Non-destructive techniques for the detection of fungal infection in cereal grains.

PubMed

Orina, Irene; Manley, Marena; Williams, Paul J

2017-10-01

Infection of cereal grains by fungi is a serious problem worldwide. Depending on the environmental conditions, cereal grains may be colonised by different species of fungi. These fungi cause reduction in yield, quality and nutritional value of the grain; and of major concern is their production of mycotoxins which are harmful to both humans and animals. Early detection of fungal contamination is an essential control measure for ensuring storage longevity and food safety. Conventional methods for detection of fungal infection, such as culture and colony techniques or immunological methods are either slow, labour intensive or difficult to automate. In recent years, there has been an increasing need to develop simple, rapid, non-destructive methods for early detection of fungal infection and mycotoxins contamination in cereal grains. Methods such as near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, NIR hyperspectral imaging, and electronic nose were evaluated for these purposes. This paper reviews the different non-destructive techniques that have been considered thus far for detection of fungal infection and mycotoxins in cereal grains, including their principles, application and limitations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Early detection of fungi damage in citrus using NIR spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blasco, Jose; Ortiz, Coral; Sabater, Maria D.; Molto, Enrique

2000-12-01

Early detection of defects and diseases in fruit helps to correctly classify them and make more adequate decisions about the destination of the product: internal market, export or industry. An early fungi infection detection is especially important because a few infected fruits can disseminate the infection to a whole batch, causing great economic losses and affecting to further exports. Ensure products with excellent quality and absolute absence of fungi infections is particularly important in those batches for long conservation or to be exported. The main objective of this work is to detect the fungi infections before they can be visible. Near Infrared spectroscopy has been employed in this work, because it is a non-destructive technique and can be easily implemented on line due to the high speed and simplicity of the process.

Role of EEG as Biomarker in the Early Detection and Classification of Dementia

PubMed Central

Al-Qazzaz, Noor Kamal; Ali, Sawal Hamid Bin MD.; Ahmad, Siti Anom; Chellappan, Kalaivani; Islam, Md. Shabiul; Escudero, Javier

2014-01-01

The early detection and classification of dementia are important clinical support tasks for medical practitioners in customizing patient treatment programs to better manage the development and progression of these diseases. Efforts are being made to diagnose these neurodegenerative disorders in the early stages. Indeed, early diagnosis helps patients to obtain the maximum treatment benefit before significant mental decline occurs. The use of electroencephalogram as a tool for the detection of changes in brain activities and clinical diagnosis is becoming increasingly popular for its capabilities in quantifying changes in brain degeneration in dementia. This paper reviews the role of electroencephalogram as a biomarker based on signal processing to detect dementia in early stages and classify its severity. The review starts with a discussion of dementia types and cognitive spectrum followed by the presentation of the effective preprocessing denoising to eliminate possible artifacts. It continues with a description of feature extraction by using linear and nonlinear techniques, and it ends with a brief explanation of vast variety of separation techniques to classify EEG signals. This paper also provides an idea from the most popular studies that may help in diagnosing dementia in early stages and classifying through electroencephalogram signal processing and analysis. PMID:25093211

Role of EEG as biomarker in the early detection and classification of dementia.

PubMed

Al-Qazzaz, Noor Kamal; Ali, Sawal Hamid Bin Md; Ahmad, Siti Anom; Chellappan, Kalaivani; Islam, Md Shabiul; Escudero, Javier

2014-01-01

The early detection and classification of dementia are important clinical support tasks for medical practitioners in customizing patient treatment programs to better manage the development and progression of these diseases. Efforts are being made to diagnose these neurodegenerative disorders in the early stages. Indeed, early diagnosis helps patients to obtain the maximum treatment benefit before significant mental decline occurs. The use of electroencephalogram as a tool for the detection of changes in brain activities and clinical diagnosis is becoming increasingly popular for its capabilities in quantifying changes in brain degeneration in dementia. This paper reviews the role of electroencephalogram as a biomarker based on signal processing to detect dementia in early stages and classify its severity. The review starts with a discussion of dementia types and cognitive spectrum followed by the presentation of the effective preprocessing denoising to eliminate possible artifacts. It continues with a description of feature extraction by using linear and nonlinear techniques, and it ends with a brief explanation of vast variety of separation techniques to classify EEG signals. This paper also provides an idea from the most popular studies that may help in diagnosing dementia in early stages and classifying through electroencephalogram signal processing and analysis.

Digital Image Processing Technique for Breast Cancer Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guzmán-Cabrera, R.; Guzmán-Sepúlveda, J. R.; Torres-Cisneros, M.; May-Arrioja, D. A.; Ruiz-Pinales, J.; Ibarra-Manzano, O. G.; Aviña-Cervantes, G.; Parada, A. González

2013-09-01

Breast cancer is the most common cause of death in women and the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Primary prevention in the early stages of the disease becomes complex as the causes remain almost unknown. However, some typical signatures of this disease, such as masses and microcalcifications appearing on mammograms, can be used to improve early diagnostic techniques, which is critical for women’s quality of life. X-ray mammography is the main test used for screening and early diagnosis, and its analysis and processing are the keys to improving breast cancer prognosis. As masses and benign glandular tissue typically appear with low contrast and often very blurred, several computer-aided diagnosis schemes have been developed to support radiologists and internists in their diagnosis. In this article, an approach is proposed to effectively analyze digital mammograms based on texture segmentation for the detection of early stage tumors. The proposed algorithm was tested over several images taken from the digital database for screening mammography for cancer research and diagnosis, and it was found to be absolutely suitable to distinguish masses and microcalcifications from the background tissue using morphological operators and then extract them through machine learning techniques and a clustering algorithm for intensity-based segmentation.

Early Detection of Sporadic Pancreatic Cancer

PubMed Central

Chari, Suresh T.; Kelly, Kimberly; Hollingsworth, Michael A.; Thayer, Sarah P.; Ahlquist, David A.; Andersen, Dana K.; Batra, Surinder K.; Brentnall, Teresa A.; Canto, Marcia; Cleeter, Deborah F.; Firpo, Matthew A.; Gambhir, Sanjiv Sam; Go, Vay Liang W.; Hines, O. Joe; Kenner, Barbara J.; Klimstra, David S.; Lerch, Markus M.; Levy, Michael J.; Maitra, Anirban; Mulvihill, Sean J.; Petersen, Gloria M.; Rhim, Andrew D.; Simeone, Diane M.; Srivastava, Sudhir; Tanaka, Masao; Vinik, Aaron I.; Wong, David

2015-01-01

Abstract Pancreatic cancer (PC) is estimated to become the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States by 2020. Early detection is the key to improving survival in PC. Addressing this urgent need, the Kenner Family Research Fund conducted the inaugural Early Detection of Sporadic Pancreatic Cancer Summit Conference in 2014 in conjunction with the 45th Anniversary Meeting of the American Pancreatic Association and Japan Pancreas Society. This seminal convening of international representatives from science, practice, and clinical research was designed to facilitate challenging interdisciplinary conversations to generate innovative ideas leading to the creation of a defined collaborative strategic pathway for the future of the field. An in-depth summary of current efforts in the field, analysis of gaps in specific areas of expertise, and challenges that exist in early detection is presented within distinct areas of inquiry: Case for Early Detection: Definitions, Detection, Survival, and Challenges; Biomarkers for Early Detection; Imaging; and Collaborative Studies. In addition, an overview of efforts in familial PC is presented in an addendum to this article. It is clear from the summit deliberations that only strategically designed collaboration among investigators, institutions, and funders will lead to significant progress in early detection of sporadic PC. PMID:25931254

Early optical detection of cerebral edema in vivo.

PubMed

Gill, Amandip S; Rajneesh, Kiran F; Owen, Christopher M; Yeh, James; Hsu, Mike; Binder, Devin K

2011-02-01

Cerebral edema is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in diverse disease states. Currently, the means to detect progressive cerebral edema in vivo includes the use of intracranial pressure (ICP) monitors and/or serial radiological studies. However, ICP measurements exhibit a high degree of variability, and ICP monitors detect edema only after it becomes sufficient to significantly raise ICP. The authors report the development of 2 distinct minimally invasive fiberoptic near-infrared (NIR) techniques able to directly detect early cerebral edema. Cytotoxic brain edema was induced in adult CD1 mice via water intoxication by intraperitoneal water administration (30% body weight intraperitoneally). An implantable dual-fiberoptic probe was stereotactically placed into the cerebral cortex and connected to optical source and detector hardware. Optical sources consisted of either broadband halogen illumination or a single-wavelength NIR laser diode, and the detector was a sensitive NIR spectrometer or optical power meter. In one subset of animals, a left-sided craniectomy was performed to obtain cortical biopsies for water-content determination to verify cerebral edema. In another subset of animals, an ICP transducer was placed on the contralateral cortex, which was synchronized to a computer and time stamped. Using either broadband illumination with NIR spectroscopy or single-wavelength laser diode illumination with optical power meter detection, the authors detected a reduction in NIR optical reflectance during early cerebral edema. The time intervals between water injection (Time Point 0), optical trigger (defined as a 2-SD change in optical reflectance from baseline), and defined threshold ICP values of 10, 15 and 20 mm Hg were calculated. Reduction in NIR reflectance occurred significantly earlier than any of the ICP thresholds (p < 0.001). Saline-injected control mice exhibited a steady baseline optical signal. There was a significant correlation between

Detection of early changes in lung cell cytology by flow-systems analysis techniques, July 1--December 31, 1975

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Steinkamp, J.A.; Ingram, M.; Hansen, K.M.

1976-03-01

This report summarizes results of preliminary experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of using automated flow-systems analysis in detecting early changes of respiratory epithelium exposed to physical and chemical agents associated with the by-products of nonnuclear energy production. The Syrian hamster was selected as the experimental test animal to begin investigation of the effects of toxic agents to cells of the respiratory tract. Since initiation of the program approximately six months ago, the goals have been acquisition of adequate numbers of exfoliated cells from the lung; adaptation of cytological techniques developed on human exfoliated gynecological samples to hamster lung epithelium formore » obtaining single-cell suspensions; utilization of existing cell staining methods to measure DNA content in lung cells; and analysis of DNA content and cell size. As the flow-system cell analysis technology is adapted to the measurement of exfoliated lung cells, rapid and quantitative determination of early changes in the physical and biochemical cellular properties will be attempted as a function of exposure to the toxic agents. (auth)« less

Raman spectroscopy and Raman imaging for early detection of cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Narahari V.; Ortega, Angel; Estrela, Jose Maria

2004-06-01

Raman spectroscopy is a powerful technique as it provides fundamental information about vibrational modes of a system. Eigenvalues of these modes are very sensitive to the strength of the chemical bonds and perturbations caused by the environment, particularly charge distribution and alterations in the dipole strength of the system. All these parameters are profoundly modified during the tumor formation process nad hence Raman technique could be a unique and also a direct approach for evaluating tumor genesis at early stages. for this pupose the present investigation was carried out. We used cultured wild type and c-ras transformed NIH 3T3 fibroblast. The samples were treated with methyl alcohol solution ina conventional manner and then Raman spectra nad images were obtained by a specially developed confocal Raman microscope. The present results reveal differences between both cell types in the spectral details as well as in the morphology. Raman images are able to detect the exact site where cancer-related changes have taken place. These results clearly indicate the superiority of the present technique over conventional methods such as images obtained by X-rays or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). Moreover, unlike other approaches, Raman images detect alterations at the submicron level rather than in the centimeter or millimeter range. Being an optical method it can be applied in vivo as a non-invasive technique potentially useful to early detection of cancer (particularly easy accessible cancers such as those of the skin and the digestive tract). The obtained resulsts suggest the great potential of Raman imaging in premature clinical diagnostic approaches.

Early Detection | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

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Polarization speckle imaging as a potential technique for in vivo skin cancer detection.

PubMed

Tchvialeva, Lioudmila; Dhadwal, Gurbir; Lui, Harvey; Kalia, Sunil; Zeng, Haishan; McLean, David I; Lee, Tim K

2013-06-01

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the Western world. In order to accurately detect the disease, especially malignant melanoma-the most fatal form of skin cancer-at an early stage when the prognosis is excellent, there is an urgent need to develop noninvasive early detection methods. We believe that polarization speckle patterns, defined as a spatial distribution of depolarization ratio of traditional speckle patterns, can be an important tool for skin cancer detection. To demonstrate our technique, we conduct a large in vivo clinical study of 214 skin lesions, and show that statistical moments of the polarization speckle pattern could differentiate different types of skin lesions, including three common types of skin cancers, malignant melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and two benign lesions, melanocytic nevus and seborrheic keratoses. In particular, the fourth order moment achieves better or similar sensitivity and specificity than many well-known and accepted optical techniques used to differentiate melanoma and seborrheic keratosis.

Polarization speckle imaging as a potential technique for in vivo skin cancer detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tchvialeva, Lioudmila; Dhadwal, Gurbir; Lui, Harvey; Kalia, Sunil; Zeng, Haishan; McLean, David I.; Lee, Tim K.

2013-06-01

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the Western world. In order to accurately detect the disease, especially malignant melanoma-the most fatal form of skin cancer-at an early stage when the prognosis is excellent, there is an urgent need to develop noninvasive early detection methods. We believe that polarization speckle patterns, defined as a spatial distribution of depolarization ratio of traditional speckle patterns, can be an important tool for skin cancer detection. To demonstrate our technique, we conduct a large in vivo clinical study of 214 skin lesions, and show that statistical moments of the polarization speckle pattern could differentiate different types of skin lesions, including three common types of skin cancers, malignant melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and two benign lesions, melanocytic nevus and seborrheic keratoses. In particular, the fourth order moment achieves better or similar sensitivity and specificity than many well-known and accepted optical techniques used to differentiate melanoma and seborrheic keratosis.

Mass Detection in Mammographic Images Using Wavelet Processing and Adaptive Threshold Technique.

PubMed

Vikhe, P S; Thool, V R

2016-04-01

Detection of mass in mammogram for early diagnosis of breast cancer is a significant assignment in the reduction of the mortality rate. However, in some cases, screening of mass is difficult task for radiologist, due to variation in contrast, fuzzy edges and noisy mammograms. Masses and micro-calcifications are the distinctive signs for diagnosis of breast cancer. This paper presents, a method for mass enhancement using piecewise linear operator in combination with wavelet processing from mammographic images. The method includes, artifact suppression and pectoral muscle removal based on morphological operations. Finally, mass segmentation for detection using adaptive threshold technique is carried out to separate the mass from background. The proposed method has been tested on 130 (45 + 85) images with 90.9 and 91 % True Positive Fraction (TPF) at 2.35 and 2.1 average False Positive Per Image(FP/I) from two different databases, namely Mammographic Image Analysis Society (MIAS) and Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM). The obtained results show that, the proposed technique gives improved diagnosis in the early breast cancer detection.

Nanoparticle-facilitated functional and molecular imaging for the early detection of cancer

PubMed Central

Sivasubramanian, Maharajan; Hsia, Yu; Lo, Leu-Wei

2014-01-01

Cancer detection in its early stages is imperative for effective cancer treatment and patient survival. In recent years, biomedical imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography and ultrasound have been greatly developed and have served pivotal roles in clinical cancer management. Molecular imaging (MI) is a non-invasive imaging technique that monitors biological processes at the cellular and sub-cellular levels. To achieve these goals, MI uses targeted imaging agents that can bind targets of interest with high specificity and report on associated abnormalities, a task that cannot be performed by conventional imaging techniques. In this respect, MI holds great promise as a potential therapeutic tool for the early diagnosis of cancer. Nevertheless, the clinical applications of targeted imaging agents are limited due to their inability to overcome biological barriers inside the body. The use of nanoparticles has made it possible to overcome these limitations. Hence, nanoparticles have been the subject of a great deal of recent studies. Therefore, developing nanoparticle-based imaging agents that can target tumors via active or passive targeting mechanisms is desirable. This review focuses on the applications of various functionalized nanoparticle-based imaging agents used in MI for the early detection of cancer. PMID:25988156

Non-supervised method for early forest fire detection and rapid mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Artés, Tomás; Boca, Roberto; Liberta, Giorgio; San-Miguel, Jesús

2017-09-01

Natural hazards are a challenge for the society. Scientific community efforts have been severely increased assessing tasks about prevention and damage mitigation. The most important points to minimize natural hazard damages are monitoring and prevention. This work focuses particularly on forest fires. This phenomenon depends on small-scale factors and fire behavior is strongly related to the local weather. Forest fire spread forecast is a complex task because of the scale of the phenomena, the input data uncertainty and time constraints in forest fire monitoring. Forest fire simulators have been improved, including some calibration techniques avoiding data uncertainty and taking into account complex factors as the atmosphere. Such techniques increase dramatically the computational cost in a context where the available time to provide a forecast is a hard constraint. Furthermore, an early mapping of the fire becomes crucial to assess it. In this work, a non-supervised method for forest fire early detection and mapping is proposed. As main sources, the method uses daily thermal anomalies from MODIS and VIIRS combined with land cover map to identify and monitor forest fires with very few resources. This method relies on a clustering technique (DBSCAN algorithm) and on filtering thermal anomalies to detect the forest fires. In addition, a concave hull (alpha shape algorithm) is applied to obtain rapid mapping of the fire area (very coarse accuracy mapping). Therefore, the method leads to a potential use for high-resolution forest fire rapid mapping based on satellite imagery using the extent of each early fire detection. It shows the way to an automatic rapid mapping of the fire at high resolution processing as few data as possible.

Early detection of tooth wear by en-face optical coherence tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mărcăuteanu, Corina; Negrutiu, Meda; Sinescu, Cosmin; Demjan, Eniko; Hughes, Mike; Bradu, Adrian; Dobre, George; Podoleanu, Adrian G.

2009-02-01

Excessive dental wear (pathological attrition and/or abfractions) is a frequent complication in bruxing patients. The parafunction causes heavy occlusal loads. The aim of this study is the early detection and monitoring of occlusal overload in bruxing patients. En-face optical coherence tomography was used for investigating and imaging of several extracted tooth, with a normal morphology, derived from patients with active bruxism and from subjects without parafunction. We found a characteristic pattern of enamel cracks in patients with first degree bruxism and with a normal tooth morphology. We conclude that the en-face optical coherence tomography is a promising non-invasive alternative technique for the early detection of occlusal overload, before it becomes clinically evident as tooth wear.

Oral precancerous lesions: Problems of early detection and oral cancer prevention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gileva, Olga S.; Libik, Tatiana V.; Danilov, Konstantin V.

2016-08-01

The study presents the results of the research in the structure, local and systemic risk factors, peculiarities of the clinical manifestation, and quality of primary diagnosis of precancerous oral mucosa lesions (OMLs). In the study a wide range of OMLs and high (25.4%) proportion of oral precancerous lesions (OPLs) in their structure was indicated. The high percentage of different diagnostic errors and the lack of oncological awareness of dental practitioners, as well as the sharp necessity of inclusion of precancer/cancer early detection techniques into their daily practice were noted. The effectiveness of chemilumenescence system of early OPLs and oral cancer detection was demonstrated, the prospects of infrared thermography as a diagnostic tool were also discussed.

Early Detection of Sporadic Pancreatic Cancer

PubMed Central

Kenner, Barbara J.; Chari, Suresh T.; Cleeter, Deborah F.; Go, Vay Liang W.

2015-01-01

Abstract Innovation leading to significant advances in research and subsequent translation to clinical practice is urgently necessary in early detection of sporadic pancreatic cancer. Addressing this need, the Early Detection of Sporadic Pancreatic Cancer Summit Conference was conducted by Kenner Family Research Fund in conjunction with the 2014 American Pancreatic Association and Japan Pancreas Society Meeting. International interdisciplinary scientific representatives engaged in strategic facilitated conversations based on distinct areas of inquiry: Case for Early Detection: Definitions, Detection, Survival, and Challenges; Biomarkers for Early Detection; Imaging; and Collaborative Studies. Ideas generated from the summit have led to the development of a Strategic Map for Innovation built upon 3 components: formation of an international collaborative effort, design of an actionable strategic plan, and implementation of operational standards, research priorities, and first-phase initiatives. Through invested and committed efforts of leading researchers and institutions, philanthropic partners, government agencies, and supportive business entities, this endeavor will change the future of the field and consequently the survival rate of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. PMID:25938853

Machine vision extracted plant movement for early detection of plant water stress.

PubMed

Kacira, M; Ling, P P; Short, T H

2002-01-01

A methodology was established for early, non-contact, and quantitative detection of plant water stress with machine vision extracted plant features. Top-projected canopy area (TPCA) of the plants was extracted from plant images using image-processing techniques. Water stress induced plant movement was decoupled from plant diurnal movement and plant growth using coefficient of relative variation of TPCA (CRV[TPCA)] and was found to be an effective marker for water stress detection. Threshold value of CRV(TPCA) as an indicator of water stress was determined by a parametric approach. The effectiveness of the sensing technique was evaluated against the timing of stress detection by an operator. Results of this study suggested that plant water stress detection using projected canopy area based features of the plants was feasible.

Early detection of invasive plants: principles and practices

USGS Publications Warehouse

Welch, Bradley A.; Geissler, Paul H.; Latham, Penelope

2014-01-01

individual chapters. It may also be approached in a linear fashion, as a sequence of steps leading to a comprehensive approach to early-detection. Our primary audience comprises resource professionals within the National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program’s networks of parks, but we think that the knowledge and experience captured in this document is more broadly applicable to include other natural areas professionals. We have chosen to emphasize the technical side of invasive species early-detection because this is the arena in which most professionals need more guidance. This approach includes but is not limited to complex techniques that may seem to be just beyond the budgetary and (or) time-bound grasps of some resource professionals. Nonetheless, we have provided low-cost options.

Overview of hybridization and detection techniques.

PubMed

Hilario, Elena

2007-01-01

A misconception regarding the sensitivity of nonradioactive methods for screening genomic DNA libraries often hinders the establishment of these environmentally friendly techniques in molecular biology laboratories. Nonradioactive probes, properly prepared and quantified, can detect DNA target molecules to the femtomole range. However, appropriate hybridization techniques and detection methods should also be adopted for an efficient use of nonradioactive techniques. Detailed descriptions of genomic library handling before and during the nonradioactive hybridization and detection are often omitted from publications. This chapter aims to fill this void by providing a collection of technical tips on hybridization and detection techniques.

Strategies for Early Outbreak Detection of Malaria in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nekorchuk, D.; Gebrehiwot, T.; Mihretie, A.; Awoke, W.; Wimberly, M. C.

2017-12-01

Traditional epidemiological approaches to early detection of disease outbreaks are based on relatively straightforward thresholds (e.g. 75th percentile, standard deviations) estimated from historical case data. For diseases with strong seasonality, these can be modified to create separate thresholds for each seasonal time step. However, for disease processes that are non-stationary, more sophisticated techniques are needed to more accurately estimate outbreak threshold values. Early detection for geohealth-related diseases that also have environmental drivers, such as vector-borne diseases, may also benefit from the integration of time-lagged environmental data and disease ecology models into the threshold calculations. The Epidemic Prognosis Incorporating Disease and Environmental Monitoring for Integrated Assessment (EPIDEMIA) project has been integrating malaria case surveillance with remotely-sensed environmental data for early detection, warning, and forecasting of malaria epidemics in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, and has five years of weekly time series data from 47 woredas (districts). Efforts to reduce the burden of malaria in Ethiopia has been met with some notable success in the past two decades with major reduction in cases and deaths. However, malaria remains a significant public health threat as 60% of the population live in malarious areas, and due to the seasonal and unstable transmission patterns with cyclic outbreaks, protective immunity is generally low which could cause high morbidity and mortality during the epidemics. This study compared several approaches for defining outbreak thresholds and for identifying a potential outbreak based on deviations from these thresholds. We found that model-based approaches that accounted for climate-driven seasonality in malaria transmission were most effective, and that incorporating a trend component improved outbreak detection in areas with active malaria elimination efforts. An advantage of these early

Early detection of glaucoma using fully automated disparity analysis of the optic nerve head (ONH) from stereo fundus images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Archie; Corona, Enrique; Mitra, Sunanda; Nutter, Brian S.

2006-03-01

Early detection of structural damage to the optic nerve head (ONH) is critical in diagnosis of glaucoma, because such glaucomatous damage precedes clinically identifiable visual loss. Early detection of glaucoma can prevent progression of the disease and consequent loss of vision. Traditional early detection techniques involve observing changes in the ONH through an ophthalmoscope. Stereo fundus photography is also routinely used to detect subtle changes in the ONH. However, clinical evaluation of stereo fundus photographs suffers from inter- and intra-subject variability. Even the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT) has not been found to be sufficiently sensitive for early detection. A semi-automated algorithm for quantitative representation of the optic disc and cup contours by computing accumulated disparities in the disc and cup regions from stereo fundus image pairs has already been developed using advanced digital image analysis methodologies. A 3-D visualization of the disc and cup is achieved assuming camera geometry. High correlation among computer-generated and manually segmented cup to disc ratios in a longitudinal study involving 159 stereo fundus image pairs has already been demonstrated. However, clinical usefulness of the proposed technique can only be tested by a fully automated algorithm. In this paper, we present a fully automated algorithm for segmentation of optic cup and disc contours from corresponding stereo disparity information. Because this technique does not involve human intervention, it eliminates subjective variability encountered in currently used clinical methods and provides ophthalmologists with a cost-effective and quantitative method for detection of ONH structural damage for early detection of glaucoma.

Life expectancy and the value of early detection.

PubMed

Howard, David H

2005-09-01

This paper presents a model of the benefits and costs of early detection of asymptomatic disease as they vary by age. The benefits of early detection tend toward zero as the risk of death from competing causes increases. Costs per detected case also decline with age, assuming that disease incidence rises with age, but are always strictly positive. On balance, there is always an age limit beyond which the costs associated with early detection outweigh the benefits. Application of the model to prostate cancer screening suggests that early detection above age 70 or so is not cost-effective.

Early Breast Cancer Detection by Ultrawide Band Imaging with Dispersion Consideration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Xia; Kikkawa, Takamaro

2008-04-01

Ultrawide band (UWB) microwave imaging is a promising method for early-stage breast cancer detection based on the large contrast of electric parameters between the tumor and the normal breast tissue. The tumor can be detected by analyzing the reflection and scattering behavior of the UWB microwave propagating in the breast. In this study, the tumor location is determined by comparing the waveforms resulted from the tumor-containing and tumor-free breasts. The frequency dispersive characteristics of the fatty breast tissue, skin and tumor are considered in the study to approach the actual electrical properties of the breast. The correct location and size are visualized for an early-stage tumor embedded in the breast using the principle of a confocal microwave imaging technique.

Early detection: the impact of genomics.

PubMed

van Lanschot, M C J; Bosch, L J W; de Wit, M; Carvalho, B; Meijer, G A

2017-08-01

The field of genomics has shifted our view on disease development by providing insights in the molecular and functional processes encoded in the genome. In the case of cancer, many alterations in the DNA accumulate that enable tumor growth or even metastatic dissemination. Identification of molecular signatures that define different stages of progression towards cancer can enable early tumor detection. In this review, the impact of genomics will be addressed using early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC) as an example. Increased understanding of the adenoma-to-carcinoma progression has led to the discovery of several diagnostic biomarkers. This combined with technical advancements, has facilitated the development of molecular tests for non-invasive early CRC detection in stool and blood samples. Even though several tests have already made it to clinical practice, sensitivity and specificity for the detection of precancerous lesions still need improvement. Besides the diagnostic qualities, also the accuracy of the intermediate endpoint is an important issue on how the effectiveness of a novel test is perceived. Here, progression biomarkers may provide a more precise measure than the currently used morphologically based features. Similar developments in biomarker use for early detection have taken place in other cancer types.

Sentinel lymph node detection in patients with early cervical cancer.

PubMed

Acharya, B C; Jihong, L

2009-01-01

Lymph node status is the most important independent prognostic factor in early stage cervical cancer. Intraoperative lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node detection have been increasingly evaluated in the treatment of a variety of solid tumors, particularly breast cancer and cutaneous melanoma. This study evaluated the feasibility of these procedures in patients undergoing radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy for early cervical cancer. A total of 30 patients with histologically diagnosed FIGO stage IA to IIA cervical cancer were enrolled to this study. They were scheduled to undergo radical abdominal hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy after injecting patent blue dye in cervix. A total of 60 SLNs (mean 2.5) were detected in 24 patients with detection rate of 80%. Bilateral SLNs were detected in 70.1% of cases. SLNs were identified in obturator and external iliac areas in 50% and 31.7%, respectively; no SLNs were discovered in the common iliac region. Seven patients (23.3%) had lymph node metastases; one of these had false negative SLN.The false negative rate and negative predictive value were 14.3% and 94.4%, respectively. SLN detection procedure with blue dye technique is a feasible procedure in cervical cancer. Patent blue dye is cheap, safe and effective tracer to detect sentinel node in carcinoma of cervix.

A leakage-free resonance sparse decomposition technique for bearing fault detection in gearboxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osman, Shazali; Wang, Wilson

2018-03-01

Most of rotating machinery deficiencies are related to defects in rolling element bearings. Reliable bearing fault detection still remains a challenging task, especially for bearings in gearboxes as bearing-defect-related features are nonstationary and modulated by gear mesh vibration. A new leakage-free resonance sparse decomposition (LRSD) technique is proposed in this paper for early bearing fault detection of gearboxes. In the proposed LRSD technique, a leakage-free filter is suggested to remove strong gear mesh and shaft running signatures. A kurtosis and cosine distance measure is suggested to select appropriate redundancy r and quality factor Q. The signal residual is processed by signal sparse decomposition for highpass and lowpass resonance analysis to extract representative features for bearing fault detection. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is verified by a succession of experimental tests corresponding to different gearbox and bearing conditions.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Detect Early Molecular and Cellular Changes in Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Knight, Michael J; McCann, Bryony; Kauppinen, Risto A; Coulthard, Elizabeth J

2016-01-01

Recent pharmaceutical trials have demonstrated that slowing or reversing pathology in Alzheimer's disease is likely to be possible only in the earliest stages of disease, perhaps even before significant symptoms develop. Pathology in Alzheimer's disease accumulates for well over a decade before symptoms are detected giving a large potential window of opportunity for intervention. It is therefore important that imaging techniques detect subtle changes in brain tissue before significant macroscopic brain atrophy. Current diagnostic techniques often do not permit early diagnosis or are too expensive for routine clinical use. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the most versatile, affordable, and powerful imaging modality currently available, being able to deliver detailed analyses of anatomy, tissue volumes, and tissue state. In this mini-review, we consider how MRI might detect patients at risk of future dementia in the early stages of pathological change when symptoms are mild. We consider the contributions made by the various modalities of MRI (structural, diffusion, perfusion, relaxometry) in identifying not just atrophy (a late-stage AD symptom) but more subtle changes reflective of early dementia pathology. The sensitivity of MRI not just to gross anatomy but to the underlying "health" at the cellular (and even molecular) scales, makes it very well suited to this task.

Early Detection of Breast Cancer Using Autoantibody Markers — EDRN Public Portal

Cancer.gov

To identify large numbers of antigens that can be used to recognize the presence of cancer by detecting antibodies to tumor proteins in the serum of the test subjects. Our technology will provide an early detection test for breast cancer in asymptomatic women. We will use bioinformatics techniques to analyze these protein microarray-immunoassays to discriminate between cancer patients and healthy subjects so as to detect disease prior to standard diagnoses as well as discriminate patients with benign conditions or other cancers that might be a false positive in less specific assays.

Early detection of cystic fibrosis lung disease: multiple‐breath washout versus raised volume tests

PubMed Central

Lum, Sooky; Gustafsson, Per; Ljungberg, Henrik; Hülskamp, Georg; Bush, Andrew; Carr, Siobhán B; Castle, Rosemary; Hoo, Ah‐fong; Price, John; Ranganathan, Sarath; Stroobant, John; Wade, Angie; Wallis, Colin; Wyatt, Hilary; Stocks, Janet

2007-01-01

Background Lung clearance index (LCI), a measure of ventilation inhomogeneity derived from the multiple‐breath inert gas washout (MBW) technique, has been shown to detect abnormal lung function more readily than spirometry in preschool children with cystic fibrosis, but whether this holds true during infancy is unknown. Objectives To compare the extent to which parameters derived from the MBW and the raised lung volume rapid thoraco–abdominal compression (RVRTC) techniques identify diminished airway function in infants with cystic fibrosis when compared with healthy controls. Methods Measurements were performed during quiet sleep, with the tidal breathing MBW technique being performed before the forced expiratory manoeuvres. Results Measurements were obtained in 39 infants with cystic fibrosis (mean (SD) age 41.4 (22.0) weeks) and 21 controls (37.0 (15.1) weeks). Infants with cystic fibrosis had a significantly higher respiratory rate (38 (10) vs 32 (5) bpm) and LCI (8.4 (1.5) vs 7.2 (0.3)), and significantly lower values for all forced expiratory flow‐volume parameters compared with controls. Girls with cystic fibrosis had significantly lower forced expiratory volume (FEV0.5 and FEF25–75 ) than boys (mean (95% CI girls–boys): –1.2 (–2.1 to −0.3) for FEV0.5 Z score; FEF25–75: –1.2 (–2.2 to −0.15)). When using both the MBW and RVRTC techniques, abnormalities were detected in 72% of the infants with cystic fibrosis, with abnormalities detected in 41% using both techniques and a further 15% by each of the two tests performed. Conclusions These findings support the view that inflammatory and/or structural changes in the airways of children with cystic fibrosis start early in life, and have important implications regarding early detection and interventions. Monitoring of early lung disease and functional status in infants and young children with cystic fibrosis may be enhanced by using both MBW and the RVRTC. PMID:17121870

Early detection of sporadic pancreatic cancer: summative review.

PubMed

Chari, Suresh T; Kelly, Kimberly; Hollingsworth, Michael A; Thayer, Sarah P; Ahlquist, David A; Andersen, Dana K; Batra, Surinder K; Brentnall, Teresa A; Canto, Marcia; Cleeter, Deborah F; Firpo, Matthew A; Gambhir, Sanjiv Sam; Go, Vay Liang W; Hines, O Joe; Kenner, Barbara J; Klimstra, David S; Lerch, Markus M; Levy, Michael J; Maitra, Anirban; Mulvihill, Sean J; Petersen, Gloria M; Rhim, Andrew D; Simeone, Diane M; Srivastava, Sudhir; Tanaka, Masao; Vinik, Aaron I; Wong, David

2015-07-01

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is estimated to become the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States by 2020. Early detection is the key to improving survival in PC. Addressing this urgent need, the Kenner Family Research Fund conducted the inaugural Early Detection of Sporadic Pancreatic Cancer Summit Conference in 2014 in conjunction with the 45th Anniversary Meeting of the American Pancreatic Association and Japan Pancreas Society. This seminal convening of international representatives from science, practice, and clinical research was designed to facilitate challenging interdisciplinary conversations to generate innovative ideas leading to the creation of a defined collaborative strategic pathway for the future of the field. An in-depth summary of current efforts in the field, analysis of gaps in specific areas of expertise, and challenges that exist in early detection is presented within distinct areas of inquiry: Case for Early Detection: Definitions, Detection, Survival, and Challenges; Biomarkers for Early Detection; Imaging; and Collaborative Studies. In addition, an overview of efforts in familial PC is presented in an addendum to this article. It is clear from the summit deliberations that only strategically designed collaboration among investigators, institutions, and funders will lead to significant progress in early detection of sporadic PC.

Gastrointestinal Cancers: Screening and Early Detection.

PubMed

Griffin-Sobel, Joyce P

2017-05-01

To present an overview of current practices in the screening and early detection of gastrointestinal cancers. Literature reviews. Screening for gastrointestinal cancers is less than desirable, particularly in underserved populations. There are inadequate methods of screening for early detection of esophageal and gastric cancers. Education of patients is needed to reinforce the importance of screening for gastrointestinal cancers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fungal disease detection in plants: Traditional assays, novel diagnostic techniques and biosensors.

PubMed

Ray, Monalisa; Ray, Asit; Dash, Swagatika; Mishra, Abtar; Achary, K Gopinath; Nayak, Sanghamitra; Singh, Shikha

2017-01-15

Fungal diseases in commercially important plants results in a significant reduction in both quality and yield, often leading to the loss of an entire plant. In order to minimize the losses, it is essential to detect and identify the pathogens at an early stage. Early detection and accurate identification of pathogens can control the spread of infection. The present article provides a comprehensive overview of conventional methods, current trends and advances in fungal pathogen detection with an emphasis on biosensors. Traditional techniques are the "gold standard" in fungal detection which relies on symptoms, culture-based, morphological observation and biochemical identifications. In recent times, with the advancement of biotechnology, molecular and immunological approaches have revolutionized fungal disease detection. But the drawback lies in the fact that these methods require specific and expensive equipments. Thus, there is an urgent need for rapid, reliable, sensitive, cost effective and easy to use diagnostic methods for fungal pathogen detection. Biosensors would become a promising and attractive alternative, but they still have to be subjected to some modifications, improvements and proper validation for on-field use. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Motion-based video monitoring for early detection of livestock diseases: The case of African swine fever

PubMed Central

Martínez-Avilés, Marta; Ivorra, Benjamin; Martínez-López, Beatriz; Ramos, Ángel Manuel; Sánchez-Vizcaíno, José Manuel

2017-01-01

Early detection of infectious diseases can substantially reduce the health and economic impacts on livestock production. Here we describe a system for monitoring animal activity based on video and data processing techniques, in order to detect slowdown and weakening due to infection with African swine fever (ASF), one of the most significant threats to the pig industry. The system classifies and quantifies motion-based animal behaviour and daily activity in video sequences, allowing automated and non-intrusive surveillance in real-time. The aim of this system is to evaluate significant changes in animals’ motion after being experimentally infected with ASF virus. Indeed, pig mobility declined progressively and fell significantly below pre-infection levels starting at four days after infection at a confidence level of 95%. Furthermore, daily motion decreased in infected animals by approximately 10% before the detection of the disease by clinical signs. These results show the promise of video processing techniques for real-time early detection of livestock infectious diseases. PMID:28877181

A novel multimodal optical imaging system for early detection of oral cancer

PubMed Central

Malik, Bilal H.; Jabbour, Joey M.; Cheng, Shuna; Cuenca, Rodrigo; Cheng, Yi-Shing Lisa; Wright, John M.; Jo, Javier A.; Maitland, Kristen C.

2015-01-01

Objectives Several imaging techniques have been advocated as clinical adjuncts to improve identification of suspicious oral lesions. However, these have not yet shown superior sensitivity or specificity over conventional oral examination techniques. We developed a multimodal, multi-scale optical imaging system that combines macroscopic biochemical imaging of fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) with subcellular morphologic imaging of reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) for early detection of oral cancer. We tested our system on excised human oral tissues. Study Design A total of four tissue specimen were imaged. These specimens were diagnosed as one each: clinically normal, oral lichen planus, gingival hyperplasia, and superficially-invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The optical and fluorescence lifetime properties of each specimen were recorded. Results Both quantitative and qualitative differences between normal, benign and SCC lesions can be resolved with FLIM-RCM imaging. The results demonstrate that an integrated approach based on these two methods can potentially enable rapid screening and evaluation of large areas of oral epithelial tissue. Conclusions Early results from ongoing studies of imaging human oral cavity illustrate the synergistic combination of the two modalities. An adjunct device based on such optical characterization of oral mucosa can potentially be used to detect oral carcinogenesis in early stages. PMID:26725720

Multimodality approach to optical early detection and mapping of oral neoplasia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahn, Yeh-Chan; Chung, Jungrae; Wilder-Smith, Petra; Chen, Zhongping

2011-07-01

Early detection of cancer remains the best way to ensure patient survival and quality of life. Squamous cell carcinoma is usually preceded by dysplasia presenting as white, red, or mixed red and white epithelial lesions on the oral mucosa (leukoplakia, erythroplakia). Dysplastic lesions in the form of erythroplakia can carry a risk for malignant conversion of 90%. A noninvasive diagnostic modality would enable monitoring of these lesions at regular intervals and detection of treatment needs at a very early, relatively harmless stage. The specific aim of this work was to test a multimodality approach [three-dimensional optical coherence tomography (OCT) and polarimetry] to noninvasive diagnosis of oral premalignancy and malignancy using the hamster cheek pouch model (nine hamsters). The results were compared to tissue histopathology. During carcinogenesis, epithelial down grow, eventual loss of basement membrane integrity, and subepithelial invasion were clearly visible with OCT. Polarimetry techniques identified a four to five times increased retardance in sites with squamous cell carcinoma, and two to three times greater retardance in dysplastic sites than in normal tissues. These techniques were particularly useful for mapping areas of field cancerization with multiple lesions, as well as lesion margins.

Imaging and detection of early stage dental caries with an all-optical photoacoustic microscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, D. A.; Sampathkumar, A.; Longbottom, C.; Kirk, K. J.

2015-01-01

Tooth decay, at its earliest stages, manifests itself as small, white, subsurface lesions in the enamel. Current methods for detection in the dental clinic are visual and tactile investigations, and bite-wing X-ray radiographs. These techniques suffer from poor sensitivity and specificity at the earliest (and reversible) stages of the disease due to the small size (<100μm) of the lesion. A fine-resolution (600 nm) ultra-broadband (200 MHz) all-optical photoacoustic microscopy system was is used to image the early signs of tooth decay. Ex-vivo tooth samples exhibiting white spot lesions were scanned and were found to generate a larger (one order of magnitude) photoacoustic (PA) signal in the lesion regions compared to healthy enamel. The high contrast in the PA images potentially allows lesions to be imaged and measured at a much earlier stage than current clinical techniques allow. PA images were cross referenced with histology photographs to validate our experimental results. Our PA system provides a noncontact method for early detection of white-spot lesions with a high detection bandwidth that offers advantages over previously demonstrated ultrasound methods. The technique provides the sensing depth of an ultrasound system, but with the spatial resolution of an optical system.

Multiplexed wavelet transform technique for detection of microcalcification in digitized mammograms.

PubMed

Mini, M G; Devassia, V P; Thomas, Tessamma

2004-12-01

Wavelet transform (WT) is a potential tool for the detection of microcalcifications, an early sign of breast cancer. This article describes the implementation and evaluates the performance of two novel WT-based schemes for the automatic detection of clustered microcalcifications in digitized mammograms. Employing a one-dimensional WT technique that utilizes the pseudo-periodicity property of image sequences, the proposed algorithms achieve high detection efficiency and low processing memory requirements. The detection is achieved from the parent-child relationship between the zero-crossings [Marr-Hildreth (M-H) detector] /local extrema (Canny detector) of the WT coefficients at different levels of decomposition. The detected pixels are weighted before the inverse transform is computed, and they are segmented by simple global gray level thresholding. Both detectors produce 95% detection sensitivity, even though there are more false positives for the M-H detector. The M-H detector preserves the shape information and provides better detection sensitivity for mammograms containing widely distributed calcifications.

UWB based low-cost and non-invasive practical breast cancer early detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vijayasarveswari, V.; Khatun, S.; Fakir, M. M.; Jusoh, M.; Ali, S.

2017-03-01

Breast cancer is one of the main causes of women death worldwide. Breast tumor is an early stage of cancer that locates in cells of a human breast. As there is no remedy, early detection is crucial. Towards this, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is a prominent candidate. It is a wireless communication technology which can achieve high bandwidth with low power utilization. UWB is suitable to be used for short range communication systems including breast cancer detection since it is secure, non-invasive and human health friendly. This paper presents the low-cost and non-invasive early breast cancer detection strategy using UWB sensor (or antenna). Emphasis is given here to detect breast tumor in 2D and 3D environments. The developed system consisted of hardware and software. Hardware included UWB transceiver and a pair of home-made directional sensor/antenna. The software included feed-forward back propagation Neural Network (NN) module to detect the tumor existence, size and location along with soft interface between software and hardware. Forward scattering technique was used by placing two sensors diagonally opposite sides of a breast phantom. UWB pulses were transmitted from one side of phantom and received from other side, controlled by the software interface in PC environment. Collected received signals were then fed into the NN module for training, testing and validation. The system exhibited detection efficiency on tumor existence, location (x, y, z), and size were approximately 100%, (78.17%, 70.66%, 92.46%), 85.86% respectively. The proposed UWB based early breast cancer detection system could be more practical with low-cost, user friendly and non-harmful features. This project may help users to monitor their breast health regularly at their home.

Phase II Validation of a New Panel of Biomarkers for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer — EDRN Public Portal

Cancer.gov

While all cancer patients could potentially benefit from earlier detection and prevention, the development of new screening technologies and chemoprevention for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is unique in this regard. EOC is characterized by few early symptoms, presentation at an advanced stage, and poor survival. Presently there is no commercially available test that is diagnostic for either early or advanced stage epithelial ovarian cancer. The most commonly used marker, CA125, identifies a group of cell surface glycoproteins, which have uncertain biological behavior and very limited clinical utility for the detection of early stage disease. In recent years, several approaches have been used in order to develop a test for early detection, including the analysis of serum samples by SELDI-TOF and MALDI-TOF to find proteins or protein fragments of unknown identity that detect the presence/absence of cancer. Unfortunately, at the present time, none of these techniques have been shown to be adequate. Therefore, the development of a test that can detect early stages of the disease could dramatically improve treatment success and long-term survival. We have developed a new blood test based on a different approach: 1) we used known proteins related to cancer biology, 2) we characterized these proteins with several different screening steps using samples obtained from both healthy and cancer patient populations, and 3) validated the results with different techniques. Using split point analysis with four markers, 96 out of 100 EOC patients (96%) were correctly diagnosed with ovarian cancer (including 23 of 24 patients with Stage I/II EOC). In the healthy group, 6 out of 106 individuals were diagnosed incorrectly (5.6%). Working in collaboration with the Early Detection Network (EDRN/NCI/NIH), we performed Phase I discovery study confirming the potential application of this test for early detection of ovarian cancer (Preliminary results). The main objective of this pr

Next Generation Epigenetic Detection Technique: Identifying Methylated DNA using Graphene Nanopore

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, Towfiq; Haraldsen, Jason T.; Zhu, Jian-Xin; Balatsky, A. V.

2014-03-01

DNA methylation plays a pivotal role in the genetic evolution of both embryonic and adult cells.Unusual methylation on CPG islands are identified as the prime causes for silencing the tumor suppressant genes. Early detection of such methylation can diagnose the potentially harmful oncogenic evolution of cells, and provide a promising guideline for cancer prevention.We propose a detection technique and calculate the transport current through punctured graphene as the cytosine and methylated cytosine translocate through the nanopore. We also calculate the transport properties for uracil and cyano-cytosine to compare. Our calculations of transmission, current and tunneling conductance show distinct signatures in their spectrum for each molecular type. Our theoretical study provides a next generation detection technique for identifying DNA methylation using graphene based nanopore device. This work was supported by U.S. DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and by VR 621-2012-2983 and ERC 321031-DM. This work was, in part, supported by the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a U.S. DOE BES user facility.

Remote Leak Detection: Indirect Thermal Technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clements, Sandra

2002-01-01

Remote sensing technologies are being considered for efficient, low cost gas leak detection. Eleven specific techniques have been identified for further study and evaluation of several of these is underway. The Indirect Thermal Technique is one of the techniques that is being explored. For this technique, an infrared camera is used to detect the temperature change of a pipe or fitting at the site of a gas leak. This temperature change is caused by the change in temperature of the gas expanding from the leak site. During the 10-week NFFP program, the theory behind the technique was further developed, experiments were performed to determine the conditions for which the technique might be viable, and a proof-of-concept system was developed and tested in the laboratory.

Early Forest Fire Detection Using Radio-Acoustic Sounding System

PubMed Central

Sahin, Yasar Guneri; Ince, Turker

2009-01-01

Automated early fire detection systems have recently received a significant amount of attention due to their importance in protecting the global environment. Some emergent technologies such as ground-based, satellite-based remote sensing and distributed sensor networks systems have been used to detect forest fires in the early stages. In this study, a radio-acoustic sounding system with fine space and time resolution capabilities for continuous monitoring and early detection of forest fires is proposed. Simulations show that remote thermal mapping of a particular forest region by the proposed system could be a potential solution to the problem of early detection of forest fires. PMID:22573967

Detecting COPD exacerbations early using daily telemonitoring of symptoms and k-means clustering: a pilot study.

PubMed

Sanchez-Morillo, Daniel; Fernandez-Granero, Miguel Angel; Jiménez, Antonio León

2015-05-01

COPD places an enormous burden on the healthcare systems and causes diminished health-related quality of life. The highest proportion of human and economic cost is associated with admissions for acute exacerbation of respiratory symptoms (AECOPD). Since prompt detection and treatment of exacerbations may improve outcomes, early detection of AECOPD is a critical issue. This pilot study was aimed to determine whether a mobile health system could enable early detection of AECOPD on a day-to-day basis. A novel electronic questionnaire for the early detection of COPD exacerbations was evaluated during a 6-months field trial in a group of 16 patients. Pattern recognition techniques were applied. A k-means clustering algorithm was trained and validated, and its accuracy in detecting AECOPD was assessed. Sensitivity and specificity were 74.6 and 89.7 %, respectively, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.84. 31 out of 33 AECOPD were early identified with an average of 4.5 ± 2.1 days prior to the onset of the exacerbation that was considered the day of medical attendance. Based on the findings of this preliminary pilot study, the proposed electronic questionnaire and the applied methodology could help to early detect COPD exacerbations on a day-to-day basis and therefore could provide support to patients and physicians.

Early detection of foot-and-mouth disease virus from infected cattle using a dry filter air sampling system

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious livestock disease of high economic impact. Early detection of FMD virus (FMDV) is fundamental for rapid outbreak control. Air sampling collection has been demonstrated as a useful technique for detection of FMDV RNA in infected animals, related to ...

Early detection and intervention for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Sonuga-Barke, Edmund J S; Koerting, Johanna; Smith, Elizabeth; McCann, Donna C; Thompson, Margaret

2011-04-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a high-cost/high-burden disorder. Early detection and intervention may prevent or ameliorate the development of the disorder and reduce its long-term impact. In this article, we set out a rationale for an early detection and intervention program. First, we highlight the costs of the condition and second, we discuss the limitations of the current treatments. We then outline the potential value of an early detection and intervention program. We review evidence on predictors of poor outcomes for early ADHD signs and discuss how these might allow us to target early intervention more cost-effectively. We then examine potential barriers to engagement with at-risk samples. This leads to a discussion of possible intervention approaches and how these could be improved. Finally, we describe the Program for Early Detection and Intervention for ADHD (PEDIA), a 5-year program of research supported by the UK National Institute for Health Research and conducted at the University of Southampton (Southampton, UK), which aims to develop and evaluate a strategy for early intervention.

[Comparison between rapid detection method of enzyme substrate technique and multiple-tube fermentation technique in water coliform bacteria detection].

PubMed

Sun, Zong-ke; Wu, Rong; Ding, Pei; Xue, Jin-Rong

2006-07-01

To compare between rapid detection method of enzyme substrate technique and multiple-tube fermentation technique in water coliform bacteria detection. Using inoculated and real water samples to compare the equivalence and false positive rate between two methods. Results demonstrate that enzyme substrate technique shows equivalence with multiple-tube fermentation technique (P = 0.059), false positive rate between the two methods has no statistical difference. It is suggested that enzyme substrate technique can be used as a standard method for water microbiological safety evaluation.

Edge detection techniques for iris recognition system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tania, U. T.; Motakabber, S. M. A.; Ibrahimy, M. I.

2013-12-01

Nowadays security and authentication are the major parts of our daily life. Iris is one of the most reliable organ or part of human body which can be used for identification and authentication purpose. To develop an iris authentication algorithm for personal identification, this paper examines two edge detection techniques for iris recognition system. Between the Sobel and the Canny edge detection techniques, the experimental result shows that the Canny's technique has better ability to detect points in a digital image where image gray level changes even at slow rate.

A lightweight network anomaly detection technique

DOE PAGES

Kim, Jinoh; Yoo, Wucherl; Sim, Alex; ...

2017-03-13

While the network anomaly detection is essential in network operations and management, it becomes further challenging to perform the first line of detection against the exponentially increasing volume of network traffic. In this paper, we develop a technique for the first line of online anomaly detection with two important considerations: (i) availability of traffic attributes during the monitoring time, and (ii) computational scalability for streaming data. The presented learning technique is lightweight and highly scalable with the beauty of approximation based on the grid partitioning of the given dimensional space. With the public traffic traces of KDD Cup 1999 andmore » NSL-KDD, we show that our technique yields 98.5% and 83% of detection accuracy, respectively, only with a couple of readily available traffic attributes that can be obtained without the help of post-processing. Finally, the results are at least comparable with the classical learning methods including decision tree and random forest, with approximately two orders of magnitude faster learning performance.« less

A lightweight network anomaly detection technique

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Jinoh; Yoo, Wucherl; Sim, Alex

While the network anomaly detection is essential in network operations and management, it becomes further challenging to perform the first line of detection against the exponentially increasing volume of network traffic. In this paper, we develop a technique for the first line of online anomaly detection with two important considerations: (i) availability of traffic attributes during the monitoring time, and (ii) computational scalability for streaming data. The presented learning technique is lightweight and highly scalable with the beauty of approximation based on the grid partitioning of the given dimensional space. With the public traffic traces of KDD Cup 1999 andmore » NSL-KDD, we show that our technique yields 98.5% and 83% of detection accuracy, respectively, only with a couple of readily available traffic attributes that can be obtained without the help of post-processing. Finally, the results are at least comparable with the classical learning methods including decision tree and random forest, with approximately two orders of magnitude faster learning performance.« less

Deep Recurrent Neural Networks for seizure detection and early seizure detection systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Talathi, S. S.

Epilepsy is common neurological diseases, affecting about 0.6-0.8 % of world population. Epileptic patients suffer from chronic unprovoked seizures, which can result in broad spectrum of debilitating medical and social consequences. Since seizures, in general, occur infrequently and are unpredictable, automated seizure detection systems are recommended to screen for seizures during long-term electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. In addition, systems for early seizure detection can lead to the development of new types of intervention systems that are designed to control or shorten the duration of seizure events. In this article, we investigate the utility of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) in designing seizuremore » detection and early seizure detection systems. We propose a deep learning framework via the use of Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) RNNs for seizure detection. We use publicly available data in order to evaluate our method and demonstrate very promising evaluation results with overall accuracy close to 100 %. We also systematically investigate the application of our method for early seizure warning systems. Our method can detect about 98% of seizure events within the first 5 seconds of the overall epileptic seizure duration.« less

Current trends in explosive detection techniques.

PubMed

Caygill, J Sarah; Davis, Frank; Higson, Seamus P J

2012-01-15

The detection of explosives and explosive-related compounds has become a heightened priority in recent years for homeland security and counter-terrorism applications. There has been a huge increase in research within this area-through both the development of new, innovative detection approaches and the improvement of existing techniques. Developments for miniaturisation, portability, field-ruggedisation and improvements in stand-off distances, selectivity and sensitivity have been necessary to develop and improve techniques. This review provides a consolidation of information relating to recent advances in explosive detection techniques without being limited to one specific research area or explosive type. The focus of this review will be towards advances in the last 5 years, with the reader being referred to earlier reviews where appropriate. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Detection of apnea using a short-window FFT technique and an artificial neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waldemark, Karina E.; Agehed, Kenneth I.; Lindblad, Thomas; Waldemark, Joakim T. A.

1998-03-01

Sleep apnea is characterized by frequent prolonged interruptions of breathing during sleep. This syndrome causes severe sleep disorders and is often responsible for development of other diseases such as heart problems, high blood pressure and daytime fatigue, etc. After diagnosis, sleep apnea is often successfully treated by applying positive air pressure (CPAP) to the mouth and nose. Although effective, the (CPAP) equipment takes up a lot of space and the connected mask causes a lot of inconvenience for the patients. This raised interest in developing new techniques for treatment of sleep apnea syndrome. Several studies have indicated that electrical stimulation of the hypoglossal nerve and muscle in the tongue may be a useful method for treating patients with severe sleep apnea. In order to be able to successfully prevent the occurrence of apnea it is necessary to have some technique for early and fast on-line detection or prediction of the apnea events. This paper suggests using measurements of respiratory airflow (mouth temperature). The signal processing for this task includes the use of a short window FFT technique and uses an artificial back propagation neural net to model or predict the occurrence of apneas. The results show that early detection of respiratory interruption is possible and that the delay time for this is small.

Estimation for aerial detection effectiveness with cooperation efficiency factors of early-warning aircraft in early-warning detection SoS under BSC framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Feng; Hu, Xiaofeng; He, Xiaoyuan; Guo, Rui; Li, Kaiming; Yang, Lu

2017-11-01

In the military field, the performance evaluation of early-warning aircraft deployment or construction is always an important problem needing to be explored. As an effective approach of enterprise management and performance evaluation, Balanced Score Card (BSC) attracts more and more attentions and is studied more and more widely all over the world. It can also bring feasible ideas and technical approaches for studying the issue of the performance evaluation of the deployment or construction of early-warning aircraft which is the important component in early-warning detection system of systems (SoS). Therefore, the deep explored researches are carried out based on the previously research works. On the basis of the characteristics of space exploration and aerial detection effectiveness of early-warning detection SoS and the cardinal principle of BSC are analyzed simply, and the performance evaluation framework of the deployment or construction of early-warning aircraft is given, under this framework, aimed at the evaluation issue of aerial detection effectiveness of early-warning detection SoS with the cooperation efficiency factors of the early-warning aircraft and other land based radars, the evaluation indexes are further designed and the relative evaluation model is further established, especially the evaluation radar chart being also drawn to obtain the evaluation results from a direct sight angle. Finally, some practical computer simulations are launched to prove the validity and feasibility of the research thinking and technologic approaches which are proposed in the paper.

About the Early Detection Research Group | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

The Early Detection Research Group supports research that seeks to determine the effectiveness, operating characteristics and clinical impact (harms as well as benefits) of cancer early detection technologies and practices, such as imaging and molecular biomarker approaches.   The group ran two large-scale early detection trials for which data and biospecimens are available

Evaluating Fluorscence-Based Metrics for Early Detection of ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Summary: This paper discusses the results of an ongoing Water Research Foundation project on developing a fluorescence sensor system for early detection of distribution system nitrification Summary: This paper discusses the results of an ongoing Water Research Foundation project on developing a fluorescence sensor system for early detection of distribution system nitrification

Fault detection and isolation in the challenging Tennessee Eastman process by using image processing techniques.

PubMed

Hajihosseini, Payman; Anzehaee, Mohammad Mousavi; Behnam, Behzad

2018-05-22

The early fault detection and isolation in industrial systems is a critical factor in preventing equipment damage. In the proposed method, instead of using the time signals of sensors, the 2D image obtained by placing these signals next to each other in a matrix has been used; and then a novel fault detection and isolation procedure has been carried out based on image processing techniques. Different features including texture, wavelet transform, mean and standard deviation of the image accompanied with MLP and RBF neural networks based classifiers have been used for this purpose. Obtained results indicate the notable efficacy and success of the proposed method in detecting and isolating faults of the Tennessee Eastman benchmark process and its superiority over previous techniques. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structural and Functional Evaluations for the Early Detection of Glaucoma.

PubMed

Lucy, Katie A; Wollstein, Gadi

2016-01-01

The early detection of glaucoma is imperative in order to preserve functional vision. Structural and functional methods are utilized to detect and monitor glaucomatous damage and the vision loss it causes. The relationship between these detection measures is complex and differs between individuals, especially in early glaucoma. Using both measures together is advised in order to ensure the highest probability of glaucoma detection, and new testing methods are continuously developed with the goals of earlier disease detection and improvement of disease monitoring. The purpose of this review is to explore the relationship between structural and functional glaucoma detection and discuss important technological advances for early glaucoma detection.

Structural and Functional Evaluations for the Early Detection of Glaucoma

PubMed Central

Lucy, Katie A.; Wollstein, Gadi

2016-01-01

The early detection of glaucoma is imperative in order to preserve functional vision. Structural and functional methods are utilized to detect and monitor glaucomatous damage and the vision loss it causes. The relationship between these detection measures is complex and differs between individuals, especially in early glaucoma. Using both measures together is advised in order to ensure the highest probability of glaucoma detection, and new testing methods are continuously developed with the goals of earlier disease detection and improvement of disease monitoring. The purpose of this review is to explore the relationship between structural and functional glaucoma detection and discuss important technological advances for early glaucoma detection. PMID:28603546

Application of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy in Early Detection of Red Palm Weevil: (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) Infestation in Date Palm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

A. Farooq, W.; G. Rasool, K.; Walid, Tawfik; S. Aldawood, A.

2015-11-01

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the leading date producing countries. Unfortunately, this important fruit crop is under great threat from the red palm weevil (RPW) (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus), which is a highly invasive pest. Several techniques, including visual inspection, acoustic sensors, sniffer dogs, and pheromone traps have been tried to detect the early stages of a RPW infestation; however, each method has suffered certain logistical and implementation issues. We have applied laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for the early detection of RPW infestation. Through the analysis of the observed LIBS spectra of different infested and healthy samples, we have found presence of Ca, Mg, Na, C, K elements and OH, CN molecules. The spectra also reveal that with the population growth of the pest, the intensity of Mg and Ca atomic lines in LIBS spectra increases rapidly. Similar behavior is observed in the molecular lines of LIBS spectra. The obtained results indicate that the LIBS technique can be used for the early detection of RPW infestation without damaging the date palms.

Strategies for early detection of resectable pancreatic cancer

PubMed Central

Okano, Keiichi; Suzuki, Yasuyuki

2014-01-01

Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose at an early stage and generally has a poor prognosis. Surgical resection is the only potentially curative treatment for pancreatic carcinoma. To improve the prognosis of this disease, it is essential to detect tumors at early stages, when they are resectable. The optimal approach to screening for early pancreatic neoplasia has not been established. The International Cancer of the Pancreas Screening Consortium has recently finalized several recommendations regarding the management of patients who are at an increased risk of familial pancreatic cancer. In addition, there have been notable advances in research on serum markers, tissue markers, gene signatures, and genomic targets of pancreatic cancer. To date, however, no biomarkers have been established in the clinical setting. Advancements in imaging modalities touch all aspects of the clinical management of pancreatic diseases, including the early detection of pancreatic masses, their characterization, and evaluations of tumor resectability. This article reviews strategies for screening high-risk groups, biomarkers, and current advances in imaging modalities for the early detection of resectable pancreatic cancer. PMID:25170207

Biosensing Using Magnetic Particle Detection Techniques

PubMed Central

Chen, Yi-Ting; Kolhatkar, Arati G.; Zenasni, Oussama; Xu, Shoujun

2017-01-01

Magnetic particles are widely used as signal labels in a variety of biological sensing applications, such as molecular detection and related strategies that rely on ligand-receptor binding. In this review, we explore the fundamental concepts involved in designing magnetic particles for biosensing applications and the techniques used to detect them. First, we briefly describe the magnetic properties that are important for bio-sensing applications and highlight the associated key parameters (such as the starting materials, size, functionalization methods, and bio-conjugation strategies). Subsequently, we focus on magnetic sensing applications that utilize several types of magnetic detection techniques: spintronic sensors, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sensors, superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), sensors based on the atomic magnetometer (AM), and others. From the studies reported, we note that the size of the MPs is one of the most important factors in choosing a sensing technique. PMID:28994727

Early detection of non-native fishes using fish larvae

EPA Science Inventory

Our objective was to evaluate the use of fish larvae for early detection of non-native fishes, comparing traditional and molecular taxonomy approaches to investigate potential efficiencies. Fish larvae present an interesting opportunity for non-native fish early detection. First,...

Ambient air contamination: Characterization and detection techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nulton, C. P.; Silvus, H. S.

1985-01-01

Techniques to characterize and detect sources of ambient air contamination are described. Chemical techniques to identify indoor contaminants are outlined, they include gas chromatography, or colorimetric detection. Organics generated from indoor materials at ambient conditions and upon combustion are characterized. Piezoelectric quartz crystals are used as precision frequency determining elements in electronic oscillators.

FEM Techniques for High Stress Detection in Accelerated Fatigue Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veltri, M.

2016-09-01

This work presents the theory and a numerical validation study in support to a novel method for a priori identification of fatigue critical regions, with the aim to accelerate durability design in large FEM problems. The investigation is placed in the context of modern full-body structural durability analysis, where a computationally intensive dynamic solution could be required to identify areas with potential for fatigue damage initiation. The early detection of fatigue critical areas can drive a simplification of the problem size, leading to sensible improvement in solution time and model handling while allowing processing of the critical areas in higher detail. The proposed technique is applied to a real life industrial case in a comparative assessment with established practices. Synthetic damage prediction quantification and visualization techniques allow for a quick and efficient comparison between methods, outlining potential application benefits and boundaries.

Detection of early primary colorectal cancer with upconversion luminescent NP-based molecular probes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Chunyan; Qi, Yifei; Qiao, Ruirui; Hou, Yi; Chan, Kaying; Li, Ziqian; Huang, Jiayi; Jing, Lihong; Du, Jun; Gao, Mingyuan

2016-06-01

Early detection and diagnosis of cancers is extremely beneficial for improving the survival rate of cancer patients and molecular imaging techniques are believed to be relevant for offering clinical solutions. Towards early cancer detection, we developed a primary animal colorectal cancer model and constructed a tumor-specific imaging probe by using biocompatible NaGdF4:Yb,Er@NaGdF4 upconversion luminescent NPs for establishing a sensitive early tumor imaging method. The primary animal tumor model, which can better mimic the human colorectal cancer, was built upon continual administration of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine in Kunming mice and the tumor development was carefully monitored through histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses to reveal the pathophysiological processes and molecular features of the cancer microenvironment. The upconversion imaging probe was constructed through covalent coupling of PEGylated core-shell NPs with folic acid whose receptor is highly expressed in the primary tumors. Upon 980 nm laser excitation, the primary colorectal tumors in the complex abdominal environment were sensitively imaged owing to the ultralow background of the upconversion luminescence and the high tumor-targeting specificity of the nanoprobe. We believe that the current studies provide a highly effective and potential approach for early colorectal cancer diagnosis and tumor surgical navigation.Early detection and diagnosis of cancers is extremely beneficial for improving the survival rate of cancer patients and molecular imaging techniques are believed to be relevant for offering clinical solutions. Towards early cancer detection, we developed a primary animal colorectal cancer model and constructed a tumor-specific imaging probe by using biocompatible NaGdF4:Yb,Er@NaGdF4 upconversion luminescent NPs for establishing a sensitive early tumor imaging method. The primary animal tumor model, which can better mimic the human colorectal cancer, was built upon continual

Blueprint of quartz crystal microbalance biosensor for early detection of breast cancer through salivary autoantibodies against ATP6AP1.

PubMed

Arif, Sania; Qudsia, Syeda; Urooj, Samina; Chaudry, Nazia; Arshad, Aneeqa; Andleeb, Saadia

2015-03-15

Breast cancer represents a significant health problem because of its high prevalence. Tests like mammography, which are used abundantly for the detection of breast cancer, suffer from serious limitations. Mammography correctly detects malignancy about 80-90% of the times, failing in places when (1) the tumor is small at early stage, (2) breast tissue is dense or (3) in women of less than 40 years. Serum-based detection of biomarkers involves risk of disease transfer, along with other concerns. These techniques compromise in the early detection of breast cancer. Early detection of breast cancer is a crucial factor to enhance the survival rate of patient. Development of regular screening tests for early diagnosis of breast cancer is a challenge. This review highlights the design of a handy and household biosensor device aimed for self-screening and early diagnosis of breast cancer. The design makes use of salivary autoantibodies for specificity to develop a noninvasive procedure, breast cancer specific biomarkers for precision for the development of device, and biosensor technology for sensitivity to screen the early cases of breast cancer more efficiently. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sensor data monitoring and decision level fusion scheme for early fire detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizogiannis, Constantinos; Thanos, Konstantinos Georgios; Astyakopoulos, Alkiviadis; Kyriazanos, Dimitris M.; Thomopoulos, Stelios C. A.

2017-05-01

The aim of this paper is to present the sensor monitoring and decision level fusion scheme for early fire detection which has been developed in the context of the AF3 Advanced Forest Fire Fighting European FP7 research project, adopted specifically in the OCULUS-Fire control and command system and tested during a firefighting field test in Greece with prescribed real fire, generating early-warning detection alerts and notifications. For this purpose and in order to improve the reliability of the fire detection system, a two-level fusion scheme is developed exploiting a variety of observation solutions from air e.g. UAV infrared cameras, ground e.g. meteorological and atmospheric sensors and ancillary sources e.g. public information channels, citizens smartphone applications and social media. In the first level, a change point detection technique is applied to detect changes in the mean value of each measured parameter by the ground sensors such as temperature, humidity and CO2 and then the Rate-of-Rise of each changed parameter is calculated. In the second level the fire event Basic Probability Assignment (BPA) function is determined for each ground sensor using Fuzzy-logic theory and then the corresponding mass values are combined in a decision level fusion process using Evidential Reasoning theory to estimate the final fire event probability.

Health economics evaluation of a gastric cancer early detection and treatment program in China.

PubMed

Li, Dan; Yuan, Yuan; Sun, Li-Ping; Fang, Xue; Zhou, Bao-Sen

2014-01-01

To use health economics methodology to assess the screening program on gastric cancer in Zhuanghe, China, so as to provide the basis for health decision on expanding the program of early detection and treatment. The expense of an early detection and treatment program for gastric cancer in patients found by screening, and also costs of traditional treatment in a hospital of Zhuanghe were assessed. Three major techniques of medical economics, namely cost-effective analysis (CEA), cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and cost-utility analysis (CUA), were used to assess the screening program. RESULTS from CEA showed that investing every 25, 235 Yuan on screening program in Zhuanghe area, one gastric cancer patient could be saved. Data from CUA showed that it was cost 1, 370 Yuan per QALY saved. RESULTS from CBA showed that: the total cost was 1,945,206 Yuan with a benefit as 8,669,709 Yuan and an CBR of 4.46. The early detection and treatment program of gastric cancer appears economic and society-beneficial. We suggest that it should be carry out in more high risk areas for gastric cancer.

Novel Multistatic Adaptive Microwave Imaging Methods for Early Breast Cancer Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Yao; Guo, Bin; Li, Jian; Stoica, Petre

2006-12-01

Multistatic adaptive microwave imaging (MAMI) methods are presented and compared for early breast cancer detection. Due to the significant contrast between the dielectric properties of normal and malignant breast tissues, developing microwave imaging techniques for early breast cancer detection has attracted much interest lately. MAMI is one of the microwave imaging modalities and employs multiple antennas that take turns to transmit ultra-wideband (UWB) pulses while all antennas are used to receive the reflected signals. MAMI can be considered as a special case of the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) radar with the multiple transmitted waveforms being either UWB pulses or zeros. Since the UWB pulses transmitted by different antennas are displaced in time, the multiple transmitted waveforms are orthogonal to each other. The challenge to microwave imaging is to improve resolution and suppress strong interferences caused by the breast skin, nipple, and so forth. The MAMI methods we investigate herein utilize the data-adaptive robust Capon beamformer (RCB) to achieve high resolution and interference suppression. We will demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods for breast cancer detection via numerical examples with data simulated using the finite-difference time-domain method based on a 3D realistic breast model.

Historical Techniques of Lie Detection

PubMed Central

Vicianova, Martina

2015-01-01

Since time immemorial, lying has been a part of everyday life. For this reason, it has become a subject of interest in several disciplines, including psychology. The purpose of this article is to provide a general overview of the literature and thinking to date about the evolution of lie detection techniques. The first part explores ancient methods recorded circa 1000 B.C. (e.g., God’s judgment in Europe). The second part describes technical methods based on sciences such as phrenology, polygraph and graphology. This is followed by an outline of more modern-day approaches such as FACS (Facial Action Coding System), functional MRI, and Brain Fingerprinting. Finally, after the familiarization with the historical development of techniques for lie detection, we discuss the scope for new initiatives not only in the area of designing new methods, but also for the research into lie detection itself, such as its motives and regulatory issues related to deception. PMID:27247675

A New Observation Technique Applied to Early/Fast VLF Scattering Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotovsky, D. A.; Moore, R. C.

2012-12-01

Early/fast very low frequency (VLF, 3-30 kHz) events are understood to result from ionospheric conductivity changes associated with lightning. Early/fast amplitude and phase perturbations have been observed coincidentally with various optical observations of transient luminous events (TLEs), including elves, sprites, and sprite halos, each of which can have temporal characteristics consistent with those of early/fast VLF events. It is yet unresolved, however, whether a specific type of TLE is directly related to the ionospheric conductivity changes responsible for the typical early/fast event. In this paper, we present spread spectrum VLF scattering observations of early/fast events. The spread spectrum analysis technique determines the amplitude and phase of a subionospherically propagating VLF signal as a function of time during the early/fast event and as a function of frequency across the 200 Hz bandwidth of the VLF transmission. VLF scattering observations, each identified with causative lightning logged by the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN), are compared with the predictions of the Long-Wave Propagation Capability (LWPC) code, a three-dimensional earth-ionosphere waveguide propagation and scattering model. Theoretical predictions for VLF scattering from ionization changes associated with elves are compared with those associated with sprite halos, and each are compared with experimental observations. Results indicate that the observed frequency dependence of VLF scattering during early/fast events results from the combination of scattering source properties and Earth-ionosphere waveguide propagation effects. Observations are more consistent with the modeled amplitude perturbations associated with sprite halos than those with elves.

Instrumentation of Molecular Imaging on Site-Specific Targeting Fluorescent Peptide for Early Detection of Breast Cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Ping; Ma, Lixin

2012-02-01

In this work we developed two biomedical imaging techniques for early detection of breast cancer. Both image modalities provide molecular imaging capability to probe site-specific targeting dyes. The first technique, heterodyne CCD fluorescence mediated tomography, is a non-invasive biomedical imaging that uses fluorescent photons from the targeted dye on the tumor cells inside human breast tissue. The technique detects a large volume of tissue (20 cm) with a moderate resolution (1 mm) and provides the high sensitivity. The second technique, dual-band spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, is a high-resolution tissue imaging modality. It uses a low coherence interferometer to detect coherent photons hidden in the incoherent background. Due to the coherence detection, a high resolution (20 microns) is possible. We have finished prototype imaging systems for the development of both image modalities and performed imaging experiments on tumor tissues. The spectroscopic/tomographic images show contrasts of dense tumor tissues and tumor necrotic regions. In order to correlate the findings from our results, a diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the tumors was performed using a small animal 7-Telsa MRI and demonstrated excellent agreement.

Detection, modeling and matching of pleural thickenings from CT data towards an early diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaisaowong, Kraisorn; Kraus, Thomas

2014-03-01

Pleural thickenings can be caused by asbestos exposure and may evolve into malignant pleural mesothelioma. While an early diagnosis plays the key role to an early treatment, and therefore helping to reduce morbidity, the growth rate of a pleural thickening can be in turn essential evidence to an early diagnosis of the pleural mesothelioma. The detection of pleural thickenings is today done by a visual inspection of CT data, which is time-consuming and underlies the physician's subjective judgment. Computer-assisted diagnosis systems to automatically assess pleural mesothelioma have been reported worldwide. But in this paper, an image analysis pipeline to automatically detect pleural thickenings and measure their volume is described. We first delineate automatically the pleural contour in the CT images. An adaptive surface-base smoothing technique is then applied to the pleural contours to identify all potential thickenings. A following tissue-specific topology-oriented detection based on a probabilistic Hounsfield Unit model of pleural plaques specify then the genuine pleural thickenings among them. The assessment of the detected pleural thickenings is based on the volumetry of the 3D model, created by mesh construction algorithm followed by Laplace-Beltrami eigenfunction expansion surface smoothing technique. Finally, the spatiotemporal matching of pleural thickenings from consecutive CT data is carried out based on the semi-automatic lung registration towards the assessment of its growth rate. With these methods, a new computer-assisted diagnosis system is presented in order to assure a precise and reproducible assessment of pleural thickenings towards the diagnosis of the pleural mesothelioma in its early stage.

Red-breasted nuthatches detect early increases in spruce budworm populations

Treesearch

Hewlette S. Crawford; Daniel T. Jennings; Timothy L. Stone

1990-01-01

Early suppression .of increasing spruce budworm populations is essential to prevent epidemics; however, early changes in budworm numbers are difficult to detect. An effective and inexpensive method to detect early increases is needed. Red-breasted nuthatches eat more spruce budworm larvae and pupae as the insect increases in number. We estimated the number of large...

Sweet-spot training for early esophageal cancer detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Sommen, Fons; Zinger, Svitlana; Schoon, Erik J.; de With, Peter H. N.

2016-03-01

Over the past decade, the imaging tools for endoscopists have improved drastically. This has enabled physicians to visually inspect the intestinal tissue for early signs of malignant lesions. Besides this, recent studies show the feasibility of supportive image analysis for endoscopists, but the analysis problem is typically approached as a segmentation task where binary ground truth is employed. In this study, we show that the detection of early cancerous tissue in the gastrointestinal tract cannot be approached as a binary segmentation problem and it is crucial and clinically relevant to involve multiple experts for annotating early lesions. By employing the so-called sweet spot for training purposes as a metric, a much better detection performance can be achieved. Furthermore, a multi-expert-based ground truth, i.e. a golden standard, enables an improved validation of the resulting delineations. For this purpose, besides the sweet spot we also propose another novel metric, the Jaccard Golden Standard (JIGS) that can handle multiple ground-truth annotations. Our experiments involving these new metrics and based on the golden standard show that the performance of a detection algorithm of early neoplastic lesions in Barrett's esophagus can be increased significantly, demonstrating a 10 percent point increase in the resulting F1 detection score.

Signature-forecasting and early outbreak detection system

PubMed Central

Naumova, Elena N.; MacNeill, Ian B.

2008-01-01

SUMMARY Daily disease monitoring via a public health surveillance system provides valuable information on population risks. Efficient statistical tools for early detection of rapid changes in the disease incidence are a must for modern surveillance. The need for statistical tools for early detection of outbreaks that are not based on historical information is apparent. A system is discussed for monitoring cases of infections with a view to early detection of outbreaks and to forecasting the extent of detected outbreaks. We propose a set of adaptive algorithms for early outbreak detection that does not rely on extensive historical recording. We also include knowledge of infection disease epidemiology into forecasts. To demonstrate this system we use data from the largest water-borne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis, which occurred in Milwaukee in 1993. Historical data are smoothed using a loess-type smoother. Upon receipt of a new datum, the smoothing is updated and estimates are made of the first two derivatives of the smooth curve, and these are used for near-term forecasting. Recent data and the near-term forecasts are used to compute a color-coded warning index, which quantify the level of concern. The algorithms for computing the warning index have been designed to balance Type I errors (false prediction of an epidemic) and Type II errors (failure to correctly predict an epidemic). If the warning index signals a sufficiently high probability of an epidemic, then a forecast of the possible size of the outbreak is made. This longer term forecast is made by fitting a ‘signature’ curve to the available data. The effectiveness of the forecast depends upon the extent to which the signature curve captures the shape of outbreaks of the infection under consideration. PMID:18716671

Electrochemical techniques on sequence-specific PCR amplicon detection for point-of-care applications.

PubMed

Luo, Xiaoteng; Hsing, I-Ming

2009-10-01

Nucleic acid based analysis provides accurate differentiation among closely affiliated species and this species- and sequence-specific detection technique would be particularly useful for point-of-care (POC) testing for prevention and early detection of highly infectious and damaging diseases. Electrochemical (EC) detection and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are two indispensable steps, in our view, in a nucleic acid based point-of-care testing device as the former, in comparison with the fluorescence counterpart, provides inherent advantages of detection sensitivity, device miniaturization and operation simplicity, and the latter offers an effective way to boost the amount of targets to a detectable quantity. In this mini-review, we will highlight some of the interesting investigations using the combined EC detection and PCR amplification approaches for end-point detection and real-time monitoring. The promise of current approaches and the direction for future investigations will be discussed. It would be our view that the synergistic effect of the combined EC-PCR steps in a portable device provides a promising detection technology platform that will be ready for point-of-care applications in the near future.

Liquid biopsy for lung cancer early detection.

PubMed

Santarpia, Mariacarmela; Liguori, Alessia; D'Aveni, Alessandro; Karachaliou, Niki; Gonzalez-Cao, Maria; Daffinà, Maria Grazia; Lazzari, Chiara; Altavilla, Giuseppe; Rosell, Rafael

2018-04-01

Molecularly targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors have markedly improved the therapeutic management of advanced lung cancer. However, it still remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with disease stage at diagnosis representing the main prognostic factor. Detection of lung cancer at an earlier stage of disease, potentially susceptible of curative resection, can be critical to improve patients survival. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening of high-risk patients has been demonstrated to reduce mortality from lung cancer, but can be also associated with high false-positive rate, thus often resulting in unnecessary interventions for patients. Novel sensitive and specific biomarkers for identification of high-risk subjects and early detection that can be used alternatively and/or complement current routine diagnostic procedures are needed. Liquid biopsy has recently demonstrated its clinical usefulness in advanced NSCLC as a surrogate of tissue biopsy for noninvasive assessment of specific genomic alterations, thereby providing prognostic and predictive information. Different biosources from liquid biopsy, including cell free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), exosomes and tumor-educated platelets (TEPs), have also been widely investigated for their potential role in lung cancer diagnosis. This review will provide an overview on the circulating biomarkers being evaluated for lung cancer detection, mainly focusing on results from most recent studies, the techniques developed to perform their assessment in blood and other biologic fluids and challenges in their clinical applications.

Liquid biopsy for lung cancer early detection

PubMed Central

Liguori, Alessia; D’Aveni, Alessandro; Karachaliou, Niki; Gonzalez-Cao, Maria; Daffinà, Maria Grazia; Lazzari, Chiara; Altavilla, Giuseppe; Rosell, Rafael

2018-01-01

Molecularly targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors have markedly improved the therapeutic management of advanced lung cancer. However, it still remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with disease stage at diagnosis representing the main prognostic factor. Detection of lung cancer at an earlier stage of disease, potentially susceptible of curative resection, can be critical to improve patients survival. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening of high-risk patients has been demonstrated to reduce mortality from lung cancer, but can be also associated with high false-positive rate, thus often resulting in unnecessary interventions for patients. Novel sensitive and specific biomarkers for identification of high-risk subjects and early detection that can be used alternatively and/or complement current routine diagnostic procedures are needed. Liquid biopsy has recently demonstrated its clinical usefulness in advanced NSCLC as a surrogate of tissue biopsy for noninvasive assessment of specific genomic alterations, thereby providing prognostic and predictive information. Different biosources from liquid biopsy, including cell free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), exosomes and tumor-educated platelets (TEPs), have also been widely investigated for their potential role in lung cancer diagnosis. This review will provide an overview on the circulating biomarkers being evaluated for lung cancer detection, mainly focusing on results from most recent studies, the techniques developed to perform their assessment in blood and other biologic fluids and challenges in their clinical applications. PMID:29780635

Kidney Disease: Early Detection and Treatment

MedlinePlus

... Bar Home Current Issue Past Issues Special Section Kidney Disease: Early Detection and Treatment Past Issues / Winter ... called a "urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio." Treating Kidney Disease Kidney disease is usually a progressive disease, ...

Surface engineered biosensors for the early detection of cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Islam, Muhymin

Cancer commences in the building block of human body which is cells and in most of the cases remains silent at early stage. Diseases are only expressed at molecular and cellular level at primary stages. Recognition of diseases at this micro and nano level might reduce the mortality rate of cancer significantly. This research work aimed to introduce novel electronic biosensors for for identification of cancer at cellular level. The dissertation study focuses on 1) Label-Free Isolation of Metastatic Tumor Cells Using Filter Based Microfluidic device; 2) Nanotextured Polymer Substrates for Enhanced Cancer Cell Isolation and Cell Growth; 3) Nanotextured Microfluidic Channel for Electrical Profiling and Detection of Tumor Cells from Blood; and 4) Single Biochip for the Detection of Tumor Cells by Electrical Profile and Surface Immobilized Aptamer. Standard silicon processing techniques were followed to fabricate all of the biosensors. Nantoextruing and surface functionalizon were also incorporated to elevate the efficiency of the devices. The first approach aimed to detect cancer cells from blood based on their mechanophysical properties. Cancer cells are larger than blood cells but highly elastic in nature. These cells can squeeze through small microchannels much smaller than their size. The cross sectional area of the microchannels was optimized to isolate tumor cells from blood. Nanotextured polymer substrates, a platform inspired from the natural basement membrane was used to enhance the isolation and growth of tumor cells. Micro reactive ion etching was performed to have better control on features of nantoxtured surfaces and did not require any template. Next, electrical measurement of ionic current was performed across single microchannel to detect tumor cells from blood. Later, nanotexturing enhanced the efficiency of the device by selectively altering the translocation profile of cancer cells. Eventually aptamer functionalized nanotextured polymer surface was

Early bronchiectasis in cystic fibrosis detected by surveillance CT.

PubMed

Pillarisetti, Naveen; Linnane, Barry; Ranganathan, Sarath

2010-08-01

There is emerging evidence that cystic fibrosis lung disease begins early in infancy. Newborn screening allows early detection and surveillance of pulmonary disease and the possibility of early intervention in this life-shortening condition. We report two children with cystic fibrosis who underwent a comprehensive assessment from diagnosis that included measurement of lung function, limited-slice high-resolution CT and BAL performed annually. Early aggressive surveillance enabled significant lung disease and bronchiectasis to be detected during the first few years of life and led to a change in management, highlighting a clinical role for CT scanning during the preschool years in children with cystic fibrosis.

Automated System for Early Breast Cancer Detection in Mammograms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bankman, Isaac N.; Kim, Dong W.; Christens-Barry, William A.; Weinberg, Irving N.; Gatewood, Olga B.; Brody, William R.

1993-01-01

The increasing demand on mammographic screening for early breast cancer detection, and the subtlety of early breast cancer signs on mammograms, suggest an automated image processing system that can serve as a diagnostic aid in radiology clinics. We present a fully automated algorithm for detecting clusters of microcalcifications that are the most common signs of early, potentially curable breast cancer. By using the contour map of the mammogram, the algorithm circumvents some of the difficulties encountered with standard image processing methods. The clinical implementation of an automated instrument based on this algorithm is also discussed.

Evaluation of change detection techniques for monitoring coastal zone environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weismiller, R. A. (Principal Investigator); Kristof, S. J.; Scholz, D. K.; Anuta, P. E.; Momin, S. M.

1977-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Four change detection techniques were designed and implemented for evaluation: (1) post classification comparison change detection, (2) delta data change detection, (3) spectral/temporal change classification, and (4) layered spectral/temporal change classification. The post classification comparison technique reliably identified areas of change and was used as the standard for qualitatively evaluating the other three techniques. The layered spectral/temporal change classification and the delta data change detection results generally agreed with the post classification comparison technique results; however, many small areas of change were not identified. Major discrepancies existed between the post classification comparison and spectral/temporal change detection results.

UArizona at the CLEF eRisk 2017 Pilot Task: Linear and Recurrent Models for Early Depression Detection

PubMed Central

Sadeque, Farig; Xu, Dongfang; Bethard, Steven

2017-01-01

The 2017 CLEF eRisk pilot task focuses on automatically detecting depression as early as possible from a users’ posts to Reddit. In this paper we present the techniques employed for the University of Arizona team’s participation in this early risk detection shared task. We leveraged external information beyond the small training set, including a preexisting depression lexicon and concepts from the Unified Medical Language System as features. For prediction, we used both sequential (recurrent neural network) and non-sequential (support vector machine) models. Our models perform decently on the test data, and the recurrent neural models perform better than the non-sequential support vector machines while using the same feature sets. PMID:29075167

Missed, Misused, or Mismanaged: Improving Early Detection Systems to Optimize Child Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macy, Marisa; Marks, Kevin; Towle, Alexander

2014-01-01

Early detection efforts have been shown to vary greatly in practice, and there is a general lack of systematic accountability built into monitoring early detection effort impact. This article reviews current early detection practices and the drawbacks of these practices, with particular attention given to prevalent issues of mismeasurement,…

Detection, manipulation and post processing of circulating tumor cells using optical techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakhtiaridoost, Somayyeh; Habibiyan, Hamidreza; Ghafoorifard, Hassan

2015-12-01

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are malignant cells that are derived from a solid tumor in the metastasis stage and are shed into the blood stream. These cells hold great promise to be used as liquid biopsy that is less aggressive than traditional biopsy. Recently, detection and enumeration of these cells has received ever-increasing attention from researchers as a way of early detection of cancer metastasis, determining the effectiveness of treatment and studying the mechanism of formation of secondary tumors. CTCs are found in blood at low concentration, which is a major limitation of isolation and detection of these cells. Over the last few years, multifarious research studies have been conducted on accurate isolation and detection and post processing of CTCs. Among all the proposed systems, microfluidic systems seem to be more attractive for researchers due to their numerous advantages. On the other hand, recent developments in optical methods have made the possibility of cellular studies at single-cell level. Thus, accuracy and efficiency of separation, detection and manipulation of CTCs can be improved using optical techniques. In this review, we describe optical methods that have been used for CTC detection, manipulation and post processing.

Detection technique of targets for missile defense system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Hua-ling; Deng, Jia-hao; Cai, Ke-rong

2009-11-01

Ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) is a weapon system for intercepting enemy ballistic missiles. It includes ballistic-missile warning system, target discrimination system, anti-ballistic-missile guidance systems, and command-control communication system. Infrared imaging detection and laser imaging detection are widely used in BMDS for surveillance, target detection, target tracking, and target discrimination. Based on a comprehensive review of the application of target-detection techniques in the missile defense system, including infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPA), ground-based radar detection technology, 3-dimensional imaging laser radar with a photon counting avalanche photodiode (APD) arrays and microchip laser, this paper focuses on the infrared and laser imaging detection techniques in missile defense system, as well as the trends for their future development.

Effort and Potential Efficiencies for Aquatic Non-native Species Early Detection

EPA Science Inventory

This manuscript is based on the early aquatic non-native species detection research in the Duluth-Superior harbor. The problem of early detection is essentially that of a "needle in a haystack" - to detect a newly arrived and presumably rare non-native species with a high probabi...

Advances in pancreatic cancer research: moving towards early detection.

PubMed

He, Xiang-Yi; Yuan, Yao-Zong

2014-08-28

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal forms of cancer. Substantial progress has been made in the understanding of the biology of pancreatic cancer, and advances in patient management have been significant. However, most patients (nearly 80%) who present with locally advanced or metastatic disease have an extremely poor prognosis. Survival is better for those with malignant disease localized to the pancreas, because surgical resection at present offers the only chance of cure. Therefore, the early detection of pancreatic cancer may benefit patients with PDAC. However, its low rate of incidence and the limitations of current screening strategies make early detection difficult. Recent advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of PDAC suggest that it is possible to detect PDAC in early stages and even identify precursor lesions. The presence of new-onset diabetes mellitus in the early phase of pancreatic cancer may provide clues for its early diagnosis. Advances in the identification of novel circulating biomarkers including serological signatures, autoantibodies, epigenetic markers, circulating tumor cells and microRNAs suggest that they can be used as potential tools for the screening of precursors and early stage PDAC in the future. However, proper screening strategies based on effective screening methodologies need to be tested for clinical application.

Topological characterization and early detection of bifurcations and chaos in complex systems using persistent homology.

PubMed

Mittal, Khushboo; Gupta, Shalabh

2017-05-01

Early detection of bifurcations and chaos and understanding their topological characteristics are essential for safe and reliable operation of various electrical, chemical, physical, and industrial processes. However, the presence of non-linearity and high-dimensionality in system behavior makes this analysis a challenging task. The existing methods for dynamical system analysis provide useful tools for anomaly detection (e.g., Bendixson-Dulac and Poincare-Bendixson criteria can detect the presence of limit cycles); however, they do not provide a detailed topological understanding about system evolution during bifurcations and chaos, such as the changes in the number of subcycles and their positions, lifetimes, and sizes. This paper addresses this research gap by using topological data analysis as a tool to study system evolution and develop a mathematical framework for detecting the topological changes in the underlying system using persistent homology. Using the proposed technique, topological features (e.g., number of relevant k-dimensional holes, etc.) are extracted from nonlinear time series data which are useful for deeper analysis of the system behavior and early detection of bifurcations and chaos. When applied to a Logistic map, a Duffing oscillator, and a real life Op-amp based Jerk circuit, these features are shown to accurately characterize the system dynamics and detect the onset of chaos.

Sensitivity and accuracy of high-throughput metabarcoding methods for early detection of invasive fish species

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hatzenbuhler, Chelsea; Kelly, John R.; Martinson, John; Okum, Sara; Pilgrim, Erik

2017-04-01

High-throughput DNA metabarcoding has gained recognition as a potentially powerful tool for biomonitoring, including early detection of aquatic invasive species (AIS). DNA based techniques are advancing, but our understanding of the limits to detection for metabarcoding complex samples is inadequate. For detecting AIS at an early stage of invasion when the species is rare, accuracy at low detection limits is key. To evaluate the utility of metabarcoding in future fish community monitoring programs, we conducted several experiments to determine the sensitivity and accuracy of routine metabarcoding methods. Experimental mixes used larval fish tissue from multiple “common” species spiked with varying proportions of tissue from an additional “rare” species. Pyrosequencing of genetic marker, COI (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) and subsequent sequence data analysis provided experimental evidence of low-level detection of the target “rare” species at biomass percentages as low as 0.02% of total sample biomass. Limits to detection varied interspecifically and were susceptible to amplification bias. Moreover, results showed some data processing methods can skew sequence-based biodiversity measurements from corresponding relative biomass abundances and increase false absences. We suggest caution in interpreting presence/absence and relative abundance in larval fish assemblages until metabarcoding methods are optimized for accuracy and precision.

Multiple Biomarker Panels for Early Detection of Breast Cancer in Peripheral Blood

PubMed Central

Zhang, Fan; Deng, Youping; Drabier, Renee

2013-01-01

Detecting breast cancer at early stages can be challenging. Traditional mammography and tissue microarray that have been studied for early breast cancer detection and prediction have many drawbacks. Therefore, there is a need for more reliable diagnostic tools for early detection of breast cancer due to a number of factors and challenges. In the paper, we presented a five-marker panel approach based on SVM for early detection of breast cancer in peripheral blood and show how to use SVM to model the classification and prediction problem of early detection of breast cancer in peripheral blood. We found that the five-marker panel can improve the prediction performance (area under curve) in the testing data set from 0.5826 to 0.7879. Further pathway analysis showed that the top four five-marker panels are associated with signaling, steroid hormones, metabolism, immune system, and hemostasis, which are consistent with previous findings. Our prediction model can serve as a general model for multibiomarker panel discovery in early detection of other cancers. PMID:24371830

Multiple biomarker panels for early detection of breast cancer in peripheral blood.

PubMed

Zhang, Fan; Deng, Youping; Drabier, Renee

2013-01-01

Detecting breast cancer at early stages can be challenging. Traditional mammography and tissue microarray that have been studied for early breast cancer detection and prediction have many drawbacks. Therefore, there is a need for more reliable diagnostic tools for early detection of breast cancer due to a number of factors and challenges. In the paper, we presented a five-marker panel approach based on SVM for early detection of breast cancer in peripheral blood and show how to use SVM to model the classification and prediction problem of early detection of breast cancer in peripheral blood. We found that the five-marker panel can improve the prediction performance (area under curve) in the testing data set from 0.5826 to 0.7879. Further pathway analysis showed that the top four five-marker panels are associated with signaling, steroid hormones, metabolism, immune system, and hemostasis, which are consistent with previous findings. Our prediction model can serve as a general model for multibiomarker panel discovery in early detection of other cancers.

Assessing the Rayleigh Intensity Remote Leak Detection Technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clements, Sandra

2001-01-01

Remote sensing technologies are being considered for efficient, low cost gas leak detection. An exploratory project to identify and evaluate remote sensing technologies for application to gas leak detection is underway. During Phase 1 of the project, completed last year, eleven specific techniques were identified for further study. One of these, the Rayleigh Intensity technique, would make use of changes in the light scattered off of gas molecules to detect and locate a leak. During the 10-week Summer Faculty Fellowship Program, the scatter of light off of gas molecules was investigated. The influence of light scattered off of aerosols suspended in the atmosphere was also examined to determine if this would adversely affect leak detection. Results of this study indicate that in unconditioned air, it will be difficult, though perhaps not impossible, to distinguish between a gas leak and natural variations in the aerosol content of the air. Because information about the particle size distribution in clean room environments is incomplete, the applicability in clean rooms is uncertain though more promising than in unconditioned environments. It is suggested that problems caused by aerosols may be overcome by using the Rayleigh Intensity technique in combination with another remote sensing technique, the Rayleigh Doppler technique.

Comparison of spatula and cytobrush cytological techniques in early detection of oral malignant and premalignant lesions: a prospective and blinded study.

PubMed

Nanayakkara, P G C L; Dissanayaka, W L; Nanayakkara, B G; Amaratunga, E A P D; Tilakaratne, W M

2016-04-01

The use of oral cytology to diagnose malignant and premalignant lesions at an early stage is considered crucial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnoses of the spatula and the cytobrush techniques compared with the gold standard histopathological findings, analysed according to different diagnostic criteria. Cytological smears were obtained from 76 suspicious oral malignant lesions and 116 oral leukoplakia lesions using two techniques: cytobrush plus cell collector and metal spatula. Subsequently, a surgical biopsy was performed on each lesion to achieve a histopathological diagnosis. Evaluation was conducted with respect to three different diagnostic criteria. The sensitivity for diagnosing carcinoma in clinically malignant cases was 89.58% and 60.42% for cytobrush and spatula techniques, respectively. Inclusion of severe dysplastic cases for 'high-risk' lesions increased the sensitivity up to 96.36% and 78.18% for two techniques, respectively. In leukoplakia lesions, malignant and severely dysplastic cells were diagnosed at a sensitivity of 88.89% in the cytobrush and 55.56% in the spatula techniques. Extending the criteria by defining malignant or any dysplastic findings as positive, sensitivity was increased to 98.02% and 89.11% for the spatula and the cytobrush techniques, respectively. Specificity for both techniques increased to 100%. The difference between the diagnoses of histopathology and the spatula cytology was statistically significant (P < 0.01), while no such difference was found with the cytobrush technique (P > 0.1). The cytobrush, unlike the spatula, is a useful screening instrument for early diagnosis of suspicious oral lesions and could therefore contribute to improved oral cancer prognosis. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evaluation of two imaging techniques: near-infrared transillumination and dental radiographs for the detection of early approximal enamel caries.

PubMed

Maia, A M A; Karlsson, L; Margulis, W; Gomes, A S L

2011-10-01

The aim of this paper was to evaluate a transillumination (TI) system using near-infrared (NIR) light and bitewing radiographs for the detection of early approximal enamel caries lesions. Mesiodistal sections of teeth (n = 14) were cut with various thicknesses from 1.5 mm to 4.75 mm. Both sides of each section were included, 17 approximal surfaces with natural enamel caries and 11 surfaces considered intact. The approximal surfaces were illuminated by NIR light and X-ray. Captured images were analysed by two calibrated specialists in radiology, and re-analysed after 6 months using stereomicroscope images as a gold standard. The interexaminer reliability (Kappa test statistic) for the NIR TI technique showed moderate agreement on first (0.55) and second (0.48) evaluation, and low agreement for bitewing radiographs on first (0.26) and second (0.32) evaluation. In terms of accuracy, the sensitivity for the NIR TI system was 0.88 and the specificity was 0.72. For the bitewing radiographs the sensitivity ranged from 0.35 to 0.53 and the specificity ranged from 0.50 to 0.72. In the same samples and conditions tested, NIR TI images showed reliability and the enamel caries surfaces were better identified than on dental radiographs.

Evaluation of two imaging techniques: near-infrared transillumination and dental radiographs for the detection of early approximal enamel caries

PubMed Central

Maia, A M A; Karlsson, L; Margulis, W; Gomes, A S L

2011-01-01

Objectives The aim of this paper was to evaluate a transillumination (TI) system using near-infrared (NIR) light and bitewing radiographs for the detection of early approximal enamel caries lesions. Methods Mesiodistal sections of teeth (n = 14) were cut with various thicknesses from 1.5 mm to 4.75 mm. Both sides of each section were included, 17 approximal surfaces with natural enamel caries and 11 surfaces considered intact. The approximal surfaces were illuminated by NIR light and X-ray. Captured images were analysed by two calibrated specialists in radiology, and re-analysed after 6 months using stereomicroscope images as a gold standard. Results The interexaminer reliability (Kappa test statistic) for the NIR TI technique showed moderate agreement on first (0.55) and second (0.48) evaluation, and low agreement for bitewing radiographs on first (0.26) and second (0.32) evaluation. In terms of accuracy, the sensitivity for the NIR TI system was 0.88 and the specificity was 0.72. For the bitewing radiographs the sensitivity ranged from 0.35 to 0.53 and the specificity ranged from 0.50 to 0.72. Conclusion In the same samples and conditions tested, NIR TI images showed reliability and the enamel caries surfaces were better identified than on dental radiographs. PMID:21960400

Non-invasive detection of the early phase of kidney injury by photoacoustic/computed tomography imaging.

PubMed

Pan, Wanma; Peng, Wen; Ning, Fengling; Zhang, Yu; Zhang, Yunfei; Wang, Yinhang; Xie, Weiyi; Zhang, Jing; Xin, Hong; Li, Cong; Zhang, Xuemei

2018-06-29

The early diagnosis of kidney diseases, which can remarkably impair the quality of life and are costly, has encountered great difficulties. Therefore, the development of methods for early diagnosis has great clinical significance. In this study, we used an emerging technique of photoacoustic (PA) imaging, which has relatively high spatial resolution and good imaging depth. Two kinds of PA gold nanoparticle (GNP)-based bioprobes were developed based on their superior photo detectability, size controllability and biocompatibility. The kidney injury mouse model was developed by unilateral ureteral obstruction for 96 h and the release of obstruction model). Giving 3.5 and 5.5 nm bioprobes by tail vein injection, we found that the 5.5 nm probe could be detected in the bladder in the model group, but not in the control group. These results were confirmed by computed tomography imaging. Furthermore, the model group did not show changes in the blood biochemical indices (BUN and Scr) and histologic examination. The 5.5 nm GNPs were found to be the critical point for early diagnosis of kidney injury. This new method was faster and more sensitive and accurate for the detection of renal injury, compared with conventional methods, and can be used for the development of a PA GNP-based bioprobe for diagnosing renal injury.

Non-invasive detection of the early phase of kidney injury by photoacoustic/computed tomography imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Wanma; Peng, Wen; Ning, Fengling; Zhang, Yu; Zhang, Yunfei; Wang, Yinhang; Xie, Weiyi; Zhang, Jing; Xin, Hong; Li, Cong; Zhang, Xuemei

2018-06-01

The early diagnosis of kidney diseases, which can remarkably impair the quality of life and are costly, has encountered great difficulties. Therefore, the development of methods for early diagnosis has great clinical significance. In this study, we used an emerging technique of photoacoustic (PA) imaging, which has relatively high spatial resolution and good imaging depth. Two kinds of PA gold nanoparticle (GNP)-based bioprobes were developed based on their superior photo detectability, size controllability and biocompatibility. The kidney injury mouse model was developed by unilateral ureteral obstruction for 96 h and the release of obstruction model). Giving 3.5 and 5.5 nm bioprobes by tail vein injection, we found that the 5.5 nm probe could be detected in the bladder in the model group, but not in the control group. These results were confirmed by computed tomography imaging. Furthermore, the model group did not show changes in the blood biochemical indices (BUN and Scr) and histologic examination. The 5.5 nm GNPs were found to be the critical point for early diagnosis of kidney injury. This new method was faster and more sensitive and accurate for the detection of renal injury, compared with conventional methods, and can be used for the development of a PA GNP-based bioprobe for diagnosing renal injury.

Decreased sensitivity of early imaging with In-111 oxine-labeled leukocytes in detection of occult infection: concise communication

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Datz, F.L.; Jacobs, J.; Baker, W.

1984-03-01

Imaging with leukocytes labeled with indium-111 oxine is a sensitive technique for detecting sites of occult infection. Traditionally, imaging is performed 24 hr after injection. The authors undertook a prospective study of 35 patients (40 studies) with possible occult infection to see whether a 24-hr delay in imaging is really necessary. Patients were imaged at 1-4 hr and again at 24 hr after injection. The early images had a sensitivity of only 33%, compared with 95% for the 24-hr images. Of the seven studies that were positive on both early and delayed images, 71% had more intense uptake at 24more » hr. There were no false-positive early images. It was concluded that imaging 1-4 hr after injection with In-111 oxine-labeled leukocytes has a low sensitivity for detecting occult infection. However, a positive early image is specific for a site of infection.« less

A Novel Technique to Detect Code for SAC-OCDMA System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bharti, Manisha; Kumar, Manoj; Sharma, Ajay K.

2018-04-01

The main task of optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) system is the detection of code used by a user in presence of multiple access interference (MAI). In this paper, new method of detection known as XOR subtraction detection for spectral amplitude coding OCDMA (SAC-OCDMA) based on double weight codes has been proposed and presented. As MAI is the main source of performance deterioration in OCDMA system, therefore, SAC technique is used in this paper to eliminate the effect of MAI up to a large extent. A comparative analysis is then made between the proposed scheme and other conventional detection schemes used like complimentary subtraction detection, AND subtraction detection and NAND subtraction detection. The system performance is characterized by Q-factor, BER and received optical power (ROP) with respect to input laser power and fiber length. The theoretical and simulation investigations reveal that the proposed detection technique provides better quality factor, security and received power in comparison to other conventional techniques. The wide opening of eye in case of proposed technique also proves its robustness.

Detecting brain tumor in computed tomography images using Markov random fields and fuzzy C-means clustering techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdulbaqi, Hayder Saad; Jafri, Mohd Zubir Mat; Omar, Ahmad Fairuz; Mustafa, Iskandar Shahrim Bin; Abood, Loay Kadom

2015-04-01

Brain tumors, are an abnormal growth of tissues in the brain. They may arise in people of any age. They must be detected early, diagnosed accurately, monitored carefully, and treated effectively in order to optimize patient outcomes regarding both survival and quality of life. Manual segmentation of brain tumors from CT scan images is a challenging and time consuming task. Size and location accurate detection of brain tumor plays a vital role in the successful diagnosis and treatment of tumors. Brain tumor detection is considered a challenging mission in medical image processing. The aim of this paper is to introduce a scheme for tumor detection in CT scan images using two different techniques Hidden Markov Random Fields (HMRF) and Fuzzy C-means (FCM). The proposed method has been developed in this research in order to construct hybrid method between (HMRF) and threshold. These methods have been applied on 4 different patient data sets. The result of comparison among these methods shows that the proposed method gives good results for brain tissue detection, and is more robust and effective compared with (FCM) techniques.

Early Detection and Intervention of ASD: A European Overview

PubMed Central

Narzisi, Antonio; García-Primo, Patricia; Kawa, Rafal

2017-01-01

Over the last several years there has been an increasing focus on early detection of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), not only from the scientific field but also from professional associations and public health systems all across Europe. Not surprisingly, in order to offer better services and quality of life for both children with ASD and their families, different screening procedures and tools have been developed for early assessment and intervention. However, current evidence is needed for healthcare providers and policy makers to be able to implement specific measures and increase autism awareness in European communities. The general aim of this review is to address the latest and most relevant issues related to early detection and treatments. The specific objectives are (1) analyse the impact, describing advantages and drawbacks, of screening procedures based on standardized tests, surveillance programmes, or other observational measures; and (2) provide a European framework of early intervention programmes and practices and what has been learnt from implementing them in public or private settings. This analysis is then discussed and best practices are suggested to help professionals, health systems and policy makers to improve their local procedures or to develop new proposals for early detection and intervention programmes. PMID:29194420

[Research on early fire detection with CO-CO2 FTIR-spectroscopy].

PubMed

Du, Jian-hua; Zhang, Ren-cheng; Huang, Xiang-ying; Gong, Xue; Zhang, Xiao-hua

2007-05-01

A new fire detection method is put forward based on the theory of FTIR spectroscopy through analyzing all kinds of detection methods, in which CO and CO2 are chosen as early fire detection objects, and an early fire experiment system has been set up. The concentration characters of CO and CO2 were obtained through early fire experiments including real alarm sources and nuisance alarm sources. In real alarm sources there are abundant CO and CO2 which change regularly. In nuisance alarm sources there is almost no CO. So it's feasible to reduce the false alarms and increase the sensitivity of early fire detectors through analyzing the concentration characters of CO and CO2.

A concept for early cancer detection and therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waynant, Ronald W.; Ilev, Ilko K.; Mitra, Kunal

2003-06-01

Early detection and treatment of breast cancer is least costly in terms of dollars, morbidity and mortality. With new early detection x-ray technology, tumors can be found, diagnosed and treated at a much smaller size than is currently possible. This paper proposes the development of a high resolution, high quality imaging system. It is a laser-driven x-ray system with time-gated detection that removes scattering noise in the image and produces resolution on the order of 10 μm. This higher resolution and higher image quality will enable the detection of one or two millimeter tumors hopefully detecting them before metastasis. We also propose that tumor detection should be followed by an immediate needle-directed, optical fiber biopsy to instantly determine if cancer is present and, if present, the tumor should immediately be given a lethal treatment of laser or x-radiation through the same needle using fiber optics or hollow waveguides. This technology will help prevent multiple interventions resulting in both the lowest overall cost and a more efficacious therapy. The approach can be stopped at the first negative (benign) indication and will help forestall repeated examination as well as reduce patient anxiety.

A Cell-Based Approach to Early Pancreatic Cancer Detection

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-01

Award Number: W81XWH-15-1-0457 TITLE: A Cell -Based Approach to Early Pancreatic Cancer Detection PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Ben Stanger...SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER A Cell -Based Approach to Early Pancreatic Cancer Detection 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-15-1-0457 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6...tumor cells from mouse blood by depleting the sample of white blood cells (WBCs). Furthermore, the RNA profile of these cells can be assessed by

Experiments on Adaptive Techniques for Host-Based Intrusion Detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

DRAELOS, TIMOTHY J.; COLLINS, MICHAEL J.; DUGGAN, DAVID P.

2001-09-01

This research explores four experiments of adaptive host-based intrusion detection (ID) techniques in an attempt to develop systems that can detect novel exploits. The technique considered to have the most potential is adaptive critic designs (ACDs) because of their utilization of reinforcement learning, which allows learning exploits that are difficult to pinpoint in sensor data. Preliminary results of ID using an ACD, an Elman recurrent neural network, and a statistical anomaly detection technique demonstrate an ability to learn to distinguish between clean and exploit data. We used the Solaris Basic Security Module (BSM) as a data source and performed considerablemore » preprocessing on the raw data. A detection approach called generalized signature-based ID is recommended as a middle ground between signature-based ID, which has an inability to detect novel exploits, and anomaly detection, which detects too many events including events that are not exploits. The primary results of the ID experiments demonstrate the use of custom data for generalized signature-based intrusion detection and the ability of neural network-based systems to learn in this application environment.« less

Technique for Early Reliability Prediction of Software Components Using Behaviour Models

PubMed Central

Ali, Awad; N. A. Jawawi, Dayang; Adham Isa, Mohd; Imran Babar, Muhammad

2016-01-01

Behaviour models are the most commonly used input for predicting the reliability of a software system at the early design stage. A component behaviour model reveals the structure and behaviour of the component during the execution of system-level functionalities. There are various challenges related to component reliability prediction at the early design stage based on behaviour models. For example, most of the current reliability techniques do not provide fine-grained sequential behaviour models of individual components and fail to consider the loop entry and exit points in the reliability computation. Moreover, some of the current techniques do not tackle the problem of operational data unavailability and the lack of analysis results that can be valuable for software architects at the early design stage. This paper proposes a reliability prediction technique that, pragmatically, synthesizes system behaviour in the form of a state machine, given a set of scenarios and corresponding constraints as input. The state machine is utilized as a base for generating the component-relevant operational data. The state machine is also used as a source for identifying the nodes and edges of a component probabilistic dependency graph (CPDG). Based on the CPDG, a stack-based algorithm is used to compute the reliability. The proposed technique is evaluated by a comparison with existing techniques and the application of sensitivity analysis to a robotic wheelchair system as a case study. The results indicate that the proposed technique is more relevant at the early design stage compared to existing works, and can provide a more realistic and meaningful prediction. PMID:27668748

The detection of bulk explosives using nuclear-based techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Morgado, R.E.; Gozani, T.; Seher, C.C.

1988-01-01

In 1986 we presented a rationale for the detection of bulk explosives based on nuclear techniques that addressed the requirements of civil aviation security in the airport environment. Since then, efforts have intensified to implement a system based on thermal neutron activation (TNA), with new work developing in fast neutron and energetic photon reactions. In this paper we will describe these techniques and present new results from laboratory and airport testing. Based on preliminary results, we contended in our earlier paper that nuclear-based techniques did provide sufficiently penetrating probes and distinguishable detectable reaction products to achieve the FAA operational goals;more » new data have supported this contention. The status of nuclear-based techniques for the detection of bulk explosives presently under investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is reviewed. These include thermal neutron activation (TNA), fast neutron activation (FNA), the associated particle technique, nuclear resonance absorption, and photoneutron activation. The results of comprehensive airport testing of the TNA system performed during 1987-88 are summarized. From a technical point of view, nuclear-based techniques now represent the most comprehensive and feasible approach for meeting the operational criteria of detection, false alarms, and throughput. 9 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.« less

Detection of early developmental stages of Myxobolus cerebralis in fish and tubificid oligochaete hosts by in situ hybridization.

PubMed

Antonio, D B; El-Matbouli, M; Hedrick, R P

1999-11-01

The myxosporean and actinosporean spores of Myxobolus cerebralis develop through many stages in their respective hosts, salmonid fishes and a tubificid oligochaete. Using a modified, non-radioactive in situ hybridization protocol, the parasite, which exhibits radically different structural forms during its development in each host, could be specifically detected in paraffin-embedded tissues of both fish and oligochaetes. Our study aims to demonstrate the application of the technique for detection of early stages of M. cerebralis in both hosts.

Detection of Early Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Young Patients With Thalassemia Major Using Tissue Doppler Imaging

PubMed Central

Bornaun, Helen; Dedeoglu, Reyhan; Oztarhan, Kazim; Dedeoglu, Savas; Erfidan, Erkan; Gundogdu, Muge; Aydogan, Gonul; Cengiz, Dicle

2016-01-01

Background Myocardial iron overload is the most common cause of mortality in patients with thalassemia major (TM), also known as beta-thalassemia. T2* cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the best way of monitoring cardiac iron, and new echocardiographic techniques can be used to assess cardiac function. Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the systolic and diastolic right ventricular (RV) function of patients with TM using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and to determine whether this echocardiographic technique is an adequate diagnostic tool for the screening and detection of subclinical cardiac dysfunction. Patients and Methods Eighty-four patients with TM were evaluated by conventional echocardiography and pulse-wave TDI. The data of the TM group (Group 1) were compared with that of 85 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (Group 2). Cardiovascular T2* MRI examinations were performed in 49 of the 85 patients. Results The patients with TM had significantly lower values for weight, height, body mass index, systolic arterial pressure, deceleration time, E’/A’, and ejection time (ET) than the controls. Group 1 also had significantly higher values for peak early diastolic velocity (E) over peak late diastolic velocity (A), peak early diastolic velocity of TDI (E’), peak late diastolic velocity of TDI (A’), E/E’, isovolumetric relaxation time, isovolumetric contraction time, and RV magnetic perfusion imaging (MPI) than Group 2. Conclusions RV diastolic dysfunction occurs before systolic deterioration in patients with TM and cannot be screened with conventional echocardiographic techniques. In routine practice, TDI measurements, MPI (for global function) and the E/E’ parameter (for diastolic function) can be used to screen and detect early RV dysfunction. PMID:27617076

Dual-mode microwave system to enhance early detection of cancer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carr, K. L.; El-Mahdi, A. M.; Shaeffer, J.

1981-01-01

A dual-mode microwave system has been developed that will permit early detection of cancer. The system combines the use of the passive microwave radiometer with an active transmitter. The active transmitter will provide localized heating to enhance early detection by taking advantage of the differential heating (i.e., tumor temperature with respect to surrounding tissue) associated with the thermal characteristics of tumors.

Techniques for fire detection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bukowski, Richard W.

1987-01-01

An overview is given of the basis for an analysis of combustable materials and potential ignition sources in a spacecraft. First, the burning process is discussed in terms of the production of the fire signatures normally associated with detection devices. These include convected and radiated thermal energy, particulates, and gases. Second, the transport processes associated with the movement of these from the fire to the detector, along with the important phenomena which cause the level of these signatures to be reduced, are described. Third, the operating characteristics of the individual types of detectors which influence their response to signals, are presented. Finally, vulnerability analysis using predictive fire modeling techniques is discussed as a means to establish the necessary response of the detection system to provide the level of protection required in the application.

Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound and Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Neonatal Bowel: Novel, Bedside, Noninvasive, and Radiation-Free Imaging for Early Detection of Necrotizing Enterocolitis.

PubMed

Al-Hamad, Suzanne; Hackam, David J; Goldstein, Seth D; Huisman, Thierry A G M; Darge, Kassa; Hwang, Misun

2018-05-31

Despite extensive research and improvements in the field of neonatal care, the morbidity and mortality associated with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) have remained unchanged over the past three decades. Early detection of ischemia and necrotic bowel is vital in improving morbidity and mortality associated with NEC; however, strategies for predicting and preventing NEC are lacking. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) are novel techniques in pediatrics that have been proven as safe modalities. CEUS has benefits over conventional ultrasound (US) by its improved real-time evaluation of the micro- and macrovascularities of normally and abnormally perfused tissue. US has been implemented as a useful adjunct to X-ray for earlier evaluation of NEC. NIRS is another noninvasive technique that has shown promise in improving early detection of NEC. The purpose of this article is to review the current understanding of changes in bowel perfusion in NEC, discuss the accuracy of abdominal US in detecting NEC, and explain how the use of CEUS and NIRS will enhance the precise and early detection of altered/pathological bowel wall perfusion in the initial development and course of NEC. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Development of an e-learning system for teaching endoscopists how to diagnose early gastric cancer: basic principles for improving early detection.

PubMed

Yao, Kenshi; Uedo, Noriya; Muto, Manabu; Ishikawa, Hideki

2017-03-01

We developed an internet e-learning system in order to improve the ability of endoscopists to diagnose gastric cancer at an early stage. The efficacy of this system at expanding knowledge and providing invaluable experience regarding the endoscopic detection of early gastric cancer was demonstrated through an international multicenter randomized controlled trial. However, the contents of the system have not yet been fully described in the literature. Accordingly, we herein introduce the contents and their principles, which comprise three main subjects: technique, knowledge, and experience. Since all the e-learning contents and principles are based on conventional white-light endoscopy alone, which is commonly available throughout the world, they should provide a good reference point for any endoscopist who wishes to devise learning materials and guidelines for improving their own clinical practice.

Fluorescence Sensors for Early Detection of Nitrification in Drinking Water Distribution Systems - Interference Corrections and Feasibility Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Do, T. D.; Pifer, A.; Chowdhury, Z.; Wahman, D.; Zhang, W.; Fairey, J.

2017-12-01

Detection of nitrification events in chloraminated drinking water distribution systems remains an ongoing challenge for many drinking water utilities, including Dallas Water Utilities (DWU) and the City of Houston (CoH). Each year, these utilities experience nitrification events that necessitate extensive flushing, resulting in the loss of billions of gallons of finished water. Biological techniques used to quantify the activity of nitrifying bacteria are impractical for real-time monitoring because they require significant laboratory efforts and/or lengthy incubation times. At present, DWU and CoH regularly rely on physicochemical parameters including total chlorine and monochloramine residual, and free ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate as indicators of nitrification, but these metrics lack specificity to nitrifying bacteria. To improve detection of nitrification in chloraminated drinking water distribution systems, we seek to develop a real-time fluorescence-based sensor system to detect the early onset of nitrification events by measuring the fluorescence of soluble microbial products (SMPs) specific to nitrifying bacteria. Preliminary data indicates that fluorescence-based metrics have the sensitivity to detect these SMPs in the early stages of nitrification, but several remaining challenges will be explored in this presentation. We will focus on benchtop and sensor results from ongoing batch and annular reactor experiments designed to (1) identify fluorescence wavelength pairs and data processing techniques suitable for measurement of SMPs from nitrification and (2) assess and correct potential interferences, such as those from monochloramine, pH, iron, nitrite, nitrate and humic substances. This work will serve as the basis for developing fluorescence sensor packages for full-scale testing and validation in the DWU and CoH systems. Findings from this research could be leveraged to identify nitrification events in their early stages, facilitating proactive

Early changes in coronary artery wall structure detected by microcomputed tomography in experimental hypercholesterolemia.

PubMed

Zhu, Xiang-Yang; Bentley, Michael D; Chade, Alejandro R; Ritman, Erik L; Lerman, Amir; Lerman, Lilach O

2007-09-01

Changes in the structure of the artery wall commence shortly after exposure to cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypercholesterolemia (HC), but may be difficult to detect. The ability to study vascular wall structure could be helpful in evaluation of the factors that instigate atherosclerosis and its pathomechanisms. The present study tested the hypothesis that early morphological changes in coronary arteries of hypercholesterolemic (HC) pigs can be detected using the novel X-ray contrast agent OsO(4) and three-dimensional micro-computed tomography (CT). Two groups of pigs were studied after they were fed a normal or an HC (2% cholesterol) diet for 12 wk. Hearts were harvested, coronary arteries were injected with 1% OsO(4) solution, and cardiac samples (6-mum-thick) were scanned by micro-CT. Layers of the epicardial coronary artery wall, early lesions, and perivascular OsO(4) accumulation were determined. Leakage of OsO(4) from myocardial microvessels was used to assess vascular permeability, which was correlated with immunoreactivity of vascular endothelial growth factor in corresponding histological cross sections. OsO(4) enhanced the visualization of coronary artery wall layers and facilitated detection of early lesions in HC in longitudinal tomographic sections of vascular segments. Increased density of perivascular OsO(4) in HC was correlated with increased vascular endothelial growth factor expression and suggested increased microvascular permeability. The use of OsO(4) as a contrast agent in micro-CT allows three-dimensional visualization of coronary artery wall structure, early lesion formation, and changes in vascular permeability. Therefore, this technique can be a useful tool in atherosclerosis research.

Colorectal Cancer: The Importance of Early Detection

MedlinePlus

... of this page please turn JavaScript on. Feature: Colorectal Cancer The Importance of Early Detection Past Issues / Summer ... Cancer of the colon or rectum is called colorectal cancer. The colon and the rectum are part of ...

Hyperspectral remote sensing techniques for early detection of plant diseases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krezhova, Dora; Maneva, Svetla; Zdravev, Tomas

Hyperspectral remote sensing is an emerging, multidisciplinary field with diverse applications in Earth observation. Nowadays spectral remote sensing techniques allow presymptomatic monitoring of changes in the physiological state of plants with high spectral resolution. Hyperspectral leaf reflectance and chlorophyll fluorescence proved to be highly suitable for identification of growth anomalies of cultural plants that result from the environmental changes and different stress factors. Hyperspectral technologies can find place in many scientific areas, as well as for monitoring of plants status and functioning to help in making timely management decisions. This research aimed to detect a presence of viral infection in young pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L.) caused by Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) by using hyperspectral reflectance and fluorescence data and to assess the effect of some growth regulators on the development of the disease. In Bulgaria CMV is one of the widest spread pathogens, causing the biggest economical losses in crop vegetable production. Leaf spectral reflectance and fluorescence data were collected by a portable fibre-optics spectrometer in the spectral ranges 450÷850 nm and 600-900 nm. Greenhouse experiment with pepper plants of two cultivars, Sivria (sensitive to CMV) and Ostrion (resistant to CMV) were used. The plants were divided into six groups. The first group consisted of healthy (control) plants. At growth stage 4-6 expanded leaf, the second group was inoculated with CMV. The other four groups were treated with growth regulators: Spermine, MEIA (beta-monomethyl ester of itaconic acid), BTH (benzo(1,2,3)thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid-S-methyl ester) and Phytoxin. On the next day, the pepper plants of these four groups were inoculated with CMV. The viral concentrations in the plants were determined by the serological method DAS-ELISA. Statistical, first derivative and cluster analysis were applied and several vegetation indices were

Early detection of fungal contamination on green coffee by a MOX sensors based Electronic Nose

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sberveglieri, V.; Concina, I.; Falasconi, M.; Gobbi, E.; Pulvirenti, A.; Fava, P.

2011-09-01

Fungal growth can occur on green coffee beans along all the distribution chain, eventually bringing on health hazards to consumers, because of the production of toxic metabolites (mycotoxins) [1]. Besides, the sensorial contamination due to volatiles by-products of fungal metabolism could cause defects on coffee also after roasting. Therefore, it is necessary to devise strategies to detect and quantify fungal infection and toxin production at early stages of the food chain. One of the most promising techniques is the analysis of volatile compounds in the headspace gas surrounding the samples. The aim of this work was to verify the ability of the Electronic Nose (EN EOS835) to early detect the microbial contamination of Arabica green coffee. This EN is equipped with Metal Oxide Semiconductor sensor array. Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of the static headspace of non-contaminated Arabica green coffee samples was carried out to confirm the EN ability to provide satisfactory indications about the presence of contamination.

Signal analysis techniques for incipient failure detection in turbomachinery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coffin, T.

1985-01-01

Signal analysis techniques for the detection and classification of incipient mechanical failures in turbomachinery were developed, implemented and evaluated. Signal analysis techniques available to describe dynamic measurement characteristics are reviewed. Time domain and spectral methods are described, and statistical classification in terms of moments is discussed. Several of these waveform analysis techniques were implemented on a computer and applied to dynamic signals. A laboratory evaluation of the methods with respect to signal detection capability is described. Plans for further technique evaluation and data base development to characterize turbopump incipient failure modes from Space Shuttle main engine (SSME) hot firing measurements are outlined.

Automated detection of dark and bright lesions in retinal images for early detection of diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed

Akram, Usman M; Khan, Shoab A

2012-10-01

There is an ever-increasing interest in the development of automatic medical diagnosis systems due to the advancement in computing technology and also to improve the service by medical community. The knowledge about health and disease is required for reliable and accurate medical diagnosis. Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the most common causes of blindness and it can be prevented if detected and treated early. DR has different signs and the most distinctive are microaneurysm and haemorrhage which are dark lesions and hard exudates and cotton wool spots which are bright lesions. Location and structure of blood vessels and optic disk play important role in accurate detection and classification of dark and bright lesions for early detection of DR. In this article, we propose a computer aided system for the early detection of DR. The article presents algorithms for retinal image preprocessing, blood vessel enhancement and segmentation and optic disk localization and detection which eventually lead to detection of different DR lesions using proposed hybrid fuzzy classifier. The developed methods are tested on four different publicly available databases. The presented methods are compared with recently published methods and the results show that presented methods outperform all others.

Malignant external otitis: early scintigraphic detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Strashun, A.M.; Nejatheim, M.; Goldsmith, S.J.

1984-02-01

Pseudomonas otitis externa in elderly diabetics may extend aggressively to adjacent bone, cranial nerves, meninges, and vessels, leading to a clinical diagnosis of ''malignant'' external otitis. Early diagnosis is necessary for successful treatment. This study compares the findings of initial radiographs, thin-section tomography of temporal bone, CT scans of head and neck, technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (MDP) and gallium-67 citrate scintigraphy, and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for detection of temporal bone osteomylitis in ten patients fulfilling the clinical diagnostic criteria of malignant external otitis. Skull radiographs were negative in all of the eight patients studied. Thin-section tomography was positive inmore » one of the seven patients studied using this modality. CT scanning suggested osteomyelitis in three of nine patients. Both Tc-99m and Ga-67 citrate scintigraphy were positive in 10 of 10 patients. These results suggest that technetium and gallium scintigraphy are more sensitive than radiographs and CT scans for early detection of malignant external otitis.« less

NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING (NDT) TECHNIQUES TO DETECT CONTAINED SUBSURFACE HAZARDOUS WASTE

EPA Science Inventory

The project involves the detection of buried containers with NDT (remote-sensing) techniques. Seventeen techniques were considered and four were ultimately decided upon. They were: electromagnetic induction (EMI); metal detection (MD); magnetometer (MAG); and ground penetrating r...

Flood Detection/Monitoring Using Adjustable Histogram Equalization Technique

PubMed Central

Riaz, Muhammad Mohsin; Ghafoor, Abdul

2014-01-01

Flood monitoring technique using adjustable histogram equalization is proposed. The technique overcomes the limitations (overenhancement, artifacts, and unnatural look) of existing technique by adjusting the contrast of images. The proposed technique takes pre- and postimages and applies different processing steps for generating flood map without user interaction. The resultant flood maps can be used for flood monitoring and detection. Simulation results show that the proposed technique provides better output quality compared to the state of the art existing technique. PMID:24558332

Detection of Deforestation and Land Conversion in Rondonia, Brazil Using Change Detection Techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guild, Liane S.; Cohen, Warren B,; Kauffman, J. Boone; Peterson, David L. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Fires associated with tropical deforestation, land conversion, and land use greatly contribute to emissions as well as the depletion of carbon and nutrient pools. The objective of this research was to compare change detection techniques for identifying deforestation and cattle pasture formation during a period of early colonization and agricultural expansion in the vicinity of Jamari, Rond6nia. Multi-date Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data between 1984 and 1992 was examined in a 94 370-ha area of active deforestation to map land cover change. The Tasseled Cap (TC) transformation was used to enhance the contrast between forest, cleared areas, and regrowth. TC images were stacked into a composite multi-date TC and used in a principal components (PC) transformation to identify change components. In addition, consecutive TC image pairs were differenced and stacked into a composite multi-date differenced image. A maximum likelihood classification of each image composite was compared for identification of land cover change. The multi-date TC composite classification had the best accuracy of 78.1% (kappa). By 1984, only 5% of the study area had been cleared, but by 1992, 11% of the area had been deforested, primarily for pasture and 7% lost due to hydroelectric dam flooding. Finally, discrimination of pasture versus cultivation was improved due to the ability to detect land under sustained clearing opened to land exhibiting regrowth with infrequent clearing.

Prostate cancer detection using machine learning techniques by employing combination of features extracting strategies.

PubMed

Hussain, Lal; Ahmed, Adeel; Saeed, Sharjil; Rathore, Saima; Awan, Imtiaz Ahmed; Shah, Saeed Arif; Majid, Abdul; Idris, Adnan; Awan, Anees Ahmed

2018-02-06

Prostate is a second leading causes of cancer deaths among men. Early detection of cancer can effectively reduce the rate of mortality caused by Prostate cancer. Due to high and multiresolution of MRIs from prostate cancer require a proper diagnostic systems and tools. In the past researchers developed Computer aided diagnosis (CAD) systems that help the radiologist to detect the abnormalities. In this research paper, we have employed novel Machine learning techniques such as Bayesian approach, Support vector machine (SVM) kernels: polynomial, radial base function (RBF) and Gaussian and Decision Tree for detecting prostate cancer. Moreover, different features extracting strategies are proposed to improve the detection performance. The features extracting strategies are based on texture, morphological, scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), and elliptic Fourier descriptors (EFDs) features. The performance was evaluated based on single as well as combination of features using Machine Learning Classification techniques. The Cross validation (Jack-knife k-fold) was performed and performance was evaluated in term of receiver operating curve (ROC) and specificity, sensitivity, Positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), false positive rate (FPR). Based on single features extracting strategies, SVM Gaussian Kernel gives the highest accuracy of 98.34% with AUC of 0.999. While, using combination of features extracting strategies, SVM Gaussian kernel with texture + morphological, and EFDs + morphological features give the highest accuracy of 99.71% and AUC of 1.00.

Early Diagnosis of Breast Cancer.

PubMed

Wang, Lulu

2017-07-05

Early-stage cancer detection could reduce breast cancer death rates significantly in the long-term. The most critical point for best prognosis is to identify early-stage cancer cells. Investigators have studied many breast diagnostic approaches, including mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, computerized tomography, positron emission tomography and biopsy. However, these techniques have some limitations such as being expensive, time consuming and not suitable for young women. Developing a high-sensitive and rapid early-stage breast cancer diagnostic method is urgent. In recent years, investigators have paid their attention in the development of biosensors to detect breast cancer using different biomarkers. Apart from biosensors and biomarkers, microwave imaging techniques have also been intensely studied as a promising diagnostic tool for rapid and cost-effective early-stage breast cancer detection. This paper aims to provide an overview on recent important achievements in breast screening methods (particularly on microwave imaging) and breast biomarkers along with biosensors for rapidly diagnosing breast cancer.

Detecting brain tumor in computed tomography images using Markov random fields and fuzzy C-means clustering techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abdulbaqi, Hayder Saad; Department of Physics, College of Education, University of Al-Qadisiya, Al-Qadisiya; Jafri, Mohd Zubir Mat

Brain tumors, are an abnormal growth of tissues in the brain. They may arise in people of any age. They must be detected early, diagnosed accurately, monitored carefully, and treated effectively in order to optimize patient outcomes regarding both survival and quality of life. Manual segmentation of brain tumors from CT scan images is a challenging and time consuming task. Size and location accurate detection of brain tumor plays a vital role in the successful diagnosis and treatment of tumors. Brain tumor detection is considered a challenging mission in medical image processing. The aim of this paper is to introducemore » a scheme for tumor detection in CT scan images using two different techniques Hidden Markov Random Fields (HMRF) and Fuzzy C-means (FCM). The proposed method has been developed in this research in order to construct hybrid method between (HMRF) and threshold. These methods have been applied on 4 different patient data sets. The result of comparison among these methods shows that the proposed method gives good results for brain tissue detection, and is more robust and effective compared with (FCM) techniques.« less

I Environmental DNA sampling is more sensitive than a traditional survey technique for detecting an aquatic invader.

PubMed

Smart, Adam S; Tingley, Reid; Weeks, Andrew R; van Rooyen, Anthony R; McCarthy, Michael A

2015-10-01

Effective management of alien species requires detecting populations in the early stages of invasion. Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling can detect aquatic species at relatively low densities, but few studies have directly compared detection probabilities of eDNA sampling with those of traditional sampling methods. We compare the ability of a traditional sampling technique (bottle trapping) and eDNA to detect a recently established invader, the smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris vulgaris, at seven field sites in Melbourne, Australia. Over a four-month period, per-trap detection probabilities ranged from 0.01 to 0.26 among sites where L. v. vulgaris was detected, whereas per-sample eDNA estimates were much higher (0.29-1.0). Detection probabilities of both methods varied temporally (across days and months), but temporal variation appeared to be uncorrelated between methods. Only estimates of spatial variation were strongly correlated across the two sampling techniques. Environmental variables (water depth, rainfall, ambient temperature) were not clearly correlated with detection probabilities estimated via trapping, whereas eDNA detection probabilities were negatively correlated with water depth, possibly reflecting higher eDNA concentrations at lower water levels. Our findings demonstrate that eDNA sampling can be an order of magnitude more sensitive than traditional methods, and illustrate that traditional- and eDNA-based surveys can provide independent information on species distributions when occupancy surveys are conducted over short timescales.

Using Renyi entropy to detect early cardiac autonomic neuropathy.

PubMed

Cornforth, David J; Tarvainen, Mika P; Jelinek, Herbert F

2013-01-01

Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy (CAN) is a disease that involves nerve damage leading to abnormal control of heart rate. CAN affects the correct operation of the heart and in turn leads to associated arrhythmias and heart attack. An open question is to what extent this condition is detectable by the measurement of Heart Rate Variability (HRV). An even more desirable option is to detect CAN in its early, preclinical stage, to improve treatment and outcomes. In previous work we have shown a difference in the Renyi spectrum between participants identified with well-defined CAN and controls. In this work we applied the multi-scale Renyi entropy for identification of early CAN in diabetes patients. Results suggest that Renyi entropy derived from a 20 minute, Lead-II ECG recording, forms a useful contribution to the detection of CAN even in the early stages of the disease. The positive α parameters (1 ≤ α ≤ 5) associated with the Renyi distribution indicated a significant difference (p < 0.00004) between controls and early CAN as well as definite CAN. This is a significant achievement given the simple nature of the information collected, and raises prospects of a simple screening test and improved outcomes of patients.

Comparison of electrochemical skin conductance and vibration perception threshold measurement in the detection of early diabetic neuropathy.

PubMed

Goel, Amit; Shivaprasad, Channabasappa; Kolly, Anish; Sarathi H A, Vijaya; Atluri, Sridevi

2017-01-01

The early diagnosis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is challenging. Sudomotor dysfunction is one of the earliest detectable abnormalities in DPN. The present study aimed to determine the diagnostic performance of the electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) test in detecting early DPN, compared with the vibration perception threshold (VPT) test and diabetic neuropathy symptom (DNS) score, using the modified neuropathy disability score (NDS) as the reference standard. Five hundred and twenty-three patients with type 2 diabetes underwent an NDS-based clinical assessment for neuropathy. Participants were classified into the DPN and non-DPN groups based on the NDS (≥ 6). Both groups were evaluated further using the DNS, and VPT and ESC testing. A receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to compare the efficacy of ESC measurements with those of DNS and VPT testing in detecting DPN. The DPN group (n = 110, 21%) had significantly higher HbA1c levels and longer diabetes durations compared with the non-DPN group (n = 413). The sensitivity of feet ESC < 60 μS, VPT testing, and DNS in detecting DPN were 85%, 72%, and 52%, respectively. The specificity of feet ESC, VPT, and DNS in detecting DPN were 85%, 90% and 60% respectively. The areas under the curves of the ROC plots for feet ESC, VPT testing, and DNS were 0.88, 0.84, and 0.6, respectively. A significant inverse linear relationship was noted between VPT and feet ESC (r = -0.45, p = <0.0001). The odds ratios for having DPN, based on the mean feet ESC testing < 60 μS, VPT testing > 15 V, and DNS ≥ 1, were 16.4, 10.9 and 1.8, respectively. ESC measurement is an objective and sensitive technique for the early detection of DPN. Feet ESC measurement was superior to VPT testing for identifying patients with early DPN.

Comparison of electrochemical skin conductance and vibration perception threshold measurement in the detection of early diabetic neuropathy

PubMed Central

Kolly, Anish; Sarathi H. A., Vijaya; Atluri, Sridevi

2017-01-01

The early diagnosis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is challenging. Sudomotor dysfunction is one of the earliest detectable abnormalities in DPN. The present study aimed to determine the diagnostic performance of the electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) test in detecting early DPN, compared with the vibration perception threshold (VPT) test and diabetic neuropathy symptom (DNS) score, using the modified neuropathy disability score (NDS) as the reference standard. Five hundred and twenty-three patients with type 2 diabetes underwent an NDS-based clinical assessment for neuropathy. Participants were classified into the DPN and non-DPN groups based on the NDS (≥ 6). Both groups were evaluated further using the DNS, and VPT and ESC testing. A receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to compare the efficacy of ESC measurements with those of DNS and VPT testing in detecting DPN. The DPN group (n = 110, 21%) had significantly higher HbA1c levels and longer diabetes durations compared with the non-DPN group (n = 413). The sensitivity of feet ESC < 60 μS, VPT testing, and DNS in detecting DPN were 85%, 72%, and 52%, respectively. The specificity of feet ESC, VPT, and DNS in detecting DPN were 85%, 90% and 60% respectively. The areas under the curves of the ROC plots for feet ESC, VPT testing, and DNS were 0.88, 0.84, and 0.6, respectively. A significant inverse linear relationship was noted between VPT and feet ESC (r = -0.45, p = <0.0001). The odds ratios for having DPN, based on the mean feet ESC testing < 60 μS, VPT testing > 15 V, and DNS ≥ 1, were 16.4, 10.9 and 1.8, respectively. ESC measurement is an objective and sensitive technique for the early detection of DPN. Feet ESC measurement was superior to VPT testing for identifying patients with early DPN. PMID:28880907

Multispectral fundus imaging for early detection of diabetic retinopathy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beach, James M.; Tiedeman, James S.; Hopkins, Mark F.; Sabharwal, Yashvinder S.

1999-04-01

Functional imaging of the retina and associated structures may provide information for early assessment of risks of developing retinopathy in diabetic patients. Here we show results of retinal oximetry performed using multi-spectral reflectance imaging techniques to assess hemoglobin (Hb) oxygen saturation (OS) in blood vessels of the inner retina and oxygen utilization at the optic nerve in diabetic patients without retinopathy and early disease during experimental hyperglycemia. Retinal images were obtained through a fundus camera and simultaneously recorded at up to four wavelengths using image-splitting modules coupled to a digital camera. Changes in OS in large retinal vessels, in average OS in disk tissue, and in the reduced state of cytochrome oxidase (CO) at the disk were determined from changes in reflectance associated with the oxidation/reduction states of Hb and CO. Step to high sugar lowered venous oxygen saturation to a degree dependent on disease duration. Moderate increase in sugar produced higher levels of reduced CO in both the disk and surrounding tissue without a detectable change in average tissue OS. Results suggest that regulation of retinal blood supply and oxygen consumption are altered by hyperglycemia and that such functional changes are present before clinical signs of retinopathy.

Microwave Technique for Detecting and Locating Concealed Weapons

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1971-12-01

The subject of this report is the evaluation of a microwave technique for detecting and locating weapons concealed under clothing. The principal features of this technique are: persons subjected to search are not exposed to 'objectional' microwave ra...

Detection of early seizures by diffuse optical tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tao; Hajihashemi, M. Reza; Zhou, Junli; Carney, Paul R.; Jiang, Huabei

2015-03-01

In epilepsy it has been challenging to detect early changes in brain activity that occurs prior to seizure onset and to map their origin and evolution for possible intervention. Besides, preclinical seizure experiments need to be conducted in awake animals with images reconstructed and displayed in real-time. We demonstrate using a rat model of generalized epilepsy that diffuse optical tomography (DOT) provides a unique functional neuroimaging modality for noninvasively and continuously tracking brain activities with high spatiotemporal resolution. We developed methods to conduct seizure experiments in fully awake rats using a subject-specific helmet and a restraining mechanism. For the first time, we detected early hemodynamic responses with heterogeneous patterns several minutes preceding the electroencephalographic seizure onset, supporting the presence of a "pre-seizure" state both in anesthetized and awake rats. Using a novel time-series analysis of scattering images, we show that the analysis of scattered diffuse light is a sensitive and reliable modality for detecting changes in neural activity associated with generalized seizure. We found widespread hemodynamic changes evolving from local regions of the bilateral cortex and thalamus to the entire brain, indicating that the onset of generalized seizures may originate locally rather than diffusely. Together, these findings suggest DOT represents a powerful tool for mapping early seizure onset and propagation pathways.

Sentinel Lymph Node Detection Using Carbon Nanoparticles in Patients with Early Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Lu, Jianping; Zeng, Yi; Chen, Xia; Yan, Jun

2015-01-01

Purpose Carbon nanoparticles have a strong affinity for the lymphatic system. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of sentinel lymph node biopsy using carbon nanoparticles in early breast cancer and to optimize the application procedure. Methods Firstly, we performed a pilot study to demonstrate the optimized condition using carbon nanoparticles for sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) detection by investigating 36 clinically node negative breast cancer patients. In subsequent prospective study, 83 patients with clinically node negative breast cancer were included to evaluate SLNs using carbon nanoparticles. Another 83 SLNs were detected by using blue dye. SLNs detection parameters were compared between the methods. All patients irrespective of the SLNs status underwent axillary lymph node dissection for verification of axillary node status after the SLN biopsy. Results In pilot study, a 1 ml carbon nanoparticles suspension used 10–15min before surgery was associated with the best detection rate. In subsequent prospective study, with carbon nanoparticles, the identification rate, accuracy, false negative rate was 100%, 96.4%, 11.1%, respectively. The identification rate and accuracy were 88% and 95.5% with 15.8% of false negative rate using blue dye technique. The use of carbon nanoparticles suspension showed significantly superior results in identification rate (p = 0.001) and reduced false-negative results compared with blue dye technique. Conclusion Our study demonstrated feasibility and accuracy of using carbon nanoparticles for SLNs mapping in breast cancer patients. Carbon nanoparticles are useful in SLNs detection in institutions without access to radioisotope. PMID:26296136

Early Diagnosis of Respiratory Abnormalities in Asbestos-Exposed Workers by the Forced Oscillation Technique.

PubMed

de Sá, Paula Morisco; Castro, Hermano Albuquerque; Lopes, Agnaldo José; Melo, Pedro Lopes de

2016-01-01

The current reference test for the detection of respiratory abnormalities in asbestos-exposed workers is spirometry. However, spirometry has several shortcomings that greatly affect the efficacy of current asbestos control programs. The forced oscillation technique (FOT) represents the current state-of-the-art technique in the assessment of lung function. This method provides a detailed analysis of respiratory resistance and reactance at different oscillatory frequencies during tidal breathing. Here, we evaluate the FOT as an alternative method to standard spirometry for the early detection and quantification of respiratory abnormalities in asbestos-exposed workers. Seventy-two subjects were analyzed. The control group was composed of 33 subjects with a normal spirometric exam who had no history of smoking or pulmonary disease. Thirty-nine subjects exposed to asbestos were also studied, including 32 volunteers in radiological category 0/0 and 7 volunteers with radiological categories of 0/1 or 1/1. FOT data were interpreted using classical parameters as well as integer (InOr) and fractional-order (FrOr) modeling. The diagnostic accuracy was evaluated by investigating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Exposed workers presented increased obstruction (resistance p<0.001) and a reduced compliance (p<0.001), with a predominance of obstructive changes. The FOT parameter changes were correlated with the standard pulmonary function analysis methods (R = -0.52, p<0.001). Early respiratory abnormalities were identified with a high diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.987) using parameters obtained from the FrOr modeling. This accuracy was significantly better than those obtained with classical (p<0.001) and InOr (p<0.001) model parameters. The FOT improved our knowledge about the biomechanical abnormalities in workers exposed to asbestos. Additionally, a high diagnostic accuracy in the diagnosis of early respiratory abnormalities in asbestos

Early detection of pancreatic cancer

PubMed Central

Ahuja, Nita

2015-01-01

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is a low-incident but highly mortal disease. It accounts for only 3% of estimated new cancer cases each year but is currently the fourth common cause of cancer mortality. By 2030, it is expected to be the 2nd leading cause of cancer death. There is a clear need to diagnose and classify pancreatic cancer at earlier stages in order to give patients the best chance at a definitive cure through surgery. Three precursor lesions that distinctly lead to pancreatic adenocarcinoma have been identified, and we have increasing understanding the non-genetic and genetic risk factors for the disease. With increased understanding about the risk factors, the familial patters, and associated accumulation of genetic mutations involved in pancreatic cancer, we know that there are mutations that occur early in the development of pancreatic cancer and that improved genetic risk-based strategies in screening for pancreatic cancer may be possible and successful at saving or prolonging lives. The remaining challenge is that current standards for diagnosing pancreatic cancer remain too invasive and too costly for widespread screening for pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, the promises of noninvasive methods of detection such as blood, saliva, and stool remain underdeveloped or lack robust testing. However, significant progress has been made, and we are drawing closer to a strategy for the screening and early detection of pancreatic cancer. PMID:26361402

Nanotechnology-Based Detection of Novel microRNAs for Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-08-01

AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-15-1-0157 TITLE: Nanotechnology -Based Detection of Novel microRNAs for Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer PRINCIPAL...TITLE AND SUBTITLE Nanotechnology -Based Detection of Novel microRNAs for Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER...identify novel differentially expressed miRNAs in the body fluids (blood, urine, etc.) for an early detection of PCa. Advances in nanotechnology and

Early Detection of Diabetic Retinopathy.

PubMed

Safi, Hamid; Safi, Sare; Hafezi-Moghadam, Ali; Ahmadieh, Hamid

2018-04-18

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a primary cause of visual impairment worldwide. Diabetes mellitus may be associated with ophthalmoscopically nonvisible neurovascular damage that progresses before the first clinical signs of DR appear. Reduction of the inner neuroretinal layer thickness on macular optical coherence tomography (OCT), reduced contrast sensitivity primarily at low spatial frequencies, abnormal results in color vision and microperimetry tests, and a prolonged implicit time recorded by multifocal electroretinography have been proposed for detection of early functional and nonvisible structural neuroretinal changes. Vascular abnormalities such as changes in the retinal vessels caliber, architectural indices, and blood flow have been investigated to evaluate the early stages of DR. The results of OCT angiography, retinal vessel oxygen saturation patterns, and elevated levels of circulating blood markers and cytokines have been suggested as early signs of DR. Light-based molecular imaging in rodents has been developed to demonstrate changes in protein expressions in the retinal microvessels as diagnostic biomarkers. Future clinical studies will examine the safety and efficacy of this approach in humans. We summarize all studies related to subclinical DR biomarkers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Martin Mayman's early memories technique: bridging the gap between personality assessment and psychotherapy.

PubMed

Fowler, J C; Hilsenroth, M J; Handler, L

2000-08-01

In this article, we describe Martin Mayman's approach to early childhood memories as a projective technique, beginning with his scientific interest in learning theory, coupled with his interest in ego psychology and object relations theory. We describe Mayman's contributions to the use of the early memories technique to inform the psychotherapy process, tying assessment closely to psychotherapy and making assessment more useful in treatment. In this article, we describe a representative sample of research studies that demonstrate the reliability and validity of early memories, followed by case examples in which the early memories informed the therapy process, including issues of transference and countertransference.

Screening and Biosensor-Based Approaches for Lung Cancer Detection

PubMed Central

Wang, Lulu

2017-01-01

Early diagnosis of lung cancer helps to reduce the cancer death rate significantly. Over the years, investigators worldwide have extensively investigated many screening modalities for lung cancer detection, including computerized tomography, chest X-ray, positron emission tomography, sputum cytology, magnetic resonance imaging and biopsy. However, these techniques are not suitable for patients with other pathologies. Developing a rapid and sensitive technique for early diagnosis of lung cancer is urgently needed. Biosensor-based techniques have been recently recommended as a rapid and cost-effective tool for early diagnosis of lung tumor markers. This paper reviews the recent development in screening and biosensor-based techniques for early lung cancer detection. PMID:29065541

Life Detection on the Early Earth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Runnegar, B.

2004-01-01

Finding evidence for first the existence, and then the nature of life on the early Earth or early Mars requires both the recognition of subtle biosignatures and the elimination of false positives. The history of the search for fossils in increasingly older Precambrian strata illustrates these difficulties very clearly, and new observational and theoretical approaches are both needed and being developed. At the microscopic level of investigation, three-dimensional morphological characterization coupled with in situ chemical (isotopic, elemental, structural) analysis is the desirable first step. Geological context is paramount, as has been demonstrated by the controversies over AH84001, the Greenland graphites, and the Apex chert microfossils . At larger scales, the nature of sedimentary bedforms and the structures they display becomes crucial, and here the methods of condensed matter physics prove most useful in discriminating between biological and non-biological constructions. Ultimately, a combination of geochemical, morphological, and contextural evidence may be required for certain life detection on the early Earth or elsewhere.

Detection of early caries by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sasazawa, Shuhei; Kakino, Satoko; Matsuura, Yuji

2015-07-01

To improve sensitivity of dental caries detection by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis, it is proposed to utilize emission peaks in the ultraviolet. We newly focused on zinc whose emission peaks exist in ultraviolet because zinc exists at high concentration in the outer layer of enamel. It was shown that by using ratios between heights of an emission peak of Zn and that of Ca, the detection sensitivity and stability are largely improved. It was also shown that early caries are differentiated from healthy part by properly setting a threshold in the detected ratios. The proposed caries detection system can be applied to dental laser systems such as ones based on Er:YAG-lasers. When ablating early caries part by laser light, the system notices the dentist that the ablation of caries part is finished. We also show the intensity of emission peaks of zinc decreased with ablation with Er:YAG laser light.

Progress towards an AIS early detection monitoring network for the Great Lakes

EPA Science Inventory

As an invasion prone location, the lower St. Louis River system (SLR) has been a case study for ongoing research to develop the framework for a practical Great Lakes monitoring network for early detection of aquatic invasive species (AIS). Early detection, however, necessitates f...

Detection of early changes in lung cell cytology by flow-systems analysis techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Steinkamp, J.A.; Hansen, K.M.; Wilson, J.S.

1976-12-01

This report summarizes results of continuing experiments to develop cytological and biochemical indicators for estimating damage to respiratory cells in test animals exposed by inhalation to toxic agents associated with nonnuclear energy production, the specific goal being the application of advanced multiparameter flow-systems technologies to the detection of early atypical cellular changes in lung epithelium. Normal Syrian hamster lung cell samples composed of macrophages, leukocytes, ciliated columnar cells, and epithelial cells were stained with fluorescent dyes specific for different biochemical parameters and were analyzed in liquid suspension as they flowed through a chamber intersecting a laser beam of exciting light.more » Multiple sensors measured the total or two-color fluorescence and light scatter on a cell-by-cell basis. Cellular parameters proportional to optical measurements (i.e., cell size, DNA content, total protein, nonspecific esterase activity, nuclear and cytoplasmic diameters) were displayed as frequency distribution histograms. Lung cell samples were also separated according to various cytological parameters and identified microscopically. The basic operating features of the methodology are discussed briefly, along with specific examples of preliminary results illustrating the initial characterization of exfoliated pulmonary cells from normal hamsters. As the flow technology is adapted further to the analysis of respiratory cells, measurements of changes in physical and biochemical properties as a function of exposure to toxic agents will be performed.« less

Techniques for early diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma: Systematic review

PubMed Central

Carreras-Torras, Clàudia

2015-01-01

Background and objectives The diagnosis of early oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is of paramount clinical importance given the mortality rate of late stage disease. The aim of this study is to review the literature to assess the current situation and progress in this area. Material and Methods A search in Cochrane and PubMed (January 2006 to December 2013) has been used with the key words “squamous cell carcinoma”, “early diagnosis” “oral cavity”, “Potentially Malignant Disorders” y “premalignant lesions”. The inclusion criteria were the use of techniques for early diagnosis of OSCC and OPMD, 7 years aged articles and publications written in English, French or Spanish. The exclusion criteria were case reports and studies in other languages. Results Out of the 89 studies obtained initially from the search 60 articles were selected to be included in the systematic review: 1 metaanalysis, 17 systematic reviews, 35 prospective studies, 5 retrospective studies, 1 consensus and 1 semi-structured interviews. Conclusions The best diagnostic technique is that which we have sufficient experience and training. Definitely tissue biopsy and histopathological examination should remain the gold standard for oral cancer diagnose. In this systematic review it has not been found sufficient scientific evidence on the majority of proposed techniques for early diagnosis of OSCC, therefore more extensive and exhaustive studies are needed. Key words: Squamous cell carcinoma, early diagnosis, oral cavity, potentially malignant disorders, premalignant lesions. PMID:25662554

Prevention and Early Detection of Prostate Cancer

PubMed Central

Cuzick, Jack; Thorat, Mangesh A.; Andriole, Gerald; Brawley, Otis W.; Brown, Powel H.; Culig, Zoran; Eeles, Rosalind A.; Ford, Leslie G.; Hamdy, Freddie C.; Holmberg, Lars; Ilic, Dragan; Key, Timothy J.; La Vecchia, Carlo; Lilja, Hans; Marberger, Michael; Meyskens, Frank L.; Minasian, Lori M.; Parker, Chris; Parnes, Howard L.; Perner, Sven; Rittenhouse, Harry; Schalken, Jack; Schmid, Hans-Peter; Schmitz-Dräger, Bernd J.; Schröder, Fritz H.; Stenzl, Arnulf; Tombal, Bertrand; Wilt, Timothy J.; Wolk, Alicja

2014-01-01

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men and the global burden of this disease is rising. Lifestyle modifications like smoking cessation, exercise and weight control offer opportunities to decrease the risk of developing prostate cancer. Early detection of prostate cancer by PSA screening remains controversial; yet, changes in PSA threshold, frequency of screening, and addition of other biomarkers have potential to minimise overdiagnosis associated with PSA screening. Several new biomarkers appear promising in individuals with elevated PSA levels or those diagnosed with prostate cancer, these are likely to guide in separating individuals who can be spared of aggressive treatment from those who need it. Several pharmacological agents like 5α-reductase inhibitors, aspirin etc. have a potential to prevent development of prostate cancer. In this review, we discuss the current evidence and research questions regarding prevention, early detection of prostate cancer and management of men either at high risk of prostate cancer or diagnosed with low-grade prostate cancer. PMID:25281467

Early Oscillation Detection for DC/DC Converter Fault Diagnosis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Bright L.

2011-01-01

The electrical power system of a spacecraft plays a very critical role for space mission success. Such a modern power system may contain numerous hybrid DC/DC converters both inside the power system electronics (PSE) units and onboard most of the flight electronics modules. One of the faulty conditions for DC/DC converter that poses serious threats to mission safety is the random occurrence of oscillation related to inherent instability characteristics of the DC/DC converters and design deficiency of the power systems. To ensure the highest reliability of the power system, oscillations in any form shall be promptly detected during part level testing, system integration tests, flight health monitoring, and on-board fault diagnosis. The popular gain/phase margin analysis method is capable of predicting stability levels of DC/DC converters, but it is limited only to verification of designs and to part-level testing on some of the models. This method has to inject noise signals into the control loop circuitry as required, thus, interrupts the DC/DC converter's normal operation and increases risks of degrading and damaging the flight unit. A novel technique to detect oscillations at early stage for flight hybrid DC/DC converters was developed.

Comparison of survey techniques on detection of northern flying squirrels

USGS Publications Warehouse

Diggins, Corinne A.; Gilley, L. Michelle; Kelly, Christine A.; Ford, W. Mark

2016-01-01

The ability to detect a species is central to the success of monitoring for conservation and management purposes, especially if the species is rare or endangered. Traditional methods, such as live capture, can be labor-intensive, invasive, and produce low detection rates. Technological advances and new approaches provide opportunities to more effectively survey for species both in terms of accuracy and efficiency than previous methods. We conducted a pilot comparison study of a traditional technique (live-trapping) and 2 novel noninvasive techniques (camera-trapping and ultrasonic acoustic surveys) on detection rates of the federally endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus) in occupied habitat within the Roan Mountain Highlands of North Carolina, USA. In 2015, we established 3 5 × 5 live-trapping grids (6.5 ha) with 4 camera traps and 4 acoustic detectors systematically embedded in each grid. All 3 techniques were used simultaneously during 2 4-day survey periods. We compared techniques by assessing probability of detection (POD), latency to detection (LTD; i.e., no. of survey nights until initial detection), and survey effort. Acoustics had the greatest POD (0.37 ± 0.06 SE), followed by camera traps (0.30 ± 0.06) and live traps (0.01 ± 0.005). Acoustics had a lower LTD than camera traps (P = 0.017), where average LTD was 1.5 nights for acoustics and 3.25 nights for camera traps. Total field effort was greatest with live traps (111.9 hr) followed by acoustics (8.4 hr) and camera traps (9.6 hr), although processing and examination for data of noninvasive techniques made overall effort similar among the 3 methods. This pilot study demonstrated that both noninvasive methods were better rapid-assessment detection techniques for flying squirrels than live traps. However, determining seasonal effects between survey techniques and further development of protocols for both noninvasive techniques is

[Progress of study on the detection technique of microRNA].

PubMed

Zhao, Hai-Feng; Yang, Ren-Chi

2009-12-01

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA molecules that negatively regulate gene expression via degradation or translational repression of their targeted mRNAs. MiRNAs are involved in critical biologic processes, including development, cell differentiation, proliferation and the pathogenesis of disease. This review focuses on recent researches on the detection techniques of miRNA including micorarray technique, Northern blot, real-time quantitative PCR, detection technique of miRNA function and so on.

A real-time, non-invasive, micro-optrode technique for detecting seed viability by using oxygen influx.

PubMed

Xin, Xia; Wan, Yinglang; Wang, Wenjun; Yin, Guangkun; McLamore, Eric S; Lu, Xinxiong

2013-10-28

Quantifying seed viability is required for seed bank maintenance. The classical methods for detecting seed viability are time consuming and frequently cause seed damage and unwanted germination. We have established a novel micro-optrode technique (MOT) to measure seed viability in a quick and non-invasive manner by measuring the oxygen influxes of intact seeds, approximately 10 seconds to screen one seed. Here, we used soybean, wheat, and oilseed rape as models to test our method. After 3-hour imbibition, oxygen influxes were recorded in real-time with the total measurement taking less than 5 minutes. The results indicated a significantly positive correlation between oxygen influxes and viability in all 3 seed types. We also established a linear equation between oxygen influxes and seed viability for each seed type. For measurements, seeds were kept in the early imbibition stage without germination. Thus, MOT is a reliable, quick, and low-cost seed viability detecting technique.

Mortality in children with early detected congenital central hypothyroidism.

PubMed

Zwaveling-Soonawala, Nitash; Naafs, Jolanda C; Verkerk, Paul H; van Trotsenburg, A S Paul

2018-06-07

Approximately 60-80% of patients with congenital central hypothyroidism (CH-C) have multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies (MPHD), making CH-C a potentially life-threatening disease. Data on mortality in CH-C patients, however, are lacking. To study mortality rate in early detected and treated pediatric CH-C patients in the Netherlands and to investigate whether causes of death were related to pituitary hormone deficiencies. Overall mortality rate, infant mortality rate and under-5 mortality rate were calculated in all children with CH-C detected by neonatal screening between 1-1-1995 and 1-1-2013. Medical charts were reviewed to establish causes of death. 139 children with CH-C were identified, of which 138 could be traced (82 MPHD/56 isolated CHC). Total observation time was 1414 years with a median follow up duration of 10.2 years. The overall mortality rate was 10.9% (15/138). Infant mortality rate (IMR) and under-5 mortality rate were 65.2/1000 (9/138) and 101.4/1000 (14/138), respectively, compared to an IMR of 4.7/1000 and under-5 mortality of 5.4/1000 live born children in the Netherlands during the same time period (p<0.0001). Main causes of death were severe congenital malformations in six patients, asphyxia in two patients, and congenital or early neonatal infection in two patients. Pituitary hormone deficiency was noted as cause of death in only one infant. We report an increased mortality rate in early detected CH-C patients which does not seem to be related to endocrine disease. This suggests that mortality due to pituitary insufficiency is low in an early detected and treated CH-C population.

All-optical photoacoustic imaging and detection of early-stage dental caries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sampathkumar, Ashwin; Hughes, David A.; Longbottom, Chris; Kirk, Katherine J.

2015-02-01

Dental caries remain one of the most common oral diseases in the world. Current detection methods, such as dental explorer and X-ray radiography, suffer from poor sensitivity and specificity at the earliest (and reversible) stages of the disease because of the small size (< 100 microns) of early-stage lesions. We have developed a fine-resolution (480 nm), ultra-broadband (1 GHz), all-optical photoacoustic imaging (AOPAI) system to image and detect early stages of tooth decay. This AOPAI system provides a non-contact, non-invasive and non-ionizing means of detecting early-stage dental caries. Ex-vivo teeth exhibiting early-stage, white-spot lesions were imaged using AOPAI. Experimental scans targeted each early-stage lesion and a reference healthy enamel region. Photoacoustic (PA) signals were generated in the tooth using a 532-nm pulsed laser and the light-induced broadband ultrasound signal was detected at the surface of the tooth with an optical path-stabilized Michelson interferometer operating at 532 nm. The measured time-domain signal was spatially resolved and back-projected to form 2D and 3D maps of the lesion using k-wave reconstruction methods. Experimental data collected from areas of healthy and diseased enamel indicate that the lesion generated a larger PA response compared to healthy enamel. The PA-signal amplitude alone was able to detect a lesion on the surface of the tooth. However, time- reversal reconstructions of the PA scans also quantitatively depicted the depth of the lesion. 3D PA reconstruction of the diseased tooth indicated a sub-surface lesion at a depth of 0.6 mm, in addition to the surface lesion. These results suggest that our AOPAI system is well suited for rapid clinical assessment of early-stage dental caries. An overview of the AOPAI system, fine-resolution PA and histology results of diseased and healthy teeth will be presented.

Seismic Techniques for Subsurface Voids Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gritto, Roland; Korneev, Valeri; Elobaid Elnaiem, Ali; Mohamed, Fathelrahman; Sadooni, Fadhil

2016-04-01

A major hazards in Qatar is the presence of karst, which is ubiquitous throughout the country including depressions, sinkholes, and caves. Causes for the development of karst include faulting and fracturing where fluids find pathways through limestone and dissolve the host rock to form caverns. Of particular concern in rapidly growing metropolitan areas that expand in heretofore unexplored regions are the collapse of such caverns. Because Qatar has seen a recent boom in construction, including the planning and development of complete new sub-sections of metropolitan areas, the development areas need to be investigated for the presence of karst to determine their suitability for the planned project. In this paper, we present the results of a study to demonstrate a variety of seismic techniques to detect the presence of a karst analog in form of a vertical water-collection shaft located on the campus of Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. Seismic waves are well suited for karst detection and characterization. Voids represent high-contrast seismic objects that exhibit strong responses due to incident seismic waves. However, the complex geometry of karst, including shape and size, makes their imaging nontrivial. While karst detection can be reduced to the simple problem of detecting an anomaly, karst characterization can be complicated by the 3D nature of the problem of unknown scale, where irregular surfaces can generate diffracted waves of different kind. In our presentation we employ a variety of seismic techniques to demonstrate the detection and characterization of a vertical water collection shaft analyzing the phase, amplitude and spectral information of seismic waves that have been scattered by the object. We used the reduction in seismic wave amplitudes and the delay in phase arrival times in the geometrical shadow of the vertical shaft to independently detect and locate the object in space. Additionally, we use narrow band-pass filtered data combining two

Potential Landslide Early Detection Near Wenchuan by a Qualitatively Multi-Baseline Dinsar Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, K.; Chen, G.; Xu, Q.; Li, Z.; Qu, T.; Hu, L.; Lu, H.

2018-04-01

Early detection of landslides is important for disaster prevention, which was still very hard work with traditional surveying methods. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technology provided us the ability to monitor displacements along the slope with wide coverage and high accuracy. In this paper, we proposed a qualitatively multi-baseline DInSAR method to early detect and map the potential landslides. Two sections of China National Highway 317 and 213 were selected as study area. With this method 10 potential landslide areas were early detected and mapped in a quick and effective way. One of them (i.e. Shidaguan landslide) collapsed on August 2017, which was coincident with our results, suggesting that this method could become an effective way to acquire the landslide early detection map to assist the future disaster prevention work.

Early Detection of Child Abuse

PubMed Central

Shearman, J.K.

1987-01-01

Child abuse, neglect and deprivation are more common than was previously thought. Family physicians are in a unique position to help abusers and abused because of their knowledge of patients from the cradle to the grave. They should use this knowledge to observe clues about parenting potential and should make a thorough family history a routine part of history taking in potential parents. They should also observe patients carefully during pregnancy and early childhood to detect parenting problems and to try to prevent all types of abuse, physical, mental and sexual. PMID:21267341

Early detection monitoring of Phytophthora ramorum in high-risk forests of California

Treesearch

Ross Meentemeyer; Elizabeth Lotz; David M. Rizzo; Kelly Buja; Walter Mark

2006-01-01

Early detection monitoring is essential for successful control of invasive organisms. Detection of invasions at an early stage of establishment when a population is small and isolated makes eradication more feasible and less costly. Sudden oak death, caused by the recently described pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, is an emerging forest disease that...

Retcam fluorescein gonioangiography: a new modality for early detection of angle neovascularization in diabetic retinopathy.

PubMed

Azad, Rajvardhan; Arora, Tarun; Sihota, Ramanjit; Chandra, Parijat; Mahajan, Deepankur; Sain, Siddarth; Sharma, Yograj

2013-10-01

To evaluate the role of Retcam fluorescein gonioangiography in detecting neovascularization of the angle and correlate the same with gonioscopy in diabetic retinopathy. One hundred and fifty eyes of 150 patients (25 each of mild, moderate, severe, very severe nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR); and PDR with high-risk characteristics) were recruited. They underwent complete ocular examination including applanation tonometry, gonioscopy, Retcam fluorescein gonioangiography, and fundus fluorescein angiography. Using Retcam fluorescein gonioangiography, of 150 eyes neovascularization of the angle was detected in 37 eyes (24.66%) compared with 22 eyes (14.66%) on gonioscopy (P = 0.04). Small newly formed vessels were evident only with Retcam fluorescein gonioangiography. In 10 of 50 patients (20%) with severe/very severe NPDR, angle neovascularization was appreciable on Retcam fluorescein angiography compared with 5 patients (10%) on gonioscopy. Similarly, 25 of 50 patients (50%) with PDR/PDR with high-risk characteristics had neovascularization of the angle on Retcam gonioangiography compared with 17 (34%) on gonioscopy. Retcam fluorescein gonioangiography is a novel technique for early detection of angle neovascularization in diabetic retinopathy and hence preventing progression to neovascular glaucoma. The objective nature of this test helps in precise decision making compared with gonioscopy for early intervention especially in cases of pre-PDR.

Current Technical Approaches for the Early Detection of Foodborne Pathogens: Challenges and Opportunities.

PubMed

Cho, Il-Hoon; Ku, Seockmo

2017-09-30

The development of novel and high-tech solutions for rapid, accurate, and non-laborious microbial detection methods is imperative to improve the global food supply. Such solutions have begun to address the need for microbial detection that is faster and more sensitive than existing methodologies (e.g., classic culture enrichment methods). Multiple reviews report the technical functions and structures of conventional microbial detection tools. These tools, used to detect pathogens in food and food homogenates, were designed via qualitative analysis methods. The inherent disadvantage of these analytical methods is the necessity for specimen preparation, which is a time-consuming process. While some literature describes the challenges and opportunities to overcome the technical issues related to food industry legal guidelines, there is a lack of reviews of the current trials to overcome technological limitations related to sample preparation and microbial detection via nano and micro technologies. In this review, we primarily explore current analytical technologies, including metallic and magnetic nanomaterials, optics, electrochemistry, and spectroscopy. These techniques rely on the early detection of pathogens via enhanced analytical sensitivity and specificity. In order to introduce the potential combination and comparative analysis of various advanced methods, we also reference a novel sample preparation protocol that uses microbial concentration and recovery technologies. This technology has the potential to expedite the pre-enrichment step that precedes the detection process.

Liquid Crystal Enabled Early Stage Detection of Beta Amyloid Formation on Lipid Monolayers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sadati, Monirosadat; Apik, Aslin Izmitli; Armas-Perez, Julio C.

2015-09-09

Liquid crystals (LCs) can serve as sensitive reporters of interfacial events, and this property has been used for sensing of synthetic or biological toxins. Here it is demonstrated that LCs can distinguish distinct molecular motifs and exhibit a specific response to beta-sheet structures. That property is used to detect the formation of highly toxic protofibrils involved in neurodegenerative diseases, where it is crucial to develop methods that probe the early-stage aggregation of amyloidogenic peptides in the vicinity of biological membranes. In the proposed method, the amyloid fibrils formed at the lipid-decorated LC interface can change the orientation of LCs andmore » form elongated and branched structures that are amplified by the mesogenic medium; however, nonamyloidogenic peptides form ellipsoidal domains of tilted LCs. Moreover, a theoretical and computational analysis is used to reveal the underlying structure of the LC, thereby providing a detailed molecular-level view of the interactions and mechanisms responsible for such motifs. The corresponding signatures can be detected at nanomolar concentrations of peptide by polarized light microscopy and much earlier than the ones that can be identified by fluorescence-based techniques. As such, it offers the potential for early diagnoses of neurodegenerative diseases and for facile testing of inhibitors of amyloid formation.« less

[Sentinel node detection in early stage of cervical carcinoma using 99mTc-nanocolloid and blue dye].

PubMed

Sevcík, L; Klát, J; Gráf, P; Koliba, P; Curík, R; Kraft, O

2007-04-01

The aim of the study was to analyse the feasibility of intraoperative sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) detection using gamma detection probe and blue dye in patients undergoing radical hysterectomy for treatment of early stage of cervical cancer. Prospective case observational study. In the period from May 2004 to February 2006 77 patients with early stage of cervical cancer who underwent a radical surgery were included into the study. Patients were divided into three groups according to the tumour volume. First group consists of patients FIGO IA2 and FIGO IB1 with tumour diameter less than 2 cm, second group tumours FIGO IB1 with tumour diameter more than 2 cm and third group stadium IB2. SLN was detected by blue dye and Tc99. Preoperative lymphoscintigraphy was done after Tc99 colloid injection, intraoperative detection was performed by visual observation and by hand-held gamma-detection probe. SLN were histologically and immunohistochemically analysed. A total number of 2764 lymph nodes with an average 36 and 202 SLN with an average 2.6 were identified. The SLN detection rate was 94.8% per patient and 85.1% for the side of dissection and depends on the tumor volume. SLN were identified in obturator area in 48%, in external iliac area in 15%, in common iliac and internal iliac both in 9%, in interiliac region in 8%, in praesacral region in 6% and in parametrial area in 5%. Metastatic disease was detected in 31 patients (40.2%), metastatic involvement of SLN only in 12 patients (15.6%). False negative rate was 2.6%, sensitivity and negative predictive value calculated by patient were 923% and 95.7%. Intraoperative lymphatic mapping using combination of technecium-99-labeled nanocolloid and blue dye are feasible, safe and accurate techniques to identified SLN in early stage of cervical cancer.

Projective techniques and the detection of child sexual abuse.

PubMed

Garb, H N; Wood, J M; Nezworski, M T

2000-05-01

Projective techniques (e.g., the Rorschach, Human Figure Drawings) are sometimes used to detect child sexual abuse. West recently conducted a meta-analysis on this topic, but she systematically excluded nonsignificant results. In this article, a reanalysis of her data is presented. The authors conclude that projective techniques should not be used to detect child sexual abuse. Many of the studies purportedly demonstrating validity are flawed, and none of the projective test scores have been well replicated.

Robust satellite techniques for oil spill detection and monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casciello, D.; Pergola, N.; Tramutoli, V.

Discharge of oil into the sea is one of the most dangerous, among technological hazards, for the maritime environment. In the last years maritime transport and exploitation of marine resources continued to increase; as a result, tanker accidents are nowadays increasingly frequent, continuously menacing the maritime security and safety. Satellite remote sensing could contribute in multiple ways, in particular for what concerns early warning and real-time (or near real-time) monitoring. Several satellite techniques exist, mainly based on the use of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) technology, which are able to recognise, with sufficient accuracy, oil spills discharged into the sea. Unfortunately, such methods cannot be profitably used for real-time detection, because of the low observational frequency assured by present satellite platforms carrying SAR sensors (the mean repetition rate is something like 30 days). On the other hand, potential of optical sensors aboard meteorological satellites, was not yet fully exploited and no reliable techniques have been developed until now for this purpose. Main limit of proposed techniques can be found in the ``fixed threshold'' approach which makes such techniques difficult to implement without operator supervision and, generally, without an independent information on the oil spill presence that could drive the choice of the best threshold. A different methodological approach (RAT, Robust AVHRR Techniques) proposed by Tramutoli (1998) and already successfully applied to several natural and environmental emergencies related to volcanic eruptions, forest fires and seismic activity. In this paper its extension to near real-time detection and monitoring of oil spills by means of NOAA-AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) records will be described. Briefly, RAT approach is an automatic change-detection scheme that considers a satellite image as a space-time process, described at each place (x,y) and time t, by the value of

Early Detection of Human Focal Seizures Based on Cortical Multiunit Activity

PubMed Central

Park, Yun S.; Hochberg, Leigh R.; Eskandar, Emad N.; Cash, Sydney S.; Truccolo, Wilson

2014-01-01

Approximately 50 million people in the world suffer from epileptic seizures. Reliable early seizure detection could bring significantly beneficial therapeutic alternatives. In recent decades, most approaches have relied on scalp EEG and intracranial EEG signals, but practical early detection for closed-loop seizure control remains challenging. In this study, we present preliminary analyses of an early detection approach based on intracortical neuronal multiunit activity (MUA) recorded from a 96-microelectrode array (MEA). The approach consists of (1) MUA detection from broadband field potentials recorded at 30 kHz by the MEA; (2) MUA feature extraction; (3) cost-sensitive support vector machine classification of ictal and interictal samples; and (4) Kalman-filtering postprocessing. MUA was here defined as the number of threshold crossing (spike counts) applied to the 300 Hz – 6 kHz bandpass filtered local field potentials in 0.1 sec time windows. MUA features explored in this study included the mean, variance, and Fano-factor, computed across the MEA channels. In addition, we used the leading eigenvalues of MUA spatial and temporal correlation matrices computed in 1-sec moving time windows. We assessed the seizure detection approach on out-of-sample data from one-participant recordings with six seizure events and 4.73-hour interictal data. The proposed MUA-based detection approach yielded a 100% sensitivity (6/6) and no false positives, and a latency of 4.17 ± 2.27 sec (mean ± SD) with respect to ECoG-identified seizure onsets. These preliminary results indicate intracortical MUA may be a useful signal for early detection of human epileptic seizures. PMID:25571313

Early detection and rapid response

USGS Publications Warehouse

Westbrooks, Randy G.; Eplee, Robert E.; Simberloff, Daniel; Rejmánek, Marcel

2011-01-01

Prevention is the first line of defense against introduced invasive species - it is always preferable to prevent the introduction of new invaders into a region or country. However, it is not always possible to detect all alien hitchhikers imported in cargo, or to predict with any degree of certainty which introduced species will become invasive over time. Fortunately, the majority of introduced plants and animals don't become invasive. But, according to scientists at Cornell University, costs and losses due to species that do become invasive are now estimated to be over $137 billion/year in the United States. Early detection and rapid response (EDRR) is the second line of defense against introduced invasive species - EDRR is the preferred management strategy for preventing the establishment and spread of invasive species. Over the past 50 years, there has been a gradual shift away from large and medium scale federal/state single-agency-led weed eradication programs in the United States, to smaller interagency-led projects involving impacted and potential stakeholders. The importance of volunteer weed spotters in detecting and reporting suspected new invasive species has also been recognized in recent years.

Sample detection and analysis techniques for electrophoretic separation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Falb, R. D.; Hughes, K. E.; Powell, T. R.

1975-01-01

Methods for detecting and analyzing biological agents suitable for space flight operations were studied primarily by literature searches which were conducted of cell separation techniques. Detection methods discussed include: photometrometric, electric, radiometric, micrometry, ultrasonic, microscopic, and photographic. A bibliography, and a directory of vendors are included along with an index of commercial hardware.

A Review of Financial Accounting Fraud Detection based on Data Mining Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Anuj; Kumar Panigrahi, Prabin

2012-02-01

With an upsurge in financial accounting fraud in the current economic scenario experienced, financial accounting fraud detection (FAFD) has become an emerging topic of great importance for academic, research and industries. The failure of internal auditing system of the organization in identifying the accounting frauds has lead to use of specialized procedures to detect financial accounting fraud, collective known as forensic accounting. Data mining techniques are providing great aid in financial accounting fraud detection, since dealing with the large data volumes and complexities of financial data are big challenges for forensic accounting. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the literature on the application of data mining techniques for the detection of financial accounting fraud and proposes a framework for data mining techniques based accounting fraud detection. The systematic and comprehensive literature review of the data mining techniques applicable to financial accounting fraud detection may provide a foundation to future research in this field. The findings of this review show that data mining techniques like logistic models, neural networks, Bayesian belief network, and decision trees have been applied most extensively to provide primary solutions to the problems inherent in the detection and classification of fraudulent data.

The biospeckle method for early damage detection of fruits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Lei; Liu, Jiaxin; Men, Sen

2017-07-01

In the field of fruits damage assessment, biospeckle activity is considered relevant to quality properties of plants, such us damage, aging, or diseases. In this paper, biospeckle technique was applied to identify the early bruising of apples. Then a total of 50 undamaged apples were determined to be artificially bruised as samples. Three methods (Fujii, GD, and LSTCA) were used to extract effective information from these speckle images for measuring the intensity of biospeckle activity. The results showed that for all of three methods, the biospeckle activities of the undamaged areas in apple were similar; after the hit, the damaged area showed a lower biospeckle activity. It can be concluded that early bruising can be identified by biospeckle technique.

Technique for ship/wake detection

DOEpatents

Roskovensky, John K [Albuquerque, NM

2012-05-01

An automated ship detection technique includes accessing data associated with an image of a portion of Earth. The data includes reflectance values. A first portion of pixels within the image are masked with a cloud and land mask based on spectral flatness of the reflectance values associated with the pixels. A given pixel selected from the first portion of pixels is unmasked when a threshold number of localized pixels surrounding the given pixel are not masked by the cloud and land mask. A spatial variability image is generated based on spatial derivatives of the reflectance values of the pixels which remain unmasked by the cloud and land mask. The spatial variability image is thresholded to identify one or more regions within the image as possible ship detection regions.

Master training course for detection techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kern, P.

2013-11-01

The LabEx FOCUS proposes a training course to the detection techniques. It will be proposed yearly to the students of master or of engineering school . This theoretical and practical training will be given during a full week at the Observatoire de Haute Provence. The teachers are members from the laboratories of the FOCUS consortium.

Health responsibility and workplace health promotion among women: early detection of cancer.

PubMed

Kushnir, T; Rabinowitz, S; Melamed, S; Weisberg, E; Ribak, J

1995-01-01

The importance of health responsibility as one aspect of a health-promoting lifestyle has been emphasized repeatedly. Yet there are only a few empirical studies of its role in preventive behavior. We examined the relationship between health responsibility and early-detection practices for breast and cervical cancer. A group of 253 women employees of a large industrial company participated in a cancer screening program subsidized by the employer. They completed questionnaires assessing health responsibility and reported early-detection practices: frequency of breast self-examination and physician breast examinations, frequency of Pap tests, and time lapsed since last Pap test and breast examinations. Health responsibility was a significant independent predictor of breast examination indicators but not of Pap tests. Education level was an important predictor for Pap tests, and age predicted most early-detection practices. The findings lend some support to the role of health responsibility in initiating breast examinations. Better prediction of early-detection practices could be achieved by adding cognitive and emotional components to the existing responsibility scale and by distinguishing between retrospective and prospective responsibility.

Mathematical models for the early detection and treatment of colorectal cancer.

PubMed

Harper, P R; Jones, S K

2005-05-01

Colorectal cancer is a major cause of death for men and women in the Western world. When the cancer is detected through an awareness of the symptoms by a patient, typically it is at an advanced stage. It is possible to detect cancer at an early stage through screening and the marked differences in survival for early and late stages provide the incentive for the primary prevention or early detection of colorectal cancer. This paper considers mathematical models for colorectal cancer screening together with models for the treatment of patients. Illustrative results demonstrate that detailed attention to the processes involved in diseases, interventions and treatment enable us to combine data and expert knowledge from various sources. Thus a detailed operational model is a very useful tool in helping to make decisions about screening at national and local levels.

Innovative design for early detection of invasive species

EPA Science Inventory

Non-native aquatic species impose significant ecological impacts and rising financial costs in marine and freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Early detection of invasive species, as they enter a vulnerable ecosystem, is critical to successful containment and eradication. ORD, at t...

A Comparative Study of Unsupervised Anomaly Detection Techniques Using Honeypot Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Jungsuk; Takakura, Hiroki; Okabe, Yasuo; Inoue, Daisuke; Eto, Masashi; Nakao, Koji

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) have been received considerable attention among the network security researchers as one of the most promising countermeasures to defend our crucial computer systems or networks against attackers on the Internet. Over the past few years, many machine learning techniques have been applied to IDSs so as to improve their performance and to construct them with low cost and effort. Especially, unsupervised anomaly detection techniques have a significant advantage in their capability to identify unforeseen attacks, i.e., 0-day attacks, and to build intrusion detection models without any labeled (i.e., pre-classified) training data in an automated manner. In this paper, we conduct a set of experiments to evaluate and analyze performance of the major unsupervised anomaly detection techniques using real traffic data which are obtained at our honeypots deployed inside and outside of the campus network of Kyoto University, and using various evaluation criteria, i.e., performance evaluation by similarity measurements and the size of training data, overall performance, detection ability for unknown attacks, and time complexity. Our experimental results give some practical and useful guidelines to IDS researchers and operators, so that they can acquire insight to apply these techniques to the area of intrusion detection, and devise more effective intrusion detection models.

Measurement techniques investigated for detection of hydrogen chloride gas in ambient air

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gregory, G. L.

1976-01-01

Nine basic techniques are discussed, ranging from concentration (parts per million) to dosage only (parts per million-seconds) measurement techniques. Data for each technique include lower detection limit, response time, instrument status, and in some cases, specificity. Several techniques discussed can detect ambient hydrogen chloride concentrations below 1 part per million with a response time of seconds.

Early esophageal cancer detection using RF classifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janse, Markus H. A.; van der Sommen, Fons; Zinger, Svitlana; Schoon, Erik J.; de With, Peter H. N.

2016-03-01

Esophageal cancer is one of the fastest rising forms of cancer in the Western world. Using High-Definition (HD) endoscopy, gastroenterology experts can identify esophageal cancer at an early stage. Recent research shows that early cancer can be found using a state-of-the-art computer-aided detection (CADe) system based on analyzing static HD endoscopic images. Our research aims at extending this system by applying Random Forest (RF) classification, which introduces a confidence measure for detected cancer regions. To visualize this data, we propose a novel automated annotation system, employing the unique characteristics of the previous confidence measure. This approach allows reliable modeling of multi-expert knowledge and provides essential data for real-time video processing, to enable future use of the system in a clinical setting. The performance of the CADe system is evaluated on a 39-patient dataset, containing 100 images annotated by 5 expert gastroenterologists. The proposed system reaches a precision of 75% and recall of 90%, thereby improving the state-of-the-art results by 11 and 6 percentage points, respectively.

Detection and monitoring of pollutant sources with Lidar/Dial techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaudio, P.; Gelfusa, M.; Malizia, A.; Parracino, S.; Richetta, M.; De Leo, L.; Perrimezzi, C.; Bellecci, C.

2015-11-01

It's well known that air pollution due to anthropogenic sources can have adverse effects on humans and the ecosystem. Therefore, in the last years, surveying large regions of the atmosphere in an automatic way has become a strategic objective of various public health organizations for early detection of pollutant sources in urban and industrial areas. The Lidar and Dial techniques have become well established laser based methods for the remote sensing of the atmosphere. They are often implemented to probe almost any level of the atmosphere and to acquire information to validate theoretical models about different topics of atmospheric physics. They can also be used for environment surveying by monitoring particles, aerosols and molecules. The aim of the present work is to demonstrate the potential of these methods to detect pollutants emitted from local sources (such as particulate and/or chemical compounds) and to evaluate their concentration. This is exemplified with the help of experimental data acquired in an industrial area in the south of Italy by mean of experimental campaign by use of pollutants simulated source. For this purpose, two mobile systems Lidar and Dial have been developed by the authors. In this paper there will be presented the operating principles of the system and the results of the experimental campaign.

The 'sniffer-patch' technique for detection of neurotransmitter release.

PubMed

Allen, T G

1997-05-01

A wide variety of techniques have been employed for the detection and measurement of neurotransmitter release from biological preparations. Whilst many of these methods offer impressive levels of sensitivity, few are able to combine sensitivity with the necessary temporal and spatial resolution required to study quantal release from single cells. One detection method that is seeing a revival of interest and has the potential to fill this niche is the so-called 'sniffer-patch' technique. In this article, specific examples of the practical aspects of using this technique are discussed along with the procedures involved in calibrating these biosensors to extend their applications to provide quantitative, in addition to simple qualitative, measurements of quantal transmitter release.

Benchtop Antigen Detection Technique using Nanofiltration and Fluorescent Dyes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scardelletti, Maximilian C.; Varaljay, Vanessa

2009-01-01

The designed benchtop technique is primed to detect bacteria and viruses from antigenic surface marker proteins in solutions, initially water. This inclusive bio-immunoassay uniquely combines nanofiltration and near infrared (NIR) dyes conjugated to antibodies to isolate and distinguish microbial antigens, using laser excitation and spectrometric analysis. The project goals include detecting microorganisms aboard the International Space Station, space shuttle, Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), and human habitats on future Moon and Mars missions, ensuring astronaut safety. The technique is intended to improve and advance water contamination testing both commercially and environmentally as well. Lastly, this streamlined technique poses to greatly simplify and expedite testing of pathogens in complex matrices, such as blood, in hospital and laboratory clinics.

Comparison between reflectance confocal microscopy and two-photon microscopy in early detection of cutaneous radiation injury in a mouse model in-vivo.

PubMed

Jang, Won Hyuk; Kwon, Soonjae; Shim, Sehwan; Jang, Won-Suk; Myung, Jae Kyung; Yang, Sejung; Park, Sunhoo; Kim, Ki Hean

2018-05-12

Cutaneous radiation injury (CRI) is a skin injury caused by high dose exposure of ionizing radiation (IR). For proper treatment, early detection of CRI before clinical symptoms is important. Optical microscopic techniques such as reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) and two-photon microscopy (TPM) have been tested as the early diagnosis method by detecting cellular changes. In this study, RCM and TPM were compared in the detection of cellular changes caused by CRI in an in-vivo mouse model. CRI was induced on the mouse hindlimb skin with various IR doses and the injured skin regions were imaged longitudinally by both modalities until the onset of clinical symptoms. Both RCM and TPM detected the changes of epidermal cells and sebaceous glands before clinical symptoms in different optical contrasts. RCM detected changes of cell morphology and scattering property based on light reflection. TPM detected detail changes of cellular structures based on autofluorescence of cells. Since both RCM and TPM were sensitive to the early-stage CRI by using different contrasts, the optimal method for clinical CRI diagnosis could be either individual methods or their combination. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Bi-model processing for early detection of breast tumor in CAD system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mughal, Bushra; Sharif, Muhammad; Muhammad, Nazeer

2017-06-01

Early screening of skeptical masses in mammograms may reduce mortality rate among women. This rate can be further reduced upon developing the computer-aided diagnosis system with decrease in false assumptions in medical informatics. This method highlights the early tumor detection in digitized mammograms. For improving the performance of this system, a novel bi-model processing algorithm is introduced. It divides the region of interest into two parts, the first one is called pre-segmented region (breast parenchyma) and other is the post-segmented region (suspicious region). This system follows the scheme of the preprocessing technique of contrast enhancement that can be utilized to segment and extract the desired feature of the given mammogram. In the next phase, a hybrid feature block is presented to show the effective performance of computer-aided diagnosis. In order to assess the effectiveness of the proposed method, a database provided by the society of mammographic images is tested. Our experimental outcomes on this database exhibit the usefulness and robustness of the proposed method.

[Autism, neurodevelopment and early detection].

PubMed

Martos-Pérez, J

2006-02-13

Autistic disorder is briefly explained and defined in the light of recent research. From the perspective offered by ontogenesis and the acquisitions that take place during normal development, we present an updated vision of the genesis of autistic disorder and also review the most significant data provided by the different studies that have been conducted on the subject. Detection of the disorder is clearly a difficult task before the age of one year and, in any case, the earliest symptoms are clearly linked to the social and communicative interaction that characteristically takes place at the end of the infant's first year of life. Early detection of the disorder is made possible precisely because of alterations in social and communicative development and, in general, the appearance of psychological functions that play a significant role in the process of humanisation. The article concludes by pointing out the need for further studies that focus on the possible alteration of earlier socio-emotional and affective manifestations.

Factors Influencing Early Detection of Oral Cancer by Primary Health-Care Professionals.

PubMed

Hassona, Y; Scully, C; Shahin, A; Maayta, W; Sawair, F

2016-06-01

The purposes of this study are to determine early detection practices performed by primary healthcare professionals, to compare medical and dental sub-groups, and to identify factors that influence the ability of medical and dental practitioners to recognize precancerous changes and clinical signs of oral cancer. A 28-item survey instrument was used to interview a total of 330 Jordanian primary health-care professionals (165 dental and 165 medical). An oral cancer knowledge scale (0 to 31) was generated from correct responses on oral cancer general knowledge. An early detection practice scale (0 to 24) was generated from the reported usage and frequency of procedures in oral cancer examination. Also, a diagnostic ability scale (0 to 100) was generated from correct selections of suspicious oral lesions. Only 17.8 % of the participants reported that they routinely performed oral cancer screening in practices. Their oral cancer knowledge scores ranged from 3 to 31 with a mean of 15.6. The early detection practice scores ranged from 2 to 21 with a mean of 11.6. A significant positive correlation was found between knowledge scores and early detection practice scores (r = 0.22; p < 0.001). The diagnostic ability scores ranged from 11.5 to 96 with a mean of 43.6. The diagnostic ability score was significantly correlated with knowledge scores (r = 0.39; p < 0.001), but not with early detection practice scores (r = 0.01; p = 0.92). Few significant differences were found between medical and dental primary care professionals. Continuous education courses on early diagnosis of oral cancer and oral mucosal lesions are needed for primary health-care professionals.

Early detection of sporadic pancreatic cancer: strategic map for innovation--a white paper.

PubMed

Kenner, Barbara J; Chari, Suresh T; Cleeter, Deborah F; Go, Vay Liang W

2015-07-01

Innovation leading to significant advances in research and subsequent translation to clinical practice is urgently necessary in early detection of sporadic pancreatic cancer. Addressing this need, the Early Detection of Sporadic Pancreatic Cancer Summit Conference was conducted by Kenner Family Research Fund in conjunction with the 2014 American Pancreatic Association and Japan Pancreas Society Meeting. International interdisciplinary scientific representatives engaged in strategic facilitated conversations based on distinct areas of inquiry: Case for Early Detection: Definitions, Detection, Survival, and Challenges; Biomarkers for Early Detection; Imaging; and Collaborative Studies. Ideas generated from the summit have led to the development of a Strategic Map for Innovation built upon 3 components: formation of an international collaborative effort, design of an actionable strategic plan, and implementation of operational standards, research priorities, and first-phase initiatives. Through invested and committed efforts of leading researchers and institutions, philanthropic partners, government agencies, and supportive business entities, this endeavor will change the future of the field and consequently the survival rate of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Endoscopic therapy for early gastric cancer: Standard techniques and recent advances in ESD

PubMed Central

Kume, Keiichiro

2014-01-01

The technique of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is now a well-known endoscopic therapy for early gastric cancer. ESD was introduced to resect large specimens of early gastric cancer in a single piece. ESD can provide precision of histologic diagnosis and can also reduce the recurrence rate. However, the drawback of ESD is its technical difficulty, and, consequently, it is associated with a high rate of complications, the need for advanced endoscopic techniques, and a lengthy procedure time. Various advances in the devices and techniques used for ESD have contributed to overcoming these drawbacks. PMID:24914364

A combination of circulating miRNAs for the early detection of ovarian cancer

PubMed Central

Yokoi, Akira; Yoshioka, Yusuke; Hirakawa, Akihiro; Yamamoto, Yusuke; Ishikawa, Mitsuya; Ikeda, Shun-ichi; Kato, Tomoyasu; Niimi, Kaoru; Kajiyama, Hiroaki; Kikkawa, Fumitaka; Ochiya, Takahiro

2017-01-01

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecologic cancer mortality, due to the difficulty of early detection. Current screening methods lack sufficient accuracy, and it is still challenging to propose a new early detection method that improves patient outcomes with less-invasiveness. Although many studies have suggested the utility of circulating microRNAs in cancer detection, their potential for early detection remains elusive. Here, we develop novel predictive models using a combination of 8 circulating serum miRNAs. This method was able to successfully distinguish ovarian cancer patients from healthy controls (area under the curve, 0.97; sensitivity, 0.92; and specificity, 0.91) and early-stage ovarian cancer from patients with benign tumors (0.91, 0.86 and 0.83, respectively). This method also enables subtype classification in 4 types of epithelial ovarian cancer. Furthermore, it is found that most of the 8 miRNAs were packaged in extracellular vesicles, including exosomes, derived from ovarian cancer cells, and they were circulating in murine blood stream. The circulating miRNAs described in this study may serve as biomarkers for ovarian cancer patients. Early detection and subtype determination prior to surgery are crucial for clinicians to design an effective treatment strategy for each patient, as is the goal of precision medicine. PMID:29163790

Ultrasonic Imaging Techniques for Breast Cancer Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goulding, N. R.; Marquez, J. D.; Prewett, E. M.; Claytor, T. N.; Nadler, B. R.

2008-02-01

Improving the resolution and specificity of current ultrasonic imaging technology is needed to enhance its relevance to breast cancer detection. A novel ultrasonic imaging reconstruction method is described that exploits classical straight-ray migration. This novel method improves signal processing for better image resolution and uses novel staging hardware options using a pulse-echo approach. A breast phantom with various inclusions is imaged using the classical migration method and is compared to standard computed tomography (CT) scans. These innovative ultrasonic methods incorporate ultrasound data acquisition, beam profile characterization, and image reconstruction. For an ultrasonic frequency of 2.25 MHz, imaged inclusions of approximately 1 cm are resolved and identified. Better resolution is expected with minor modifications. Improved image quality and resolution enables earlier detection and more accurate diagnoses of tumors thus reducing the number of biopsies performed, increasing treatment options, and lowering remission percentages. Using these new techniques the inclusions in the phantom are resolved and compared to the results of standard methods. Refinement of this application using other imaging techniques such as time-reversal mirrors (TRM), synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT), decomposition of the time reversal operator (DORT), and factorization methods is also discussed.

Tumor margin detection using optical biopsy techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Yan; Liu, Cheng-hui; Li, Jiyou; Li, Zhongwu; Zhou, Lixin; Chen, Ke; Pu, Yang; He, Yong; Zhu, Ke; Li, Qingbo; Alfano, Robert R.

2014-03-01

The aim of this study is to use the Resonance Raman (RR) and fluorescence spectroscopic technique for tumor margin detection with high accuracy based on native molecular fingerprints of breast and gastrointestinal (GI) tissues. This tumor margins detection method utilizes advantages of RR spectroscopic technique in situ and in real-time to diagnose tumor changes providing powerful tools for clinical guiding intraoperative margin assessments and postoperative treatments. The tumor margin detection procedures by RR spectroscopy were taken by scanning lesion from center or around tumor region in ex-vivo to find the changes in cancerous tissues with the rim of normal tissues using the native molecular fingerprints. The specimens used to analyze tumor margins include breast and GI carcinoma and normal tissues. The sharp margin of the tumor was found by the changes of RR spectral peaks within 2 mm distance. The result was verified using fluorescence spectra with 300 nm, 320 nm and 340 nm excitation, in a typical specimen of gastric cancerous tissue within a positive margin in comparison with normal gastric tissues. This study demonstrates the potential of RR and fluorescence spectroscopy as new approaches with labeling free to determine the intraoperative margin assessment.

[CODEPEH 2014 recommendations for the early detection of delayed hearing loss].

PubMed

Núñez-Batalla, Faustino; Jáudenes-Casaubón, Carmen; Sequí-Canet, José Miguel; Vivanco-Allende, Ana; Zubicaray-Ugarteche, José

2016-10-01

The latest scientific literature considers early diagnosis of deafness as key element to define the educational prognosis and inclusion of the deaf child, as advantage can be taken in the critical period of development (0-4 years). Highly significant differences exist between those deaf persons who have been stimulated early and those who have received late or inappropriate intervention. Early identification of late-onset disorders requires special attention and knowledge of all childcare professionals. Programs and additional actions beyond neonatal screening should be designed and planned in order to ensure that every child with a significant hearing loss is detected early. For this purpose, the Committee for the Early Detection of Deafness (CODEPEH) would like to highlight the need for continuous monitoring on the hearing health of children. And, for this reason, CODEPEH drafts the recommendations included in the present document. Copyright © 2015 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Neuroimaging techniques for memory detection: scientific, ethical, and legal issues.

PubMed

Meegan, Daniel V

2008-01-01

There is considerable interest in the use of neuroimaging techniques for forensic purposes. Memory detection techniques, including the well-publicized Brain Fingerprinting technique (Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories, Inc., Seattle WA), exploit the fact that the brain responds differently to sensory stimuli to which it has been exposed before. When a stimulus is specifically associated with a crime, the resulting brain activity should differentiate between someone who was present at the crime and someone who was not. This article reviews the scientific literature on three such techniques: priming, old/new, and P300 effects. The forensic potential of these techniques is evaluated based on four criteria: specificity, automaticity, encoding flexibility, and longevity. This article concludes that none of the techniques are devoid of forensic potential, although much research is yet to be done. Ethical issues, including rights to privacy and against self-incrimination, are discussed. A discussion of legal issues concludes that current memory detection techniques do not yet meet United States standards of legal admissibility.

Early hearing detection and intervention: 2010 CODEPEH recommendation.

PubMed

Trinidad-Ramos, Germán; de Aguilar, Valentín Alzina; Jaudenes-Casaubón, Carmen; Núñez-Batalla, Faustino; Sequí-Canet, José Miguel

2010-01-01

Newborn hearing screening is currently performed routinely in many regional health-care systems in Spain. Despite the remarkable expansion in newborn hearing screening since 2000, its feasibility and the benefits of early identification and intervention, many major challenges still remain. In this article, the Committee for the Early Detection of Hearing Loss (Comisión para la Detección Precoz de la Hipoacusia, CODEPEH) updates the recommendations that are considered important for the future development of early hearing detection and intervention (EDHI) systems in the following points: 1. Screening protocols: Separate protocols are recommended for NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Units) and well-infant nurseries. 2. Diagnostic audiology evaluation. Professionals with skills and expertise in evaluating newborn and young infants should provide diagnosis, selection and fitting of amplification devices. 3. Medical evaluation. Risk factors for congenital and acquired hearing loss have been combined in a single list rather than grouped by time of onset. A stepwise diagnostic paradigm is diagnostically more efficient and cost-effective than a simultaneous testing approach. 4. Early intervention and surveillance. All individuals providing services to infants with hearing loss should have specialized training and expertise in the development of audition, speech and language. Regular surveillance should be performed on developmental milestones, auditory skills, parental concerns, and middle ear status. 5. Quality control. Data management as part of an integrated system is important to monitor and improve the quality of EDHI services. 2009 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Early Detection of Colorectal Cancer Recurrence in Patients Undergoing Surgery with Curative Intent: Current Status and Challenges

PubMed Central

Young, Patrick. E.; Womeldorph, Craig M.; Johnson, Eric K.; Maykel, Justin A.; Brucher, Bjorn; Stojadinovic, Alex; Avital, Itzhak; Nissan, Aviram; Steele, Scott R.

2014-01-01

Despite advances in neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy, attention to proper surgical technique, and improved pathological staging for both the primary and metastatic lesions, almost half of all colorectal cancer patients will develop recurrent disease. More concerning, this includes ~25% of patients with theoretically curable node-negative, non-metastatic Stage I and II disease. Given the annual incidence of colorectal cancer, approximately 150,000 new patients are candidates each year for follow-up surveillance. When combined with the greater population already enrolled in a surveillance protocol, this translates to a tremendous number of patients at risk for recurrence. It is therefore imperative that strategies aim for detection of recurrence as early as possible to allow initiation of treatment that may still result in cure. Yet, controversy exists regarding the optimal surveillance strategy (high-intensity vs. traditional), ideal testing regimen, and overall effectiveness. While benefits may involve earlier detection of recurrence, psychological welfare improvement, and greater overall survival, this must be weighed against the potential disadvantages including more invasive tests, higher rates of reoperation, and increased costs. In this review, we will examine the current options available and challenges surrounding colorectal cancer surveillance and early detection of recurrence. PMID:24790654

Fundamentals of electrochemical detection techniques for CE and MCE.

PubMed

Kubán, Pavel; Hauser, Peter C

2009-10-01

The electroanalytical techniques of amperometry, conductometry and potentiometry match well with the instrumental simplicity of CE. Indeed, all three detection approaches have been reported for electrophoretic separations. However, the characteristics of the three methods are quite distinct and these are not related to the optical methods more commonly employed. A detailed discussion of the underlying principles of each is given. The issue of possible effects of the separation voltage on the electrochemical detection techniques is considered in depth, and approaches to the elimination of such interferences are also discussed for each case.

A Virtual Bioinformatics Knowledge Environment for Early Cancer Detection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crichton, Daniel; Srivastava, Sudhir; Johnsey, Donald

2003-01-01

Discovery of disease biomarkers for cancer is a leading focus of early detection. The National Cancer Institute created a network of collaborating institutions focused on the discovery and validation of cancer biomarkers called the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN). Informatics plays a key role in enabling a virtual knowledge environment that provides scientists real time access to distributed data sets located at research institutions across the nation. The distributed and heterogeneous nature of the collaboration makes data sharing across institutions very difficult. EDRN has developed a comprehensive informatics effort focused on developing a national infrastructure enabling seamless access, sharing and discovery of science data resources across all EDRN sites. This paper will discuss the EDRN knowledge system architecture, its objectives and its accomplishments.

Early indices of deviance detection in humans and animal models.

PubMed

Grimm, Sabine; Escera, Carles; Nelken, Israel

2016-04-01

Detecting unexpected stimuli in the environment is a critical function of the auditory system. Responses to unexpected "deviant" sounds are enhanced compared to responses to expected stimuli. At the human scalp, deviance detection is reflected in the mismatch negativity (MMN) and in an enhancement of the middle-latency response (MLR). Single neurons often respond more strongly to a stimulus when rare than when common, a phenomenon termed stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA). Here we compare stimulus-specific adaptation with scalp-recorded deviance-related responses. We conclude that early markers of deviance detection in the time range of the MLR could be a direct correlate of cortical SSA. Both occur at an early level of cortical activation, both are robust findings with low-probability stimuli, and both show properties of genuine deviance detection. Their causal relation with the later scalp-recorded MMN is a key question in this field. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Early polymerase chain reaction detection of Chagas disease reactivation in heart transplant patients.

PubMed

da Costa, Priscilla Almeida; Segatto, Marcela; Durso, Danielle Fernandes; de Carvalho Moreira, Wagson José; Junqueira, Lucas Lodi; de Castilho, Fábio Morato; de Andrade, Silvio Amadeu; Gelape, Cláudio Léo; Chiari, Egler; Teixeira-Carvalho, Andréa; Junho Pena, Sergio Danilo; Machado, Carlos Renato; Franco, Gloria Regina; Filho, Geraldo Brasileiro; Vieira Moreira, Maria da Consolação; Mara Macedo, Andréa

2017-07-01

Heart transplantation is a valuable therapeutic option for Chagas disease patients with severe cardiomyopathy. During patient follow-up, the differential diagnosis between cardiac transplant rejection and Chagas disease infection reactivation remains a challenging task, which hinders rapid implementation of the appropriate treatment. Herein we investigate whether polymerase chain reaction (PCR) strategies could facilitate early detection of Trypanosoma cruzi (T cruzi) in transplanted endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs). In this study we analyzed 500 EMB specimens obtained from 58 chagasic cardiac transplant patients, using PCR approaches targeted to nuclear (rDNA 24Sα) and kinetoplastid (kDNA) markers, and compared the efficiency of these approaches with that of other tests routinely used. T cruzi DNA was detected in 112 EMB specimens derived from 39 patients (67.2%). The first positive result occurred at a median 1.0 month post-transplant. Conventional histopathologic, blood smear and hemoculture analyses showed lower sensitivity and higher median time to the first positive result. Patient follow-up revealed that 31 of 39 PCR-positive cases presented clinical reactivation of Chagas disease at different time-points after transplantation. PCR techniques showed considerable sensitivity (0.82) and specificity (0.60), with area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of 0.708 (p = 0.001). Moreover, PCR techniques anticipated the clinical signs of Chagas disease reactivation by up to 36 months, with a median time of 6 months and an average of 9.1 months. We found a good association between the PCR diagnosis and the clinical signs of the disease, indicating that the PCR approaches used herein are suitable for early diagnosis of Chagas disease reactivation, with high potential to assist physicians in treatment decisions. For this purpose, an algorithm is proposed for surveillance based on the molecular tests. Copyright © 2017 International Society for the

[Early detection of autism in children. Review of literature].

PubMed

Pisula, E

1997-01-01

The difficulties with early detection of autistic disorder in children are discussed. DSM-IV diagnostic criteria are presented. Usefulness of clinical interview and clinical experiment in diagnosing autistic disorder are analyzed.

A decade of aquatic invasive species (AIS) early detection ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

As an invasion prone location, the St. Louis River Estuary (SLRE) has been a case study for ongoing research to develop the framework for a practical Great Lakes monitoring network for early detection of aquatic invasive species (AIS). Early detection, however, necessitates finding new invaders before they are common. Here we outline our research (2005 present) approach and findings, including strategies to increase detection efficiency by optimizing specimen collection and identification methods. Initial surveys were designed to over-sample to amass data as the basis for numerical experiments to investigate to the effort required for a given detection probability. Later surveys tested the outcome of implementing these strategies, examined the potential benefits of sampling larval fish instead of adults and explored the prospect of using advanced DNA based methods as an alternative to traditional taxonomy. To date we have identified several previously undetected invertebrate invaders, developed survey design and gear recommendations and have refined the search strategy for systems beyond the SLRE. In addition, because we’ve accumulated such a large body of data we now have the basis to show spatial-temporal trends for native and non-native species in the SLRE. not applicable

Office-based spirometry for early detection of obstructive lung disease.

PubMed

Wallace, Laura D; Troy, Kenneth E

2006-09-01

To review the research-based evidence supporting smoking cessation as the only proven method to reduce chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) progression and to show that early detection of disease with office-based spirometry can lead to therapeutic intervention before physiologic symptoms arise. Extensive review of national and international scientific literature supplemented with drawings and algorithms. Early detection of COPD with spirometry, along with smoking cessation, and aggressive intervention can alter the insidious course of this highly preventable disease. It is imperative that nurse practitioners utilize this simple and inexpensive procedure to identify COPD in its earliest stages, so treatment can reduce individual and community disease burden, reduce morbidity and mortality, and help reduce healthcare costs. Determination of early airflow obstruction supports smoking cessation education, provides objective data for patient motivation, thereby doubling patient compliance and reducing further disease burden.

On the detection of early osteoarthritis by quantitative microscopic imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mittelstaedt, Daniel John

measurements. These studies demonstrate the ability to use two quantitative microscopic imaging techniques, microCT and microMRI, to detect microscopic changes in collagen and GAG from healthy, biochemically degraded, and early OA cartilage. The capability for microscopic imaging to detect alterations at the earliest stages of OA will ultimately improve the understanding of degradation and may help aid in the detection for the prevention of disease and repair of damaged cartilage.

Indocyanine green detects sentinel lymph nodes in early breast cancer.

PubMed

Liu, Jun; Huang, Linping; Wang, Ning; Chen, Ping

2017-04-01

Objective To explore the clinical value of indocyanine green (ICG) for the fluorescence-guided detection of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) during sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in patients with early breast cancer. Methods This retrospective study included female patients with breast cancer. Patients were administered methylene blue and ICG using standard techniques. All SLNs that were collected during surgery were submitted for pathological examination. SLNs were defined as those that were either fluorescent, blue, fluorescent and blue or palpably suspicious. Surgical complications, axillary recurrence, distant metastasis and overall survival rates were observed postoperatively. Results A total of 60 patients were enrolled in the study. The fluorescence detection rate of SLNs was 100% ( n = 177), with a mean of 2.95 SLNs per patient. The methylene blue staining rate was 88.3% ( n = 106), with a mean of 1.77 SLNs per patient. Pathological assessment of intraoperative frozen specimens revealed SLN metastases in 10 patients, who immediately underwent axillary lymph node dissection. No patient had axillary recurrence or distant metastases, with a survival rate of 100%. Patients who underwent SLNB showed good appearance in the axillary wound, with no limited shoulder joint abduction and upper limb oedema. Conclusion Fluorescence-guided SLNB has several advantages and is suitable for clinical application.

Design-for-Hardware-Trust Techniques, Detection Strategies and Metrics for Hardware Trojans

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-14

down  both  rising  and  falling  transitions.  For  Trojan   detection ,   one   fault ,   slow-­‐to-­‐rise  or   slow-­‐to...in Jan. 2016. Through the course of this project we developed novel hardware Trojan detection techniques based on clock sweeping. The technique takes...algorithms to detect minor changes due to Trojan and compared them with those changes made by process variations. This technique was implemented on

Lip boundary detection techniques using color and depth information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Gwang-Myung; Yoon, Sung H.; Kim, Jung H.; Hur, Gi Taek

2002-01-01

This paper presents our approach to using a stereo camera to obtain 3-D image data to be used to improve existing lip boundary detection techniques. We show that depth information as provided by our approach can be used to significantly improve boundary detection systems. Our system detects the face and mouth area in the image by using color, geometric location, and additional depth information for the face. Initially, color and depth information can be used to localize the face. Then we can determine the lip region from the intensity information and the detected eye locations. The system has successfully been used to extract approximate lip regions using RGB color information of the mouth area. Merely using color information is not robust because the quality of the results may vary depending on light conditions, background, and the human race. To overcome this problem, we used a stereo camera to obtain 3-D facial images. 3-D data constructed from the depth information along with color information can provide more accurate lip boundary detection results as compared to color only based techniques.

Dynamic linear models using the Kalman filter for early detection and early warning of malaria outbreaks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merkord, C. L.; Liu, Y.; DeVos, M.; Wimberly, M. C.

2015-12-01

Malaria early detection and early warning systems are important tools for public health decision makers in regions where malaria transmission is seasonal and varies from year to year with fluctuations in rainfall and temperature. Here we present a new data-driven dynamic linear model based on the Kalman filter with time-varying coefficients that are used to identify malaria outbreaks as they occur (early detection) and predict the location and timing of future outbreaks (early warning). We fit linear models of malaria incidence with trend and Fourier form seasonal components using three years of weekly malaria case data from 30 districts in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. We identified past outbreaks by comparing the modeled prediction envelopes with observed case data. Preliminary results demonstrated the potential for improved accuracy and timeliness over commonly-used methods in which thresholds are based on simpler summary statistics of historical data. Other benefits of the dynamic linear modeling approach include robustness to missing data and the ability to fit models with relatively few years of training data. To predict future outbreaks, we started with the early detection model for each district and added a regression component based on satellite-derived environmental predictor variables including precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and land surface temperature (LST) and spectral indices from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We included lagged environmental predictors in the regression component of the model, with lags chosen based on cross-correlation of the one-step-ahead forecast errors from the first model. Our results suggest that predictions of future malaria outbreaks can be improved by incorporating lagged environmental predictors.

Planetary Gearbox Fault Detection Using Vibration Separation Techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewicki, David G.; LaBerge, Kelsen E.; Ehinger, Ryan T.; Fetty, Jason

2011-01-01

Studies were performed to demonstrate the capability to detect planetary gear and bearing faults in helicopter main-rotor transmissions. The work supported the Operations Support and Sustainment (OSST) program with the U.S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) and Bell Helicopter Textron. Vibration data from the OH-58C planetary system were collected on a healthy transmission as well as with various seeded-fault components. Planetary fault detection algorithms were used with the collected data to evaluate fault detection effectiveness. Planet gear tooth cracks and spalls were detectable using the vibration separation techniques. Sun gear tooth cracks were not discernibly detectable from the vibration separation process. Sun gear tooth spall defects were detectable. Ring gear tooth cracks were only clearly detectable by accelerometers located near the crack location or directly across from the crack. Enveloping provided an effective method for planet bearing inner- and outer-race spalling fault detection.

Application of neutron interrogation techniques to corrosion detection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birt, E. A.; Namkung, M.; Vulcan, W.; Welsh, R. E.

1991-01-01

This paper discusses a technique which may be able to detect corrosion by determining the presence of oxygen at the corroded site via a neutron inelastic gamma reaction. Initial experiments have been performed using a Pu-239/Be neutron source and a NaI(T1) gamma-ray detector. From the results it was concluded that a 1 mm thickness of aluminum oxide would not be detected.

New technology for early detection of health threats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Southern, Šárka O.; Lilienthal, Gerald W.

2008-04-01

Governmental agencies charged with protecting the health of the population and agriculture have several main strategic objectives including the detection of harmful agents, the identification of vulnerable biological targets, the prediction of health outcomes and the development of countermeasures. New technologies are urgently needed in several critical areas of bio-chemical defense: economical and minimally invasive biosensors for field use in humans and other species important for agriculture and infrastructure, universal analytical platforms for broad-based, early warnings of threats and technologies guiding the development of countermeasures. A new technology called Stress Response Profiling (SRP) was recently developed by the Gaia Medical Institute. SRP provides a universal analytical platform for monitoring health status based on measurements of physiological stress. The platform is implemented through handheld devices that can be used for noninvasive detection of early-stage health problems. This paper summarizes SRP features, advantages and potential benefits for critical areas of homeland defense.

Point/Counterpoint: early detection of prostate cancer: do the benefits outweigh the consequences?

PubMed

Carroll, Peter R; Vickers, Andrew J

2014-05-01

Few clinical issues have polarized the oncology community as much as screening for prostate cancer, with advocates of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing vocal on one side and skeptics just as vocal on the other. At the NCCN 19th Annual Conference, Dr. Peter R. Carroll and Dr. Andrew J. Vickers tackled the controversy surrounding early detection of prostate cancer, focusing attention on the randomized trial results at the heart of the matter; over-detection (the Achilles' heel of screening); and the rationale behind the new, streamlined 2014 NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Prostate Cancer Early Detection, which emphasize selective early detection and treatment and are tightly aligned with the NCCN Guidelines for Prostate Cancer. Copyright © 2014 by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

Biomarkers for early detection of Alzheimer disease.

PubMed

Barber, Robert C

2010-09-01

The existence of an effective biomarker for early detection of Alzheimer disease would facilitate improved diagnosis and stimulate therapeutic trials. Multidisciplinary clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer disease is time consuming and expensive and relies on experts who are rarely available outside of specialty clinics. Thus, many patients do not receive proper diagnosis until the disease has progressed beyond stages in which treatments are maximally effective. In the clinical trial setting, rapid, cost-effective screening of patients for Alzheimer disease is of paramount importance for the development of new treatments. Neuroimaging of cortical amyloid burden and volumetric changes in the brain and assessment of protein concentrations (eg, β-amyloid 1-42, total tau, phosphorylated tau) in cerebrospinal fluid are diagnostic tools that are not widely available. Known genetic markers do not provide sufficient discriminatory power between different forms of dementia to be useful in isolation. Recent studies using panels of biomarkers for diagnosis of Alzheimer disease or mild cognitive impairment have been promising, though no such studies have been cross-validated in independent samples of subjects. The ideal biomarker enabling early detection of Alzheimer disease has not yet been identified.

Apple Mealiness Detection Using Hyperspectral Scattering Technique

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Mealiness is a symptom of internal fruit disorder, which is characterized by abnormal softness and lack of free juice in the fruit. This research investigated the potential of hyperspectral scattering technique for detecting mealy apples. Spectral scattering profiles between 600 nm and 1,000 nm were...

Advance in plasma SEPT9 gene methylation assay for colorectal cancer early detection.

PubMed

Wang, Yu; Chen, Pei-Min; Liu, Rong-Bin

2018-01-15

This review article summarizes the research advances of the plasma-based SEPT9 gene methylation assay for the clinical detection of colorectal cancer and its limitations. Colorectal cancer is a common malignancy with a poor prognosis and a high mortality, for which early detection and diagnosis are particularly crucial for the high-risk groups. Increasing evidence supported that SEPT9 gene methylation is associated with the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer and that detecting the level of methylation of SEPT9 in the peripheral blood can be used for screening of colorectal cancer in susceptible populations. In recent years, the data obtained in clinical studies demonstrated that the SEPT9 gene methylation assay has a good diagnostic performance with regard to both sensitivity and specificity with the advantage of better acceptability, convenience and compliance with serological testing compared with fecal occult blood tests and carcinoembryonic antigen for colorectal cancer (CRC). Furthermore, the combination of multiple methods or markers has become a growing trend for CRC detection and screening. Nevertheless, the clinical availability of the methylated SEPT9 assay is still limited because of the large degree of sample heterogeneity caused by demographic characteristics, pathological features, comorbidities and/or technique selection. Another factor is the cost-effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening strategies that hinders its large-scale application. In addition, improvements in its accuracy in detecting adenomas and premalignant polyps are required.

Errorless-based techniques can improve route finding in early Alzheimer's disease: a case study.

PubMed

Provencher, Véronique; Bier, Nathalie; Audet, Thérèse; Gagnon, Lise

2008-01-01

Topographical disorientation is a common and early manifestation of dementia of Alzheimer type, which threatens independence in activities of daily living. Errorless-based techniques appear to be effective in helping patients with amnesia to learn routes, but little is known about their effectiveness in early dementia of Alzheimer type. A 77-year-old woman with dementia of Alzheimer type had difficulty in finding her way around her seniors residence, which reduced her social activities. This study used an ABA design (A is the baseline and B is the intervention) with multiple baselines across routes for going to the rosary (target), laundry, and game rooms (controls). The errorless-based technique intervention was applied to 2 of the 3 routes. Analyses showed significant improvement only for the routes learned with errorless-based techniques. Following the study, the participant increased her topographical knowledge of her surroundings. Route learning interventions based on errorless-based techniques appear to be a promising approach for improving the independence in early dementia of Alzheimer type.

Detectability of early brain meningitis with magnetic resonance imaging

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Runge, V.M.; Wells, J.W.; Williams, N.M.

1995-08-01

The ability of high-field (1.5 T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect early brain meningitis was evaluated in a canine model. Contrast dose, timing postinjection, and imaging technique (specifically the use of magnetization transfer) were assessed. Imaging of five canines was performed at 1.5 T 24 hours after injection of Cowans staphylococcus into the cisterna magna. Two control animals also were imaged using the same protocol. Contrast doses of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.8 mmol/kg gadoteridol were compared. Scans were performed at 2, 13, and 22 minutes after an initial injection of 0.1 mmol/kg. Thirty minutes after the initial injection ofmore » contrast, a supplemental dose of 0.2 mmol/kg was given. Scans were then repeated at 2, 12, and 22 minutes after this dose was administered. A second supplemental contrast injection of 0.5 mmol/kg was given at 70 minutes, and immediate postinjection scans with and without MT were acquired. Results. In the animals receiving a cisternal injection of bacteria, the degree of meningeal enhancement was greatest at 0.8 mmol/kg, intermediate at 0.3 mmol/kg, and least at 0.1 mmol/kg. Scans in control studies did not demonstrate abnormal meningeal enhancement. High-contrast dose, MT, and acquisition of immediate postcontrast scans all resulted in statistically significant improvement. On masked film review, abnormal meningeal enhancement was noted in only 2 of 5 experimental dogs at a dose of 0.1 mmol/kg (regardless of the use of MT) compared with all animals at a dose of 0.3 mmol/kg. In 18 of 37 dogs (paired scans with and without MT), when abnormal enhancement was noted, the use of MT improved the visualization of abnormal meningeal enhancement. In early brain meningitis, high-contrast dose (0.3 mmol/kg), MT, and scanning immediately after injection improve detection of abnormal meningeal enhancement, thus facilitating the diagnosis of meningitis. Of these factors, contrast dose is the most important. 14 refs., 9 figs., 2 tabs.« less

The role of imaging in early hip OA.

PubMed

Siebelt, M; Agricola, R; Weinans, H; Kim, Y J

2014-10-01

Hip osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by cartilage degradation, subchondral bone sclerosis and osteophyte formation. Nowadays, OA is thought to develop via different etiologies that all lead to a similar form of end stage joint degradation. One of these subtypes is related to an abnormal shaped hip joint, like acetabular dysplasia and a cam deformity. These bony abnormalities are highly predictive for development of hip OA, but they are likely to already be present from childhood. This suggests that these deformations induce OA changes in the hip, well before extensive hip degradation becomes present three to four decades later. Accurate detection and successful characterization of these early OA events might lead to better treatment options for hip OA besides nowadays available invasive joint replacement surgery. However, current diagnostic imaging techniques like radiographs or plain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are not sensitive enough to detect these subtle early OA changes. Nor are they able to disentangle intertwined and overlapping cascades from different OA subtypes, and neither can they predict OA progression. New and more sensitive imaging techniques might enable us to detect first OA changes on a cellular level, providing us with new opportunities for early intervention. In this respect, shape analysis using radiography, MRI, computed tomography (CT), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT, and positron emission tomography (PET) might prove promising techniques and be more suited to detect early pathological changes in the hip joint. A broad application of these techniques might give us more understanding what can be considered physiological adaptation of the hip, or when early OA really starts. With a more clear definition of early OA, more homogenous patient populations can be selected and help with the development of new disease modifying OA interventions. Copyright © 2014 Osteoarthritis Research Society International

Age Dating Merger Events in Early Type Galaxies via the Detection of AGB Light

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bothun, G.

2005-01-01

A thorough statistical analysis of the J-H vs. H-K color plane of all detected early type galaxies in the 2MASS catalog with velocities less than 5000 km/s has been performed. This all sky survey is not sensitive to one particular galactic environment and therefore a representative range of early type galaxy environments have been sampled. Virtually all N-body simulation so major mergers produces a central starburst due to rapid collection of gas. This central starburst is of sufficient amplitude to change the stellar population in the central regions of the galaxy. Intermediate age populations are given away by the presence of AGB stars which will drive the central colors redder in H-K relative to the J- H baseline. This color anomaly has a lifetime of 2-5 billion years depending on the amplitude of the initial starburst Employing this technique on the entire 2MASS sample (several hundred galaxies) reveals that the AGB signature occurs less than 1% of the time. This is a straightforward indication that virtually all nearby early type galaxies have not had a major merger occur within the last few billion years.

Early detection of health and welfare compromises through automated detection of behavioural changes in pigs.

PubMed

Matthews, Stephen G; Miller, Amy L; Clapp, James; Plötz, Thomas; Kyriazakis, Ilias

2016-11-01

Early detection of health and welfare compromises in commercial piggeries is essential for timely intervention to enhance treatment success, reduce impact on welfare, and promote sustainable pig production. Behavioural changes that precede or accompany subclinical and clinical signs may have diagnostic value. Often referred to as sickness behaviour, this encompasses changes in feeding, drinking, and elimination behaviours, social behaviours, and locomotion and posture. Such subtle changes in behaviour are not easy to quantify and require lengthy observation input by staff, which is impractical on a commercial scale. Automated early-warning systems may provide an alternative by objectively measuring behaviour with sensors to automatically monitor and detect behavioural changes. This paper aims to: (1) review the quantifiable changes in behaviours with potential diagnostic value; (2) subsequently identify available sensors for measuring behaviours; and (3) describe the progress towards automating monitoring and detection, which may allow such behavioural changes to be captured, measured, and interpreted and thus lead to automation in commercial, housed piggeries. Multiple sensor modalities are available for automatic measurement and monitoring of behaviour, which require humans to actively identify behavioural changes. This has been demonstrated for the detection of small deviations in diurnal drinking, deviations in feeding behaviour, monitoring coughs and vocalisation, and monitoring thermal comfort, but not social behaviour. However, current progress is in the early stages of developing fully automated detection systems that do not require humans to identify behavioural changes; e.g., through automated alerts sent to mobile phones. Challenges for achieving automation are multifaceted and trade-offs are considered between health, welfare, and costs, between analysis of individuals and groups, and between generic and compromise-specific behaviours. Copyright © 2016

Poster — Thur Eve — 03: Application of the non-negative matrix factorization technique to [{sup 11}C]-DTBZ dynamic PET data for the early detection of Parkinson's disease

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Dong-Chang; Jans, Hans; McEwan, Sandy

2014-08-15

In this work, a class of non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) technique known as alternating non-negative least squares, combined with the projected gradient method, is used to analyze twenty-five [{sup 11}C]-DTBZ dynamic PET/CT brain data. For each subject, a two-factor model is assumed and two factors representing the striatum (factor 1) and the non-striatum (factor 2) tissues are extracted using the proposed NMF technique and commercially available factor analysis software “Pixies”. The extracted factor 1 and 2 curves represent the binding site of the radiotracer and describe the uptake and clearance of the radiotracer by soft tissues in the brain, respectively.more » The proposed NMF technique uses prior information about the dynamic data to obtain sample time-activity curves representing the striatum and the non-striatum tissues. These curves are then used for “warm” starting the optimization. Factor solutions from the two methods are compared graphically and quantitatively. In healthy subjects, radiotracer uptake by factors 1 and 2 are approximately 35–40% and 60–65%, respectively. The solutions are also used to develop a factor-based metric for the detection of early, untreated Parkinson's disease. The metric stratifies healthy subjects from suspected Parkinson's patients (based on the graphical method). The analysis shows that both techniques produce comparable results with similar computational time. The “semi-automatic” approach used by the NMF technique allows clinicians to manually set a starting condition for “warm” starting the optimization in order to facilitate control and efficient interaction with the data.« less

How can clinicians detect and treat autism early? Methodological trends of technology use in research

PubMed Central

Bölte, S; Bartl-Pokorny, KD; Jonsson, U; Berggren, S; Zhang, D; Kostrzewa, E; Falck-Ytter, T; Einspieler, C; Pokorny, FB; Jones, EJH; Roeyers, H; Charman, T; Marschik, PB

2018-01-01

We reviewed original research papers that used quantifiable technology to detect early autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and identified 376 studies from 34 countries from 1965-2013. Publications have increased significantly since 2000, with most coming from the USA. Electroencephalogram, magnetic resonance imaging and eye-tracking were the most frequently used technologies. Conclusion The use of quantifiable technology to detect early ASD has increased in recent decades, but has had limited impact on early detection and treatment. Further scientific developments are anticipated and we hope that they will increasingly be used in clinical practice for early ASD screening, diagnosis and intervention. PMID:26479859

Early Detection of Progressive Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Severity Index.

PubMed

Skalli, Wafa; Vergari, Claudio; Ebermeyer, Eric; Courtois, Isabelle; Drevelle, Xavier; Kohler, Remi; Abelin-Genevois, Kariman; Dubousset, Jean

2017-06-01

Early detection of progressive adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) was assessed based on 3D quantification of the deformity. Based on 3D quantitative description of scoliosis curves, the aim is to assess a specific phenotype that could be an early detectable severity index for progressive AIS. Early detection of progressive scoliosis is important for adapted treatment to limit progression. However, progression risk assessment is mainly based on the follow up, waiting for signs of rapid progression that generally occur during the growth peak. Sixty-five mild scoliosis (16 boys, 49 girls, Cobb Angle between 10 and 20°) with a Risser between 0 and 2 were followed from their first examination until a decision was made by the clinician, either considering the spine as stable at the end of growth (26 patients) or planning to brace because of progression (39 patients). Calibrated biplanar x-rays were performed and 3D reconstructions of the spine allowed calculating six local parameters related to main curve deformity. For progressive curve 3D phenotype assessment, data were compared with those previously assessed for 30 severe scoliosis (Cobb Angle > 35°), 17 scoliosis before brace (Cobb Angle > 29°) and 53 spines of nonscoliosis subjects. A predictive discriminant analysis was performed to assess similarity of mild scoliosis curves either to those of scoliosis or nonscoliosis spines, yielding a severity index (S-index). S-index value at first examination was compared with clinical outcome. At the first exam, 53 out of 65 predictions (82%) were in agreement with actual clinical outcome. Approximately, 89% of the curves that were predicted as progressive proved accurate. Although still requiring large scale validation, results are promising for early detection of progressive curves. 2.

Multimodal technique to eliminate humidity interference for specific detection of ethanol.

PubMed

Jalal, Ahmed Hasnain; Umasankar, Yogeswaran; Gonzalez, Pablo J; Alfonso, Alejandro; Bhansali, Shekhar

2017-01-15

Multimodal electrochemical technique incorporating both open circuit potential (OCP) and amperometric techniques have been conceptualized and implemented to improve the detection of specific analyte in systems where more than one analyte is present. This approach has been demonstrated through the detection of ethanol while eliminating the contribution of water in a micro fuel cell sensor system. The sensor was interfaced with LMP91000 potentiostat, controlled through MSP430F5529LP microcontroller to implement an auto-calibration algorithm tailored to improve the detection of alcohol. The sensor was designed and fabricated as a three electrode system with Nafion as a proton exchange membrane (PEM). The electrochemical signal of the interfering phase (water) was eliminated by implementing the multimodal electrochemical detection technique. The results were validated by comparing sensor and potentiostat performances with a commercial sensor and potentiostat respectively. The results suggest that such a sensing system can detect ethanol at concentrations as low as 5ppm. The structure and properties such as low detection limit, selectivity and miniaturized size enables potential application of this device in wearable transdermal alcohol measurements. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Feasibility of utilising an infrared-thermographic technique for early detection of subclinical mastitis in dairy camels (Camelus dromedarius).

PubMed

Samara, Emad M; Ayadi, Moez; Aljumaah, Riyadh S

2014-02-01

Despite the proven ability of infrared thermography (IRT) technology for early detection of subclinical mastitis in dairy cows/sheep/goats, studies on its diagnostic feasibility in dairy camels are lacking. Sixty-five lactating camels in mid lactation, machine milked twice-daily and managed under intensive conditions were screened to evaluate the feasibility of utilising IRT compared with other routine indicators in detecting subclinical mastitis. Immediately before the morning milking, a portable infrared camera was used to obtain thermograms in duplicate for the front and rear left quarters to determine the udder surface temperature (UST). Thereafter, milk samples from quarters were collected, and processed for California mastitis test (CMT) score and somatic cell count (SCC). In the present study, CMT score was used to define subclinical mastitis and the feasibility of IRT to detect subclinical mastitis was compared with CMT and SCC. According to CMT score, subclinical mastitic udders had an average UST of 1·42 °C greater (P<0·0001) than healthy udders. The relationship between UST and CMT was found to be highly correlated (r=0·77; P<0·001), and UST was linearly increased as the CMT increased [UST (°C)=34·86+0·66×CMT score; R 2=0·65; P<0·001]. Additionally, high correlations were obtained between UST and SCC score (r=0·75; P<0·001) and the relationship between UST and SCC was fitted best to a logarithmic equation [UST, °C=33·39+0·88×Log (SCC, ×103 cells/ml), R 2=0·61, P<0·001]. The cut-off value, sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve for UST were 35·15 °C, 0·90, 0·98, and 0·95, respectively, when subclinical mastitis was defined according to CMT score, and were 35·70 °C, 0·89, 0·96 and 0·94, respectively, when categorised according to the obtained SCC threshold (SCC=432 000 cells/ml). In conclusion, IRT, as an indirect non-invasive screening method, was highly feasible for

Early detection of consciousness in patients with acute severe traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Edlow, Brian L; Chatelle, Camille; Spencer, Camille A; Chu, Catherine J; Bodien, Yelena G; O'Connor, Kathryn L; Hirschberg, Ronald E; Hochberg, Leigh R; Giacino, Joseph T; Rosenthal, Eric S; Wu, Ona

2017-09-01

See Schiff (doi:10.1093/awx209) for a scientific commentary on this article. Patients with acute severe traumatic brain injury may recover consciousness before self-expression. Without behavioural evidence of consciousness at the bedside, clinicians may render an inaccurate prognosis, increasing the likelihood of withholding life-sustaining therapies or denying rehabilitative services. Task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography techniques have revealed covert consciousness in the chronic setting, but these techniques have not been tested in the intensive care unit. We prospectively enrolled 16 patients admitted to the intensive care unit for acute severe traumatic brain injury to test two hypotheses: (i) in patients who lack behavioural evidence of language expression and comprehension, functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography detect command-following during a motor imagery task (i.e. cognitive motor dissociation) and association cortex responses during language and music stimuli (i.e. higher-order cortex motor dissociation); and (ii) early responses to these paradigms are associated with better 6-month outcomes on the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended. Patients underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging on post-injury Day 9.2 ± 5.0 and electroencephalography on Day 9.8 ± 4.6. At the time of imaging, behavioural evaluation with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised indicated coma (n = 2), vegetative state (n = 3), minimally conscious state without language (n = 3), minimally conscious state with language (n = 4) or post-traumatic confusional state (n = 4). Cognitive motor dissociation was identified in four patients, including three whose behavioural diagnosis suggested a vegetative state. Higher-order cortex motor dissociation was identified in two additional patients. Complete absence of responses to language, music and motor imagery was only observed in coma patients. In patients with behavioural evidence

Recursive SVM biomarker selection for early detection of breast cancer in peripheral blood.

PubMed

Zhang, Fan; Kaufman, Howard L; Deng, Youping; Drabier, Renee

2013-01-01

Breast cancer is worldwide the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer. Traditional mammography and Tissue Microarray has been studied for early cancer detection and cancer prediction. However, there is a need for more reliable diagnostic tools for early detection of breast cancer. This can be a challenge due to a number of factors and logistics. First, obtaining tissue biopsies can be difficult. Second, mammography may not detect small tumors, and is often unsatisfactory for younger women who typically have dense breast tissue. Lastly, breast cancer is not a single homogeneous disease but consists of multiple disease states, each arising from a distinct molecular mechanism and having a distinct clinical progression path which makes the disease difficult to detect and predict in early stages. In the paper, we present a Support Vector Machine based on Recursive Feature Elimination and Cross Validation (SVM-RFE-CV) algorithm for early detection of breast cancer in peripheral blood and show how to use SVM-RFE-CV to model the classification and prediction problem of early detection of breast cancer in peripheral blood.The training set which consists of 32 health and 33 cancer samples and the testing set consisting of 31 health and 34 cancer samples were randomly separated from a dataset of peripheral blood of breast cancer that is downloaded from Gene Express Omnibus. First, we identified the 42 differentially expressed biomarkers between "normal" and "cancer". Then, with the SVM-RFE-CV we extracted 15 biomarkers that yield zero cross validation score. Lastly, we compared the classification and prediction performance of SVM-RFE-CV with that of SVM and SVM Recursive Feature Elimination (SVM-RFE). We found that 1) the SVM-RFE-CV is suitable for analyzing noisy high-throughput microarray data, 2) it outperforms SVM-RFE in the robustness to noise and in the ability to recover informative features, and 3) it can improve the prediction performance (Area Under

Infrared light sensor applied to early detection of tooth decay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benjumea, Eberto; Espitia, José; Díaz, Leonardo; Torres, Cesar

2017-08-01

The approach dentistry to dental care is gradually shifting to a model focused on early detection and oral-disease prevention; one of the most important methods of prevention of tooth decay is opportune diagnosis of decay and reconstruction. The present study aimed to introduce a procedure for early diagnosis of tooth decay and to compare result of experiment of this method with other common treatments. In this setup, a laser emitting infrared light is injected in core of one bifurcated fiber-optic and conduced to tooth surface and with the same bifurcated fiber the radiation reflected for the same tooth is collected and them conduced to surface of sensor that measures thermal and light frequencies to detect early signs of decay below a tooth surface, where demineralization is difficult to spot with x-ray technology. This device will can be used to diagnose tooth decay without any chemicals and rays such as high power lasers or X-rays.

[Development of sample pretreatment techniques-rapid detection coupling methods for food security analysis].

PubMed

Huang, Yichun; Ding, Weiwei; Zhang, Zhuomin; Li, Gongke

2013-07-01

This paper summarizes the recent developments of the rapid detection methods for food security, such as sensors, optical techniques, portable spectral analysis, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, portable gas chromatograph, etc. Additionally, the applications of these rapid detection methods coupled with sample pretreatment techniques in real food security analysis are reviewed. The coupling technique has the potential to provide references to establish the selective, precise and quantitative rapid detection methods in food security analysis.

Fluorescence hyperspectral imaging technique for foreign substance detection on fresh-cut lettuce.

PubMed

Mo, Changyeun; Kim, Giyoung; Kim, Moon S; Lim, Jongguk; Cho, Hyunjeong; Barnaby, Jinyoung Yang; Cho, Byoung-Kwan

2017-09-01

Non-destructive methods based on fluorescence hyperspectral imaging (HSI) techniques were developed to detect worms on fresh-cut lettuce. The optimal wavebands for detecting the worms were investigated using the one-way ANOVA and correlation analyses. The worm detection imaging algorithms, RSI-I (492-626)/492 , provided a prediction accuracy of 99.0%. The fluorescence HSI techniques indicated that the spectral images with a pixel size of 1 × 1 mm had the best classification accuracy for worms. The overall results demonstrate that fluorescence HSI techniques have the potential to detect worms on fresh-cut lettuce. In the future, we will focus on developing a multi-spectral imaging system to detect foreign substances such as worms, slugs and earthworms on fresh-cut lettuce. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

[Diagnostic performance of surface electrocardiogram in early detection of chagasic cardiomyopathy].

PubMed

Bochard-Villanueva, Bruno; Estornell-Erill, Jordi; Fabregat-Andrés, Óscar; García-González, Pilar; Morell-Cabedo, Salvador; Ridocci-Soriano, Francisco

2015-03-15

Contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) allows early detection of myocardial involvement by Trypanosoma cruzi infection. The aim of our study was to assess the diagnostic performance of the surface electrocardiogram (ECG) in the early detection of Chagas' cardiomyopathy (CCM) compared with CMR. We included 43 asymptomatic patients (30 women, 42 ± 9.8 years), diagnosed of Chagas disease. The sample was divided into 2 groups according to the presence (n=17) or absence (n=26) of electrocardiographic abnormalities. All patients underwent CMR and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) was used as a marker of early myocardial involvement. Six (14%) patients had a LGE significantly higher in the group who had electrocardiographic abnormalities (29 vs. 4%, P<.05). With CMR as the method of reference, the ECG had a sensitivity of 83% and a negative predictive value of 96% to detect CCM. ECG is a useful, inexpensive and globally available tool for the screening of CCM in asymptomatic patients but with proven myocardial involvement in CMR. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

[Imaging of breast tissues changes--early detection, screening and problem solving].

PubMed

Wruk, Daniela

2008-04-01

In the industrialised countries breast cancer is the cancer with the highest prevalence and causes the highest rate of cancer deaths among women. In Switzerland alone, about 5000 newly diagnosed cases occur per year. Our three main diagnostic tools in imaging diseases of the breast in the setting of screening, early detection or problem solving are mammography, ultrasound and MRI with intravenous contrast application. The most important imaging technique is mammography, which as only method has shown evidence to be suitable for screening so far. As a major accomplishing imaging tool there is sonography, which in women under 30 years of age is the first method of choice in examination of the breasts. The MRI is able to provide additional information about the perfusion of tissue changes within the breast; because of its low specificity, however, it should cautiously be applied for specific questions.

Biosensor-based microRNA detection: techniques, design, performance, and challenges.

PubMed

Johnson, Blake N; Mutharasan, Raj

2014-04-07

The current state of biosensor-based techniques for amplification-free microRNA (miRNA) detection is critically reviewed. Comparison with non-sensor and amplification-based molecular techniques (MTs), such as polymerase-based methods, is made in terms of transduction mechanism, associated protocol, and sensitivity. Challenges associated with miRNA hybridization thermodynamics which affect assay selectivity and amplification bias are briefly discussed. Electrochemical, electromechanical, and optical classes of miRNA biosensors are reviewed in terms of transduction mechanism, limit of detection (LOD), time-to-results (TTR), multiplexing potential, and measurement robustness. Current trends suggest that biosensor-based techniques (BTs) for miRNA assay will complement MTs due to the advantages of amplification-free detection, LOD being femtomolar (fM)-attomolar (aM), short TTR, multiplexing capability, and minimal sample preparation requirement. Areas of future importance in miRNA BT development are presented which include focus on achieving high measurement confidence and multiplexing capabilities.

Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST/GOT) and Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT/GPT) Detection Techniques

PubMed Central

Huang, Xing-Jiu; Choi, Yang-Kyu; Im, Hyung-Soon; Yarimaga, Oktay; Yoon, Euisik; Kim, Hak-Sung

2006-01-01

The levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST/GOT) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT/GPT) in serum can help people diagnose body tissues especially the heart and the liver are injured or not. This article provides a comprehensive review of research activities that concentrate on AST/GOT and ALT/GPT detection techniques due to their clinical importance. The detection techniques include colorimetric, spectrophotometric, chemiluminescence, chromatography, fluorescence and UV absorbance, radiochemical, and electrochemical techniques. We devote the most attention on experimental principle. In some methods a few representative devices and important conclusions are presented.

Detection of genetically modified organisms in foods by DNA amplification techniques.

PubMed

García-Cañas, Virginia; Cifuentes, Alejandro; González, Ramón

2004-01-01

In this article, the different DNA amplification techniques that are being used for detecting genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in foods are examined. This study intends to provide an updated overview (including works published till June 2002) on the principal applications of such techniques together with their main advantages and drawbacks in GMO detection in foods. Some relevant facts on sampling, DNA isolation, and DNA amplification methods are discussed. Moreover; these analytical protocols are discuissed from a quantitative point of view, including the newest investigations on multiplex detection of GMOs in foods and validation of methods.

[Early detection of breast and cervical cancer among indigenous communities in Morelos, Mexico].

PubMed

Campero, Lourdes; Atienzo, Erika E; Marín, Eréndira; de la Vara-Salazar, Elvia; Pelcastre-Villafuerte, Blanca; González, Guillermo

2014-01-01

To analyze the perception in relation to when and how to perform actions for the early detection of breast and cervical cancer among women and health care providers in communities with a high percentage of indigenous population in Morelos, Mexico. Ten health providers and 58 women users of health services were interviewed which have a first level of attention in five communities. The analysis was developed under the approach of the Grounded Theory. Providers are poorly informed about current regulations and specific clinical indications for the detection of cervical and breast cancer. Few practice health literacy under intercultural sensitization. The users have imprecise or wrong notions of the early detection. The need for training in adherence to norms is evident. It is urgent to assume a culturally relevant approach to enable efficient communication and promote health literacy for early detection of these two cancers.

Coronary artery disease: new insights into the pathophysiology, prevalence, and early detection of a monster menace.

PubMed

Slater, James; Rill, Velisar

2004-04-01

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and other industrialized countries. In the undeveloped world a similar epidemic is brewing. A new pathophysiologic paradigm has emerged, which assigns the mediators of inflammation a much larger role in the disease process. This paradigm has helped explain the unpredictable nature of many adverse consequences of CAD. The long latent phase of the disease, and often sudden initial presentation, make efforts at early detection extremely important. Considerable work has been devoted to identify, as well as influence, predisposing risk factors for developing arteriosclerosis. Novel markers of inflammation, like C-reactive protein, have been identified and compared to traditional risk factors. In addition, new imaging modalities introduce the possibility of screening for subclinical disease. Electron beam and multidetector computed tomography (CT) scanners, as well as other techniques, are emerging as powerful tools to detect early disease presence and allow intervention to take place before major clinical events occur. Advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of CAD, and our ability to image the stages of silent disease will go hand in hand to revolutionize our approach to prevention and treatment of this deadly malady.

Coronary artery disease: new insights into the pathophysiology, prevalence and early detection of a monster menace.

PubMed

Slater, James; Rill, Velisar

2003-04-01

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and industrialized countries. In the undeveloped world a similar epidemic is brewing. A new pathophysiologic paradigm has emerged, which assigns the mediators of inflammation a much larger role in the disease process. This paradigm has helped explain the unpredictable nature of many adverse consequences of CAD. The long latent phase of the disease and often sudden initial presentation make efforts at early detection extremely important. Considerable work has been devoted to identify as well as influence predisposing risk factors for developing arteriosclerosis. Novel markers of inflammation, like C-reactive protein, have been identified and compared to traditional risk factors. In addition, new imaging modalities introduce the possibility of screening for sub-clinical disease. Electron-beam and spiral CT scanners, as well as other techniques, are emerging as powerful tools to detect early disease presence and allow intervention to take place before major clinical events occur. Advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology and our ability to image the stages of silent disease will go hand in hand to revolutionize our approach to prevention and treatment of this deadly disease.

Computerized detection of vertebral compression fractures on lateral chest radiographs: Preliminary results with a tool for early detection of osteoporosis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kasai, Satoshi; Li Feng; Shiraishi, Junji

Vertebral fracture (or vertebral deformity) is a very common outcome of osteoporosis, which is one of the major public health concerns in the world. Early detection of vertebral fractures is important because timely pharmacologic intervention can reduce the risk of subsequent additional fractures. Chest radiographs are used routinely for detection of lung and heart diseases, and vertebral fractures can be visible on lateral chest radiographs. However, investigators noted that about 50% of vertebral fractures visible on lateral chest radiographs were underdiagnosed or under-reported, even when the fractures were severe. Therefore, our goal was to develop a computerized method for detectionmore » of vertebral fractures on lateral chest radiographs in order to assist radiologists' image interpretation and thus allow the early diagnosis of osteoporosis. The cases used in this study were 20 patients with severe vertebral fractures and 118 patients without fractures, as confirmed by the consensus of two radiologists. Radiologists identified the locations of fractured vertebrae, and they provided morphometric data on the vertebral shape for evaluation of the accuracy of detecting vertebral end plates by computer. In our computerized method, a curved search area, which included a number of vertebral end plates, was first extracted automatically, and was straightened so that vertebral end plates became oriented horizontally. Edge candidates were enhanced by use of a horizontal line-enhancement filter in the straightened image, and a multiple thresholding technique, followed by feature analysis, was used for identification of the vertebral end plates. The height of each vertebra was determined from locations of identified vertebral end plates, and fractured vertebrae were detected by comparison of the measured vertebral height with the expected height. The sensitivity of our computerized method for detection of fracture cases was 95% (19/20), with 1.03 (139/135) false

Early detection monitoring for larval dreissenid mussels: How much plankton sampling is enough?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Counihan, Timothy D.; Bollens, Stephen M.

2017-01-01

The development of quagga and zebra mussel (dreissenids) monitoring programs in the Pacific Northwest provides a unique opportunity to evaluate a regional invasive species detection effort early in its development. Recent studies suggest that the ecological and economic costs of a dreissenid infestation in the Pacific Northwest of the USA would be significant. Consequently, efforts are underway to monitor for the presence of dreissenids. However, assessments of whether these efforts provide for early detection are lacking. We use information collected from 2012 to 2014 to characterize the development of larval dreissenid monitoring programs in the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington in the context of introduction and establishment risk. We also estimate the effort needed for high-probability detection of rare planktonic taxa in four Columbia and Snake River reservoirs and assess whether the current level of effort provides for early detection. We found that the effort expended to monitor for dreissenid mussels increased substantially from 2012 to 2014, that efforts were distributed across risk categories ranging from high to very low, and that substantial gaps in our knowledge of both introduction and establishment risk exist. The estimated volume of filtered water required to fully census planktonic taxa or to provide high-probability detection of rare taxa was high for the four reservoirs examined. We conclude that the current level of effort expended does not provide for high-probability detection of larval dreissenids or other planktonic taxa when they are rare in these reservoirs. We discuss options to improve early detection capabilities.

Reactive impinging-flow technique for polymer-electrolyte-fuel-cell electrode-defect detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zenyuk, Iryna V.; Englund, Nicholas; Bender, Guido; Weber, Adam Z.; Ulsh, Michael

2016-11-01

Reactive impinging flow (RIF) is a novel quality-control method for defect detection (i.e., reduction in Pt catalyst loading) in gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs) on weblines. The technique uses infrared thermography to detect temperature of a nonflammable (<4% H2) reactive mixture of H2/O2 in N2 impinging and reacting on a Pt catalytic surface. In this paper, different GDE size defects (with catalyst-loading reductions of 25, 50, and 100%) are detected at various webline speeds (3.048 and 9.144 m min-1) and gas flowrates (32.5 or 50 standard L min-1). Furthermore, a model is developed and validated for the technique, and it is subsequently used to optimize operating conditions and explore the applicability of the technique to a range of defects. The model suggests that increased detection can be achieved by recting more of the impinging H2, which can be accomplished by placing blocking substrates on the top, bottom, or both of the GDE; placing a substrate on both results in a factor of four increase in the temperature differential, which is needed for smaller defect detection. Overall, the RIF technique is shown to be a promising route for in-line, high-speed, large-area detection of GDE defects on moving weblines.

A Context-Aware EEG Headset System for Early Detection of Driver Drowsiness.

PubMed

Li, Gang; Chung, Wan-Young

2015-08-21

Driver drowsiness is a major cause of mortality in traffic accidents worldwide. Electroencephalographic (EEG) signal, which reflects the brain activities, is more directly related to drowsiness. Thus, many Brain-Machine-Interface (BMI) systems have been proposed to detect driver drowsiness. However, detecting driver drowsiness at its early stage poses a major practical hurdle when using existing BMI systems. This study proposes a context-aware BMI system aimed to detect driver drowsiness at its early stage by enriching the EEG data with the intensity of head-movements. The proposed system is carefully designed for low-power consumption with on-chip feature extraction and low energy Bluetooth connection. Also, the proposed system is implemented using JAVA programming language as a mobile application for on-line analysis. In total, 266 datasets obtained from six subjects who participated in a one-hour monotonous driving simulation experiment were used to evaluate this system. According to a video-based reference, the proposed system obtained an overall detection accuracy of 82.71% for classifying alert and slightly drowsy events by using EEG data alone and 96.24% by using the hybrid data of head-movement and EEG. These results indicate that the combination of EEG data and head-movement contextual information constitutes a robust solution for the early detection of driver drowsiness.

Early Detection of Amyloid Plaque in Alzheimer’s Disease via X-ray Phase CT

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-12-1-0138 TITLE: Early Detection of Amyloid Plaque in Alzheimer’s Disease via X-ray Phase CT PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR...NUMBER W81XWH-12-1-0138 Early Detection of Amyloid Plaque in Alzheimer’s Disease via X-ray Phase CT 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6...method for early detection of amyloid plaque in Alzheimer’s disease , with three Specific Aims: #1 Develop and optimize an x-ray PCCT to explore the

Model Development and Trial of Early Detection Manual for the Special Needs Children at Early Age Education Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anwar, Zainul; Ingarianti, Tri Muji; Suryaningrum, Cahyaning

2016-01-01

This research was aimed to produce the manual for early detection for ABK at the level of early age education (PAUD = "Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini"). Research was "action research" with stages as proposed by Buunk and Van Vugt. Metodology of research these stages were called as PATH ("Problem-Analysis-Test…

Drop-off Detection with the Long Cane: Effects of Different Cane Techniques on Performance

PubMed Central

Kim, Dae Shik; Emerson, Robert Wall; Curtis, Amy

2010-01-01

This study compared the drop-off detection performance with the two-point touch and constant contact cane techniques using a repeated-measures design with a convenience sample of 15 cane users with visual impairments. The constant contact technique was superior to the two-point touch technique in the drop-off detection rate and the 50% detection threshold. The findings may help an orientation and mobility instructor select an appropriate technique for a particular client or training situation. PMID:21209791

Advance in plasma SEPT9 gene methylation assay for colorectal cancer early detection

PubMed Central

Wang, Yu; Chen, Pei-Min; Liu, Rong-Bin

2018-01-01

This review article summarizes the research advances of the plasma-based SEPT9 gene methylation assay for the clinical detection of colorectal cancer and its limitations. Colorectal cancer is a common malignancy with a poor prognosis and a high mortality, for which early detection and diagnosis are particularly crucial for the high-risk groups. Increasing evidence supported that SEPT9 gene methylation is associated with the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer and that detecting the level of methylation of SEPT9 in the peripheral blood can be used for screening of colorectal cancer in susceptible populations. In recent years, the data obtained in clinical studies demonstrated that the SEPT9 gene methylation assay has a good diagnostic performance with regard to both sensitivity and specificity with the advantage of better acceptability, convenience and compliance with serological testing compared with fecal occult blood tests and carcinoembryonic antigen for colorectal cancer (CRC). Furthermore, the combination of multiple methods or markers has become a growing trend for CRC detection and screening. Nevertheless, the clinical availability of the methylated SEPT9 assay is still limited because of the large degree of sample heterogeneity caused by demographic characteristics, pathological features, comorbidities and/or technique selection. Another factor is the cost-effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening strategies that hinders its large-scale application. In addition, improvements in its accuracy in detecting adenomas and premalignant polyps are required. PMID:29375744

Corrosion detection in steel-reinforced concrete using a spectroscopic technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garboczi, E. J.; Stutzman, P. E.; Wang, S.; Martys, N. S.; Hassan, A. M.; Duthinh, D.; Provenzano, V.; Chou, S. G.; Plusquellic, D. F.; Surek, J. T.; Kim, S.; McMichael, R. D.; Stiles, M. D.

2014-02-01

Detecting the early corrosion of steel that is embedded in reinforced concrete (rebar) is a goal that would greatly facilitate the inspection and measurement of corrosion in the US physical infrastructure. Since 2010, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been working on a large project to develop an electromagnetic (EM) probe that detects the specific corrosion products via spectroscopic means. Several principal iron corrosion products, such as hematite and goethite, are antiferromagnetic at field temperatures. At a given applied EM frequency, which depends on temperature, these compounds undergo a unique absorption resonance that identifies the presence of these particular iron corrosion products. The frequency of the resonances tends to be on the order of 100 GHz or higher, so transmitting EM waves through the cover concrete and back out again at a detectable level has been challenging. NIST has successfully detected these two iron corrosion products, and is developing equipment and methodologies that will be capable of penetrating the typical 50 mm of cover concrete in the field. The novel part of this project is the detection of specific compounds, rather than only geometrical changes in rebar cross-section. This method has the potential of providing an early-corrosion probe for steel in reinforced concrete, and for other applications where steel is covered by various layers and coatings.

[Value of narrow band imaging endoscopy in detection of early laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma].

PubMed

Staníková, L; Kučová, H; Walderová, R; Zeleník, K; Šatanková, J; Komínek, P

2015-01-01

Narrow band imaging (NBI) is an endoscopic method using filtered wavelengths in detection of microvascular abnormalities associated with preneoplastic and neoplastic changes of the mucosa. The aim of the study is to evaluate the value of NBI endoscopy in the dia-gnosis of laryngeal precancerous and early stages of cancerous lesions and to investigate impact of NBI method in prehistological diagnostics in vivo. One hundred patients were enrolled in the study and their larynx was investigated using white light HD endoscopy and narrow band imaging between 6/ 2013- 10/ 2014. Indication criteria included chronic laryngitis, hoarseness for more than three weeks or macroscopic laryngeal lesion. Features of mucosal lesions were evaluated by white light endoscopy and afterwards were compared with intra-epithelial papillary capillary loop changes, viewed using NBI endoscopy. Suspicious lesions (leukoplakia, exophytic tumors, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis and/ or malignant type of vascular network by NBI endoscopy) were evaluated by histological analysis, results were compared with prehistological NBI dia-gnosis. Using NBI endoscopy, larger demarcation of pathological mucosal features than in white light visualization were recorded in 32/ 100 (32.0%) lesions, in 4/ 100 (4.0%) cases even new lesions were detected only by NBI endoscopy. 63/ 100 (63.0%) suspected lesions were evaluated histologically -  malign changes (carcinoma in situ or invasive carcinoma) were observed in 25/ 63 (39.7%). Prehistological diagnostics of malignant lesions using NBI endoscopy were in agreement with results of histological examination in 23/ 25 (92.0%) cases. The sensitivity of NBI in detecting malignant lesions was 89.3%, specificity of this method was 94.9%. NBI endoscopy is a promising optical technique enabling in vivo differentiation of superficial neoplastic lesions. These results suggest endoscopic NBI may be useful in the early detection of laryngeal cancer and precancerous

From Pacemaker to Wearable: Techniques for ECG Detection Systems.

PubMed

Kumar, Ashish; Komaragiri, Rama; Kumar, Manjeet

2018-01-11

With the alarming rise in the deaths due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD), present medical research scenario places notable importance on techniques and methods to detect CVDs. As adduced by world health organization, technological proceeds in the field of cardiac function assessment have become the nucleus and heart of all leading research studies in CVDs in which electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis is the most functional and convenient tool used to test the range of heart-related irregularities. Most of the approaches present in the literature of ECG signal analysis consider noise removal, rhythm-based analysis, and heartbeat detection to improve the performance of a cardiac pacemaker. Advancements achieved in the field of ECG segments detection and beat classification have a limited evaluation and still require clinical approvals. In this paper, approaches on techniques to implement on-chip ECG detector for a cardiac pacemaker system are discussed. Moreover, different challenges regarding the ECG signal morphology analysis deriving from medical literature is extensively reviewed. It is found that robustness to noise, wavelet parameter choice, numerical efficiency, and detection performance are essential performance indicators required by a state-of-the-art ECG detector. Furthermore, many algorithms described in the existing literature are not verified using ECG data from the standard databases. Some ECG detection algorithms show very high detection performance with the total number of detected QRS complexes. However, the high detection performance of the algorithm is verified using only a few datasets. Finally, gaps in current advancements and testing are identified, and the primary challenge remains to be implementing bullseye test for morphology analysis evaluation.

The use of cell cycle arrest biomarkers in the early detection of acute kidney injury. Is this the new renal troponin?

PubMed

Ortega, Luis M; Heung, Michael

2018-04-05

Acute kidney injury (AKI) has a high prevalence in critical care patients. Early detection might prevent patients from developing chronic kidney disease and requirement for renal replacement therapy. If we compare AKI with acute coronary syndrome, in which an increase in cardiac troponin may trigger early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention, we could extrapolate a similar technique in patients with early AKI without changes in urinary frequency or serum creatinine. The objective is to identify biomarker-positive, creatinine-negative patients that would allow therapeutic interventions to be initiated before finding changes in serum creatinine, preventing kidney damage. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 are cell cycle arrest biomarkers that have demonstrated, in recent clinical trials, to have good sensitivity and specificity for early detection of AKI. Other recent studies have shown that the joint use of these biomarkers with serum creatinine and urine production could improve the prognosis of AKI in critical patients. The application of these biomarkers in clinical practice would enable the early identification of patients at risk of AKI, establishing interventions that would improve the survival of renal function. Copyright © 2017 Sociedad Española de Nefrología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Early detection of materials degradation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyendorf, Norbert

2017-02-01

Lightweight components for transportation and aerospace applications are designed for an estimated lifecycle, taking expected mechanical and environmental loads into account. The main reason for catastrophic failure of components within the expected lifecycle are material inhomogeneities, like pores and inclusions as origin for fatigue cracks, that have not been detected by NDE. However, material degradation by designed or unexpected loading conditions or environmental impacts can accelerate the crack initiation or growth. Conventional NDE methods are usually able to detect cracks that are formed at the end of the degradation process, but methods for early detection of fatigue, creep, and corrosion are still a matter of research. For conventional materials ultrasonic, electromagnetic, or thermographic methods have been demonstrated as promising. Other approaches are focused to surface damage by using optical methods or characterization of the residual surface stresses that can significantly affect the creation of fatigue cracks. For conventional metallic materials, material models for nucleation and propagation of damage have been successfully applied for several years. Material microstructure/property relations are well established and the effect of loading conditions on the component life can be simulated. For advanced materials, for example carbon matrix composites or ceramic matrix composites, the processes of nucleation and propagation of damage is still not fully understood. For these materials NDE methods can not only be used for the periodic inspections, but can significantly contribute to the material scientific knowledge to understand and model the behavior of composite materials.

Development of an assisting detection system for early infarct diagnosis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sim, K. S.; Nia, M. E.; Ee, C. S.

2015-04-24

In this paper, a detection assisting system for early infarct detection is developed. This new developed method is used to assist the medical practitioners to diagnose infarct from computed tomography images of brain. Using this assisting system, the infarct could be diagnosed at earlier stages. The non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) brain images are the data set used for this system. Detection module extracts the pixel data from NCCT brain images, and produces the colourized version of images. The proposed method showed great potential in detecting infarct, and helps medical practitioners to make earlier and better diagnoses.

A Simple Ultrasonic Experiment Using a Phase Shift Detection Technique.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yunus, W. Mahmood Mat; Ahmad, Maulana

1996-01-01

Describes a simple ultrasonic experiment that can be used to measure the purity of liquid samples by detecting variations in the velocity of sound. Uses a phase shift detection technique that incorporates the use of logic gates and a piezoelectric transducer. (JRH)

Underwater Turbulence Detection Using Gated Wavefront Sensing Technique

PubMed Central

Bi, Ying; Xu, Xiping; Chow, Eddy Mun Tik

2018-01-01

Laser sensing has been applied in various underwater applications, ranging from underwater detection to laser underwater communications. However, there are several great challenges when profiling underwater turbulence effects. Underwater detection is greatly affected by the turbulence effect, where the acquired image suffers excessive noise, blurring, and deformation. In this paper, we propose a novel underwater turbulence detection method based on a gated wavefront sensing technique. First, we elaborate on the operating principle of gated wavefront sensing and wavefront reconstruction. We then setup an experimental system in order to validate the feasibility of our proposed method. The effect of underwater turbulence on detection is examined at different distances, and under different turbulence levels. The experimental results obtained from our gated wavefront sensing system indicate that underwater turbulence can be detected and analyzed. The proposed gated wavefront sensing system has the advantage of a simple structure and high detection efficiency for underwater environments. PMID:29518889

Multi-disciplinary team for early gastric cancer diagnosis improves the detection rate of early gastric cancer.

PubMed

Di, Lianjun; Wu, Huichao; Zhu, Rong; Li, Youfeng; Wu, Xinglong; Xie, Rui; Li, Hongping; Wang, Haibo; Zhang, Hua; Xiao, Hong; Chen, Hui; Zhen, Hong; Zhao, Kui; Yang, Xuefeng; Xie, Ming; Tuo, Bigung

2017-12-06

Gastric cancer is a frequent malignant tumor worldwide and its early detection is crucial for curing the disease and enhancing patients' survival rate. This study aimed to assess whether the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) can improve the detection rate of early gastric cancer (EGC). The detection rate of EGC at the Digestive Endoscopy Center, Affiliated Hospital, Zunyi Medical College, China between September 2013 and September 2015 was analyzed. MDT for the diagnosis of EGC in the hospital was established in September 2014. The study was divided into 2 time periods: September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2014 (period 1) and September 1, 2014 to September 1, 2015 (period 2). A total of 60,800 patients' gastroscopies were performed during the two years. 61 of these patients (0.1%) were diagnosed as EGC, accounting for 16.44% (61/371) of total patients with gastric cancer. The EGC detection rate before MDT (period 1) was 0.05% (16/29403), accounting for 9.09% (16/176) of total patients with gastric cancer during this period. In comparison, the EGC detection rate during MDT (period 2) was 0.15% (45/31397), accounting for 23% (45/195) of total patients with gastric cancer during this period (P < 0.05). Univariate and multivariate logistic analyses showed that intensive gastroscopy for high risk patients of gastric cancer enhanced the detection rate of EGC in cooperation with Department of Pathology (OR = 10.1, 95% CI 2.39-43.3, P < 0.05). MDT could improve the endoscopic detection rate of EGC.

Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer: The Role of Industry in the Development of Biomarkers.

PubMed

Kenner, Barbara J; Go, Vay Liang W; Chari, Suresh T; Goldberg, Ann E; Rothschild, Laura J

A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is devastating owing to its poor prognosis, with a 5-year survival rate of only 9%. Currently, most individuals are diagnosed at a late stage when treatment options are limited. Early detection of pancreatic cancer provides the greatest hope for making substantial improvements in survival. The Kenner Family Research Fund in partnership with the American Pancreatic Association has sponsored a series of fora to stimulate discussion and collaboration on early detection of pancreatic cancer. At the first forum in 2014, "Early Detection of Sporadic Pancreatic Cancer Summit Conference," a strategic plan was set forth by an international group of interdisciplinary scientific representatives and subsequently The Strategic Map for Innovation was generated. The current conference report is the third forum in the series, "Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer: The Role of Industry in the Development of Biomarkers," which was held in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 27, 2016. This report provides an overview of examples of innovative initiatives by industry and confirms the critical need for collaboration among industry, government, research institutions, and advocacy groups in order to make pancreatic cancer more easily detectable in its earlier stages, when it is more treatable.

Application of fluorescently labeled tracer technique for detection of natural active macromolecules in Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Zeng, Qiao-Hui; Zhang, Xue-Wu; Xu, Kai-Peng; Jiang, Jian-Guo

2014-02-01

Active substances in traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) contain not only a variety of small molecules, but also many other macromolecules (TCMMs), such as proteins, peptides and polysaccharides. Active TCMM can achieve good therapeutic effects by regulating the body's overall function with lower side effects. This review summarized the literatures published in recent years on the application of fluorescently labeled tracer technique for detection of natural active macromolecules in TCM. Classified by fluorescent markers, applications of fluorescein, rhodamine, and quantum dots (QDs) in TCMM active tracer are reviewed, and the methods and principles of TCMM fluorescent marker are illustrated. Studies on active TCMMs and their action mechanism are quite difficult due to a multitarget, multicomponent, and multipath system of TCM. However, the development of fluorescently labeled active tracer technique (FLATT) provides this research with new tools. Traditional fluorescent markers have many deficiencies, such as easily quenched, short luminous cycle, and intrinsic toxicity. Relatively, FLATT has many obvious advantages, and its application in TCMM is still at the early stage. In order to improve the overall level of fluorescence labeling in TCMM active tracer, the improvement on FLATT's detection sensitivity and biological affinity is urgent and critical to allow study of these interesting molecules.

Towards BirthAlert—A Clinical Device Intended for Early Preterm Birth Detection

PubMed Central

Etemadi, Mozziyar; Chung, Philip; Heller, J. Alex; Liu, Jonathan A.; Rand, Larry; Roy, Shuvo

2015-01-01

Preterm birth causes 1 million infant deaths worldwide every year, making it the leading cause of infant mortality. Existing diagnostic tests such as transvaginal ultrasound or fetal fibronectin either cannot determine if preterm birth will occur in the future or can only predict the occurrence once cervical shortening has begun, at which point it is too late to reverse the accelerated parturition process. Using iterative and rapid prototyping techniques, we have developed an intravaginal proof-of-concept device that measures both cervical bioimpedance and cervical fluorescence to characterize microstructural changes in a pregnant woman's cervix in hopes of detecting preterm birth before macroscopic changes manifest in the tissue. If successful, such an early alert during this “silent phase” of the preterm birth syndrome may open a new window of opportunity for interventions that may reverse and avoid preterm birth altogether. PMID:23893706

Implementation of predictive data mining techniques for identifying risk factors of early AVF failure in hemodialysis patients.

PubMed

Rezapour, Mohammad; Khavanin Zadeh, Morteza; Sepehri, Mohammad Mehdi

2013-01-01

Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is an important vascular access for hemodialysis (HD) treatment but has 20-60% rate of early failure. Detecting association between patient's parameters and early AVF failure is important for reducing its prevalence and relevant costs. Also predicting incidence of this complication in new patients is a beneficial controlling procedure. Patient safety and preservation of early AVF failure is the ultimate goal. Our research society is Hasheminejad Kidney Center (HKC) of Tehran, which is one of Iran's largest renal hospitals. We analyzed data of 193 HD patients using supervised techniques of data mining approach. There were 137 male (70.98%) and 56 female (29.02%) patients introduced into this study. The average of age for all the patients was 53.87 ± 17.47 years. Twenty eight patients had smoked and the number of diabetic patients and nondiabetics was 87 and 106, respectively. A significant relationship was found between "diabetes mellitus," "smoking," and "hypertension" with early AVF failure in this study. We have found that these mentioned risk factors have important roles in outcome of vascular surgery, versus other parameters such as "age." Then we predicted this complication in future AVF surgeries and evaluated our designed prediction methods with accuracy rates of 61.66%-75.13%.

Applications in Bioastronautics and Bioinformatics: Early Radiation Cataracts Detected by Noninvasive, Quantitative, and Remote Means

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ansari, Rafat R.; King, James F.; Giblin, Frank J.

2000-01-01

Human exploration of Mars is a key goal in NASA's exploration planning in the next 20 years. Maintaining crew health and good vision is certainly an important aspect of achieving a successful mission. Continuous radiation exposure is a risk factor for radiation-induced cataracts in astronauts because radiation exposure in space travel has the potential of accelerating the aging process (ref. 1). A patented compact device (ref. 2) based on the technique of dynamic light scattering (DLS) was designed for monitoring an astronaut's ocular health during long-duration space travel. This capability of early diagnosis, unmatched by any other clinical technique in use today, may enable prompt initiation of preventive/curative therapy. An Internet web-based system integrating photon correlation data and controlling the hardware to monitor cataract development in vivo at a remote site in real time (teleophthalmology) is currently being developed. The new technology detects cataracts very early (at the molecular level). Cataract studies onboard the International Space Station will be helpful in quantifying any adverse effect of radiation to ocular health. The normal lens in a human eye, situated behind the cornea, is a transparent tissue. It contains 35 wt % protein and 65 wt % water. Aging, disease (e.g., diabetes), smoking, dehydration, malnutrition, and exposure to ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation can cause agglomeration of the lens proteins. Protein aggregation can take place anywhere in the lens, causing lens opacity. The aggregation and opacification could produce nuclear (central portion of the lens) or cortical (peripheral) cataracts. Nuclear and posterior subcapsular (the membrane's capsule surrounds the whole lens) cataracts, being on the visual optical axis of the eye, cause visual impairment that can finally lead to blindness. The lens proteins, in their native state, are small in size. As a cataract develops, this size grows from a few nanometers

Detection and Proportion of Very Early Dental Caries in Independent Living Older Adults

PubMed Central

Holtzman, Jennifer S.; Kohanchi, Daniel; Biren-Fetz, John; Fontana, Margherita; Ramchandani, Manisha; Osann, Kathryn; Hallajian, Lucy; Mansour, Stephanie; Nabelsi, Tasneem; Chung, Na Eun; Wilder-Smith, Petra

2015-01-01

Background and Objectives Dental caries is an important healthcare challenge in adults over 65 years of age. Integration of oral health screening into non-dental primary care practice may improve access to preventive dental care for vulnerable populations such as the elderly. Such integration would require easy, fast, and accurate early caries detection tools. Primary goal of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging for detecting very early caries in the elderly living in community-based settings. The International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) served as gold standard. Secondary goal of this study was to provide baseline prevalence data of very early caries lesions in independent living adults aged 65+ years. Materials and Methods Seventy-two subjects were recruited from three sites in Southern California: a retirement community, a senior health fair, and a convalescent hospital. Clinical examination was performed using the ICDAS visual criteria and this was followed by OCT imaging. The two-dimensional OCT images (B-scan) were analyzed with simple software. Locations with a log of back-scattered light intensity (BSLI) below 2.9 were scored as sound, and areas equaling or exceeding 2.9 BSLI were considered carious. Diagnostic performance of OCT imaging was compared with ICDAS score. Results OCT-based diagnosis demonstrated very good sensitivity (95.1%) and good specificity (85.8%). 54.7% of dentate subjects had at least one tooth with very early coronal caries. Conclusions Early coronal decay is prevalent in the unrestored pits and fissures of coronal surfaces of teeth in independent living adults aged 65+ years. Though OCT imaging coupled with a simple diagnostic algorithm can accurately detect areas of very early caries in community-based settings, existing devices are expensive and not well-suited for use by non-dental health care providers. Simple, inexpensive, fast, and accurate tools

Laser ultrasonic techniques for assessment of tooth structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blodgett, David W.; Baldwin, Kevin C.

2000-06-01

Dental health care and research workers require a means of imaging the structures within teeth in vivo. For example, there is a need to image the margins of a restoration for the detection of poor bonding or voids between the restorative material and the dentin. With conventional x-ray techniques, it is difficult to detect cracks and to visualize interfaces between hard media. This due to the x-ray providing only a 2 dimensional projection of the internal structure (i.e. a silhouette). In addition, a high resolution imaging modality is needed to detect tooth decay in its early stages. If decay can be detected early enough, the process can be monitored and interventional procedures, such as fluoride washes and controlled diet, can be initiated which can help the tooth to re-mineralize itself. Currently employed x-ray imaging is incapable of detecting decay at a stage early enough to avoid invasive cavity preparation followed by a restoration with a synthetic material. Other clinical applications include the visualization of periodontal defects, the localization of intraosseous lesions, and determining the degree of osseointegration between a dental implant and the surrounding bone. A means of assessing the internal structure of the tooth based upon use of high frequency, highly localized ultrasound (acoustic waves) generated by a laser pulse is discussed. Optical interferometric detection of ultrasound provides a complementary technique with a very small detection footprint. Initial results using laser-based ultrasound for assessment of dental structures are presented. Discussion will center on the adaptability of this technique to clinical applications.

Real-Time Detection of Rupture Development: Earthquake Early Warning Using P Waves From Growing Ruptures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kodera, Yuki

2018-01-01

Large earthquakes with long rupture durations emit P wave energy throughout the rupture period. Incorporating late-onset P waves into earthquake early warning (EEW) algorithms could contribute to robust predictions of strong ground motion. Here I describe a technique to detect in real time P waves from growing ruptures to improve the timeliness of an EEW algorithm based on seismic wavefield estimation. The proposed P wave detector, which employs a simple polarization analysis, successfully detected P waves from strong motion generation areas of the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku-oki earthquake rupture. An analysis using 23 large (M ≥ 7) events from Japan confirmed that seismic intensity predictions based on the P wave detector significantly increased lead times without appreciably decreasing the prediction accuracy. P waves from growing ruptures, being one of the fastest carriers of information on ongoing rupture development, have the potential to improve the performance of EEW systems.

Quality of breast cancer early detection services conducted by well woman clinics in the district of Gampaha, Sri Lanka.

PubMed

Vithana, Palatiyana Vithanage Sajeewanie Chiranthika; Ariyaratne, May; Jayawardana, Pl

2013-01-01

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in females in Sri Lanka and early detection can lead to reduction in morbidity and mortality. To evaluate selected aspects of breast cancer early detection services implemented through well woman clinics (WWCs) in the Gampaha District. The study consisted of two components. A retrospective descriptive arm assessed clinical breast examination (CBE) coverage of target age group women (TGW) of 35-59 years in all the WWCs in Gampaha district over 2003- 2007. A cross sectional descriptive study additionally assessed quality of breast cancer early detection services. The Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) technique was used to decide on the lot size and threshold values, which were computed as twenty and six clinics. Checklists were employed in assessing coverage, physical facilities and clinic activities. Client satisfaction on WWC services was assessed among 200 TGW attending 20 WWCs using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. CBE coverage in the Gampaha district increased only from 1.1-2.2% over 2003-2007. With regard to physical facilities, the number of clinics that were rated substandard varied between 7-18 (35- 90%). The items that were lacking included dust bins, notice boards, stationary, furniture and linen, and cleanliness of outside premises and toilets. With regard to clinic activities, punctuality of staff, late commencement of clinics, provision of health education, supervision, CBE and breast self-examination (BSE) were substandard in 7- 20 clinics (35-100%). Client satisfaction for WWC services was 45.2% (IQR: 38.7-54.8%) and only 11% had a score of ≥70%, the cut off set for satisfaction. Breast cancer early detection service coverage in the Gampaha district remained low (2.2%) in 2007, 11 years after commencing WWCs. All 20 clinics were substandard for overall CBE and BSE.

Advanced Doppler radar physiological sensing technique for drone detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Ji Hwan; Xu, Hao; Garcia Carrillo, Luis R.

2017-05-01

A 24 GHz medium-range human detecting sensor, using the Doppler Radar Physiological Sensing (DRPS) technique, which can also detect unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones), is currently under development for potential rescue and anti-drone applications. DRPS systems are specifically designed to remotely monitor small movements of non-metallic human tissues such as cardiopulmonary activity and respiration. Once optimized, the unique capabilities of DRPS could be used to detect UAVs. Initial measurements have shown that DRPS technology is able to detect moving and stationary humans, as well as largely non-metallic multi-rotor drone helicopters. Further data processing will incorporate pattern recognition to detect multiple signatures (motor vibration and hovering patterns) of UAVs.

Genetics and Early Detection in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

PubMed Central

Putman, Rachel K.; Rosas, Ivan O.

2014-01-01

Genetic studies hold promise in helping to identify patients with early idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Recent studies using chest computed tomograms (CTs) in smokers and in the general population have demonstrated that imaging abnormalities suggestive of an early stage of pulmonary fibrosis are not uncommon and are associated with respiratory symptoms, physical examination abnormalities, and physiologic decrements expected, but less severe than those noted in patients with IPF. Similarly, recent genetic studies have demonstrated strong and replicable associations between a common promoter polymorphism in the mucin 5B gene (MUC5B) and both IPF and the presence of abnormal imaging findings in the general population. Despite these findings, it is important to note that the definition of early-stage IPF remains unclear, limited data exist to definitively connect abnormal imaging findings to IPF, and genetic studies assessing early-stage pulmonary fibrosis remain in their infancy. In this perspective we provide updated information on interstitial lung abnormalities and their connection to IPF. We summarize information on the genetics of pulmonary fibrosis by focusing on the recent genetic findings of MUC5B. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings and suggest a roadmap for the use of genetics in the detection of early IPF. PMID:24547893

A Multi-object Exoplanet Detecting Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, K.

2011-05-01

Exoplanet exploration is not only a meaningful astronomical action, but also has a close relation with the extra-terrestrial life. High resolution echelle spectrograph is the key instrument for measuring stellar radial velocity (RV). But with higher precision, better environmental stability and higher cost are required. An improved technique of RV means invented by David J. Erskine in 1997, External Dispersed Interferometry (EDI), can increase the RV measuring precision by combining the moderate resolution spectrograph with a fixed-delay Michelson interferometer. LAMOST with large aperture and large field of view is equipped with 16 multi-object low resolution fiber spectrographs. And these spectrographs are capable to work in medium resolution mode (R=5{K}˜10{K}). LAMOST will be one of the most powerful exoplanet detecting systems over the world by introducing EDI technique. The EDI technique is a new technique for developing astronomical instrumentation in China. The operating theory of EDI was generally verified by a feasibility experiment done in 2009. And then a multi-object exoplanet survey system based on LAMOST spectrograph was proposed. According to this project, three important tasks have been done as follows: Firstly, a simulation of EDI operating theory contains the stellar spectrum model, interferometer transmission model, spectrograph mediation model and RV solution model. In order to meet the practical situation, two detecting modes, temporal and spatial phase-stepping methods, are separately simulated. The interference spectrum is analyzed with Fourier transform algorithm and a higher resolution conventional spectrum is resolved. Secondly, an EDI prototype is composed of a multi-object interferometer prototype and the LAMOST spectrograph. Some ideas are used in the design to reduce the effect of central obscuration, for example, modular structure and external/internal adjusting frames. Another feasibility experiment was done at Xinglong Station in

Machine Learning Techniques for the Detection of Shockable Rhythms in Automated External Defibrillators

PubMed Central

Irusta, Unai; Morgado, Eduardo; Aramendi, Elisabete; Ayala, Unai; Wik, Lars; Kramer-Johansen, Jo; Eftestøl, Trygve; Alonso-Atienza, Felipe

2016-01-01

Early recognition of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and electrical therapy are key for the survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients treated with automated external defibrillators (AED). AED algorithms for VF-detection are customarily assessed using Holter recordings from public electrocardiogram (ECG) databases, which may be different from the ECG seen during OHCA events. This study evaluates VF-detection using data from both OHCA patients and public Holter recordings. ECG-segments of 4-s and 8-s duration were analyzed. For each segment 30 features were computed and fed to state of the art machine learning (ML) algorithms. ML-algorithms with built-in feature selection capabilities were used to determine the optimal feature subsets for both databases. Patient-wise bootstrap techniques were used to evaluate algorithm performance in terms of sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp) and balanced error rate (BER). Performance was significantly better for public data with a mean Se of 96.6%, Sp of 98.8% and BER 2.2% compared to a mean Se of 94.7%, Sp of 96.5% and BER 4.4% for OHCA data. OHCA data required two times more features than the data from public databases for an accurate detection (6 vs 3). No significant differences in performance were found for different segment lengths, the BER differences were below 0.5-points in all cases. Our results show that VF-detection is more challenging for OHCA data than for data from public databases, and that accurate VF-detection is possible with segments as short as 4-s. PMID:27441719

Machine Learning Techniques for the Detection of Shockable Rhythms in Automated External Defibrillators.

PubMed

Figuera, Carlos; Irusta, Unai; Morgado, Eduardo; Aramendi, Elisabete; Ayala, Unai; Wik, Lars; Kramer-Johansen, Jo; Eftestøl, Trygve; Alonso-Atienza, Felipe

2016-01-01

Early recognition of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and electrical therapy are key for the survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients treated with automated external defibrillators (AED). AED algorithms for VF-detection are customarily assessed using Holter recordings from public electrocardiogram (ECG) databases, which may be different from the ECG seen during OHCA events. This study evaluates VF-detection using data from both OHCA patients and public Holter recordings. ECG-segments of 4-s and 8-s duration were analyzed. For each segment 30 features were computed and fed to state of the art machine learning (ML) algorithms. ML-algorithms with built-in feature selection capabilities were used to determine the optimal feature subsets for both databases. Patient-wise bootstrap techniques were used to evaluate algorithm performance in terms of sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp) and balanced error rate (BER). Performance was significantly better for public data with a mean Se of 96.6%, Sp of 98.8% and BER 2.2% compared to a mean Se of 94.7%, Sp of 96.5% and BER 4.4% for OHCA data. OHCA data required two times more features than the data from public databases for an accurate detection (6 vs 3). No significant differences in performance were found for different segment lengths, the BER differences were below 0.5-points in all cases. Our results show that VF-detection is more challenging for OHCA data than for data from public databases, and that accurate VF-detection is possible with segments as short as 4-s.

A novel double recognition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay based on the nucleocapsid protein for early detection of European porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection.

PubMed

Venteo, A; Rebollo, B; Sarraseca, J; Rodriguez, M J; Sanz, A

2012-04-01

Precise and rapid detection of porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection in swine farms is critical. Improvement of control procedures, such as testing incoming gilt and surveillance of seronegative herds requires more rapid and sensitive methods. However, standard serological techniques detect mainly IgG antibodies. A double recognition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DR-ELISA) was developed for detection of antibodies specific to European PRRSV. This new assay can recognize both IgM and IgG antibodies to PRSSV which might be useful for detecting in routine surveillance assays pigs that are in the very early stages of infection and missed by conventional assays detecting only IgG antibodies. DR-ELISA is based on the double recognition of antigen by antibody. In this study, the recombinant nucleocapsid protein (N) of PRRSV was used both as the coating and the enzyme-conjugated antigen. To evaluate the sensitivity of the assay at early stages of the infection, sera from 69 pigs infected with PRRSV were collected during successive days post infection (pi) and tested. While standard methods showed low sensitivity rates before day 14 pi, DR-ELISA detected 88.4% seropositive samples at day 7 showing greater sensitivity at early stages of the infection. Further studies were carried out to assess the efficiency of the new assay, and the results showed DR-ELISA to be a sensitive and accurate method for early diagnosis of EU-PRRSV infection. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A passive infrared ice detection technique for helicopter applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dershowitz, Adam L.; Hansman, R. John, Jr.

1991-01-01

A technique has been developed, and successfully tested, to detect icing remotely on helicopter rotor blades. Using passive infrared (IR) thermometry it is possible to detect the warming caused by latent heat released as supercooled water freezes. During icing, the ice accretion region on the leading edge of the blade is found to be warmer than the uniced trailing edge resulting in a chordwise temperature profile characteristic of icing. Preliminary tests, using an IR Thermal video system, were conducted on a static model in the NASA Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) for a variety of wet (glaze) and dry (rime) ice conditions. A prototype detector system was built consisting of a single point IR pyrometer, and experiments were run on a small scale rotor model. Using this prototype detector, the characteristic chordwise temperature profiles were again observed for a range of icing conditions. Several signal processing methods were investigated, to allow automatic recognition of the icing signature. Additionally, several implementation issues were considered. Based on both the static and subscale rotor tests, where ice was successfully detected, the passive IR technique appears to be promising for rotor ice detection.

Reactive impinging-flow technique for polymer-electrolyte-fuel-cell electrode-defect detection

DOE PAGES

Zenyuk, Iryna V.; Englund, Nicholas; Bender, Guido; ...

2016-09-29

Reactive impinging flow (RIF) is a novel quality-control method for defect detection (i.e., reduction in Pt catalyst loading) in gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs) on weblines. The technique uses infrared thermography to detect temperature of a nonflammable (<4% H 2) reactive mixture of H 2/O 2 in N 2 impinging and reacting on a Pt catalytic surface. In this article, different GDE size defects (with catalyst-loading reductions of 25, 50, and 100%) are detected at various webline speeds (3.048 and 9.144 m min -1) and gas flowrates (32.5 or 50 standard L min -1). Furthermore, a model is developed and validated formore » the technique, and it is subsequently used to optimize operating conditions and explore the applicability of the technique to a range of defects. The model suggests that increased detection can be achieved by recting more of the impinging H 2, which can be accomplished by placing blocking substrates on the top, bottom, or both of the GDE; placing a substrate on both results in a factor of four increase in the temperature differential, which is needed for smaller defect detection. Lastly, overall, the RIF technique is shown to be a promising route for in-line, high-speed, large-area detection of GDE defects on moving weblines.« less

A Novel Arc Fault Detector for Early Detection of Electrical Fires

PubMed Central

Yang, Kai; Zhang, Rencheng; Yang, Jianhong; Liu, Canhua; Chen, Shouhong; Zhang, Fujiang

2016-01-01

Arc faults can produce very high temperatures and can easily ignite combustible materials; thus, they represent one of the most important causes of electrical fires. The application of arc fault detection, as an emerging early fire detection technology, is required by the National Electrical Code to reduce the occurrence of electrical fires. However, the concealment, randomness and diversity of arc faults make them difficult to detect. To improve the accuracy of arc fault detection, a novel arc fault detector (AFD) is developed in this study. First, an experimental arc fault platform is built to study electrical fires. A high-frequency transducer and a current transducer are used to measure typical load signals of arc faults and normal states. After the common features of these signals are studied, high-frequency energy and current variations are extracted as an input eigenvector for use by an arc fault detection algorithm. Then, the detection algorithm based on a weighted least squares support vector machine is designed and successfully applied in a microprocessor. Finally, an AFD is developed. The test results show that the AFD can detect arc faults in a timely manner and interrupt the circuit power supply before electrical fires can occur. The AFD is not influenced by cross talk or transient processes, and the detection accuracy is very high. Hence, the AFD can be installed in low-voltage circuits to monitor circuit states in real-time to facilitate the early detection of electrical fires. PMID:27070618

Improving early detection initiatives: a qualitative study exploring perspectives of older people and professionals.

PubMed

Lette, Manon; Stoop, Annerieke; Lemmens, Lidwien C; Buist, Yvette; Baan, Caroline A; de Bruin, Simone R

2017-06-23

A wide range of initiatives on early detection and intervention have been developed to proactively identify problems related to health and wellbeing in (frail) older people, with the aim of supporting them to live independently for as long as possible. Nevertheless, it remains unclear what the best way is to design such initiatives and how older people's needs and preferences can be best addressed. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature by exploring: 1) older people's perspectives on health and living environment in relation to living independently at home; 2) older people's needs and preferences in relation to initiating and receiving care and support; and 3) professionals' views on what would be necessary to enable the alignment of early detection initiatives with older people's own needs and preferences. In this qualitative study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 36 older people and 19 professionals in proactive elderly care. Data were analysed using the framework analysis method. From the interviews with older people important themes in relation to health and living environment emerged, such as maintaining independence, appropriate housing, social relationships, a supporting network and a sense of purpose and autonomy. Older people preferred to remain self-sufficient, and they would rather not ask for help for psychological or social problems. However, the interviews also highlighted that they were not always able or willing to anticipate future needs, which can hinder early detection or early intervention. At the same time, professionals indicated that older people tend to over-estimate their self-reliance and therefore advocated for early detection and intervention, including social and psychological issues. Older people have a broad range of needs in different domains of life. Discrepancies exist between older people and professionals with regard to their views on timing and scope of early detection initiatives. This study aimed

A high-sensitivity optical device for the early monitoring of plant pathogen attack via the in vivo detection of ROS bursts

PubMed Central

Zeng, Lizhang; Zhou, Jun; Li, Bo; Xing, Da

2015-01-01

Biotic stressors, especially pathogenic microorganisms, are rather difficult to detect. In plants, one of the earliest cellular responses following pathogen infection is the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, a novel optical device for the early monitoring of Pseudomonas attack was developed; this device measures the ROS level via oxidation-sensitive 2′, 7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA)-mediated fluorescence, which could provide early monitoring of attacks by a range of plant pathogen; ROS bursts were detected in vivo in Arabidopsis thaliana with higher sensitivity and accuracy than those of a commercial luminescence spectrophotometer. Additionally, the DCF fluorescence truly reflected early changes in the ROS level, as indicated by an evaluation of the H2O2 content and the tight association between the ROS and Pseudomonas concentration. Moreover, compared with traditional methods for detecting plant pathogen attacks based on physiological and biochemical measurements, our proposed technique also offers significant advantages, such as low cost, simplicity, convenient operation and quick turnaround. These results therefore suggest that the proposed optical device could be useful for the rapid monitoring of attacks by plant pathogen and yield results considerably earlier than the appearance of visual changes in plant morphology or growth. PMID:25767474

Catalyzing Novel Approaches to Rapid, Accurate, and Affordable Early Cancer Detection.

PubMed

Dhar, Asif; Meagher, Beth; Ryscavage, Andrew

Inspired by the Cancer Moonshot, a dedicated team of professionals worked with leaders across the cancer ecosystem to look for an opportunity to radically reduce cancer mortality globally by focusing on early cancer detection. After an initial survey of cancer innovation, progress, and pitfalls, the team believed that if new rapid, affordable, and accurate early detection solutions were appropriately brought to market, it would be possible to intervene earlier when cancer is most treatable.An extensive process began, informed by dozens of experts in the cancer ecosystem. The Cancer XPRIZE team designed a prize competition where "the winning team will develop a means to rapidly, accurately, and affordably screen for early cancers where intervention can reduce human suffering."The following outlines the Cancer XPRIZE's experience using a powerful approach-the radical prize design-to catch more cancers in time to make a difference saving lives, dollars, and suffering.

A Context-Aware EEG Headset System for Early Detection of Driver Drowsiness

PubMed Central

Li, Gang; Chung, Wan-Young

2015-01-01

Driver drowsiness is a major cause of mortality in traffic accidents worldwide. Electroencephalographic (EEG) signal, which reflects the brain activities, is more directly related to drowsiness. Thus, many Brain-Machine-Interface (BMI) systems have been proposed to detect driver drowsiness. However, detecting driver drowsiness at its early stage poses a major practical hurdle when using existing BMI systems. This study proposes a context-aware BMI system aimed to detect driver drowsiness at its early stage by enriching the EEG data with the intensity of head-movements. The proposed system is carefully designed for low-power consumption with on-chip feature extraction and low energy Bluetooth connection. Also, the proposed system is implemented using JAVA programming language as a mobile application for on-line analysis. In total, 266 datasets obtained from six subjects who participated in a one-hour monotonous driving simulation experiment were used to evaluate this system. According to a video-based reference, the proposed system obtained an overall detection accuracy of 82.71% for classifying alert and slightly drowsy events by using EEG data alone and 96.24% by using the hybrid data of head-movement and EEG. These results indicate that the combination of EEG data and head-movement contextual information constitutes a robust solution for the early detection of driver drowsiness. PMID:26308002

Wear Detection of Drill Bit by Image-based Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukeri, Maziyah; Zulhilmi Paiz Ismadi, Mohd; Rahim Othman, Abdul; Kamaruddin, Shahrul

2018-03-01

Image processing for computer vision function plays an essential aspect in the manufacturing industries for the tool condition monitoring. This study proposes a dependable direct measurement method to measure the tool wear using image-based analysis. Segmentation and thresholding technique were used as the means to filter and convert the colour image to binary datasets. Then, the edge detection method was applied to characterize the edge of the drill bit. By using cross-correlation method, the edges of original and worn drill bits were correlated to each other. Cross-correlation graphs were able to detect the difference of the worn edge despite small difference between the graphs. Future development will focus on quantifying the worn profile as well as enhancing the sensitivity of the technique.

Clustering Categorical Data Using Community Detection Techniques

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

With the advent of the k-modes algorithm, the toolbox for clustering categorical data has an efficient tool that scales linearly in the number of data items. However, random initialization of cluster centers in k-modes makes it hard to reach a good clustering without resorting to many trials. Recently proposed methods for better initialization are deterministic and reduce the clustering cost considerably. A variety of initialization methods differ in how the heuristics chooses the set of initial centers. In this paper, we address the clustering problem for categorical data from the perspective of community detection. Instead of initializing k modes and running several iterations, our scheme, CD-Clustering, builds an unweighted graph and detects highly cohesive groups of nodes using a fast community detection technique. The top-k detected communities by size will define the k modes. Evaluation on ten real categorical datasets shows that our method outperforms the existing initialization methods for k-modes in terms of accuracy, precision, and recall in most of the cases. PMID:29430249

The Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer: What Will it Take to Diagnose and Treat Curable Pancreatic Neoplasia?

PubMed Central

Lennon, Anne Marie; Wolfgang, Christopher L.; Canto, Marcia Irene; Klein, Alison P.; Herman, Joseph M.; Goggins, Michael; Fishman, Elliot K.; Kamel, Ihab; Weiss, Matthew J.; Diaz, Luis A.; Papadopoulos, Nickolas; Kinzler, Kenneth W.; Vogelstein, Bert; Hruban, Ralph H.

2014-01-01

Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of all solid malignancies. Early detection offers the best hope for a cure, but characteristics of this disease such as the lack of early clinical symptoms, make the early detection difficult. Recent genetic mapping of the molecular evolution of pancreatic cancer suggests that a large window of opportunity exists for the early detection of pancreatic neoplasia, and developments in cancer genetics offer new, potentially highly specific, approaches for screening for curable pancreatic neoplasia. We review the challenges of screening for early pancreatic neoplasia, as well as opportunities presented by incorporating molecular genetics into these efforts. PMID:24924775

Functionality of empirical model-based predictive analytics for the early detection of hemodynamic instabilty.

PubMed

Summers, Richard L; Pipke, Matt; Wegerich, Stephan; Conkright, Gary; Isom, Kristen C

2014-01-01

Background. Monitoring cardiovascular hemodynamics in the modern clinical setting is a major challenge. Increasing amounts of physiologic data must be analyzed and interpreted in the context of the individual patient’s pathology and inherent biologic variability. Certain data-driven analytical methods are currently being explored for smart monitoring of data streams from patients as a first tier automated detection system for clinical deterioration. As a prelude to human clinical trials, an empirical multivariate machine learning method called Similarity-Based Modeling (“SBM”), was tested in an In Silico experiment using data generated with the aid of a detailed computer simulator of human physiology (Quantitative Circulatory Physiology or “QCP”) which contains complex control systems with realistic integrated feedback loops. Methods. SBM is a kernel-based, multivariate machine learning method that that uses monitored clinical information to generate an empirical model of a patient’s physiologic state. This platform allows for the use of predictive analytic techniques to identify early changes in a patient’s condition that are indicative of a state of deterioration or instability. The integrity of the technique was tested through an In Silico experiment using QCP in which the output of computer simulations of a slowly evolving cardiac tamponade resulted in progressive state of cardiovascular decompensation. Simulator outputs for the variables under consideration were generated at a 2-min data rate (0.083Hz) with the tamponade introduced at a point 420 minutes into the simulation sequence. The functionality of the SBM predictive analytics methodology to identify clinical deterioration was compared to the thresholds used by conventional monitoring methods. Results. The SBM modeling method was found to closely track the normal physiologic variation as simulated by QCP. With the slow development of the tamponade, the SBM model are seen to disagree while the

Early detection of ecosystem regime shifts: a multiple method evaluation for management application.

PubMed

Lindegren, Martin; Dakos, Vasilis; Gröger, Joachim P; Gårdmark, Anna; Kornilovs, Georgs; Otto, Saskia A; Möllmann, Christian

2012-01-01

Critical transitions between alternative stable states have been shown to occur across an array of complex systems. While our ability to identify abrupt regime shifts in natural ecosystems has improved, detection of potential early-warning signals previous to such shifts is still very limited. Using real monitoring data of a key ecosystem component, we here apply multiple early-warning indicators in order to assess their ability to forewarn a major ecosystem regime shift in the Central Baltic Sea. We show that some indicators and methods can result in clear early-warning signals, while other methods may have limited utility in ecosystem-based management as they show no or weak potential for early-warning. We therefore propose a multiple method approach for early detection of ecosystem regime shifts in monitoring data that may be useful in informing timely management actions in the face of ecosystem change.

Early Detection of Ecosystem Regime Shifts: A Multiple Method Evaluation for Management Application

PubMed Central

Lindegren, Martin; Dakos, Vasilis; Gröger, Joachim P.; Gårdmark, Anna; Kornilovs, Georgs; Otto, Saskia A.; Möllmann, Christian

2012-01-01

Critical transitions between alternative stable states have been shown to occur across an array of complex systems. While our ability to identify abrupt regime shifts in natural ecosystems has improved, detection of potential early-warning signals previous to such shifts is still very limited. Using real monitoring data of a key ecosystem component, we here apply multiple early-warning indicators in order to assess their ability to forewarn a major ecosystem regime shift in the Central Baltic Sea. We show that some indicators and methods can result in clear early-warning signals, while other methods may have limited utility in ecosystem-based management as they show no or weak potential for early-warning. We therefore propose a multiple method approach for early detection of ecosystem regime shifts in monitoring data that may be useful in informing timely management actions in the face of ecosystem change. PMID:22808007

Support Vector Feature Selection for Early Detection of Anastomosis Leakage From Bag-of-Words in Electronic Health Records.

PubMed

Soguero-Ruiz, Cristina; Hindberg, Kristian; Rojo-Alvarez, Jose Luis; Skrovseth, Stein Olav; Godtliebsen, Fred; Mortensen, Kim; Revhaug, Arthur; Lindsetmo, Rolv-Ole; Augestad, Knut Magne; Jenssen, Robert

2016-09-01

The free text in electronic health records (EHRs) conveys a huge amount of clinical information about health state and patient history. Despite a rapidly growing literature on the use of machine learning techniques for extracting this information, little effort has been invested toward feature selection and the features' corresponding medical interpretation. In this study, we focus on the task of early detection of anastomosis leakage (AL), a severe complication after elective surgery for colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery, using free text extracted from EHRs. We use a bag-of-words model to investigate the potential for feature selection strategies. The purpose is earlier detection of AL and prediction of AL with data generated in the EHR before the actual complication occur. Due to the high dimensionality of the data, we derive feature selection strategies using the robust support vector machine linear maximum margin classifier, by investigating: 1) a simple statistical criterion (leave-one-out-based test); 2) an intensive-computation statistical criterion (Bootstrap resampling); and 3) an advanced statistical criterion (kernel entropy). Results reveal a discriminatory power for early detection of complications after CRC (sensitivity 100%; specificity 72%). These results can be used to develop prediction models, based on EHR data, that can support surgeons and patients in the preoperative decision making phase.

Nanotechnology-Based Detection of Novel microRNAs for Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

1 AD _________________ AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-15-1-0157 TITLE: Nanotechnology -Based Detection of Novel microRNAs for Early Diagnosis of Prostate...DATES COVERED 15 Jul 2015 - 14 Jul 2016 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Nanotechnology -Based Detection of Novel microRNAs for Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer...the expression level of deregulated miRNAs in mouse and human PCa tissues as well as serum samples using an advanced nanotechnology -based sensing

A new method for QRS detection in ECG signals using QRS-preserving filtering techniques.

PubMed

Sharma, Tanushree; Sharma, Kamalesh K

2018-03-28

Detection of QRS complexes in ECG signals is required for various purposes such as determination of heart rate, feature extraction and classification. The problem of automatic QRS detection in ECG signals is complicated by the presence of noise spectrally overlapping with the QRS frequency range. As a solution to this problem, we propose the use of least-squares-optimisation-based smoothing techniques that suppress the noise peaks in the ECG while preserving the QRS complexes. We also propose a novel nonlinear transformation technique that is applied after the smoothing operations, which equalises the QRS amplitudes without boosting the supressed noise peaks. After these preprocessing operations, the R-peaks can finally be detected with high accuracy. The proposed technique has a low computational load and, therefore, it can be used for real-time QRS detection in a wearable device such as a Holter monitor or for fast offline QRS detection. The offline and real-time versions of the proposed technique have been evaluated on the standard MIT-BIH database. The offline implementation is found to perform better than state-of-the-art techniques based on wavelet transforms, empirical mode decomposition, etc. and the real-time implementation also shows improved performance over existing real-time QRS detection techniques.

Leucocyte classification for leukaemia detection using image processing techniques.

PubMed

Putzu, Lorenzo; Caocci, Giovanni; Di Ruberto, Cecilia

2014-11-01

automatically via image processing techniques, and it represents a medical tool to avoid the numerous drawbacks associated with manual observation. This process could also be used for counting, as it provides excellent performance and allows for early diagnostic suspicion, which can then be confirmed by a haematologist through specialised techniques. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optical design of an optical coherence tomography and multispectral fluorescence imaging endoscope to detect early stage ovarian cancer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tate, Tyler; Keenan, Molly; Swan, Elizabeth; Black, John; Utzinger, Urs; Barton, Jennifer

2014-12-01

The five year survival rate for ovarian cancer is over 90% if early detection occurs, yet no effective early screening method exists. We have designed and are constructing a dual modality Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Multispectral Fluorescence Imaging (MFI) endoscope to optically screen the Fallopian tube and ovary for early stage cancer. The endoscope reaches the ovary via the natural pathway of the vagina, cervix, uterus and Fallopian tube. In order to navigate the Fallopian tube the endoscope must have an outer diameter of 600 μm, be highly flexible, steerable, tracking and nonperforating. The imaging systems consists of six optical subsystems, two from OCT and four from MFI. The optical subsystems have independent and interrelated design criteria. The endoscope will be tested on realistic tissue models and ex vivo tissue to prove feasibility of future human trials. Ultimately the project aims to provide women the first effective ovarian cancer screening technique.

Fault detection techniques for complex cable shield topologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coonrod, Kurt H.; Davis, Stuart L.; McLemore, Donald P.

1994-09-01

This document presents the results of a basic principles study which investigated technical approaches for developing fault detection techniques for use on cables with complex shielding topologies. The study was limited to those approaches which could realistically be implemented on a fielded cable, i.e., approaches which would require partial disassembly of a cable were not pursued. The general approach used was to start with present transfer impedance measurement techniques and modify their use to achieve the best possible measurement range. An alternative test approach, similar to a sniffer type test, was also investigated.

FluBreaks: early epidemic detection from Google flu trends.

PubMed

Pervaiz, Fahad; Pervaiz, Mansoor; Abdur Rehman, Nabeel; Saif, Umar

2012-10-04

The Google Flu Trends service was launched in 2008 to track changes in the volume of online search queries related to flu-like symptoms. Over the last few years, the trend data produced by this service has shown a consistent relationship with the actual number of flu reports collected by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), often identifying increases in flu cases weeks in advance of CDC records. However, contrary to popular belief, Google Flu Trends is not an early epidemic detection system. Instead, it is designed as a baseline indicator of the trend, or changes, in the number of disease cases. To evaluate whether these trends can be used as a basis for an early warning system for epidemics. We present the first detailed algorithmic analysis of how Google Flu Trends can be used as a basis for building a fully automated system for early warning of epidemics in advance of methods used by the CDC. Based on our work, we present a novel early epidemic detection system, called FluBreaks (dritte.org/flubreaks), based on Google Flu Trends data. We compared the accuracy and practicality of three types of algorithms: normal distribution algorithms, Poisson distribution algorithms, and negative binomial distribution algorithms. We explored the relative merits of these methods, and related our findings to changes in Internet penetration and population size for the regions in Google Flu Trends providing data. Across our performance metrics of percentage true-positives (RTP), percentage false-positives (RFP), percentage overlap (OT), and percentage early alarms (EA), Poisson- and negative binomial-based algorithms performed better in all except RFP. Poisson-based algorithms had average values of 99%, 28%, 71%, and 76% for RTP, RFP, OT, and EA, respectively, whereas negative binomial-based algorithms had average values of 97.8%, 17.8%, 60%, and 55% for RTP, RFP, OT, and EA, respectively. Moreover, the EA was also affected by the region's population size

Sampling design for aquatic invasive species early detection in Great Lakes ports

EPA Science Inventory

From 2006-2012, we evaluated a pilot aquatic invasive species (AIS) early detection monitoring program in Lake Superior that was designed to detect newly introduced fishes. We established survey protocols for three major ports (Duluth-Superior, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay) and ...

[Early detection of cervical cancer in Chile: time for change].

PubMed

Léniz Martelli, Javiera; Van De Wyngard, Vanessa; Lagos, Marcela; Barriga, María Isabel; Puschel Illanes, Klaus; Ferreccio Readi, Catterina

2014-08-01

Mortality rates for cervical cancer (CC) in Chile are higher than those of developed countries and it has an unequal socioeconomic distribution. The recognition of human papilloma virus (HPV) as the causal agent of cervical cancer in the early 80's changed the prevention paradigms. Current goals are to prevent HPV infection by vaccination before the onset of sexual activity and to detect HPV infection in women older than 30 years. This article reviews CC prevention and early detection methods, discusses relevant evidence to support a change in Chile and presents an innovation proposal. A strategy of primary screening based on HPV detection followed by triage of HPV-positive women by colposcopy in primary care or by cytological or molecular reflex testing is proposed. Due to the existence in Chile of a well-organized nationwide CC prevention program, the replacement of a low-sensitivity screening test such as the Papanicolau test with a highly sensitive one such as HPV detection, could quickly improve the effectiveness of the program. The program also has a network of personnel qualified to conduct naked-eye inspections of the cervix, who could easily be trained to perform triage colposcopy. The incorporation of new prevention strategies could reduce the deaths of Chilean women and correct inequities.

Early Hearing Detection and Intervention in Developing Countries: Current Status and Prospects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olusanya, Bolajoko O.

2006-01-01

Infant hearing screening is emerging rapidly as a silent global revolution for the early detection of children with congenital or early onset hearing loss to ensure timely enrollment in family-oriented intervention programs for the development of spoken language. This article examines the overriding and interrelated scientific, ethical and…

Oral cancer. Practical prevention and early detection for the dental team.

PubMed

Kerr, A Ross; Cruz, Gustavo D

2002-01-01

Approximately 2,000 patients a year are diagnosed with oral cancer in New York State. In an effort to control this deadly disease, Governor George Pataki has taken a leadership role in the United States by mandating and funding training for dentists in the prevention and early detection of oral cancer. The purpose of this article is to highlight the epidemiology of oral cancer, to show how the dental profession can contribute to the health of the citizens of New York State, and to provide practical guidelines for both tobacco cessation intervention and utilization of existing technology for the early detection of oral cancer and precancerous conditions in the general dental practice setting.

Deep learning classifier with optical coherence tomography images for early dental caries detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karimian, Nima; Salehi, Hassan S.; Mahdian, Mina; Alnajjar, Hisham; Tadinada, Aditya

2018-02-01

Dental caries is a microbial disease that results in localized dissolution of the mineral content of dental tissue. Despite considerable decline in the incidence of dental caries, it remains a major health problem in many societies. Early detection of incipient lesions at initial stages of demineralization can result in the implementation of non-surgical preventive approaches to reverse the demineralization process. In this paper, we present a novel approach combining deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging modality for classification of human oral tissues to detect early dental caries. OCT images of oral tissues with various densities were input to a CNN classifier to determine variations in tissue densities resembling the demineralization process. The CNN automatically learns a hierarchy of increasingly complex features and a related classifier directly from training data sets. The initial CNN layer parameters were randomly selected. The training set is split into minibatches, with 10 OCT images per batch. Given a batch of training patches, the CNN employs two convolutional and pooling layers to extract features and then classify each patch based on the probabilities from the SoftMax classification layer (output-layer). Afterward, the CNN calculates the error between the classification result and the reference label, and then utilizes the backpropagation process to fine-tune all the layer parameters to minimize this error using batch gradient descent algorithm. We validated our proposed technique on ex-vivo OCT images of human oral tissues (enamel, cortical-bone, trabecular-bone, muscular-tissue, and fatty-tissue), which attested to effectiveness of our proposed method.

Hyperspherical Sparse Approximation Techniques for High-Dimensional Discontinuity Detection

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Guannan; Webster, Clayton G.; Gunzburger, Max; ...

2016-08-04

This work proposes a hyperspherical sparse approximation framework for detecting jump discontinuities in functions in high-dimensional spaces. The need for a novel approach results from the theoretical and computational inefficiencies of well-known approaches, such as adaptive sparse grids, for discontinuity detection. Our approach constructs the hyperspherical coordinate representation of the discontinuity surface of a function. Then sparse approximations of the transformed function are built in the hyperspherical coordinate system, with values at each point estimated by solving a one-dimensional discontinuity detection problem. Due to the smoothness of the hypersurface, the new technique can identify jump discontinuities with significantly reduced computationalmore » cost, compared to existing methods. Several approaches are used to approximate the transformed discontinuity surface in the hyperspherical system, including adaptive sparse grid and radial basis function interpolation, discrete least squares projection, and compressed sensing approximation. Moreover, hierarchical acceleration techniques are also incorporated to further reduce the overall complexity. In conclusion, rigorous complexity analyses of the new methods are provided, as are several numerical examples that illustrate the effectiveness of our approach.« less

Oxygen detection using the laser diode absorption technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Disimile, P. J.; Fox, C. W.

1991-01-01

Accurate measurement of the concentration and flow rate of gaseous oxygen is becoming of greater importance. The detection technique presented is based on the principal of light absorption by the Oxygen A-Band. Oxygen molecules have characteristics which attenuate radiation in the 759-770 nm wavelength range. With an ability to measure changes in the relative light transmission to less than 0.01 percent, a sensitive optical gas detection system was configured. This system is smaller in size and light in weight, has low energy requirements and has a rapid response time. In this research program, the application of temperature tuning laser diodes and their ability to be wavelength shifted to a selected absorption spectral peak has allowed concentrations as low as 1300 ppm to be detected.

Updating Landsat-derived land-cover maps using change detection and masking techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Likens, W.; Maw, K.

1982-01-01

The California Integrated Remote Sensing System's San Bernardino County Project was devised to study the utilization of a data base at a number of jurisdictional levels. The present paper discusses the implementation of change-detection and masking techniques in the updating of Landsat-derived land-cover maps. A baseline landcover classification was first created from a 1976 image, then the adjusted 1976 image was compared with a 1979 scene by the techniques of (1) multidate image classification, (2) difference image-distribution tails thresholding, (3) difference image classification, and (4) multi-dimensional chi-square analysis of a difference image. The union of the results of methods 1, 3 and 4 was used to create a mask of possible change areas between 1976 and 1979, which served to limit analysis of the update image and reduce comparison errors in unchanged areas. The techniques of spatial smoothing of change-detection products, and of combining results of difference change-detection algorithms are also shown to improve Landsat change-detection accuracies.

A Simple System for the Early Detection of Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-01

AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-14-1-0231 TITLE: A Simple System for Early Detection of Breast Cancer PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Stephen Johnston CONTRACTING...ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE July 2016 2. REPORT TYPE Annual 3. DATES COVERED 1Jul2015 - 30Jun2016 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE A Simple System for the Early...Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18 W81XWH-14-1-0231 Abstract: We invented the immunosignature technology (IMS) as a simple , universal

GammaScorpion: mobile gamma-ray tomography system for early detection of basal stem rot in oil palm plantations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdullah, Jaafar; Hassan, Hearie; Shari, Mohamad Rabaie; Mohd, Salzali; Mustapha, Mahadi; Mahmood, Airwan Affendi; Jamaludin, Shahrizan; Ngah, Mohd Rosdi; Hamid, Noor Hisham

2013-03-01

Detection of the oil palm stem rot disease Ganoderma is a major issue in estate management and production in Malaysia. Conventional diagnostic techniques are difficult and time consuming when using visual inspection, and destructive and expensive when based on the chemical analysis of root or stem tissue. As an alternative, a transportable gamma-ray computed tomography system for the early detection of basal stem rot (BSR) of oil palms due to Ganoderma was developed locally at the Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Kajang, Malaysia. This system produces high quality tomographic images that clearly differentiate between healthy and Ganoderma infected oil palm stems. It has been successfully tested and used to detect the extent of BSR damage in oil palm plantations in Malaysia without the need to cut down the trees. This method offers promise for in situ inspection of oil palm stem diseases compared to the more conventional methods.

Neuroimaging parameters in early open spina bifida detection. Further benefit in first trimester screening?

PubMed

Iliescu, D; Comănescu, A; Antsaklis, P; Tudorache, Stefania; Ghiluşi, Mirela; Comănescu, Violeta; Paulescu, Daniela; Ceauşu, Iuliana; Antsaklis, A; Novac, Liliana; Cernea, N

2011-01-01

Morphological investigation of the central nervous system (CNS) in fetuses with positive markers for open spina bifida (OSB) detection, visualized by ultrasound during the first trimester of pregnancy. Data from fetuses that underwent routine first trimester ultrasound scan in our center during September 2007-March 2011 and presented abnormal aspects of the fourth ventricle, also referred as intracranial translucency (IT), provided the morphological support to evaluate CNS features. A neuro-histological study of posterior cerebral fossa illustrated anatomical features of the structures involved in the sonographic first trimester detection of neural tube defects. Abnormal IT aspects were found in OSB cases examined in the first trimester, but also in other severe cerebral abnormalities. Brain stem antero-posterior diameter (BS) and brain stem to occipital bone (BSOB) ratio may be more specific for OSB detection. Correlations between histological aspects of posterior brain fossa and ultrasound standard assessment have been made; highlighting the anatomical features involved by the new techniques developed for OSB early detection. Preliminary results show that modern sonographic protocols are capable to detect abnormalities in the morphometry of the posterior brain. First trimester fourth ventricle abnormalities should be followed by careful CNS evaluation because are likely to appear in OSB affected fetuses, but also in other CNS severe anomalies; in such cases, normal BS and BSOB ratio may serve as indirect argument for spine integrity, if specificity is confirmed in large series of fetuses.

Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

http://edrn.nci.nih.gov/EDRN is a collaborative network that maintains comprehensive infrastructure and resources critical to the discovery, development and validation of biomarkers for cancer risk and early detection. The program comprises a public/private sector consortium to accelerate the development of biomarkers that will change medical practice, ensure data

Data-Mining Techniques in Detecting Factors Linked to Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martínez Abad, Fernando; Chaparro Caso López, Alicia A.

2017-01-01

In light of the emergence of statistical analysis techniques based on data mining in education sciences, and the potential they offer to detect non-trivial information in large databases, this paper presents a procedure used to detect factors linked to academic achievement in large-scale assessments. The study is based on a non-experimental,…

Computer-aided detection systems to improve lung cancer early diagnosis: state-of-the-art and challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Traverso, A.; Lopez Torres, E.; Fantacci, M. E.; Cerello, P.

2017-05-01

Lung cancer is one of the most lethal types of cancer, because its early diagnosis is not good enough. In fact, the detection of pulmonary nodule, potential lung cancers, in Computed Tomography scans is a very challenging and time-consuming task for radiologists. To support radiologists, researchers have developed Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems for the automated detection of pulmonary nodules in chest Computed Tomography scans. Despite the high level of technological developments and the proved benefits on the overall detection performance, the usage of Computer-Aided Diagnosis in clinical practice is far from being a common procedure. In this paper we investigate the causes underlying this discrepancy and present a solution to tackle it: the M5L WEB- and Cloud-based on-demand Computer-Aided Diagnosis. In addition, we prove how the combination of traditional imaging processing techniques with state-of-art advanced classification algorithms allows to build a system whose performance could be much larger than any Computer-Aided Diagnosis developed so far. This outcome opens the possibility to use the CAD as clinical decision support for radiologists.

EARLY DETECTION MONITORING OF INVASIVE SPECIES IN GREAT LAKES HARBORS

EPA Science Inventory

The Great Ships Initiative (GSI) has asked for a presentation on designing harbor monitoring. Our research/development project on early detection provides some examples and lessons for GSI to consider in evaluating effectiveness of ballast water treatments; the presentation allo...

Results of an early hearing detection program.

PubMed

Borkoski Barreiro, Silvia A; Falcón González, Juan C; Bueno Yanes, Jorge; Pérez Bermúdez, José L; López Cano, Zoraida; Ramos Macías, Ángel

2013-01-01

Neonatal hearing loss is a public health problem that meets the requirements for submission to universal screening. Our objective was to analyse the results of the early hearing detection and intervention program implemented at our centre between January 2007 and December 2010. We studied 26,717 newborns during the period mentioned, using transient otoacoustic emissions (TOAEs) for the screening. The diagnostic phase was carried out at the hearing loss department. In our area, there were 27,935 births between January 2007 and December 2010. The screening was performed on 26,717 children. Of these, 24,173 had positive TOAEs, 1,040 had no TOAEs and 1,504 presented TOAEs in 1 ear with absence of TOAEs in the contralateral ear. Risk factors associated with hearing loss were found in 4,674 infants. In a second phase of the program, TOAEs were given to 5,156 children, of whom 4,626 had positive otoacoustic emissions in both ears, 323 had no TOAEs in 1 ear and 207 failed this second phase. Of all children studied, 3.8% were referred to auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing and 26 children entered the cochlear implant program. The program reached coverage of 95.64%. The early hearing detection and intervention program at our hospital is suitable for our environment, reaching 95.64% of coverage. We consider the relationship between effectiveness and efficiency to be positive. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

A new imaging technique for detecting interstellar communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vallerga, John; Welsh, Barry; Kotze, Marissa; Siegmund, Oswald

2017-01-01

We report on a unique detection methodology using the Berkeley Visible Image Tube (BVIT) mounted on the 10m Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) to search for laser pulses originating in communications from advanced extraterrestrial (ET) civilizations residing on nearby Earth-like planets located within their habitability zones. The detection technique assumes that ET communicates through high powered pulsed lasers with pulse durations on the order of 5 nanoseconds, the signals thereby being brighter than that of the host star within this very short period of time. Our technique turns down the gain of the optically sensitive photon counting microchannel plate detector such that ~30 photons are required in a 5ns window to generate an imaged event. Picking a priori targets with planets in the habitable zone substantially reduces the false alarm rate. Interplanetary communication by optical masers was first postulated by Schwartz and Townes in 1961. Under the assumption that ET has access to a 10 m class telescope operated as a transmitter then we could detect lasers with a similar power to that of the Livermore Laboratory laser (~1.8Mj per pulse), to a distance of ~ 1000 pc. In this talk we present the results of 2400 seconds of BVIT observations on the SALT of the star Wolf 1061, which is known to harbor an Earth-sized exoplanet located in the habitability zone. At this distance (4.3 pc), BVIT on SALT could detect a 48 joule per pulse laser, now commercially available as tabletop devices.

Indirect fluorometric detection techniques on thin layer chromatography and effect of ultrasound on gel electrophoresis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yinfa, Ma.

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a broadly applicable separation technique. It offers many advantages over high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), such as easily adapted for two-dimensional separation, for whole-column'' detection and for handling multiple samples, etc. However, due to its draggy development of detection techniques comparing with HPLC, TLC has not received the attention it deserves. Therefore, exploring new detection techniques is very important to the development of TLC. It is the principal of this dissertation to present a new detection method for TLC -- indirect fluorometric detection method. This detection technique is universal sensitive, nondestructive, and simple. This will bemore » described in detail from Sections 1 through Section 5. Section 1 and 3 describe the indirect fluorometric detection of anions and nonelectrolytes in TLC. In Section 2, a detection method for cations based on fluorescence quenching of ethidium bromide is presented. In Section 4, a simple and interesting TLC experiment is designed, three different fluorescence detection principles are used for the determination of caffeine, saccharin and sodium benzoate in beverages. A laser-based indirect fluorometric detection technique in TLC is developed in Section 5. Section 6 is totally different from Sections 1 through 5. An ultrasonic effect on the separation of DNA fragments in agarose gel electrophoresis is investigated. 262 refs.« less

State of the art in advanced endoscopic imaging for the detection and evaluation of dysplasia and early cancer of the gastrointestinal tract.

PubMed

Coda, Sergio; Thillainayagam, Andrew V

2014-01-01

Ideally, endoscopists should be able to detect, characterize, and confirm the nature of a lesion at the bedside, minimizing uncertainties and targeting biopsies and resections only where necessary. However, under conventional white-light inspection - at present, the sole established technique available to most of humanity - premalignant conditions and early cancers can frequently escape detection. In recent years, a range of innovative techniques have entered the endoscopic arena due to their ability to enhance the contrast of diseased tissue regions beyond what is inherently possible with standard white-light endoscopy equipment. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art advanced endoscopic imaging techniques available for clinical use that are impacting the way precancerous and neoplastic lesions of the gastrointestinal tract are currently detected and characterized at endoscopy. The basic instrumentation and the physics behind each method, followed by the most influential clinical experience, are described. High-definition endoscopy, with or without optical magnification, has contributed to higher detection rates compared with white-light endoscopy alone and has now replaced ordinary equipment in daily practice. Contrast-enhancement techniques, whether dye-based or computed, have been combined with white-light endoscopy to further improve its accuracy, but histology is still required to clarify the diagnosis. Optical microscopy techniques such as confocal laser endomicroscopy and endocytoscopy enable in vivo histology during endoscopy; however, although of invaluable assistance for tissue characterization, they have not yet made transition between research and clinical use. It is still unknown which approach or combination of techniques offers the best potential. The optimal method will entail the ability to survey wide areas of tissue in concert with the ability to obtain the degree of detailed information provided by microscopic

Early Detection of Infection in Pigs through an Online Monitoring System.

PubMed

Martínez-Avilés, M; Fernández-Carrión, E; López García-Baones, J M; Sánchez-Vizcaíno, J M

2017-04-01

Late detection of emergency diseases causes significant economic losses for pig producers and governments. As the first signs of animal infection are usually fever and reduced motion that lead to reduced consumption of water and feed, we developed a novel smart system to monitor body temperature and motion in real time, facilitating the early detection of infectious diseases. In this study, carried out within the framework of the European Union research project Rapidia Field, we tested the smart system on 10 pigs experimentally infected with two doses of an attenuated strain of African swine fever. Biosensors and an accelerometer embedded in an eartag captured data before and after infection, and video cameras were used to monitor the animals 24 h per day. The results showed that in 8 of 9 cases, the monitoring system detected infection onset as an increase in body temperature and decrease in movement before or simultaneously with fever detection based on rectal temperature measurement, observation of clinical signs, the decrease in water consumption or positive qPCR detection of virus. In addition, this decrease in movement was reliably detected using automatic analysis of video images therefore providing an inexpensive alternative to direct motion measurement. The system can be set up to alert staff when high fever, reduced motion or both are detected in one or more animals. This system may be useful for monitoring sentinel herds in real time, considerably reducing the financial and logistical costs of periodic sampling and increasing the chances of early detection of infection. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Early detection of Candida albicans biofilms at porous electrodes.

PubMed

Congdon, Robert B; Feldberg, Alexander S; Ben-Yakar, Natalie; McGee, Dennis; Ober, Christopher; Sammakia, Bahgat; Sadik, Omowunmi A

2013-02-15

We describe the development of an electrochemical sensor for early detection of biofilm using Candida albicans. The electrochemical sensor used the ability of biofilms to accept electrons from redox mediators relative to the number of metabolically active cells present. Cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry techniques were used to monitor the redox reaction of K(3)Fe(CN)(6) at porous reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) (238.7 cm(2)) working electrodes versus Ag/AgCl reference. A shift in the peak potential occurred after 12 h of film growth, which is attributed to the presence of C. albicans. Moreover, the intensity of the ferricyanide reduction peak first increased as C. albicans deposited onto the porous electrodes at various growth times. The peak current subsequently decreased at extended periods of growth of 48 h. The reduction in peak current was attributed to the biofilm reaching its maximum growth thickness, which correlated with the maximum number of metabolically active cells. The observed diffusion coefficients for the bare RVC and biofilm-coated electrodes were 2.2 × 10(-3) and 7.0 × 10(-6) cm(2)/s, respectively. The increase in diffusivity from the bare electrode to the biofilm-coated electrode indicated some enhancement of electron transfer mediated by the biofilm to the porous electrode. Verification of the growth of biofilm was achieved using scanning electron microcopy and laser scanning confocal imaging microscopy. Validation with conventional plating techniques confirmed that the correlation (R(2) = 0.9392) could be achieved between the electrochemical sensors data and colony-forming units. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Drop-Off Detection with the Long Cane: Effects of Different Cane Techniques on Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Dae Shik; Emerson, Robert Wall; Curtis, Amy

2009-01-01

This study compared the drop-off detection performance with the two-point touch and constant contact cane techniques using a repeated-measures design with a convenience sample of 15 cane users with visual impairments. The constant contact technique was superior to the two-point touch technique in the drop-off detection rate and the 50% detection…

High-accuracy detection of early Parkinson's Disease using multiple characteristics of finger movement while typing

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative movement disease affecting over 6 million people worldwide. Loss of dopamine-producing neurons results in a range of both motor and non-motor symptoms, however there is currently no definitive test for PD by non-specialist clinicians, especially in the early disease stages where the symptoms may be subtle and poorly characterised. This results in a high misdiagnosis rate (up to 25% by non-specialists) and people can have the disease for many years before diagnosis. There is a need for a more accurate, objective means of early detection, ideally one which can be used by individuals in their home setting. In this investigation, keystroke timing information from 103 subjects (comprising 32 with mild PD severity and the remainder non-PD controls) was captured as they typed on a computer keyboard over an extended period and showed that PD affects various characteristics of hand and finger movement and that these can be detected. A novel methodology was used to classify the subjects’ disease status, by utilising a combination of many keystroke features which were analysed by an ensemble of machine learning classification models. When applied to two separate participant groups, this approach was able to successfully discriminate between early-PD subjects and controls with 96% sensitivity, 97% specificity and an AUC of 0.98. The technique does not require any specialised equipment or medical supervision, and does not rely on the experience and skill of the practitioner. Regarding more general application, it currently does not incorporate a second cardinal disease symptom, so may not differentiate PD from similar movement-related disorders. PMID:29190695

Method for early detection of infectious mononucleosis

DOEpatents

Willard, K.E.

1982-08-10

Early detection of infectious mononucleosis is carried out using a sample of human blood by isolating and identifying the presence of Inmono proteins in the sample from a two-dimensional protein map with the proteins being characterized by having isoelectric banding as measured in urea of about -16 to -17 with respect to certain isoelectric point standards and molecular mass of about 70 to 75 K daltons as measured in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate containing polyacrylamide gels, the presence of the Inmono proteins being correlated with the existence of infectious mononucleosis.

First step toward translation of thermophotonic lock-in imaging to dentistry as an early caries detection technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ojaghi, Ashkan; Parkhimchyk, Artur; Tabatabaei, Nima

2016-09-01

Early detection of the most prevalent oral disease worldwide, i.e., dental caries, still remains as one of the major challenges in dentistry. The current dental standard of care relies on caries detection methods, such as visual inspection and x-ray radiography, which lack the sufficient specificity and sensitivity to detect caries at early stages of formation when they can be healed. We report on the feasibility of early caries detection in a clinically and commercially viable thermophotonic imaging system. The system incorporates intensity-modulated laser light along with a low-cost long-wavelength infrared (LWIR; 8 to 14 μm) camera, providing diagnostic contrast based on the enhanced light absorption of early caries. The LWIR camera is highly suitable for integration into clinical platforms because of its low weight and cost. In addition, through theoretical modeling, we show that LWIR detection enhances the diagnostic contrast due to the minimal LWIR transmittance of enamel and suppression of the masking effect of the direct thermal Planck emission. Diagnostic performance of the system and its detection threshold are experimentally evaluated by monitoring the inception and progression of artificially induced occlusal and smooth surface caries. The results are suggestive of the suitability of the developed LWIR system for detecting early dental caries.

Recent advances in targeted endoscopic imaging: Early detection of gastrointestinal neoplasms

PubMed Central

Kwon, Yong-Soo; Cho, Young-Seok; Yoon, Tae-Jong; Kim, Ho-Shik; Choi, Myung-Gyu

2012-01-01

Molecular imaging has emerged as a new discipline in gastrointestinal endoscopy. This technology encompasses modalities that can visualize disease-specific morphological or functional tissue changes based on the molecular signature of individual cells. Molecular imaging has several advantages including minimal damage to tissues, repetitive visualization, and utility for conducting quantitative analyses. Advancements in basic science coupled with endoscopy have made early detection of gastrointestinal cancer possible. Molecular imaging during gastrointestinal endoscopy requires the development of safe biomarkers and exogenous probes to detect molecular changes in cells with high specificity anda high signal-to-background ratio. Additionally, a high-resolution endoscope with an accurate wide-field viewing capability must be developed. Targeted endoscopic imaging is expected to improve early diagnosis and individual therapy of gastrointestinal cancer. PMID:22442742

Epileptic seizure detection in EEG signal using machine learning techniques.

PubMed

Jaiswal, Abeg Kumar; Banka, Haider

2018-03-01

Epilepsy is a well-known nervous system disorder characterized by seizures. Electroencephalograms (EEGs), which capture brain neural activity, can detect epilepsy. Traditional methods for analyzing an EEG signal for epileptic seizure detection are time-consuming. Recently, several automated seizure detection frameworks using machine learning technique have been proposed to replace these traditional methods. The two basic steps involved in machine learning are feature extraction and classification. Feature extraction reduces the input pattern space by keeping informative features and the classifier assigns the appropriate class label. In this paper, we propose two effective approaches involving subpattern based PCA (SpPCA) and cross-subpattern correlation-based PCA (SubXPCA) with Support Vector Machine (SVM) for automated seizure detection in EEG signals. Feature extraction was performed using SpPCA and SubXPCA. Both techniques explore the subpattern correlation of EEG signals, which helps in decision-making process. SVM is used for classification of seizure and non-seizure EEG signals. The SVM was trained with radial basis kernel. All the experiments have been carried out on the benchmark epilepsy EEG dataset. The entire dataset consists of 500 EEG signals recorded under different scenarios. Seven different experimental cases for classification have been conducted. The classification accuracy was evaluated using tenfold cross validation. The classification results of the proposed approaches have been compared with the results of some of existing techniques proposed in the literature to establish the claim.

Advancing Early Detection of Autism Spectrum Disorder by Applying an Integrated Two-Stage Screening Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oosterling, Iris J.; Wensing, Michel; Swinkels, Sophie H.; van der Gaag, Rutger Jan; Visser, Janne C.; Woudenberg, Tim; Minderaa, Ruud; Steenhuis, Mark-Peter; Buitelaar, Jan K.

2010-01-01

Background: Few field trials exist on the impact of implementing guidelines for the early detection of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The aims of the present study were to develop and evaluate a clinically relevant integrated early detection programme based on the two-stage screening approach of Filipek et al. (1999), and to expand the evidence…

Early detection of epilepsy seizures based on a weightless neural network.

PubMed

de Aguiar, Kleber; Franca, Felipe M G; Barbosa, Valmir C; Teixeira, Cesar A D

2015-08-01

This work introduces a new methodology for the early detection of epileptic seizure based on the WiSARD weightless neural network model and a new approach in terms of preprocessing the electroencephalogram (EEG) data. WiSARD has, among other advantages, the capacity of perform the training phase in a very fast way. This speed in training is due to the fact that WiSARD's neurons work like Random Access Memories (RAM) addressed by input patterns. Promising results were obtained in the anticipation of seizure onsets in four representative patients from the European Database on Epilepsy (EPILEPSIAE). The proposed seizure early detection WNN architecture was explored by varying the detection anticipation (δ) in the 2 to 30 seconds interval, and by adopting 2 and 3 seconds as the width of the Sliding Observation Window (SOW) input. While in the most challenging patient (A) one obtained accuracies from 99.57% (δ=2s; SOW=3s) to 72.56% (δ=30s; SOW=2s), patient D seizures could be detected in the 99.77% (δ=2s; SOW=2s) to 99.93% (δ=30s; SOW=3s) accuracy interval.

Sensitive Technique For Detecting Alignment Of Seed Laser

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnes, Norman P.

1994-01-01

Frequency response near resonance measured. Improved technique for detection and quantification of alignment of injection-seeding laser with associated power-oscillator laser proposed. Particularly useful in indicating alignment at spectral purity greater than 98 percent because it becomes more sensitive as perfect alignment approached. In addition, implemented relatively easily, without turning on power-oscillator laser.

Exploring machine-learning-based control plane intrusion detection techniques in software defined optical networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Huibin; Wang, Yuqiao; Chen, Haoran; Zhao, Yongli; Zhang, Jie

2017-12-01

In software defined optical networks (SDON), the centralized control plane may encounter numerous intrusion threatens which compromise the security level of provisioned services. In this paper, the issue of control plane security is studied and two machine-learning-based control plane intrusion detection techniques are proposed for SDON with properly selected features such as bandwidth, route length, etc. We validate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed techniques by simulations. Results show an accuracy of 83% for intrusion detection can be achieved with the proposed machine-learning-based control plane intrusion detection techniques.

The Outlier Detection for Ordinal Data Using Scalling Technique of Regression Coefficients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adnan, Arisman; Sugiarto, Sigit

2017-06-01

The aims of this study is to detect the outliers by using coefficients of Ordinal Logistic Regression (OLR) for the case of k category responses where the score from 1 (the best) to 8 (the worst). We detect them by using the sum of moduli of the ordinal regression coefficients calculated by jackknife technique. This technique is improved by scalling the regression coefficients to their means. R language has been used on a set of ordinal data from reference distribution. Furthermore, we compare this approach by using studentised residual plots of jackknife technique for ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and OLR. This study shows that the jackknifing technique along with the proper scaling may lead us to reveal outliers in ordinal regression reasonably well.

DCP's Early Detection Research Guides Future Science | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

Early detection research funded by the NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention has positively steered both public health and clinical outcomes, and set the stage for findings in the next generation of research. |

Understanding Perceived Benefit of Early Cancer Detection: Community-Partnered Research with African American Women in South Los Angeles.

PubMed

Bazargan, Mohsen; Lucas-Wright, Anna; Jones, Loretta; Vargas, Roberto; Vadgama, Jaydutt V; Evers-Manly, Shirley; Maxwell, Annette E

2015-09-01

African American women have lower 5-year cancer survival rates than non-Latino White women. Differences in perceived benefits of early cancer detection among racial/ethnic groups may affect cancer-screening behaviors. This study assessed correlates of perceived benefits of early breast, cervical and colorectal cancer detection among 513 African American women. Using a community-partnered participatory research approach, we conducted a survey on cancer screening, risk behaviors, and related knowledge and attitudes among African American parishioners at 11 churches in South Los Angeles, a neighborhood that experiences one of the highest cancer mortality rates in California. African American women who participated in this study were more likely to believe that chances for survival are very good or good after early detection of breast cancer (74%) than after early detection of colorectal (51%) and cervical cancer (52%). Multivariate analyses show that perceived benefit of early cancer detection is associated with higher cancer knowledge and having discussed one's cancer risk with a doctor. Given that 5-year survival rates for early stage breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer range from 84% to 93%, our data suggest that a substantial proportion of African American women in South Los Angeles are not aware of the benefits of early detection, particularly of colorectal and cervical cancers. Programs that increase cancer knowledge and encourage a discussion of individual's cancer risk with a doctor may be able to increase perceived benefit of early detection, a construct that has been shown to be associated with cancer screening in some studies.

Standoff detection: classification of biological aerosols using laser induced fluorescence (LIF) technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hausmann, Anita; Duschek, Frank; Fischbach, Thomas; Pargmann, Carsten; Aleksejev, Valeri; Poryvkina, Larisa; Sobolev, Innokenti; Babichenko, Sergey; Handke, Jürgen

2014-05-01

The challenges of detecting hazardous biological materials are manifold: Such material has to be discriminated from other substances in various natural surroundings. The detection sensitivity should be extremely high. As living material may reproduce itself, already one single bacterium may represent a high risk. Of course, identification should be quite fast with a low false alarm rate. Up to now, there is no single technique to solve this problem. Point sensors may collect material and identify it, but the problems of fast identification and especially of appropriate positioning of local collectors are sophisticated. On the other hand, laser based standoff detection may instantaneously provide the information of some accidental spillage of material by detecting the generated thin cloud. LIF technique may classify but hardly identify the substance. A solution can be the use of LIF technique in a first step to collect primary data and - if necessary- followed by utilizing these data for an optimized positioning of point sensors. We perform studies on an open air laser test range at distances between 20 and 135 m applying LIF technique to detect and classify aerosols. In order to employ LIF capability, we use a laser source emitting two wavelengths alternatively, 280 and 355 nm, respectively. Moreover, the time dependence of fluorescence spectra is recorded by a gated intensified CCD camera. Signal processing is performed by dedicated software for spectral pattern recognition. The direct comparison of all results leads to a basic classification of the various compounds.

Use of reflectance spectroscopy for early detection of calcium deficiency in plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Bingqing; Wah, Liew Oi; Asundi, Anand K.

2005-04-01

This article investigates calcium deficiency symptoms of the plants grown under hydroponics conditions. Leaf reflectance data were collected from plants, and then transformed to L*, a*, b* values, which provide color information of the leaves. After comparing the color information of deficient plants to control plants, a set of deficiency criterion was established for early detection of calcium deficiency in the plants. Calcium deficiency could be detected as early as two days from the onset of stress in mature plants when optical data were collected from terminal young leaves. Young plants subjected to calcium stress for 9 days could not be distinguished from nutrient sufficient plants.

The Koorie Men's Health Day: an innovative model for early detection of mental illness among rural Aboriginal men.

PubMed

Isaacs, Anton; Lampitt, Berwyn

2014-02-01

To describe the design, implementation and outcomes of an innovative model for the early detection of mental illness among rural Aboriginal men. Through a collaborative effort between a University' Department of Rural and Indigenous Health, an Aboriginal organisation and a regional mental health service, an all-male team was set up which consisted of a doctor, a mental health nurse and four key individuals from the local Aboriginal community. Invitations to attend a Koorie Men's Health Day were distributed via flyers and posters. Using an assembly line technique and avoiding any reference to the term 'mental', all participants underwent a complete medical examination, a blood test for diabetes and a psychological assessment using the Kessler-10 schedule. The event was attended by 20 men. Of the 17 participants whose data were available, seven scored significantly (25 or higher) on the psychological assessment and were offered follow-up. When conducted on a regular basis, the Koorie Men's Health Day could be a useful method for the early detection of mental illness among rural Aboriginal men in Australia. Further research is needed to study the feasibility and sustainability of the model in different settings.

Important first encounter: Service user experience of pathways to care and early detection in first-episode psychosis.

PubMed

Jansen, Jens Einar; Pedersen, Marlene Buch; Hastrup, Lene Halling; Haahr, Ulrik Helt; Simonsen, Erik

2018-04-01

Long duration of untreated psychosis is associated with poor clinical and functional outcomes. However, few systematic attempts have been made to reduce this delay and little is known of service users' experience of early detection efforts. We explored service users' experience of an early detection service and transition to specialized treatment service, including pathway to care, understanding of illness and barriers to adequate assessment and treatment. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 service users (median age 21, range 18-27, five males and five females) who were diagnosed with a first-episode non-affective psychosis and who were seen by an early detection team (TOP) and currently enrolled in a specialized early intervention service for this disorder (OPUS). Stigma and fear of the 'psychiatric system' were reported as significant barriers to help seeking, while family members were seen as a crucial support. Moreover, the impact of traumatic events on the experience and development of psychosis was highlighted. Finally, participants were relieved by the prospect of receiving help and the early detection team seemed to create a trusting relationship by offering a friendly, 'anti-stigmatized' space, where long-term symptomatology could be disclosed through accurate and validating questioning. Early detection services have two important functions. One is to make accurate assessments and referrals. The other is to instil hope and trust, and to facilitate further treatment by forming an early therapeutic alliance. The findings in this study provide important insights into the way in which early detection efforts and pathways to care are experienced by service users, with direct implications for improving psychiatric services. © 2015 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

The Population of Small Comets: Optimum Techniques for Detection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brandt, John C.

1997-01-01

The goals of this project were: (1) to present evidence to the scientific community for the importance of the small comet population and (2) to develop techniques for optimum detection in order to characterize the population. Our work on techniques has been to develop algorithms for searching images for SCs based on the distinctive properties of comets; (1) motion with respect to background stars; (2) extended source with most light coming from the coma rather than the nucleus; and characteristic spectral signature.

Preventing breast cancer in LMICs via screening and/or early detection: The real and the surreal.

PubMed

Dey, Subhojit

2014-08-10

To review the present status of breast cancer (BC) screening/early detection in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and identify the way forward, an open focused search for articles was undertaken in PubMed, Google Scholar and Google, and using a snowball technique, further articles were obtained from the reference list of initial search results. In addition, a query was put up on ResearchGate to obtain more references and find out the general opinion of experts on the topic. Experts were also personally contacted for their opinion. Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women in the world. The rise in incidence is highest in LMICs where the incidence has often been much lower than high-income countries. In spite of more women dying of cancer than pregnancy or childbirth related causes in LMICs, most of the focus and resources are devoted to maternal health. Also, the majority of women in LMICs present at late stages to a hospital to initiate treatment. A number of trials have been conducted in various LMICs regarding the use of clinical breast examination and mammography in various combinations to understand the best ways of implementing a population level screening/early detection of BC; nevertheless, more research in this area is badly needed for different LMIC specific contexts. Notably, very few LMICs have national level programs for BC prevention via screening/early detection and even stage reduction is not on the public health agenda. This is in addition to other barriers such as lack of awareness among women regarding BC and the presence of stigma, inappropriate attitudes and lack of following proper screening behavior, such as conducting breast self-examinations. The above is mixed with the apathy and lack of awareness of policy makers regarding the fact that BC prevention is much more cost-effective and humane than BC treatment. Implementation of population level programs for screening/early detection of BC, along with use of ways to improve

Preventing breast cancer in LMICs via screening and/or early detection: The real and the surreal

PubMed Central

Dey, Subhojit

2014-01-01

To review the present status of breast cancer (BC) screening/early detection in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and identify the way forward, an open focused search for articles was undertaken in PubMed, Google Scholar and Google, and using a snowball technique, further articles were obtained from the reference list of initial search results. In addition, a query was put up on ResearchGate to obtain more references and find out the general opinion of experts on the topic. Experts were also personally contacted for their opinion. Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women in the world. The rise in incidence is highest in LMICs where the incidence has often been much lower than high-income countries. In spite of more women dying of cancer than pregnancy or childbirth related causes in LMICs, most of the focus and resources are devoted to maternal health. Also, the majority of women in LMICs present at late stages to a hospital to initiate treatment. A number of trials have been conducted in various LMICs regarding the use of clinical breast examination and mammography in various combinations to understand the best ways of implementing a population level screening/early detection of BC; nevertheless, more research in this area is badly needed for different LMIC specific contexts. Notably, very few LMICs have national level programs for BC prevention via screening/early detection and even stage reduction is not on the public health agenda. This is in addition to other barriers such as lack of awareness among women regarding BC and the presence of stigma, inappropriate attitudes and lack of following proper screening behavior, such as conducting breast self-examinations. The above is mixed with the apathy and lack of awareness of policy makers regarding the fact that BC prevention is much more cost-effective and humane than BC treatment. Implementation of population level programs for screening/early detection of BC, along with use of ways to improve

Sampling design for early detection of aquatic invasive species in Great Lakes ports

EPA Science Inventory

We evaluated a pilot adaptive monitoring program for aquatic invasive species (AIS) early detection in Lake Superior. The monitoring program is designed to detect newly-introduced fishes, and encompasses the lake’s three major ports (Duluth-Superior, Sault Ste. Marie, Thund...

Automatic Detection of Optic Disc in Retinal Image by Using Keypoint Detection, Texture Analysis, and Visual Dictionary Techniques

PubMed Central

Bayır, Şafak

2016-01-01

With the advances in the computer field, methods and techniques in automatic image processing and analysis provide the opportunity to detect automatically the change and degeneration in retinal images. Localization of the optic disc is extremely important for determining the hard exudate lesions or neovascularization, which is the later phase of diabetic retinopathy, in computer aided eye disease diagnosis systems. Whereas optic disc detection is fairly an easy process in normal retinal images, detecting this region in the retinal image which is diabetic retinopathy disease may be difficult. Sometimes information related to optic disc and hard exudate information may be the same in terms of machine learning. We presented a novel approach for efficient and accurate localization of optic disc in retinal images having noise and other lesions. This approach is comprised of five main steps which are image processing, keypoint extraction, texture analysis, visual dictionary, and classifier techniques. We tested our proposed technique on 3 public datasets and obtained quantitative results. Experimental results show that an average optic disc detection accuracy of 94.38%, 95.00%, and 90.00% is achieved, respectively, on the following public datasets: DIARETDB1, DRIVE, and ROC. PMID:27110272

Failure detection and fault management techniques for flush airdata sensing systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitmore, Stephen A.; Moes, Timothy R.; Leondes, Cornelius T.

1992-01-01

Methods based on chi-squared analysis are presented for detecting system and individual-port failures in the high-angle-of-attack flush airdata sensing system on the NASA F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle. The HI-FADS hardware is introduced, and the aerodynamic model describes measured pressure in terms of dynamic pressure, angle of attack, angle of sideslip, and static pressure. Chi-squared analysis is described in the presentation of the concept for failure detection and fault management which includes nominal, iteration, and fault-management modes. A matrix of pressure orifices arranged in concentric circles on the nose of the aircraft indicate the parameters which are applied to the regression algorithms. The sensing techniques are applied to the F-18 flight data, and two examples are given of the computed angle-of-attack time histories. The failure-detection and fault-management techniques permit the matrix to be multiply redundant, and the chi-squared analysis is shown to be useful in the detection of failures.

A coherent detection technique via optically biased field for broadband terahertz radiation.

PubMed

Du, Hai-Wei; Dong, Jia-Meng; Liu, Yi; Shi, Chang-Cheng; Wu, Jing-Wei; Peng, Xiao-Yu

2017-09-01

We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally a coherent terahertz detection technique based on an optically biased field functioning as a local oscillator and a second harmonic induced by the terahertz electric field in the air sensor working in free space. After optimizing the polarization angle and the energy of the probe pulse, and filling the system with dry nitrogen, the terahertz radiation generated from a two-color-femtosecond-laser-pulses induced plasma filament is measured by this technique with a bandwidth of 0.1-10 THz and a signal-to-noise ratio of 48 dB. Our technique provides an alternative simple method for coherent broadband terahertz detection.

Early detection of Alzheimer disease: methods, markers, and misgivings.

PubMed

Green, R C; Clarke, V C; Thompson, N J; Woodard, J L; Letz, R

1997-01-01

There is at present no reliable predictive test for most forms of Alzheimer disease (AD). Although some information about future risk for disease is available in theory through ApoE genotyping, it is of limited accuracy and utility. Once neuroprotective treatments are available for AD, reliable early detection will become a key component of the treatment strategy. We recently conducted a pilot survey eliciting attitudes and beliefs toward an unspecified and hypothetical predictive test for AD. The survey was completed by a convenience sample of 176 individuals, aged 22-77, which was 75% female, 30% African-American, and of which 33% had a family member with AD. The survey revealed that 69% of this sample would elect to obtain predictive testing for AD if the test were 100% accurate. Individuals were more likely to desire predictive testing if they had an a priori belief that they would develop AD (p = 0.0001), had a lower educational level (p = 0.003), were worried that they would develop AD (p = 0.02), had a self-defined history of depression (p = 0.04), and had a family member with AD (p = 0.04). However, the desire for predictive testing was not significantly associated with age, gender, ethnicity, or income. The desire to obtain predictive testing for AD decreased as the assumed accuracy of the hypothetical test decreased. A better short-term strategy for early detection of AD may be computer-based neuropsychological screening of at-risk (older aged) individuals to identify very early cognitive impairment. Individuals identified in this manner could be referred for diagnostic evaluation and early cases of AD could be identified and treated. A new self-administered, touch-screen, computer-based, neuropsychological screening instrument called Neurobehavioral Evaluation System-3 is described, which may facilitate this type of screening.

[Usefulness of upper gastrointestinal series to detect leaks in the early postoperative period of bariatric surgery].

PubMed

Medina, Francisco J; Miranda-Merchak, Andrés; Martínez, Alonso; Sánchez, Felipe; Bravo, Sebastián; Contreras, Juan Eduardo; Alliende, Isabel; Canals, Andrea

2016-04-01

Postoperative leaks are the most undesirable complication of bariatric surgery and upper gastrointestinal (GI) series are routinely ordered to rule them out. Despite the published literature recommending against its routine use, it is still being customarily used in Chile. To examine the usefulness of routine upper GI series using water-soluble iodinated contrast media for the detection of early postoperative leaks in patients undergoing bariatric surgery. A cohort of 328 patients subjected to bariatric surgery was followed from October 2012 to October 2013. Most of them underwent sleeve gastrectomy. Upper GI series on the first postoperative day were ordered to 308 (94%) patients. Postoperative leaks were observed in two patients, with an incidence of 0.6%. The sensitivity for upper GI series detection of leak was 0% and the negative predictive value was 99%. Routine upper GI series after bariatric surgery is not useful for the diagnosis of postoperative leak, given the low incidence of this complication and the low sensitivity of the technique.

Framework for evaluating public health surveillance systems for early detection of outbreaks: recommendations from the CDC Working Group.

PubMed

Buehler, James W; Hopkins, Richard S; Overhage, J Marc; Sosin, Daniel M; Tong, Van

2004-05-07

The threat of terrorism and high-profile disease outbreaks has drawn attention to public health surveillance systems for early detection of outbreaks. State and local health departments are enhancing existing surveillance systems and developing new systems to better detect outbreaks through public health surveillance. However, information is limited about the usefulness of surveillance systems for outbreak detection or the best ways to support this function. This report supplements previous guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. Use of this framework is intended to improve decision-making regarding the implementation of surveillance for outbreak detection. Use of a standardized evaluation methodology, including description of system design and operation, also will enhance the exchange of information regarding methods to improve early detection of outbreaks. The framework directs particular attention to the measurement of timeliness and validity for outbreak detection. The evaluation framework is designed to support assessment and description of all surveillance approaches to early detection, whether through traditional disease reporting, specialized analytic routines for aberration detection, or surveillance using early indicators of disease outbreaks, such as syndromic surveillance.

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP): a versatile technique for detection of micro-organisms.

PubMed

Wong, Y-P; Othman, S; Lau, Y-L; Radu, S; Chee, H-Y

2018-03-01

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) amplifies DNA with high specificity, efficiency and rapidity under isothermal conditions by using a DNA polymerase with high displacement strand activity and a set of specifically designed primers to amplify targeted DNA strands. Following its first discovery by Notomi et al. ( Nucleic Acids Res 28: E63), LAMP was further developed over the years which involved the combination of this technique with other molecular approaches, such as reverse transcription and multiplex amplification for the detection of infectious diseases caused by micro-organisms in humans, livestock and plants. In this review, available types of LAMP techniques will be discussed together with their applications in detection of various micro-organisms. Up to date, there are varieties of LAMP detection methods available including colorimetric and fluorescent detection, real-time monitoring using turbidity metre and detection using lateral flow device which will also be highlighted in this review. Apart from that, commercialization of LAMP technique had also been reported such as lyophilized form of LAMP reagents kit and LAMP primer sets for detection of pathogenic micro-organisms. On top of that, advantages and limitations of this molecular detection method are also described together with its future potential as a diagnostic method for infectious disease. © 2017 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Detection of cavitation vortex in hydraulic turbines using acoustic techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Candel, I.; Bunea, F.; Dunca, G.; Bucur, D. M.; Ioana, C.; Reeb, B.; Ciocan, G. D.

2014-03-01

Cavitation phenomena are known for their destructive capacity in hydraulic machineries and are caused by the pressure decrease followed by an implosion when the cavitation bubbles find an adverse pressure gradient. A helical vortex appears in the turbine diffuser cone at partial flow rate operation and can be cavitating in its core. Cavity volumes and vortex frequencies vary with the under-pressure level. If the vortex frequency comes close to one of the eigen frequencies of the turbine, a resonance phenomenon may occur, the unsteady fluctuations can be amplified and lead to important turbine and hydraulic circuit damage. Conventional cavitation vortex detection techniques are based on passive devices (pressure sensors or accelerometers). Limited sensor bandwidths and low frequency response limit the vortex detection and characterization information provided by the passive techniques. In order to go beyond these techniques and develop a new active one that will remove these drawbacks, previous work in the field has shown that techniques based on acoustic signals using adapted signal content to a particular hydraulic situation, can be more robust and accurate. The cavitation vortex effects in the water flow profile downstream hydraulic turbines runner are responsible for signal content modifications. Basic signal techniques use narrow band signals traveling inside the flow from an emitting transducer to a receiving one (active sensors). Emissions of wide band signals in the flow during the apparition and development of the vortex embeds changes in the received signals. Signal processing methods are used to estimate the cavitation apparition and evolution. Tests done in a reduced scale facility showed that due to the increasing flow rate, the signal -- vortex interaction is seen as modifications on the received signal's high order statistics and bandwidth. Wide band acoustic transducers have a higher dynamic range over mechanical elements; the system's reaction time

Early detection of crop injury from herbicide glyphosate by leaf biochemical parameter inversion

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Early detection of crop injury from glyphosate is of significant importance in crop management. In this paper, we attempt to detect glyphosate-induced crop injury by PROSPECT (leaf optical PROperty SPECTra model) inversion through leaf hyperspectral reflectance measurements for non-Glyphosate-Resist...

Developing a discrete choice experiment in Malawi: eliciting preferences for breast cancer early detection services.

PubMed

Kohler, Racquel E; Lee, Clara N; Gopal, Satish; Reeve, Bryce B; Weiner, Bryan J; Wheeler, Stephanie B

2015-01-01

In Malawi, routine breast cancer screening is not available and little is known about women's preferences regarding early detection services. Discrete choice experiments are increasingly used to reveal preferences about new health services; however, selecting appropriate attributes that describe a new health service is imperative to ensure validity of the choice experiment. To identify important factors that are relevant to Malawian women's preferences for breast cancer detection services and to select attributes and levels for a discrete choice experiment in a setting where both breast cancer early detection and choice experiments are rare. We reviewed the literature to establish an initial list of potential attributes and levels for a discrete choice experiment and conducted qualitative interviews with health workers and community women to explore relevant local factors affecting decisions to use cancer detection services. We tested the design through cognitive interviews and refined the levels, descriptions, and designs. Themes that emerged from interviews provided critical information about breast cancer detection services, specifically, that breast cancer interventions should be integrated into other health services because asymptomatic screening may not be practical as an individual service. Based on participants' responses, the final attributes of the choice experiment included travel time, health encounter, health worker type and sex, and breast cancer early detection strategy. Cognitive testing confirmed the acceptability of the final attributes, comprehension of choice tasks, and women's abilities to make trade-offs. Applying a discrete choice experiment for breast cancer early detection was feasible with appropriate tailoring for a low-income, low-literacy African setting.

A Mass Spectrometric Analysis Method Based on PPCA and SVM for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer.

PubMed

Wu, Jiang; Ji, Yanju; Zhao, Ling; Ji, Mengying; Ye, Zhuang; Li, Suyi

2016-01-01

Background. Surfaced-enhanced laser desorption-ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) technology plays an important role in the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. However, the raw MS data is highly dimensional and redundant. Therefore, it is necessary to study rapid and accurate detection methods from the massive MS data. Methods. The clinical data set used in the experiments for early cancer detection consisted of 216 SELDI-TOF-MS samples. An MS analysis method based on probabilistic principal components analysis (PPCA) and support vector machine (SVM) was proposed and applied to the ovarian cancer early classification in the data set. Additionally, by the same data set, we also established a traditional PCA-SVM model. Finally we compared the two models in detection accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity. Results. Using independent training and testing experiments 10 times to evaluate the ovarian cancer detection models, the average prediction accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the PCA-SVM model were 83.34%, 82.70%, and 83.88%, respectively. In contrast, those of the PPCA-SVM model were 90.80%, 92.98%, and 88.97%, respectively. Conclusions. The PPCA-SVM model had better detection performance. And the model combined with the SELDI-TOF-MS technology had a prospect in early clinical detection and diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

Environmental DNA as a new method for early detection of New Zealand mudsnails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Goldberg, Caren S.; Sepulveda, Adam; Ray, Andrew; Baumgardt, Jeremy A.; Waits, Lisette P.

2013-01-01

Early detection of aquatic invasive species is a critical task for management of aquatic ecosystems. This task is hindered by the difficulty and cost of surveying aquatic systems thoroughly. The New Zealand mudsnail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) is a small, invasive parthenogenic mollusk that can reach very high population densities and severely affects ecosystem functioning. To assist in the early detection of this invasive species, we developed and validated a highly sensitive environmental deoxyribonucleic acid (eDNA) assay. We used a dose–response laboratory experiment to investigate the relationship between New Zealand mudsnail density and eDNA detected through time. We documented that as few as 1 individual in 1.5 L of water for 2 d could be detected with this method, and that eDNA from this species may remain detectable for 21 to 44 d after mudsnail removal. We used the eDNA method to confirm the presence of New Zealand mudsnail eDNA at densities as low as 11 to 144 snails/m2 in a eutrophic 5th-order river. Combined, these results demonstrate the high potential for eDNA surveys to assist with early detection of a widely distributed invasive aquatic invertebrate.

Investigation of a Moire Based Crack Detection Technique for Propulsion Health Monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woike, Mark R.; Abudl-Aziz, Ali; Fralick, Gustave C.; Wrbanek, John D.

2012-01-01

The development of techniques for the health monitoring of the rotating components in gas turbine engines is of major interest to NASA s Aviation Safety Program. As part of this on-going effort several experiments utilizing a novel optical Moir based concept along with external blade tip clearance and shaft displacement instrumentation were conducted on a simulated turbine engine disk as a means of demonstrating a potential optical crack detection technique. A Moir pattern results from the overlap of two repetitive patterns with slightly different periods. With this technique, it is possible to detect very small differences in spacing and hence radial growth in a rotating disk due to a flaw such as a crack. The experiment involved etching a circular reference pattern on a subscale engine disk that had a 50.8 mm (2 in.) long notch machined into it to simulate a crack. The disk was operated at speeds up to 12 000 rpm and the Moir pattern due to the shift with respect to the reference pattern was monitored as a means of detecting the radial growth of the disk due to the defect. In addition, blade displacement data were acquired using external blade tip clearance and shaft displacement sensors as a means of confirming the data obtained from the optical technique. The results of the crack detection experiments and its associated analysis are presented in this paper.

Development of Mechanochemically Active Polymers for Early Damage Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Jin

Identification of early damage in polymer composite materials is of significant importance so that preventative measures can be taken before the materials reach catastrophic failure. Scientists have been developing damage detection technologies over many years and recently, mechanophore-based polymers, in which mechanical energy is translated to activate a chemical transformation, have received increasing attention. More specifically, the damage can be made detectable by mechanochromic polymers, which provide a visible color change upon the scission of covalent bonds under stress. This dissertation focuses on the study of a novel self-sensing framework for identifying early and in-situ damage by employing unique stress-sensing mechanophores. Two types of mechanophores, cyclobutane and cyclooctane, were utilized, and the former formed from cinnamoyl moeities and the latter formed from anthracene upon photodimerization. The effects on the thermal and mechanical properties with the addition of the cyclobutane-based polymers into epoxy matrices were investigated. The emergence of cracks was detected by fluorescent signals at a strain level right after the yield point of the polymer blends, and the fluorescence intensified with the accumulation of strain. Similar to the mechanism of fluorescence emission from the cleavage of cyclobutane, the cyclooctane moiety generated fluorescent emission with a higher quantum yield upon cleavage. The experimental results also demonstrated the success of employing the cyclooctane type mechanophore as a potential force sensor, as the fluorescence intensification was correlated with the strain increase.

The Effect of Early Visual Deprivation on the Development of Face Detection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mondloch, Catherine J.; Segalowitz, Sidney J.; Lewis, Terri L.; Dywan, Jane; Le Grand, Richard; Maurer, Daphne

2013-01-01

The expertise of adults in face perception is facilitated by their ability to rapidly detect that a stimulus is a face. In two experiments, we examined the role of early visual input in the development of face detection by testing patients who had been treated as infants for bilateral congenital cataract. Experiment 1 indicated that, at age 9 to…

Thermographic techniques and adapted algorithms for automatic detection of foreign bodies in food

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meinlschmidt, Peter; Maergner, Volker

2003-04-01

At the moment foreign substances in food are detected mainly by using mechanical and optical methods as well as ultrasonic technique and than they are removed from the further process. These techniques detect a large portion of the foreign substances due to their different mass (mechanical sieving), their different colour (optical method) and their different surface density (ultrasonic detection). Despite the numerous different methods a considerable portion of the foreign substances remain undetected. In order to recognise materials still undetected, a complementary detection method would be desirable removing the foreign substances not registered by the a.m. methods from the production process. In a project with 13 partner from the food industry, the Fraunhofer - Institut für Holzforschung (WKI) and the Technische Unsiversität are trying to adapt thermography for the detection of foreign bodies in the food industry. After the initial tests turned out to be very promising for the differentiation of food stuffs and foreign substances, more and detailed investigation were carried out to develop suitable algorithms for automatic detection of foreign bodies. In order to achieve -besides the mere visual detection of foreign substances- also an automatic detection under production conditions, numerous experiences in image processing and pattern recognition are exploited. Results for the detection of foreign bodies will be presented at the conference showing the different advantages and disadvantages of using grey - level, statistical and morphological image processing techniques.

Barriers for Early Detection of Cancer Amongst Urban Indian Women: A Cross Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Kadam, Yugantara R.; Quraishi, Sanjay R.; Dhoble, Randheer V.; Sawant, Minaxi R.; Gore, Alka D.

2016-01-01

Background: Cancer is a leading cause of death globally. Every year, millions of cancer patients could be saved from premature death and and suffering if they had timely access to early detection and treatment. There are two main components of early detection: early diagnosis and screening. In India, cancers of cervix, breast, mouth/oropharynx are the most frequent cancers in women. These cancers are amenable to early detection. More than two third of the cancer patients are already in an advanced and incurable stage at the time of diagnosis. Objectives: This study was designed with the aim to know the reasons for non availment of cancer screening procedures and early diagnostic facilities. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was planned in Sangli, Miraj and Kupwad Corporation area during October 2013 - March 2014 by a pretested questionnaire. Women of 25 years and above were study subjects selected randomly from a cluster sample of ward with estimated sample size of 559 women. Statistical analysis was done with the help of IBM SPSS 22. Results: Nearly 74% of women said that cancer is curable. For awareness about signs and symptoms, risk factors and screening test 82.3% women scored less than 50% of total score. Only 17.7% women had awareness score more than 50%. But their attitude score was > 50% in 85.2% of women. For practice score, 24.4% women scored > 50%. Significant association was found between awareness, attitude and practice scores and education, occupation and history of cancer in family, friends and neighborhood of respondents. Conclusions: Low awareness is the main barrier for undergoing cancer screening and early detection. There is a need of effective health education programme. PMID:27366310

A Real-Time Earthquake Precursor Detection Technique Using TEC from a GPS Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alp Akyol, Ali; Arikan, Feza; Arikan, Orhan

2016-07-01

Anomalies have been observed in the ionospheric electron density distribution prior to strong earthquakes. However, most of the reported results are obtained by earthquake analysis. Therefore, their implementation in practice is highly problematic. Recently, a novel earthquake precursor detection technique based on spatio-temporal analysis of Total Electron Content (TEC) data obtained from Turkish National Permanent GPS Network (TNPGN) is developed by IONOLAB group (www.ionolab.org). In the present study, the developed detection technique is implemented in a causal setup over the available data set in test phase that enables the real time implementation. The performance of the developed earthquake prediction technique is evaluated by using 10 fold cross validation over the data obtained in 2011. Among the 23 earthquakes that have magnitudes higher than 5, the developed technique can detect precursors of 14 earthquakes while producing 8 false alarms. This study is supported by TUBITAK 115E915 and Joint TUBITAK 114E092 and AS CR 14/001 projects.

Signal Detection Techniques for Diagnostic Monitoring of Space Shuttle Main Engine Turbomachinery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coffin, Thomas; Jong, Jen-Yi

1986-01-01

An investigation to develop, implement, and evaluate signal analysis techniques for the detection and classification of incipient mechanical failures in turbomachinery is reviewed. A brief description of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) test/measurement program is presented. Signal analysis techniques available to describe dynamic measurement characteristics are reviewed. Time domain and spectral methods are described, and statistical classification in terms of moments is discussed. Several of these waveform analysis techniques have been implemented on a computer and applied to dynamc signals. A laboratory evaluation of the methods with respect to signal detection capability is described. A unique coherence function (the hyper-coherence) was developed through the course of this investigation, which appears promising as a diagnostic tool. This technique and several other non-linear methods of signal analysis are presented and illustrated by application. Software for application of these techniques has been installed on the signal processing system at the NASA/MSFC Systems Dynamics Laboratory.

Early Detection of Human Epileptic Seizures Based on Intracortical Local Field Potentials

PubMed Central

Park, Yun S.; Hochberg, Leigh R.; Eskandar, Emad N.; Cash, Sydney S.; Truccolo, Wilson

2014-01-01

The unpredictability of re-occurring seizures dramatically impacts the quality of life and autonomy of people with epilepsy. Reliable early seizure detection could open new therapeutic possibilities and thus substantially improve quality of life and autonomy. Though many seizure detection studies have shown the potential of scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) and intracranial EEG (iEEG) signals, reliable early detection of human seizures remains elusive in practice. Here, we examined the use of intracortical local field potentials (LFPs) recorded from 4×4-mm2 96-microelectrode arrays (MEA) for early detection of human epileptic seizures. We adopted a framework consisting of (1) sampling of intracortical LFPs; (2) denoising of LFPs with the Kalman filter; (3) spectral power estimation in specific frequency bands using 1-sec moving time windows; (4) extraction of statistical features, such as the mean, variance, and Fano factor (calculated across channels) of the power in each frequency band; and (5) cost-sensitive support vector machine (SVM) classification of ictal and interictal samples. We tested the framework in one-participant dataset, including 4 seizures and corresponding interictal recordings preceding each seizure. The participant was a 52-year-old woman suffering from complex partial seizures. LFPs were recorded from an MEA implanted in the participant’s left middle temporal gyrus. In this participant, spectral power in 0.3–10 Hz, 20–55 Hz, and 125–250 Hz changed significantly between ictal and interictal epochs. The examined seizure detection framework provided an event-wise sensitivity of 100% (4/4) and only one 20-sec-long false positive event in interictal recordings (likely an undetected subclinical event under further visual inspection), and a detection latency of 4.35 ± 2.21 sec (mean ± std) with respect to iEEG-identified seizure onsets. These preliminary results indicate that intracortical MEA recordings may provide key signals to quickly

Smoke regions extraction based on two steps segmentation and motion detection in early fire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jian, Wenlin; Wu, Kaizhi; Yu, Zirong; Chen, Lijuan

2018-03-01

Aiming at the early problems of video-based smoke detection in fire video, this paper proposes a method to extract smoke suspected regions by combining two steps segmentation and motion characteristics. Early smoldering smoke can be seen as gray or gray-white regions. In the first stage, regions of interests (ROIs) with smoke are obtained by using two step segmentation methods. Then, suspected smoke regions are detected by combining the two step segmentation and motion detection. Finally, morphological processing is used for smoke regions extracting. The Otsu algorithm is used as segmentation method and the ViBe algorithm is used to detect the motion of smoke. The proposed method was tested on 6 test videos with smoke. The experimental results show the effectiveness of our proposed method over visual observation.

A random approach of test macro generation for early detection of hotspots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jong-hyun; Kim, Chin; Kang, Minsoo; Hwang, Sungwook; Yang, Jae-seok; Harb, Mohammed; Al-Imam, Mohamed; Madkour, Kareem; ElManhawy, Wael; Kwan, Joe

2016-03-01

Multiple-Patterning Technology (MPT) is still the preferred choice over EUV for the advanced technology nodes, starting the 20nm node. Down the way to 7nm and 5nm nodes, Self-Aligned Multiple Patterning (SAMP) appears to be one of the effective multiple patterning techniques in terms of achieving small pitch of printed lines on wafer, yet its yield is in question. Predicting and enhancing the yield in the early stages of technology development are some of the main objectives for creating test macros on test masks. While conventional yield ramp techniques for a new technology node have relied on using designs from previous technology nodes as a starting point to identify patterns for Design of Experiment (DoE) creation, these techniques are challenging to apply in the case of introducing an MPT technique like SAMP that did not exist in previous nodes. This paper presents a new strategy for generating test structures based on random placement of unit patterns that can construct more meaningful bigger patterns. Specifications governing the relationships between those unit patterns can be adjusted to generate layout clips that look like realistic SAMP designs. A via chain can be constructed to connect the random DoE of SAMP structures through a routing layer to external pads for electrical measurement. These clips are decomposed according to the decomposition rules of the technology into the appropriate mandrel and cut masks. The decomposed clips can be tested through simulations, or electrically on silicon to discover hotspots. The hotspots can be used in optimizing the fabrication process and models to fix them. They can also be used as learning patterns for DFM deck development. By expanding the size of the randomly generated test structures, more hotspots can be detected. This should provide a faster way to enhance the yield of a new technology node.

A decade of aquatic invasive species (AIS) early detection method development in the St. Louis River estuary

EPA Science Inventory

As an invasion prone location, the St. Louis River Estuary (SLRE) has been a case study for ongoing research to develop the framework for a practical Great Lakes monitoring network for early detection of aquatic invasive species (AIS). Early detection, however, necessitates findi...

Validation of Biomarkers for the Early Detection of Colorectal Adenocarcinoma (GLNE 010) — EDRN Public Portal

Cancer.gov

We propose a Phase 2 (large cross-sectional) PRoBE-compliant validation trial of stool-based and serum-based tests for the detection of colorectal neoplasia (1). The trial is powered to detect early stage colorectal adenocarcinoma or high grade dysplasia. This is the most stringent, conservative approach to the early diagnosis of colonic neoplasia and addresses the most important endpoint of identifying individuals with curable, early stage cancer and those with very high risk non-invasive neoplasia (high grade dysplasia).

Laser heterodyne detection techniques. [for atmospheric monitoring applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Menzies, R. T.

1976-01-01

The principles of heterodyne radiometry are examined, taking into account thermal radiation, the Dicke microwave radiometer, photomixing in the infrared, and signal-to-noise considerations. The passive heterodyne radiometer is considered and a description is presented of heterodyne techniques in active monitoring systems. Attention is given to gas emissivities in the infrared, component requirements, experimental heterodyne detection of gases, a comparison of the passive heterodyne radiometer with the Michelson interferometer-spectrometer, airborne monitoring applications, turbulence effects on passive heterodyne radiometry, sensitivity improvements with heterodyning, atmosphere-induced degradation of bistatic system performance, pollutant detection experiments with a bistatic system, and the airborne laser absorption spectrometer. Future improvements in spectral flexibility are also discussed.

[Validation of three screening tests used for early detection of cervical cancer].

PubMed

Rodriguez-Reyes, Esperanza Rosalba; Cerda-Flores, Ricardo M; Quiñones-Pérez, Juan M; Cortés-Gutiérrez, Elva I

2008-01-01

to evaluate the validity (sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy) of three screening methods used in the early detection of the cervical carcinoma versus the histopathology diagnosis. a selected sample of 107 women attended in the Opportune Detection of Cervicouterine Cancer Program in the Hospital de Zona 46, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social in Durango, during the 2003 was included. The application of Papa-nicolaou, acetic acid test, and molecular detection of human papillomavirus, and histopatholgy diagnosis were performed in all the patients at the time of the gynecological exam. The detection and tipification of the human papillomavirus was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and analysis of polymorphisms of length of restriction fragments (RFLP). Histopathology diagnosis was considered the gold standard. The evaluation of the validity was carried out by the Bayesian method for diagnosis test. the positive cases for acetic acid test, Papanicolaou, and PCR were 47, 22, and 19. The accuracy values were 0.70, 0.80 and 0.99, respectively. since the molecular method showed a greater validity in the early detection of the cervical carcinoma we considered of vital importance its implementation in suitable programs of Opportune Detection of Cervicouterino Cancer Program in Mexico. However, in order to validate this conclusion, cross-sectional studies in different region of country must be carried out.

Early stage breast cancer detection by means of time-domain ultra-wide band sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zanoon, T. F.; Abdullah, M. Z.

2011-11-01

The interest in the use of ultra-wide band (UWB) impulses for medical imaging, particularly early stage breast cancer detection, is driven by safety advantage, super resolution capability, significant dielectric contrast between tumours and their surrounding tissues, patient convenience and low operating costs. However, inversion algorithms leading to recovery of the dielectric profile are complex in their nature, and vulnerable to noisy experimental conditions and environment. In this paper, we present a simplified yet robust gradient-based iterative image reconstruction technique to solve the nonlinear inverse scattering problem. The calculation is based on the Polak-Ribière's approach while the Broyden's formula is used to update the gradient in an iterative scheme. To validate this approach, both numerical and experimental results are presented. Animal derived biological targets in the form of chicken skin, beef and salted butter are used to construct an experimental breast phantom, while vegetable oil is used as a background media. UWB transceivers in the form of biconical antennas contour the breast forming a full view scanning geometry at a frequency range of 0-5 GHz. Results indicate the feasibility of experimental detection of millimetre scaled targets.

Detection of cracks beneath rivet heads via pulsed eddy current technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giguère, J. S. R.; Lepine, B. A.; Dubois, J. M. S.

2002-05-01

Improving the detectability of fatigue cracks under installed fasteners is one of the many goals of the aging aircraft nondestructive evaluation (NDE) community. The pulsed eddy current offers new capabilities to address this requirement. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the potential of this technique for detecting and quantifying notches under installed fasteners.

Multifocal visual evoked potentials for early glaucoma detection.

PubMed

Weizer, Jennifer S; Musch, David C; Niziol, Leslie M; Khan, Naheed W

2012-07-01

To compare multifocal visual evoked potentials (mfVEP) with other detection methods in early open-angle glaucoma. Ten patients with suspected glaucoma and 5 with early open-angle glaucoma underwent mfVEP, standard automated perimetry (SAP), short-wave automated perimetry, frequency-doubling technology perimetry, and nerve fiber layer optical coherence tomography. Nineteen healthy control subjects underwent mfVEP and SAP for comparison. Comparisons between groups involving continuous variables were made using independent t tests; for categorical variables, Fisher's exact test was used. Monocular mfVEP cluster defects were associated with an increased SAP pattern standard deviation (P = .0195). Visual fields that showed interocular mfVEP cluster defects were more likely to also show superior quadrant nerve fiber layer thinning by OCT (P = .0152). Multifocal visual evoked potential cluster defects are associated with a functional and an anatomic measure that both relate to glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.

Why Ambiguity Detection Is a Predictor of Early Reading Skill

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wankoff, Lorain Szabo; Cairns, Helen Smith

2009-01-01

This study was designed to determine the contributions of metalinguistic skill and psycholinguistic processing ability to children's ability to detect the ambiguity of sentences and the relationship among all three factors to early reading ability. A total of 20 first graders and 20 second graders were given tasks testing the following abilities:…

Use of digital PCR to improve early detection of CLas infection

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Huanglongbing is a devastating disease of citrus caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. Huanglongbing has devastated the Florida citrus industry and is threatening citrus in Texas and California. Detection of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus infections as early as possible is ...

[Proposal for early detection of ethanol consumption in students of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos].

PubMed

García-Jiménez, Sara; Erazo-Mijares, Miguel; Toledano-Jaimes, Cairo D; Monroy-Noyola, Antonio; Bilbao-Marcos, Fernando; Sánchez-Alemán, Miguel A; Déciga-Campos, Myrna

2016-01-01

The present study determined through analytic techniques the quantification of some biomarkers that have been useful to detect early ethanol consumption in a college population. A group of 117 students of recent entry to the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos was analyzed. The enzyme determination of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and gamma glutamyltransferase as metabolic markers of ethanol, as well as the carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) detected by high chromatographic liquid (up to 1.8% of CDT), allowed us to identify that 6% of the college population presented a potential risk of alcohol consumption. The use of the biochemical-analytical method overall with the psychological drug and a risk factor instrument established by the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos permit us to identify students whose substance abuse consumption puts their terminal efficiency at risk as well as their academic level. The timely detection on admission to college can monitor and support a student consumer's substance abuse.

RED Alert – Early warning or detection of global re-emerging infectious disease (RED)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Deshpande, Alina

This is the PDF of a presentation for a webinar given by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) on the early warning or detection of global re-emerging infectious disease (RED). First, there is an overview of LANL biosurveillance tools. Then, information is given about RED Alert. Next, a demonstration is given of a component prototype. RED Alert is an analysis tool that can provide early warning or detection of the re-emergence of an infectious disease at the global level, but through a local lens.

Effective Partnering of State Agencies to Achieve Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Benchmarks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corwin, Joanne

2011-01-01

Relative to Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI), New Mexico struggles with multiple points of referral into early intervention in the same way most states do. Referrals are not systematized through a single point of entry. The Step*Hi (statewide Parent-Infant) Program of the New Mexico School for the Deaf (NMSD) receives referrals from…

Detection of autoimmunity in early primary Epstein-Barr virus infection by Western blot analysis.

PubMed

Mascia, M T; Sandri, G; Guerzoni, C; Roncaglia, R; Mantovani, G; Ferri, C

2008-01-01

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) represents a potentially important factor in the pathogenesis of certain autoimmune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and Sjögren's syndrome, probably through a molecular mimicry mechanism. Several studies have focused on the relationship between previous EBV infection and clinically overt connective tissue diseases (CTDs), while the aim of this study was to investigate the immunological alterations during the early phase of primary acute EBV infection by means of ENA Western blotting (WB) analysis. This technique is able to detect a wide spectrum of anti-ENA autoantibodies, potentially directed against diverse epitopes of the same antigen. Sera from 54 subjects (F/M=24/30, mean age 17+/-6 SD years) with primary acute EBV infection were analysed using indirect immunofluorescence (IF) on Hep-2 cells for ANA, and both ELISA and WB for ENA. Only 8 ANA+ and no ENA+ were found by means of IF and ELISA techniques, respectively; however, one or more ENA autoantibodies were detected in 24/54 (44%) sera using WB. The autoantibodies were no longer present at the second evaluation. Subjects with immunological alterations had not developed any significant clinical manifestations at a 5-year follow-up. This study demonstrated the appearance of autoantibody production in a high proportion of individuals with primary acute EBV infection; interestingly, the observed serological subsets are quite similar to clinical SLE clusters. Moreover, the absence of immunological disorders during the follow-up reinforces the role of multiple genetic and/or environmental co-factors in the pathogenesis of CTDs.

Early Detection and Mass Screening For Cancer

PubMed Central

Miller, A. B.

1972-01-01

The author reviews the evidence for the efficacy of early detection and mass screening programs in reducing morbidity and mortality from cancer. In cancer of the cervix, although screening reduces morbidity, we still do not have evidence for reduction in mortality. In cancer of the breast, one study suggests a reduction in mortality in the 50-59 year age group following screening by clinical examination and mammography. In other sites, especially lung, there is no evidence at present to support the adoption of mass screening programs. It is important that such programs should be carefully evaluated in the population, preferably in controlled studies. PMID:20468806

A situational analysis of breast cancer early detection services in Trinidad and Tobago.

PubMed

Badal, Kimberly; Rampersad, Fidel; Warner, Wayne A; Toriola, Adetunji T; Mohammed, Hamish; Scheffel, Harold-Alexis; Ali, Rehanna; Moosoodeen, Murrie; Konduru, Siva; Russel, Adaila; Haraksingh, Rajini

2018-01-01

A situational analysis of breast cancer (BC) early detection services was carried out to investigate whether Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) has the framework for successful organized national screening. An online survey was designed to assess the availability, accessibility, quality control and assurance (QC&A), and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanisms for public and private BC early detection. A focus group with local radiologists (n = 3) was held to identify unaddressed challenges and make recommendations for improvement. Major public hospitals offer free detection services with wait times of 1-6 months for an appointment. Private institutions offer mammograms for TTD$240 (USD$37) at minimum with same day service. Both sectors report a lack of trained staff. Using 1.2 mammograms per 10,000 women ≥40 years as sufficient, the public sector's rate of 0.19 mammograms per 10,000 women ≥40 years for screening and diagnosis is inadequate. Program M&E mechanisms, QC&A guidelines for machinery use, delays in receipt of pathology reports, and unreliable drug access are further unaddressed challenges. T&T must first strengthen its human and physical resources, implement M&E and QC&A measures, strengthen cancer care, and address other impediments to BC early detection before investing in nationally organized BC screening.

Lung Cancer Workshop XI: Tobacco-Induced Disease: Advances in Policy, Early Detection and Management.

PubMed

Mulshine, James L; Avila, Rick; Yankelevitz, David; Baer, Thomas M; Estépar, Raul San Jose; Ambrose, Laurie Fenton; Aldigé, Carolyn R

2015-05-01

The Prevent Cancer Foundation Lung Cancer Workshop XI: Tobacco-Induced Disease: Advances in Policy, Early Detection and Management was held in New York, NY on May 16 and 17, 2014. The two goals of the Workshop were to define strategies to drive innovation in precompetitive quantitative research on the use of imaging to assess new therapies for management of early lung cancer and to discuss a process to implement a national program to provide high quality computed tomography imaging for lung cancer and other tobacco-induced disease. With the central importance of computed tomography imaging for both early detection and volumetric lung cancer assessment, strategic issues around the development of imaging and ensuring its quality are critical to ensure continued progress against this most lethal cancer.

2014 CODEPEH recommendations: Early detection of late onset deafness, audiological diagnosis, hearing aid fitting and early intervention.

PubMed

Núñez-Batalla, Faustino; Jáudenes-Casaubón, Carmen; Sequí-Canet, Jose Miguel; Vivanco-Allende, Ana; Zubicaray-Ugarteche, Jose

2016-01-01

The latest scientific literature considers early diagnosis of deafness as the key element to define the educational and inclusive prognosis of the deaf child, because it allows taking advantage of the critical period of development (0-4 years). Highly significant differences exist between deaf people who have been stimulated early and those who have received late or improper intervention. Early identification of late-onset disorders requires special attention and knowledge on the part of every childcare professional. Programs and additional actions beyond neonatal screening should be designed and planed to ensure that every child with a significant hearing loss is detected early. For this purpose, the CODEPEH would like to highlight the need for continuous monitoring of children's auditory health. Consequently, CODEPEH has drafted the recommendations included in the present document. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Patología Cérvico-Facial. All rights reserved.

Statistical Techniques For Real-time Anomaly Detection Using Spark Over Multi-source VMware Performance Data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Solaimani, Mohiuddin; Iftekhar, Mohammed; Khan, Latifur

Anomaly detection refers to the identi cation of an irregular or unusual pat- tern which deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected. Such deviated patterns typically correspond to samples of interest and are assigned different labels in different domains, such as outliers, anomalies, exceptions, or malware. Detecting anomalies in fast, voluminous streams of data is a formidable chal- lenge. This paper presents a novel, generic, real-time distributed anomaly detection framework for heterogeneous streaming data where anomalies appear as a group. We have developed a distributed statistical approach to build a model and later use it to detect anomaly. Asmore » a case study, we investigate group anomaly de- tection for a VMware-based cloud data center, which maintains a large number of virtual machines (VMs). We have built our framework using Apache Spark to get higher throughput and lower data processing time on streaming data. We have developed a window-based statistical anomaly detection technique to detect anomalies that appear sporadically. We then relaxed this constraint with higher accuracy by implementing a cluster-based technique to detect sporadic and continuous anomalies. We conclude that our cluster-based technique out- performs other statistical techniques with higher accuracy and lower processing time.« less

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Screening Associated with Early Tumor Detection and Improved Survival Among Patients with Cirrhosis in the US.

PubMed

Singal, Amit G; Mittal, Sahil; Yerokun, Olutola A; Ahn, Chul; Marrero, Jorge A; Yopp, Adam C; Parikh, Neehar D; Scaglione, Steve J

2017-09-01

Professional societies recommend hepatocellular carcinoma screening in patients with cirrhosis, but high-quality data evaluating its effectiveness to improve early tumor detection and survival in "real world" clinical practice are needed. We aim to characterize the association between hepatocellular carcinoma screening and early tumor detection, curative treatment, and overall survival among patients with cirrhosis. We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma between June 2012 and May 2013 at 4 health systems in the US. Patients were categorized in the screening group if hepatocellular carcinoma was detected by imaging performed for screening purposes. Generalized linear models and multivariate Cox regression with frailty adjustment were used to compare early detection, curative treatment, and survival between screen-detected and non-screen-detected patients. Among 374 hepatocellular carcinoma patients, 42% (n = 157) were detected by screening. Screen-detected patients had a significantly higher proportion of early tumors (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage A 63.1% vs 36.4%, P <.001) and were more likely to undergo curative treatment (31% vs 13%, P = .02). Hepatocellular carcinoma screening was significantly associated with improved survival in multivariate analysis (hazards ratio 0.41; 95% confidence interval, 0.26-0.65) after adjusting for patient demographics, Child-Pugh class, and performance status. Median survival of screen-detected patients was 14.6 months, compared with 6.0 months for non-screen-detected patients, with the difference remaining significant after adjusting for lead-time bias (hazards ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval, 0.37-0.93). Hepatocellular carcinoma screening is associated with increased early tumor detection and improved survival; however, a minority of hepatocellular carcinoma patients are detected by screening. Interventions to increase screening use in patients with cirrhosis may

Assessment of a lecture on cancer prevention and the early detection of cancer.

PubMed

Banner, William P; Booroojian, Stefani; Hernandez, Lori; Lopez, Brad; Pinzon-Perez, Helda

2002-01-01

Cancer prevention and the early detection can affect morbidity and mortality. Through educational programs, recommendations for beneficial lifestyle changes and cancer screening may be introduced to the public. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a videotaped lecture concerning cancer prevention and early detection is of educational value. College students in a health science class participated in the study. The students' comprehension of the subject matter was assessed immediately before and a week after they viewed the lecture. The students' scores on the second test were significantly better as measured by a paired-difference experiment. This videotaped lecture has merit as an educational program.

Glypican1 identifies cancer exosomes and facilitates early detection of cancer

PubMed Central

Melo, Sonia A.; Luecke, Linda B.; Kahlert, Christoph; Fernandez, Agustin F.; Gammon, Seth T.; Kaye, Judith; LeBleu, Valerie S.; Mittendorf, Elizabeth A.; Weitz, Juergen; Rahbari, Nuh; Reissfelder, Christoph; Pilarsky, Christian; Fraga, Mario F.; Piwnica-Worms, David; Kalluri, Raghu

2016-01-01

Summary Exosomes are lipid bilayer-enclosed extracellular vesicles (EVs) that contain proteins and nucleic acids. They are secreted by all cells and circulate in the blood. Specific detection and isolation of cancer cell-derived exosomes in circulation is currently lacking. Using mass spectrometry analyses, we identified a cell surface proteoglycan, glypican-1 (GPC1), specifically enriched on cancer cell-derived exosomes. GPC1+ circulating exosomes (crExos) were monitored and isolated using flow cytometry from the serum of cancer patients and mice with cancer. GPC1+ crExos were detected in the serum of patients with pancreas cancer with absolute specificity and sensitivity, distinguishing healthy subjects and patients with a benign pancreas disease from patients with early and late stage pancreas cancer. Levels of GPC1+ crExos correlate with tumor burden and survival in patients pre- and post-surgical tumor resection. GPC1+ crExos from patients and from mice with spontaneous pancreas tumors driven by oncogenic KRAS contained RNA with specific KRAS mutation, and it emerges as a reliable biomarker for the detection of PanIN lesions despite negative signal by MRI in mice. GPC1+ crExos may serve as a potential non-invasive diagnostic and screening tool to detect early stages of pancreas cancer to facilitate possible curative surgical therapy. PMID:26106858

Clustering microcalcifications techniques in digital mammograms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Díaz, Claudia. C.; Bosco, Paolo; Cerello, Piergiorgio

2008-11-01

Breast cancer has become a serious public health problem around the world. However, this pathology can be treated if it is detected in early stages. This task is achieved by a radiologist, who should read a large amount of mammograms per day, either for a screening or diagnostic purpose in mammography. However human factors could affect the diagnosis. Computer Aided Detection is an automatic system, which can help to specialists in the detection of possible signs of malignancy in mammograms. Microcalcifications play an important role in early detection, so we focused on their study. The two mammographic features that indicate the microcalcifications could be probably malignant are small size and clustered distribution. We worked with density techniques for automatic clustering, and we applied them on a mammography CAD prototype developed at INFN-Turin, Italy. An improvement of performance is achieved analyzing images from a Perugia-Assisi Hospital, in Italy.

Inversion Method for Early Detection of ARES-1 Case Breach Failure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mackey, Ryan M.; Kulikov, Igor K.; Bajwa, Anupa; Berg, Peter; Smelyanskiy, Vadim

2010-01-01

A document describes research into the problem of detecting a case breach formation at an early stage of a rocket flight. An inversion algorithm for case breach allocation is proposed and analyzed. It is shown how the case breach can be allocated at an early stage of its development by using the rocket sensor data and the output data from the control block of the rocket navigation system. The results are simulated with MATLAB/Simulink software. The efficiency of an inversion algorithm for a case breach location is discussed. The research was devoted to the analysis of the ARES-l flight during the first 120 seconds after the launch and early prediction of case breach failure. During this time, the rocket is propelled by its first-stage Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). If a breach appears in SRB case, the gases escaping through it will produce the (side) thrust directed perpendicular to the rocket axis. The side thrust creates torque influencing the rocket attitude. The ARES-l control system will compensate for the side thrust until it reaches some critical value, after which the flight will be uncontrollable. The objective of this work was to obtain the start time of case breach development and its location using the rocket inertial navigation sensors and GNC data. The algorithm was effective for the detection and location of a breach in an SRB field joint at an early stage of its development.

Detection of irradiated spices using photo-stimulated luminescence technique (PSL)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ramli, Ros Anita Ahmad; Yasir, Muhamad Samudi; Othman, Zainon

2014-09-03

Photo-stimulated luminescence (PSL) technique was applied to detect irradiated black pepper (Piper nigrum), cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) after dark storage for 1 day, 3 and 6 months. Using screening and calibrated PSL, all samples were correctly discriminated between non-irradiated and spices irradiated with doses 1, 5 and 10 kGy. The PSL photon counts (PCs) of irradiated spices increased with increasing dose, with turmeric showing highest sensitivity index to irradiation compared to black pepper and cinnamon. The differences in response are possibly attributed to the varying quantity and quality of silicate minerals present in each spice sample. PSLmore » signals of all irradiated samples reduced after 3 and 6 months storage. The results of this study provide a useful database on the applicability of PSL technique for the detection of Malaysian irradiated spices.« less

Detection of irradiated spices using photo-stimulated luminescence technique (PSL)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramli, Ros Anita Ahmad; Yasir, Muhamad Samudi; Othman, Zainon; Abdullah, Wan Saffiey Wan

2014-09-01

Photo-stimulated luminescence (PSL) technique was applied to detect irradiated black pepper (Piper nigrum), cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) after dark storage for 1 day, 3 and 6 months. Using screening and calibrated PSL, all samples were correctly discriminated between non-irradiated and spices irradiated with doses 1, 5 and 10 kGy. The PSL photon counts (PCs) of irradiated spices increased with increasing dose, with turmeric showing highest sensitivity index to irradiation compared to black pepper and cinnamon. The differences in response are possibly attributed to the varying quantity and quality of silicate minerals present in each spice sample. PSL signals of all irradiated samples reduced after 3 and 6 months storage. The results of this study provide a useful database on the applicability of PSL technique for the detection of Malaysian irradiated spices.

Early Detection of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Primary Care.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Seiichi; Hanagama, Masakazu; Yanai, Masaru

2017-12-01

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of an early detection program for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in a primary care setting in Japan. Methods Participants of ≥40 years of age who regularly visited a general practitioner's clinic due to chronic disease were asked to complete a COPD screening questionnaire (COPD Population Screener; COPD-PS) and undergo simplified spirometry using a handheld spirometric device. Patients who showed possible COPD were referred to a respiratory specialist and underwent a detailed examination that included spirometry and chest radiography. Results A total of 111 patients with possible COPD were referred for close examination. Among these patients, 27 patients were newly diagnosed with COPD. The patients with COPD were older, had lower BMI values, and had a longer smoking history in comparison to non-COPD patients. COPD patients also had more comorbid conditions. A diagnosis of COPD was significantly associated with a high COPD-PS score (p<0.001) and the detection of possible airflow limitation evaluated by the handheld spirometric device (p<0.01). An ROC curve analysis demonstrated that 5 points was the best COPD-PS cut-off value for the diagnosis of COPD. The combination of both tools showed 40.7% of sensitivity and 96.4% of specificity. Conclusion The use of the COPD-PS plus a handheld spirometric device could facilitate the early detection of undiagnosed COPD in primary care.

Progress towards early detection services for infants with hearing loss in developing countries

PubMed Central

Olusanya, Bolajoko O; Swanepoel, De Wet; Chapchap, Mônica J; Castillo, Salvador; Habib, Hamed; Mukari, Siti Z; Martinez, Norberto V; Lin, Hung-Ching; McPherson, Bradley

2007-01-01

Background Early detection of infants with permanent hearing loss through infant hearing screening is recognised and routinely offered as a vital component of early childhood care in developed countries. This article investigates the initiatives and progress towards early detection of infants with hearing loss in developing countries against the backdrop of the dearth of epidemiological data from this region. Methods A cross-sectional, descriptive study based on responses to a structured questionnaire eliciting information on the nature and scope of early hearing detection services; strategies for financing services; parental and professional attitudes towards screening; and the performance of screening programmes. Responses were complemented with relevant data from the internet and PubMed/Medline. Results Pilot projects using objective screening tests are on-going in a growing number of countries. Screening services are provided at public/private hospitals and/or community health centres and at no charge only in a few countries. Attitudes amongst parents and health care workers are typically positive towards such programmes. Screening efficiency, as measured by referral rate at discharge, was generally found to be lower than desired but several programmes achieved other international benchmarks. Coverage is generally above 90% but poor follow-up rates remain a challenge in some countries. The mean age of diagnosis is usually less than six months, even for community-based programmes. Conclusion Lack of adequate resources by many governments may limit rapid nationwide introduction of services for early hearing detection and intervention, but may not deter such services altogether. Parents may be required to pay for services in some settings in line with the existing practice where healthcare services are predominantly financed by out-of-pocket spending rather than public funding. However, governments and their international development partners need to complement

Early Detection Rapid Response Program Targets New Noxious Weed Species in Washington State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center