Lax Uterosacral Ligament and Urge Urinary Incontinence: MRI Findings in Symptomatic Patients Versus Healthy Volunteers.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The objective was to explore the association between urge urinary incontinence (UUI) and lax uterosacral ligaments (USL) using MRI. METHODS: Sixty-seven female participants were recruited prospectively: 41 continent volunteers (control group) and 26 patients with UUI. Static proton density- and T2-weighted turbo spin echo sequences of MR images were used. A radiologist employed a standardized grid system to record structural observations of the USLs on sequentially numbered axial MR images and then applied a four-point grading scale to assess ligament visibility. MR images were interpreted by a radiologist and a urologist, and then validated by an expert radiologist. RESULTS: The comparison between the mean length of uterosacral ligaments in the control and UUI groups was highly statistically significant (p < 0.001). The mean length of the right USL was 38 ± 11 mm, and the left USL was 35 ± 12 mm in the UUI group. In the control group, the mean length of the USL was 22 ± 9 mm on the right side and 18 ± 9 mm on the left side, along their craniocaudal extent. The highest inter-observer agreement was on the level of origin and insertion (image numbers), whereas the lowest agreement was on the anatomical site of origin and insertion of the USL in both the control and UUI groups. CONCLUSIONS: The average length of USLs in patients with UUI is significantly longer than that in healthy continent women, indicating laxity. Our findings support the relationship between the laxity of the USL and UUI symptoms and have therapeutic implications.

An Adaptive ECG Noise Removal Process Based on Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD).

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a generally used instrument for examining cardiac disorders. For proper interpretation of cardiac illnesses, a noise-free ECG is often preferred. ECG signals, on the other hand, are suffering from numerous noises throughout gathering and programme. This article suggests an empirical mode decomposition-based adaptive ECG noise removal technique (EMD). The benefits of the proposed methods are used to dip noise in ECG signals with the least amount of distortion. For decreasing high-frequency noises, traditional EMD-based approaches either cast off the preliminary fundamental functions or use a window-based methodology. The signal quality is then improved via an adaptive process. The simulation study uses ECG data from the universal MIT-BIH database as well as the Brno University of Technology ECG Quality Database (BUT QDB). The proposed method's efficiency is measured using three typical evaluation metrics: mean square error, output SNR change, and ratio root mean square alteration at various SNR levels (signal to noise ratio). The suggested noise removal approach is compatible with other commonly used ECG noise removal techniques. A detailed examination reveals that the proposed method could be served as an effective means of noise removal ECG signals, resulting in enhanced diagnostic functions in automated medical systems.

Design and spectral analysis of mixed-carrier communication for sixth-generation networks.

The fifth-generation (5G) wireless cellular network is expected to be ready for commercialization within this year. The huge spectrum enabled by the millimetre-wave (mm-Wave) technology is expected to introduce a hype in data usage per user. The 5G is also expected to concurrently support a wide variety of services; however, the practical trade-offs associated with concurrent services require further investigations. In this work, a physical layer (PHY) design to support visible light communications is considered to efficiently support concurrent services that are essential to serve the needs of the sixth-generation (6G) network. A novel communication technique, i.e. mixed-carrier communication (MCC), is proposed. MCC enables simultaneous wireless services such as broadband access, low-rate internet-of-things connectivity, device-free sensing, and device-based localization. This study presents, firstly, a thorough investigation of the design procedure of the novel MCC PHY, secondly, the spectral profile of MCC towards proper spectrum management and interference analysis, and thirdly, performance evaluation based on modelling, simulation and an experimental proof-of-concept. The design steps recommend that the system performance degrades beyond a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) threshold. For instance, SNR of 25.1 dB and 2.6652 optical power ratio between the communications signal and the driving envelope, for 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (64-QAM), are recommended to avoid performance degradation due to clipping. Simulation results show an interference-immune performance of a properly managed spectrum. For a bit-error-rate (BER) of 10-3, an SNR penalty of 2-5 dB is observed for different interference scenarios. The experimental measurements illustrate a high-quality signal of 21 dB SNR at 50 cm and 10-3 BER using 64-QAM.

Wireless link pairing toward secured 6G networks.

Hybrid wireless networks are foreseen to play a major role in the visioning and planning of the sixth generation (6G) network. Most of the 6G applications are human-centric, and thus high security and privacy are key features. Recently, physical layer (PHY) security has become an emerging area of research. This work introduces a novel, to the best of our knowledge, PHY security approach called wireless link pairing (WiLP). In WiLP, signals received from both air interfaces in a hybrid radio frequency and optical network are required for successful signal reconstruction and processing at the receiver. The transmitted packets based on the IEEE 802.11 standards are redesigned, and improvements in performance are validated via simulations and experimental measurements using software-defined radio platforms. The obtained results demonstrate improvements in bit-error rate (BER) and the secrecy capacity for multiple modulation and coding schemes.