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Publications

Publications by BIO

2022

Integrating Computer Vision, Robotics, and Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare

Authors
Costa, T; Coelho, L; Silva, MF;

Publication
Advances in Medical Technologies and Clinical Practice

Abstract
Technological evolution has allowed that tasks, usually performed by humans, can now be performed accurately by automated systems, often with superior performance. The healthcare area has been paradigmatic in the automation of processes, as the need to optimize costs, ensuring the provision of quality care, is crucial for the success of organizations. Diabetes, whose prevalence has increased significantly in the last decade, could be a case of application of several technologies that facilitate diagnosis, tracking and monitoring. Such tasks demand a great effort from health systems, requiring the allocation of material, human and financial resources, under penalty of worsening symptoms and emergence of serious complications. In this chapter the authors will present and explore how different technologies can be integrated to provide better healthcare, ensuring quality and safety standards, with reference to the case of diabetes.

2022

Feasibility of Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depressed Older Adults With the Moodbuster Platform: Protocol for 2 Pilot Feasibility Studies

Authors
Amarti, K; Schulte, MHJ; Kleiboer, A; Van Genugten, CR; Oudega, M; Sonnenberg, C; Gonçalves, Gc; Rocha, A; Riper, H;

Publication
JMIR Research Protocols

Abstract
Background: Internet-based interventions can be effective in the treatment of depression. However, internet-based interventions for older adults with depression are scarce, and little is known about their feasibility and effectiveness. Objective: To present the design of 2 studies aiming to assess the feasibility of internet-based cognitive behavioral treatment for older adults with depression. We will assess the feasibility of an online, guided version of the Moodbuster platform among depressed older adults from the general population as well as the feasibility of a blended format (combining integrated face-to-face sessions and internet-based modules) in a specialized mental health care outpatient clinic. Methods: A single-group, pretest-posttest design will be applied in both settings. The primary outcome of the studies will be feasibility in terms of (1) acceptance and satisfaction (measured with the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8), (2) usability (measured with the System Usability Scale), and (3) engagement (measured with the Twente Engagement with eHealth Technologies Scale). Secondary outcomes include (1) the severity of depressive symptoms (measured with the 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale), (2) participant and therapist experience with the digital technology (measured with qualitative interviews), (3) the working alliance between patients and practitioners (from both perspectives; measured with the Working Alliance Inventory-Short Revised questionnaire), (4) the technical alliance between patients and the platform (measured with the Working Alliance Inventory for Online Interventions-Short Form questionnaire), and (5) uptake, in terms of attempted and completed modules. A total of 30 older adults with mild to moderate depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale 15 score between 5 and 11) will be recruited from the general population. A total of 15 older adults with moderate to severe depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale 15 score between 8 and 15) will be recruited from a specialized mental health care outpatient clinic. A mixed methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative analyses will be adopted. Both the primary and secondary outcomes will be further explored with individual semistructured interviews and synthesized descriptively. Descriptive statistics (reported as means and SDs) will be used to examine the primary and secondary outcome measures. Within-group depression severity will be analyzed using a 2-tailed, paired-sample t test to investigate differences between time points. The interviews will be recorded and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: The studies were funded in October 2019. Recruitment started in September 2022. Conclusions: The results of these pilot studies will show whether this platform is feasible for use by the older adult population in a blended, guided format in the 2 settings and will represent the first exploration of the size of the effect of Moodbuster in terms of decreased depressive symptoms. © 2022 Khadicha Amarti, Mieke H J Schulte, Annet Kleiboer.

2022

Carotid Ultrasound Boundary Study (CUBS): Technical considerations on an open multi-center analysis of computerized measurement systems for intima-media thickness measurement on common carotid artery longitudinal B-mode ultrasound scans

Authors
Meiburger, KM; Marzola, F; Zahnd, G; Faita, F; Loizou, CP; Laine, N; Carvalho, C; Steinman, DA; Gibello, L; Bruno, RM; Clarenbach, R; Francesconi, M; Nicolaides, AN; Liebgott, H; Campilho, A; Ghotbi, R; Kyriacou, E; Navab, N; Griffin, M; Panayiotou, AG; Gherardini, R; Varetto, G; Bianchini, E; Pattichis, CS; Ghiadoni, L; Rouco, J; Orkisz, M; Molinari, F;

Publication
COMPUTERS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE

Abstract
After publishing an in-depth study that analyzed the ability of computerized methods to assist or replace human experts in obtaining carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) measurements leading to correct therapeutic decisions, here the same consortium joined to present technical outlooks on computerized CIMT measurement systems and provide considerations for the community regarding the development and comparison of these methods, including considerations to encourage the standardization of computerized CIMT measurements and results presentation. A multi-center database of 500 images was collected, upon which three manual segmentations and seven computerized methods were employed to measure the CIMT, including traditional methods based on dynamic programming, deformable models, the first order absolute moment, anisotropic Gaussian derivative filters and deep learning-based image processing approaches based on U-Net convolutional neural networks. An inter- and intra-analyst variability analysis was conducted and segmentation results were analyzed by dividing the database based on carotid morphology, image signal-to-noise ratio, and research center. The computerized methods obtained CIMT absolute bias results that were comparable with studies in literature and they generally were similar and often better than the observed inter- and intra-analyst variability. Several computerized methods showed promising segmentation results, including one deep learning method (CIMT absolute bias = 106 +/- 89 mu m vs. 160 +/- 140 mu m intra-analyst variability) and three other traditional image processing methods (CIMT absolute bias = 139 +/- 119 mu m, 143 +/- 118 mu m and 139 +/- 136 mu m). The entire database used has been made publicly available for the community to facilitate future studies and to encourage an open comparison and technical analysis

2022

Multiple instance learning for lung pathophysiological findings detection using CT scans

Authors
Frade, J; Pereira, T; Morgado, J; Silva, F; Freitas, C; Mendes, J; Negrao, E; de Lima, BF; da Silva, MC; Madureira, AJ; Ramos, I; Costa, JL; Hespanhol, V; Cunha, A; Oliveira, HP;

Publication
MEDICAL & BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING & COMPUTING

Abstract
Lung diseases affect the lives of billions of people worldwide, and 4 million people, each year, die prematurely due to this condition. These pathologies are characterized by specific imagiological findings in CT scans. The traditional Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) approaches have been showing promising results to help clinicians; however, CADs normally consider a small part of the medical image for analysis, excluding possible relevant information for clinical evaluation. Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) approach takes into consideration different small pieces that are relevant for the final classification and creates a comprehensive analysis of pathophysiological changes. This study uses MIL-based approaches to identify the presence of lung pathophysiological findings in CT scans for the characterization of lung disease development. This work was focus on the detection of the following: Fibrosis, Emphysema, Satellite Nodules in Primary Lesion Lobe, Nodules in Contralateral Lung and Ground Glass, being Fibrosis and Emphysema the ones with more outstanding results, reaching an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.89 and 0.72, respectively. Additionally, the MIL-based approach was used for EGFR mutation status prediction - the most relevant oncogene on lung cancer, with an AUC of 0.69. The results showed that this comprehensive approach can be a useful tool for lung pathophysiological characterization.

2022

BIOSIG 2021 Special issue on efficient, reliable, and privacy-friendly biometrics

Authors
Sequeira, AE; Gomez Barrero, M; Damer, N; Correia, PL;

Publication
IET BIOMETRICS

Abstract

2022

Evaluation of OCA diffusivity in tissues through diffuse reflection spectroscopy

Authors
Martins, IS; Pinheiro, MR; Silva, HF; Tuchin, VV; Oliveira, LM;

Publication
2022 International Conference Laser Optics, ICLO 2022 - Proceedingss

Abstract
The evaluation of the diffusion properties of optical clearing agents in biological tissues, which are necessary to characterize the transparency mechanisms, has been traditionally made using ex vivo tissues. With the objective of performing such evaluation in vivo, this study was made to evaluate and compare those properties for propylene glycol in skeletal muscle, as obtained with the collimated transmittance and diffuse reflectance kinetics. The diffusion time and the diffusion coefficient of propylene glycol in the muscle that were calculated both from transmittance and reflectance kinetics presented a deviation of 0.8%, a result that opens the possibility to use such a method in vivo. © 2022 IEEE.

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