Advanced techniques in image processing have led to many innovations supporting the medical field, especially in the area of disease diagnosis. Biomedical imaging is an essential part of early disease detection and often considered a first step in the proper management of medical pathological conditions. Classification and Clustering in Biomedical Signal Processing focuses on existing and proposed methods for medical imaging, signal processing, and analysis for the purposes of diagnosing and monitoring patient conditions. Featuring the most recent empirical research findings in the areas of signal processing for biomedical applications with an emphasis on classification and clustering techniques, this essential publication is designed for use by medical professionals, IT developers, and advanced-level graduate students.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a very important clinical imaging tool. It combines different fields of physics and engineering in a uniquely complex way. MRI is also surprisingly versatile, 'pulse sequences' can be designed to yield many different types of contrast. This versatility is unique to MRI. This short book gives both an in depth account of the methods used for the operation and construction of modern MRI systems and also the principles of sequence design and many examples of applications. An important additional feature of this book is the detailed discussion of the mathematical principles used in building optimal MRI systems and for sequence design. The mathematical discussion is very suitable for undergraduates attending medical physics courses. It is also more complete than usually found in alternative books for physical scientists or more clinically orientated works.

This book presents new methods of analyzing and processing hyperspectral medical images, which can be used in diagnostics, for example for dermatological images. The algorithms proposed are fully automatic and the results obtained are fully reproducible. Their operation was tested on a set of several thousands of hyperspectral images and they were implemented in Matlab. The presented source code can be used without licensing restrictions. This is a valuable resource for computer scientists, bioengineers, doctoral students, and dermatologists interested in contemporary analysis methods.

This book covers the most recent advances in using nanoparticles for biomedical imaging, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic particle imaging (MPI), nuclear medicine, ultrasound (US) imaging, computed tomography (CT), and optical imaging. Topics include nanoparticles for MRI and MPI, siRNA delivery, theranostic nanoparticles for PET imaging of drug delivery, US nanoparticles for imaging drug delivery, inorganic nanoparticles for targeted CT imaging, and quantum dots for optical imaging. This book serves as a valuable resource for the fundamental science of diagnostic nanoparticles and their interactions with biological targets, providing a practical handbook for improved detection of disease and its clinical implementation.

This text provides a comprehensive review of ERCP and EUS and the clinical conditions for which they are employed. Presented in a case-based format with accompanying videos, it will serve as a valuable practical clinical resource for gastroenterologists with an interest in ERCP and EUS. The text highlights major techniques involved in ERCP, reviews complications and recent data on preventing post-ERCP pancreatitis, and discusses important issues in training in ERCP including use of endoscopic simulators and assessment of competency as emphasized in the new ACGME guidelines. For biliary diseases, new techniques for managing biliary stones, novel technologies for diagnosing indeterminate biliary strictures, and new devices for treating benign and malignant strictures are also highlighted. For pancreatic diseases, advances in minimally invasive endoscopic techniques for pancreatic stones and strictures, and management of the complications of pancreatitis are reviewed. Furthermore, ERCP is not limited by age, pregnancy or history of abdominal surgeries and special considerations particular to these patient populations are also discussed. The EUS chapters review the breadth of equipment available for performing EUS and EUS-FNA, detail the technique of performing EUS-FNA, and explore pertinent issues with training and assessing competency analogous to ERCP training. Valuable insights on the basics of cytopathology relevant to the endosonographer are summarized. The classic indication for EUS of staging luminal cancers is examined in detail while pancreaticobiliary indications are discussed highlighting newer adjunctive technologies including elastography and contrast-enhanced EUS. Although in its infancy, the brave new world of therapeutic EUS is explored with a focus on endoscopic necrosectomy, EUS-guided biliary and pancreatic access as well as the exciting possibilities of EUS-guided radiofrequency ablation and injection of anti-tumor agents. ERCP and EUS: A Case Based Approach will serve as a very useful resource for physicians who perform or refer patients for ERCP and EUS. It provides a concise yet comprehensive summary of the current status of ERCP and EUS that will help guide patient management and stimulate clinical research.

Data compiled by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates an alarming and continuing increase in the prevalence of autism. Despite intensive research during the last few decades, autism remains a behavioral defined syndrome wherein diagnostic criteria lack in construct validity. And, contrary to other conditions like diabetes and hypertension, there are no biomarkers for autism. However, new imaging methods are changing the way we think about autism, bringing us closer to a falsifiable definition for the condition, identifying affected individuals earlier in life, and recognizing different subtypes of autism. The imaging modalities discussed in this book emphasize the power of new technology to uncover important clues about the condition with the hope of developing effective interventions. Imaging the Brain in Autism was created to examine autism from a unique perspective that would emphasize results from different imaging technologies. These techniques show brain abnormalities in a significant percentage of patients, abnormalities that translate into aberrant functioning and significant clinical symptomatology. It is our hope that this newfound understanding will make the field work collaborative and provide a path that minimizes technical impediments.

Neuroimaging Personality, Social Cognition, and Character covers the science of combining brain imaging with other analytical techniques for use in understanding cognition, behavior, consciousness, memory, language, visual perception, emotional control, and other human attributes. Multidimensional brain imaging research has led to a greater understanding of character traits such as honesty, generosity, truthfulness, and foresight previously unachieved by quantitative mapping. This book summarizes the latest brain imaging research pertaining to character with structural and functional human brain imaging in both normal individuals and those with brain disease or disorder, including psychiatric disorders. By reviewing and synthesizing the latest structural and functional brain imaging research related to character, this book situates itself into the larger framework of cognitive neuroscience, psychiatric neuroimaging, related fields of research, and a wide range of academic fields, such as politics, psychology, medicine, education, law, and religion.

Neuroimaging techniques that can help elucidate and characterize the nature and mechanism of tissue injury and disease progression in neurodegenerative disease are of particular importance given its their roles in seeking successful preventive and therapeutic treatments. Studying large-scale samples with various disease mechanisms using multi-parametric imaging, as well as revealing the correlations between the neuroimaging metrics and clinical data including neurocognitive function and neuropsychological inventories to elucidate multiple factors affecting the neurodegeneration processes in brain are the main topics of this book. In addition, the neural underpins of cognitive and psychological functions with advanced functional imaging techniques can provide better cross-validation and clinical symptom relevance of multi-parametric data. Expanding the current findings with higher diagnosis accuracy and detection specificity in multiple neurodegenerative diseases as well as better differentiation of each type are the ultimate goal. The results in this book will extend the current notion of diagnosis value of various relatively new imaging techniques in multiple neurodegenerative diseases including traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, multiple sclerosis and early stage of Alzheimer's disease such as mild cognitive impairment. Specifically, the neurobiology and related imaging findings of the four representative neurodegenerative diseases will be introduced and reviewed, including brain region-specific and disease-related alterations, unique clinical symptom of each disease, as well as previous findings and challenges. There is an increasing body of literature suggesting that damage to the default mode network, hypothalamus, thalamus and hippocampus neuronal networks and local injuries might be under-diagnosed and may account for some of the sequelae following the neurodegenerative injuries including trauma and dementia. The relatively novel imaging results to differentiate each disease using advanced functional connectivity, neuronal activity, microstructure integrity analysis based on structural connectivity, multi-dimensional morphometry and molecular imaging tracers including amyloid and tau for neuropathological burden quantification were presented to differentiate each type of disease. We then briefly reviewed some of the therapeutic effects of traditional Chinese medicine with neuroimaging quantifications to help treating neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, our work proves that the multi-parametric neuroimaging methods with more than twelve metrics and numerous tight clinical association data presented in this book are the most forefront and up-to-date with enough sensitivity, precision and resolution. Taken together, multiple neuroimaging metrics haved been demonstrated in this book to identify and quantify significant and distinct brain alterations at function, microstructure, morphology and molecular scales in different types of neurodegenerative diseases with high sensitivity and specificity. These comprehensive imaging features could be combined to improve disease diagnosis accuracy. The aim of this book is thus intended to provide both beginners and experts in biomedical imaging and health care a broad and complete picture as well as the new developments of using multiple metrics in improving disease identification and diagnosis accuracy. This book would hopefully capture the interests of colleagues interested in neurodegenerative disease diagnosis and treatment, and could help convey the methodological and integrative perspectives of multi-parametric neuroimaging applications.

Every second, users produce large amounts of image data from medical and satellite imaging systems. Image mining techniques that are capable of extracting useful information from image data are becoming increasingly useful, especially in medicine and the health sciences. Biomedical Image Analysis and Mining Techniques for Improved Health Outcomes addresses major techniques regarding image processing as a tool for disease identification and diagnosis, as well as treatment recommendation. Highlighting current research intended to advance the medical field, this publication is essential for use by researchers, advanced-level students, academicians, medical professionals, and technology developers. An essential addition to the reference material available in the field of medicine, this timely publication covers a range of applied research on data mining, image processing, computational simulation, data visualization, and image retrieval.