Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Intelligent Systems”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,243 records · Page 69Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Factors determining the refractive effects of intrastromal photorefractive keratectomy with the picosecond laser.

PURPOSE: To determine the relationship between laser parameters and tissue removal with picosecond laser intrastromal photorefractive keratectomy (ISPRK) and to assess the effect of the parameters on the healing process and the long-term refractive changes. SETTING: Medical Laser Center Lübeck, Germany. METHODS: A modified Intelligent Surgical Lasers (ISL) 2001 system with a cone angle of 30 degrees was used for in vitro investigations of the laser effects in water and on the porcine cornea. Photographic methods were used to determine the plasma volume and to investigate the thickness of the intrastromal bubble layer as a function of the laser pulse energy, the number of layers in which the pulses were applied, and the layer separation. The data were used to calculate the amount of tissue removal. Histologic evaluation was done by polarization microscopy after Sirius-red staining. RESULTS: The laser pulses produced a sponge-like appearance of the stroma in a layer extending through about one third the corneal thickness, accompanied by mechanical distortions of the stromal lamellae. Thermal changes were weak. Tissue removal was impaired by the cavitation bubbles from preceding laser pulses. The amount of evaporated tissue depended only weakly on laser pulse energy and number of layers in which the pulses were applied. The maximum amount of tissue that could be evaporated without damaging the outer corneal layers was a 10.0 microm thick layer. With a 6.0 mm optical zone, the tissue removal produced an immediate refractive effect of only 0.85 diopter. CONCLUSIONS: Intrastromal PRK does not work as originally envisioned because the amount of evaporated tissue is very small. The greater long-term refractive changes observed in animal experiments and clinical studies must therefore be due to the healing response of the cornea. Because the refractive effects are strongly influenced by the healing response of the cornea, they are poorly predictable.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Diabetic foot infections and antibiotic therapy.

Diabetic foot infections are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates as well as significant financial impact on the health care system. Improved patient outcomes and intelligent use of resources should determine the selection of diagnostic procedures and the therapeutic modalities used. Diabetic patients who develop lower extremity infections require a multidisciplinary approach in the management of their infections and other disorders. Aggressive surgical debridement and appropriate and adequate antibiotic therapy are necessary to successfully treat severe foot infections and permit faster recovery.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Civilian exposure to toxic agents: emergency medical response.

Civilian populations are at risk from exposure to toxic materials as a result of accidental or deliberate exposure. In addition to industrial hazards, toxic agents designed for use in warfare now are a potential hazard in everyday life through terrorist action. Civil emergency medical responders should be able to adapt their plans for dealing with casualties from hazardous materials (HazMat) to deal with the new threat. Chemical and biological warfare (CBW) and HazMat agents can be viewed as a continuous spectrum. Each of these hazards is characterized by qualities of toxicity, latency of action, persistency, and transmissibility. The incident and medical responses to release of any agent is determined by these characteristics. Chemical and biological wardare agents usually are classified as weapons of mass destruction, but strictly, they are agents of mass injury. The relationship between mass injury and major loss of life depends very much on the protection, organization, and emergency care provided. Detection of a civil toxic agent release where signs and symptoms in casualties may be the first indicator of exposure is different from the military situation where intelligence information and tuned detection systems generally will be available. It is important that emergency medical care should be given in the context of a specific action plan. Within an organized and protected perimeter, triage and decontamination (if the agent is persistent) can proceed while emergency medical care is provided at the same time. The provision of advanced life support (TOXALS) in this zone by protected and trained medical responders now is technically feasible using specially designed ventilation equipment. Leaving life support until after decontamination may have fatal consequences. Casualties from terrorist attacks also may suffer physical as well as toxic trauma and the medical response also should be capable of dealing with mixed injuries.

Biological Warfare↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of Centella asiatica on cognition and oxidative stress in an intracerebroventricular streptozotocin model of Alzheimer's disease in rats.

1. Centella asiatica, an Indian medicinal plant, has been described as possessing central nervous system activity, such as improving intelligence. In addition, we have demonstrated that C. asiatica has cognitive-enhancing and anti-oxidant properties in normal rats. Oxidative stress or an impaired endogenous anti-oxidant mechanism is an important factor that has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cognitive deficits seen in the elderly. 2. Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) streptozotocin (STZ) in rats has been likened to sporadic AD in humans and the cognitive impairment is associated with free radical generation in this model. Therefore, in the present study, the effect of an aqueous extract of C. asiatica (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg for 21 days) was evaluated in i.c.v. STZ-induced cognitive impairment and oxidative stress in rats. 3. Male Wistar rats were injected with STZ (3 mg/kg, i.c.v.) bilaterally on the days 1 and 3. Cognitive behaviour was assessed using passive avoidance and elevated plus-maze paradigms on the days 13, 14 and 21. Rats were killed on the day 21 for estimation of oxidative stress parameters (malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase) in the whole brain upon completion of the behavioural task. 4. Rats treated with C. asiatica showed a dose-dependent increase in cognitive behaviour in both paradigms. A significant decrease in MDA and an increase in glutathione and catalase levels were observed only in rats treated with 200 and 300 mg/kg C. asiatica. 5. The present findings indicate that an aqueous extract of C. asiatica is effective in preventing the cognitive deficits, as well as the oxidative stress, caused by i.c.v. STZ in rats.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed2004

First steps of an interdisciplinary approach towards miniaturised cryopreservation for cellular nanobiotechnology.

The only widely used and accepted method for long-term cell preservation is storage below -130 degrees C. The biosciences will make increasing use of preservation and place new demands on it. Currently, cells are frozen in volumes greater than 1 ml but the new cell and implantation therapies (particularly those using stem cells) will require accurately defined freezing and storage conditions for each single cell. Broadly-based, routine freezing of biological samples allows the advantage of retrospective analysis and the possibility of saving genetic rights. For such applications, one billion is a modest estimation for the number of samples. Current cryotechniques cannot handle so many samples in an efficient and economic way, and the need for new cryotechnology is evident. The interdisciplinary approach presented here should lead to a new sample storage and operating strategy that fulfils the needs mentioned above. Fundamental principles of this new kind of smart sample storage are: (i) miniaturisation; (ii) modularisation; (iii) informationsample integration, i.e. freezing memory chips with samples; and (iv) physical and logical access to samples and information without thawing the samples. In contrast to current sample systems, the prototyped family of intelligent cryosubstrates allows the recovery of single wells (parts) of the substrate without thawing the rest of the sample. The development of intelligent cryosubstrates is linked to developments in high throughput freezing, high packing density storage and minimisation of cytotoxic protective agents.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Linear temporal characteristics of heart interbeat interval as an index of the pilot's perceived risk.

The concept of adaptive automation is the first commendable step towards machine monitoring and support of the human operator behaviour and performance. Despite a large number of studies, the concept is still not sufficiently mature and more experimental studies are required to enable its application in the real world. As a small contribution in this direction, this experimental study made an effort to develop some techniques for online assessment of the pilot's perceived risk of the consequences resulting from their inability to execute a task adequately. Linear dynamical characteristics of 60 pilot's heart interbeat intervals were used for the assessment. Past research has shown that such 'perceived risk' influences the pilot's need for an automation aid. The preliminary results of this study suggested that the frequency and power of the heart interbeat interval dominant cycle, together with the characteristics of the energy contained in the power spectrum, can be sensitive indices of the level of perceived risk. The study techniques and preliminary results appear promising for incorporation into the algorithm of an intelligent online monitoring and alerting system on future aerospace vehicles to define the moments when the human supervisory controllers require an automation aid.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

In situ control of cardiotomy suction reduces blood trauma.

Cardiotomy suction is known for its deleterious effects on formed and unformed blood elements. The authors investigated an "intelligent" remote controlled automatic suction system. A suction cannula with an optic sensor at its tip was connected to a special closed cardiotomy reservoir. Contact with blood immediately generated a reservoir vacuum from 0 to -100 mmHg, permitting aspiration until the blood was no longer detected (automatic shut off). Blood trauma was evaluated in a bovine model, comparing the automatic suction system vs standard continuous aspiration (control) adjusted to -100 mmHg. After full systemic heparinization, five calves (weight, 62.5 +/- 4.4 kg) for the automatic suction system group, and four (weight, 62.8 +/- 5.1 kg) for the control group, were equipped with a jugular cannula connected via a roller pump to the cardiotomy reservoir. Through a small thoracotomy, a standardized hole was created in the right atrium, allowing for a blood loss of approximately 400 ml/min. The suction cannula was placed into the chest cavity in a fixed position. Blood samples were drawn at regular intervals for cell count and chemistry. Lactate dehydrogenase values, for the automatic suction system and the control groups, respectively, expressed as percent of baseline value, were 88 +/- 14 vs 116 +/- 22 after 1 hr; 94 +/- 16 vs 123 +/- 23 after 2 hr; and 97 +/- 19 vs 140 +/- 48 after 3 hr (p < 0.05). Values for free hemoglobin in plasma (percent of baseline value), for the automatic suction system and the control groups, respectively, were 102 +/- 18 vs 200 +/- 69 after 1 hr; 98 +/- 29 vs 163 +/- 37 after 2 hr; and 94 +/- 37 vs 179 +/- 42 after 3 hr (p < 0.05). Compared with a standard continuous aspiration system, in situ regulation of suction significantly reduces blood trauma.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

A planning system based on Markov decision processes to guide people with dementia through activities of daily living.

Older adults with dementia often cannot remember how to complete activities of daily living and require a caregiver to aid them through the steps involved. The use of a computerized guidance system could potentially reduce the reliance on a caregiver. This paper examines the design and preliminary evaluation of a planning system that uses Markov decision processes (MDPs) to determine when and how to provide prompts to a user with dementia for guidance through the activity of handwashing. Results from the study suggest that MDPs can be applied effectively to this type of guidance problem. Considerations for the development of future guidance systems are presented.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2004

Automatic eyeglasses removal from face images.

In this paper, we present an intelligent image editing and face synthesis system that automatically removes eyeglasses from an input frontal face image. Although conventional image editing tools can be used to remove eyeglasses by pixel-level editing, filling in the deleted eyeglasses region with the right content is a difficult problem. Our approach works at the object level where the eyeglasses are automatically located, removed as one piece, and the void region filled. Our system consists of three parts: eyeglasses detection, eyeglasses localization, and eyeglasses removal. First, an eye region detector, trained offline, is used to approximately locate the region of eyes, thus the region of eyeglasses. A Markov-chain Monte Carlo method is then used to accurately locate key points on the eyeglasses frame by searching for the global optimum of the posterior. Subsequently, a novel sample-based approach is used to synthesize the face image without the eyeglasses. Specifically, we adopt a statistical analysis and synthesis approach to learn the mapping between pairs of face images with and without eyeglasses from a database. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our system effectively removes eyeglasses.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1988

Clinical reasoning in nursing.

This paper traces the development of the concept of nursing diagnosis and the various approaches being used to explain the cognitive processes used by practitioners in diagnosing patient problems. Three main types of explanation are compared; hypothesis generation/testing, decision analysis, and the information processing model. The recent development of the latter approach within the field of artificial intelligence is described and expert system research introduced. Finally, the potential benefits of the advent of expert systems into nursing are discussed.

Decision Support Techniques↗
PubMed1978

Aniridia associated with microcornea and subluxated lenses.

Four cases of aniridia associated with subluxated lenses and microcornea are presented. The triad occurred in both eyes of the 4 affected members in one Ndebele family (one of the South African Negro tribes). No other ocular or systemic defects were noted, and intelligence was normal. Chromosomal studies on both parents showed no abnormality, and gene marker studies failed to reveal any linkage between the disease locus and a wide range of polymorphic loci.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2026

Invisible Threats, Relentless Hunters: Biosurveillance of Airborne Plant Pathogens.

Airborne dispersal enables plant pathogens to travel across fields, regions, and continents, fueling rapid epidemics and emerging disease threats. Biosurveillance, the systematic monitoring of airborne inoculum, offers the opportunity to detect pathogens before symptoms appear and informs timely, risk-based management. Recent advances in air sampling, molecular diagnostics, metagenomics, and imaging technologies have expanded the scale and resolution of pathogen monitoring, from single-species qPCR assays to community-level aerobiome surveys. Integration of biosurveillance data with decision-support systems, remote sensing, and artificial intelligence is transforming early-warning capabilities and providing novel insights into pathogen ecology, evolution, and fungicide resistance. Yet major challenges remain, including assay standardization, data interpretation, and translation into actionable tools for growers. This review synthesizes current approaches, highlights case studies in which biosurveillance has advanced disease management, and outlines future directions toward coordinated surveillance networks and precision agriculture applications.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Genetics and language in Williams-Beuren Syndrome: a distinct neurobehavioral disorder].

BACKGROUND: genetic, cognitive and language aspects of the Williams-Beuren Syndorme (WBS). AIM: to present a review of the literature about WBS, highlighting its genetic, cognitive and language characteristics. CONCLUSION: the literature indicates that although the etiology of WBS is known, early diagnosis is difficult due to the great variability of its clinical characteristics. This great phenotypic variability has been associated to a deletion of several genes in region 7q 11.23 which includes the elastin gene. The deletion of this gene is identified by the Fluorecent in situ Hibridization test (FISH). The incidence of this syndrome is 1 in every 20,000 birth and is the result of a "de novo" genetic alteration. The syndrome is characterized by an elfin type face, cardiac alterations, cognitive deficits and behavioral aspects that include language. A peculiar cognitive profile has often been described as consisting of outstanding social and verbal skills associated to visuo-spatial impairments. Cognitive deficits are variable and may not be present. Studies that describe language abilities indicate that syntax might be intact or partially intact; speech can be precise and intelligible indicating that the phonological system is preserved. The receptive vocabulary is mentioned in a few studies as being adequate and in others as being impaired according to mental age. Researches have produced incongruent findings regarding the cognitive and linguistic abilities. The correlation between the language and cognitive abilities and the divergent findings presented in the literature will be discussed in this article.

Humans↗
PubMed2000

Detecting predictors of new-born survival by fuzzy sets based machine learning system.

Machine learning system based on fuzzy sets was used for detecting predictors of new-born survival within the first 15 days after birth. The system processed real-life medical data of 566 new-borns; 528 survived and were classified as "alive", the remaining 38 did not survive and were classified as "died". The state of each new-born was described by values of 112 attributes. The system detected five of the attributes as the best predictors for survival (asphyxia, apnoea, birth weight, reanimation and gestation age). To evaluate are the selected attributes relevant for prediction, the following procedure was used: 566 new-borns were divided into two groups by random selection; 396 (70%) randomly selected new-borns formed the learning group, the remaining 170 new-borns formed the test group. The system acquired prediction knowledge by processing data of the learning group new-borns. Using the knowledge thus acquired, the system predicted survival for each new-born from the test group several times, each time using another set of attributes: once, using all 112 attributes; once, using attributes detected by the system as the best predictors; once, using remaining attributes without the best predictors. After the predictions for all new-borns from the test group had been finished, classification accuracy, sensitivity (accuracy for "alive") and specificity (accuracy for "died") were calculated as measures of prediction success with particular sets of attributes. The results have shown that the best prognostic accuracies were achieved when prediction was done using those attributes which the system detected as the best predictors for new-born survival.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed2000

Knowledge acquisition, management and representation for the diagnostic support in human inborn errors of metabolism.

The very complex and specific knowledge about inborn errors of metabolism increases rapidly and is spread worldwide. Therefore an Internet platform for the acquisition of statistical knowledge (PATDB) and for the collection of the experience of experts (Metabolic diseases database) has been established. The success of diagnostic support highly depends on the way of knowledge representation. An information retrieval system for physicians will offer first insights about useful user interfaces and handling properties. Furthermore information fusion of biomedical systems to a Biomedical Workbench for the simulation of biochemical reactions is described.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed2000

Finding similar cases within a hospital information system.

Most of the theoretical medical knowledge comes from literature. The knowledge obtained from the vast majority of patients is then lost. The vast majority of patients do not participate in the elaboration of medical knowledge, apart from the lucky few entering a clinical trial or a published case study. Moreover, locally treated patients do not always correspond to the same time, space or age context as literature patients. How can the knowledge of one patient be used for treating other patients? How can we save the knowledge of our own patients? Hospital information systems contain a lot of detailed and precise information about many patients over several years. Databases containing detailed information can provide solutions based on case analysis (Case-based reasoning or "similar case approach"). An example of a Geneva's decision system called Archimed is shown here.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed1992

A method for publishing genomic maps.

We describe a method for the creation, manipulation and publication of physical human genome maps. Employing an "intelligent" document interface metaphor, our system uses a commercially available programmable document production system as an interface to primary genetic data resources and externally created mapping algorithms. Our document architecture distinguishes between primary data (usually obtained through database queries) and both manual and programmatic manipulations on these data. Our document architecture can be extended to accommodate a wide range of genetic and physical mapping problems. Because our approach is based on a widely available document preparation product, the principal focus of activity remains centered on the production of genomic maps that can be made available in a wide range of paper and electronic formats.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2002

Assessing association rules and decision trees on analysis of diabetes data from the DiabCare program in France.

Recent advances in information technology have made it possible to solve increasingly complex problems, and also to collect and store huge amounts of information. These vast quantities of data further have to be transformed into relevant value-added and "decision-quality" knowledge. It is against this background that the KDD (Knowledge Discovery in Databases), a multidisciplinary field using computer learning, artificial intelligence, statistics, database technology, expert systems, and data visualization, appeared in the early 90's. In order to assess these technologies in the medical field, we have tested some of these techniques on a large database at our disposal, named DiabCare stemming from the WHO - DiabCare program for the application of the Saint-Vincent Declaration. It contains evaluation data on the health care of patients with diabetes, and in particular, its complications. So far, data analysis has been done using classical statistical methods, and we now intend to make use of such data-mining tools as Associations Rules and Decision and Classification Trees for further exploration of this database. The results presented here show that data mining techniques can be used successfully to extract knowledge from medical databases. The results obtained using Association Rules and especially Decision Trees are very promising.

Algorithms↗