-
Smedegaard Mccormick posted an update 6 months, 4 weeks ago
Lung CT image segmentation is a key process in many applications such as lung cancer detection. It is considered a challenging problem due to existing similar image densities in the pulmonary structures, different types of scanners, and scanning protocols. Most of the current semi-automatic segmentation methods rely on human factors therefore it might suffer from lack of accuracy. Another shortcoming of these methods is their high false-positive rate. In recent years, several approaches, based on a deep learning framework, have been effectively applied in medical image segmentation. Among existing deep neural networks, the U-Net has provided great success in this field. In this paper, we propose a deep neural network architecture to perform an automatic lung CT image segmentation process. In the proposed method, several extensive preprocessing techniques are applied to raw CT images. Then, ground truths corresponding to these images are extracted via some morphological operations and manual reforms. Finally, all the prepared images with the corresponding ground truth are fed into a modified U-Net in which the encoder is replaced with a pre-trained ResNet-34 network (referred to as Res BCDU-Net). In the architecture, we employ BConvLSTM (Bidirectional Convolutional Long Short-term Memory)as an advanced integrator module instead of simple traditional concatenators. This is to merge the extracted feature maps of the corresponding contracting path into the previous expansion of the up-convolutional layer. Finally, a densely connected convolutional layer is utilized for the contracting path. The results of our extensive experiments on lung CT images (LIDC-IDRI database) confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method where a dice coefficient index of 97.31% is achieved.Lactoferrin is an iron binding glycoprotein with multiple roles in the body. Its participation in apoptotic processes in cancer cells, its ability to modulate various reactions of the immune system, and its activity against a broad spectrum of pathogenic microorganisms, including respiratory viruses, have made it a protein of broad interest in pharmaceutical and food research and industry. In this review, we have focused on describing the most important functions of lactoferrin and the possible mechanisms of action that lead to its function.Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infections are notoriously complicated by the ability of the organism to grow in biofilms and are difficult to eradicate with antimicrobial therapy. The purpose of the current study was to clarify the influence of sub-inhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs) of daptomycin and tigecycline antibiotics on biofilm adhesion factors and exoproteins expressions by S. aureus clinical isolates. Roblitinib research buy Six clinical isolates representing positive biofilm S. aureus clones (3 methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and 3 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA)) were grown with sub-MICs (0.5 MIC) of two antibiotics (daptomycin and tigecycline) for 12 h of incubation. RNA extracted from culture pellets was used via relative quantitative real-time-PCR (qRT-PCR) to determine expression of specific adhesion (fnbA, fnbB, clfA, clfB, fib, ebps, cna, eno) and biofilm (icaADBC) genes. To examine the effect of sub-MIC of these antibiotics on the expression of extracellular proteins, samples from the culture supeutic regimen should be adapted depending on antibiotic, the virulence factor and strain type.The peak increase in lean mass in adolescents is delayed from peak height velocity (PHV), and muscle flexibility temporarily decreases as bones grow. If the decrease in muscle flexibility is caused by muscle elongation, the relationship between the exerted torque and the joint angle could change in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to investigate the change in the optimum angle of force production due to growth. Eighty-eight healthy boys were recruited for this study. Isokinetic knee extension muscle strength of the dominant leg was recorded. The outcome variable was the knee flexion angle when maximal knee extension torque was produced (optimum angle). The age at which PHV occurred was estimated from subjects’ height history. We calculated the difference between the age at measurement and the expected age of PHV (growth age). A regression analysis was performed with the optimal angle of force exertion as the dependent variable and the growth age as the independent variable. Then, a polynomial formula with the lowest p-value was obtained. A significant cubic regression was obtained between optimum angle and growth age. The results suggest that the optimum angle of force production temporarily changes in male adolescence.The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in dyslipidemia-related diseases with or without the use of fibrate. Patients were defined as dyslipidemia-related diseases according to the diagnostic code and lab exam arrangement, then the population was divided into those with fibrate application and those without via 12 ratios of propensity-score matching. The primary outcome is the development of AMD after dyslipidemia-related diseases by the Cox proportional hazard regression. Besides, the relationship between the medical compliance of fibrate, presented as medical possession ratio (MPR), and the AMD development was also analyzed. A total of 22,917 patients and 45,834 individuals were enrolled in the study and control groups. There were 572 and 1181 events of any AMD development in the study and control groups which showed identical risk of AMD (aHR 0.94, 95% CI 0.85-1.04). However, a reduced risk of any AMD was found in those patients reached a baseline MPR more than 20% (aHR 0.729, 95% CI 0.599-0.887, p = 0.0016) and overall MPR more than 5% three years after the diagnosis of dyslipidemia-related diseases (aHR 0.712, 95% CI 0.557-0.909, p = 0.0065). Besides, a lower risk of dry-AMD was also found in those patients with the above conditions (aHR 0.736, 95% CI 0.599-0.906, p = 0.0038 and aHR 0.721, 95% CI 0.557-0.934, p = 0.0133, respectively). In conclusion, the use of fibrate with fair initial medical compliance will decrease the incidence of AMD in patients with dyslipidemia-related diseases, especially for the development of dry-AMD.
Please follow & like us :)
All content contained on CatsWannaBeCats.Com, unless otherwise acknowledged,is the property of CatsWannaBeCats.Com and subject to copyright.