technology
healthcare
consultancy
r&d
Clinical Skill Training Simulator
Nasogastric tube placement is the insertion of a plastic tube through the nose into the stomach. It is a common nursing procedure for feeding or drainage. As the tube cannot be seen inside the body, the procedure can be harmful or even fatal. It is therefore important master the technique which is conventionally acquired only by practising on humans or mannequins.
We developed a virtual training system for learning the placement procedure in a risk-free and realistic computer-simulated environment. The system simulates real human anatomy, interactions between the tube and the nasogastric passage, tactile feeling and obstruction during intubation, as well as patient’s response. Trainee performance is automatically recorded with quantitative metrics.
The virtual training system has the potential to improve learning curve and the skills by offering more experiential learning opportunities, where trainees are free to self-practise safely as often as needed.
R&D
Information System for Community Care Centers
The need of health and social care for community-dwelling elderly is on the rise as population ages. Through the provision of comprehensive multi-professional services in local communities, elderly people receive continual care in a non-medical setting which is favorable for early detection and intervention of potential problems. While primary care services generate data that are important for care delivery, the data are usually recorded in paper format or using generic software, in contrast to electronic health record systems adopted by hospitals in secondary care. The lack of digitization affects the effectiveness of primary care for elderly and precludes full exploitation of the data.
We have developed an information system for elderly care centers in community. The design is in line with the workflow of the care centers. The data generated during care delivery, involving socio-demographic and data, bio-measurements and health assessments and questionnaires, are digitized for effective management and information exchange, and as a source of healthcare predictive intelligence. Interoperability is enabled by adopting international health information exchange standards.
Patent
Granted by USPTO, China Patent Office.
Intelligent and Immersive Training System and Device for Nasogastric Tube Placement
The invention discloses a virtual clinical skill training simulator used for learning the operations of nasogastric tube placement. The simulator is developed based on real human anatomy, with simulation of tube location, physiological response and intubation forces. Learning performance is evaluated with quantitative metrics.
System and Method for Detection of Impairment in Cognitive Function
The invention discloses a novel approach for early detection of cognitive function impairment. The approach is based on the health profile and the health assessment data of community-dwelling older adults. A dual neural network model is developed evaluate cognitive level.
Selected Publications
Refereed Journal and Conference Papers
AI IN HEALTHCARE
• Enhancement of prostate cancer diagnosis by machine learning techniques: an algorithm development and validation study. Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases, vol. 25, pp. 672-676, 2022.
• Using dual neural network architecture to detect the risk of dementia with community health data. JMIR Medical Informatics, vol. 8, no. 8, e19870, 2020.
• Output based transfer learning with least squares support vector machine and its application in bladder cancer prognosis. Neurocomputing, vol. 387, pp. 279-292, 2020.
MEDICAL SIMULATIONS
• Virtual haptic system for intuitive planning of bone fixation plate placement. Informatics in Medicine Unlocked, vol. 9, pp. 145-153, 2017.
• Learning blood management in orthopedic surgery through gameplay. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 45-57, 2010.
• A virtual training simulator for learning cataract surgery with phacoemulsification. Computers in Biology and Medicine, vol. 39, no. 11, pp. 1020-1031, 2009.
Nursing simulations
• Virtual reality simulation for learning wound dressing: Acceptance and usability. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, vol. 68, pp. 49-57, 2022.
• Using interactive computer simulation for teaching the proper use of personal protective equipment. Computers, Informatics, Nursing, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 49-57, 2015.
• A virtual reality based simulator for learning nasogastric tube placement. Computers in Biology and Medicine, vol. 57, pp. 103-115, 2015.
virtual rehabilitation
• Rehabilitation of activities of daily living in virtual environments with intuitive user interface and force feedback. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 672-680, 2017.
• Facilitating mathematics learning for students with upper extremity disabilities using touch-input system. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 170-180, 2015.
• A hand rehabilitation system with force feedback for children with cerebral palsy: Two case studies. Disability and Rehabilitation, vol. 33, no. 17-18, pp. 1704-14, 2011.
health informatics
• Development of a healthcare information system for community care of older adults and evaluation of its acceptance and usability. Digital Health, 8, 2022.
• Alternatives to relational database: Comparison of NoSQL and XML approaches for clinical data storage. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, vol. 110, no. 1, pp. 99-109, 2013.
BCI
• Frequency domain channel-wise attack to CNN classifiers in motor imagery brain-computer interfaces. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 71, no. 5, pp. 1587-1598, 2024.
• Relation learning using temporal episodes for motor imagery brain-computer interfaces. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 31, pp. 530-543, 2023.
BIOINFORMATICS
• SEFP: Structure-based Enzyme Function Prediction. IEEE Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 1211-1221, 2025.
• MINDG: A drug-target interaction prediction method based on an integrated learning algorithm. Bioinformatics, vol. 40, no. 4, btae147, 2024.
• RNA-binding protein recognition based on multi-view deep feature and multi-label learning. Briefings in Bioinformatics, vol. 22, no. 3, bbaa174, 2021.
EPILEPTIC EEG
• Multi-view transfer representation learning with TSK fuzzy system for EEG Epilepsy Detection. IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 38-52, 2024.
• Deep multi-view feature learning for EEG-based epileptic seizure detection. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 27, no. 10, pp. 1962-1972, 2019.