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rsingla

848 karma · joined February 25, 2012

Software engineer with medical/healthcare interests.
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rsingla··on AnimeJs v4 Is Here
I cannot believe this is real, it was so well done. It felt like creativity of the internet from the early 2000s met the polished design standards of today.
rsingla··on Self-driving Waymos secure final clearance for expansion beyond S.F
I love Waymos compared to my ride sharing experience.

The base car is appealing (currently Jaguars). They're spacious for a >6 ft individual like myself. The user interface is intuitive and fun. There's a cool factor that exists.

Against ride sharing, given the lack of a driver, there's no variability in driver with regards to ambiance, scents, cleanliness, chattiness, and smoothness of the ride.

I am very much looking forward to this expansion.

rsingla··on A Trial HIV Vaccine Triggered Elusive and Essential Antibodies in Humans
I wonder about the potential for varied immune responses across different populations.
rsingla··on Apple announces new accessibility features, including eye tracking
While it's a significant step forward for accessibility, it also invites us to consider how such technologies could integrate into everyday use for all users. This could enhance ease of use and efficiency, but it also requires careful consideration of privacy safeguards.
rsingla··on Project Gameface launches on Android
As tech giants delve deeper into markets like gaming, do they enhance the industry by driving innovation and offering new platforms, or could this stifle smaller developers and lead to less diversity in the gaming landscape?
rsingla··on What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)
It's fascinating how surgical terminology, much like programming languages, uses precise syntax to convey complex operations in a compact form.

Just as in coding, where function names like append(), open(), or close() might describe operations on data, surgical terms like -ectomy, -ostomy, and -otomy encapsulate detailed medical procedures on the human body.

This linguistic efficiency not only facilitates clear communication among professionals but also mirrors the procedural thinking found in technical fields.

rsingla··on What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)
-opathy would generally be suitable. It implied a pathological condition involving some form of tissue damage or dysfunction.

Minor clarification, swelling does not necessarily always mean inflammation. -itis refers to inflammation of an organ or area of the both. Swelling, particularly when from fluid retention, is referred to as -edema. There is overlap though. :)

rsingla··on Does DNA have the equivalent of IF-statements, WHILE loops, or function calls?
For an individual interested in computational biology, or George church's course is excellent.

From the description: "This course will assess the relationships among sequence, structure, and function in complex biological networks as well as progress in realistic modeling of quantitative, comprehensive, functional genomics analyses. Exercises will include algorithmic, statistical, database, and simulation approaches and practical applications to medicine, biotechnology, drug discovery, and genetic engineering."

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/hst-508-genomics-and-computation...

rsingla··on Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (January 2024)
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Remote: Yes, preferred but not required

Willing to Relocate: Yes

Technologies: medical imaging, computer vision, artificial intelligence, medical devices, digital health technologies, C/C++, Python, Tensorflow, etc.

Résumé/CV: tinyurl.com/rsinglaresume

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rsingla92

Email: ro [at symbol] rsingla [dot] ca

About Me: An M.D./Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering with a Computer Engineering background, I have a passion for working at the intersection of healthcare/biotech and artificial intelligence. Skilled in leading multidisciplinary teams, I am keen on leveraging technology for healthcare solutions, mentoring, and contributing to the biotech and digital health sectors. Interested in roles in technical product management, business development, and clinical translation.

rsingla··on Compact holographic sound fields enable rapid one-step assembly of matter in 3D
In the Supplementary Materials, there's a set of example videos of this work in action. In particular, the helix shape is pretty cool to see form in (essentially) the blink of an eye.
rsingla··on Ask HN: Share your personal site
rsingla.ca

Kept it pretty simple and straightforward, although I think I could improve it with a portfolio section.

rsingla··on $100M xPrize for Carbon Removal
Can someone comment on the success of these sort of prize competitions? Particularly the success of xPrize.
rsingla··on Curious about the history of Apple's different keyboard layout and shortcuts
Today I learned there are ISO standards for keyboards. Thanks, OP.
rsingla··on Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements
Can someone elaborate on value proposition for this sort of device? What problem(s) does it solve?
rsingla··on A new transducer could dramatically lower the cost of ultrasound scanners
For the extra keen, here is the Nature Microsystems & Nanoengineering paper about this work released Aug 27 2018:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41378-018-0022-5

Disclosure: one of the co-inventors in the article was my graduate supervisor. I had no relation with this work however.

rsingla··on A new transducer could dramatically lower the cost of ultrasound scanners
Sorry, can I have some explanation on how piezo-based ultrasound systems aren't considered fragile? Even within their casing, dropping or banging one risks damaging the crystals.

Using Philips Lumify, Clarius' C-3, and other transducers, I think we've seen a bit of what low cost ($1k - $10k range) ultrasound machines with the same form factor can do to the market. Rather than displace the whole market, low cost ultrasound created a new fragment and opened doors for more clinicians and more clinical applications. The higher end machines are still regularly used and sought after (you can't really get the image quality and amazing beamforming otherwise).

I do like the idea of implantable ultrasound heart monitor! Fun to think about.

Disclosure: one of the co-inventors in the article was my graduate supervisor. I had no relation with this work however.

rsingla··on ‘Why didn’t you think this baby was ill?’ Decision-making in acute paediatrics
First, I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's diagnosis. I'm also sorry you and your daughter had to go through that experience in the first place. If you're comfortable, I'd love to hear more about your experience.

For example, what were your expectations going into the appointments with the first two pediatricians? What were you hoping they would do that they didn't? What did they miss that the eventual doctor got right? Did you and your daughter felt heard or ignored by all of them?

rsingla··on “Manager READMEs” from some tech companies
This is phenomenal. Not only do I find some of the concepts mentioned in each README to be useful in my own work, but I also want to work for all of these managers!
rsingla··on Towards Battery-Free HD Video Streaming [video]
This is quite an interesting concept in general, with cool results. Could there be extensions to other real-time imaging modalities (ultrasound for example)? Anyone have a hypothesis?
rsingla··on Ask HN: What did you work on in 2017?
I focused on completing my Master's in Biomedical Engineering. I looked at augmented reality for guidance during a surgery itself. The clinical application was the (robot-assisted) laparoscopic partial nephrectomy, aka kidney cancer surgery. Knowing that surgeons use ultrasound imaging during the surgery to scan the kidney, I sought to answer the question of how can we leverage this information to guide the surgeon and inform them of where their tools were in relation to the tumour at any given time?

A relatively easy to read description can be found in [0], while the main paper can be found in [1].

[0] http://stories.innovation.ubc.ca/augmented-reality-in-minima...

[1] Singla, Rohit, et al. "Intra-operative ultrasound-based augmented reality guidance for laparoscopic surgery." Healthcare technology letters 4.5 (2017): 204. http://digital-library.theiet.org/content/journals/10.1049/h...

rsingla··on Startup Ideas
Thanks for the post, it's refreshing to see some brainstorming being put out there! Along the lines of connecting ideas with prospective founders, I'd like your opinion on something.

A common theme I hear when talking to end users or key opinion leaders is that they don't want to divulge their ideas at risk of it being poached. They may be excellent ideas, or forward thinking individuals, but grow concerned about IP/giving away ideas, etc. On the flip side, they often don't have the time or resources to tackle all their ideas (if any) so things don't get done. I speak in particular from a healthcare perspective.

In your mind, how would you convince such users to participate in brainstorming more freely?

rsingla··on Startup Ideas
Smart bathrooms are an excellent idea, particularly in the case of seniors and the aging population. There's interesting research being done from University of Toronto [0]. For those suffering from Alzheimer's or challenges that impact their day-to-day, the smart bathroom may be a way to improve their quality of life and give them back some independence.

[0] 2008 Toronto Star article on Prof. Alex Mihailidis - https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2008/09/01/u_of...

rsingla··on New method developed to 3D print fully functional electronic circuits
It's not clear to me how this compares to the work from Voltera [0]. Can someone with more expertise weigh in?

[0] - https://www.voltera.io/

rsingla··on Robot-assisted surgery associated with longer operating times, higher cost
Medical robotics is a growing industry, led by growth in laparoscopic and cardiac surgeries. There are many types of robotics in that term but focusing on surgical settings, the applications are broad and include cardiac, gastrointestinal, orthopedic, neuro, ear-nose-throat, urology, and probably more I've missed. The latest market estimate I've read was estimating a $2.71B market in 2015, expected to grow to $5.4B in 2021.

Some companies in this field would be Intuitive Surgical, Think Surgical, Titan Medical, Mazor Robotics, Medtronic, Siemens, etc. Needless to say, it is my opinion this is a growing and persistent industry.

It won't be as rapid growth as the smartphone or web development, given the regulatory and heavy capital investment requirements for a new hospital or clinic to get a system, but it will be growing. The lag between an innovative feature to clinically acceptable product is multiple years after all!

rsingla··on Robot-assisted surgery associated with longer operating times, higher cost
Indeed! From what I know of prior research, the latency issues with regards to remote control of these robotic systems was unlikely to ever reach clinical use but has been explored to a small degree.
rsingla··on Robot-assisted surgery associated with longer operating times, higher cost
A few (potentially useful) additional points:

a) The ability to address more difficult cases is increased with robot-assisted surgery

b) Ergonomics of the situation should be considered as well for someone who can go from standing, leaning, or otherwise "on their feet" all the time to being able to sit and having an armrest.

c) While autonomous robots for complex procedures like this are likely many decades away for a variety of reasons, it's not unlikely that we'll see assistive technology for repetitive tasks in the future. In that sense, we are really at the early stages of the surgical robotics field! (In fact, depending on what who you talk to, the field is as young as 30 years old)

d) I partially disagree with the notion that a procedure done with the robot could be done without it

e) Some competitors are emerging onto the scene, such as Senhance by TransEnterix or Verb Surgical's product, which will progress this technology even further (if not out of the pure competitiveness of it all).

For those interested in reading more, I would suggest the following articles:

[0] Vitiello V, Lee SL, Cundy TP, Yang GZ. Emerging robotic platforms for minimally invasive surgery. IEEE reviews in biomedical engineering. 2013;6:111-26.

[1] Lee SL, Lerotic M, Vitiello V, Giannarou S, Kwok KW, Visentini-Scarzanella M, Yang GZ. From medical images to minimally invasive intervention: Computer assistance for robotic surgery. Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics. 2010 Jan 31;34(1):33-45.

[2] Marcus H, Nandi D, Darzi A, Yang GZ. Surgical robotics through a keyhole: From today's translational barriers to tomorrow's “disappearing” robots. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. 2013 Mar;60(3):674-81.

Disclaimer 1: Have done a few years of research with a surgical robot, so am biased towards advocating it's use.

Disclaimer 2: I am not from the institutions of the articles I mention.

rsingla··on Hashcat – advanced password recovery
When I was in undergraduate engineering (~3 years ago), hashcat was actually a key part of some great computer security assignments. I'm happy to see it's updated, although it was pretty solid when I had to use it!
rsingla··on Butterfly iQ – A cheap handheld ultrasound tool with AI smarts inside
Great point - the difference between portable ultrasound machines like the one presented here and the Butterfly Network one is the mode of operation.

The BodyMetrix system uses A-mode (Amplitude Modulation) which essentially uses one signal or pulse and plots the amplitude change over depth. The changes in amplitude correspond to differences in tissue. [I conclude they use A-mode from the abstracts of the papers linked in their Science and Validation section]

The Butterfly Network system is a B-mode (Brightness Modulation) one. These have traditionally had many signals and are used to create the greyscale images commonly seen when referring to ultrasound. B-mode imaging has traditionally required a fair amount more in terms of hardware, software, and thus cost.

rsingla··on Butterfly iQ – A cheap handheld ultrasound tool with AI smarts inside
I'd be curious as to what the payment model for a GP to own a conventional ultrasound machine would look like in Canada, the US, and the UK. It's my understanding that the pocket ultrasound at it's price point would essentially pay itself earlier on while serving a purpose of being a triage tool.

Given the size and cost of a conventional cart-based machine, I think the pocket one is more well suited.

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