The experimental research presented in this paper concerning the evaluation and the development of oral ability of Polish children with impaired hearing system. The aim of the research was the assessment, evaluation of positive changes in the level of oral development. The research have been conducted with the use of two computer attachments: Laryngograph Processor PCLX and Nosality, connected to a PC computer. The obtained results and following practical conclusions can serve as guidelines in clinical and logopedical applications in voice rehabilitation and communication development of groups of non-hearing children whose native language is not necessarily Polish.

The paper describes the algorithms of coding the compressed binary data into trivalent data. The realization of coding compressed binary data into ternary data allows to shorten the time of its transmission. Article contains data coding algorithms of the following strings: 12-bit into 8-trit, 11-bit into 7-trit and 19-bit into 12-trit. The proposed ways of binary-ternary coding were analysed in the context of obtainable shortening of data transmission time, expressed in "real" compression string length ratio. The value of compression ratio was estimated in case of data transmission amounting to 4096, 8192 and 16777216 bits in a binary and proposed binary-ternary coding form. Basing on the data received, we can draw a conclusion, that the use of binary-ternary coding of compressed multimedia data will shorten transmission time by approximately 1/3. This allows for improvement in tele-medical services quality.

Many of research results evaluating the existing computer applications, with reference to prevailing educational theories, show that they have a very little impact on the improvement of educational effectiveness. This phenomenon occurs particularly in computer educational systems based on the concept of teacher-oriented education and highly individualised knowledge acquisition. This assumption does not take into consideration possibilities of using information technologies in education which have appeared in recent years. Characteristic features of systems, which reduce learning activities of a subject are clearly emphasised and criticised by contemporary educationists. Computer educational systems should be a component part of an effectively and fully realised teaching-learning process and treated as a tool which actively assists learners with different interaction forms [1]. The Internet services play a particularly important role in this processes. The medical variety of services provide the teaching processes of medicine students with many new educational platforms. Digital video records of various operations and treatments can effectively be used as the educational resources.

The planning of therapeutical interventions and the understanding of pathological processes may be improved by providing tools for biomechanical simulation. This article focuses on computational services providing numerical simulations for analysis, prediction and virtual prototyping to the medical sector ("bio-numerics"). Two example problems are discussed: (1) The simulation of distraction osteogenesis using Finite Element Models (FEM): Simulations use highly resolved meshes in order to represent the complex midface structures with sufficient detail. Meshes with 1 mm resolutions typically have 1+ million nodes, so forward models must be computed on high performance computing (HPC) platforms. Pre-operative planning involves "playing" with different what-if scenarios so fast response times are highly desirable in order to provide tools that are accepted in a clinical environment. (2) Intra-operative planning in neurosurgery using inverse biomechanical models: Surgically induced deformations invalidate pre-operatively acquired information about functionally relevant areas. This problem is addressed by non-linear registration of pre-operative functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data to intra-operative MRI data.

The DNA microarray-based technique has been developed to semi-quantitatively measure the in vivo global chromatin condensation state at the resolution of a gene. Chromatin was fractionated due to the differential solubility of histone H1-containing and histone H1-free nucleosomes. A set of genes non-randomly distributed between histone H1-free (uncondensed or open) and histone H1-containing (condensed or closed) chromatin fractions has been identified. The transcript levels have been measured for the same group of genes. The correlation between transcriptional activity and chromatin fraction distribution of particular genes has been established.

The alignment of volumetric datasets is an important problem in the processing of medical data. It is a prerequisite to numerous image based applications in diagnostic and therapeutic routines. In this paper, a new method is proposed for matching of 3D intramodality medical images. Our approach is based on some generalization of feature distance definition. Analogous to the standard surface matching, our algorithm uses also the chamfer distance like metric to define the quality of match function, however, the evaluation of the distance map is performed in a different way. The s-distance method is a step towards an automatic extraction of features, where each feature"s role in the registration process is weighted based on its relative statistical or spatial significance. As an alternative to the user-dependent non-automatic registration methods this approach offers a good assessment of similarity in the intramodality case. The elimination of less significant features in the registration process has resulted in a greatly improved efficiency over the voxel-based methods. Studying certain properties of the search space topography provides some insights into the performance of the proposed method as well as the standard registration algorithms in the rigid body registration problem.

Registration is an important component of many medical data processing applications. Particularly significant is its role in the correlation of volumetric medical data aiming at generation of virtual patient-specific anatomical models. Such models enable optimization of various diagnostic and therapeutical procedures. The importance of the virtual patient models is becoming increasingly recognized in modern medicine. The advantages of using such biomedical virtual models are analogous to the advantages of real system behavior simulation in the engineering or material sciences. In this work some numerical issues associated with the registration problem and the visualization challenges arising in the context of virtual anatomical models have been presented and discussed.

This work was aimed at assessment of usability of Doppler ultrasound method for the analysis of fetal heart rate variability at a level of single heart beats. The purpose of this study was to check if today fetal monitors provide the signal of accuracy comparable with an electrocardiography method. The virtual instrumentation software for measurement system and processing of acquired signals was implemented using LABVIEW environment. The results obtained reveal that accuracy of today monitors which use Doppler ultrasound technique is sufficient for visual analysis of the FHR traces. However, for the computerized analysis at a beat-to-beat level, this accuracy is below the acceptable value.

Cardiotocography as a simultaneous recording of fetal heart rate (FHR) and uterine contraction activity is a basic method of evaluation of fetal condition. Correct variability of the fetal heart rate is an indirect sign of adequate oxygenation of a fetus. Unfortunately, the reverse case is not always true, signs suggesting pathological changes can also appear in recording when the fetal is not at risk. The cardiotocography shall then be recognized as a more screening than diagnostic method. It will be interesting to develop a non-invasive method being complementary to routine cardiotocography. This method should allow the adequate prediction of a bad neonatal outcome when the test is abnormal. The paper shows the system that makes possible cardiotocograms analysis in parallel with the assessment of additional parameters determined from comparison of mechanical and electrical fetal heart activity signals. The studies are aimed at development of set of parameters that are high correlated with clinical outcome.

Fetal monitoring system belongs to signal processing system class. The main functions of the system are signal acquisition from bedside monitors, on-line trace analysis and dynamic presentation of incoming data. Collected data set is controlled by centralised application. Relational database management system cannot process samples of high frequency biomedical signals on-line. Therefore, we decide to build our own data management system dedicated to stream processing that support continuous query. This paper describes a method of building a query plan based on proposed algebra. The presented example of application enables implementation of algorithm determining long- and short-term indices for fetal heart rate variability assessment on the basis of declarative query language. Our solution enables to define query based on data streams that make the updated answers currently available.

The analysis of image time series requires a correlation of the information between two images. The gradient flow registration is a method for correlating this information by successively minimizing an appropriate energy along its gradient A graphics hardware implementation of this approach to image registration is presented. The gradient flow formulation makes use of a robust multi-scale regularization, an efficient multi-grid solver and an effective time-step control. The locality of the involved operations implies a data-flow which is very well suited for an acceleration in the streaming architecture of the DX9 graphics hardware. Therefore, the implementation obtains registration results at very high performance, registering two 2562 in less than 2 seconds, such that it could be used as an interactive tool in medical image analysis.

In this paper we present a project developed in our University in order to provide Lublin hospitals with efficient software tools for 3D medical image processing and transmission. The system covers the entire image flowpath in the Diagnostic Radiology Department (i.e. image acquisition, processing, archiving, long term storage) and allows transmission of medical images through the Metropolitan Area Network. About 22000 CT examinations have been archived using our system. Over 300 special examinations for radiotherapy planning have been sent to the Lublin"s Oncology Centre.

The aim of the paper is to present the possibilities and the advantages of using open source solution like Python and Linux in medical application development. An implementation of the QRS detection and classification is described as an example of integration of C++ and DSP toolkit in a Python application.

Recent advances in medical imaging technology using multiple detector-row computed tomography (CT) provide volumetric datasets with unprecedented spatial resolution. This has allowed for CT to evolve into an excellent non-invasive vascular imaging technology, commonly referred to as CT-angiography. Visualisation of vascular structures from CT datasets is demanding, however, and identification of anatomic objects in CT-datasets is highly desirable. Density and/or gradient operators have been used most commonly to classify CT data. In CT angiography, simple density/gradient operators do not allow precise and reliable classification of tissues due to the fact that different tissues (e.g. bones and vessels) possess the same density range and may lie in close spatial vicinity. We think, that anatomic classification can be achieved more accurately, if both spatial location and density properties of volume data are taken into account. We present a combination of two well-known methods for volume data processing to obtain accurate tissue classification. 3D watershed transform is used to partition the volume data in morphologically consistent blocks and a probabilistic anatomic atlas is used to distinguish between different kinds of tissues based on their density.

Classical models of the oculomotoric system only represent the relationship between neural stimulation and eye movement. If we cannot determine the neural activity, then classical models prove inapplicable. At this paper we outline a system for simulation of the neural activation signal based on simple visual stimulation. We have used the idea of a multilayer brain structure. Different layers of the brain are responsible for subsequent layers of perception. Measurements made with the OBER2 system allowed us to evaluate the relationship between two signals: visual stimulation presented on the screen and eye movement measured by detectors. Applying the proposed multilayer model to generate a signal that will be the input for classical model of the oculomotoric system should make it possible to estimate some parameters that describe the work of muscles. We do not need to measure neural activity, provided that the neural system is working normally.

The paper describes body balance characteristics needed for neurological diseases classification and for rehabilitation processes controlling during patient recovery processes. These diagnosis factors allow simplify the PSW (Parotec System for Windows) records recognition [1, 2] then a walk-motor disturbances level estimation. The discussed clinical experiments illustrate new methods for Parkinson disease and stroke progress monitoring. This study was based on many observations of patient walk disturbances recorded in PSW files describing the pressure distribution on an insole set of sensors [1, 2, 8]. The gait regular asymmetry in a data spectrum has been noticed as an independent factor from the disease duration and its severity. In majority of analysed cases for Parkinson disease a gravity centre of the body moved into a heel region. Trajectories of foot gravity centre elongation, their irregularities, a floor-contact time and paresis limb loading values increase also were observed. The PSW system has successfully been used for recognition and quantification of walk-motor disturbances, marking the neurological diseases level. Options available in PSW [1, 2] give the user many aims in putting proper diagnosis anyhow, due to simplify the training process of conclusion making unit several me­thods for data records modifications and the diagnosis factors extraction were also considered.

This study was based on 27 patients" motor gait disturbances analysis using their pedobarographic records, affected by neurological diseases - hemiparesis or sciatic neuralgia. The evidence comparison concerns the data records collected before and after the rehabilitation processes. The essential conclusions explain a walk characteristics analysis explaining the neurological status of the patient and how to implement the PSW [2, 3] options in clinical practice. This approach can also be used for medical jurisdiction processes as a unique tool for the disease evidence making.

The design and development of a plantar pressure control device, adapted to correct plantar pressure distribution patterns, is described. This device is based on the artificial return of information in real time to instantaneously reveal to subject certain events, of which he was unaware and which are difficult to quantify, such as the pressure variation generated by foot-ground contact. An acoustic alarm and visual signals, adjusted to a specific pressure load, alert the user in the case of excessive plantar pressure. So, our feedback device is designed to substitute for loss of feeling in patients who have peripheral neuropathy secondary to diabetes mellitus. The ultimate aim of this project is to prevent the development of neuropathic foot ulceration by providing both visual and auditory extrinsic sensory feedback to compensate for the malfunctioning peripheral nerves and to transmit information to the patient about dangerous conditions on the plantar surface of the feet. A trial of the device in a healthy subject is presented to evaluate whether a new gait pattern can emerge thanks to feedback from plantar pressure measurements.

In this paper an architecture of a system for remote diagnosis of human gait dynamic parameters is presented. The system consists of some sensor groups located on lower limbs. The main system task is collecting and transmitting information describing human gait parameters such as: coefficients of energy, momentary and average power of muscles groups, movement pathologies.

This work introduces a cheap system of data sending through the internet services using the telephone installed in GPRS system. The system enables sending data with the speed up till 115,2 kbps, where only the quantity of data instead of the time of connection with net is to be paid for. The basis of an introduced system is the Time Port Motorola Telephone as well as the system based on the processor 8051. The described device is universal and may serve for sending such data as: the current position (of persons, vehicles etc), meteorological data, data records of working devices in a given place, biomedical information in monitoring of treated patients or persons undergoing clinical tests in movement.

The paper presents results of a study, in which an incomplete correlation between the mineral bone tissue density and patient susceptibility to bone fractures was confirmed. A simple model describing distribution of internal forces present in the microstructure of trabecular bone is proposed. The purpose of this model is to demonstrate that parameters of mechanical strength depend not only on the quantity of mineral material in the bone, but also on the quality of the trabecular structure. In addition, we present the results of cortical and trabecular bone micro hardness test, which are then used to calculate of the modulus of elasticity. Micro-hardness test was performed using Micro-Combi-Tester equipment. Micro-hardness was measured with Vickers diamond; analysis of displacement prosperities was carried out by Olivier and Pharr method. Young"s modulus was calculated directly from the resulting unloading curve. Generally, the results for both cortical and trabecular bone tests correspond to the results known from literature. However, depending on localization of the test, slight deviations in modulus of elasticity occur. In conclusion of this research, it is proposed that the dependence between bone mineral density and Young"s modulus can be calculated using samples of a normal bone and a bone with changed biomechanical properties. The aim of this research would be to estimate a quantitative coefficient, which would describe differences between mineral bone density and the bone"s real density, which is responsible for the immunity to fractures.

This work concentrates on the mathematical analysis of the ceramic admixture influence on the temperature distribution into the polymerizable bone cement. It has been taken the simplified model, which consist in treatment the cement sample as a plate of the definite thickness. It has been determined the temperature field within the plate along the thickness of the sample, during the polymerization process. It was found that Al2O3 admixture added into the bone cement first of all affects on the change of maximal polymerazation temperature through the increase of the temperature condictivity coefficient a for PMMA-Al2O3 composite. Assuming that the coefficient a for the composite is twice higher than for PMMA, the calculated maximal temperature for the polymerizing system decreases to about 30%.