Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of statistical iterative reconstruction for dedicated breast CT.

PURPOSE Dedicated breast CT has great potential for improving the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. Statistical iterative reconstruction (SIR) in dedicated breast CT is a promising alternative to traditional filtered backprojection (FBP). One of the difficulties in using SIR is the presence of free parameters in the algorithm that control the appearance of the resulting image. These parameters require tuning in order to achieve high quality reconstructions. In this study, the authors investigated the penalized maximum likelihood (PML) method with two commonly used types of roughness penalty functions: hyperbolic potential and anisotropic total variation (TV) norm. Reconstructed images were compared with images obtained using standard FBP. Optimal parameters for PML with the hyperbolic prior are reported for the task of detecting microcalcifications embedded in breast tissue. METHODS Computer simulations were used to acquire projections in a half-cone beam geometry. The modeled setup describes a realistic breast CT benchtop system, with an x-ray spectra produced by a point source and an a-Si, CsI:Tl flat-panel detector. A voxelized anthropomorphic breast phantom with 280 μm microcalcification spheres embedded in it was used to model attenuation properties of the uncompressed woman's breast in a pendant position. The reconstruction of 3D images was performed using the separable paraboloidal surrogates algorithm with ordered subsets. Task performance was assessed with the ideal observer detectability index to determine optimal PML parameters. RESULTS The authors' findings suggest that there is a preferred range of values of the roughness penalty weight and the edge preservation threshold in the penalized objective function with the hyperbolic potential, which resulted in low noise images with high contrast microcalcifications preserved. In terms of numerical observer detectability index, the PML method with optimal parameters yielded substantially improved performance (by a factor of greater than 10) compared to FBP. The hyperbolic prior was also observed to be superior to the TV norm. A few of the best-performing parameter pairs for the PML method also demonstrated superior performance for various radiation doses. In fact, using PML with certain parameter values results in better images, acquired using 2 mGy dose, than FBP-reconstructed images acquired using 6 mGy dose. CONCLUSIONS A range of optimal free parameters for the PML algorithm with hyperbolic and TV norm-based potentials is presented for the microcalcification detection task, in dedicated breast CT. The reported values can be used as starting values of the free parameters, when SIR techniques are used for image reconstruction. Significant improvement in image quality can be achieved by using PML with optimal combination of parameters, as compared to FBP. Importantly, these results suggest improved detection of microcalcifications can be obtained by using PML with lower radiation dose to the patient, than using FBP with higher dose.
Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis: A viable modality of renal replacement therapy in a hilly state of India

Objective: Chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) has been an established form of therapy in adult patients with end-stage renal failure in India for more than a decade and has emerged as accepted form of renal replacement therapy in urban areas. The objective of this paper is to report the experience with CAPD as a modality of renal replacement therapy from a tertiary care hospital in a hilly state of India with predominant rural population. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: A government-owned tertiary care hospital in Himachal Pradesh, a state with a population of 6 million. Materials and Methods: This study involved the patients who were initiated on CAPD between October 2002 and December 2006 and who survived and/or had more than 6 months follow up on this treatment with last follow up till June 30, 2007. Results: A total of 25 patients were included in the analysis. The mean age of the patients was 61 ± 10.2 years. 13 (52%) patients were female. 18 (72%) patients out of these lived in rural areas. The total follow up was 553.1 patient-months with a mean follow up of 22.1 ± 12.4 months. The total duration on peritoneal dialysis treatment was 541.1 patient-months with a mean duration of 21.6 ± 12.2 months and median duration of 19 patient-months (range: 6-56.3 patient-months). No patient had exit-site infection. There were 26 episodes of peritonitis. The rate of peritonitis was 1 episode per 21 patient-months or 0.6 per patient-year during the treatment period. The main cause of death was cardiovascular complications. Patient and technique survival at 1, 2 and 3 years was 80, 36 and 12%, respectively. Conclusion: Chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) is a safe and viable mode of renal replacement in remote and rural places. It can emerge as a revolutionized procedure for ESRD patients dwelling in remote and geographically difficult regions in developing countries such as India.
COMPARISON OF I.M. KETOROLAC TROMETAMOL AND MORPHINE SULPHATE FOR PAIN RELIEF AFTER CHOLECYSTECTOMY

I.m. ketorolac trometamol 30 mg was compared with morphine sulphate 10 mg after chole-cystectomy in a double-blind, multiple dose, randomized study of 100 patients. Assessments of pain were made immediately after operation (day 1), and the next morning (day 2). Pain intensity (verbal response score and visual analogue scale) was recorded before injection and then over a 6-h period. Pain relief was assessed also. The effect of ketorolac on operative blood loss and platelet function was examined. Time to commencing oral intake and the duration of administration of i.v. fluids were recorded. Adverse events were noted. Ketorolac produced significantly less analgesia than morphine on day 1, but on day 2 the two drugs produced a similar effect. Blood loss was not increased by ketorolac, although platelet function was impaired. Repeated i.m. administration of ketorolac did not produce any serious adverse effects.
Measuring Physicians’ and Medical Students’ Attitudes Toward Caring for Immigrant Patients

It is generally believed that culturally competent clinical practice depends in part on the development of positive attitudes toward the care of immigrant patients. However, few tools exist to measure such attitudes in physicians. The authors operationalized ‘‘culturally competent attitudes’’ to include a high level of interest in caring for immigrant patients, an acceptance of the responsibility of doctors and hospitals to adapt to immigrant patients’ needs, and the opinion that understanding the patient’s psychosocial context is particularly important when caring for immigrant patients. The authors then assessed these attitudes and opinions among a sample of 619 Geneva doctors and medical students using a self-administered questionnaire and explored their association to respondents’ personal characteristics and professional experience. The authors found that both personal characteristics and professional experience were associated with attitudes toward caring for immigrant patients. In particular, the perceived importance of understanding the psychosocial context when caring for migrants was higher among medical students, women, Swiss nationals, those with greater interest in caring for immigrant patients and those who had received training in cultural competence. However, it is unclear whether cultural competence training and clinical context lead to the development of more positive attitudes or whether medical students and physicians who already have positive attitudes are more likely to participate in such training.
Hierarchical Porous Structured SiO2/SnO2 Nanofibrous Membrane with Superb Flexibility for Molecular Filtration.

The separation and purification of chemical molecules from organic media under harsh chemical environments are of vital importance in the fields of water treatment, biomedical engineering, and organic recycling. Herein, we report the preparation of a flexible SiO2/SnO2 nanofibrous membrane (SiO2/SnO2 NFM) with high surface area and hierarchical porous structure by selecting poly(vinyl butyral) as pore-forming agent and embedding crystalline phase into amorphous matrix without using surfactant as sacrificial template. Benefiting from the uniform micropore size on the fibers and negatively charged properties, the membranes exhibit a precise selectivity toward molecules based on electrostatic interaction and size exclusion, which could separate organic molecule mixtures with the same electrostatic charges and different molecular sizes with a high efficiency of more than 97%. Furthermore, the highly tortuous open-porous structures and high porosity give rise to a high permeate flux of 288 000 L m-2 h-1. In addition, the membrane also displays excellent stability and can be reused for ten consecutive filtration-regeneration cycles. The integration of high filtration efficiency, large permeate flux, good reutilization, and easy to industrialization provides the SiO2/SnO2 NFM for potential applications in practical molecular purification and separation science.
Longitudinal Outcomes of a Comprehensive, Incentivized Worksite Wellness Program

This study evaluated health benefits of long-term participation in an employer-based wellness program, focusing on selected chronic disease risk factors. A repeated measures longitudinal time-series study was conducted of 8 years of existing prospectively collected annual data, including clinical measures of weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and body fat percent. Participants were divided into their risk levels at baseline. Outcomes were compared to level of participation, for which annual points earned was a surrogate. Participants had lower increases in body mass index (BMI) than the general population had during the same time period. Greatest improvements in BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol were seen in those at highest risk levels at baseline and in those whose physical activity increased over time. It was found that long-term participation in this program improved BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Most benefits were found for those in high-risk groups. This program should recruit more employees in high health risk categories and emphasize retention and increased levels of participation.
Defining “Community” in Emergency Preparedness

TO THE EDITOR: The article by Braun and colleagues (1) underscores the need to accelerate integration of hospital disaster preparedness with community planning. The initial linkage for hospitals is with first responders: fire department, police department, and emergency medical service. Coordination of these services is usually provided by a governmental body, such as the Office of Emergency Management in New York City. It is clear, however, that, in a widespread disaster scenario, communities will need to be self-sufficient for at least the first 48 hours. This requires an expansion of the term “community” beyond hospitals and the agencies listed above. An integrated plan is needed that also includes skilled nursing facilities; chronic disease facilities; freestanding dialysis centers; correctional facilities; and, most critically, the community-based physicians. We learned on September 11, 2001, that having our physicians all rush to the hospital or to Ground Zero was not only nonproductive but also actually dangerous. In a pandemic, for example, it would be necessary to have physicians maintain office hours to triage less critically ill patients away from overburdened hospitals. Similarly, in a mass casualty event, coordination with skilled nursing facilities will expedite the rapid discharge of stable patients to provide surge capacity. On Staten Island, New York, which has a population of 470 000 people, the Richmond County Medical Society in cooperation with the 2 hospital systems is developing linkages among all health care entities. Since communication is frequently the weak link in managing the response to a disaster, we have conducted a tabletop drill involving both hospitals, the Richmond County Medical Society, a New York State psychiatric facility, and the skilled nursing facilities. The next step is to repeat the drill and attempt to reach out to all physicians in the county. Other health care entities, such as hospice and home care, have been part of the initial planning and will be included in follow-up drills. I suggest that physician leadership drive this type of integration of resources, because the health of our communities is ultimately our mission.
“It’s a Feel. That’s What a Lot of Our Evidence Would Consist of ”: Public Health Practitioners’ Perspectives on Evidence

This article describes how evidence is defined and used in two British Columbia public health departments during the implementation of a Healthy Living initiative in 2009. Through interviews with 21 public health staff and decision makers, the author sought to investigate how “evidence” was defined by both frontline and management staff and how it was used in decision making. The authors found public health staff, particularly frontline practitioners, to be drawn to grassroots and local “lived experience” evidence. This tacit wisdom, in combination with evidence from academia and clinical evidence accessed through disciplinary or professional networks, offered a knowledge transition opportunity to inform decision making, rather than what can be characterized in the literature as unidirectional knowledge translation. It is often difficult for staff to digest and interpret research as part of their work day because of the volume and density of information that typically counts as evidence. Moreover, there exist challenges to identify and gather indicators as evidence of their work.
A Survey of Learning Classifier Systems in Games [Review Article]

Games are becoming increasingly indispensable, not only for fun but also to support tasks that are more serious, such as education, strategic planning, and understanding of complex phenomena. Computational intelligence-based methods are contributing significantly to this development. Learning Classifier Systems (LCS) is a pioneering computational intelligence approach that combines machine learning methods with evolutionary computation, to learn problem solutions in the form of interpretable rules. These systems offer several advantages for game applications, including a powerful and flexible agent architecture built on a knowledge-based symbolic modeling engine; modeling flexibility that allows integrating domain knowledge and different machine learning mechanisms under a single computational framework; an ability to adapt to diverse game requirements; and an ability to learn and generate creative agent behaviors in real-time dynamic environments. We present a comprehensive and dedicated survey of LCS in computer games. The survey highlights the versatility and advantages of these systems by reviewing their application in a variety of games. The survey is organized according to a general game classification and provides an opportunity to bring this important research direction into the public eye. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the existing approaches and provide insights into important future research directions.
Coverage Path Planning with Real‐time Replanning and Surface Reconstruction for Inspection of Three‐dimensional Underwater Structures using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

We present a novel method for planning coverage paths for inspecting complex structures on the ocean floor using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Our method initially uses a 2.5‐dimensional (2.5D) prior bathymetric map to plan a nominal coverage path that allows the AUV to pass its sensors over all points on the target area. The nominal path uses a standard mowing‐the‐lawn pattern in effectively planar regions, while in regions with substantial 3D relief it follows horizontal contours of the terrain at a given offset distance. We then go beyond previous approaches in the literature by considering the vehicle's state uncertainty rather than relying on the unrealistic assumption of an idealized path execution. Toward that end, we present a replanning algorithm based on a stochastic trajectory optimization that reshapes the nominal path to cope with the actual target structure perceived in situ. The replanning algorithm runs onboard the AUV in real time during the inspection mission, adapting the path according to the measurements provided by the vehicle's range‐sensing sonars. Furthermore, we propose a pipeline of state‐of‐the‐art surface reconstruction techniques we apply to the data acquired by the AUV to obtain 3D models of the inspected structures that show the benefits of our planning method for 3D mapping. We demonstrate the efficacy of our method in experiments at sea using the GIRONA 500 AUV, where we cover part of a breakwater structure in a harbor and an underwater boulder rising from 40 m up to 27 m depth.
Nonlocal denoising using anisotropic structure tensor for 3D MRI.

PURPOSE Noise in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data is widely recognized to be harmful to image processing and subsequent quantitative analysis. To ameliorate the effects of image noise, the authors present a structure-tensor based nonlocal mean (NLM) denoising technique that can effectively reduce noise in MRI data and improve tissue characterization. METHODS The proposed 3D NLM algorithm uses a structure tensor to characterize information around tissue boundaries. The similarity weight of a pixel (or patch), which determines its contribution to the denoising process, is determined by the intensity and structure tensor simultaneously. Meanwhile, similarity of structure tensors is computed using an affine-invariant Riemannian metrics, which compares tensor properties more comprehensively and avoids orientation inaccuracy of structure subsequently. The proposed method is further extended for denoising high dimensional MRI data such as diffusion weighted MRI. It is also extended to handle Rician noise corruption so that denoising effects are further enhanced. RESULTS The proposed method was implemented in both simulated datasets and multiply modalities of real 3D MRI datasets. Comparisons with related state-of-the-art algorithms demonstrated that this method improves denoising performance qualitatively and quantitatively. CONCLUSIONS In this paper, high order structure information of 3D MRI was characterized by 3D structure tensor and compared for NLM denoising in a Riemannian space. Experiments with simulated and real human MRI data demonstrate a great potential of the proposed technique for routine clinical use.
An Automated Emergency Landing System for Fixed‐Wing Aircraft: Planning and Control

A number of hurdles must be overcome in order to integrate unmanned aircraft into civilian airspace for routine operations. The ability of the aircraft to land safely in an emergency is essential to reduce the risk to people, infrastructure, and aircraft. To date, few field‐demonstrated systems have been presented that show online replanning and repeatability from failure to touchdown. This paper presents the development of the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) component of an automated emergency landing system (AELS) intended to address this gap, suited to a variety of fixed‐wing aircraft. Field‐tested on both a fixed‐wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and Cessna 172R during repeated emergency landing experiments, a trochoid‐based path planner computes feasible trajectories, and a simplified control system executes the required maneuvers to guide the aircraft toward touchdown on a predefined landing site. This is achieved in zero‐thrust conditions with engine forced to idle to simulate failure. During an autonomous landing, the controller uses airspeed, inertial, and GPS data to track motion and maintains essential flight parameters to guarantee flyability, while the planner monitors glide ratio and replans to ensure approach at correct altitude. Simulations show reliability of the system in a variety of wind conditions and its repeated ability to land within the boundary of a predefined landing site. Results from field‐tests for the two aircraft demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed GNC system in live operation. Results show that the system is capable of guiding the aircraft to close proximity of a predefined keyhole in nearly 100% of cases.
A road to future broadband wireless access: MIMO-OFDM-Based air interface

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing is a popular method for high-data-rate wireless transmission. OFDM may be combined with multiple antennas at both the access point and mobile terminal to increase diversity gain and/or enhance system capacity on a time-varying multipath fading channel, resulting in a multiple-input multiple-output OFDM system. In this article we give a brief technical overview of MIMO-OFDM system design. We focus on various research topics for the MIMO-OFDM-based air interface, including spatial channel modeling, MIMO-OFDM transceiver design, MIMO-OFDM channel estimation, space-time techniques for MIMO-OFDM, and error correction code. The corresponding link-level simulation results are encouraging, and show that MIMO-OFDM is a promising road to future broadband wireless access.
Psychometric Properties of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale With Older American Indians

Resilience is a term that refers to a person’s ability to successfully adapt to adversity. Resilience research has been relatively limited with older adults, particularly with older American Indians. Also, none of the resilience measures have been validated in older American Indians. This study’s objective was to assess the psychometric properties of the full 25-item and abbreviated 10-item versions of Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) with a sample of older American Indians. Both CD-RISC versions performed similarly in the study sample compared with what has been reported in other populations. The full version demonstrated adequate internal consistency and convergent and divergent validity, but a meaningful factor structure was not confirmed. The abbreviated version showed good internal consistency and convergent and divergent validity and appeared to have a stable one-factor solution. These findings lend greater support to the use of the abbreviated version than the full version of the CD-RISC with older American Indians.
On the Multiple-Query Optimization Problem

The complexity of the multiple-query optimization problem in database management systems is examined. It is shown that the problem is NP-hard. Then the authors examine the performance of a heuristic algorithm to solve the multiple-query optimization problem and suggest some heuristics for query ordering which improve the efficiency of the algorithm considerably. Some experimental results on the performance of various heuristics are also presented. >