Ahmed E. Mostafa

Interacting with microseismic visualizations

Microseismic visualization systems present complex 3D data of small seismic events within oil reservoirs to allow experts to explore and interact with that data. Yet existing systems suffer several problems: 3D spatial navigation and orientation is difficult, and selecting 3D data is challenging due to the problems of occlusion and lack of depth perception. Our work mitigates these problems by applying both proxemic interactions and a spatial input device to simplify how experts navigate through the visualization, and a painting metaphor to simplify how they select that information.

Systematic Review of Patient-Specific Surgical Simulation: Toward Advancing Medical Education☆

OBJECTIVE Simulation-based education has been shown to be an effective tool to teach foundational technical skills in various surgical specialties. However, most of the current simulations are limited to generic scenarios and do not allow continuation of the learning curve beyond basic technical skills to prepare for more advanced expertise, such as patient-specific surgical planning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the current medical literature with respect to the utilization and educational value of patient-specific simulations for surgical training. METHODS We performed a systematic review of the literature using Pubmed, Embase, and Scopus focusing on themes of simulation, patient-specific, surgical procedure, and education. The study included randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, and case-control studies published between 2005 and 2016. Two independent reviewers (W.H.R. and N.D) conducted the study appraisal, data abstraction, and quality assessment of the studies. RESULTS The search identified 13 studies that met the inclusion criteria; 7 studies employed computer simulations and 6 studies used 3-dimensional (3D) synthetic models. A number of surgical specialties evaluated patient-specific simulation, including neurosurgery, vascular surgery, orthopedic surgery, and interventional radiology. However, most studies were small in size and primarily aimed at feasibility assessments and early validation. CONCLUSIONS Early evidence has shown feasibility and utility of patient-specific simulation for surgical education. With further development of this technology, simulation-based education may be able to support training of higher-level competencies outside the clinical settingto aid learners in their development of surgical skills.

Abstract 541: Successful oncolytic virotherapy in a bortezomib resistant syngeneic mouse model of multiple myeloma: Implications for translational significance

Introduction: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignancy of plasma cells that is still considered incurable due to the 90% relapse rate in patients. Despite the advent of new agents the majority of MM patients relapse secondary to therapy resistance. The potential of reovirus (RV) as a novel therapeutic agent for MM under in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo conditions has been demonstrated by us and a phase I clinical trial of MM with RV therapy has shown indications of efficacy. Recently we have shown that RV could synergize with several standard of care MM drugs such as bortezomib (BTZ), carfilzomib (CFZ) and dexamethasone and importantly, enhance its therapeutic potential in therapy resistant human MM cell lines in vitro. Utilizing the syngeneic Vk*MYC BTZ resistant transplantable MM mouse model, we demonstrate that mice harbouring BTZ insensitive MM tumors significantly respond to RV treatment. Our data indicate that this RV treatment sensitivity is manifested via, direct oncolysis in conjunction with immune modulatory effects. Methods: Vk*MYC myeloma cells (Vk12598) were injected via tail vein (IV) into 3 groups of C57BL/6 wt recipient mice. Seven days post tumor injection, mice were treated with PBS (vehicle) or live (LV) or dead reovirus (DV) (5×10⁁8 PFU) administered IV every 6 days in a total of 5 doses. Serum gamma globulins (M-spike) were assessed weekly by serum protein electrophoresis. Mice were sacrificed on day 35 post tumour injection and their spleens and bone marrow (BM) were harvested. Splenic and BM cells were stained for CD45+/CD45R-/CD138+ (MM tumors), CD4+/CD8+ (T cells), CD3+/NKG2D+ (NKT cells), CD11b+Ly6C+ (monocytic myeloid derived suppressor cells (Mo-MDSC) and CD11b+Ly6G+ (polymorphonuclear (PMN) - MDSCs) and analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: Mice treated with RV demonstrated highly significant (P Conclusions: Our results indicate reovirotherapy is successful in a validated syngeneic BTZ resistant MM model. These results have important implications for future clinical trials. Currently we are conducting further experiments to assess the immune modulatory (such as T - memory and T - regulatory cells) contributions of RV in this model. Citation Format: Chandini M. Thirukkumaran, Zhong Qiao Shi, Joanne Luider, Karen Kopciuk, Marta Chesi, Leif Bergsagel, Yuan Dong, Chunfen Zhang, Ahmed Mostafa, Kathy Gratton, Satbir Thakur, Don Morris. Successful oncolytic virotherapy in a bortezomib resistant syngeneic mouse model of multiple myeloma: Implications for translational significance. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 541.

Oncolytic Reovirus and Immune Checkpoint Inhibition as a Novel Immunotherapeutic Strategy for Breast Cancer

As the current efficacy of oncolytic viruses (OVs) as monotherapy is limited, exploration of OVs as part of a broader immunotherapeutic treatment strategy for cancer is necessary. Here, we investigated the ability for immune checkpoint blockade to enhance the efficacy of oncolytic reovirus (RV) for the treatment of breast cancer (BrCa). In vitro, oncolysis and cytokine production were assessed in human and murine BrCa cell lines following RV exposure. Furthermore, RV-induced upregulation of tumor cell PD-L1 was evaluated. In vivo, the immunocompetent, syngeneic EMT6 murine model of BrCa was employed to determine therapeutic and tumor-specific immune responses following treatment with RV, anti-PD-1 antibodies or in combination. RV-mediated oncolysis and cytokine production were observed following BrCa cell infection and RV upregulated tumor cell expression of PD-L1. In vivo, RV monotherapy significantly reduced disease burden and enhanced survival in treated mice, and was further enhanced by PD-1 blockade. RV therapy increased the number of intratumoral regulatory T cells, which was reversed by the addition of PD-1 blockade. Finally, dual treatment led to the generation of a systemic adaptive anti-tumor immune response evidenced by an increase in tumor-specific IFN-γ producing CD8+ T cells, and immunity from tumor re-challenge. The combination of PD-1 blockade and RV appears to be an efficacious immunotherapeutic strategy for the treatment of BrCa, and warrants further investigation in early-phase clinical trials.

JackVR: A Virtual Reality Training System for Landing Oil Rigs

We propose JackVR, an interactive immersive simulation prototype aiming to train domain experts to land jackup oil rigs. Jackup rigs are among the most common offshore drilling units for extracting oil, but the process of landing the rigs is mostly challenging because of the unpredictable sea and weather conditions, lack of clear vision, and the possible risk of damaging the ocean floor. We designed JackVR to support oil engineers and technicians by allowing them to practice landing the oil rig within a safe and semi-realistic training environment. Furthermore, the design explores various superimposed spatial indicators that provide visual warnings on unexpected task conditions. The implemented prototype supports two modes for training, and utilizes the ray-casting interaction technique to enable seamless and direct control of the rig. ...

Poster: Superhumans: A 3DUI design metaphor

We propose a design metaphor we call superhumans in order to empower 3D Interaction Designers to create and implement interactive mixed and virtual reality environments, and to help users familiarize themselves with interactive systems capabilities, behaviour and limitations. We describe how our superhumans metaphor can help 3DUI designers explore various sources of inspirations such as narration (storytelling) and transitional environments, when designing their systems.

FractVis: Visualizing Microseismic Events

We present our efforts of applying information visualization techniques to the domain of microseismic monitoring. Microseismic monitoring is a crucial process for a number of tasks related to oil and gas reservoir development, e.g., optimizing hydraulic fracturing operations and heavy-oil stimulation. Microseismic data has many challenging features including high dimensionality and uncertainty. We present a brief introduction to the domain of microseismic monitoring, and derive a set of tasks and data abstractions that can establish common ground between microseismic monitoring domain experts and visualization researchers. We then present FractVis, a prototype for visual analysis of microseismic data, describing the ongoing process of iteratively refining FractVis through close collaboration and consultation with domain experts. FractVis is designed to offer microseismic monitoring experts with visual analytic tools that allow investigation of the 3D spatial distribution of microseismic events, time-varying analysis and interactive exploration of high-dimensional parameter spaces, extensively complementing the existing tools in their disposal.

ReflectiveSpineVR: an immersive spine surgery simulation with interaction history capabilities

This paper contributes ReflectiveSpineVR, an immersive spine surgery simulation enriched with interaction history capabilities aimed to support effective learning and training. The provided interaction history features are based on a design study we conducted exploring what makes an effective interaction history representation in spatial tasks. Existing surgical simulation systems only provide a crude way to supporting repetitive practice where the simulation needs to be restarted every time. By working closely with medical collaborators and following an iterative process, we present our novel approach to enriching users with nonlinear interaction history capabilities and supporting repetitive practice including how such features were realized in our ReflectiveSpineVR prototype. We conclude the paper with the results of a preliminary evaluation of ReflectiveSpineVR, highlighting the positive feedback regarding our history representation approach and the interface benefits.

ReflectiveHUD: Designing Spatial Interaction History

We present our design exploration of ReflectiveHUD: a tree-like immersive interaction history visualization for spatial tasks. While linear interaction history models such as undo and redo are ubiquitous, only a few nonlinear history models exist. We are interested in designing a nonlinear history model for complex spatial tasks. Our work-in-progress report the findings from a design study exploring what people see as effective nonlinear interaction history representations in spatial tasks. We explored as one of the study conditions, ReflectiveHUD, an interaction history representation that allows users to effectively revisit different temporal trajectories in their interaction history.

Design-Based Comparison of Spine Surgery Simulators: Optimizing Educational Features of Surgical Simulators

BACKGROUND Simulation-based education has made its entry into surgical residency training, particularly as an adjunct to hands-on clinical experience. However, one of the ongoing challenges to wide adoption is the capacity of simulators to incorporate educational features required for effective learning. The aim of this study was to identify strengths and limitations of spine simulators to characterize design elements that are essential in enhancing resident education. METHODS We performed a mixed qualitative and quantitative cohort study with a focused survey and interviews of stakeholders in spine surgery pertaining to their experiences on 3 spine simulators. Ten participants were recruited spanning all levels of training and expertise until qualitative analysis reached saturation of themes. Participants were asked to perform lumbar pedicle screw insertion on 3 simulators. Afterward, a 10-item survey was administrated and a focused interview was conducted to explore topics pertaining to the design features of the simulators. RESULTS Overall impressions of the simulators were positive with regards to their educational benefit, but our qualitative analysis revealed differing strengths and limitations. Main design strengths of the computer-based simulators were incorporation of procedural guidance and provision of performance feedback. The synthetic model excelled in achieving more realistic haptic feedback and incorporating use of actual surgical tools. DISCUSSION Stakeholders from trainees to experts acknowledge the growing role of simulation-based education in spine surgery. However, different simulation modalities have varying design elements that augment learning in distinct ways. Characterization of these design characteristics will allow for standardization of simulation curricula in spinal surgery, optimizing educational benefit.