Abstract: Intestinal motility assessment with video capsule endoscopy arises as a novel and challenging clinical fieldwork. This technique is based on the analysis of the patterns of intestinal contractions obtained by labelling all the motility events present in a video provided by a capsule with a wireless micro-camera, which is ingested by the patient. However, the visual analysis of these video sequences presents several im- portant drawbacks, mainly related to both the large amount of time needed for the visualization process, and the low prevalence of intestinal contractions in video.
In this work we propose a machine learning system to automatically detect the intestinal contractions in video capsule endoscopy, driving a very useful but not fea- sible clinical routine into a feasible clinical procedure. Our proposal is divided into two different parts: The first part tackles the problem of the automatic detection of phasic contractions in capsule endoscopy videos. Phasic contractions are dynamic events spanning about 4-5 seconds, which show visual patterns with a high variability. Our proposal is based on a sequential design which involves the analysis of textural, color and blob features with powerful classifiers such as SVM. This approach appears to cope with two basic aims: the reduction of the imbalance rate of the data set, and the modular construction of the system, which adds the capability of including domain knowledge as new stages in the cascade. The second part of the current work tackles the problem of the automatic detection of tonic contractions. Tonic contrac- tions manifest in capsule endoscopy as a sustained pattern of the folds and wrinkles of the intestine, which may be prolonged for an undetermined span of time. Our proposal is based on the analysis of the wrinkle patterns, presenting a comparative study of diverse features and classification methods, and providing a set of appro- priate descriptors for their characterization. We provide a detailed analysis of the performance achieved by our system both in a qualitative and a quantitative way.

Abstract: This paper presents a patient-sensitive simulation strategy capable of using the most efficient way the high-performance computational resources. The proposed strategy directly involves three different players: Computational Mechanics Scientists (CMS), Image Processing Scientists and Cardiologists, each one mastering its own expertise area within the project. This paper describes the general integrative scheme but focusing on the CMS side presents a massively parallel implementation of computational electrophysiology applied to cardiac tissue simulation. The paper covers different angles of the computational problem: equations, numerical issues, the algorithm and parallel implementation. The proposed methodology is illustrated with numerical simulations testing all the different possibilities, ranging from small domains up to very large ones. A key issue is the almost ideal scalability not only for large and complex problems but also for medium-size meshes. The explicit formulation is particularly well suited for solving this highly transient problems, with very short time-scale.

Abstract: Much of the neural machinery of the early visual cortex, from the extraction of local orientations to contextual modulations through lateral interactions, is thought to have developed to provide a sparse encoding of contour in natural scenes, allowing the brain to process efficiently most of the visual scenes we are exposed to. Certain visual stimuli, however, cause visual stress, a set of adverse effects ranging from simple discomfort to migraine attacks, and epileptic seizures in the extreme, all phenomena linked with an excessive metabolic demand. The theory of efficient coding suggests a link between excessive metabolic demand and images that deviate from natural statistics. Yet, the mechanisms linking energy demand and image spatial content in discomfort remain elusive. Here, we used theories of visual coding that link image spatial structure and brain activation to characterize the response to images observers reported as uncomfortable in a biologically based neurodynamic model of the early visual cortex that included excitatory and inhibitory layers to implement contextual influences. We found three clear markers of aversive images: a larger overall activation in the model, a less sparse response, and a more unbalanced distribution of activity across spatial orientations. When the ratio of excitation over inhibition was increased in the model, a phenomenon hypothesised to underlie interindividual differences in susceptibility to visual discomfort, the three markers of discomfort progressively shifted toward values typical of the response to uncomfortable stimuli. Overall, these findings propose a unifying mechanistic explanation for why there are differences between images and between observers, suggesting how visual input and idiosyncratic hyperexcitability give rise to abnormal brain responses that result in visual stress.

Abstract: We present a meta-learning framework for the design of potential functions for Conditional Random Fields. The design of both node potential and edge potential is formulated as a classification problem where margin classifiers are used. The set of state transitions for the edge potential is treated as a set of different classes, thus defining a multi-class learning problem. The Error-Correcting Output Codes (ECOC) technique is used to deal with the multi-class problem. Furthermore, the point defined by the combination of margin classifiers in the ECOC space is interpreted in a probabilistic manner, and the obtained distance values are then converted into potential values. The proposed model exhibits very promising results when applied to two real detection problems.