This book introduces medical imaging, its security requirements, and various security mechanisms using data hiding approaches. The book in particular provides medical data hiding techniques using various advanced image transforms and encryption methods. The book focuses on two types of data hiding techniques: steganography and watermarking for medical images. The authors show how these techniques are used for security and integrity verification of medical images and designed for various types of medical images such as grayscale image and color image. The implementation of techniques are done using discrete cosine transform (DCT), discrete wavelet transform (DWT), singular value decomposition (SVD), redundant DWT (RDWT), fast discrete curvelet transform (FDCuT), finite ridgelet transform (FRT) and non-subsampled contourlet transform (NSCT). The results of these techniques are also demonstrated after description of each technique. Finally, some future research directions are provided for security of medical images in telemedicine application.

The application of bioinformatics approaches in drug design involves an interdisciplinary array of sophisticated techniques and software tools to elucidate hidden or complex biological data. This work reviews the latest bioinformatics approaches used for drug discovery. The text covers ligand-based and structure-based approaches for computer-aided drug design, 3D pharmacophore modeling, molecular dynamics simulation, the thermodynamics of ligand receptor and ligand enzyme association, thermodynamic characterization and optimization, and techniques for computational genomics and proteomics.

Cross-sectoral interaction and cooperation in the communication of nutritional health risks represents a strategic research area among national governments and international health authorities. The key research question this book addresses is whether and how different industrial sectors interact with each other in the communication and industrial utilisation of health research findings. Through the introduction and exploration of large-scale industry news and digital media resources, this book systematically analyses a range of digital news genres and identifies new and growing trends of inter-sectoral interaction around the communication of nutritional health in the Chinese language at both international and national levels. This book argues that cross-sectoral interaction can be explored to identify areas that require policy intervention to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of current health communication and promotion. Inter-sectoral interaction can also provide incentives to develop new social programmes and business models to innovate and transform traditional industrial sectors.

This book describes recent radiotherapy technologies including tools for measuring target position during radiotherapy and tracking-based delivery systems.  This book presents a customized prediction of respiratory motion with clustering from multiple patient interactions. The proposed method contributes to the improvement of patient treatments by considering breathing pattern for the accurate dose calculation in radiotherapy systems. Real-time tumor-tracking, where the prediction of irregularities becomes relevant, has yet to be clinically established. The statistical quantitative modeling for irregular breathing classification, in which commercial respiration traces are retrospectively categorized into several classes based on breathing pattern are discussed as well. The proposed statistical classification may provide clinical advantages to adjust the dose rate before and during the external beam radiotherapy for minimizing the safety margin. In the first chapter following the Introduction  to this book, we review three prediction approaches of respiratory motion: model-based methods, model-free heuristic learning algorithms, and hybrid methods. In the following chapter, we present a phantom study—prediction of human motion with distributed body sensors—using a Polhemus Liberty AC magnetic tracker. Next we describe respiratory motion estimation with hybrid implementation of extended Kalman filter. The given method assigns the recurrent neural network the role of the predictor and the extended Kalman filter the role of the corrector. After that, we present customized prediction of respiratory motion with clustering from multiple patient interactions. For the customized prediction, we construct the clustering based on breathing patterns of multiple patients using the feature selection metrics that are composed of a variety of breathing features. We have evaluated the new algorithm by comparing the prediction overshoot and the tracking estimation value. The experimental results of 448 patients’ breathing patterns validated the proposed irregular breathing classifier in the last chapter.

This book focuses on the most recent advances in the application of visualization and simulation methods to understand the flow behavior of complex fluids used in biomedical engineering and other related fields. It shows the physiological flow behavior in large arteries, microcirculation, respiratory systems and in biomedical microdevices.

Monika Futschik introduces an evaluation model that allows a holistic assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of electronic batch recording solutions versus traditional paper batch ticket solutions. In comparison to former studies, this newly developed evaluation model considers the change management efforts and the financial investments required for system deployment. The model proves the overall performance value through the implementation of electronic batch recording solutions and supports decision-makers in finding the most effective solution. The development and effectiveness of this model is based on various surveys, expert interviews, a Delphi study as well as a case study with a real-life pharmaceutical company. The outcome of her research can be easily applied to other industries as well.

During the last years computational methods lead to new approaches that can be applied within medical practice. Based on the tremendous advances in medical imaging and high-performance computing, virtual testing is able to help in medical decision processes or implant designs. Current challenges in medicine and engineering are related to the application of computational methods to clinical medicine and the study of biological systems at different scales. Additionally manufacturers will be able to use computational tools and methods to predict the performance of their medical devices in virtual patients. The physical and animal testing procedures could be reduced by virtual prototyping of medical devices. Here simulations can enhance the performance of alternate device designs for a range of virtual patients. This will lead to a refinement of designs and to safer products. This book summarizes different aspects of approaches to enhance function, production, initialization and complications of different types of implants and related topics.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society, WIS 2016, held in Tampere, Finland, in September 2016. The 21 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 42 submissions. With the core topic "Building Sustainable Health Ecosystems" WIS 2016 focused on innovations and fresh ideas in the cross-section of urban living, information society and health as understood in a wide sense. The papers presented in this volume are organized along the following seven broad topics: 1. Macro level considerations of e-health and welfare, 2.Welfare issues of children, youth, young elderly and seniors, 3. Analytics issues of eHealth and welfare, 4. National/regional initiatives in eHealth and welfare, and 5. Specific topics of eHealth. The papers in these topics span qualitative and quantitative analysis, empirical surveys, case studies as well as conceptual work.

A biomedical engineering perspective on the theory, methods, and applications of signal processing This book provides a unique framework for understanding signal processing of biomedical signals and what it tells us about signal sources and their behavior in response to perturbation. Using a modeling-based approach, the author shows how to perform signal processing by developing and manipulating a model of the signal source, providing a logical, coherent basis for recognizing signal types and for tackling the special challenges posed by biomedical signals–including the effects of noise on the signal, changes in basic properties, or the fact that these signals contain large stochastic components and may even be fractal or chaotic. Each chapter begins with a detailed biomedical example, illustrating the methods under discussion and highlighting the interconnection between the theoretical concepts and applications. The author has enlisted experts from numerous subspecialties in biomedical engineering to help develop these examples and has made most examples available as Matlab or Simulink files via anonymous ftp. Without the need for a background in electrical engineering, readers will become acquainted with proven techniques for analyzing biomedical signals and learn how to choose the appropriate method for a given application.

A growing, aging population; the rise to epidemic proportions of various chronic diseases; competing, often overlapping medical technologies; and of course, skyrocketing costs compounded by waste and inefficiency - these are just a few of the multifarious challenges currently facing healthcare delivery. An unexpected source of solutions is being imported from the manufacturing sector: lean thinking. Lean Principles for Healthcare presents a conceptual framework, management principles, and practical tools for professionals tasked with designing and implementing modern, streamlined healthcare systems or overhauling faulty ones. Focusing on core components such as knowledge management, e-health, patient-centeredness, and collaborative care, chapters illustrate lean concepts in action across specialties (as diverse as nursing, urology, and emergency care) and around the globe. Extended case examples show health systems responding to consumer needs and provider realities with equal efficiency and effectiveness, and improved quality and patient outcomes. Further, contributors tackle the gamut of technological, medical, cultural, and business issues, among them: Initiatives of service-oriented architecture towards performance improvement Adapted lean thinking for emergency departments Lean thinking in dementia care through smart assistive technology Supporting preventive healthcare with persuasive services Value stream mapping for lean healthcare A technology mediated solution to reduce healthcare disparities Geared toward both how lean ideas can be carried out and how they are being used successfully in the real world, Lean Principles for Healthcare not only brings expert knowledge to healthcare managers and health services researchers but to all who have an interest in superior healthcare delivery.

This book provides a principled approach to classification using the available data in a model which combines information from the social network and the healthcare models. It presents studies from leading researchers and practitioners focusing on the current challenges, directions, trends and opportunities associated with healthcare delivery systems and their supporting wireless and mobile health technologies. mHealth Ecosystems and Social Networks in Healthcare is divided into two parts. Part I covers the area of mHealth Ecosystems. Chapters include topics on adoption of cloud based mHealth services, the socio-economic impact of mHealth, as well as self-management of health and disease. In Part II, Social Networks in Healthcare are highlighted. Chapters cover social media and patient support, virtual knowledge sharing and knowledge management and also web-based applications in health care. Ultimately this book is an excellent source of comprehensive knowledge and literature on the topics of mobile health ecosystems and social networks in healthcare.

This important new volume presents recent research in healthcare information technology and analytics. Individual chapters look at such issues as the impact of technology failure on electronic prescribing behavior in primary care; attitudes toward electronic health records; a latent growth modeling approach to understanding lifestyle decisions based on patient historical data; designing an integrated surgical care delivery system using axiomatic design and petri net modeling; and failure in a dynamic decision environment, particularly in treating patients with a chronic disease. Other chapters look at such topics as the impact of information technology integration in integrated delivery systems; operations and supply chain control for inventory management in a health system pharmacy; decision-theoretic assistants based on contextual gesture recognition; evaluating emergency response medical information systems; clinical decision support in critical care; virtual worlds in healthcare; and natural language processing for understanding contraceptive use at the VA.

This book presents the proceedings of the "Innovations in Biomedical Engineering IBE'2016" Conference held on October 16-18, 2016 in Poland, discussing recent research on innovations in biomedical engineering. The past decade has seen the dynamic development of more and more sophisticated technologies, including biotechnologies, and more general technologies applied in the area of life sciences. As such the book covers the broadest possible spectrum of subjects related to biomedical engineering innovations. Divided into four parts, it presents state-of-the-art achievements in: * engineering of biomaterials, * modelling and simulations in biomechanics, * informatics in medicine * signal analysis The book helps bridge the gap between technological and methodological engineering achievements on the one hand and clinical requirements in the three major areas diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation on the other.

Integrative and translational methodologies and frameworks have transformed modern biomedical research and the delivery of clinical care. This shift has been manifested in a number of ways, including the rapid growth and increasing availability of high-throughput bio-molecular instrumentation and analysis platforms, innovative clinical research programs intended to accelerate knowledge translation, and initial efforts to deliver personalized healthcare informed by the genomic profiles of patients. A common theme of reports and publications concerned with such transformative changes in the biomedical and healthcare domains is concerned with the challenges and opportunities related to the collection, management, integration, analysis, and dissemination of large-scale, heterogeneous biomedical data sets. In particular, the absence of well-established and adopted theoretical and practical frameworks intended to address such needs is a major impediment to the realization of translational and knowledge-driven healthcare, in which the best possible scientific evidence is used to inform the care of every patient. In this vacuum, the development of integrative clinical or translational research paradigms is significantly limited by the propagation of both data and expertise silos. This book details for the first time the current state of this extremely potent area of healthcare innovation and policy and defines the interaction between clinical/translational science and biomedical informatics.

This volumes presents the proceedings of ICIBEL 2015, organized by the Centre for Innovation in Medical Engineering (CIME) under Innovative Technology Research Cluster, University of Malaya. It was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 6-8 December 2015. The ICIBEL 2015 conference promotes the latest researches and developments related to the integration of the Engineering technology in medical fields and life sciences. This includes the latest innovations, research trends and concerns, challenges and adopted solution in the field of medical engineering and life sciences.

This book introduces approaches that have the potential to transform the daily practice of psychiatrists and psychologists. This includes the asynchronous communication between mental health care providers and clients as well as the automation of assessment and therapy. Speech and language are particularly interesting from the viewpoint of psychological assessment. For instance, depression may change the characteristics of voice in individuals and these changes can be detected by a special form of speech analysis. Computational screening methods that utilize speech and language can detect subtle changes and alert clinicians as well as individuals and caregivers. The use of online technologies in mental health, however, poses ethical problems that will occupy concerned individuals, governments and the wider public for some time. Assuming that these ethical problems can be solved, it should be possible to diagnose and treat mental health disorders online (excluding the use of medication). Speech and language are particularly interesting from the viewpoint of psychological assessment. For instance, depression may change the characteristics of voice in individuals and these changes can be detected by a special form of speech analysis. Computational screening methods that utilize speech and language can detect subtle changes and alert clinicians as well as individuals and caregivers. The use of online technologies in mental health, however, poses ethical problems that will occupy concerned individuals, governments and the wider public for some time. Assuming that these ethical problems can be solved, it should be possible to diagnose and treat mental health disorders online (excluding the use of medication).

Modern medicine generates, almost daily, huge amounts of heterogeneous data. For example, medical data may contain SPECT images, signals like ECG, clinical information like temperature, cholesterol levels, etc., as well as the physician's interpretation. Those who deal with such data understand that there is a widening gap between data collection and data comprehension. Computerized techniques are needed to help humans address this problem. This volume is devoted to the relatively young and growing field of medical data mining and knowledge discovery. As more and more medical procedures employ imaging as a preferred diagnostic tool, there is a need to develop methods for efficient mining in databases of images. Other significant features are security and confidentiality concerns. Moreover, the physician's interpretation of images, signals, or other technical data, is written in unstructured English which is very difficult to mine. This book addresses all these specific features.

This volume is a result of the fruitful and vivid discussions during the MedDecSup'2012 International Workshop bringing together a relevant body of knowledge, and new developments in the increasingly important field of medical informatics. This carefully edited book presents new ideas aimed at the development of intelligent processing of various kinds of medical information and the perfection of the contemporary computer systems for medical decision support. The book presents advances of the medical information systems for intelligent archiving, processing, analysis and search-by-content which will improve the quality of the medical services for every patient and of the global healthcare system. The book combines in a synergistic way theoretical developments with the practicability of the approaches developed and presents the last developments and achievements in medical informatics to a broad range of readers: engineers, mathematicians, physicians, and PhD students.

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are expected to promote new applications for the ambulatory health monitoring of chronic patients and elderly population, aiming to improve their quality of life and independence. These networks are composed by wireless sensor nodes (WSNs) used for measuring physiological variables (e.g., glucose level in blood or body temperature) or controlling therapeutic devices (e.g., implanted insulin pumps). These nodes should exhibit a high degree of energy autonomy in order to extend their battery lifetime or even make the node supply to rely on harvesting techniques. Typically, the power budget of WSNs is dominated by the wireless link and, hence, many efforts have been directed during the last years toward the implementation of power efficient transceivers. Because of the short range (typically no more than a few meters) and low data rate (typically in between 10 kb/s and 1 Mb/s), simple communication protocols can be employed. One of these protocols, specifically tailored for WBAN applications, is the Bluetooth low energy (BLE) standard. This book describes the challenges and solutions for the design of ultra-low power transceivers for WBANs applications and presents the implementation details of a BLE transceiver prototype. Coverage includes not only the main concepts and architectures for achieving low power consumption, but also the details of the circuit design and its implementation in a standard CMOS technology.

Recent years have seen the development of two significant trends namely: the adoption of some Traditional Chinese Medicine Practices into mainstream Allopathic Western Medicine and the advent of the internet and broad band networks leading to an increased interest in the use of Telemedicine to deliver medical services. In this book, we see the convergence of these two trends leading to a semantically-based TCM Telemedicine system that utilizes an ontology to provide sharable knowledge in the TCM realm to achieve this. The underpinning research required the development of a three-layer architecture and an Ontology of the TCM knowledge. As TCM knowledge like all medical knowledge is not frozen in time it was important to develop an approach that would allow evolution of the Ontology when new evidence became available. In order for the system to be practically grounded it was important to work with an industry partner PuraPharm Group/HerbMiners Informatics Limited. This partnership was initiated through Professor Allan Wong and the Chairman of PuraPharm Group Mr. Abraham Chan. This led to the system being utilized in more than 20 Mobile Clinics in Hong Kong and 300 Hospitals in China. In order for these different deployments of the system to be coherent with the main core Ontology, it was necessary for us to develop an Ontology Driven Software System Generation approach.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of nanotoxicity modeling and its implications for the development of novel nanomedicines. It lays out the fundamentals of nanotoxicity modeling for an array of nanomaterial systems, ranging from carbon-based nanoparticles to noble metals, metal oxides, and quantum dots. The author illustrates how molecular (classical mechanics) and atomic (quantum mechanics) modeling approaches can be applied to bolster our understanding of many important aspects of this critical nanotoxicity issue. Each chapter is organized by types of nanomaterials for practicality, making this an ideal book for senior undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers in nanotechnology, chemistry, physics, molecular biology, and computer science. It is also of interest to academic and industry professionals who work on nanodrug delivery and related biomedical applications, and aids readers in their biocompatibility assessment efforts in the coming age of nanotechnology. This book also provides a critical assessment of advanced molecular modeling and other computational techniques to nanosafety, and highlights current and future biomedical applications of nanoparticles in relation to nanosafety.

"This book will be a terrific introduction to the field of clinical IT and clinical informatics" -- Kevin Johnson "Dr. Braunstein has done a wonderful job of exploring a number of key trends in technology in the context of the transformations that are occurring in our health care system" -- Bob Greenes "This insightful book is a perfect primer for technologists entering the health tech field." -- Deb Estrin "This book should be read by everyone.​" -- David Kibbe This book provides care providers and other non-technical readers with a broad, practical overview of the changing US healthcare system and the contemporary health informatics systems and tools that are increasingly critical to its new financial and clinical care paradigms. US healthcare delivery is dramatically transforming and informatics is at the center of the changes. Increasingly care providers must be skilled users of informatics tools to meet federal mandates and succeed under value-based contracts that demand higher quality and increased patient satisfaction but at lower cost. Yet, most have little formal training in these systems and technologies. Providers face system selection issues with little unbiased and insightful information to guide them. Patient engagement to promote wellness, prevention and improved outcomes is a requirement of Meaningful Use Stage 2 and is increasingly supported by mobile devices, apps, sensors and other technologies. Care providers need to provide guidance and advice to their patients and know how to incorporated as they generate into their care. The one-patient-at-a-time care model is being rapidly supplemented by new team-, population- and public health-based models of care. As digital data becomes ubiquitous, medicine is changing as research based on that data reveals new methods for earlier diagnosis, improved treatment and disease management and prevention. This book is clearly written, up-to-date and uses real world examples extensively to explain the tools and technologies and illustrate their practical role and potential impact on providers, patients, researchers, and society as a whole. 

Advances in medicine have brought us the stethoscope, artificial kidneys, and computerized health records. They have also changed the doctor-patient relationship. This book explores how the technologies of medicine are created and how we respond to the problems and successes of their use. Stanley Joel Reiser, MD, walks us through the ways medical innovations exert their influence by discussing a number of selected technologies, including the X-ray, ultrasound, and respirator. Reiser creates a new understanding of thinking about how health care is practiced in the United States and thereby suggests new methods to effectively meet the challenges of living with technological medicine. As healthcare reform continues to be an intensely debated topic in America, Technological Medicine shows us the pros and cons of applying technological solutions health and illness.

The challenge of population aging requires innovative approaches to meet the needs of increasing numbers of older people. Emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as pervasive computing and ambient assistive technology, have considerable potential for enhancing the quality of life of many older people by providing additional safety and security while also supporting mobility, independent living, and social participation. The proposed book will be a landmark publication in the area of technology and aging that will serve as a statement of the current state-of-the-art and as a pointer to directions for future research and emerging technologies, products, and services.

This Brief provides a comprehensive introduction to the control of blood flow in the brain. Beginning with the basic physiology of autoregulation, the author goes on to discuss measurement techniques, mathematical models, methods of analysis, and relevant clinical conditions, all within this single volume. The author draws together this disparate field, and lays the groundwork for future research directions. The text gives an up-to-date review of the state of the art in cerebral autoregulation, which is particularly relevant as cerebral autoregulation moves from the laboratory to the bedside. Cerebral Autoregulation will be useful to researchers in the physical sciences such as mathematical biology, medical physics, and biomedical engineering whose work is concerned with the brain. Researchers in the medical sciences and clinicians dealing with the brain and blood flow, as well as industry professionals developing techniques such as ultrasound, MRI, and CT will also find this Brief of interest.