Title:

Detector Development in the PET Imaging Research Program at the University of Manitoba

Date:

Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 10:00 AM

Location:

E2-350 EITC, Fort Garry Campus, University of Manitoba

Speaker:

Andrew L. Goertzen, Ph.D., MCCPM
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology
Coordinator, PET/CT Program
University of Manitoba

Abstract:

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is an important nuclear medicine imaging method used both for assessment of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease in clinical patients and for research into understanding disease processes and developing new therapies. The PET/CT imaging program at the University of Manitoba was established in 2005 and has grown to presently include a clinical PET/CT camera, a dedicated preclinical PET system, a medical cyclotron and radiochemistry facility and a PET imaging instrumentation research group. This talk will give an overview of the PET imaging program at Health Sciences Centre / University of Manitoba and then describe ongoing research to develop new detectors for PET imaging. Two central projects in the detector development program are creating small footprint imaging systems that can be used on a laboratory bench-top for small animal research imaging studies and developing MRI compatible PET detectors for a combined MRI/PET imaging system.

Bio:

Andrew Goertzen is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at the University of Manitoba and a clinical nuclear medicine physicist at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Goertzen is a Member of the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine with certification in nuclear medicine. His research interests are the development of detectors and technologies for multimodality PET imaging and their application to improve image quality in both clinical and preclinical PET imaging.

Cost:

Free, All are welcome.

Contact:

For questions or more information contact Sherif S. Sherif at 474-6893.

Title:

Non-Linearity in Auditory Perception

Date:

Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 10:00 AM

Location:

E2 – 361 EITC, Fort Garry Campus, University of Manitoba

Speaker:

Barry Kimberley, P. Eng., MD, PhD, FRCS (C)
ENT And Sleep Associates

Abstract:

Nonlinear processes occurring in the peripheral auditory system are essential to our ability to hear small differences in 1) sound intensity, 2) time events, and 3) spectral features. Normal human audition is associated with the detection of vibratory events in the inner ear with an amplitude approximately of the diameter of a water molecule. Normal binaural hearing is also associated with discrimination of timing events with differences of 10 microseconds. Spectral discrimination can be modeled with a filter slope of 100 dB/ octave. Such amazing performance is dependent upon highly nonlinear processes in the peripheral ear. We will review nonlinear auditory processes and discover how EE has been essential to the understanding of hearing.

Bio:

Barry Kimberley is the founder of ENT & SLEEP Associates. After completing medical school in Canada he came to the University of Minnesota where he completed an ENT residency and obtained a PhD degree. He is fellowship trained in ear surgery with world renowned ear pioneer Dr. Michael Paparella. He is one of only 140 ENTs double boarded in Otolaryngology as well as Sleep Medicine board certification. He is one of only 125 members of the prestigious American Otologic Society. Dr. Kimberley enjoys providing Sleep and ENT care to patients of all ages. Most recently he has focused on a snoring and sleep care delivery model that allows for efficient and effective solutions. Barry is a proud father of four beautiful and talented children. He loves flying his Mooney Acclaim S all across America and is an occasional open ocean sailor.

Cost:

Free, All are welcome.

Contact:

For questions or more information contact Sherif S. Sherif at 474-6893.

Title:

Trends in Optical Coherence Tomography

Date:

Monday, May 16th, 2011 at 11:00 AM

Location:

E2 – 350 EITC, Fort Garry Campus, University of Manitoba

Speaker:

Prof. Adrian Podoleanu
Professor of Biomedical Optics
Head of the Applied Optics Group
School of Physical Sciences,
University of Kent, Canterbury
United Kingdom

Abstract:

The number of publications in optical coherence tomography (OCT) has doubled in the last 3 years. Traditionally applied to imaging the eye, OCT is now being extended to fields outside ophthalmology and optometry. This explains one of the reasons of rapid OCT developments in recent years. A second reason is the increase in the acquisition speed by more than 100 times in the last 5 years, mainly due to progress in the technology of fast tuneable lasers. Widening its applicability, progress in the core engine of the technology, and impact on development of novel optical sources, make OCT a very active and rapidly evolving field. Principles of time domain and spectral domain OCT technologies will be presented comparatively and how their advantages and disadvantages shaped the range of their specific diagnostic applications. The review will conclude with current research on combination of time domain and spectral domain OCT methods and how Talbot bands can be used to eliminate ghost images in Fourier domain OCT.

Bio:

Professor Adrian Podoleanu’s research interests focus on methods and devices for optical coherence tomography (OCT). He contributed towards development of the en-face OCT imaging as a novel technology to complement the more conventional longitudinal OCT imaging and has generated simultaneously, OCT and confocal images of the retina. He is co-author of 6 chapters in books on OCT, of over 130 peer reviewed journal papers, of more than 200 conference proceedings and of 21 patents (9 awarded). He is one of the topical editors of the Applied Optics for the Biomedical Optics division. He was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship in 2004, the prize of the Ambassador of Romania to the UK in 2009 and an European Research Council Advanced fellowship in 2010 to support a team of 3 postdocs and 2 PhDs to advance combinations of time domain and spectral domain interferometry.

Cost:

Free, All are welcome.

Contact:

For questions or more information contact Sherif S. Sherif at 474-6893.

Title:

Respiratory Sound Analysis for Flow Estimation During Wakefulness and Sleep, and Its Applications for Sleep Apnea Detection and Monitoring

Date:

Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at 4:00 PM

Location:

E2 – 361 EITC, Fort Garry Campus, University of Manitoba

Speaker:

Dr. Azadeh Yadollahi

Abstract:

Tracheal respiratory sounds analysis has been investigated as a non–invasive method to estimate respiratory flow and upper airway obstruction. However, the flow–sound relationship is highly variable among subjects which makes it challenging to estimate flow in general applications. Therefore, a robust model for acoustical flow estimation in a large group of individuals did not exist before. On the other hand, a major application of acoustical flow estimation is to detect flow limitations in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) during sleep. However, previously the flow–sound relationship was only investigated during wakefulness among healthy individuals. Therefore, it was necessary to examine the flow–sound relationship during sleep in OSA patients.

This thesis takes the above challenges and offers innovative solutions. First, a modified linear flow–sound model was proposed to estimate respiratory flow from tracheal sounds. To remove the individual based calibration process, the statistical correlation between the model parameters and anthropometric features of 93 healthy volunteers was investigated. The results show that gender, height and smoking are the most significant factors that affect the model parameters. Hence, a general acoustical flow estimation model was proposed for people with similar height and gender.

Second, flow–sound relationship during sleep and wakefulness was studied among 13 OSA patients. The results show that during sleep and wakefulness, flow–sound relationship follows a power law, but with different parameters. Therefore, for acoustical flow estimation during sleep, the model parameters should be extracted from sleep data to have small errors. The results confirm reliability of the acoustical flow estimation for investigating flow variations during both sleep and wakefulness.

Finally, a new method for sleep apnea detection and monitoring was developed, which only requires recording the tracheal sounds and the blood’s oxygen saturation level (SaO2) data. It automatically classifies the sound segments into breath, snore and noise. A weighted average of features extracted from sound segments and SaO2 signal was used to detect apnea and hypopnea events. The performance of the proposed approach was evaluated on the data of 66 patients. The results show high correlation (0.96, p < 0.0001) between the outcomes of our system and those of the polysomnography. Also, sensitivity and specificity of the proposed method in differentiating simple snorers from OSA patients were found to be more than 91%. These results are superior or comparable with the existing comercialized sleep apnea portable monitors.

Cost:

Free, All are welcome.

Contact:

For questions or more information contact Zahra Moussavi at 474-7023.

Title:

Improved Quality of Life through better Artificial Joints

Date:

Thursday, November 25th, 2010 at 3:00 PM

Location:

E2 – 365 EITC, Fort Garry Campus, University of Manitoba

Speaker:

Prof. Urs Wyss, Ph.D., P. Eng.
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Concordia Hip and Knee Institute
University of Manitoba

Abstract:

Musculoskeletal diseases are often associated with severe pain and can limit mobility. It will prevent patients from many types of exercise and sport, and often impairs their ability to work. Artificial hip, knee and other joints are being implanted in the tens of thousands every year in Canada to treat musculoskeletal diseases in order to improve the quality of life of patients. Most of these artificial joints perform very well for many years, but around 15% of the patients will have required revision surgery 15 years after implantation. Younger and more active patients are being treated with artificial joints, which is why it is important to continue to improve the long-term survival of well functioning artificial joints.

A few examples of clinical problems that the presenter had to work on will be discussed, to show the type of problems that can reduce the long-term survivorship of artificial joints. A better understanding of the kinematics and kinetics of important activities of daily living (ADL) will lead to further improvements of the function of artificial joints. The presenter will show results of ADL studies with subjects of different ethnic backgrounds.

The planned research to further improve artificial joints at the University of Manitoba and the Concordia Hip and Knee Institute will be briefly discussed.

Speaker Bio:

Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Queen’s University until 2007 (early retirement) – the last 5 years as head of the department.

VP research for an orthopedic manufacturer 2007 – 2010.

Currently Professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Manitoba.

Cost:

Free, All are welcome.

Contact:

For questions or more information contact Sherif Sherif at 474-6893.