Technology and Health Care - Volume 17, issue 2

Authors: Fankhauser, F. | Kwasniewska, S.

Article Type: Review Article

Abstract: Vernier thresholds rise much more rapidly in the periphery than do grating thresholds. A similar dissociation between acuity and hyperacuity has been shown to be present in strabismic but not in anisometropic amblyopia, thus leading to the suggestion that the strabismic fovea is similar to the normal periphery. Here it is shown that a quantitative model for spatial pattern discrimination, which accounts for foveal hyperacuity data, can be extended to encompass both the periphery and amblyopia if appropriate alterations are made. For the periphery it is necessary to increase the size of model receptive fields and to introduce both spatial …undersampling and position irregularity (i.e. irregularity in the location of cortical filters). The strabismic fovea also requires spatial undersampling and position irregularity but no change in receptive field size. Defects in the good eye of strabismus can be explained by spatial irregularity. Finally, the anisometropic fovea requires a reduction in mechanism sensitivity but neither spatial untersampling nor position irregularity. Show more

Keywords: Peripheral vision, hyperacuity, amblyopia, strabismus, anisometropia, aliasing

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2009-0531

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 77-97, 2009

Authors: Fankhauser, F. | Kwasniewska, S.

Article Type: Review Article

Keywords: Amblyopya, cortical mechanisms, neurophysiology, strabism, vision

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2009-0532

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 99-107, 2009

Authors: Fankhauser, F. | Kwasniewska, S.

Article Type: Research Article

Keywords: Amblyopia, vision, cortical mechanisms, mechanisms of vision, contrast sensitivity, lateral interaction, lateral excitation, lateral inhibition

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2009-0533

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 109-120, 2009

Authors: Kishimoto, M. | Yoshida, T. | Hayasaka, T. | Mori, D. | Imai, Y. | Matsuki, N. | Ishikawa, T. | Yamaguchi, T.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: An effective way for preventing injuries and diseases among the elderly is to monitor their daily lives. In this regard, we propose the use of a “Hyper Hospital Network”, which is an information support system for elderly people and patients. In the current study, we developed a wearable system for monitoring electromyography (EMG) and acceleration using the Hyper Hospital Network plan. The current system is an upgraded version of our previous system for gait analysis (Yoshida et al. [13], Telemedicine and e-Health 13 703–714), and lets us monitor decreases in exercise and the presence of a hemiplegic gait more accurately. …To clarify the capabilities and reliability of the system, we performed three experimental evaluations: one to verify the performance of the wearable system, a second to detect a hemiplegic gait, and a third to monitor EMG and accelerations simultaneously. Our system successfully detected a lack of exercise by monitoring the iEMG in healthy volunteers. Moreover, by using EMG and acceleration signals simultaneously, the reliability of the Hampering Index (HI) for detecting hemiplegia walking was improved significantly. The present study provides useful knowledge for the development of a wearable computer designed to monitor the physical conditions of older persons and patients. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2009-0538

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 121-131, 2009

Authors: Kendoff, Daniel | Ortega, Gilbert | Citak, Musa | Citak, Mustafa | Hüfner, Tobias | Krettek, Christian | Olivier, Lucien C.

Article Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2009-0541

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 133-140, 2009

Authors: Citak, Musa | Calafi, Afshin | Kendoff, Daniel | Kupka, Thomas | Haasper, Carl | Behrends, Marianne | Krettek, Christian | Matthies, Herbert K. | Hüfner, Tobias

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Today universities can offer a variety of educational resources to their students through the internet. These may include lecture notes, PowerPoint presentations, or even an entire recording of a lecture in video format. At the Hannover Medical School (Hannover, Germany), the Trauma Surgery Department in collaboration with the Institute of Medical Informatics has developed an alternative method of “E-learning”. We created a web-based multimedia resource center for Trauma Surgery using the Content-Management-System (CMS) Schoolbook application, which was initially developed by the Institute of Medical Informatics. The so called “Trauma Surgery Schoolbook” was first adopted in October of 2005 and has …since been used and evaluated by medical students at our institution. The evaluation results for the academic year 2005/06 are reported in this paper. The majority of students enrolled in the Trauma Surgery rotation utilized the Schoolbook, which they regarded as a helpful and effective study tool. Our students embraced the possibility of being able to prepare for lectures and use the Schoolbook for independent home studying purposes. Over time, there was a steady increase in the utilization of the Schoolbook by the students from 67% in the first trimester to 93% in the third trimester. The majority of the surveyed students (79.6%) found the Schoolbook to be constructive and helpful. 8.1% did not have any opinion, and only 12.3% found it to not be helpful. The instructors also found this web-based training program to be both constructive and practical, and were able to utilize its multimedia components to complement their lectures. Overall, our experience with this computer-aided learning program demonstrated that web-based technologies can improve the quality of medical education, benefiting both the students and the instructors. Show more

Keywords: Musculoskeletal, orthopaedics, internet, e-learning

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2009-0539

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 141-148, 2009

Authors: Ortega, Gil R. | Taksali, Sudeep | Smart, Ryan | Baumgaertner, Michael R.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Background: Cellular phone use within the hospital setting has increased as physicians, nurses, and ancillary staff incorporate wireless technologies in improving efficiencies, cost, and maintaining patient safety and high quality healthcare [11]. Through the use of wireless, cellular communication, an overall improvement in communication accuracy and efficiency between intraoperative orthopaedic surgeons and floor nurses may be achieved. Methods: Both communication types occurred while the surgeon was scrubbed in the operating room (OR). Indirect communication occurred when the pager call was answered by the OR circulating nurse with communication between the surgeon, circulating nurse, and floor nurse. Direct communication …consisted of cell phone and Jabra® Bluetooth BT200 wireless ear piece used by the surgeon. The surgeon answered the floor nurse's cellular call by phone ring-activated automatic answering. The study was conducted during scheduled orthopaedic procedures. An independent observer measured time variables with a stop-watch while orthopaedic nurses randomly called via pager or cell phone. The nurses asked for patient caregiver confirmation and answers to 30 different patient-care questions. Results: Sixty trials were performed with 30 cell and 30 page communications. Direct cellular communication showed a better response rate than indirect page (Cell 100%, Page 73%). Indirect page communication allowed a 27% and 33% error rate with patient problem and surgeon solution communications, respectively. There were no reported communication errors while using direct wireless, cellular communication. When compared to page communications, cellular communications showed statistically significant improvements in mean time intervals in response time (Cell = 11s, Page = 211s), correct patient identification (Cell = 5s, Page = 172s), patient problem and solution time (Cell = 13s, Page = 189s), and total communication time (Cell = 32s, Page = 250s) (s = seconds, all P < 0.001). Floor nurse satisfaction ratings (dependent on communication times and/or difficulties) were improved with direct cellular communication (Cell = 29 excellent, Page = 11 excellent). Intraoperative case interruptions (defined as delaying surgical progress) were more frequent with indirect page communication (10 page v. 0 cell). Conclusion and significance: Our study demonstrates that direct wireless communication may be used to improve intraoperative communication and enhance patient safety. Direct wireless, cellular intraoperative communication improves communication times, communication accuracy, communication satisfaction, and minimizes intraoperative case interruption. As a result of this study, we hope to maintain our transition to direct wireless, cellular intraoperative orthopaedic communication to reduce medical errors, improve patient care, and enhance both orthopaedic surgeon and nursing efficiencies. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2009-0540

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 149-157, 2009