| 1. |
- Abtahi, Farhad, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Development and preliminary evaluation of an Android based heart rate variability biofeedback system
- 2014
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Ingår i: Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE. - : IEEE. - 9781424479290 ; 2014, s. 3382-5
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The reduced Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is believed to be associated with several diseases such as congestive heart failure, diabetes and chronic kidney diseases (CKD). In these cases, HRV biofeedback may be a potential intervention method to increase HRV which in turn is beneficial to these patients. In this work, a real-time Android biofeedback application based on a Bluetooth enabled ECG and thoracic electrical bioimpedance (respiration) measurement device has been developed. The system performance and usability have been evaluated in a brief study with eight healthy volunteers. The result demonstrates real-time performance of system and positive effects of biofeedback training session by increased HRV and reduced heart rate. Further development of the application and training protocol is ongoing to investigate duration of training session to find an optimum length and interval of biofeedback sessions to use in potential interventions.
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| 2. |
- Seoane, Fernando, et al.
(författare)
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Mean Expected Error in Prediction of Total Body Water: A True Accuracy Comparison between Bioimpedance Spectroscopy and Single Frequency Regression Equations
- 2015
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Ingår i: Biomed Research International. - : Hindawi Limited. - 2314-6133 .- 2314-6141. ; 2015:Article ID 656323
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For several decades electrical bioimpedance (EBI) has been used to assess body fluid distribution and body composition. Despite the development of several different approaches for assessing total body water (TBW), it remains uncertain whether bioimpedance spectroscopic (BIS) approaches are more accurate than single frequency regression equations. The main objective of this study was to answer this question by calculating the expected accuracy of a single measurement for different EBI methods. The results of this study showed that all methods produced similarly high correlation and concordance coefficients, indicating good accuracy as a method. Even the limits of agreement produced from the Bland-Altman analysis indicated that the performance of single frequency, Sun's prediction equations, at population level was close to the performance of both BIS methods; however, when comparing the Mean Absolute Percentage Error value between the single frequency prediction equations and the BIS methods, a significant difference was obtained, indicating slightly better accuracy for the BIS methods. Despite the higher accuracy of BIS methods over 50 kHz prediction equations at both population and individual level, the magnitude of the improvement was small. Such slight improvement in accuracy of BIS methods is suggested insufficient to warrant their clinical use where the most accurate predictions of TBW are required, for example, when assessing over-fluidic status on dialysis. To reach expected errors below 4-5%, novel and individualized approaches must be developed to improve the accuracy of bioimpedance-based methods for the advent of innovative personalized health monitoring applications.
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| 3. |
- Seoane, Fernando, et al.
(författare)
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Slightly superior performance of bioimpedance spectroscopy over single frequency regression equations for assessment of total body water.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE. 25-29 Aug. 2015, Milan, Italy.. - : IEEE. - 1094-687X .- 1558-4615. - 9781424492718 - 9781424492701 ; 2015, s. 3707-10
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Electrical bioimpedance has been used for several decades to assess body fluid distribution and body composition by using single frequency and bioimpedance spectroscopic (BIS) techniques. It remains uncertain whether BIS methods have better performance compare to single frequency regression equations. In this work the performance of two BIS methods and four different 50 kHz single frequency prediction equations was studied in a data set of wrist-to-ankle tetrapolar BIS measurements (5-1000 kHz) together with reference values of total body water obtained by tritium dilution in 92 patients. Data were compared using regression techniques and Bland-Altman plots. The results of this study showed that all methods produced similarly high correlation and concordance coefficients, indicating good accuracy as a method. Limits of agreement analysis indicated that the population level performance of Sun's prediction equations was very similar to the performance of both BIS methods. However, BIS methods in practice have slightly better predictive performance than the single-frequency equations as judged by higher correlation and the limits of agreement from the Bland-Altman analysis. In any case, the authors believe that an accurate evaluation of performance of the methods cannot be done as long as the evaluation is done using Bland-Altman analysis, the commonly accepted technique for this kind of performance comparisons.
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| 4. |
- Abtahi, Farhad, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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An Affordable ECG and Respiration Monitoring System Based on Raspberry PI and ADAS1000 : First Step towards Homecare Applications
- 2015
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Ingår i: 16th Nordic-Baltic Conference on Biomedical Engineering. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319129662 ; , s. 5-8, s. 5-8
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Homecare is a potential solution for problems associated with an aging population. This may involve several physiological measurements, and hence a flexible but affordable measurement device is needed. In this work, we have designed an ADAS1000-based four-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiration monitoring system. It has been implemented using Raspberry PI as a platform for homecare applications. ADuM chips based on iCoupler technology have been used to achieve electrical isolation as required by IEC 60601 and IEC 60950 for patient safety. The result proved the potential of Raspberry PI for the design of a compact, affordable, and medically safe measurement device. Further work involves developing a more flexible software for collecting measurements from different devices (measuring, e.g., blood pressure, weight, impedance spectroscopy, blood glucose) through Bluetooth or user input and integrating them into a cloud-based homecare system.
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| 5. |
- Abtahi, Farhad, 1981-
(författare)
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Aspects of Electrical Bioimpedance Spectrum Estimation
- 2014
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Electrical bioimpedance spectroscopy (EBIS) has been used to assess the status or composition of various types of tissue, and examples of EBIS include body composition analysis (BCA) and tissue characterisation for skin cancer detection. EBIS is a non-invasive method that has the potential to provide a large amount of information for diagnosis or monitoring purposes, such as the monitoring of pulmonary oedema, i.e., fluid accumulation in the lungs. However, in many cases, systems based on EBIS have not become generally accepted in clinical practice. Possible reasons behind the low acceptance of EBIS could involve inaccurate models; artefacts, such as those from movements; measurement errors; and estimation errors. Previous thoracic EBIS measurements aimed at pulmonary oedema have shown some uncertainties in their results, making it difficult to produce trustworthy monitoring methods. The current research hypothesis was that these uncertainties mostly originate from estimation errors. In particular, time-varying behaviours of the thorax, e.g., respiratory and cardiac activity, can cause estimation errors, which make it tricky to detect the slowly varying behaviour of this system, i.e., pulmonary oedema.The aim of this thesis is to investigate potential sources of estimation error in transthoracic impedance spectroscopy (TIS) for pulmonary oedema detection and to propose methods to prevent or compensate for these errors. This work is mainly focused on two aspects of impedance spectrum estimation: first, the problems associated with the delay between estimations of spectrum samples in the frequency-sweep technique and second, the influence of undersampling (a result of impedance estimation times) when estimating an EBIS spectrum. The delay between frequency sweeps can produce huge errors when analysing EBIS spectra, but its effect decreases with averaging or low-pass filtering, which is a common and simple method for monitoring the time-invariant behaviour of a system. The results show the importance of the undersampling effect as the main estimation error that can cause uncertainty in TIS measurements. The best time for dealing with this error is during the design process, when the system can be designed to avoid this error or with the possibility to compensate for the error during analysis. A case study of monitoring pulmonary oedema is used to assess the effect of these two estimation errors. However, the results can be generalised to any case for identifying the slowly varying behaviour of physiological systems that also display higher frequency variations. Finally, some suggestions for designing an EBIS measurement system and analysis methods to avoid or compensate for these estimation errors are discussed.
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| 6. |
- Abtahi, Farhad, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Big Data & Wearable Sensors Ensuring Safety and Health @Work
- 2017
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Ingår i: GLOBAL HEALTH 2017, The Sixth International Conference on Global Health Challenges. - 9781612086040
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- —Work-related injuries and disorders constitute a major burden and cost for employers, society in general and workers in particular. We@Work is a project that aims to develop an integrated solution for promoting and supporting a safe and healthy working life by combining wearable technologies, Big Data analytics, ergonomics, and information and communication technologies. The We@Work solution aims to support the worker and employer to ensure a healthy working life through pervasive monitoring for early warnings, prompt detection of capacity-loss and accurate risk assessments at workplace as well as self-management of a healthy working life. A multiservice platform will allow unobtrusive data collection at workplaces. Big Data analytics will provide real-time information useful to prevent work injuries and support healthy working life
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| 7. |
- Abtahi, Farhad, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Pro-inflammatory Blood Markers and Heart Rate Variability in Apnoea as a Reflection of Basal Vagal Tone
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Pro-inflammatory cytokines play a crucial role in inflammatory response, which istightly regulated by the nervous system to avoid the damage caused by inflammation. There isevidence for a cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway that includes afferent and efferent vagalnerves that sense the inflammation and stimulate the anti-inflammatory response. Non-functionalanti-inflammatory response might lead to excessive and chronic inflammation e.g., rheumatoidarthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and poor outcome. Heart rate variability(HRV) has been proposed as a potential tool to monitor the level of anti-inflammatory activitythrough the monitoring of vagal activity. In this paper, the association of pro-inflammatorymarkers with HRV indices is evaluated. We used a database called “Heart Biomarker Evaluationin Apnea Treatment (HeartBEAT)” that consists of 6±2 hours of Electrocardiogram (ECG)recordings during nocturnal sleep from 318 patients at baseline and 301of them at 3 monthsfollow-up. HRV indices are calculated from ECG recordings of 5-360 minutes. The results showa statistically significant correlation between heart rate (HR) and pro-inflammatory cytokines,independent of duration of ECG analysis. HRV indices e.g., standard deviation of all RRintervals (SDNN) show an inverse relation to the pro-inflammatory cytokines. Longer ECGrecordings show a higher potential to reflect the level of anti-inflammatory response. In light oftheories for the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, a combination of HR and HRV as areflection of basal vagal activity might be a potential prognostic tool for interventional guidance.
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| 8. |
- Abtahi, Farhad, 1981-
(författare)
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Towards Heart Rate Variability Tools in P-Health : Pervasive, Preventive, Predictive and Personalized
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Heart rate variability (HRV) has received much attention lately. It has been shown that HRV can be used to monitor the autonomic nervous system and to detect autonomic dysfunction, especially vagal dysfunction. Reduced HRV is associated with several diseases and has also been suggested as a predictor of poor outcomes and sudden cardiac death. HRV is, however, not yet widely accepted as a clinical tool and is mostly used for research. Advances in neuroimmunity with an improved understanding of the link between the nervous and immune systems have opened a new potential arena for HRV applications. An example is when systemic inflammation and autoimmune disease are primarily caused by low vagal activity; it can be detected and prognosticated by reduced HRV. This thesis is the result of several technical development steps and exploratory research where HRV is applied as a prognostic diagnostic tool with preventive potential. The main objectives were 1) to develop an affordable tool for the effective analysis of HRV, 2) to study the correlation between HRV and pro-inflammatory markers and the potential degree of activity in the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, and 3) to develop a biofeedback application intended for support of personal capability to increase the vagal activity as reflected in increased HRV. Written as a compilation thesis, the methodology and the results of each study are presented in each appended paper. In the thesis frame/summary chapter, a summary of each of the included papers is presented, grouped by topic and with their connections. The summary of the results shows that the developed tools may accurately register and properly analyse and potentially influence HRV through the designed biofeedback game. HRV can be used as a prognostic tool, not just in traditional healthcare with a focus on illness but also in wellness. By using these tools for the early detection of decreased HRV, prompt intervention may be possible, enabling the prevention of disease. Gamification and serious gaming is a potential platform to motivate people to follow a routine of exercise that might, through biofeedback, improve HRV and thereby health.
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| 9. |
- Abtahi, Farhad, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Wearable Sensors Enabling Personalized Occupational Healthcare
- 2018
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Ingår i: Intelligent Environments 2018. - Amsterdam : IOS Press. - 9781614998730 - 9781614998747 ; , s. 371-376
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper presents needs and potentials for wearable sensors inoccupational healthcare. In addition, it presents ongoing European and Swedishprojects for developing personalized, and pervasive wearable systems for assessingrisks of developing musculoskeletal disorders and cardiovascular diseases at work.Occupational healthcare should benefit in preventing diseases and disorders byproviding the right feedback at the right time to the right person. Collected datafrom workers can provide evidence supporting the ergonomic and industrial tasksof redesigning the working environment to reduce the risks.
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| 10. |
- Birgisdottir, Brynhildur Tinna, et al.
(författare)
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Short-term variation of the fetal heart rate as a marker of intraamniotic infection in pregnancies with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes : a historical cohort study
- 2024
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Ingår i: The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1476-7058 .- 1476-4954. ; 37:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- IntroductionIntraamniotic infection (IAI) and subsequent early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) are among the main complications associated with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM). Currently used diagnostic tools have been shown to have poor diagnostic performance for IAI. This study aimed to investigate whether the exposure to IAI before delivery is associated with short-term variation of the fetal heart rate in pregnancies with PPROM. MethodsObservational cohort study of 678 pregnancies with PPROM, delivering between 24 + 0 and 33 + 6 gestational weeks from 2012 to 2019 in five labor units in Stockholm County, Sweden. Electronic medical records were examined to obtain background and exposure data. For the exposure IAI, we used the later diagnosis of EONS in the offspring as a proxy. EONS is strongly associated to IAI and was considered a better proxy for IAI than the histological diagnosis of acute chorioamnionitis, since acute chorioamnionitis can be observed in the absence of both positive microbiology and biochemical markers for inflammation. Cardiotocography traces were analyzed by a computerized algorithm for short-term variation of the fetal heart rate, which was the main outcome measure. ResultsTwenty-seven pregnancies were categorized as having an IAI, based on the proxy diagnosis of EONS after birth. Fetuses exposed to IAI had significantly lower short-term variation values in the last cardiotocography trace before birth than fetuses who were not exposed (5.25 vs 6.62 ms; unadjusted difference: -1.37, p = 0.009). After adjustment for smoking and diabetes, this difference remained significant. IAI with a later positive blood culture in the neonate (n = 12) showed an even larger absolute difference in STV (-1.65; p = 0.034), with a relative decrease of 23.5%. ConclusionIn pregnancies with PPROM, fetuses exposed to IAI with EONS as a proxy have lower short-term variation of the fetal heart rate than fetuses who are not exposed. Short-term variation might be useful as adjunct surveillance in pregnancies with PPROM. [GRAPHICS] .
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