We introduce a novel method for automatic detection of Atrial Fibrillation (AF) using time-varying coherence functions (TVCF). The TVCF is estimated by the multiplication of two time-varying transfer functions (TVTFs). The two TVTFs are obtained using two adjacent data segments with one data segment as the input signal and the ...

During electrocutaneous stimulations, variation in skin properties across locations can lead to differences in neural activation. However, little focus has been given to the effect of different skin thicknesses on neural activation. Electrical stimulation was applied to six sites across the sole of the foot. The intensities used were two ...

The draft SANCO document represents the state of the art in environmental risk assessment (ERA) including new trends and combining high level environmental protection and realism. Utilizing the ecosystem services concept it offers a promising approach to determine which impact may be tolerable, where and when. Established ERA uses a ...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly diagnosed arrhythmia in clinical practice. However, the mechanisms responsible for its induction and maintenance still are not fully understood. To this respect, analysis of the electrical activity organization within the atria could play an important role in their proper interpretation. Although many algorithms ...

Fibrosis is thought to play an important role in formation and maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF). The propensity of fibrosis to increase AF vulnerability depends not only on its amount, its texture plays a crucial role as well. While the detection of fibrotic tissue patches in the atria with extracellular ...

In this work, a basic cerebellar neural layer and a machine learning engine are embedded in a recurrent loop which avoids dealing with the motor error or distal error problem. The presented approach learns the motor control based on available sensor error estimates (position, velocity, and acceleration) without explicitly knowing ...

Estimations of air pollutant emissions from vehicles in China under different energy and emission abatement policy scenarios are presented in this paper. Three scenarios are designed: (i) "business as usual" (BAU); (ii) "advanced fuel economy" (AFE); and (iii) "alternative energy replacement" (AER). The CO, VOCs, NOx, PM10, and CO2 emissions ...

Purpose: To compare the agility demands of 4 small-sided games (SSGs) and evaluate the variability in demands for elite Australian Football (AF). Methods: Fourteen male elite Australian Football League (AFL) players (mean ± SD; 21.7 ± 3.1 y, 189.6 ± 9.0 cm, 88.7 ± 10.0 kg, 39.4 ± 57.1 games) ...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia but its proarrhythmic substrate remains unclear. Reentrant electrical activity in the atria may be responsible for AF maintenance. Over the last decade, different catheter ablation strategies targeting the electrical substrate of the left atrium have been developed in order to treat ...

The use of physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models in the field of pediatric drug development has garnered much interest of late due to a recent Food and Drug Administration recommendation. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the developmental processes involved in creation of a pediatric PBPK model incorporating ...

Abstract Objective To assess the cost-effectiveness of dabigatran etexilate ('dabigatran') versus vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) in the Belgian healthcare setting for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism (SE) in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF). Research design and methods A Markov model was used to calculate the cost-effectiveness of ...

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia. It naturally tends to become a chronic condition, and chronic Atrial Fibrillation leads to an increase in the risk of death. The study of the electrocardiographic signal, and in particular of the tachogram series, is a usual and effective way to ...

The most extended noninvasive technique for medical diagnosis and analysis of atrial fibrillation (AF) relies on the surface elctrocardiogram (ECG). In order to take optimal profit of the ECG in the study of AF, it is mandatory to separate the atrial activity (AA) from other cardioelectric signals. Traditionally, template matching ...

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common and associated with adverse health outcomes. Timely detection of AF can be challenging using traditional diagnostic tools. Smartphone use is increasing and may provide an inexpensive and user-friendly means to diagnose AF. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that a smartphone-based application could detect an ...

Complexity in time series is an intriguing feature of living dynamical systems, with potential use for identification of system state. Although various methods have been proposed for measuring physiologic complexity, uncorrelated time series are often assigned high values of complexity, errouneously classifying them as a complex physiological signals. Here, we ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Seasonal variation in the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases has been recognized for decades. In particular, incidence rates of hospitalization with atrial fibrillation (AF) and stroke have shown to exhibit a seasonal variation. Stroke in AF patients is common and often severe. Obtaining a description of a possible seasonal ...

AF Cycle Length Detection Analysis. Introduction: Experimental models have demonstrated that atrial fibrillation (AF) may be due to one or more rapid drivers (source) producing AF. These drivers may be characterized by rapid and regular cycle lengths (CLs), producing fibrillatory conduction to the rest of the atria. The ability to reliably ...

AIMS: To develop a predictive model for Vibrio cholerae in seawater METHODS AND RESULTS: The growth curves of Vibrio cholerae NE-9 at different temperatures (range from 10° to 30°) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration (range from 5mg l(-1) to 40mg l(-1) ) were determined. The modified logistic model and ...

To develop computational tools for automatically initiating a large number of independent episodes of atrial arrhythmias in electro-anatomical computer models of the atria and therefore facilitating the design of in silico experiments. A biophysical model of the atria was constructed from segmented medical images of the human atria of a ...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia seen in clinical practice. Several therapeutical approaches have been developed to terminate the AF and the effects are evaluated by the reduction of the wavelet number after the treatments. Most of the previous studies focus on modeling and analysis the mechanism, ...

We present a study on the feasibility of the automatic detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) from cardiac vibration signals (ballistocardiograms/BCGs) recorded by unobtrusive bedmounted sensors. The proposed system is intended as a screening and monitoring tool in home-healthcare applications and not as a replacement for ECG-based methods used in clinical ...

Mapping the Moe Model. Introduction: Moe et al. hypothesized that multiple wavelets (random reentry) were the mechanism of atrial fibrillation (AF) based on studies in a vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) canine model and a computer model of AF, but atrial mapping during AF in this model has not been done. We ...

Although the multivariate structure of traffic accidents has been recognized in the safety literature for over a decade now, univariate identification and ranking of hotspots is still dominant. The present paper advocates the use of multivariate identification and ranking of hotspots based on statistical depth functions, which are useful tools ...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) has been considered as a growing epidemiological problem in the world, with a substantial impact on morbidity and mortality. Ambulatory electrocardiography (e.g., Holter) monitoring is commonly used for AF diagnosis and therapy and the automated detection of AF is of great significance due to the vast amount ...

The purpose of this study is to predict atrial fibrillation (AF) from epicardial signals by investigating the recurrence property of atrial activity dynamic system before AF. A novel scheme is proposed to predict AF by using multi-threshold spectra of the recurrence complex network. Firstly, epicardial signals are transformed into the ...

A novel method for QRST cancellation during atrial fibrillation (AF) is introduced for use in recordings with two or more leads. The method is based on an echo state neural network which estimates the time-varying, nonlinear transfer function between two leads, one lead with atrial activity and another lead without, ...

Aflatoxins (AFs) are the main contaminants in pistachio nuts. AFs production in pistachio has been attributed to Aspergillus flavus. The aim of this study was to apply existing models to predict growth and AFs production by an A. flavus isolated from pistachios as a function of moisture content and storage temperature ...

The aim of this study was to explore the usefulness of multiple excitation autofluorescence (AF) and a spectral feature-based pattern recognition in classification of colon tissues. Under four different excitation wavelengths (337, 375, 405 and 460nm), AF spectra of freshly excised normal and adenocarcinoma colon tissues were measured. Pattern recognition ...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) represents a growing public health burden. It is a complex condition, involving a number of etiologic factors and arrhythmia mechanisms associated with atrial remodeling. Greater understanding of these mechanisms may improve therapy. Current AF classification schemes are limited by simplicity. A number of risk factors predict AF ...

This study focuses on the analysis of airflow (AF) recordings to help in sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) diagnosis. The objective is to estimate the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) by means of spectral features from AF data. Multiple linear regression (MLR) was used for this purpose. A training group is used to ...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) arises from complex spatiotemporal atrial activation. Current treatment for patients with AF when antiarrhythmic drugs have failed is catheter ablation which uses Radiofrequency (RF) energy to destroy heart tissues that drive AF. Therefore, AF can be terminated once the AF source is localized and eliminated by RF ...

This paper presents an automated real-time atrial fibrillation (AF) detection approach that relies on the observation of two characteristic irregularities of AF episodes in the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. The results generated after the analysis of these irregularities are subsequently analyzed in real-time using a new fuzzy classifier. We have optimized ...

Traditional multiscale method uses coarse grained average (CGA) to evaluate sample entropy (SE) parameters in different scales for signal characterization. In this study, we propose to use discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to decompose hear rate variability signals into multiscale sequences for the calculation of SE features for the recognition of ...

Mechanisms underlying the genesis of re-entrant substrate for atrial fibrillation (AF) in the pulmonary veins (PVs) and left atrium (LA) are not well understood. We develop a biophysically detailed computational model for the PVs and surrounding LA tissue. The model integrates canine PV and LA single cell electrophysiology with the ...

Recently, it has become very important to analyze atrial activity (AA) and to detect arrhythmic AAs and, for this, complete ventricular activity (VA) cancellation is prerequisite. There have been several VA cancellation algorithms for multi-lead ECG but VA cancellation algorithm for single-lead is quite a few. In this study, we ...

We hypothesized that an iPhone 4s can be used to detect atrial fibrillation (AF) based on its ability to record a pulsatile photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal from a fingertip using the built-in camera lens. To investigate the capability of the iPhone 4s for AF detection, 25 prospective subjects with AF pre- ...

PURPOSE: To derive estimates of CYP1A2 abundance as a function of daily cigarette consumption and use these values to predict the clearances of CYP1A2 substrates in smokers. METHODS: Smoking-induced changes in hepatic CYP1A2 abundance were extrapolated from reported in vivo caffeine clearance data for sub-groups of a smoking population that ...

Understanding the mechanism of re-entrant arrhythmias in the past 30 years has allowed the development of almost curative therapies for many rhythm disturbances. The complex, polymorphic arrhythmias of atrial fibrillation (AF) and sudden death are, unfortunately, not yet well understood, and hence still in need of adequate therapy. AF contributes markedly ...

INTRODUCTION: Cigarette smoking accounts for approximately 1 in 5 deaths in the United States every year. To combat smoking, a network of telephone-based smoking cessation counseling services or "quitlines" provide smokers in the United States with smoking cessation resources, and several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of quitlines in promoting ...

Understanding temporal change in human behavior and psychological processes is a central issue in the behavioral sciences. With technological advances, intensive longitudinal data (ILD) are increasingly generated by studies of human behavior that repeatedly administer assessments over time. ILD offer unique opportunities to describe temporal behavioral changes in detail and ...

A wide array of partners can be convened around a single measurable outcome, such as driving down smoking prevalence, through the use of an innovative approach called the performance partnership model. This approach has certain key characteristics that make it different from ordinary coalition building, such as following four steps ...

ObjectivesTo investigate whether increasing state cigarette taxes and/or enacting stronger smoke-free air (SFA) policies have negative impact on convenience store density in a state, a proxy that is determined by store openings and closings, which reflects store profits.MethodsState-level business count estimates for convenience stores for 50 states and District of ...

INTRODUCTION: The aims of this study were to validate ecological momentary assessment (EMA) as a method for measuring exposure to tobacco-related marketing and media and to use this method to provide detailed descriptive data on college students' exposure to protobacco marketing and media. METHODS: College students (n = 134; ages ...

An increasing number of initiatives to regulate cigarette smoke constituents beyond 'tar', nicotine and carbon monoxide are being launched. The objective of existing and proposed regulation is presumably either to gain a better understanding of product performance, to be able to discriminate between products, or to impose limits for selected ...

Several distinct stimuli can be used to reproduce histological and functional features of human emphysema, a leading cause of disability and death. Since cigarette smoke is the main cause of emphysema in humans, experimental researches have attempted to reproduce this situation. However, this is an expensive and cumbersome method of ...

Objective-To develop a parsimonious statistical model to predict incidence of lameness in the subsequent lactation by use of data collected at cessation of lactation in dairy cows. Animals-574 cows. Procedures-At cessation of lactation during hoof trimming, body condition score (BCS), visual locomotion score, digital cushion thickness (DCT), and digital lesions ...

IntroductionAustralia has introduced legislation to force all cigarette packaging to be generic from 2012 onwards. The tobacco retail industry estimates this will result in transaction times increasing by 15-45 s per pack and is spending at least $A10 million of tobacco industry funds on an advertising campaigns claiming that the ...

To develop a stochastic population model of disease progression in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that includes the effects of COPD exacerbations on health-related quality of life, costs, disease progression, and mortality and can be used to assess the effects of a wide range of interventions. The model is a ...

Recent studies have compared rates of acute myocardial infarction before and after introducing smoking bans. Some meta-analyses report post-ban reductions up to 19%, implausibly large considering likely changes in smoking habits and passive smoke exposure. Our literature reassessment demonstrates major weaknesses in many studies and meta-analyses, including failure to consider ...

There is considerable evidence that matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are up- and/or downregulated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), particularly in emphysema, in which they probably participate in proteolytic attack on the alveolar wall matrix. Recent data suggest that MMPs also have major roles in driving inflammation or shutting it down, ...