Kskamp

Comparing Two Models of HMPAO Uptake in the Lungs

Benchmarks

1. Become familiar with MatLab syntax by creating a Computed Tomography (CT) program

2. Create a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to simulate a CT scan

3. Create GUI to simulate forward model of a Single Photon Emission CT (SPECT) scan (with and without noise)

4. Improve SPECT GUI to estimate parameters of the forward model, given the concentration of radioactive material put into the system and output of the noisy lung

5. Determine whether the parameters given by a compartmental model of HMPAO uptake in the lung are reliable

6. Answer the question: Is a Compartmental Model Sufficient to Reliably Estimate Key Physiological Parameters?

Weekly Log

Week 1 (5/31 - 6/3)

- Met with Dr. Clough

   - Discussed scope of project
   - Learned basics of CT, SPECT, and PET scans (projections, Radon transform, Inverse Radon transform, reconstruction)
   - Defined benchmarks for the summer

{ Next meeting Tuesday 6/7 with Dr. Clough and Graduate student(s)}

- Attended Dr. Factor's talk on basics of research

   - Using the tools you have
   - Thoughtful consideration of a problem and solutions
   - Know what you don't know ==> develop a strategy to figure it out
   - Find out what is already known (do you need a new algorithm?)
   - Break the problem down into manageable pieces
   - Know your audience
   

- Conducted background research on CT scans

   - How they have improved (greater efficiency and effectiveness)
   - Confirmed understanding of basics given by Dr. Clough
   

- Wrote preliminary MatLab programs

   - Created image to be scanned
   - Calculated projection image (Radon transform as well as individual projections)
   - Reconstructed image (Inverse radon transform)
   

- Researched basic GUI construction

For next week  : Begin constructing GUI for preliminary CT simulation

Week 2 (6/6 - 6/10)

- Formatted and finished basic CT GUI

   - Fixed image loading issue 
   - Researched solutions for using two axes in one GUI
   - Enhanced GUI (with help from Tony)

- Met with Dr. Clough

   - Introduced to the VA Hospital
   - Toured the lab (CT and SPECT imaging equipment)
   - Introduced to Katherine and Anthony (heretofore referred to as Katie and Tony)
   - Redefined benchmarks for the summer

{ Dr. Clough out of town next Monday-Thursday }

- Watched rat lung experiment measuring mitochondrial productivity before and after the addition of an uncoupler

- Attended Dr. Brylow's talk on basics of research presentation and paper writing

   - What goes into a "good" research talk?
         *Features*
         - Why is your project 'important', 'interesting', and 'hard'?
         - What did YOU do to solve/make progress towards a solution to the problem?
         - Why should they care? (What is the application? ==> sometimes requires creativity)
  
   - What makes a "good" research paper?
         - Answer all the same questions as above
         - Tell the story of the research (X3)
           *tell them what you're going to tell them (Intro)
           *tell them (Content)
           *tell them what you told them (Summary)
         - Tell them why your research is different (Related/Prior work)
   

- Constructed GUI for SPECT forward problem

   - Select data set (in .txt format)
   - Enter values for variables to graph lung curve
   - Save a copy of the GUI interface (including which data file used, all variables and output graph) to pdf

For next week  : Begin work on inverse SPECT GUI

Week 3 (6/13 - 6/17)

- Debugged GUI for SPECT forward problem

   - Emailed Katie code for additional testing

- Formatted and finished SPECT Lung Simulator

   - Fixed lung curve calculation issue 
   - Translated poisson noise code from Ben (C to MatLab)
   - Researched use of Gaussian noise
   - Created additional option of saving simulated lung data points

- Attended Dr. Brylow's presentation on Responsible Conduct of Research

   - OBLIGATIONS
     1) to honor the trust that colleagues place in us
     2) to ourselves and our future careers
     3) to the public
   
   I: ethical treatment of data
      A- how data was obtained
      B- double-blind trials
      C- validated survey
   II: authorship, credit, and plagiarism
      A- fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism
   III: human participants and animal subjects
      A- Common Rule
      B- informed consent
      C- Institutional Research Boards (IRBs)
   IV: intellectual property (who owns your work?)
   V: conflicts of interest and professional standards
      --follow your work to its end

- Conducted background research on HMPAO studies with rats and ALI

- Attended Dr. Corliss' presentation on the basics of LaTeX

   - How to access
   - Basic points of TeX syntax
   - Brief history of TeX and why Knuth created the processor

{ Beginning to work with LaTeX creating research paper }

- Read three papers on background of research on Acute Lung Injury

   - "Differential Lung Uptake of 99mTc-HMPAO and 99mTc-Duramycin in the Chronic Hyperoxia Rat Model"
   - "Role of glutathione in lung retention of 99mTc-HMPAO in two nique rat models of hyperoxic lung injury"
   - "In vivo detection of hyperoxia-induced pulmonary endothelial cell death using 99mTc-Duramycin"

For next week  : Begin work on Inverse Model GUI

Week 4 (6/20 - 6/24)

- Met with Ben

   - Worked out bugs in poisson noise program
   - Fixed error that caused his code not to run on other computers
   - Began reading "Distribution of Capillary Transit Times in Isolated Lungs of Oxygen-Tolerant Rats"
   - Requested a second article from the library

- Met with Dr. Clough

   - Outlined needs for Inverse Problem
      - Non-linear least-squares model regression
      - Input= data (from simulation/measured in lab)
      - Output= values for constants
      - Tests simplified to assume DEM injection (no Glutathione)
   --> 'Next' : use data from PDE model as input
      - Do I get the same constants out?
      - Ratio of calculated constants:actual (known) constants         

- Started solution to inverse problem

   - Read documentation on lsqcurvefit in MatLab
      - Trying to understand how to input vector of parameters into forward model equation
      - Solved the "blackbox" equation problem (variables contained two functions deep in code)
      == added variable to input of forward solver and ODE solver
   - 1st attempts with too many variables (solving for 8 constants)
   - CURRENT WORKING MODEL -
      - Allows computation of up to 3 variables (PS, kOther, kGSHc)
      - Assumes initial conditions of [1, .01, .1], respectively
   - MODIFIED INVERSE MODEL - 
      - Allows computation of up to 2 variables
      - Allows for more direct testing of correlation between two variables
   

- Attended Katie's research talk on the compartmental model

   - Learned a little about modeling, where the model we are working with came from
   - Made notes of things to add to my presentation
   - Listened to questions asked by Dr. Clough and Dr. Audi for more explanation in how her model works
   

- Began writing preliminary Mid-REU presentation

   - Learning to use Beamer on ShareLaTex
   - Working out how much background to give
   - Spoke to Dr. Clough about what to include as part of my talk

- Ran tests with working simulation models

   - Ran forward model to create data for inverse model with known PS, kOther, and kGSHc
   - Tested 16 different trials at 10% error
       - Different trials based on:
            1) changing the initial guess given to the model
            2) shutting off kGSHc pathway (simulating DEM)
            3) shutting off kOther pathway
            4) shutting off PS from the tissue to the blood
   - Retried last 14 trials at 7% error

---

Personal Information

Kim is studying Mathematics at Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, MO.

---