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28 February 2021, Volume 26 Issue 1 Previous Issue    Next Issue
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Medicine-Engineering Interdisciplinary Research


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Medicine-Engineering Interdisciplinary Research

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Effects of Micro-Milling and Laser Engraving on Processing Quality and Implantation Mechanics of PEG-Dexamethasone Coated Neural Probe ZHOU Xuhui (周旭辉), ZHANG Wenguang (张文光), XIE Jie (谢颉) 2021, 26 (1):  1-9.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-020-2243-7 Abstract ( 527 )   PDF (1890KB) ( 102 )    Compared with stiff silicon-based probes, flexible neural probes can alleviate biological inflammation and tissue rejection. A polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating can facilitate the insertion of flexible probes, and the fabrication methods have a significant impact on the dimensional accuracy and structural strength of the coating. In this study, a novel melting injection moulding method is used to process a PEG-dexamethasone (PEG-DEX) coating with high structural strength for a type of mesh-shaped photosensitive polyimide (PSPI) based neural probe. Combined with the digital image correlation (DIC) method, an in vitro test system with high accuracy is developed to evaluate the effects of the elastic modulus of the PEG component and two fabrication methods, i.e., computer-numerical-control (CNC) micro-milling and laser engraving, on the processing quality and implantation mechanics of a PEG-DEX coated probe. The results show that compared with laser engraving, CNC micro-milling can ensure high dimensional accuracy and sharpness for the composite coating, thus leading to small damage from implantation, whereas the elastic modulus of the composite coating has a limited effect on the implantation mechanics of the PEG-DEX coated probe. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Recent Advances and Future Directions of Diagnostic and Prognostic Prediction Models in Ovarian Cancer ZENG Judan (曾巨丹), CAO Wenjiao (曹文娇), WANG Lihua (王丽华) 2021, 26 (1):  10-16.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2255-y Abstract ( 370 )   PDF (167KB) ( 62 )   Ovarian cancer has one of the highest mortality rates among gynecological malignancies. This disease has a low early detection rate, a high postoperative recurrence rate, and a 5-year survival rate of only 40%. Hence, there is an urgent need to improve the early diagnosis and prognosis of ovarian cancer. Prediction models can effectively estimate the risk of disease occurrence, as well as its prognosis. Recently, many studies have established multiple ovarian cancer prediction models based on different regions and populations. These models can improve the detection rate and optimize the prognosis management to a certain extent. Herein, the construction principle of the ovarian cancer risk prediction model and its validation are summarized; furthermore, comprehensive reviews and comparisons of the different types of these models are made. Therefore, our review may be of great significance for the whole course of ovarian cancer management. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Influence of Supramolecular Chiral Hydrogel on Cellular Behavior of Endothelial Cells Under High-Glucose-Induced Injury CAI Weijie (蔡伟杰), HAMUSHAN Musha (木沙·哈木山), ZHAO Changli (赵常利), CHENG Pengfei (程鹏飞), ZHONG Wanrun (钟万润), HAN Pei (韩培) 2021, 26 (1):  17-24.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2256-x Abstract ( 379 )   PDF (1377KB) ( 41 )    In order to manage the impaired wound healing of diabetic chronic wounds induced by high-glucosedamaged endothelial cells, a glucose-induced injured endothelial cell model is established in this research to explore the regulatory effects of a supramolecular chiral hydrogel on injured endothelial cells. Cellular behaviors of endothelial cells under different culture conditions are evaluated by CCK-8, 5-ethynyl-2-deoxyuridine (EdU) staining, adhesion, and Transwell assays. The expression levels of angiogenesis-related markers, including nitric oxide,endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), are also assessed by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The results demonstrate that the left-handed chirality of the supramolecular chiral hydrogel can promote cell proliferation and enhance the adhesion and migration ability of impaired endothelial cells. Moreover, enhanced nitric oxide synthesis and elevated expression of eNOS and VEGF are observed in cells in the left-handed chiral environment. Thus, the left-handed supramolecular chiral hydrogel can regulate the cellular behavior of high-glucose-injured endothelial cells, including cell proliferation, adhesion, migration, and angiogenesis, offering the potential to promote diabetic wound healing. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Brief ICF Core Set for Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Validation from the Perspective of Chinese Respiratory Physicians LIU Bing (刘冰), WANG Pu (王朴), ZHOU Min (周敏), GUO Yi (过依), DAI Ranran (戴然然) 2021, 26 (1):  25-32.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2257-9 Abstract ( 292 )   PDF (259KB) ( 39 )    Obstructive pulmonary diseases (OPDs) are the leading causes of mortality and disability worldwide. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides a framework for systematically assessing functioning and disability in patients with chronic diseases. To date, the ICF core sets for OPDs have not been validated by respiratory physicians in China’s mainland. This study was aimed at validating the briefICF core set for OPDs from the perspective of Chinese respiratory physicians. A three-round, consensus-building survey was conducted with Chinese respiratory physicians from Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang from December 2 to December 16, 2017, using the Delphi technique. Their answers were analyzed for consensus degree. In this study, 52 experts (about 67.3% men) with a mean working experience of (19.3 ± 6.3) years completed the consensus process. After 3 rounds, the following 13 ICF categories were considered crucial for the assessment of OPDs, with an agreement of over 70%: 4 in body functions (b410-heart functions, b440-respiratory functions, b455-exercise tolerance functions, and b460-sensations associated with cardiovascular and respiratory functions), 2 in body structures (s410-structure of cardiovascular system, and s430-structure of respiratory system), 4 in activities and participation ( d230-carrying out daily routine, d450-walking, d455-moving around, and d640-doing housework), and 3 in environmental factors (e110-products or substances for personal consumption, e225-climate, and e260-air quality). Twelve (70.6%) categories in the current brief ICF core set were validated, and one additional category, b410-heart functions, was added. In conclusion, Chinese respiratory physicians largely supported the current brief ICF core set for OPDs. However, the newly added and unconfirmed categories need further investigation. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Finite Element Modeling of Human Thorax Based on MRI Images for EIT Image Reconstruction HUANG Ningning (黄宁宁), MA Yixin (马艺馨), ZHANG Mingzhu (张明珠), GE Hao (葛浩), WU Huawei (吴华伟) 2021, 26 (1):  33-39.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-020-2232-x Abstract ( 375 )   PDF (2783KB) ( 107 )   Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) image reconstruction is a non-linear problem. In general, finite element model is the critical basis of EIT image reconstruction. A 3D human thorax modeling method for EIT image reconstruction is proposed herein to improve the accuracy and reduce the complexity of existing finite element modeling methods. The contours of human thorax and lungs are extracted from the layers of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images by an optimized Otsu’s method for the construction of the 3D human thorax model including the lung models. Furthermore, the GMSH tool is used for finite element subdivision to generate the 3D finite element model of human thorax. The proposed modeling method is fast and accurate, and it is universal for different types of MRI images. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by extensive numerical simulation in MATLAB. The results show that the individually oriented 3D finite element model can improve the reconstruction quality of the EIT images more effectively than the cylindrical model, the 2.5D model and other human chest models. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Mutational Analysis of OCT4+ and OCT4- Circulating Tumour Cells by Single Cell Whole Exome Sequencing in Stage I Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients YAN Bo (颜波), FU Shijie (傅世杰), CHANG Yuanyuan (常媛媛), GU Aiqin (顾爱琴), DONG Qianggang (董强刚), LI Rong (李榕) 2021, 26 (1):  40-46.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2258-8 Abstract ( 334 )   PDF (645KB) ( 33 )   Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) were enriched in the peripheral blood of four patients with Stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Octamer-binding transcription factor-4 positive (OCT4+) and negative (OCT4-) CTCs were identified and captured by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridisation (iFISH). Single cell whole exome sequencing (WES) was performed and the corresponding bioinformatics data were analysed. OCT4+ cells were successfully detected in peripheral blood collected from all four Stage I lung cancer patients. Moreover,the tumour mutational burden (TMB) values observed for OCT4+ samples from the same patients were slightly smaller than those of the OCT4- samples; the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Thirteen and six characteristic mutations were found in negative samples and positive samples, respectively. The findings indicate that this methodology provides a potential diagnostic index for the early detection of NSCLC. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Blood Pressure Change in Intrafascicular Vagal Activities GUO Jinyao (郭金尧), LI Runhuan (李润桓), WANG Jiaojiao (王娇娇), ARRANZ Javier, LI Yiran (李怡然), CHAI Xinyu (柴新禹), WANG Jiguang (王继光), SUI Xiaohong (隋晓红) 2021, 26 (1):  47-54.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2259-7 Abstract ( 373 )   PDF (1359KB) ( 53 )   Baroreflex plays a significant role in modulating blood pressure for the human body. It is known that activation of the vagal nerve related to baroreflex can lead to reductions of blood pressure. However, how the vagal activities quantitatively relate with blood pressure can hardly be achieved. Here fine carbon nanotube yarn (CNTy) electrodes were adopted for recording intrafascicular vagal activities, synchronized with measurement of arterial blood pressure in a rat. Together with a novel algorithm, the results preliminarily quantified that there were six clusters of neural spikes within recorded vagal activities, and the number of individual vagal spikes correspondingly varied with blood pressure. Especially for Cluster 2, the neural activations decreased with arterial blood pressure increasing. This study can shed lights on the quantified neural mechanism underlying the control of vagal activities on blood pressure, and guide the vagal-nerve neuromodulation for treating hypertension. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Electroencephalogram Features of Anxiety Relieving During Music Listening GONG Yanling (龚艳玲), ZHUANG Siyue (庄似玥), ZHU Geng (朱耿), LI Liting (李丽婷), JIANG Hong (蒋宏), LI Xingwang (李兴旺), HE Lin (贺林), LIU Yeping (刘晔萍), ZHOU Lixian (周丽娴), LI Shengtian (李胜天) 2021, 26 (1):  55-62.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2260-1 Abstract ( 320 )   PDF (397KB) ( 39 )   With the fast-accelerating pace of life, most of the population is troubled by anxious feelings, or they even developed anxiety disorders, which affect their life qualities viciously. The current treatment is not without drawbacks, such as exhibiting slow or acute effects only. Music therapy has shown promising outcomes in significantly reducing tension and anxiety in many studies. To explore the underlying mechanism, we recruited 12 undergraduate student volunteers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with habits of music listening. We explored the changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG) power spectrum both during and after listening to selfselect favorite music, and the relation between EEG signals and anxiety-relieving during music listening. The results showed that the power of the β band in the right parietal area was significantly higher in those who were self-report able to relax during music listening compared with those who could not get relaxed. We observed power increased in the right parietal area of self-reports, not able to relax while music playing. Also, a significant difference in θ band power in the left frontal area and γ band in the right frontal area before and after music listening was observed between high anxiety group and low anxiety group. These results imply that β band activity in the left frontal area is associated with the anxiety-relieving capability of anxiety, which provides evidence for further elucidating the mechanism underlying anxiety-relieving during music listening. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Regulation of Sleep Behavior by Overexpression of Amyloid Precursor Protein in Drosophila Neurons LI Minzhe (李慜哲), PING Yong (平勇) 2021, 26 (1):  63-68.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2261-0 Abstract ( 288 )   PDF (462KB) ( 90 )   Amyloid precursor protein (APP) can generate neurotoxic β-amyloid 42 (Aβ42) by proteolytic process, which plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Individuals with mild to moderate AD exhibit sleep disturbance, even before the onset of AD. The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of APP on sleep behavior by using an APP overexpressing Drosophila AD model. APP-overexpressed flies were grouped by age, and their sleep amounts were monitored. Our results demonstrated that APP overexpression had no impacts on sleep amounts in young (4—7 days after eclosion, 4—7AE) flies. However, APP overexpression contributed to lower day and total sleep amounts in the middle-aged (11—14AE) flies. Moreover, old-aged (40AE) flies with overexpressing APP exhibited increased number of sleep bouts and decreased sleep time, indicating sleep fragmentation in these flies. Our results indicated that overexpression of APP in neurons has distinct effects on sleep behavior at different ages, but the specific mechanisms underlying the sleep regulation by APP are needed for further study. In addition, our data also suggest that sleep disturbance in AD animals can be caused by APP expression alterations, which provide a potential treating target for sleep intervention and therapy for AD patients. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Parallel Plate Flow Chamber Device for Evaluation of Cell Retention of Electrospun Zein Fiber Film Under Steady Shear SHEN Naian (沈乃安), ZHANG Yue (张玥), WANG Jinye (王瑾晔) 2021, 26 (1):  69-75.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2262-z Abstract ( 297 )   PDF (1630KB) ( 37 )   Shear stress environment is an important factor in the study of vascular tissue engineering. It is a key issue to improve the adhesion ability of endothelial cells in shear stress environment to format a complete monolayer of endothelial cells on the inner surface of the artificial blood vessel. This study uses electrospinning technology to construct a zein film with nano structure to provide basement membrane for cell retention study. Two parallel plate flow chamber devices are designed to simulate the fluid environment of the blood vessel to compare the adhesion ability of EA.hy926 and L929 cells on the fiber film under shear stress. From the data of cell retention, we find that the shear stress in each hole of 6-hole device is much uniform than that of 18-hole device. This optimized 6-hole device can be used to compare the anti-detaching ability of cells between various surfaces. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Design of Multi-Coil Wireless Power Transfer System for Gastrointestinal Capsule Robot CHEN Fanji (陈范吉), JIANG Pingping (姜萍萍), YAN Guozheng (颜国正), WANG Wei (汪炜), MENG Yicun (孟一村) 2021, 26 (1):  76-83.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2263-y Abstract ( 481 )   PDF (1324KB) ( 37 )   The existing wireless power transfer (WPT) systems for gastrointestinal capsule robot have the problems of small coupling coefficient and low power transmission efficiency (PTE). The reasons are due to the longdistance between the transmitting coil and the receiving coil and the large difference in size. A new type of WPT system is designed, which uses three sets of small coil pairs to form a power supply unit (PSU), and utilizes multiple PSUs to form a multi-coil WPT system. Compared with single-coil system, the multi-coil system can achieve higher power utilization by switching between PSUs, instead of opening all PSUs. ANSYS Maxwell is used to perform finite element modeling on the PSU, analyzing the characteristics of the transmitting magnetic field. The results of the experiment show that when the distance between the small coil pairs in the PSU is 180 mm, the magnetic field has relatively good uniformity, and the magnetic strength change relative to the center point is less than 5%.  The average received power of the system is greater than 800mW, and the PTE is up to 5.1%. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Prosthetic Leg Locomotion-Mode Identification Based on High-Order Zero-Crossing Analysis Surface Electromyography LIU Lei (刘磊), YANG Peng (杨鹏), LIU Zuojun (刘作军), SONG Yinmao (宋寅卯) 2021, 26 (1):  84-92.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-020-2249-1 Abstract ( 334 )   PDF (1138KB) ( 24 )   The research purpose was to improve the accuracy in identifying the prosthetic leg locomotion mode. Surface electromyography (sEMG) combined with high-order zero-crossing was used to identify the prosthetic leg locomotion modes. sEMG signals recorded from residual thigh muscles were chosen as inputs to pattern classifier for locomotion-mode identification. High-order zero-crossing were computed as the sEMG features regarding locomotion modes. Relevance vector machine (RVM) classifier was investigated. Bat algorithm (BA) was used to compute the RVM classifier kernel function parameters. The classification performance of the particle swarm optimization-relevance vector machine (PSO-RVM) and RVM classifiers was compared. The BA-RVM produced lower classification error in sEMG pattern recognition for the transtibial amputees over a variety of locomotion modes: upslope, downgrade, level-ground walking and stair ascent/descent. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Rethinking the Dice Loss for Deep Learning Lesion Segmentation in Medical Images ZHANG Yue (张月), LIU Shijie (刘世界), LI Chunlai (李春来), WANG Jianyu (王建宇) 2021, 26 (1):  93-102.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2264-x Abstract ( 635 )   PDF (917KB) ( 176 )   Deep learning is widely used for lesion segmentation in medical images due to its breakthrough performance. Loss functions are critical in a deep learning pipeline, and they play important roles in segmenting performance. Dice loss is the most commonly used loss function in medical image segmentation, but it also has some disadvantages. In this paper, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Dice loss function, and group the extensions of the Dice loss according to its improved purpose. The performances of some extensions are compared according to core references. Because different loss functions have different performances in different tasks, automatic loss function selection will be the potential direction in the future. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Two Generative Design Methods of Hospital Operating Department Layouts Based on Healthcare Systematic Layout Planning and Generative Adversarial Network ZHAO Chaowang (赵朝望), YANG Jian (杨健), XIONG Wuyue (熊吴越), LI Jiatong (李佳潼) 2021, 26 (1):  103-115.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2265-9 Abstract ( 553 )   PDF (1551KB) ( 383 )   With the increasing demands of health care, the design of hospital buildings has become increasingly demanding and complicated. However, the traditional layout design method for hospital is labor intensive, time consuming and prone to errors. With the development of artificial intelligence (AI), the intelligent design method has become possible and is considered to be suitable for the layout design of hospital buildings. Two intelligent design processes based on healthcare systematic layout planning (HSLP) and generative adversarial network (GAN) are proposed in this paper, which aim to solve the generation problem of the plane functional layout of the operating departments (ODs) of general hospitals. The first design method that is more like a mathematical model with traditional optimization algorithm concerns the following two steps: developing the HSLP model based on the conventional systematic layout planning (SLP) theory, identifying the relationship and flows amongst various departments/units, and arriving at the preliminary plane layout design; establishing mathematical model to optimize the building layout by using the genetic algorithm (GA) to obtain the optimized scheme. The specific process of the second intelligent design based on more than 100 sets of collected OD drawings includes: labelling the corresponding functional layouts of each OD plan; building image-to-image translation with conditional adversarial network (pix2pix) for training OD plane layouts, which is one of the most representative GAN models. Finally, the functions and features of the results generated by the two methods are analyzed and compared from an architectural and algorithmic perspective. Comparison of the two design methods shows that the HSLP and GAN models can autonomously generate new OD plane functional layouts. The HSLP layouts have clear functional area adjacencies and optimization goals, but the layouts are relatively rigid and not specific enough. The GAN outputs are the most innovative layouts with strong applicability, but the dataset has strict constraints. The goal of this paper is to help release the heavy load of architects in the early design stage and present the effectiveness of these intelligent design methods in the field of medical architecture. References | Related Articles | Metrics

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Content-Based Knowledge Quality Assessment and Its Application in Health Management System XIANG Yidan (项益丹), ZHANG Pengzhu (张朋柱), WU Shuang (吴双) 2021, 26 (1):  116-128.  doi: 10.1007/s12204-021-2266-8 Abstract ( 313 )   PDF (517KB) ( 34 )   The growing demand for health management puts forward high requirements for the quality of health knowledge. A content-based method is proposed to address the current demand for high-quality health knowledge, which evaluates the quality including the certainty, accuracy, and operability of different types of knowledge from the perspectives of authority, precision, and information entropy. Herein, the health knowledge of myocardial infarction is used as an example, and knowledge is first classified into different types and then evaluated. This method is applied to knowledge in the existing health management system and it can support knowledge screening and comparison under the cold start condition. Compared with the current evaluation methods based on knowledge use behavior and utility, the new evaluation method provides a reference for evaluation when the knowledge is first used. The screening of high quality knowledge can help the subsequent application of knowledge and improve user’s compliance. Concurrently, the arrangement of myocardial infarction knowledge can also provide a knowledge reference for patients’ daily health management. References | Related Articles | Metrics