Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fully Automatic Segmentation and Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of the Liver in CT Images

Automatic segmentation and three-dimensional reconstruction of the liver is important for liver disease diagnosis and surgical treatment. However, the shape of the imaged 2D liver in each CT image changes dramatically across the slices. In all slices, the imaged 2D liver is connected with other organs, and the connected organs also vary across the slices. In many slices, the intensities of the connected organs are the same with that of the liver. All these facts make automatic segmentation of the liver in the CT image an extremely difficult task. In this paper, we propose a heuristic approach to segment the liver automatically based on multiple thresholds. The thresholds are computed based on the slope difference distribution that has been proposed and verified in the previous research. Different organs in the CT image are segmented with the automatically computed thresholds, respectively. Then, different segmentation results are combined to delineate the boundary of the liver robustly. After the boundaries of the 2D liver in all the slices are identified, they are combined to form the 3D shape of the liver with a global energy minimization function. Experimental results verified the effectiveness of all the proposed image processing algorithms in automatic and robust segmentation of the liver in CT images.
Normative Application of Xiyanping Injection: A Systematic Review of Adverse Case Reports

Purpose To summarize the characteristics and the relevant factors and to give references for preventing adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with xiyanping (XYP), we provide a systematic review of adverse case reports about XYP. Methods Seven medical databases were searched from inception to January 2018. Case reports detailing ADRs associated with XYP were included. Data were extracted independently by two reviewers. After the assessment of causality and severity, we carried out a descriptive analysis for the relevant ADRs. Results Forty-three articles involving a total number of 55 cases were included. Eight cases were off-label drug use. In the remaining 47 cases, 26 (55.3%) had probable causality and 23 (48.9%) were serious cases. XYP used in children (≤14 years old) accounted for 66.0%. Respiratory diseases (83.0%) were major primary diseases. No allergic history mentioned (55.3%) and unspecific drug combination (59.6%) were common in these reports. As for ADR types, anaphylaxis and anaphylactic shock were up to 97.9%. ADRs happened mostly when applying XYP within 30 minutes (70.2%) and the majority (95.7%) were cured when treated in time. Conclusions Clinicians and patients are supposed to obey the package insert of XYP in clinical application. Through the results of XYP, normalization of ADR reports is also worthy of attention. High-quality researches are required to improve the drug instruction and evaluate the safety of XYP in effective diseases and different age groups. Mechanism of ADRs aiming at the hypersensitivity and the drug combination should still be further identified.
Gleaning the Web

We are drowning in words. E-mail and Web browsers provide access to myriad sources of text, from newswires to product catalogs, from recipes to movie schedules, but we can pause just a tiny fraction of the available terabytes. The cliche is born: information overload, which threatens to swamp the Internet's promised productivity gains, educational benefits, and entertainment value. In recent years, computer science has risen to this challenge, with substantial progress on systems for retrieving and filtering text. Information extraction systems provide a complementary service. IE is the task of identifying the specific fragments of a single document that constitute its core semantic content. Scalability is the major challenge to IE. IE systems usually rely on extraction rules tailored to a particular document collection. If this knowledge is hand-crafted, porting an IE system to new collections will be expensive. Recent research has led to the identification of important classes of Internet IE tasks for which highly scalable systems have been developed. I describe these IE tasks and explain how machine learning yields highly scalable IE systems, and discuss remaining challenges and argue that scaling up AI applications on the Internet is an important challenge to machine learning.
Left atrial appendage thrombus detected by transesophageal examination with linear endoscopic ultrasound

Linear endoscopic ultrasound (L‐EUS) is mainly performed to assess pancreaticobiliary and mediastinal diseases. In this report, transesophageal observation with L‐EUS revealed an LAA thrombus that was not detected by transthoracic echocardiography. This report highlights a novel potential role for L‐EUS in the detection of cardiovascular diseases including LAA thrombi.
A Study of Various Training Algorithms on Neural Network for Angle based Triangular Problem

This paper examines the study of various feed forward backpropagation neural network training algorithms and performance of different radial basis function neural network for angle based triangular problem. The training algorithms in feed forward back-propagation neural network comprise of Scale Gradient Conjugate Back-Propagation (BP), Conjugate Gradient BP through Polak-Riebre updates, Conjugate Gradient BP through Fletcher-Reeves updates, One Secant BP and Resilent BP. The final result of each training algorithm for angle based triangular problem will also be discussed and compared. General Terms Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Feed Forward Backpropogation (FFB), Training Algorithm.
Anemia Expert System Diagnosis Using Sl5 Object

Background: Anemia is a condition that occurs due to a lower concentration of hemoglobin than the normal level (nonpregnant adult females less than 11 g / dL and males younger than 13 g / dL). Because of the low level of hemoglobin, the body's organs suffer from lack of enough oxygen, so patients complain of signs and symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, lack of concentration, lethargy and others. Objectives: The main goal of this expert system is to get the appropriate diagnosis of disease. Methods: In this paper the design of the proposed Expert System which was produced to help Doctor in diagnosing many of the anemia diseases such as : Fatigue, Chest pain, Shortness of breath, Swelling of the body, Pallor of skin. The proposed expert system presents an overview about anemia diseases are given, the cause of diseases are outlined. SL5 Expert System language was used for designing and implementing the proposed expert system. Results: The proposed anemia diseases diagnosis expert system was evaluated by engineering students.
Efficacy and Safety of Nivolumab in Patients with Advanced Non-small-cell Lung Cancer and Poor Performance Status

Background: Nivolumab efficacy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and performance status (PS) of 2-4 is unclear. We aimed to compare survival, treatment efficacy, and safety in patients with NSCLC with poor PS who received nivolumab plus best supportive care (BSC) with those in patients who received BSC alone in a palliative care unit (PCU). Patients and methods: This retrospective study included 99 consecutive patients with NSCLC who received nivolumab plus BSC or BSC alone between December 2015 and March 2018. Results: In total, 43 patients with PS of 0-1 (good PS group) and 20 patients with PS of 2-4 (poor PS group) received nivolumab plus BSC; the remaining 36 patients received BSC alone in the PCU (PC group). Median overall survival was 32 days [95% confidence interval (CI), 21-43] in the poor PS group and 31 days (95% CI, 25-37) in the PC group (hazard ratio, 0.653; 95% CI, 0.368-1.158; P = 0.137). Moreover, median overall survival in patients with PS of 3 or 4 among the poor PS group was not significantly longer than that in the PC group (HR, 1.235; 95% CI, 0.646-2.360; P = 0.516). The frequency of severe pneumonitis in the poor PS group was significantly higher than that in the good PS group (25% vs. 2%, P = 0.010). Conclusion: Survival benefit of nivolumab in patients with NSCLC with poor PS, especially 3 or 4, was not confirmed. Further studies with larger numbers of patients are required to confirm our results.
Resting Brain Fluctuations Are Intrinsically Coupled to Visual Response Dynamics

How do intrinsic brain dynamics interact with processing of external sensory stimuli? We sought new insights using functional (f)MRI to track spatiotemporal activity patterns at the whole brain level in lightly anesthetized mice, during both resting conditions and visual stimulation trials. Our results provide evidence that quasiperiodic patterns (QPPs) govern mouse resting brain dynamics. QPPs captured the temporal alignment of global brain fluctuations, anti-correlation of the Default Mode (DMN)- and Task Positive (TPN)-like networks, and activity in neuromodulatory nuclei of the reticular formation. While visual stimulation could trigger a transient spatiotemporal pattern highly similar to intrinsic QPPs, global signal fluctuations and QPPs during rest periods could explain variance in the following visual responses. QPPs and the global signal thus appeared to capture a common arousal-related brain-state fluctuation, orchestrated through neuromodulation. Our findings provide new frontiers to understand the neural processes that shape functional brain states and modulate sensory input processing.
Implementation and evaluation of enhanced areal interpolation using MapInfo and MapBasic

Many researchers today have a need to analyse data in a spatial context. An inherent problem is the mismatch of boundaries between the geographic regions for which data is collected and those regions for which the data is required. Often the solution is to interpolate data from one set of regions to another. This project examines and implements a method of areal interpolation that enables the user to use extra information in areal interpolation to increase the "intelligence ' of the process. This method of Enhanced Areal Interpolation uses a conditional Poisson distribution and the EM algorithm to provide estimated values of a variable. Enhanced Areal Interpolation assumes that data is available for a set of source regions, and is required for a set of target regions. Extra information available about the target regions provides an improved fit of the estimates compared to Areal Weighting Interpolation which uses area proportionality to distribute the data. The theory and concepts are illustrated with an example and implemented using the software packages Maplnfo version 3 for Windows and MapBasic version 3 for Windows.
Measuring smartphone usage and task switching with log tracking and self-reports

Smartphones offer multimedia convergence in a single device, ubiquitous access to media, and constant connections with others. The rapid rise of smartphone use calls for more scholarly attention paid to users’ media usage and time expenditure. This study aims to (a) understand smartphone usage patterns by examining time spent using smartphones and task switching between mobile applications (apps), and (b) test the validity of self-reported measures of these behaviors by comparing self-reports with log data from the smartphone. Data were collected from 50 participants over 1 week. Results show that on average participants spent 2 hours 39 minutes on their smartphone and made 101 app switches per day. Among other findings, social networking was the most used app category, age was a significant demographic factor, and participants, especially heavy smartphone users, overestimated their mobile app usage. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Use of Mobiles for Reducing Infant Mortality by Increasing Adherence to Vaccinations in a Low Resource Setting

Infant mortality is inversely proportional to immunisation. In India, due to lack of awareness and knowledge about the benefits of immunisation, the infant mortality stands at 61%. With the need to reduce this high percentage, the use of technology has proved to be beneficial. The growing penetration of mobile technologies and the sending of alerts over mobile devices has helped extend the reach of healthcare services to resource limited settings. mHealth has numerous applications in child healthcare and one such mobile application that aims to address a long standing issue of high infant mortality rate is Child Immunisation Alert System (CIAS). This paper highlights the design and outcome of CIAS, which uses various communication modalities to send vaccine alerts to the parents for high vaccine adherence. Keywords-mhealth; child immunization; mobile health; vaccination; CIAS; infant mortality rate.
Robust Techniques for Acoustic Feedback Control in Hearing Aids

Nowadays, using a hearing aid (HA) is the most common treatment for hearing impaired people to improve their hearing capability due to its simplicity and efficiency. However, one of major problems in HAs is acoustic feedback which is caused by the acoustic coupling of the loudspeaker signal into the microphone of a HA. This acoustic feedback may lead the HA to be unstable and produce howling in some cases. Consequently, the signal quality of the system is degraded as well as maximum amplification is limited. To address the acoustic feedback problem, adaptive feedback cancellation (AFC) approaches are the most potential approaches. However, the standard AFC approach results in bias in estimation of the feedback path. The bias relates to the possibly high correlation between the loudspeaker and the incoming signal. The larger the bias, the worse the system performance is achieved. This correlation is an inherent problem of the closed-loop systems that the hearing aids and the sound reinforce systems (e.g., public address systems) are typical examples. Many solutions to reduce this bias were proposed in the literature. Among them the prediction error method based AFC (PEM), which used pre-filters to pre-whiten the inputs of adaptive filter, was one of the most interesting methods for adaptive feedback cancellation in HAs, providing a significant performance improvement compared to the standard AFC method. However, the PEM applications are still limited to single-microphone single-loudspeaker (SMSL) HAs. Other recent research focus on using multi-microphone, variable step-size (VSS) control, subband, and fast-converging adaptive filter (FCAF) techniques for AFC in HAs. Recently, a trend of developing new AFC methods is based on a combination of different AFC techniques/methods to take advantage of benefits of each individual technique. The target of this dissertation is to develop new AFC methods for HAs following that trend such that the proposed methods enhance convergence and tracking rate while retaining low steady-state error of the system. Moreover, these proposed methods are
Co-administering Melatonin With an Estradiol-Progesterone Menopausal Hormone Therapy Represses Mammary Cancer Development in a Mouse Model of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

Melatonin has numerous anti-cancer properties reported to influence cancer initiation, promotion, and metastasis. With the need for effective hormone therapies (HT) to treat menopausal symptoms without increasing breast cancer risk, co-administration of nocturnal melatonin with a natural, low-dose HT was evaluated in mice that develop primary and metastatic mammary cancer. Individually, melatonin (MEL) and estradiol-progesterone therapy (EPT) did not significantly affect mammary cancer development through age 14 months, but, when combined, the melatonin-estradiol-progesterone therapy (MEPT) significantly repressed tumor formation. This repression was due to effects on tumor incidence, but not latency. These results demonstrate that melatonin and the HT cooperate to decrease the mammary cancer risk. Melatonin and EPT also cooperate to alter the balance of the progesterone receptor (PR) isoforms by significantly increasing PRA protein expression only in MEPT mammary glands. Melatonin significantly suppressed amphiregulin transcripts in MEL and MEPT mammary glands, suggesting that amphiregulin together with the higher PRA:PRB balance and other factors may contribute to reducing cancer development in MEPT mice. Melatonin supplementation influenced mammary morphology by increasing tertiary branching in the mouse mammary glands and differentiation in human mammary epithelial cell cultures. Uterine weight in the luteal phase was elevated after long-term exposure to EPT, but not to MEPT, indicating that melatonin supplementation may reduce estrogen-induced uterine stimulation. Melatonin supplementation significantly decreased the incidence of grossly-detected lung metastases in MEL mice, suggesting that melatonin delays the formation of metastatic lesions and/or decreases aggressiveness in this model of HER2+ breast cancer. Mammary tumor development was similar in EPT and MEPT mice until age 8.6 months, but after 8.6 months, only MEPT continued to suppress cancer development. These data suggest that melatonin supplementation has a negligible effect in young MEPT mice, but is required in older mice to inhibit tumor formation. Since melatonin binding was significantly decreased in older mammary glands, irrespective of treatment, melatonin supplementation may overcome reduced melatonin responsiveness in the aged MEPT mice. Since melatonin levels are known to decline near menopause, nocturnal melatonin supplementation may also be needed in aging women to cooperate with HT to decrease breast cancer risk.
Ocular Rectus Muscle Segmentation Based on Improved U-net

In recent years, deep learning has made great progress in computer vision, and shown a good application prospect in reading medical images. TAO (thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy) is one of the most common orbital diseases in adults is autoimmune disease, the exact pathogenesis is not clear. In hospitals, CT images are usually used for disease analysis and the distortion of ocular rectus muscles is one of the main causes of TAO, thus the separation of the ocular rectus muscle is of great practical significance. However, the artificial segmentation of the ocular rectus muscle is a time-consuming task and relies heavily on the experience of the operato. In this paper, we improved the traditional U-net with GoogLeNet inception module and apply it on the segmentation of ocular rectus muscles. The experimental results show that the segmentation results of our method are more accurate and efficient than the traditional algorithm, and it is helpful for doctors to diagnose patients’ diseases.
Planet of the apes : or how Hollywood turned Darwin upside down

"Planet of the Apes" was a film success when it was first released in 1967, and it has since received cult status with videos and original merchandise changing hands at ridiculous prices. The film spawned four sequels, two television series and a remake is set to hit the cinema screen in the summer of 2001. This book covers the entire "Planet of the Apes" phenomenon, from Boulle's novel through to the remake, though the focus is on the original movie. One chapter will preview the Tim Burton remake while another contains an interview with Charlton Heston, star of the original film.
Complete Denture Impression Procedures and Techniques Practised by Dental Surgeons of a Dental College in Eastern Part of India: A Short Survey

One of the key factors contributing to the success of Complete Denture (CD) fabrication is proper impression making, though it varies from clinician to clinician. This survey aims to find out the current trend of impression making for CD practiced by a group of clinicians attached to Guru Nanak Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Kolkata. A pre-tested questionnaire consisting of 15 questions with multiple options about impression making for CD was distributed amongst 150 practitioners. Received data were tabulated and analyzed using Microsoft Excel software. Total of 124 respondents returned duly filled questionnaires. 99.2% of practitioners made both primary and final impression. The material of choice for primary impression was impression compound (70.2%).
Perinatal brain damage in very preterm infants : prenatal inflammation and neurologic outcome in children born term and preterm

Despite improvements in periand neonatal care and an increase in the overall survival of very preterm infants, the incidence of neurologic sequelae has remained high. The pathogenesis of many brain imaging findings, such as white matter damage, WMD, is poorly understood. The factors predisposing to brain damage differ between term and preterm infants. More detailed information is needed of how brain imaging correlates with neurodevelopmental impairment after the neonatal period. The present study investigated the preand perinatal factors leading to brain damage and their effects on neurologic and neurodevelopmental outcome in very preterm children. We also analyzed the differences in umbilical cord serum cytokines in term and preterm children with cerebral palsy, CP. Furthermore, the correlations between the findings on diffusion-weighted imaging, DWI, measurements in brainstem auditory evoked potentials, and neurodevelopmental outcome were assessed. We demonstrated that pregnancies complicated by combined histologic chorioamnionitis and placental insufficiency independently predicted abnormal neurologic outcome at 2 years of corrected age. WMD additively predicted poor outcome. Isolated fetal inflammatory response, umbilical cord serum acute phase cytokines (IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α), did not associate with neurologic outcome in either term or preterm children. Instead, a cluster of cytokines different from acute phase cytokines were related to CP, and the protein profile differed between term and preterm children. Disturbed hemodynamics during the preand perinatal period affected outcome in very preterm infants. In severe placental insufficiency, fetal cardiac compromise associated with suboptimal neurodevelopmental outcome at 1 year of corrected age. In addition, several clinical factors characterising cardiorespiratory status after birth associated with abnormal neurologic outcome at 2 years of corrected age. We found the apparent diffusion coefficient, ADC, a quantitative measurement of water diffusion, in pons to correlate with the conduction rate of impulses travelling through the auditory tract. We also demonstrated a high value of ADC in corona radiata to associate with poor outcome in gross motor and eye-hand coordination skills at 2 years of corrected age. Both preand perinatal factors associate with later outcome in very preterm infants. An isolated fetal inflammatory response does not predict neurologic outcome. Findings on DWI in specific brain regions predict abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome.