Review
Pediatrics
Luisa Castro, Maria Loureiro, Teresa S. Henriques, Ines Nunes
Summary: Early diagnosis of fetal acidemia is crucial for preventing brain damage or perinatal death. Spectral analysis of fetal heart rate has been shown to be an effective tool in accurately identifying fetuses at risk of hypoxia, aiding healthcare professionals in implementing timely interventions to reduce adverse perinatal outcomes.
FRONTIERS IN PEDIATRICS
(2021)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Ramon Carrazana-Escalona, Miguel Enrique Sanchez-Hechavarria, Ariel Avila
Summary: The study applied different spectral methods to heart rate variability signals and cellular calcium oscillations, before conducting Theil entropy analysis. Results suggest that the Lomb-Scargle method is the best spectral decomposition method for analyzing physiological oscillations, followed by Theil entropy analysis. Exponents zero, one, and two provided the most information to describe the spectral inequality in the tested signals.
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Hadas Israeli-Mendlovic, Joseph Mendlovic, Luba Zuk, Michal Katz-Leurer
Summary: The study aims to compare different high-frequency band power calculations based on different frequency bandwidth values and compare them with the time domain RMSSD value in preterm infants. The results show that RMSSD is highly correlated with frequency bands based on each preterm's breathing rate range or on a constant frequency with band limits of 0.4-2 Hz.
JOURNAL OF PERINATAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Te-Min Lee, Po-Lei Lee, I-Hui Lee, Wei-Keung Lee, Tien-Yu Wu, Hao-Teng Hsu, Chia-Lung Yeh, Pin-Jun Lin, Kuo-Kai Shyu
Summary: In this study, HHSA method was applied to analyze HRV in ECG signals, revealing a decrease in VHF and HF band power when subjects viewed horror videos.
BIOMEDICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING AND CONTROL
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Alexane Tournier, Michael Beacom, Jenny A. Westgate, Laura Bennet, Charles Garabedian, Austin Ugwumadu, Alistair J. Gunn, Christopher A. Lear
Summary: The interpretation of FHR patterns is crucial for monitoring fetal well-being during labor, and changes in FHR variability (FHRV) have been considered an indication of fetal compromise. However, there is a lack of systematic evidence to support this observation. This review examines the potential pathways controlling FHRV during labor-like hypoxia and suggests that the parasympathetic system becomes the sole regulator of FHRV once FHR decelerations occur.
JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Noriaki Satoh
Summary: This paper introduces a method for decomposing harmonics in the spectrum of heart rate variability (HRV) using generalized harmonic analysis (GHA). Experimental results show that GHA provides more accurate power value estimation and greater stability compared to other methods, indicating its usefulness in spectral analysis of HRV components.
BIOMEDICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING AND CONTROL
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Industrial
Yasushi Oka, Yoshihito Sawaguchi, Yukihisa Kuriyama, Yushi Ito
Summary: Understanding the physical state and activity capabilities of individual firefighters is crucial for occupational safety management in firefighting. Tests were conducted to examine physiological and biological changes during firefighting activities, leading to a proposed methodology for determining when firefighters should take a break. The effectiveness of the methodology was validated through simulated firefighting tests and endurance training.
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Luis Mercado, Diana Escalona-Vargas, Eric R. Siegel, Hubert Preissl, Elijah H. Bolin, Hari Eswaran
Summary: In this study, fetal development trajectories of males and females were explored and compared using fetal magnetocardiography data. The results showed no significant differences in fetal heart rate variability measures between sexes with gestational age. This study provides a framework for understanding the normal development of the fetal autonomic nervous system, particularly in relation to fetal sex.
REPRODUCTIVE SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications
Chen Diao, Ning Cai
Summary: In this study, an improved second-order difference plot is proposed to analyze the variability of heart rate variability. The temporal variation measure analysis is introduced to quantitatively describe the distribution patterns of scatter points and extract the acceleration information of heart rate variability. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the temporal variation measure analysis.
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Bruce Rogers, Marcelle Schaffarczyk, Thomas Gronwald
Summary: Monitoring respiratory frequency is valuable in various fields. This study evaluated the accuracy of different hardware and software combinations in measuring respiratory frequency. The results showed high correlations with the reference device and demonstrated the potential for practical usage during endurance exercise.
Review
Psychology, Clinical
J. Fernandez-Alvarez, M. Grassi, D. Colombo, C. Botella, P. Cipresso, G. Perna, G. Riva
Summary: The efficacy of biofeedback and neurofeedback in treating depressive symptoms is still controversial. However, a meta-analysis of studies suggests that both techniques may become relevant complementary strategies for the treatment of depression in the future.
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Pediatrics
Kathleen M. Gustafson, Danielle N. Christifano, Dirk Hoyer, Alexander Schmidt, Susan E. Carlson, John Colombo, Nicole B. Mathis, Scott A. Sands, Lynn Chollet-Hinton, Alexandra R. Brown, Dinesh Pal Mudaranthakam, Byron J. Gajewski
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the effect of maternal DHA supplementation on maternal-infant DHA equilibrium and fetal neurodevelopment. The results showed that pregnant women who received a higher dose of DHA were more likely to achieve maternal-infant DHA equilibrium at delivery, but this equilibrium status did not significantly impact fetal neurodevelopment.
PEDIATRIC RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Lola Loussert, Paul Berveiller, Alexia Magadoux, Michael Allouche, Christophe Vayssiere, Charles Garabedian, Paul Guerby
Summary: This study found that marked variability in fetal heart rate is associated with neonatal acidosis, with a twofold increased risk.
BJOG-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Physiology
Yoshiyuki Kasahara, Chihiro Yoshida, Masatoshi Saito, Yoshitaka Kimura
Summary: This study measured ECG signals of mouse fetuses to evaluate the development of heart rate and autonomic nervous activity at different stages, finding that fetal heart rate significantly increased at E18.5, accompanied by reduced parasympathetic activity. It suggests that parasympathetic activity rather than sympathetic activity affects fetal heart rate, and the decrease in parasympathetic activity towards the end of pregnancy could lead to the observed increase in fetal heart rate.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Deirdre J. Murphy, Declan Devane, Eleanor Molloy, Yulia Shahabuddin
Summary: This study evaluates the use of fetal scalp stimulation (FSS) as a second-line test for assessing fetal well-being during labor. The results suggest that there is uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of FSS and further high-quality studies are needed to assess its safety and efficacy.
COCHRANE DATABASE OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Lin Xu, Elisabetta Peri, Rik Vullings, Chiara Rabotti, Johannes P. Van Dijk, Massimo Mischi
Article
Pediatrics
Eleni Fotiadou, Rik Vullings
FRONTIERS IN PEDIATRICS
(2020)
Article
Biophysics
E. Fotiadou, R. J. G. van Sloun, J. O. E. H. van Laar, R. Vullings
Summary: The study introduces a new method for directly determining fetal heart rate from extracted fetal ECG signals using deep learning and neural network technology. The method achieved high accuracy in experiments and has the potential to improve fetal heart rate extraction in clinical practice.
PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT
(2021)
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Alexandra D. J. Hulsenboom, Daisy A. A. van der Woude, Martina M. Porath, Anneke Kwee, Rik Vullings, S. Guid Oei, Judith O. E. H. van Laar
Summary: The study compared the diagnostic accuracy of absolute and relative ST analysis in detecting fetal acidemia, with relative ST analysis showing higher sensitivity and lower negative likelihood ratio.
JOURNAL OF MATERNAL-FETAL & NEONATAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Alessandra Galli, Elisabetta Peri, Yijing Zhang, Rik Vullings, Myrthe van der Ven, Giada Giorgi, Sotir Ouzounov, Pieter J. A. Harpe, Massimo Mischi
Summary: Multi-channel measurements from the maternal abdomen acquired by dry electrodes can be used for long-term monitoring of fetal heart rate. A new method designed to remove typical artifacts of dry-electrode recordings was proposed for more accurate estimation of fHR.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Carlijn Lempersz, Lore Noben, Sally-Ann B. Clur, Edwin van den Heuvel, Zhouzhao Zhan, Monique Haak, S. Guid Oei, Rik Vullings, Judith O. E. H. van Laar
Summary: This study aimed to determine reference values for the electrical heart axis in healthy fetuses around 20 weeks of gestation. Non-invasive fetal electrocardiography showed that the average electrical heart axis in the frontal plane of healthy fetuses around mid-gestation is oriented to the right.
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Alessandra Galli, Roel J. H. Montree, Shuhao Que, Elisabetta Peri, Rik Vullings
Summary: This work provides an overview of strategies for non-invasive monitoring of heart rate in extramural and home settings. It categorizes sensing methods into three categories based on the physiological effects used to measure heart pulsatile activity. Electrocardiography, photoplethysmography, and mechanocardiography are presented as representative modalities for sensing electrical activity, mechanical activity, and peripheral effect of heart activity, respectively. The paper describes the physical principles, characteristics of sensors, and software strategies for each category, as well as discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each category in different applications, providing guidelines for selecting the most suitable solution.
Article
Physiology
Maretha Bester, Rohan Joshi, Massimo Mischi, Judith O. E. H. van Laar, Rik Vullings
Summary: Changes in maternal autonomic nervous system are crucial for supporting the physiological changes in pregnancy. Deficient autonomic adaptation may lead to complications, hence monitoring autonomic modulation throughout pregnancy could aid in early detection of deteriorating maternal health. Using heart rate variability, maternal autonomic activity was found to decrease, with notable changes from second to third trimester, suggesting a dynamic response to gestational demands.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Anyi Cheng, Yang Yao, Yibin Jin, Chuan Chen, Rik Vullings, Lin Xu, Massimo Mischi
Summary: This study aims to improve early assessment of pregnancy progression by combining and optimizing a large number of EHG features, demonstrating higher accuracy in labor and preterm prediction compared to previous studies. The findings suggest that entropy features, especially cross entropy, play a significant role in predicting labor and preterm birth.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Maretha Bester, Rohan Joshi, Joyce H. A. M. van Dooren, Massimo Mischi, Rik Vullings, Judith O. E. H. van Laar
Summary: This study examines the effects of antenatally administered corticosteroids on maternal heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). Results show that betamethasone administration leads to an increase in maternal HR and a decrease in HRV features linked to parasympathetic activity and HR complexity. However, these effects diminish within a few days after the initial administration. Therefore, recent administration of betamethasone should be taken into account when evaluating cardiovascular metrics.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Ivar R. R. de Vries, Judith O. E. H. van Laar, Marieke B. van der Hout-van der Jagt, Sally-Ann B. Clur, Rik Vullings
Summary: This study investigates the use of non-invasive electrocardiography and artificial intelligence for the detection of congenital heart disease (CHD). An artificial neural network is trained to identify CHD using non-invasively obtained fetal electrocardiograms, with the help of a Bayesian updating rule. The results show that the proposed method achieves a detection rate of 63% for all CHD and 75% for critical CHD. The study suggests that electrocardiography-based screening may improve the detection rates of CHD and further research is needed to improve performance and determine its benefits in clinical practice.
ACTA OBSTETRICIA ET GYNECOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Thomas Nichting, Maretha Bester, Rohan Joshi, Massimo Mischi, Myrthe van der Ven, Daisy A. A. van der Woude, S. Guid Oei, Judith O. E. H. van Laar, Rik Vullings
Summary: Researchers have found evidence suggesting the existence of mutual interaction between maternal and fetal heart rhythms, known as maternal-fetal cardiac coupling (MFCC). However, studies on this phenomenon vary in terms of methodologies, populations assessed, and definitions of coupling. This scoping review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current research in this field and lay the groundwork for future clinically oriented studies.
Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Audrey Francinetti, Rik Vullings, Wendy Dewals, Lisbeth Jochems
Summary: This case report suggests that the administration of intravenous adenosine during pregnancy may have an effect on the foetal conduction system, and further investigation is required.
EUROPEAN HEART JOURNAL-CASE REPORTS
(2022)
Proceedings Paper
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Maretha Bester, Rohan Joshi, Massimo Mischi, Judith O. E. H. van Laar, Rik Vullings
Summary: This study utilized phase rectified signal averaging (PRSA) to track autonomic response in pregnant women longitudinally, revealing a significant attenuation of autonomic responsiveness towards the end of pregnancy, though not comparable to diseased states. PRSA features showed clear downward trends across pregnancy, with a potential uptick towards the end of pregnancy, indicating increased autonomic activity in preparation for delivery.
2021 COMPUTING IN CARDIOLOGY (CINC)
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Maretha Bester, Suzanne Moors, Rohan Joshi, Thomas J. Nichting, M. Beatrijs van der Hout-van der Jagt, S. Guid Oei, Massimo Mischi, Rik Vullings, Judith O. E. H. van Laar
Summary: Pregnancy is a period of continuous change in the maternal cardiovascular system, partly mediated by the autonomic nervous system. Inadequate autonomic adaptation during pregnancy is associated with complications such as hypertensive disorders and preterm birth. Studies on maternal heart rate variability (mHRV) to investigate these complications have generated conflicting findings, likely due to the administration of routine obstetric medications with unknown effects on mHRV.
CLINICS AND PRACTICE
(2021)
