Quantifying the Stiffness of Biceps Muscle Using Accelerometer

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Salman ◽  
Alan Palmer ◽  
Sajid Iqbal
Keyword(s):  
Wave Propagation ◽  
Shear Wave ◽  
Biceps Brachii ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Muscular Contraction ◽  
Natural Increase ◽  
Muscle Stiffness ◽  
The Body ◽  
Surface Vibrations

Abstract With increasing awareness of health benefits from incorporating exercise for a more physically active lifestyle, a natural increase in injuries to connective tissues within the body is inevitable. Determining the condition of these tissues by current imaging techniques is expensive, difficult, and not entirely reliable. Using a Modally Hand Impact Hammer and 3D accelerometers, shear wave propagation from surface vibrations of superficial skeletal muscle was measured. The use of accelerometers in this technique contribute some advantages over other techniques. The ability to mount the accelerometers directly to subject area provides greater flexibility for the subject and the investigator. Utilizing this method provides low cost, non-invasive, reliable and repeatable measure of material characteristics. An increase in shear wave propagation and Modulus of Elasticity were observed in 10 subjects as the number of excited muscle fibers within the biceps brachii increased (muscular contraction) and decreased lower than initial resting values post muscular contraction. This technique may prove more practical in clinical settings for swift in-house or on-site assessments of muscle stiffness to help determine the condition. In a broader relationship, this process further demonstrates that techniques developed through mechanical engineering are beneficial to the health and biology fields.

Ultrasound shear wave elastography in the assessment of passive biceps brachii muscle stiffness: influences of sex and elbow position

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 26-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnson Chen ◽  
Michael O'Dell ◽  
Wen He ◽  
Li-Juan Du ◽  
Pai-Chi Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shear Wave ◽  
Biceps Brachii ◽  
Shear Wave Elastography ◽  
Muscle Stiffness ◽  
Biceps Brachii Muscle

scholarly journals IoT based Eye Movement Guided Wheelchair driving control using AD8232 ECG Sensor

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 5013-5017
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Muscular Contraction ◽  
The Body ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Electrical Signals ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Eye Movement Tracking ◽  
Noise Factors ◽  
Convolution Method

Each and every muscular movement in the body is induced by electrical signals. These electrical signals are in mV and they are very sensitive to noise factors like electrical gadgets placed nearby, different movements, earthing, etc. If such signals are traced carefully, they can be used to accomplish multiple tasks. Such signals are called Myographs. This paper proposes a new method for eye-movement tracking, using Arduino Nano along with AD8232, i.e. the ECG Sensor. Most of the devices for Eye Tracking need to be placed right on the eye which sometimes use Infrared Radiations which may be harmful to eyes. This proposed method captures the gaze direction by muscular contraction, also called Myography. This is done by placing the electrode pads on the forehead and the ECG line graphs demonstrate the direction of gaze which can be understood using the convolution method. After the movement direction is decided based on convolution method, the values are sent and received from the IoT cloud. Thus, the wheelchair movement can be controlled by online and offline modes, making it more opportune to the patient. The goal of the system is to avail low-cost solutions to the needer.

Diagnostic Value of Real-Time Shear Wave Elastography in Diagnosing Thyroid Cancer

2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 2818-2822
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Oprea ◽  
Mihaela Vlad ◽  
Ioana Golu ◽  
Ioan Sporea ◽  
Lazar Fulger
Keyword(s):  
Shear Wave ◽  
Predictive Value ◽  
Thyroid Nodules ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Area Under The Curve ◽  
Thyroid Volume ◽  
Shear Wave Elastography ◽  
Maximum Diameter ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Tissue Elasticity

Thyroid nodules are a common pathology found in 50 to 60% of otherwise healthy people. Diagnostic imaging techniques are help discriminating between benign and malignant nodules, while fine needle aspiration is still a gold standard. Shear wave elastography, a recent imaging technique, holds the promise to become reliable diagnostic tools and is currently used in combination with ultrasound. We here report data obtained in a series of 52 thyroid nodules analysed by means of elastography, as well as conventional and Doppler ultrasound. We found no differences in age, nodule and thyroid volume, length, width, thickness and maximum diameter between benign and malignant lesions. Several sonographic patterns are considered to be predictive of malignancy, out of which we only found the intranodular blood flow to be statistically significant. By the means of shear wave elastography we have first assessed tissue elasticities, which are shown in a range of colours, depending on tissue elasticity/stiffness. Then, we have measured and recorded four parameters automatically displayed by the system, namely SWE-mean, SWE-max, SWE-SD and SWE-ratio. Data analysis showed all these quantitative parameters had good sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and area under the curve, as calculated by the ROC curve. As with these parameters, the cut-off points were lower than in literature, still able to indicate reliable diagnoses, which were confirmed by histopathological exam. Our conclusion is that shear wave elastography has great potential for reliably and accurately diagnosing thyroid malignancies.

scholarly journals Experiments on Energy-Efficient Evaporative Cooling Systems for Poultry Farm Application in Multan (Pakistan)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2836
Author(s):  
Khawar Shahzad ◽  
Muhammad Sultan ◽  
Muhammad Bilal ◽  
Hadeed Ashraf ◽  
Muhammad Farooq ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Evaporative Cooling ◽  
Thermal Exposure ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
The Body ◽  
Dew Point ◽  
Sweat Glands ◽  
Cooling Systems ◽  
Humidity Index

Poultry are one of the most vulnerable species of its kind once the temperature-humidity nexus is explored. This is so because the broilers lack sweat glands as compared to humans and undergo panting process to mitigate their latent heat (moisture produced in the body) in the air. As a result, moisture production inside poultry house needs to be maintained to avoid any serious health and welfare complications. Several strategies such as compressor-based air-conditioning systems have been implemented worldwide to attenuate the heat stress in poultry, but these are not economical. Therefore, this study focuses on the development of low-cost and environmentally friendly improved evaporative cooling systems (DEC, IEC, MEC) from the viewpoint of heat stress in poultry houses. Thermodynamic analysis of these systems was carried out for the climatic conditions of Multan, Pakistan. The results appreciably controlled the environmental conditions which showed that for the months of April, May, and June, the decrease in temperature by direct evaporative cooling (DEC), indirect evaporative cooling (IEC), and Maisotsenko-Cycle evaporative cooling (MEC) systems is 7–10 °C, 5–6.5 °C, and 9.5–12 °C, respectively. In case of July, August, and September, the decrease in temperature by DEC, IEC, and MEC systems is 5.5–7 °C, 3.5–4.5 °C, and 7–7.5 °C, respectively. In addition, drop in temperature-humidity index (THI) values by DEC, IEC, and MEC is 3.5–9 °C, 3–7 °C, and 5.5–10 °C, respectively for all months. Optimum temperature and relative humidity conditions are determined for poultry birds and thereby, systems’ performance is thermodynamically evaluated for poultry farms from the viewpoint of THI, temperature-humidity-velocity index (THVI), and thermal exposure time (ET). From the analysis, it is concluded that MEC system performed relatively better than others due to its ability of dew-point cooling and achieved THI threshold limit with reasonable temperature and humidity indexes.

scholarly journals Effect of Resonant Frequency Vibration on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and Resulting Stiffness as Measured by Shear-Wave Elastography

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (15) ◽  
pp. 7853
Author(s):  
Garrett C. Jones ◽  
Jonathan D. Blotter ◽  
Cameron D. Smallwood ◽  
Dennis L. Eggett ◽  
Darryl J. Cochrane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resonant Frequency ◽  
Shear Wave ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Biceps Brachii ◽  
Shear Wave Elastography ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Maximum Voluntary Isometric Contraction ◽  
Post Exercise ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Pain Ratings

This study utilized resonant frequency vibration to the upper body to determine changes in pain, stiffness and isometric strength of the biceps brachii after eccentric damage. Thirty-one participants without recent resistance training were randomized into three groups: a Control (C) group and two eccentric exercise groups (No vibration (NV) and Vibration (V)). After muscle damage, participants in the V group received upper body vibration (UBV) therapy for 5 min on days 1–4. All participants completed a visual analog scale (VAS), maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), and shear wave elastography (SWE) of the bicep at baseline (pre-exercise), 24 h, 48 h, and 1-week post exercise. There was a significant difference between V and NV at 24 h for VAS (p = 0.0051), at 24 h and 1-week for MVIC (p = 0.0017 and p = 0.0016, respectively). There was a significant decrease in SWE for the V group from 24–48 h (p = 0.0003), while there was no significant change in the NV group (p = 0.9341). The use of UBV resonant vibration decreased MVIC decrement and reduced VAS pain ratings at 24 h post eccentric damage. SWE was strongly negatively correlated with MVIC and may function as a predictor of intrinsic muscle state in the time course of recovery of the biceps brachii.

Voice In Ear

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Yang Gao ◽  
Yincheng Jin ◽  
Jagmohan Chauhan ◽  
Seokmin Choi ◽  
Jiyang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
User Authentication ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
The Body ◽  
Ear Canal ◽  
Replay Attacks ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
The Right ◽  
Sound Conduction ◽  
Enrollment Data ◽  
Secure Authentication

With the rapid growth of wearable computing and increasing demand for mobile authentication scenarios, voiceprint-based authentication has become one of the prevalent technologies and has already presented tremendous potentials to the public. However, it is vulnerable to voice spoofing attacks (e.g., replay attacks and synthetic voice attacks). To address this threat, we propose a new biometric authentication approach, named EarPrint, which aims to extend voiceprint and build a hidden and secure user authentication scheme on earphones. EarPrint builds on the speaking-induced body sound transmission from the throat to the ear canal, i.e., different users will have different body sound conduction patterns on both sides of ears. As the first exploratory study, extensive experiments on 23 subjects show the EarPrint is robust against ambient noises and body motions. EarPrint achieves an Equal Error Rate (EER) of 3.64% with 75 seconds enrollment data. We also evaluate the resilience of EarPrint against replay attacks. A major contribution of EarPrint is that it leverages two-level uniqueness, including the body sound conduction from the throat to the ear canal and the body asymmetry between the left and the right ears, taking advantage of earphones' paring form-factor. Compared with other mobile and wearable biometric modalities, EarPrint is a low-cost, accurate, and secure authentication solution for earphone users.

scholarly journals Cytokines as Biomarkers and Their Respective Clinical Cutoff Levels

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca N. Monastero ◽  
Srinivas Pentyala
Keyword(s):  
Tumor Necrosis ◽  
Inflammatory Diseases ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
The Body ◽  
Tumor Necrosis Factors ◽  
Biochemical Pathways ◽  
Downstream Effects ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Receiver Operator Characteristics ◽  
Cutoff Levels

Cytokines, including interleukins, interferons, tumor necrosis factors, and chemokines, have a variety of pro- and anti-inflammatory effects in the body through a number of biochemical pathways and interactions. Stimuli, actions, interactions, and downstream effects of cytokines have been investigated in more depth in recent years, and clinical research has also been conducted to implicate cytokines in causal patterns in certain diseases. However, particular cutoffs of cytokines as biomarkers for disease processes have not been well studied, and this warrants future work to potentially improve diagnoses for diseases with inflammatory markers. A limited number of studies in this area are reviewed, considering diseases correlated with abnormal cytokine profiles, as well as specific cutoffs at which cytokines have been deemed clinically useful for diagnosing those diseases through Receiver Operator Characteristics modeling. In light of studies such as those discussed in this review, cytokine testing has the potential to support diagnosis due to its lack of invasiveness and low cost, compared to other common types of testing for infections and inflammatory diseases.

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