An exploration of new methods for metabolic syndrome examination by infrared thermography and knowledge mining.

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a clinical syndrome with multiple metabolic disorders. As the diagnostic criteria for MS still lacking of imaging laboratory method, this study aimed to explore the differences between healthy people and MS patients through infrared thermography (IRT). However, the observation region of the IRT image is uncertain, and the research tried to solve this problem with the help of knowledge mining technology. 43 MS participants were randomly included through a cross-sectional method, and 43 healthy participants were recruited through number matching. The IRT image of each participant was segmented into the region of interest (ROI) through the preprocessing method proposed in this research, and then the ROI features were granulated by the K-means algorithm to generate the formal background, and finally, the two formal background were separately built into a knowledge graph through the knowledge mining method based on the attribute partial order structure. The baseline data shows that there is no difference in age, gender, and height between the two groups (P > 0.05). The image preprocessing method can segment the IRT image into 18 ROI. Through the K-means method, each group of data can be separately established with a 43 × 36 formal background and generated a knowledge graph. It can be found through knowledge mining and independent-samples T test that the average temperature and maximum temperature difference between the chest and face of the two groups are statistically different (P < 0.01). IRT could reflect the difference between healthy people and MS people. The measurement regions were found by the method of knowledge mining on the premise of unknown. The method proposed in this paper may add a new imaging method for MS laboratory examinations, and at the same time, through knowledge mining, it can also expand a new idea for clinical research of IRT.

[Objective assessment of facial paralysis using infrared thermography and formal concept analysis].

This paper presented a novel approach to objective assessment of facial nerve paralysis based on infrared thermography and formal concept analysis. Sixty five patients with facial nerve paralysis on one side were included in the study. The facial temperature distribution images of these 65 patients were captured by infrared thermography every five days during one-month period. First, the facial thermal images were pre-processed to identify six potential regions of bilateral symmetry by using image segmentation techniques. Then, the temperature differences on the left and right sides of the facial regions were extracted and analyzed. Finally, the authors explored the relationships between the statistical averages of those temperature differences and the House-Brackmann score for objective assessment degree of nerve damage in a facial nerve paralysis by using formal concept analysis. The results showed that the facial temperature distribution of patients with facial nerve paralysis exhibited a contralateral asymmetry, and the bilateral temperature differences of the facial regions were greater than 0.2 degrees C, whereas in normal healthy individuals these temperature differences were less than 0.2 degrees C. Spearman correlation coefficient between the bilateral temperature differences of the facial regions and the degree of facial nerve damage was an average of 0.508, which was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Furthermore, if one of the temperature differences of bilateral symmetry on facial regions was greater than 0.2 degrees C, and all were less than 0.5 degrees C, facial nerve paralysis could be determined as for the mild to moderate; if one of the temperature differences of bilateral symmetry was greater than 0.5 degrees C, facial nerve paralysis could be determined as for serious. In conclusion, this paper presents an automated technique for the computerized analysis of thermal images to objectively assess facial nerve related thermal dysfunction by using formal concept analysis theory, which may benefit the clinical diagnosis and treatment of facial nerve paralysis.

[Using infrared thermal asymmetry analysis for objective assessment of the lesion of facial nerve function].

The skin temperature distribution of a healthy human body exhibits a contralateral symmetry. Some lesions of facial nerve function are associated with an alteration of the thermal distribution of the human body. Since the dissipation of heat through the skin occurs for the most part in the form of infrared radiation, infrared thermography is the method of choice to capture the alteration of the infrared thermal distribution. This paper presents a new method of analysis of the thermal asymmetry named effective thermal area ratio, which is a product of two variables. The first variable is mean temperature difference between the specific facial region and its contralateral region. The second variable is a ratio, which is equal to the area of the abnormal region divided by the total area. Using this new method, we performed a controlled trial to assess the facial nerve function of the healthy subjects and the patients with Bell's palsy respectively. The results show: that the mean specificity and sensitivity of this method are 0.90 and 0.87 respectively, improved by 7% and 26% compared with conventional methods. Spearman correlation coefficient between effective thermal area ratio and the degree of facial nerve function is an average of 0.664. Hence, concerning the diagnosis and assessment of facial nerve function, infrared thermography is a powerful tool; while the effective ther mal area ratio is an efficient clinical indicator.

[Research progress in using functional near-infrared spectroscopy for monitoring depth of anesthesia].

Intra-operation monitoring depth of anesthesia is an important method to insure the quality and safety of clinical anesthesia. As a noninvasive brain function monitoring technology, functional near-infrared spectroscopy can provide objective and reliable brain activity monitoring and imaging in real time. The characteristic of this technique is highly suitable for interrelated research on depth of anesthesia monitoring. The present paper briefly introduced the fundamental and instruments of functional near-infrared spectroscopy, reviewed the current situation about the application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy in research on depth of anesthesia monitoring, pointed out the possible way of using functional near-infrared spectroscopy in depth of anesthesia monitoring research, and expounded the unsolved problems and future prospects.

[Anomaly of infrared thermal radiation intensity on unilateral mild to moderate Bell's palsy].

Bell's palsy is a kind of facial nerve diseases with a high incidence, and the patients who get the disease the first time predominate in the patients who suffer mildly or moderately. The aim of the present study is to explore a novel assessment for Bell's palsy objectively and noninvasively based on infrared thermal image. As the acupoints on the face are approximately bilateral symmetric, the acupoints on the affected side were chosen as the experimental group, while the same ones on the other side as the control group. Their infrared thermal radiations were researched separately and the results were as follows: on acute stage, the differences of infrared thermal radiation intensity of the same points were significant between the healthy and affected sides, indicating significant temperature difference (over 0.3 degrees C). The acupoints on the affected side with its surrounding tissue formed an irregular abnormal region on the infrared thermal image. Its pseudocolor was obviously different from that of the healthy side. At the same time, the more serious the Bell's palsy, the more evident the temperature differences of the same acupoints on bilateral sides. It was positive correlation (r=0.676, r=0.498, r=0.506, r=0.545, r=0.518, all P<0.05) between the bilateral temperature differences of acupoints (Quanliao, Dicang, Jiache, Yuyao, Yangbai) and the lesions degree of Bell' palsy, which was statistically significant. Thus, infrared thermal image could be used to objectively assess the severity of Bell' palsy.

[Identification of special quality eggs with NIR spectroscopy technology based on symbol entropy feature extraction method].

Fast, nondestructive and accurate identification of special quality eggs is an urgent problem. The present paper proposed a new feature extraction method based on symbol entropy to identify near infrared spectroscopy of special quality eggs. The authors selected normal eggs, free range eggs, selenium-enriched eggs and zinc-enriched eggs as research objects and measured the near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectra in the range of 12 000-4 000 cm(-1). Raw spectra were symbolically represented with aggregation approximation algorithm and symbolic entropy was extracted as feature vector. An error-correcting output codes multiclass support vector machine classifier was designed to identify the spectrum. Symbolic entropy feature is robust when parameter changed and the highest recognition rate reaches up to 100%. The results show that the identification method of special quality eggs using near-infrared is feasible and the symbol entropy can be used as a new feature extraction method of near-infrared spectra.

[Research on the correlation between the temperature asymmetry at acupoints of healthy and affected side and the severity index of facial paralysis].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the change trend of the temperature asymmetry coefficient at acupoints between healthy side and affected side in patients with facial paralysis, to study the correlation between the temperature asymmetry and Facial Disability Index (FDI), to provide scientific guidance for the application of infrared thermography in the examination of severity of facial paralysis. METHODS: Using the infrared thermography to observe the temperature asymmetry at acupoints, the temperature asymmetry coefficient at acupoints between healthy side and affected side was calculated; the correlation between the temperature asymmetry and FDI was analyzed. RESULTS: The correlation between the temperature asymmetry coefficient and FDI was statistically significant at acupoints of Yang-bai (GB 14), Cuanzhu (BL 2), Dicang (ST 4), Yuyao (EX-HN 4), Quanliao (SI 18), Jiache (ST 6) (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The temperature asymmetry coefficient at acupoints between healthy side and affected side could be a scientific measure to evaluate the severity of facial paralysis.

[Advances of studies on traditional moxibustion therapy for treatment of cancer].

In recent years, the studies on moxibustion for treatment of cancer are increasing day by day, with some advances. In the paper, clinical and experimental studies on traditional moxibustion for treatment of cancer and the mechanisms are reviewed, and some problems and shortcomings are put forward.