Automatic assessment of blood pressure for Korotkoff sounds on the basis of human hearing threshold.

Objective: In this study, to measure blood pressure (BP) on the basis of human hearing threshold, we proposed a method that detects the audible or inaudible Korotkoff sounds (K-sounds) using the equal loudness contour and automatically assesses the BP.

Methods: In this study, we detected the systolic period of K-sounds using cuff pressure oscillation and then converted the K-sounds corresponding to the systolic interval into sound pressure levels (SPLs). Next, the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were assessed by mapping the K-sounds, which were converted into SPLs on an equal loudness contour.

Evaluation of masseter muscle electromyography after surgical extraction of third molar.

Purpose: The aims of this study were to evaluate the results of electromyographies (EMGs) of the masseter muscle after mandibular third molar surgery and to determine the relationships between clinical variables and EMG results.

Patients And Methods: Seventy patients were included in the study. The parameters of the patients' masseter muscles were measured using EMG prior to operation and 7 and 21 days post-operation.

The Association between Symptoms of Autonomic Neuropathy and the Heart Rate Variability in Diabetics.

Background: There are few tools to detect the diabetic autonomic neuropathy at an earlier stage. This study was conducted to investigate the association between symptoms of autonomic neuropathy and the heart rate variability (HRV) in diabetics.

Methods: Study subjects consisted of 50 diabetic patients and 30 outpatient hospital control patients at a university family medicine department.

Nonconstrained sleep monitoring system and algorithms using air-mattress with balancing tube method.

We evaluated the performance of a bed-type sensor system using the air-mattress with balancing tube (AMBT) method to noninvasively monitor the signals of heartbeat, respiration, and events of snoring, sleep apnea and body movement of subject on the system. The proposed system consists of multiple cylindrical air cells, two sensor cells and 18 support cells, and the small physiological signals were measured by the changes in pressure difference between the sensor cells, and the dc component was removed by balancing tube that is connecting the sensor cells. Using newly developed AMBT method, heartbeat, respiration, snoring, and body movement signals were clearly measured.

Gene mutations of 23S rRNA associated with clarithromycin resistance in Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from Korean patients.

Although resistance of Helicobacter pylori to clarithromycin is a major cause of failure of eradication therapies, little information is available regarding gene mutations of clarithromycin-resistant primary and secondary H. pylori isolates in Korea. In the present study, we examined gene mutations of H.

Nonlinear support vector machine visualization for risk factor analysis using nomograms and localized radial basis function kernels.

Nonlinear classifiers, e.g., support vector machines (SVMs) with radial basis function (RBF) kernels, have been used widely for automatic diagnosis of diseases because of their high accuracies.

Vacuolating cytotoxin in Helicobacter pylori water-soluble proteins upregulates chemokine expression in human eosinophils via Ca2+ influx, mitochondrial reactive oxygen intermediates, and NF-kappaB activation.

Helicobacter pylori-infected gastric mucosa is characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells such as neutrophils and eosinophils. However, little information is available on the relationship between H. pylori virulence factors and chemokine expression in eosinophils.

A new approach for non-intrusive monitoring of blood pressure on a toilet seat.

Pulse arrival time (PAT) was measured non-intrusively to estimate each individual's blood pressure. Electrocardiogram (ECG) was measured with copper-coated electrodes and photoplethysmogram (PPG) was measured using a specially designed toilet seat apparatus. Non-intrusively measured PATs were compared with PATs measured by the standard method, and the results showed a good correlation.