Electromechanical Modeling Approach in Assessing Female SUI

作为一次重新提交，拟议的五年计划将培养我，并促进我成为一名独立的 跨学科研究生涯。我的生物医学工程、电气专业的多学科背景 工程和机械工程领域和我在高等生物力学方面的杰出经验 建模和电生理建模研究培养了我的兴趣，给了我独特的 在尿失禁(UI)方面进行跨学科生物医学研究的优势。最直接的 目标是为独立科学家的职业生涯做准备，并开发一种新的特定于学科的 基于电动盆腔模型的尿路阴道支持及尿路功能评估(UUFA) 技术微创和定量评估这两个病因，并调查 与导致女性SUI患病率增加的衰老效应相关的特定变化。这个 这项研究背后的中心假设是女性的尿路阴道支持和尿路功能 而衰老对女性SUI的影响可以微创和定量地评估和 以特定对象的骨盆建模方法为特征。第一个基本假设是，尿路 女性的功能可以使用特定于受试者的微创和定量评估 电生理盆腔造模方法。主要假设2是女性患者的尿路阴道支持功能 女性可以使用特定于受试者的生物力学骨盆进行非侵入性和定量评估 建模方法。基本假设3是年龄增长会导致不佳的尿路阴道支持和/或尿路。 会导致SUI的功能障碍。主要假设#4是可以创建一个女性可控特征来 临床上预测女性大小便失禁的状况，并提出最佳治疗方案。 特定的病人。我们提出了四个具体目标(SA)来检验这些假设：SA#1：发展一门学科-- 基于特定电生理盆腔模型的尿道肌疲劳评估(UMFA)技术 微创定量评估女性尿路功能。第一个主要假设将会得到检验。 SA#2：开发一种特定于受试者的生物力学骨盆模型，基于尿路阴道支持功能 无创定量评估尿路阴道支持功能(USFA)技术 女人。将检验主要假设#2。SA#3：研究年龄对尿路功能的影响 使用UUFA技术对有/无SUI的年轻/老年女性受试者的尿路阴道支持 由UMFA和USFA技术组成。主要假设#3将会得到检验。SA#4：开发一个 应用UUFA技术定量检测女性SUI的临床标准 探讨女性尿路阴道支持和尿路功能中的SUI病因。基本假设 4号将接受测试。在这个项目完成时，我们期望我们将建立和 验证了UUFA技术及其在临床研究中应用的可行性，并实现了 更好地了解与衰老和更年期相关的特定变化对这些变化的贡献 女性的病因。

As a resubmission, the proposed five-year plan will train me and foster my launch into an independent interdisciplinary research career. My multidisciplinary background in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering fields and my outstanding experience in advanced biomechanical modeling and electrophysiological modeling research have fostered my interest and given me unique advantages in conducting interdisciplinary biomedical research in Urinary Incontinence (UI). The immediate goal is to prepare for a career as an independent scientist and to develop a novel subject-specific electromechanical pelvic model based urethrovaginal support and urethral function assessment (UUFA) technique to minimally invasively and quantitatively assess these two etiologic factors and to investigate the specific changes associated with aging effects that cause the increase in prevalence of SUI in women. The central hypothesis behind this research is that urethrovaginal support and urethral function in women and aging effects on female SUI can be minimally invasively and quantitatively assessed and characterized using a subject-specific pelvic modeling approach. Primary Hypothesis #1 is that urethral function in women can be minimally invasively and quantitatively assessed using a subject-specific electrophysiological pelvic modeling approach. Primary Hypothesis #2 is that urethrovaginal support function in women can be non-invasively and quantitatively assessed using a subject-specific biomechanical pelvic modeling approach. Primary Hypothesis #3 is that aging will cause poor urethrovaginal support and/or urethral dysfunction which will lead to SUI. Primary Hypothesis #4 is that a female continence profile can be created to predict the status of continence in women in women clinically and to suggest optimal therapeutic modalities for specific patients. We propose four Specific Aims (SA) to test these Hypotheses: SA #1: To develop a subject- specific electrophysiological pelvic model based periurethral muscle fatigue assessment (UMFA) technique to minimally invasively and quantitatively assess urethral function in women. Primary Hypothesis #1 will be tested. SA #2: To develop a subject-specific biomechanical pelvic model based urethrovaginal support function assessment (USFA) technique to non-invasively and quantitatively assess urethrovaginal support function in women. Primary Hypothesis #2 will be tested. SA #3: To investigate aging effects on urethral function and urethrovaginal support in young/elderly female subjects with/without SUI using the UUFA technique which consists of the UMFA and USFA techniques. Primary Hypothesis #3 will be tested. SA #4: To develop a female SUI profile as a clinical standard of female SUI by utilizing the UUFA technique to quantitatively characterize SUI etiologic factors in urethrovaginal support and urethral function in women. Primary Hypothesis #4 will be tested. At the completion of this project, it is our expectation that we will have established and validated the UUFA technique and the feasibility of its application in clinical studies, and have achieved a better understanding of the contributions of specific changes associated with aging and menopause to these etiologic factors in women.