etiopathogenesis. This work has resulted in the creating of a mathematical model of SC development. On the basis of this model and using the Bayes' theorem the authors have developed a system intended for predicting CS and its nature by 50, 25, and 15 RFs which is implemented by means of universal, micro- or minicomputers and tables which make it possible to predict with a 88.8% accuracy the development of CS as well as to determine the most rational individual prophylaxis of threatening stroke which is achieved through an accurate balancing in the system of controllable and uncontrollable RFs.

Adult↗

PubMed1985

A new data analyzing tocodynamometer and its suitability for clinical application.

Actual intrauterine pressure (IUP) was measured continuously by the extraamniotic method for the monitoring of uterine contractions (UC) throughout the entire course of labor. As a result, it was found by using a PDP 11/60 minicomputer that the wave of intrauterine pressure levels includes signals below a frequency of 0.05 Hz and that a period of 10 minutes is suitable for averaging the levels of parameters of IUP which makes it possible to evaluate the average expulsive activity. A new data analyzing tocodynamometer with a digital low pass filter was developed based on the data mentioned above, and the average values for maximum active pressure, the UC area and UC interval were computed simultaneously. The data for these factors were digitally displayed and printed on recording paper at every UC time. These values were clinically useful for drawing the partograms and were available to use in trying to express the expulsive activity in simple "labor index" terms.

Computers↗

PubMed1979

[New measurements of noise from road traffic in Rome carried out during 24 hours (author's transl)].

A new series of noise measurements in 10 points of the central zone in Rome, corresponding to residential areas with commercial activity, to parks, to hospitals, and to a subway, have been carried out. Investigation has been protracted during 24 hours and each measure has lasted 20 minutes. For the survey a mobile acoustic unity of the Environmental Hygiene Laboratory, Department of Sanitary Engineering, of Istituto Superiore di Sanità has been employed. The unity is fitted with instruments for statistical analysis of noise in connection with a minicomputer. The used program has allowed to calculate L1, L10, L50, L90, standard deviation, Leq, LNP, TNI. On the basis of such measurements Leq 24, Ldn, CNEL, have been calculated. Collected data have been compared with limits of stated rules and with noise levels measured in other seven Italian towns.

Automobiles↗

PubMed1984

Distribution and clearance of radioactive aerosol on the nasal mucosa.

The distribution and clearance of aerosolized radioactive technetium 99m pertechnate in physiologic buffered saline was analyzed in four human adult asymptomatic volunteers following delivery into one nostril in the same manner as for nasal challenge testing (i.e., 0.1 ml via a 251 DeVilbiss atomizer powered by a compressor delivering 0.10 +/- 0.01 gm/spray). For comparison, squeeze bottles and spray bottles from commercial sources, a 114 and a 127 DeVilbiss atomizer, and a pipette were employed. Lateral imagery via minicomputer processing was used to determine both distribution and clearance of the radiotracer. The counts after 1 minute were lower following pipette delivery than with the other devices. None yielded discernable , wide-spread distribution of aerosol throughout the nasal cavity. Following delivery from the 251 atomizer, mean clearance at 17 minutes was 60.0%. Similar clearance rates were obtained with the other spraying methods except for lower values with the squeeze bottle. Analysis of six hour clearance studies by linear regression showed a relatively rapid initial phase, which is probably due largely to mucociliary clearance, and a prolonged late phase related to the very slow disappearance of residual material located far anteriorly in the nose. Achieving good initial retention and rapid clearance of material deposited anteriorly in the nose are desirable attributes of devices employed for administering materials intranasally.

Administration, Intranasal↗