Ventricular activity cancellation in electrograms during atrial fibrillation with constraints on residuals’ power

During atrial fibrillation (AF), cancellation of ventricular activity from atrial electrograms (AEG) is commonly performed by template matching and subtraction (TMS): a running template, built in correspondence of QRSs, is subtracted from the AEG to uncover atrial activity (AA). However, TMS can produce poor cancellation, leaving high-power residues. In this study, we propose to modulate the templates before subtraction, in order to make the residuals as similar as possible to the nearby atrial activity, avoiding high-power ones. The coefficients used to modulate the template are estimated by maximizing, via Multi-swarm Particle Swarm Optimization, a fitness function. The modulated TMS method (mTMS) was tested on synthetic and real AEGs. Cancellation performances were assessed using: normalized mean squared error (NMSE, computed on simulated data only), reduction of ventricular activity (VDR), and percentage of segments (PP) whose power was outside the standard range of the atrial power. All testings suggested that mTMS is an improvement over TMS alone, being, on simulated data, NMSE and PP significantly decreased while VDR significantly increased. Similar results were obtained on real electrograms (median values of CS1 recordings PP: 2.44 vs. 0.38 p < 0.001; VDR: 6.71 vs. 8.15 p < 0.001).     

Optimal vaccine stockpile design for an eradicated disease: Application to polio

Eradication of a disease promises significant health and financial benefits. Preserving those benefits, hopefully in perpetuity, requires preparing for the possibility that the causal agent could re-emerge (unintentionally or intentionally). In the case of a vaccine-preventable disease, creation and planning for the use of a vaccine stockpile becomes a primary concern. Doing so requires consideration of the dynamics at different levels, including the stockpile supply chain and transmission of the causal agent. This paper develops a mathematical framework for determining the optimal management of a vaccine stockpile over time. We apply the framework to the polio vaccine stockpile for the post-eradication era and present examples of solutions to one possible framing of the optimization problem. We use the framework to discuss issues relevant to the development and use of the polio vaccine stockpile, including capacity constraints, production and filling delays, risks associated with the stockpile, dynamics and uncertainty of vaccine needs, issues of funding, location, and serotype dependent behavior, and the implications of likely changes over time that might occur. This framework serves as a helpful context for discussions and analyses related to the process of designing and maintaining a stockpile for an eradicated disease.     

冠状动脉搭桥术中移植管-宿主动脉直径比和缝合角的优化与分析

目的探索怎样的移植管-宿主动脉直径比和缝合角可以最大限度地提高冠状动脉搭桥术的成功率。方法借助ANSYS9.0对冠状动脉搭桥术进行模拟仿真,用响应面方法建立数学模型,利用优化理论寻找最优的移植管-宿主动脉直径比和缝合角,使影响手术成功率的主要因素-壁面切应力梯度最小。结果结果表明冠状动脉搭桥术中,大移植管-宿主动脉直径比和小缝合角的模型具有更好的血流动力特性。结论影响冠状动脉搭桥术成功率的因素很多,在现有条件下借助临床经验指导,选择尽可能大的移植管-宿主动脉直径比和尽可能小的缝合角的做法是可取的。     

Automatic lung nodule matching on sequential CT images

We propose an automatic segmentation and registration method that provides more efficient and robust matching of lung nodules in sequential chest computed tomography (CT) images. Our method consists of four steps. First, the lungs are extracted from chest CT images by the automatic segmentation method. Second, gross translational mismatch is corrected by optimal cube registration. This initial alignment does not require extracting any anatomical landmarks. Third, the initial alignment is step-by-step refined by hierarchical surface registration. To evaluate the distance measures between lung boundary points, a three-dimensional distance map is generated by narrow-band distance propagation, which drives fast and robust convergence to the optimal value. Finally, correspondences of manually detected nodules are established from the pairs with the smallest Euclidean distances. Experimental results show that our segmentation method accurately extracts lung boundaries and the registration method effectively finds the nodule correspondences.     

通过多种技术方法的综合使用优化全脑全脊髓照射技术

全脑全脊髓照射是针对多种癌症的治疗流程中一个重要的组成部分。为了达到最佳的肿瘤控制,需要在靶区体积的确定、重要正常组织的保护、剂量均匀度、射野交接区域以及剂量测定方面都特别注意。本文提出了一种适用于大多数治疗情况的优化了的全脑全脊髓照射治疗技术,以一名因生殖细胞瘤需接受全脑全脊髓照射治疗的17岁男性患者为例,通过综合使用半野衔接技术、扩展半影的射野衔接技术和多叶光拦子野技术,制定临床可实行的治疗计划,大大改善了脊髓靶区内的剂量均匀度,将剂量最大点由处方剂量的124%降低到处方剂量的108%。对仿真人体模进行的实际测量值与计算值的比较表明,测量值和计算值是基本一致的。     

FAME24/20中两步法ELISA试剂工作表的优化设计

[目的]为了缩短FAME24／20全自动酶联免疫分析仪的工作时间，提高工作效率。[方法]在FAME用户软件中编制好实验步骤，指定洗液的洗板单元和试剂的分配单元，改进酶标板进板方式和顺序，对ELISA两步法试剂的工作表进行优化。[结果]编制出2个能在53min内完成15个酶标板进板的工作表。[结论]优化设计两步法ELISA试剂的工作表，可以充分利用FAME24／20的仪器资源，并有效提高其使用效率。     

金银花提取物成型干燥过程研究

采用系统设计和分析方法，通过对金银花提取物的浓缩液在流化床干燥制粒机中的干燥制粒实验，得出了进风温度、进风量、喷雾空气压力、喷雾速度等主要参数的优化值；通过对FL-5型沸腾制粒机的改造，达到了改善颗粒的均匀度的目的。     

Incorporating prior knowledge into beam orientaton optimization in IMRT

: Selection of beam configuration in currently available intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment planning systems is still based on trial-and-error search. Computer beam orientation optimization has the potential to improve the situation, but its practical implementation is hindered by the excessive computing time associated with the calculation. The purpose of this work is to provide an effective means to speed up the beam orientation optimization by incorporating a priori geometric and dosimetric knowledge of the system and to demonstrate the utility of the new algorithm for beam placement in IMRT.

: Beam orientation optimization was performed in two steps. First, the quality of each possible beam orientation was evaluated using beam’s-eye-view dosimetrics (BEVD) developed in our previous study. A simulated annealing algorithm was then employed to search for the optimal set of beam orientations, taking into account the BEVD scores of different incident beam directions. During the calculation, sampling of gantry angles was weighted according to the BEVD score computed before the optimization. A beam direction with a higher BEVD score had a higher probability of being included in the trial configuration, and vice versa. The inclusion of the BEVD weighting in the stochastic beam angle sampling process made it possible to avoid spending valuable computing time unnecessarily at “bad” beam angles. An iterative inverse treatment planning algorithm was used for beam intensity profile optimization during the optimization process. The BEVD-guided beam orientation optimization was applied to an IMRT treatment of paraspinal tumor. The advantage of the new optimization algorithm was demonstrated by comparing the calculation with the conventional scheme without the BEVD weighting in the beam sampling.

: The BEVD tool provided useful guidance for the selection of the potentially good directions for the beams to incident and was used to guide the search for the optimal beam configuration. The BEVD-guided sampling improved both optimization speed and convergence of the calculation. A comparison of several five-field IMRT treatment plans obtained with and without BEVD guidance indicated that the computational efficiency was increased by a factor of 10.

: Incorporation of BEVD information allows for development of a more robust tool for beam orientation optimization in IMRT planning. It enables us to more effectively use the angular degree of freedom in IMRT without paying the excessive computing overhead and brings us one step closer to the goal of automated selection of beam orientations in a clinical environment.     

中药分散片的处方设计与优选试验

目的：优选确定适合中药分散片生产需要的工艺处方。方法：以分散均匀性及脆碎度为评判指标，在初筛的基础上进行比较试验。结果：崩解剂L-HPC的成型性优于PVPPXL，PVPPXL的崩解性能优于L-HPC，联用效果优于单用；填充剂MCC效果优于乳糖和和淀粉；润湿剂95％乙醇的成型性好，颗粒得率高；硬度小于4.0kg／cm^2时，药片比较疏松，大于8.0kg／cm^2时，崩解时间明显延长。结论：在中药分散片的制备工艺中，崩解剂采用外加L-HPC，内加PVPP巍较好，填充剂选择MCC较佳，润湿剂以95％乙醇溶液为宜，药片硬度控制在6-7kg／cm^2比较理想。