Background and purpose : Bladder cancer is the most common malignant tumour in the urinary system, with a high incidence and recurrence rate. While the incidence of bladder cancer has been rising in recent years, the prevalence of bladder carcinoma is showing an increasing tendency in the younger age group. There are several methods to detect bladder cancer, but different methods have varying degrees of accuracy which intrinsically depends on the method's sensitivity and specificity. Our aim was to comprehensively summarize the current detection methods for bladder cancer based on the available literature, and at the same time, to find the best combination of different effective methods which can produce a high degree of accuracy in detecting the presence of cancerous cells in the bladder. Materials and Methods : We used key word retrieval method for searching related references in English that had been indexed in PubMed and Medline. Results and Discussion : This paper discussed the different detection methods and their sensitivities/specificities as well as the advantages and disadvantages. We summarized the best identified cancer cell detection methods with higher sensitivity/specificity. Conclusion : The results of this review can positively help to identify accurate methods for detecting bladder cancer and highlight areas to be further improved for future research work.

No abstract

This paper investigates the dielectric properties of urine in normal subjects and subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD) at microwave frequency of between 0.2 GHz and 50 GHz. The measurements were conducted using an open-ended coaxial probe at room temperature (25°C), at 30°C and at human body temperature (37°C). There were statistically significant differences in the dielectric properties of the CKD subjects compared to those of the normal subjects. Statistically significant differences in dielectric properties were observed across the temperatures for normal subjects and CKD subjects. Pearson correlation test showed the significant correlation between proteinuria and dielectric properties. The experimental data closely matched the single-pole Debye model. The relaxation dispersion and relaxation time increased with the proteinuria level, while decreasing with the temperature. As for static conductivity, it increased with proteinuria level and temperature.

No abstract

No abstract

The phonetic properties of six Malay vowels are investigated using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize the vocal tract in order to obtain dynamic articulatory parameters during speech production. To resolve image blurring due to the tongue movement during the scanning process, a method based on active contour extraction is used to track tongue contours. The proposed method efficiently tracks tongue contours despite the partial blurring of MRI images. Consequently, the articulatory parameters that are effectively measured as tongue movement is observed, and the specific shape of the tongue and its position for all six uttered Malay vowels are determined.Speech rehabilitation procedure demands some kind of visual perceivable prototype of speech articulation. To investigate the validity of the measured articulatory parameters based on acoustic theory of speech production, an acoustic analysis based on the uttered vowels by subjects has been performed. As the acoustic speech and articulatory parameters of uttered speech were examined, a correlation between formant frequencies and articulatory parameters was observed. The experiments reported a positive correlation between the constriction location of the tongue body and the first formant frequency, as well as a negative correlation between the constriction location of the tongue tip and the second formant frequency. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is an effective tool for the dynamic study of speech production.

No abstract

No abstract