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Optical 3D scanning applications are increasingly used in various medical fields. Setups involving multiple adjustable systems require repeated extrinsic calibration between patients. Existing calibration solutions are either not applicable to the medical field or require a time-consuming process with multiple captures and target poses. Here, we present an application with a 3D checkerboard (3Dcb) for extrinsic calibration with a single capture. The 3Dcb application can register captures with a reference to validate measurement quality. Furthermore, it can register captures from camera pairs for point-cloud stitching of static and dynamic scenes. Registering static captures from TIDA-00254 to its reference from a Photoneo MotionCam-3D resulted in an error (root mean square error ± standard deviation) of 0.02 mm ± 2.9 mm. Registering a pair of Photoneo MotionCam-3D cameras for dynamic captures resulted in an error of 2.2 mm ± 1.4 mm. These results show that our 3Dcb implementation provides registration for static and dynamic captures that is sufficiently accurate for clinical use. The implementation is also robust and can be used with cameras with comparatively low accuracy. In addition, we provide an extended overview of extrinsic calibration approaches and the application's code for completeness and service to fellow researchers.

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Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a prevalent musculoskeletal disorder that causes abnormal spinal deformities. The early screening of children and adolescents is crucial to identify and prevent the further progression of AIS. In clinical examinations, scoliometers are often used to noninvasively estimate the primary Cobb angle, and optical 3D scanning systems have also emerged as alternative noninvasive approaches for this purpose. The recent advances in low-cost 3D scanners have led to their use in several studies to estimate the primary Cobb angle or even internal spinal alignment. However, none of these studies demonstrate whether such a low-cost scanner satisfies the minimal requirements for capturing the relevant deformities of the human back. To practically quantify the minimal required spatial resolution and camera resolution to capture the geometry and shape of the deformities of the human back, we used multiple 3D scanning methodologies and systems. The results from an evaluation of 30 captures of AIS patients and 76 captures of healthy subjects showed that the minimal required spatial resolution is between 2 mm and 5 mm, depending on the chosen error tolerance. Therefore, a minimal camera resolution of 640 × 480 pixels is recommended for use in future studies.

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Introduction: Adding sensory feedback to myoelectric prosthetic hands was shown to enhance the user experience in terms of controllability and device embodiment. Often this is realized non-invasively by adding devices, such as actuators or electrodes, within the prosthetic shaft to deliver the desired feedback. However, adding a feedback system in the socket adds more weight, steals valuable space, and may interfere with myoelectric signals. To circumvent said drawbacks we tested for the first time if force feedback from a prosthetic hand could be redirected to another similarly sensitive part of the body: the foot. Methods: We developed a vibrotactile insole that vibrates depending on the sensed force on the prosthetic fingers. This self-controlled clinical pilot trial included four experienced users of myoelectric prostheses. The participants solved two types of tasks with the artificial hands: 1) sorting objects depending on their plasticity with the feedback insole but without audio-visual feedback, and 2) manipulating fragile, heavy, and delicate objects with and without the feedback insole. The sorting task was evaluated with Goodman-Kruskal's gamma for ranked correlation. The manipulation tasks were assessed by the success rate. Results: The results from the sorting task with vibrotactile feedback showed a substantial positive effect. The success rates for manipulation tasks with fragile and heavy objects were high under both conditions (feedback on or off, respectively). The manipulation task with delicate objects revealed inferior success with feedback in three of four participants. Conclusion: We introduced a novel approach to touch sensation in myoelectric prostheses. The results for the sorting task and the manipulation tasks diverged. This is likely linked to the availability of various feedback sources. Our results for redirected feedback to the feet fall in line with previous similar studies that applied feedback to the residual arm. Clinical trial registration: Name: Sensor Glove and Non-Invasive Vibrotactile Feedback Insole to Improve Hand Prostheses Functions and Embodiment (FeetBack). Date of registration: 23 April 2019. Date the first participant was enrolled: 3 September 2021. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03924310.

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Human exploitation of wildlife for food, medicine, curios, aphrodisiacs, and spiritual artifacts represents a mounting 21st-century conservation challenge. Here, we provide the first global assessment of illegal marine turtle exploitation across multiple spatial scales (i.e., Regional Management Units [RMUs] and countries) by collating data from peer-reviewed studies, grey literature, archived media reports, and online questionnaires of in-country experts spanning the past three decades. Based on available information, we estimate that over 1.1 million marine turtles were exploited between 1990 and 2020 against existing laws prohibiting their use in 65 countries or territories and in 44 of the world's 58 marine turtle RMUs, with over 44,000 turtles exploited annually over the past decade. Exploitation across the 30-year period primarily consisted of green (56%) and hawksbill (39%) turtles when identified by species, with hawksbills (67%) and greens (81%) comprising the majority of turtles exploited in the 1990s and 2000s, respectively, and both species accounting for similar levels of exploitation in the 2010s. Although there were no clear overarching trends in the magnitude or spatial patterns of exploitation across the three decades, there was a 28% decrease in reported exploitation from the 2000s to the 2010s. The 10 RMUs with the highest exploitation in the 2010s included seven green and three hawksbill turtle RMUs, with most reported exploitation occurring in RMUs that typically exhibit a low risk of population decline or loss of genetic diversity. Over the past decade, the number of RMUs with "moderate" or "high" exploitation impact scores decreased. Our assessment suggests that illegal exploitation appears to have declined over the past decade and, with some exceptions, is primarily occurring in large, stable, and genetically diverse marine turtle populations.

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We present a method that may allow an estimate of the value of the speed of sound as well as its logarithmic derivative with respect to the baryon number density in matter created in heavy-ion collisions. To this end, we use well-known observables: cumulants of the baryon number distribution. In analyses aimed at uncovering the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter, cumulants gather considerable attention as their qualitative behavior along the explored range of collision energies is expected to aid in detecting the QCD critical point. We show that the cumulants may also reveal the behavior of the speed of sound in the temperature and baryon chemical potential plane. We demonstrate the applicability of such estimates within two models of nuclear matter and explore what might be understood from known experimental data.

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A management approach was developed that combined spatial and non-spatial tools to inform a Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Process (CMSP) in the Puerto Peñasco-Puerto Lobos Coastal Corridor, Northern Gulf of California, Sonora, Mexico. Four fisheries management tools were applied with an emphasis on ecosystem level management for eleven small-scale fisheries. Two spatial management tools, using a spatial prioritization approach, were combined with a permit regularization process, a non-spatial quota prioritization, and a tradeoff analysis in a novel way: • Locally Managed Marine Areas were developed, these are spatial areas where individual community fishermen are assigned the rights to harvest and manage specific fisheries within defined geographic areas. • Fishery refuges that incorporate information on fisheries, ecological importance, and connectivity. • A non-spatial quota prioritization process using a framework for the integrated assessment of stocks, encompassing a vulnerability analysis, a sustainability analysis, and a management framework analysis. • A trade-off analysis of the combination of these different management tools, using an Atlantis ecosystem model for the northern Gulf of California, that tested the ecosystem effects of alternative scenarios to assess benefits in support of ecosystem-based management.

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Deriving robust historical population trends for long-lived species subject to human exploitation is challenging in scenarios where long-term scientific data are scarce or unavailable, as often occurs for species affected by small-scale fisheries and subsistence hunting. The importance of Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) in data-poor scenarios is increasingly recognized in conservation, both in terms of uncovering historical trends and for engaging community stewardship of historic information. Building on previous work in marine historical ecology and local ecological knowledge, we propose a mixed socio-ecological framework to reliably document and quantify LEK to reconstruct historical population trends. Our method can be adapted by interdisciplinary teams to study various long-lived taxa with a history of human use. We demonstrate the validity of our approach by reconstructing long-term abundance data for the heavily-exploited East Pacific green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in Baja California, Mexico, which was driven to near extinction by a largely unregulated fishery from the early 1950s to the 1980s. No scientific baseline abundance data were available for this time-frame because recent biological surveys started in 1995 after all green turtle fisheries in the area were closed. To fill this data gap, we documented LEK among local fishers using ethnographic methods and obtained verified, qualitative data to understand the socio-environmental complexity of the green turtle fishery. We then established an iterative framework to synthesize and quantify LEK using generalized linear models (GLMs) and nonlinear regression (NLR) to generate a standardized, LEK-derived catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) time-series. CPUE is an index of abundance that is compatible with contemporary scientific survey data. We confirmed the accuracy of LEK-derived CPUE estimates via comparisons with fisheries statistics available for 1962-1982. We then modeled LEK-derived abundance trends prior to 1995 using NLR. Our model established baseline abundance and described historical declines, revealing that the most critical (exponential) decline occurred between 1960 and 1980. This robust integration of LEK data with ecological science is of critical value for conservation and management, as it contributes to a holistic view of a species' historic and contemporary conservation status.

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We present a sampling method for the transition from relativistic hydrodynamics to particle transport, commonly referred to as particlization, which preserves the local conservation of energy, momentum, baryon number, strangeness, and electric charge microcanonically, i.e., in every sample. The proposed method is essential for studying fluctuations and correlations by means of stochastic hydrodynamics. It is also useful for studying small systems. The method is based on Metropolis sampling applied to particles within distinct patches of the switching space-time surface, where hydrodynamic and kinetic evolutions are matched.

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Selective treatment of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) by using short-pulse lasers leads to a less destructive treatment for certain retinal diseases in contrast to conventional photocoagulation. The introduction of selective retina therapy (SRT) to clinical routine is still precluded by the challenges to reliably monitor treatment success and to automatically adjust dose within the locally varying therapeutic window. Combining micrometer-scale depth resolving capabilities of optical coherence tomography (OCT) with SRT can yield real-time information on the laser-induced changes within the RPE after a laser pulse or even during treatment with a laser pulse train. In the present study, SRT and OCT were combined to treat ex-vivo porcine eyes demonstrating closed-loop dose-control. We found a reliable correlation of specific signal changes in time resolved OCT images and physiological lesions in the RPE. First experiments, including 23 porcine eyes, prove the feasibility of the novel treatment concept.

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BACKGROUND: There is a need for providing sensory feedback for myoelectric prosthesis users. Providing tactile feedback can improve object manipulation abilities, enhance the perceptual embodiment of myoelectric prostheses and help reduce phantom limb pain. Many amputees have referred sensation from their missing hand on their residual limbs (phantom maps). This skin area can serve as a target for providing amputees with non-invasive tactile sensory feedback. One of the challenges of providing sensory feedback on the phantom map is to define the accurate boundary of each phantom digit because the phantom map distribution varies from person to person. METHODS: In this paper, automatic phantom map detection methods based on four decomposition support vector machine algorithms and three sampling methods are proposed, complemented by fuzzy logic and active learning strategies. The algorithms and methods are tested on two databases: the first one includes 400 generated phantom maps, whereby the phantom map generation algorithm was based on our observation of the phantom maps to ensure smooth phantom digit edges, variety, and representativeness. The second database includes five reported phantom map images and transformations thereof. The accuracy and training/ classification time of each algorithm using a dense stimulation array (with 100 [Formula: see text] 100 actuators) and two coarse stimulation arrays (with 3 [Formula: see text] 5 and 4 [Formula: see text] 6 actuators) are presented and compared. RESULTS: Both generated and reported phantom map images share the same trends. Majority-pooling sampling effectively increases the training size, albeit introducing some noise, and thus produces the smallest error rates among the three proposed sampling methods. For different decomposition architectures, one-vs-one reduces unclassified regions and in general has higher classification accuracy than the other architectures. By introducing fuzzy logic to bias the penalty parameter, the influence of pooling-induced noise is reduced. Moreover, active learning with different strategies was also tested and shown to improve the accuracy by introducing more representative training samples. Overall, dense arrays employing one-vs-one fuzzy support vector machines with majority-pooling sampling have the smallest average absolute error rate (8.78% for generated phantom maps and 11.5% for reported and transformed phantom map images). The detection accuracy of coarse arrays was found to be significantly lower than for dense array. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate the effectiveness of support vector machines using a dense array in detecting refined phantom map shapes, whereas coarse arrays are unsuitable for this task. We therefore propose a two-step approach, using first a non-wearable dense array to detect an accurate phantom map shape, then to apply a wearable coarse stimulation array customized according to the detection results. The proposed methodology can be used as a tool for helping haptic feedback designers and for tracking the evolvement of phantom maps.

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Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is characterized by multiple fibroepithelial tumors in all parts of the skin and has been reported in sea turtles worldwide. Clinically infected individuals are often emaciated and anemic. In Mexico, however, there are few records of this disease. In this study of green turtles Chelonia mydas in Laguna San Ignacio in Baja California Sur (BCS), we noted one juvenile with multifocal fibropapilloma lesions on the external upper surface of its eyes and hind flippers. Light microscopy revealed hyperkeratosis, epidermal hyperplasia, dermal papillary projections, and fibroblast proliferation. Electron microscopy revealed viral particles. Biopsies of normal skin were done to determine the origin of the turtle through genetic analysis. Its mitochondrial DNA matched that of a haplotype (CMP2) from a Hawaiian green turtle population. Finding FP in a turtle captured in BCS elucidates the need for further monitoring along the west coast of Mexico. Further investigation should include testing tumors to detect and characterize any chelonid herpesviruses and explore any association with FP and other diseases that pose a health risk to other sea turtle species. Received March 26, 2016; accepted August 3, 2016.

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An automated test system and procedure is proposed, designed to enable systematic testing of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) devices. The system is designed to calculate reliable, repeatable and accurate performance figures of merit of an EIT system using a saline phantom and an industrial robot arm. Applications of the test system are to compare EIT devices against requirements, or to help optimize a device for its operating parameters. A test methodology and sample test results are presented to illustrate its use. The system is used to compare image quality and contrast detection for a range of stimulation and measurement patterns, and results show the best images when the pair of current injection electrodes is spaced between 45 and 170 degrees on a tank. Finally, we propose a classification of the object detection errors, which can facilitate comparison of EIT instrument specifications.

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OBJECTIVE: To analyze the transit time from various locations in the intestines of cows with cecal dilatation-dislocation (CDD), healthy control cows, and cows with left displacement of the abomasum (LDA). ANIMALS: 15 cows with naturally occurring CDD (group 1), 14 healthy control cows (group 2), and 18 cows with LDA (group 3). PROCEDURES: 5 electronic transmitters were encased in capsules and placed in the lumen of the ileum, cecum, proximal portion of the colon, and 2 locations in the spiral colon (colon 1 and colon 2) and used to measure the transit time (ie, time between placement in the lumen and excretion of the capsules from the rectum). Excretion time of the capsules from each intestinal segment was compared among groups. RESULTS: Cows recovered well from surgery, except for 1 cow with relapse of CDD 4 days after surgery and 2 cows with incisional infection. High variability in capsule excretion times was observed for all examined intestinal segments in all groups. Significant differences were detected for the excretion time from the colon (greater in cows with CDD than in healthy control cows) and cecum (less in cows with LDA than in cows of the other 2 groups). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The technique developed to measure excretion time of capsules from bovine intestines was safe and reliable; however, the large variability observed for all intestinal segments and all groups would appear to be a limitation for its use in assessment of intestinal transit time of cattle in future studies.

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Replacement intervals of implantable medical devices are commonly dictated by battery life. Therefore, intracorporeal energy harvesting has the potential to reduce the number of surgical interventions by extending the life cycle of active devices. Given the accumulated experience with intravascular devices such as stents, heart valves, and cardiac assist devices, the idea to harvest a small fraction of the hydraulic energy available in the cardiovascular circulation is revisited. The aim of this article is to explore the technical feasibility of harvesting 1 mW electric power using a miniature hydrodynamic turbine powered by about 1% of the cardiac output flow in a peripheral artery. To this end, numerical modelling of the fluid mechanics and experimental verification of the overall performance of a 1:1 scale friction turbine are performed in vitro. The numerical flow model is validated for a range of turbine configurations and flow conditions (up to 250 mL/min) in terms of hydromechanic efficiency; up to 15% could be achieved with the nonoptimized configurations of the study. Although this article does not entail the clinical feasibility of intravascular turbines in terms of hemocompatibility and impact on the circulatory system, the numerical model does provide first estimates of the mechanical shear forces relevant to blood trauma and platelet activation. It is concluded that the time-integrated shear stress exposure is significantly lower than in cardiac assist devices due to lower flow velocities and predominantly laminar flow.

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Human energy harvesting is envisioned as a remedy to the weight, the size, and the poor energy density of primary batteries in medical implants. The first implant to have necessarily raised the idea of a biological power supply was the pacemaker in the early 1960s. So far, review articles on human energy harvesting have been rather unspecific and no tribute has been given to the early role of the pacemaker and the cardiovascular system in triggering research in the field. The purpose of the present article is to provide an up-to-date review of research efforts targeting the cardiovascular system as an alternative energy source for active medical implants. To this end, a chronological survey of the last 14 most influential publications is proposed. They include experimental and/or theoretical studies based on electromagnetic, piezoelectric, or electrostatic transducers harnessing various forms of energy, such as heart motion, pressure gradients, and blood flow. Technical feasibility does not imply clinical applicability: although most of the reported devices were shown to harvest an interesting amount of energy from a physiological environment, none of them were tested in vivo for a longer period of time.

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Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a noninvasive method to image conductivity distributions within a body. One promising application of EIT is to monitor ventilation in patients as a real-time bedside tool. Thus, it is essential that an EIT system reliably provide meaningful information, or alert clinicians when this is impossible. Because the reconstructed images are very sensitive to system instabilities (primarily from electrode connection variability and movement), EIT systems should continuously monitor and, if possible, correct for such errors. Motivated by this requirement, we describe a novel approach to quantitatively measure EIT data quality. Our goals are to define the requirements of a data quality metric, develop a metric q which meets these requirements, and an efficient way to calculate it. The developed metric q was validated using data from saline tank experiments and a retrospective clinical study. Additionally, we show that q may be used to compare the performance of EIT systems using phantom measurements. Results suggest that the calculated metric reflects well the quality of reconstructed EIT images for both phantom and clinical data. The proposed measure can thus be used for real-time assessment of EIT data quality and, hence, to indicate the reliability of any derived physiological information.

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Strandings of marine megafauna can provide valuable information on cause of death at sea. However, as stranding probabilities are usually very low and highly variable in space and time, interpreting the results can be challenging. We evaluated the magnitude and distribution of at-sea mortality of marine turtles along the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, México during 2010-11, using a combination of counting stranded animals and drifter experiments. A total of 594 carcasses were found during the study period, with loggerhead (62%) and green turtles (31%) being the most common species. 87% of the strandings occurred in the southern Gulf of Ulloa, a known hotspot of loggerhead distribution in the Eastern Pacific. While only 1.8% of the deaths could be definitively attributed to bycatch (net marks, hooks), seasonal variation in stranding frequencies closely corresponded to the main fishing seasons. Estimated stranding probabilities from drifter experiments varied among sites and trials (0.05-0.8), implying that only a fraction of dead sea turtles can be observed at beaches. Total mortality estimates for 15-day periods around the floater trials were highest for PSL, a beach in the southern Gulf of Ulloa, ranging between 11 sea turtles in October 2011 to 107 in August 2010. Loggerhead turtles were the most numerous, followed by green and olive ridley turtles. Our study showed that drifter trials combined with beach monitoring can provide estimates for death at sea to measure the impact of small-scale fisheries that are notoriously difficult to monitor for by-catch. We also provided recommendations to improve the precision of the mortality estimates for future studies and highlight the importance of estimating impacts of small-scale fisheries on marine megafauna.

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As the complexity of active medical implants increases, the task of embedding a life-long power supply at the time of implantation becomes more challenging. A periodic renewal of the energy source is often required. Human energy harvesting is, therefore, seen as a possible remedy. In this paper, we present a novel idea to harvest energy from the pressure-driven deformation of an artery by the principle of magneto-hydrodynamics. The generator relies on a highly electrically conductive fluid accelerated perpendicularly to a magnetic field by means of an efficient lever arm mechanism. An artery with 10 mm inner diameter is chosen as a potential implantation site and its ability to drive the generator is established. Three analytical models are proposed to investigate the relevant design parameters and to determine the existence of an optimal configuration. The predicted output power reaches 65 µW according to the first two models and 135 µW according to the third model. It is found that the generator, designed as a circular structure encompassing the artery, should not exceed a total volume of 3 cm³.

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Most medical implants run on batteries, which require costly and tedious replacement or recharging. It is believed that micro-generators utilizing intracorporeal energy could solve these problems. However, such generators do not, at this time, meet the energy requirements of medical implants.This paper highlights some essential aspects of designing and implementing a power source that scavenges energy from arterial expansion and contraction to operate an implanted medical device. After evaluating various potentially viable transduction mechanisms, the fabricated prototype employs an electromagnetic transduction mechanism. The artery is inserted into a laboratory-fabricated flexible coil which is permitted to freely deform in a magnetic field. This work also investigates the effects of the arterial wall's material properties on energy harvesting potential. For that purpose, two types of arteries (Penrose X-ray tube, which behave elastically, and an artery of a Göttinger minipig, which behaves viscoelastically) were tested. No noticeable difference could be observed between these two cases. For the pig artery, average harvestable power was 42 nW. Moreover, peak power was 2.38 µW. Both values are higher than those of the current state of the art (6 nW/16 nW). A theoretical modelling of the prototype was developed and compared to the experimental results.

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