Thyroid gland invasion in laryngopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: Prevalence, endoscopic and CT predictors

SummaryObjectivesThe authors studied the prevalence of histological thyroid gland invasion in laryngopharyngeal cancer and the preoperative endoscopic and CT signs predictive of this invasion.Patients and methodsRetrospective study of patients with laryngopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (T3 and T4) treated by total laryngectomy or total laryngopharyngectomy associated with concomitant total thyroidectomy or ipsilateral lobectomy and isthmectomy.ResultsEighty-seven patients were included. Eleven patients (12.6%) presented thyroid gland invasion. Subglottic tumour extension greater than or equal to 10mm (P=0.008) and cricoid cartilage destruction on CT (P=0.001) were statistically correlated with histological thyroid gland invasion. An intact appearance of the laryngeal cartilages on CT was associated with a low probability of thyroid gland invasion.ConclusionThyroid gland invasion must not be underestimated in patients with advanced laryngopharyngeal cancer. Preoperative CT is an essential part of the preoperative work-up. Thyroidectomy must not be performed systematically

Object Detection Through Exploration With A Foveated Visual Field

We present a foveated object detector (FOD) as a biologically-inspired alternative to the sliding window (SW) approach which is the dominant method of search in computer vision object detection. Similar to the human visual system, the FOD has higher resolution at the fovea and lower resolution at the visual periphery. Consequently, more computational resources are allocated at the fovea and relatively fewer at the periphery. The FOD processes the entire scene, uses retino-specific object detection classifiers to guide eye movements, aligns its fovea with regions of interest in the input image and integrates observations across multiple fixations. Our approach combines modern object detectors from computer vision with a recent model of peripheral pooling regions found at the V1 layer of the human visual system. We assessed various eye movement strategies on the PASCAL VOC 2007 dataset and show that the FOD performs on par with the SW detector while bringing significant computational cost savings.Comment: An extended version of this manuscript was published in PLOS Computational Biology (October 2017) at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.100574

Evolution and Optimality of Similar Neural Mechanisms for Perception and Action during Search

A prevailing theory proposes that the brain's two visual pathways, the ventral and dorsal, lead to differing visual processing and world representations for conscious perception than those for action. Others have claimed that perception and action share much of their visual processing. But which of these two neural architectures is favored by evolution? Successful visual search is life-critical and here we investigate the evolution and optimality of neural mechanisms mediating perception and eye movement actions for visual search in natural images. We implement an approximation to the ideal Bayesian searcher with two separate processing streams, one controlling the eye movements and the other stream determining the perceptual search decisions. We virtually evolved the neural mechanisms of the searchers' two separate pathways built from linear combinations of primary visual cortex receptive fields (V1) by making the simulated individuals' probability of survival depend on the perceptual accuracy finding targets in cluttered backgrounds. We find that for a variety of targets, backgrounds, and dependence of target detectability on retinal eccentricity, the mechanisms of the searchers' two processing streams converge to similar representations showing that mismatches in the mechanisms for perception and eye movements lead to suboptimal search. Three exceptions which resulted in partial or no convergence were a case of an organism for which the targets are equally detectable across the retina, an organism with sufficient time to foveate all possible target locations, and a strict two-pathway model with no interconnections and differential pre-filtering based on parvocellular and magnocellular lateral geniculate cell properties. Thus, similar neural mechanisms for perception and eye movement actions during search are optimal and should be expected from the effects of natural selection on an organism with limited time to search for food that is not equi-detectable across its retina and interconnected perception and action neural pathways

Anomalies du premier arc branchial : A propos de 10 cas suivis dans le service d’orl pediatrique du chu de Clocheville (tours - France)

Introduction - Objectives: The first branchial cleft anomalies are malformations commonly observed with children. Their diagnosis is usually easy. Future prognosis will depend on the success of the firstoperation. We wanted to analyse the frequency of this type of anomalies and evaluate how we can manage the follow up care.Material and Method: It is a retrospective study conducted on 10 children monitored from 1994 to 2004 in the Children’s ENT Department of CHU de Clocheville (Tours).Results: The first branchial cleft anomalies represented 20.83% of all the branchial anomalies. The average age was 6.98 years with a sex-ratio of 1.5. Sixty per cent of the children had a history of surgeryand 50% had a history of infections. The seat of the lesions was predominantly on the right. In one case, the seat was bilateral. Theseanomalies were revealed by the tumefaction of the retro-auricular or parotidien seat. The external fistula was observed with 60% of the children. In 70% of the cases, the otoscopy showed some anomalies.The operation consisted of an exeresis of the lesions. The link between the lesions and the facial nerve, the external meatus and the different lobes of the parotid was variable. Four complications and 4 relapses were observed after an average monitoring period of 2 years.Conclusion: The first branchial cleft anomalies are commonly observed. The early diagnosis is essential in order to avoid the multiple infections that complicate surgery. The complete initial exeresis isessential in order to avoid relapses. Introduction - Objectifs : Les anomalies du 1er arc branchial sont des malformations communément observées chez l’enfant. Leur diagnostic est généralement aisé. Le pronostic futur dépend du succès de lapremière intervention. Nous avons voulu analyser la fréquence de ce type d’anomalies et évaluer notre prise en charge. Matériel et méthode : Il s’agit d’une étude rétrospective menée à propos de 10 enfants suivis de 1994 à 2004 dans le service d’ORL pédiatrique du CHU de Clocheville (Tours).Résultats : Les anomalies du 1er arc ont représenté 20,83% de toutes les anomalies branchiales. L’âge moyen était de 6,98 ans avec une sex-ratio de 1,5. Soixante pour cent des enfants avaient des antécédents d’intervention et 50% des antécédents d’infections.Les lésions siégeaient majoritairement à droite. Dans un cas, le siège était bilatéral. Ces anomalies se sont révélées par une tuméfaction de siège rétro-auriculaire ou parotidien. Les fistules externes ont étéobservées chez 60% des enfants. Dans 70% des cas, l’otoscopie a montré des anomalies. L’intervention a consisté en une exérèse chirurgicale des lésions. Le rapport des lésions avec le nerffacial, le cartilage du conduit auditif externe et les différents lobes de la parotide était variable. Quatre complications et 4 récidives ont été notées après un délai moyen de suivi de 2 ans.Conclusion : Les anomalies du 1er arc branchial sont communément observées. Le diagnostic précoce est essentiel afin d’éviter les multiples infections qui compliquent la chirurgie. L’exérèse initiale complète est essentiel afin d’éviter les récidives

12 fs pulses from a cw-pumped 200 nJ Ti:sapphire amplifier at a variable repetition rate of up to 4 MHz

We demonstrate a novel compact femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system operating at repetition rates from 10 kHz to 4 MHz. The scheme is based on the combination of a broadband cavity-dumped oscillator and a double-pass Ti:sapphire amplifier pumped by a low-noise cw solid-state laser. Amplified pulses with an extremely smooth spectrum, a duration of only 12 fs, and less than 0.25% rms fluctuation are generated in a beam with M2 < 1.2 . A maximum pulse energy of 210 nJ and an average output power of as much as 720 mW are achieved. This output energy is sufficient to generate a stable continuum in a sapphire disk

Analytic Guided-Search Model of Human Performance Accuracy in Target- Localization Search Tasks

Current models of human visual search have extended the traditional serial/parallel search dichotomy. Two successful models for predicting human visual search are the Guided Search model and the Signal Detection Theory model. Although these models are inherently different, it has been difficult to compare them because the Guided Search model is designed to predict response time, while Signal Detection Theory models are designed to predict performance accuracy. Moreover, current implementations of the Guided Search model require the use of Monte-Carlo simulations, a method that makes fitting the model's performance quantitatively to human data more computationally time consuming. We have extended the Guided Search model to predict human accuracy in target-localization search tasks. We have also developed analytic expressions that simplify simulation of the model to the evaluation of a small set of equations using only three free parameters. This new implementation and extension of the Guided Search model will enable direct quantitative comparisons with human performance in target-localization search experiments and with the predictions of Signal Detection Theory and other search accuracy models

Lebensqualität bei Krebserkrankungen – Integration in die Versorgung (working paper von Versorgern und Betroffenen)

Im Rahmen einer Projektgruppe haben sich sowohl Versorger (ÄrztInnen, KrebsberatungsstellenmitarbeiterInnen oder PsychoonkologInnen) sowie Betroffene mit einer regulären Integration von Lebensqualitätsdaten in der Versorgung befasst. Dabei wurde ein digitales System konzipiert, dass eine alltagsnahe und longitudinale Erhebung ermöglicht. Im working paper wurde über alle Teilnehmenden hinweg eine Problemidentifikation der derzeitigen IST-Situation integriert, um anhand dieser Probleme und Hemmschwellen ein übergreifendes Lösungskonzept zu erarbeiten. Im Lösungsraum wurden sowohl spezifische Anforderungen seitens der Versorger als auch PatientInnen zusammengefasst und gegenübergestellt. Dabei wurde ebenfalls die Vernetzung der einzelnen Akteure untereinander beleuchtet sowie die Thematik der Datenspende angerissen