Functional simulation of the cochlea for implant optimization.

Cochlear implantation is a surgical technique which aims to restore hearing in people with deep hearing loss. However, outcomes of the surgery still exhibit a large variability between patients. Among the factors that contribute to variability the most important are morphological differences in anatomical structures between patients and incorrect implant placements. In order to address these issues, it would be desirable to have a functional model of the cochlea which incorporates inter-patients variability and simulate electrode placement. To this end, we present a finite element model which captures the interaction between the cochlear partition, modeled as an elastic solid with finite deformation, and the perilymph fluid, modeled as a compressible, viscous fluid. Numerical results show that the membrane responds to changes in the stimulation frequencies.

Automated annotation removal in agar plates.

Agar plates are widely used in the biomedical field as a medium in which to artificially grow bacteria, algae or fungi. Agar plates (Petri dishes) are used routinely in microbiology laboratories in order to identify the type of micro-organism responsible for infections. Such diagnoses are based on counting the number and type of bacterial colonies growing in the Petri dish. The count of bacterial colonies is a time consuming task prone to human error, so interest in automated counting systems has increased in the recent years. One of the difficulties of automatizing the counting process is the presence of markers and annotations made in the lower part of the agar plate. Efficient removal of such markers can increase the accuracy of the bacterial counting system. This article introduces a fast method for detection, segmentation and removal of annotations in agar plates that improves the results of existing bacterial colony counting algorithms.

Patient safety and electromagnetic protection: a review.

A systematic literature review was carried out to study patient security and possible harmful effects, immunity and interferences on medical devices, and effectiveness and transmission problems in healthcare and hospital environments due to electromagnetic interferences. The objective was to determine already-reported cases of patient security, immunity of medical devices, and transmission/reception failure in order to evaluate safety and security of patients. Literature published in the last 10 years has been reviewed by searching in bibliographic databases, journals, and proceedings of conferences. Search strategies developed in electronic databases identified a total of 820 references, with 50 finally being included. The study reveals the existence of numerous publications on interferences in medical devices due to radiofrequency fields. However, literature on effectiveness, transmission problems and measurements of electromagnetic fields is limited. From the studies collected, it can be concluded that several cases of serious interferences in medical instruments have been reported. Measures of electromagnetic fields in healthcare environments have been also reported, concluding that special protective measures should be taken against electromagnetic interferences by incoming radio waves.

A literature review of transmission effectiveness and electromagnetic compatibility in home telemedicine environments to evaluate safety and security.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine already reported cases of transmission/reception failure and interferences to evaluate the safety and security of the new mobile home telemedicine systems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The literature published in the last 10 years (1998-2009) has been reviewed, by searching in several databases. Searches on transmission effectiveness and electromagnetic compatibility were made manually through journals, conference proceedings, and also the healthcare technology assessment agencies' Web pages. RESULTS: Search strategies developed through electronic databases and manual search identified a total of 886 references, with 44 finally being included in the results. They have been divided by technology in the transmission/reception effectiveness studies, and according to the type of medical device in the case of electromagnetic interferences studies. CONCLUSIONS: The study reveals that there are numerous publications on telemedicine and home-monitoring systems using wireless networks. However, literature on effectiveness in terms of connectivity and transmission problems and electromagnetic interferences is limited. From the collected studies, it can be concluded that there are transmission failures, low-coverage areas, errors in the transmission of packets, and so on. Moreover, cases of serious interferences in medical instruments have also been reported. These facts highlight the lack of studies and specific recommendations to be followed in the implementation of biomonitoring systems in domestic environments using wireless networks.

Enfoque interdisciplinario sobre el uso de plaguicidas de empleo común en el hogar, en la localidad de Fray Luis Beltran

Con el objeto de promover acciones tendientes a evitar intoxicaciones y contaminaciones provenientes del mal uso de plaguicidad para el hogar se realizó el presente estudio en una localidad de la provincia de Santa Fe, Fray Luis Beltrán. Además se trata de modificar la Ley vigente en la Provincia que regula todo lo relacionado a plaguicidas agropecuarios e industriales conexceción de los domiciliarios