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At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Designing an optical disk lens without analytical definition of aspheric surfaces.

We have developed a new method to design aspheric lenses. The conventional technique is usually based on analytic definition of optical surfaces; in the new method discretely defined aspheres are used, and the final design is attained point by point with an iterative algorithm. Simulation results are compared with results obtained with conventional optical design software to prove that this new method is more effective and reliable for designing aspheric lenses, especially when the aspheric order is high.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

The BiSearch web server.

BACKGROUND: A large number of PCR primer-design softwares are available online. However, only very few of them can be used for the design of primers to amplify bisulfite-treated DNA templates, necessary to determine genomic DNA methylation profiles. Indeed, the number of studies on bisulfite-treated templates exponentially increases as determining DNA methylation becomes more important in the diagnosis of cancers. Bisulfite-treated DNA is difficult to amplify since undesired PCR products are often amplified due to the increased sequence redundancy after the chemical conversion. In order to increase the efficiency of PCR primer-design, we have developed BiSearch web server, an online primer-design tool for both bisulfite-treated and native DNA templates. RESULTS: The web tool is composed of a primer-design and an electronic PCR (ePCR) algorithm. The completely reformulated ePCR module detects potential mispriming sites as well as undesired PCR products on both cDNA and native or bisulfite-treated genomic DNA libraries. Due to the new algorithm of the current version, the ePCR module became approximately hundred times faster than the previous one and gave the best performance when compared to other web based tools. This high-speed ePCR analysis made possible the development of the new option of high-throughput primer screening. BiSearch web server can be used for academic researchers at the http://bisearch.enzim.hu site. CONCLUSION: BiSearch web server is a useful tool for primer-design for any DNA template and especially for bisulfite-treated genomes. The ePCR tool for fast detection of mispriming sites and alternative PCR products in cDNA libraries and native or bisulfite-treated genomes are the unique features of the new version of BiSearch software.

DNA Primers↗
PubMed1997

Visuvalve software: an aid to the diagnosis of shunt failure.

Software designed to help the neurosurgeon in the diagnosis of shunt malfunction is presented. This software allows the possibility to record on a 3.5 diskette a patient's clinical information and four views of a CT scan performed when the patient was doing perfectly well with his shunt. This diskette, operated by MS-DOS on any IBM-compatible personal computer, can be read at any time, anywhere. The evaluation of the system demonstrated it was safe, with an excellent adhesion of the patients and of their families.

Cerebral Ventriculography↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Borderless teleradiology with CHILI.

Teleradiology is one of the most evolved areas of telemedicine, but one of the basic problems which remains unsolved concerns system compatibility. The DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) standard is a prerequisite, but it is not sufficient in all aspects. Examples of other currently open issues are security and cooperative work in synchronous teleconferences. Users without a DICOM radiological workstation would benefit from the ability to join a teleradiology network without any special tools. Drawbacks of many teleradiology systems are that they are monolithic in their software design and cannot be adapted to the actual user's environment. Existing radiological systems currently cannot be extended with additional software components. Consequently, every new application usually needs a new workstation with a different look and feel, which must be connected and integrated into the existing infrastructure. This paper introduces the second generation teleradiology system CHILI. The system has been designed to match both the teleradiology requirements of the American College of Radiology (ACR), and the functionality and usability needs of the users. The experiences of software developers and teleradiology users who participated in the first years of the clinical use of CHILI's predecessor MEDICUS have been integrated into a new design. The system has been designed as a component-based architecture. The most powerful communication protocol for data exchange and teleconferencing is the CHILI protocol, which includes a strong data security concept. The system offers, in addition to its own secure protocol, several different communication Methods: DICOM, classic e-mail, Remote Copy functions (RCP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), the internet protocols HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) and HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure),and CD-ROMs for off-line communication. These transfer METHODS allow the user to send images to nearly anyone with a computer and a network. The drawbacks of the non-CHILI protocols are that teleconferences are not possible, and that the user must take reasonable precautions for data privacy and security. The CHILI PlugIn mechanism enables the users or third parties to extend the system capabilities by adding powerful image postprocessing functions or interfaces to other information systems. Suitable PlugIns can be either existing programs, or dedicated applications programmed with interfaces to the CHILI components. The developer may freely choose programming languages and interface toolkits. The CHILI architecture is a powerful and flexible environment for Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS)and teleradiology. More than 40 systems are currently running in clinical routine in Germany. More than 300,000 images have been distributed among the communication partners in the last two years. Feedback and suggestions from the users influenced the system architecture by a great extent. The proposed and implemented system has been optimized to be as platform independent, open, and secure as possible.

Radiology Information Systems↗
PubMed2005

Pro-active call center treatment support (PACCTS) to improve glucose control in type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether Pro-Active Call Center Treatment Support (PACCTS), using trained nonmedical telephonists supported by specially designed software and a diabetes nurse, can effectively improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A randomized controlled implementation trial of 1-year duration was conducted in Salford, U.K. The trial comprised 591 randomly selected individuals with type 2 diabetes. By random allocation, 197 individuals were assigned to the usual care (control) group and 394 to the PACCTS (intervention) group. Lifestyle advice and drug treatment in both groups followed local guidelines. PACCTS patients were telephoned according to a protocol with the frequency of calls proportional to the last HbA(1c) level. The primary outcome was absolute reduction in HbA(1c), and the secondary outcome was the proportion of patients reducing HbA(1c) by at least 1%. RESULTS: A total of 332 patients (84%) in the PACCTS group and 176 patients (89%) in the control group completed the study. Final HbA(1c) values were available in 374 patients (95%) in the PACCTS group and 180 patients (92%) in the usual care group. Compared with usual care, HbA(1c) improved by 0.31% (95% CI 0.11-0.52, P = 0.003) overall in the PACCTS patients. For patients with baseline HbA(1c) >7%, the improvement increased to 0.49% (0.21-0.77, P < 0.001), whereas in patients with baseline HbA(1c) <7% there was no change. The difference in the proportions of patients achieving a >/=1% reduction in HbA(1c) significantly favored the PACCTS intervention: 10% (4-16, P < 0.001) overall and 15% (7-24, P < 0.001) for patients with baseline HbA(1c) >7%. CONCLUSIONS: In an urban Caucasian trial population with blood glucose HbA(1c) >7%, PACCTS facilitated significant improvement in glycemic control. Further research should extend the validity of findings to rural communities and other ethnic groups, as well as to smoking and lipid and blood pressure control.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Use of a personal computer to support an investigational drug service.

A description of the rationale for the computerization of an Investigational drug service, (IDS) including the potential for benefits in three major areas: (1) policy & procedure, (2) financial analysis, and (3) drug accountability. Through the use of readily available computer software, dispensing, and billing procedures have been streamlined. Software with spreadsheet capability facilitates analysis of the financial status of the IDS. A specially designed software package allows maintenance of the drug account-ability records for investigational protocols.

Accounting↗
PubMed2000

Decision support software to help primary care physicians triage skin cancer: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether decision support software can help primary care physicians proficiently triage lesions suggestive of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma. DESIGN/MEASURES: Physicians selected triage options for 15 digitized images of skin lesions, with and without use of the decision support software. PARTICIPANTS/SETTINGS: Twenty primary care physicians practicing in a health maintenance organization or a city health clinic. INTERVENTION: Decision support software designed to help physicians arrive at a triage recommendation consisted of a clinical information form, a decision tree, and support features (teaching points, example images, and diagrams). RESULTS: Without using the decision support software, physicians chose the wrong triage decision 36.7% of the time; using the decision support software, they chose the wrong response only 13.3% of the time. Not using the decision support software, they failed to correctly perform a biopsy on or refer patients with cancerous lesions 22.1% of the time; using the software, they failed to correctly perform a biopsy on or refer patients with cancerous lesions only 3.6% of the time. Physicians scored an average of 3 points (of a possible 15 points) higher when they used the software (signed rank, 101.0; P<.001). They scored an average of 1 point higher on the 7 cancerous lesions when they used the software (signed rank, 65.5; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Use of decision support software could improve primary care physicians' triage decisions for lesions suggestive of nonmelanoma skin cancer, and potentially reduce morbidity and health care costs. We are designing a larger study to evaluate the accuracy and utility of the software with patients seen in clinical practice.

Basal Cell Carcinoma↗
PubMed1999

[Digital image archiving--concept of digital image and video documentation in ENT. A contribution to quality assurance].

BACKGROUND: Currently normal or pathologic conditions are documental by color slides, photos or videotape. However, it is more difficult to manage large numbers of images and to recall specific pictures or videos at any time. Digital record archives may be a solution for this problem. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We present a digital video and photographic archive that controls documents with a picture archive software designed for use in ENT examination units. RESULTS: Working on this digital unit we have developed a software program that allows the creation and administration of digital pictures and videos using only one program. To avoid mistakes manual recording of data was reduced to a minimum. Filing is done automatically and similar results can be found via self-explained criteria. Due to the pro-user computer software, less trained persons are not afraid to use the system. Hence, the number of documented diagnoses has increased. Present experience shows that material and videos make it easier to work with patients and clinical confidence is increased. Additionally, the physician is protected indirectly. When many persons work with one system, digital photographic archives increase the clinician's ability to refind documents, even after a period of years. The need for quality assurance in medicine will help find more use for a digital archive in ENT.

Computer Systems↗
PubMed1998

A fast neural-network algorithm for VLSI cell placement.

Cell placement is an important phase of current VLSI circuit design styles such as standard cell, gate array, and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Although nondeterministic algorithms such as Simulated Annealing (SA) were successful in solving this problem, they are known to be slow. In this paper, a neural network algorithm is proposed that produces solutions as good as SA in substantially less time. This algorithm is based on Mean Field Annealing (MFA) technique, which was successfully applied to various combinatorial optimization problems. A MFA formulation for the cell placement problem is derived which can easily be applied to all VLSI design styles. To demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is applicable in practice, a detailed formulation for the FPGA design style is derived, and the layouts of several benchmark circuits are generated. The performance of the proposed cell placement algorithm is evaluated in comparison with commercial automated circuit design software Xilinx Automatic Place and Route (APR) which uses SA technique. Performance evaluation is conducted using ACM/SIGDA Design Automation benchmark circuits. Experimental results indicate that the proposed MFA algorithm produces comparable results with APR. However, MFA is almost 20 times faster than APR on the average.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1990

Selecting a labor information system. What to ask, what to avoid.

Payroll expenses may account for over half of all of a hospital's expenses. Manual time card processing requires an abundance of staff time and can often result in costly errors. To alleviate this problem, many healthcare facilities are implementing computerized labor information systems. To minimize the risk of selecting the wrong system, hospital administrators should ask the following questions before committing to any computerized labor information system: Is the software designed for hospital use and easily adaptable to each hospital's unique policies? How flexible is the software's reporting system? Does it include automatic scheduling that creates generic schedules? Does the system have the capability of securing time and attendance records and documenting the audit trail? Does the system include an accurate and reliable badge reader? What type of hardware is best for the particular hospital--microcomputer, minicomputer, or mainframe? Finally, to guarantee successful software installation, the vendor should have extensive experience and documentation in the system's implementation.

Accounting↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The technology for trance exposure states].

The paper deals with the burning problem to design instrumental techniques and facilities for psychotherapy by modelling high-technology-based conventional trans-exposure facilities which have not been used in their software design and by developing basically new exposure techniques and facilities by taking into account the present-day sociocultural environment. It also presents the results of using the proposed software complex of trans-exposures in narcological care and in the normalization of patients' body weight.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2006

Quantification of regional left ventricular wall motion from real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography in patients with poor acoustic windows: effects of contrast enhancement tested against cardiac magnetic resonance.

OBJECTIVE: Regional left ventricular function can be assessed by real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) in patients with good image quality. Our goals were to: (1) test the feasibility of RT3DE quantification of regional wall motion (RWM) in patients with poor acoustic windows who require contrast for endocardial visualization; and (2) validate these measurements against cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) reference. METHODS: RT3DE datasets and CMR images were obtained in 24 patients. In 16 of 24 patients with suboptimal endocardial definition, RT3DE imaging was repeated with intravenous contrast and triggering at end systole and end diastole. RT3DE datasets were analyzed using custom software designed to semiautomatically detect and segment the endocardial surface and calculate RWM values. CMR images were analyzed using commercial software to obtain reference values for RWM. RESULTS: In 8 of 24 patients with good endocardial definition, RT3DE values of RWM correlated well with CMR (r = 0.73) with a small bias (-1.0 mm). In the remaining 16 patients, analysis of nonenhanced RT3DE datasets yielded lower correlation with CMR (r = 0.61) and a slightly greater bias (-1.5 mm). The agreement with CMR improved significantly (r = 0.76, bias -1.1 mm) with contrast enhancement. CONCLUSIONS: The agreement between RT3DE and CMR values of RWM is directly related to RT3DE image quality. In patients with poor acoustic windows, dual-triggered contrast enhancement improves the accuracy of RWM quantification to a level similar to that noted in patients with good images without contrast.

Computer Systems↗
PubMed1997

CT virtual simulation.

Advances in computer technology and software design have enabled the concept of virtual simulation, first suggested by George Sherouse, to be realized. This article reviews the hardware and software requirements that provide a system that feels like a simulator and can facilitate the 3D planning process. Fast digital reconstruction of a radiograph from a CT data set provides true verification of treatment field design within the constraints of the virtual method. The clinical application of this technique is discussed in detail in relation to particular treatment sites.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1994

A new respiratory monitor that enables accurate measurement of work of breathing: a validation study.

BACKGROUND: Computerized, yet portable, bedside pulmonary monitors that can measure work of breathing (WOB) are now commercially available; however, none accurately measures WOB. The purpose of this study was to evaluate new software designed to measure WOB by means of the Campbell diagram and to test the agreement between a monitor (Model CP-100, Bicore, Irvine CA) programmed with the new software and the conventional method of measuring WOB. MATERIALS & METHODS: Using a lung model of our own devising, we compared WOB measurements between the monitor and conventional laboratory equipment. Inspiratory flow-rate, tidal volume (VT), and resistance of the model were adjusted to produce WOB ranging from 0.80 to 3.25 J/L. Regression analysis and calculation of bias and precision were performed for these data. RESULTS: For total, elastic, and resistive WOB, the two methods of measurement correlated strongly and positively. For all values of WOB, the correlation coefficients (r) and coefficients of determination (r2) were close to 0.99 (p < 0.0001); bias was minimal (-0.05 J/L) and precision acceptable (0.06 J/L). CONCLUSION: Data from a lung model reveal that a respiratory monitor programmed with appropriate software can accurately measure total, elastic, and resistive WOB. The monitor may eventually prove useful for clinically assessing WOB, which then can be used to adjust the ventilator to optimize respiratory muscle loads.

Equipment Design↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Off-axis wave front measurements for optical correction in eccentric viewing.

In a previous study we have shown that correction of peripheral refractive errors can improve the remaining vision of subjects with large central visual field loss. Measuring peripheral refractive errors with traditional methods is often difficult due to low visual acuity and large aberrations. Therefore a Hartmann-Shack sensor has been designed to measure peripheral wave front aberrations in subjects using eccentric viewing. The sensor incorporates an eye tracker and analyzing software designed to handle large wave front aberrations and elliptic pupils. To ensure that the measurement axis is aligned with the direction of the subject's preferred retinal location, a special fixation target has been developed. It consists of concentric rings surrounding the aperture of the sensor together with a central fixation mark along the measurement axis. Some initial measurements on subjects using eccentric viewing have been performed successfully. As a first step in improving the peripheral optics of the eye, the wave front has been used to calculate the eccentric refraction. This refraction has been compared to the refraction found with the PowerRefractor instrument. Measuring the off-axis wave front is a fast way to assess the optical errors in the subject's eccentric viewing angle and to better understand the problems of eccentric correction.

Equipment Design↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Fuzzy logic and medical device design controls.

The second article in this series concentrated on the application of fuzzy logic in drug delivery systems and presented a specific example of respiratory therapy. This article completes the picture with a discussion of the regulatory issues, with particular reference to hardware and software design controls and applicable standards.

Computer-Aided Design↗
PubMed2005

[Software and hardware design for the temperature control system of quantitative polymerase chain reaction].

A temperature control system for quantitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is presented in the paper with both software and hardware configuration. The performance of the control system has been improved by optimizing the software and hardware design according to the system's properties. The control system has been proven to have a good repeatability and reliability as well as high control precision.

Equipment Design↗
PubMed1990

Use of computer aided drafting for analysis and control of posture in manual work.

Computer aided design (CAD) in conjunction with digitised anthropometric manikins can be used for analysis and control of stressful work postures, one of the most frequently cited occupational risk factors of upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders. This paper describes the use of macros for manipulating manikins and workstation components and for designing the workplace. AutoCAD, a popular computer aided design software package, was used to demonstrate the feasibility of these concepts. Specifically, macros are used for drawing work equipment using parametric designs, manipulating manikins and analysing jobs. In comparing the macros to the use of primitive CAD commands, the macros not only decrease the amount of time needed to create workstation components, but they also make the task easier for the user and decrease the risk of errors. Despite the limitation of anthropometric data and manikins, CAD is an effective method for identifying postural stresses and redesigning the workstation to control the identified stresses.

Journal Article↗