17 research outputs found
Lirot.ai: A Novel Platform for Crowd-Sourcing Retinal Image Segmentations
Introduction: For supervised deep learning (DL) tasks, researchers need a
large annotated dataset. In medical data science, one of the major limitations
to develop DL models is the lack of annotated examples in large quantity. This
is most often due to the time and expertise required to annotate. We introduce
Lirot. ai, a novel platform for facilitating and crowd-sourcing image
segmentations. Methods: Lirot. ai is composed of three components; an iPadOS
client application named Lirot. ai-app, a backend server named Lirot. ai-server
and a python API name Lirot. ai-API. Lirot. ai-app was developed in Swift 5.6
and Lirot. ai-server is a firebase backend. Lirot. ai-API allows the management
of the database. Lirot. ai-app can be installed on as many iPadOS devices as
needed so that annotators may be able to perform their segmentation
simultaneously and remotely. We incorporate Apple Pencil compatibility, making
the segmentation faster, more accurate, and more intuitive for the expert than
any other computer-based alternative. Results: We demonstrate the usage of
Lirot. ai for the creation of a retinal fundus dataset with reference
vasculature segmentations. Discussion and future work: We will use active
learning strategies to continue enlarging our retinal fundus dataset by
including a more efficient process to select the images to be annotated and
distribute them to annotators
Reputation in European Trade Mark Law: A Re-examination
Under the harmonised European trade mark regime marks with a reputation enjoy expanded protection. This article casts doubt on whether this ‘reputational trigger’ can be justified. It then explores some difficult operational questions about the way the reputation threshold works in cases where the mark enjoys fame only in niche markets or in a limited geographical area, the aim being to illustrate further why reputation is an unsatisfactory trigger for a different type of trade mark protection. Finally, it looks at some of the evidential difficulties involved in adjudicating disputes in which expanded protection is being claimed. It concludes by suggesting that if the evidential problems we identify were tackled the reputation threshold could be abandoned
Riding on the Coat-Tails of Traditional Cultural Expressions
Matters related to the protection of traditional cultural expressions (‘TCEs’) or expressions of folklore (‘EoFs’) are sensitive and intricate as a blend of legal, economic, philosophical and anthropological considerations jostle to capture their core features. This results in disparate views surrounding what should qualify as TCEs or EoFs, who should be considered their ‘owner’ (assuming that ownership per se is conceptually compatible with these items), which is the most appropriate legal protection regime and how broad their scope of protection should be. Drawing from these various accounts on TCEs, this article focuses on the interaction between TCEs and EoFs originating on the European continent and the European Union (‘EU’) trade mark legislation. Specifically, this article examines whether the limitations of the effects of trade mark rights and of the absolute grounds of refusal, as developed by the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, are effective in preserving the cohesion of TCEs. This article advances the thesis that registration of TCEs and EoFs as trade marks generates an imbalance between the rights of the trade mark owner and the defences available to others under the EU trade mark law framework. Furthermore, such an imbalance is likely to hinder the unfettered circulation of TCEs and undermine their original meaning. Lastly, in some cases, trade mark registration of TCEs contributes to their appropriation and misappropriation. The article concludes that, de lege ferenda, the direct exclusion of TCEs as eligible subject matter for trade mark registration is preferable to seeking a post factum remedy
Successful removal of a penile constriction wedding ring in a rural area
Background. Penile strangulation is a rarely described medical emergency. Removal of the strangulating object is challenging, with a lack of proper guidelines.Objective. To describe the challenges faced during an attempt to urgently remove a metal object (wedding ring) constricting an erect penis.Method. We report a case of penile strangulation with a wedding ring in an adult man who presented at Van Velden Hospital casualty department, Limpopo, South Africa, and review the related literature.Result. The ring was successfully removed using an aspiration technique (via a pink needle).Conclusion. No proper guidelines exist for the treatment of this condition, so the ‘best method’ is the one with a successful outcome
Leuven-Haifa High-Resolution Fundus Image Dataset for Retinal Blood Vessel Segmentation and Glaucoma Diagnosis
Abstract The Leuven-Haifa dataset contains 240 disc-centered fundus images of 224 unique patients (75 patients with normal tension glaucoma, 63 patients with high tension glaucoma, 30 patients with other eye diseases and 56 healthy controls) from the University Hospitals of Leuven. The arterioles and venules of these images were both annotated by master students in medicine and corrected by a senior annotator. All senior segmentation corrections are provided as well as the junior segmentations of the test set. An open-source toolbox for the parametrization of segmentations was developed. Diagnosis, age, sex, vascular parameters as well as a quality score are provided as metadata. Potential reuse is envisioned as the development or external validation of blood vessels segmentation algorithms or study of the vasculature in glaucoma and the development of glaucoma diagnosis algorithms. The dataset is available on the KU Leuven Research Data Repository (RDR)