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While subjective methods like the Yanagihara system and the House-Brackmann system are standard in evaluating facial paralysis, they are limited by intra- and inter-observer variability. Meanwhile, quantitative objective methods such as electroneurography and electromyography are time-consuming. Our aim was to introduce a swift, objective, and quantitative method for evaluating facial movements. We developed an application software (app) that utilizes the facial recognition functionality of the iPhone (Apple Inc., Cupertino, USA) for facial movement evaluation. This app leverages the phone's front camera, infrared radiation, and infrared camera to provide detailed three-dimensional facial topology. It quantitatively compares left and right facial movements by region and displays the movement ratio of the affected side to the opposite side. Evaluations using the app were conducted on both normal and facial palsy subjects and were compared with conventional methods. Our app provided an intuitive user experience, completing evaluations in under a minute, and thus proving practical for regular use. Its evaluation scores correlated highly with the Yanagihara system, the House-Brackmann system, and electromyography. Furthermore, the app outperformed conventional methods in assessing detailed facial movements. Our novel iPhone app offers a valuable tool for the comprehensive and efficient evaluation of facial palsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies make use of various strategies in order to attract new customers, retain existing customers, and differentiate their products from those of their competitors. Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California. The company specializes in consumer devices, software, and online services. Apple is the most valuable firm in the world, the fourth-largest vendor of personal computers by unit sales, and the second-largest producer of mobile phones as of May 2022. The iPhone is a product with a strong reputation. Apple has always maintained product quality and continuously made innovations. The iPhone has a unique design, and in view of that, the model is too expensive compared to other mobile phones. Although the price is expensive, demand for the iPhone still increases from time to time. The aim of this research is to understand the factors behind iPhone purchase decisions. An investigation has been conducted to evaluate the relationship between price and quality on customer buying patterns for an iPhone. This study will adopt quantitative methods, and data collection has been conducted through online questionnaire distribution. The target respondents in this study are STML students, and the overall population of STML was 1645 students; thus, the sample size for the study should be 310 respondents. The cluster sampling technique has been used in this study. In this study, a total of 340 respondents were received, and there are 27 missing values in the data set. However, only 313 respondents are valid for the data analysis. Findings revealed that price and quality have a significant effect on the buying pattern of an iPhone. Lastly, this study discusses the limitations of the study and its conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of needle placement using a three-dimensional (3D) augmented reality (AR) protractor on smartphones (AR Puncture). Materials and Methods: An AR protractor that can be rotated in three directions against the CT plane with angle guidance lines for smartphones was developed. The protractor center can be adjusted to an entry point by manually moving the smartphone with the protractor center fixed at the center of the screen (Fix-On-Screen) or by image tracking with a printed QR code placed at an entry point (QR-Tracking). Needle placement was performed by viewing a target line in the tangent direction with the Bull's eye method. The needle placement errors placed by four operators in six out-of-plane directions in a phantom using a smartphone (iPhone XR, Apple, Cupertino, CA, USA) were compared with two registration methods. Results: No significant difference in the average needle placement error was observed between the Fix-On-Screen and QR-Tracking methods (5.6 ± 1.7 mm vs. 6.1 ± 2.9 mm, p = 0.475). The average procedural time of the Fix-On-Screen method was shorter than that of the QR-Tracking method (71.0 ± 23.9 s vs. 98.4 ± 59.5 s, p = 0.042). Conclusion: The accuracies of out-of-plane needle placements using the 3D AR protractor with the two registration methods were equally high, with short procedure times. In clinical use, the Fix-On-Screen registration method would be more convenient because no additional markers are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer rhythm-monitoring devices, such as the Apple Watch, are becoming more readily available. Irregular pulses can be detected using an optical sensor that is built into the wearable device. The Apple Watch (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, USA) is a class II medical device with pulse rate and electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring capabilities. Here, we report a case in which an arrhythmia that was conventionally perceived but undiagnosed was identified as an atrial fibrillation by the self-acquisition of the ECG data using an Apple Watch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to quantify potential systemic timing bias between fully automatic timing (FAT) and timing with iPhone camera (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, USA) and then consider whether an iPhone can be used as an inexpensive timing system for sprint events at athletics competitions. A flashlight was aimed at FAT camera (Lynx System Developers, Haverhill, MA, USA) and two iPhones, at 120 and 240 frames per second (fps), respectively, so that they could capture the light from it. By turning the flashlight on and off at varying intervals (1–33 s, average 9.5 s), the cameras captured a series of light beams. The time intervals between the start of two light beams were measured 31 times on the recordings from all the cameras. On each recording with the iPhones, two analyses were performed: one where the video image before the light beam (start before light) from the flashlight was set to 0 s and one where the first image with the light beam (start on light) was set to 0 s. Start on light showed no significant time differences compared to FAT. With 240 fps the standard deviation was ± 0.001 s, 29% of the times were the same as FAT, while 81% of the times are within ± 0.001 s. The largest deviation was a time of −0.003 s from FAT. With 120 fps there was a standard deviation of ± 0.003 and a maximum deviation of −0.006 s, where 39% of the times were within ± 0.001 s. At start before light, a significant but expected difference was found with an average deviation of +0.008 s with 120 fps and +0.004 s with 240 fps, with maximum deviations of +0.014 and +0.006 s. It can be concluded that the camera on an iPhone is accurate as we did not find any systematic bias from FAT with start on light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, noise exposure from occupational and nonoccupational sources is common, and, as a result, noise-induced hearing loss affects tens of millions of people. Occupational noise exposures have been studied and regulated for decades, but nonoccupational sound exposures are not well understood. The nationwide Apple Hearing Study, launched using the Apple research app in November 2019 (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA), is characterizing the levels at which participants listen to headphone audio content, as well as their listening habits. This paper describes the methods of the study, which collects data from several types of hearing tests and uses the Apple Watch noise app to measure environmental sound levels and cardiovascular metrics. Participants, all of whom have consented to participate and share their data, have already contributed nearly 300 × 106 h of sound measurements and 200 000 hearing assessments. The preliminary results indicate that environmental sound levels have been higher, on average, than headphone audio, about 10% of the participants have a diagnosed hearing loss, and nearly 20% of the participants have hearing difficulty. The study's analyses will promote understanding of the overall exposures to sound and associated impacts on hearing and cardiovascular health. This study also demonstrates the feasibility of collecting clinically relevant exposure and health data outside of traditional research settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to investigate the utility of the sublabial approach in gaining proper exposure for tip rhinoplasty maneuvers in a cadaver model. Additional objectives included identifying types of grafts that can be placed sublabially and whether these methods can be translated successfully to human subjects. Ten (N = 10) fresh-preserved cadavers were dissected at our academic institution from August 18, 2019 through February 5, 2020. Photographs of the cadavers were taken with permission from the anatomy laboratory manager using an iPhone 10 (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA). Standard rhinoplasty views were taken of all ten cadavers. Grafts were harvested and designed from septal (80%), auricular (50%) and rib cartilage (40%). The division of depressor septi muscle was accomplished in all ten (100%) cadavers to address tip ptosis. Placement of the columellar strut and shield grafts resulted primarily in the improvement of nasal projection as well as rotation in all (100%) cadavers. Premaxillary augmentation was not always indicated but helped to improve an acute, retrodisplaced nasolabial angle in three (30%) cadavers. Lateral osteotomies via this approach addressed the nasal bony pyramid in all ten (100%) cadavers. The swinging door technique enabled correction of the caudal septum in six (60%) cadavers. Several rhinoplasty techniques can be successfully performed on cadavers via the sublabial approach and we hope this work can be translated to human subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To report single centre experience with use of wireless ultrasound probe for bedside venous line placement in COVID-19 patients. Method: From October 2020 to September 2021, we performed venous catheter insertions in 209 patients with COVID-19. The procedure was done at the angiographic suite or bedside. One hundred seventy-six patients with COVID-19 underwent bedside venous line placement. There were 115 males and 61 females with average age 74.9 years (from 16 to 96 years). We used two types wireless linear US probes: Clarius Scanner L7 HD (Clarius Mobile Health Corp, Vancouver, Kanada) or 4Echo LeapMed (Guide Imaging, Oostende, Belgie). Large 12.9-inch tablets (iPad Pro, Apple Inc, Cupertino, USA) were used to display the ultrasound image. The ECG was used to verify the tip position of central inserted central venous catheter and PICCs. Results: The venous line was successfully inserted in 172 (97.7 %) patients at the first attempt. Four patients underwent second procedure because of vein dissection in 2 patients and hematoma and vein spasm in 2 patients. All repeated procedures were successful. The most common venous lines we used were midline in 143 patients. The PICC was inserted in 26 patients and central venous catheter (including dialysis catheter) was placed in 7 patients. Conclusion: The use of wireless US probes is convenient for bedside venous line placement. The main advantage is simple manipulation, preservation of anti-epidemic conditions and easier probe's dressing with sterile cover, because there is not cable between US probe and tablet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The surgical treatment of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) with shunting remains controversial due to the difficulty in distinguishing such pathology from other neurological conditions that can present similarly. Thus, patients with suspected NPH should be carefully selected for surgical intervention. Historically, clinical improvement has been measured by the use of functional grades, alleviation of symptoms, and/or patient/family-member reported surveys. Such outcome analysis can be subjective, and there is difficulty in quantifying cognition. Thus, a push for a more quantifiable and objective investigation is warranted, especially for patients with idiopathic NPH (INPH), for which the final diagnosis is confirmed with postoperative clinical improvement. We aimed to use Apple Health (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA) data to approximate physical activity levels before and after shunt placement for NPH as an objective outcome measurement. The patients were contacted and verbally consented to export Apple Health activity data. The patient's physical activity data were then analyzed. A chart review from the patient's EMR was performed to understand and better correlate recovery. Case Description: Our first patient had short-term improvements in activity levels when compared to his preoperative activity. The patient's activity level subsequently decreased at 6 months and onward. This decline was simultaneous to new-onset lumbar pain. Our second patient experienced sustained improvements in activity levels for 12 months after his operation. His mobility data were in congruence with his subjectively reported improvement in clinical symptoms. He subsequently experienced a late-decline that began at 48-months. His late deterioration was likely confounded by exogenous factors such as further neurodegenerative diseases coupled with old age. Conclusion: The use of objective activity data offers a number of key benefits in the analysis of shunted patients with NPH/INPH. In this distinctive patient population, detailed functional outcome analysis is imperative because the long-term prognosis can be affected by comorbid factors or life expectancy. The benefits from using smartphone-based accelerometers for objective outcome metrics are abundant and such an application can serve as a clinical aid to better optimize surgical and recovery care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a single-channel speech enhancement (SE) framework based on the super-Gaussian extension of the joint maximum a posteriori (SGJMAP) estimation rule. The developed SE algorithm is an open-source research smartphone-based application for hearing improvement studies. In this algorithm, the SGJMAP-based estimation for noisy speech mixture is smoothed along the frequency axis by a Mel filter-bank, resulting in a Mel-warped frequency-domain SGJMAP estimation. The impulse response of this Mel-warped estimation is obtained by applying a Mel-warped inverse discrete cosine transform (Mel-IDCT). This helps in filtering out the background noise and enhancing the speech signal. The proposed application is implemented on an iPhone (Apple, Cupertino, CA) to operate in real time and tested with normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners with different types of hearing aids through wireless connectivity. The objective speech quality and intelligibility test results are used to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm to existing conventional single-channel SE methods. Additionally, test results from NH and HI listeners show substantial improvement in speech recognition with the developed method in simulated real-world noisy conditions at different signal-to-noise ratio levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spirometer measurements can reflect cough strength but might not be routinely available for patients with severe neurological or medical conditions. A digital device that can record and help track abnormal cough sound changes serially in a noninvasive but reliable manner would be beneficial for monitoring such individuals. This report includes two cases of respiratory distress whose cough changes were monitored via assessments performed using recordings made with a digital device. The cough sounds were recorded using an iPad (Apple, Cupertino, CA, USA) through an embedded microphone. Cough sounds were recorded at the bedside, with no additional special equipment. The two patients were able to complete the recordings with no complications. The maximum root mean square values obtained from the cough sounds were significantly reduced when both cases were diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia. In contrast, higher values became apparent when the patients demonstrated a less severe status. Based on an analysis of our two cases, the patients' cough sounds recorded with a commercial digital device show promise as potential digital biomarkers that may reflect aspiration risk related to attenuated cough force. Serial monitoring aided the decision making to resume oral feeding. Future studies should further explore the clinical utility of this technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the job vacancies at Apple Inc. in Cupertino, California as of May 2012. It highlights the professionals needed by the company which include software engineers, software quality assurance engineer, and iOS power tools developer. Qualified individuals are requested to mail their resumes at the company's address.

The article reports on the job vacancies at Apple Inc. in Cupertino, California as of May 2012. It highlights the professionals needed by the company which include software engineers and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design engineer. Qualified individuals are requested to mail their resumes at the company's address.