Anton Yurievich Potlov

An important aspect of medical rehabilitation using exoskeletons is objective monitoring of the effectiveness of the exercise program. This control is most often manual and relies on the attention of a rehabilitation physician, but advanced rehabilitation systems also use computer vision technology. Topological skeletons generalize large areas of digital images, representing a virtual internal framework of the analyzed object. The patient and the exoskeleton are described either as a set of spatially disparate (but not explicitly related to either the patient or the exoskeleton) topological skeletons, or as branches of a single topological skeleton which does not allow for objective monitoring of joint displacements. A method to solve this problem for medical rehabilitation using an upper-limb exoskeleton is proposed. It includes the following stages: (I) identifying the exoskeleton, as well as upper and lower parts of the patient’s body; (II) independent construction of three topological skeletons (separately for the exoskeleton and for the upper and lower parts of the patient’s body); (III) their integration. This approach allows for accurate, real-time analysis of movements in the upper-limb joints and prompt notification to the rehabilitation physician of any significant deviations in the technique of performing prescribed exercises.

Описана история создания и развития конструкций неонатальных инкубаторов. Рассмотрена обобщенная конструкция современного неонатального инкубатора и схемы циркуляции воздушных потоков, включая движение потоков в инкубаторах с двойными стенками. Дана классификация неонатальных инкубаторов. Приведен 51 производитель современных неонатальных инкубаторов из 17 стран с указанием адресов веб-страниц, на которых размещена информация о выпускаемых медицинских изделиях. Проведен анализ работ, связанных с модельными исследованиями тепломассообменных процессов в неонатальных инкубаторах с учетом терморегуляции ребенка, его 3D-модели, циркуляции воздушной среды, конвективного, лучистого и кондуктивного теплообмена. Показано, что для численного моделирования используются современные пакеты для вычислительной гидро-, аэро- и термодинамики. Численные модельные исследования сочетаются с физическим моделированием. Движение воздушных потоков анализируется с помощью видеокамер. Показано применение для задач исследования инкубаторов неонатальных фантомов, которые имеют анатомическое сходство с новорожденным ребенком и изготавливаются на основе аддитивных технологий. Имитация процесса терморегуляции производится за счет электрических нагревателей, датчиков температуры и систем управления на базе микроконтроллеров. Приведен обзор методов мониторинга параметров организма ребенка, помещенного в неонатальный инкубатор. Показано преимущество методов бесконтактного мониторинга с использованием видеокамер и термометрии. Рассмотрены современные системы управления неонатальными инкубаторами. Показано, что основным алгоритмом управления является ПИД-закон регулирования. Также представлены исследования по применению нечеткого управления и различных видов адаптивного управления. Установлено, что конструкции неонатальных инкубаторов требуют совершенствования системы защиты от шума, электромагнитного излучения, инфекций, контроля воздушной среды на наличие вредных примесей. Показаны возможные направления работ по повышению эффективности поддержания подходящих для новорожденных условий окружающей среды в неонатальных инкубаторах. The history of neonatal incubator development and the evolution of its design were described. A generalized structural and functional diagram of a modern neonatal incubator was presented. Airflow patterns have been studied in detail, including illustration of typical airflow paths in double-walled incubators. A classification of neonatal incubators was given. Information about manufacturers of modern incubators was presented in a table that includes 51 manufacturers from 17 countries with the addresses of web sites that contain specifications of medical products they manufacture. Publications that discuss modeling heat and mass transfer processes in incubators for newborns were analyzed. It was concluded that modern computational aerodynamics packages are usually used for numerical modeling with consideration to the infant’s thermoregulation, their 3D-model, air circulation, convective, radiant and conductive heat transfer. Numerical modeling research is usually combined with physical modeling. The movement of air flows is analyzed using visible and infrared video cameras. The use of anatomically correct neonatal phantoms created by means of additive manufacturing was demonstrated. The thermoregulation process is simulated with the help of electric heaters, temperature sensors and control systems based on microcontrollers. The methods for monitoring the physiological parameters of an infant placed inside a neonatal incubator were reviewed. The advantages of non-contact monitoring methods using video cameras and thermometry has been illustrated. Modern neonatal incubator control systems were examined. The proportional integral derivative controllers are the basis of almost all control algorithms in neonatal incubation systems. The studies on the application of fuzzy logic control and various types of adaptive control in neonatal incubators were presented. It has been concluded that the structural and functional diagram of a neonatal incubator needs to be improved with...

A method for studying atherosclerotic plaques on the walls of large blood vessels is proposed, which allows taking into account not only the optical, but also the mechanical properties of the object under study. Its main features are noted. The information about the geometric characteristics and internal structure of atherosclerotic plaques can be useful in determining their stability. This method is supposed to be used not only in scientific research, but also in real clinical practice, in particular, neurosurgical problems to assess the degree of influence of atherosclerosis on cerebral aneurysm.

Features of the propagation of low-coherent pulse radiation in phantoms of soft biological tissues (blood-perfused tissues of brain, breast, etc.) are described. Results of mathematical simulation of photon migration based on the diffusion approximation to the radiative transfer equation and Monte Carlo statistical testing are compared. It is corroborated that the photon density normalized maximum (PDNM) in relatively homogeneous strongly scattering media moves towards the center of the object under study. In the presence of inhomogeneities, the character of the PDNM motion changes; the absorbing inhomogeneity in a strongly scattering medium shifts the PDNM motion path towards the point symmetric to the center of this inhomogeneity with respect to the center of the object under study. In cases with a scattering inhomogeneity, the PDNM moves towards its center.

A method of Monte Carlo simulation of low-coherence radiation propagation in turbid media with consideration of speckle noise (the result of mutual interference of secondary spherical waves) is described. The process of photon propagation within investigated object, such as biological tissue, includes the following steps: the photon injection, mean free path determination, the verification of the fulfillment of the boundary condition, the absorption and scattering. Structural image reconstruction in optical coherence tomography (OCT) with consideration of speckle fluctuations is made by summation the statistical weight of the beam coming out of the investigated object inside the detector area with the intensity of a series of pixels of the current A-scan. The key feature of the presented method is the description of the investigated object geometry. Three-dimensional array of voxels combined into parallelograms, and the border cross checking is carried out by using an improved Smith algorithm. The described method can be used to obtain high-quality endoscopic structural OCT images of body cavities and tracts (diagnosis of the respiratory tract, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary system, etc.).

Specific features of photon density normalized maximum movement in soft biological tissue under the influence of deforming force are described. Soft biological tissue is simulated as a turbid and linear isotropic pseudo-incompressible medium. It has been shown that the deforming effects do not influence the direction of photon density normalized maximum (PDNM) movement, but affect the speed of its movement. The decay of diffuse transmittance intensity is 8 to 10% faster in undeformed state than in those with deformations. The established features can be useful for the generation of an initial approximation to the spatial distributions of optical parameters during solution of the diffuse optical tomography (DOT) inverse problem.