Emma MacPherson

Editorial Note on Health Informatics

Using the development of the Cardiovascular Health Informatics and Multimodal E-record (CHIME) as an example, the authors have discussed in this editorial note four goals, each with a corresponding technical challenge in health informatics that needs to be overcome in order to better prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD). With collaborative efforts, it is hoped that these barriers and all those unmentioned can be removed such that the problem of CVD can be relieved. Since CVD and common chronic diseases share a number of risk factors, the experience in the development of CHIME will definitely be valuable in formulating solutions to the crisis created by the ageing population and the prevalence of chronic disease on our health care system. Thus we are looking forward to receiving original contributions to T-ITB in the area of health informatics to expediate progress in this area.

Relations Between the Timing of the Second Heart Sound and Aortic Blood Pressure

The second heart sound (S2) is triggered by an aortic valve closure as a result of the ventricular-arterial interaction of the cardiovascular system. The objective of this paper is to investigate the timing of S2 in response to the changes in hemodynamic parameters and its relation to aortic blood pressure (BP). An improved model of the left ventricular-arterial interaction was proposed based on the combination of the newly established pressure source model of the ventricle and the nonlinear pressure-dependent compliance model of the arterial system. The time delay from the onset of left ventricular pressure rise to the onset of S2 (RS2) was used to measure the timing of S2. The results revealed that RS2 bears a strong negative correlation with both systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure under the effect of changing peripheral resistance, heart rate, and contractility. The results were further validated by a series of measurements of 16 normal subjects submitted to dynamic exercise. This study helps understand the relationship between the timing of S2 and aortic BP under various physiological and pathological conditions.

Guest Editorial: Terahertz imaging and spectroscopy for biology and biomedicine

This special section features seven articles that focus on the biomedical applications of the terahertz technology.

Terahertz pulsed imaging and spectroscopy of breast tumors

We report on a study using TPI for imaging breast tumours ex vivo. Several breast samples were imaged and parameters from the time domain impulse functions were used to reveal contrast. Good correlation was found for area and shape of tumour in the THz images compared to that of histology. Terahertz spectroscopy shows that both the absorption coefficient and refractive index were higher for breast tissue containing tumor compared to normal. This study demonstrates the potential of TPI to image both invasive breast carcinomas and ductal carcinoma in situ using THz and encourages further studies.

Editorial: From "Information Technology in Biomedicine" to "Biomedical and Health Informatics"

The IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine (T-ITB) will be retitled as the IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics (J-BHI) starting in January, 2013. The IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine was launched with four issues per year in 1997. After more than a decade of steady growth, the journal ventured into new challenges: open access of publication and rapid expansion in all health informatics-related fields. In this concluding issue of T-ITB the authors would like to take this opportunity to report briefly some historical retrospectives of journal with known statistics of it and to extend a special appreciation from the current editorial office to readers, authors, reviewers, associate editors, Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) relevant committees, IEEE publication staff, and especially two previous Editors-in-Chief for their great contributions to make the Transactions successful. The launching of the J-BHI as the new title of T-ITB is an outcome of the vision of the EMBSs 2011 Publications Committee. The title change and scope revision were accomplished through more than two years of team efforts by T-ITB Editorial Board, EMBS Executive Office, Publication Committee, and AdCom. In the next editorial to be published on January issue of J-BHI, we will discuss the rationale behind the title change and scope revision as well as the grand challenges in health informatics with future perspectives.

Terahertz biomedical research: Preparing for a successful experiment

Interest in bio terahertz research has recently been increasing worldwide. Major topics include cancer diagnosis, skin studies, tissue characterization and protein dynamics. Although terahertz technology has great potential in the biomedical and biological research fields, several obstacles have to be overcome before it can be used commercially and clinically. This paper talks about the current state of bio terahertz research around the world and troubleshoots the major difficulties when preparing for terahertz bio related experiments. Recent results from our group will also be presented.