Role of dual anti-HER2 therapy before liver resection for rectal metastases.

This case presents a patient with a diagnosis of metastatic colon cancer on second-line chemotherapy. He demonstrated increased HER2 expression and was placed on dual HER2 antagonists. The patient had excellent repose and was ultimately able to undergo definitive liver resection for cure. We highlight the evolving use targeted therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer to not only extend progression-free survival, but act as a bridge to surgery.

Smart phone monitoring of second heart sound split.

Heart Auscultation (listening to heart sounds) is the basic element of cardiac diagnosis. The interpretation of these sounds is a difficult skill to acquire. In this work we have developed an application to detect, monitor, and analyze the split in second heart sound (S2) using a smart phone. The application records the heartbeat using a stethoscope connected to the smart phone. The audio signal is converted into the frequency domain using Fast Fourier Transform to detect the first and second heart sounds (S1 and S2). S2 is extracted and fed into the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and then to Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) to detect the Aortic (A2) and the Pulmonic (P2) components, which are used to calculate the split in S2. With our application, users can continuously monitor their second heart sound irrespective of ages and check for a split in their hearts with a low-cost, easily available equipment.