A noninvasive optical sensor for analyzing a level of a substance in a subject by illuminating a sclera may include at least one light source, at least one detector, and a processor. The at least one light source may direct incident light to illuminate a region of the sclera of an eye of the subject. The at least one detector may receive light, in response to the incident light, from the sclera or from inside the eye proximal to the illuminated region of the sclera. The processor may be configured to compute a ratio of an intensity of the received light from the at least one detector to a reference value and to estimate a level of a substance in the subject from the computed ratio.

A method for predicting transplant-free survival of a patient suffering from acute liver failure (ALF) or acute liver injury (ALI), the method including: performing a .sup.13C-methacetin breath test which includes administering .sup.13C labelled methacetin to the patient; measuring exhaled breath to evaluate changes in a .sup.13CO.sub.2 to .sup.12CO.sub.2 ratio for a predetermined time after the administering; calculating a PDR-peak value of the patient; and predicting the patient as having high chances of transplant-free survival if the calculated PDR-peak value is above a threshold value or as having low chances of transplant-free survival if the PDR-peak value is below threshold value.

In a method for generating a surrogate marker based on medical image data mapping an image region, the medical image data is detected using a first interface, a first subregion of the image region is selected by segmenting a first structure included in the image region, a first property of the first subregion is extracted, the surrogate marker is determined based on the first property, and the surrogate marker is provided using a second interface.

Systems and methods are provided for computer aided phenotyping of fibrosis-related conditions. A digital image indicates presence of collagens in a biological tissue sample. The image is processed to quantify parameters, each parameter describing a feature of the collagens that is expected to be different for different phenotypes of fibrosis. At least some features are tissue level features that describe macroscopic characteristics of the collagens, morphometric level features that describe morphometric characteristics of the collagens, and texture level features that describe an organization of the collagens. At least some of the plurality of parameters are statistics associated with histograms corresponding to distributions of the associated parameters across at least some of the digital image. At least some of the plurality of parameters are combined to obtain one or more composite scores that quantify a phenotype of fibrosis for the biological tissue sample.

A thermoacoustic probe for a thermoacoustic imaging system, the probe including: a radio-frequency (RF) applicator having an insert, wherein the applicator is configured to transmit at least one radio frequency source; an electromagnetic matching layer coupled to the insert of the RF applicator; an optical transducer that is coupled to the electromagnetic matching layer; and an acoustic matching layer that is coupled to the optical transducer.

The present invention relates to systems for use for radio frequency ablation. The systems can include one or more of an ablation tool, power source for use with the ablation tool and a backstop for use in conjunction with the ablation tool during surgical procedures. Preferred ablation tools comprise a series of three or more blade-shaped electrodes disposed in a linear, curved, curvilinear or circular array. The backstops are useful for reducing direct physical and thermal heat transfer injuries to the patient or surgeon during procedures using radiofrequency (RF) ablation devices.

A method and apparatus of determining the condition of a bulk tissue sample, by: positioning a bulk tissue sample between a pair of induction coils (or antennae); passing a spectrum of alternating current (or voltage) through a first of the induction coils (or antennae); measuring spectrum of alternating current (or voltage) produced in the second of the induction coils (or antennae); and comparing the phase shift between the spectrum of alternating currents (or voltages) in the first and second induction coils (or antennae), thereby determining the condition of the bulk tissue sample.

In the field of obesity related disease, identification of patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) would be useful to counsel them more intensively on diet and lifestyle changes and propose new pharmacological treatments. As a consequence, the inventors worked on a method for post-processing images of a region of interest of the liver for reconstructing a map of the internal magnetic susceptibility by using a Bayesian regularization approach to inverse the internal magnetic field. Such method can be implemented on computer and provides better results than other known methods for obesity related disease. This method may be applied for predicting that a subject is at risk of suffering from such disease, diagnosing a disease, identifying a therapeutic or a biomarker and screening compounds useful as a medicine.

The present disclosure relates to methods of treating or ameliorating hepatic encephalopathy (HE), including assessing the severity of HE in a patient suffering from HE, or the determining the presence or occurrence of an overt hepatic encephalopathy event. In particular, some aspects of the methods use a novel Hepatic Encephalopathy Staging Tool (HEST), which includes a set of criteria to categorize the HE into different stages and provide guidance on effective treatments based on the severity of the HE. Other aspects of the methods use an Overt Hepatic Encephalopathy Screening Tool (O-HEST) to determine whether an OHE event is occurring or has occurred and provide guidance on proper medical attention and change in treatment.

A method and system for registering a pre-operative 3D medical image volume of a target organ to intra-operative ultrasound images is disclosed. An intra-operative 3D B-mode ultrasound volume and an intra-operative 3D ultrasound elastography volume are acquired. Patient-specific boundary conditions for a biomechanical tissue model of a target organ are determined using the intra-operative 3D B-mode volume. Patient-specific material properties for the biomechanical tissue model of the target organ are determined using the 3D ultrasound elastography volume. The target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume is deformed using the biomechanical tissue model with the patient-specific material properties with the deformation of the target organ in the pre-operative 3D medical image volume constrained by the patient-specific boundary conditions.