PointCleanNet: Learning to Denoise and Remove Outliers from Dense Point Clouds

Point clouds obtained with 3D scanners or by image-based reconstruction techniques are often corrupted with significant amount of noise and outliers. Traditional methods for point cloud denoising largely rely on local surface fitting (e.g., jets or MLS surfaces), local or non-local averaging, or on statistical assumptions about the underlying noise model. In contrast, we develop a simple data-driven method for removing outliers and reducing noise in unordered point clouds. We base our approach on a deep learning architecture adapted from PCPNet, which was recently proposed for estimating local 3D shape properties in point clouds. Our method first classifies and discards outlier samples, and then estimates correction vectors that project noisy points onto the original clean surfaces. The approach is efficient and robust to varying amounts of noise and outliers, while being able to handle large densely-sampled point clouds. In our extensive evaluation, both on synthesic and real data, we show an increased robustness to strong noise levels compared to various state-of-the-art methods, enabling accurate surface reconstruction from extremely noisy real data obtained by range scans. Finally, the simplicity and universality of our approach makes it very easy to integrate in any existing geometry processing pipeline

Capturing Initial Understanding and Impressions of Surgical Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease to Enhance Patient Education

Purpose: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an underutilized surgical therapy for Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Both physician and patient hesitancies have been described as barriers to DBS, but specific perceptions of DBS have not been well characterized. To better understand DBS hesitancy, our objective is to pinpoint what specific concerns and fears our patient population have and use this information to enhance education for those contemplating DBS. Methods: A 30-question survey assessing impressions of surgical therapy for PD was administered to PD patients seen at an urban movement-disorders clinic. Patients had not yet undergone DBS implantation or neurosurgeon consultation. Questions were developed by an interdisciplinary team based on prior studies and common patient impressions previously noticed by clinicians. The survey assessed three domains: reported surgical history, openness to hypothetical surgery, and perceptions of DBS. Results and Conclusions: 102 patients completed the survey. The majority of patients thought that DBS is invasive (77%) and should be used only as a last resort (62%). Cost and insurance coverage were common concerns (53%). Eighty-two (80%) patients reported familiarity with DBS, with the majority having first heard about it from the internet. Sources of DBS information were not associated with willingness to undergo DBS, nor were they associated with impressions of DBS effectiveness or other DBS concerns (all p\u3e0.05). These findings provide us with insight regarding patient hesitancy, helping inform clinicians patient’s direct concerns. Further, we can bridge gaps in patient education and improve educational materials moving forward

Angiogram Negative Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Incidence, Outcomes, and Predisposition

Introduction: Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a medical emergency that may lead to deleterious outcomes unless the underlying cause is determined and managed promptly to prevent further rebleed. Though a significant percentage of cases of SAH have no identifiable pathology, there is a lack of data related to outcomes, predispositions, and whether there has been an increase in the incidence of angiogram negative SAH (anSAH). This study aimed to assess the current incidence of anSAH and factors that are associated with outcomes and predisposition among patients diagnosed with anSAH. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed. Medical records of patients at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience who underwent cerebral angiography between 2010 and 2019 were reviewed to create a database from which patients diagnosed with anSAH were identified. Data related to clinical outcome, medical history, and demographics were collected. When data collection is complete, statistical analysis will be performed to evaluate the significance of the data. Results: Of 4914 patients in the database, 1038 patients were identified as likely having anSAH, though the results must be verified. The incidence of anSAH was 21.1%. Due to ongoing data collection, no interim analysis was possible to assess variables associated with outcomes and predisposition for anSAH. Discussion: As a result of incomplete data, the impact of the study on predicting outcomes and assessing predisposition for anSAH is unknown. However, the data suggest increased anSAH incidence in recent times, indicating that anSAH remains a significant subtype of SAH that clinicians should consider in the differential diagnosis

Clinical Factors Associated With Need for Neurosurgical Care in Young Children With Imaging for Macrocephaly: A Case Control Study

BACKGROUND: Macrocephaly is present in 2.3% of children with important neurosurgical conditions in the differential diagnosis. The objective of this study was to identify clinical associations with actionable imaging findings among children with head imaging for macrocephaly. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study of head imaging studies ordered for macrocephaly among children 24 months and younger in a multistate children\u27s health system. Four neurosurgeons reviewed the images, determining cases to be a \u27concern\u27 if neurosurgical follow-up or intervention was indicated. Electronic health records were reviewed to collect patient-level data and to determine if surgery was performed. Controls were matched 3:1 to cases of \u27concern\u27 in a multivariate model using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: In the study sample (n = 1293), 46 (4%) were concern cases, with 15 (1%) requiring surgery. Significant clinical factors associated with neurosurgical concern were bulging fontanel [aOR 7.47, (95% CI: 2.28-24.44), P \u3c 0.001], prematurity [aOR 21.26, (95% CI: 3.76-120.21), P \u3c 0.001], any delay [aOR 2.67, (95% CI: 1.13-6.27), P = 0.03], and head-weight Z-score difference (W_diff, defined as the difference between the Z-scores of head circumference and weight) [aOR 1.70, (95% CI: 1.22-2.37), P = 0.002]. CONCLUSIONS: Head imaging for macrocephaly identified few patients with findings of concern and fewer requiring surgery. A greater head-weight Z-score difference appears to represent a novel risk factor for neurosurgical follow-up or intervention

Capturing Initial Understanding and Impressions of Surgical Therapy for Parkinson\u27s Disease

Background: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an underutilized surgical therapy for Parkinson\u27s Disease (PD). Both physician and patient hesitancies have been described as potential barriers to DBS, but the specifics of patient perceptions of DBS have not been well-characterized in the general PD population. Objective: To characterize the understanding and impressions of surgical therapy in PD patients prior to formal surgical evaluation. Methods: A 30-question survey assessing impressions of surgical therapy for PD and understanding of DBS for PD was administered to PD patients seen at an urban movement disorders clinic. Results: One hundred and two patients completed the survey. When asked if they would undergo a hypothetical risk-free, curative brain surgery for PD, 98 patients responded “yes.” Patients were more agreeable to “reversible,” “minimally-invasive,” and “incisionless” surgery. 51.2% thought DBS is an “effective” treatment for PD, 76.6% thought it was “invasive,” and 18.3% thought it was “reversible.” 45.2% reported fear of being awake during DBS surgery. Regarding costs, 52.4% were concerned that DBS was “very expensive” or “not covered by insurance.” Initial source of information and perceived treatment effectiveness were not associated with concerns about DBS effectiveness or threats to normality. Negative perceptions of past surgery were associated with concerns about DBS altering mood and personality. Conclusion: Overall, patients expressed concerns regarding procedural efficacy, invasiveness, cost, and irreversibility—independent of the original source of information. Future studies are required to allow us to better understand the impact of these initial findings on DBS hesitancy and underutilization

Endovascular Embolization for Epistaxis: A Single Center Experience and Meta-Analysis

The optimal treatment for intractable epistaxis is still controversial. Various studies have demonstrated high success rates and low complication rates for endovascular embolization. Herein, the authors report an institutional experience and meta-analysis in terms of efficacy and safety of endovascular embolization of intractable epistaxis. This was a retrospective observational study of 35 patients with epistaxis who underwent 40 embolization procedures between 2010 and 2023. The primary outcome was immediate success defined by immediate cessation of epistaxis at the end of the procedure. Immediate success was achieved in most of the procedures (39, 97.5%). During follow-up, three (7.5%) patients experienced a rebleed. Forty-one studies from 3595 articles were identified for inclusion in the meta-analysis and comprised 1632 patients. The mean pooled age was 57.5 years (95% CI: 57.2-57.8) and most patients were males (mean: 70.4, 95% CI: 69.8-71.0). Immediate success was achieved at a pooled mean of 90.9% (95% CI: 90.4-91.4) and rebleeding was observed at a pooled mean of 17% (95% CI: 16.5-17.5). In conclusion, endovascular embolization proved to be both safe and effective in treating intractable epistaxis carrying a low risk of post-operative stroke

Tumour compartment transcriptomics demonstrates the activation of inflammatory and odontogenic programmes in human adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma and identifies the MAPK/ERK pathway as a novel therapeutic target

Adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas (ACPs) are clinically challenging tumours, the majority of which have activating mutations in CTNNB1. They are histologically complex, showing cystic and solid components, the latter comprised of different morphological cell types (e.g. β-catenin-accumulating cluster cells and palisading epithelium), surrounded by a florid glial reaction with immune cells. Here, we have carried out RNA sequencing on 18 ACP samples and integrated these data with an existing ACP transcriptomic dataset. No studies so far have examined the patterns of gene expression within the different cellular compartments of the tumour. To achieve this goal, we have combined laser capture microdissection with computational analyses to reveal groups of genes that are associated with either epithelial tumour cells (clusters and palisading epithelium), glial tissue or immune infiltrate. We use these human ACP molecular signatures and RNA-Seq data from two ACP mouse models to reveal that cell clusters are molecularly analogous to the enamel knot, a critical signalling centre controlling normal tooth morphogenesis. Supporting this finding, we show that human cluster cells express high levels of several members of the FGF, TGFB and BMP families of secreted factors, which signal to neighbouring cells as evidenced by immunostaining against the phosphorylated proteins pERK1/2, pSMAD3 and pSMAD1/5/9 in both human and mouse ACP. We reveal that inhibiting the MAPK/ERK pathway with trametinib, a clinically approved MEK inhibitor, results in reduced proliferation and increased apoptosis in explant cultures of human and mouse ACP. Finally, we analyse a prominent molecular signature in the glial reactive tissue to characterise the inflammatory microenvironment and uncover the activation of inflammasomes in human ACP. We validate these results by immunostaining against immune cell markers, cytokine ELISA and proteome analysis in both solid tumour and cystic fluid from ACP patients. Our data support a new molecular paradigm for understanding ACP tumorigenesis as an aberrant mimic of natural tooth development and opens new therapeutic opportunities by revealing the activation of the MAPK/ERK and inflammasome pathways in human ACP. KEYWORDS: Craniopharyngioma; IL1-β; Inflammasome; MAPK/ERK pathway; Odontogenesis; Paracrine signalling; Trametini

An Extremely Massive Quiescent Galaxy at z = 3.493: Evidence of Insufficiently Rapid Quenching Mechanisms in Theoretical Models

We present spectra of the most massive quiescent galaxy yet spectroscopically confirmed at z > 3, verified via the detection of Balmer absorption features in the H- A nd K-bands of Keck/MOSFIRE. The spectra confirm a galaxy with no significant ongoing star formation, consistent with the lack of rest-frame UV flux and overall photometric spectral energy distribution. With a stellar mass of 3.1-0.2-+0.1× 10-11\,M at z = 3.493, this galaxy is nearly three times more massive than the highest redshift spectroscopically confirmed absorption-line-identified galaxy known. The star formation history of this quiescent galaxy implies that it formed >1000 M o yr-1 for almost 0.5 Gyr beginning at z ∼ 7.2, strongly suggestive that it is the descendant of massive dusty star-forming galaxies at 5 < z < 7 recently observed with ALMA. While galaxies with similarly extreme stellar masses are reproduced in some simulations at early times, such a lack of ongoing star formation is not seen there. This suggests the need for a quenching process that either starts earlier or is more rapid than that currently prescribed, challenging our current understanding of how ultra-massive galaxies form and evolve in the early universe. © 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Indexación: Scopu

Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic risk factors.

Birth weight variation is influenced by fetal and maternal genetic and non-genetic factors, and has been reproducibly associated with future cardio-metabolic health outcomes. In expanded genome-wide association analyses of own birth weight (n = 321,223) and offspring birth weight (n = 230,069 mothers), we identified 190 independent association signals (129 of which are novel). We used structural equation modeling to decompose the contributions of direct fetal and indirect maternal genetic effects, then applied Mendelian randomization to illuminate causal pathways. For example, both indirect maternal and direct fetal genetic effects drive the observational relationship between lower birth weight and higher later blood pressure: maternal blood pressure-raising alleles reduce offspring birth weight, but only direct fetal effects of these alleles, once inherited, increase later offspring blood pressure. Using maternal birth weight-lowering genotypes to proxy for an adverse intrauterine environment provided no evidence that it causally raises offspring blood pressure, indicating that the inverse birth weight-blood pressure association is attributable to genetic effects, and not to intrauterine programming.The Fenland Study is funded by the Medical Research Council (MC_U106179471) and Wellcome Trust