Improving surgery operations by means of cloud systems and distributed user interfaces

Surgical interventions are usually performed in an operation room; however, access to the information by the medical team members during the intervention is limited. While in conversations with the medical staff, we observed that they attach significant importance to the improvement of the information and communication direct access by queries during the process in real time. It is due to the fact that the procedure is rather slow and there is lack of interaction with the systems in the operation room. These systems can be integrated on the Cloud adding new functionalities to the existing systems the medical expedients are processed. Therefore, such a communication system needs to be built upon the information and interaction access specifically designed and developed to aid the medical specialists. Copyright 2014 ACM.

Improving user-insurance communication on accident reports

This paper presents an easy to use methodology and system for insurance companies targeting at managing traffic accidents reports process. The main objective is to facilitate and accelerate the process of creating and finalizing the necessary accident reports in cases without mortal victims involved. The diverse entities participating in the process from the moment an accident occurs until the related final actions needed are included. Nowadays, this market is limited to the consulting platforms offered by the insurance companies. Copyright 2014 ACM.

Altered oscillatory dynamics of CA1 parvalbumin-basket cells during theta-gamma rhythmopathies of temporal lobe epilepsy

Recent reports in human demonstrate a role of theta– gamma coupling in memory for spatial episodes and a lack of coupling in people experiencing temporal lobe epilepsy, but the mechanisms are unknown. Using multisite silicon probe recordings of epileptic rats engaged in episodic-like object recognition tasks, we sought to evaluate the role of theta– gamma coupling in the absence of epileptiform activities. Our data reveal a specific association between theta– gamma (30 – 60 Hz) coupling at the proximal stratum radiatum of CA1 and spatial memory deficits. We targeted the microcircuit mechanisms with a novel approach to identify putative interneuronal types in tetrode recordings (parvalbumin basket cells in particular) and validated classification criteria in the epileptic context with neurochemical identification of intracellularly recorded cells. In epileptic rats, putative parvalbumin basket cells fired poorly modulated at the falling theta phase, consistent with weaker inputs from Schaffer collaterals and attenuated gamma oscillations, as evaluated by theta-phase decomposition of current–source density signals. We propose that theta– gamma interneuronal rhythmopathies of the temporal lobe are intimately related to episodic memory dysfunction in this condition.