Analysis of Breast Contour using Rotated Catenary.
Surgical reconstruction of natural-appearing breasts is a challenging task. Currently, surgical planning is limited to the surgeon's subjective assessment of breast morphology. Therefore, it is useful to develop objective measurements of breast contour. In this paper, a novel quantitative measure of the breast contour based on catenary theory is introduced. A catenary curve is fitted on the breast contour (lateral and inferior) and the key parameter determining the shape of the curve is extracted. The new catenary analysis was applied to pre- and post-operative clinical photographs of women who underwent tissue expander/implant (TE/Implant) reconstruction. A logistic regression model was developed to predict the probability that the observed contour is that of a TE/Implant reconstruction from the catenary parameter, patient age, and patient body mass index. It was demonstrated that the parameters contain useful information for distinguishing TE/Implant reconstructed breasts from pre-operative breasts.

title: Quantitative measures of facial expression for patients with head and neck cancer
abstract: In addition to changes in facial morphology, head and neck cancer treatment can impact the facial expression. Quantification of changes in facial expression, particularly of smiling, would enable a deeper understanding of the relationship between physical changes and psychosocial adjustment in patients being treated for facial cancer. This study proposes 48 quantitative facial expression measures, which consist of the length normalized distances and slopes between 27 manually annotated fiducial points on standard 2D clinical photographs of patients with head and neck cancer. Using the proposed measures, the maximum intensity of smiling for patients with head and neck cancer prior to their treatments was compared to that of a sample from a healthy population. A total of 7 facial expression measures captured statistically significant differences between patients with head and neck cancer and healthy individuals. These measures suggest that patients with head and neck cancer are less expressive than people without head and neck cancer. This study is the first attempt to quantify the facial expression of patients with head and neck cancer and to build a foundation for studying how surgical interventions may affect their facial expressions. Moreover, this study lays the groundwork for future investigation of the relationship between facial expression and psychosocial adjustment in cancer patients.

title: Measures for the assessment of fuzzy predictions of protein secondary structure.
abstract: Many of the recent secondary structure prediction methods incorporate the idea of fuzzy set theory, where instead of assigning a definite secondary structure to a query residue, probability for the residue being in each of the conformational states is estimated. Moreover, continuous assignment of conformational states to the experimentally observed protein structures can be performed in order to reflect inherent flexibility. Although various measures have been developed for evaluating performances of secondary structure prediction methods, they depend only on the most probable secondary structures. They do not assess the accuracy of the probabilities produced by fuzzy prediction methods, and they cannot incorporate information contained in continuous assignments of conformational states to observed structures. Three important measures for evaluating performance of a secondary structure prediction algorithm, Q score, Segment OVerlap (SOV) measure, and the k-state correlation coefficient (Corr), are deformed into fuzzy measures F score, Fuzzy OVerlap (FOV) measure, and the fuzzy correlation coefficient (Forr), so that the new measures not only assess probabilistic outputs of fuzzy prediction methods, but also incorporate information from continuous assignments of secondary structure. As an example of application, prediction results of four fuzzy secondary structure prediction methods, PSIPRED, PROFking, SABLE, and PREDICT, are assessed using the new fuzzy measures.

title: The critical-size supraalveolar peri-implant defect model: reproducibility in histometric data acquisition of alveolar bone formation and osseointegration.
abstract: The objective of this report is to present the reproducibility of outcomes assessments in the Critical-Size Supraalveolar Peri-Implant Defect Model.



Two examiners without specific experience in histological analysis and one experienced examiner performed the histometric evaluation. A comprehensive training program in data acquisition and histological analysis was established, the inexperienced examiners underwent approximately 12 h of training over multiple sessions. A custom-designed image analysis software macro and a computer-based image system were used to analyse digital images generated by a microscope camera system. Nine parameters for newly formed and resident bone were evaluated. Examiners performed histometric analysis using 36 histologic sections selected from critical-size supraalveolar peri-implant defects in 12 male Hound Labrador Mongrel dogs. Buccal and lingual measurements were performed in 72 sites. Intra- and inter-examiner reproducibility were evaluated using the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and means +/- SD of the differences. Systematic errors were evaluated using an F-test for equality of means and variances.



Intra-examiner reproducibility was high for all parameters evaluated, the lowest CCC observed being 0.87. Inter-examiner reproducibility was also high, most CCCs exceeding 0.90. Minor systematic errors for intra- and inter-examiner comparisons were occasionally observed. The results imply a high temporal stability because recordings were performed 3 months apart. Measurement errors were stable throughout the range of observations for all parameters.



High examiner reproducibility and temporal stability can be achieved for histometric data acquisition using the Critical-Size Supraalveolar Peri-Implant Defect Model. Examiner reproducibility should be routinely assessed, reported, and accounted for to assure the quality of evidence generated by preclinical studies.

title: Dynamic light scattering optical coherence tomography.
abstract: We introduce an integration of dynamic light scattering (DLS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for high-resolution 3D imaging of heterogeneous diffusion and flow. DLS analyzes fluctuations in light scattered by particles to measure diffusion or flow of the particles, and OCT uses coherence gating to collect light only scattered from a small volume for high-resolution structural imaging. Therefore, the integration of DLS and OCT enables high-resolution 3D imaging of diffusion and flow. We derived a theory under the assumption that static and moving particles are mixed within the OCT resolution volume and the moving particles can exhibit either diffusive or translational motion. Based on this theory, we developed a fitting algorithm to estimate dynamic parameters including the axial and transverse velocities and the diffusion coefficient. We validated DLS-OCT measurements of diffusion and flow through numerical simulations and phantom experiments. As an example application, we performed DLS-OCT imaging of the living animal brain, resulting in 3D maps of the absolute and axial velocities, the diffusion coefficient, and the coefficient of determination.

title: Combined effect of oleic acid and polyethylene glycol 200 on buccal permeation of [D-ala2, D-leu5]enkephalin from a cubic phase of glyceryl monooleate.
abstract: The combined use of the lipophilic permeation enhancer, oleic acid together with polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG 200) as a co-enhancer and incorporated into the cubic liquid crystalline phase of glyceryl monooleate was investigated in the ex vivo buccal permeation of [D-Ala2, D-Leu5]enkephalin (DADLE) through porcine buccal mucosa mounted in a Franz cell. The addition of oleic acid (1%) and PEG 200 (1-10%) did not change the intact appearance of the cubic phase. PEG 200 increased the aqueous solubility of oleic acid incorporated into the cubic phase and hence promoted the transport of oleic acid into the porcine buccal mucosa. The solubilising effect of PEG 200 on oleic acid incorporated into the cubic phase was dependent on the PEG 200 concentration but was non-linear. The buccal permeation flux of DADLE significantly increased when 5% (P<0.01) or 10% (P<0.001) of PEG 200 was co-administered with 1% oleic acid compared with the cubic phase containing 1% oleic acid alone. The present results suggest that PEG 200 enhances the action of the lipophilic permeation enhancer oleic acid and that the combination of oleic acid and PEG 200 as a co-enhancer can be a useful tool to improve the membrane permeability in the buccal delivery of peptide drugs using a cubic liquid crystalline phase of glyceryl monooleate and water.

title: Elastomeric microwire-based optical gas flowmeter with stretching-enabled tunability in measurement range.
abstract: We report the utilization of transparent poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microwires as the transducer for optical gas flowmetry. The elasticity of the PDMS microwire was exploited not only to miniaturize and simplify the flowmeter but also to widen and tune the measurement range through mechanical stretching. Using a 9 mm long microwire, we achieved 2.8~9.8 dB/SLM sensitivity. A 500 μm stretching of the microwire also shifted the measurement range from 1 to 4 SLM. The experimental results agreed well with predictions based on the fluid dynamic/optical model.