We consider a new data mining problem of detecting the members of a rare class of data, the needles, that have been hidden in a set of records, the haystack. Besides the haystack, a single instance of a needle is given. It is assumed that members of the needle class are similar according to an unknown needle characterization. The goal is to find the needle records hidden in the haystack. This p...

The correlation between the peroxidase activity, chlorophyll and soluble protein content as well as the changes in vascular bundle structure in Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) needles affected by cement dust were studied. In spite of the absence of any yellowing symptoms, a significantly lower chlorophyll con­ tent was measured in spruce needles affected by cement dust. Observed sieve cel...

One-, twoand three-year-old red pine (Pinus brutia var. brutia) needles and tree bark samples were collected and analyzed for their sulphur content from localities where dead trees were observed. The results indicate that the sulphur content has increased in localities exposed to high levels of SO2 emission. The highest increase was observed in two-year-old needles. We thus conclude that the su...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Pain control is an important part of pediatric dentistry. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pain and behavioral reaction who receive an injection with conventional and telescopic dental needles.METHODS: A total of 50 healthy children aged 4-8 years were included to this study to get a dental injection with the telescopic or the conventional dental needles. Two observ...

Electrical stimulation through an acupuncture needle in a Chinese point of the human hand decreased the subjectively estimated sensation elicited by noxious and by tactile stimulation of the ipsilateral finger. A hyperbolic relationship was found between the stimulus duration (T, ses) required for the initiation of hypesthesia and the intensity of current (I, mA) passed through the acupuncture ...

The research did not test for all phobias that have a name, such as arachibutyrophobia (the fear of having peanut butter stick to the roof of one’s mouth). Among the least common phobias found in the survey, however, were trypanophobia (the fear of hypodermic needles and injections) and the fear of dentists. Less than ten percent had these problems, according to the doctoral dissertation by Rob...

Purpose The highly variable nature of acupuncture needling creates challenges to systematic research. The goal of this study was to test the feasibility of quantifying acupuncture needle manipulation using motion and force measurements. We hypothesized that distinct needling styles and techniques would produce different needle motion and force patterns that could be quantified and differentiate...

AIM To monitor ex vivo intra-canal irrigation with three endodontic needles (25, 27 and 30 gauge) and compare them in terms of irrigant flow rate, intra-barrel pressure, duration of irrigation and volume of irrigant delivered. METHODOLOGY A testing system was constructed to allow measurement of selected variables with pressure and displacement transducers during ex vivo intra-canal irrigation...

We develop a new motion planning algorithm for a variant of a Dubins car with binary left/right steering and apply it to steerable needles, a new class of flexible bevel-tip medical needles that physicians can steer through soft tissue to reach clinical targets inaccessible to traditional stiff needles. Our method explicitly considers uncertainty in needle motion due to patient differences and ...