Automatic Segmentation of Polyps in Colonoscopic Narrow-Band Imaging Data

Colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer worldwide. However, this disease can be prevented by detection and removal of precursor adenomatous polyps during optical colonoscopy (OC). During OC, the endoscopist looks for colon polyps. While hyperplastic polyps are benign lesions, adenomatous polyps are likely to become cancerous. Hence, it is a common practice to remove all identified polyps and send them to subsequent histological analysis. But removal of hyperplastic polyps poses unnecessary risk to patients and incurs unnecessary costs for histological analysis. In this paper, we develop the first part of a novel optical biopsy application based on narrow-band imaging (NBI). A barrier to an automatic system is that polyp classification algorithms require manual segmentations of the polyps, so we automatically segment polyps in colonoscopic NBI data. We propose an algorithm, Shape-UCM, which is an extension of the gPb-OWT-UCM algorithm, a state-of-the-art algorithm for boundary detection and segmentation. Shape-UCM solves the intrinsic scale selection problem of gPb-OWT-UCM by including prior knowledge about the shape of the polyps. Shape-UCM outperforms previous methods with a specificity of 92%, a sensitivity of 71%, and an accuracy of 88% for automatic segmentation of a test set of 87 images

Cognitive appraisal of environmental stimuli induces emotion-like states in fish

The occurrence of emotions in non-human animals has been the focus of debate over the years. Recently, an interest in expanding this debate to non-tetrapod vertebrates and to invertebrates has emerged. Within vertebrates, the study of emotion in teleosts is particularly interesting since they represent a divergent evolutionary radiation from that of tetrapods, and thus they provide an insight into the evolution of the biological mechanisms of emotion. We report that Sea Bream exposed to stimuli that vary according to valence (positive, negative) and salience (predictable, unpredictable) exhibit different behavioural, physiological and neuromolecular states. Since according to the dimensional theory of emotion valence and salience define a two-dimensional affective space, our data can be interpreted as evidence for the occurrence of distinctive affective states in fish corresponding to each the four quadrants of the core affective space. Moreover, the fact that the same stimuli presented in a predictable vs. unpredictable way elicited different behavioural, physiological and neuromolecular states, suggests that stimulus appraisal by the individual, rather than an intrinsic characteristic of the stimulus, has triggered the observed responses. Therefore, our data supports the occurrence of emotion-like states in fish that are regulated by the individual's perception of environmental stimuli.European Commission [265957 Copewell]; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia [SFRH/BD/80029/2011, SFRH/BPD/72952/2010]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Options for early breast cancer follow-up in primary and secondary care : a systematic review

Background Both incidence of breast cancer and survival have increased in recent years and there is a need to review follow up strategies. This study aims to assess the evidence for benefits of follow-up in different settings for women who have had treatment for early breast cancer. Method A systematic review to identify key criteria for follow up and then address research questions. Key criteria were: 1) Risk of second breast cancer over time - incidence compared to general population. 2) Incidence and method of detection of local recurrence and second ipsi and contra-lateral breast cancer. 3) Level 1–4 evidence of the benefits of hospital or alternative setting follow-up for survival and well-being. Data sources to identify criteria were MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, CINAHL, PSYCHINFO, ZETOC, Health Management Information Consortium, Science Direct. For the systematic review to address research questions searches were performed using MEDLINE (2011). Studies included were population studies using cancer registry data for incidence of new cancers, cohort studies with long term follow up for recurrence and detection of new primaries and RCTs not restricted to special populations for trials of alternative follow up and lifestyle interventions. Results Women who have had breast cancer have an increased risk of a second primary breast cancer for at least 20 years compared to the general population. Mammographically detected local recurrences or those detected by women themselves gave better survival than those detected by clinical examination. Follow up in alternative settings to the specialist clinic is acceptable to women but trials are underpowered for survival. Conclusions Long term support, surveillance mammography and fast access to medical treatment at point of need may be better than hospital based surveillance limited to five years but further large, randomised controlled trials are needed

Sol-gel deposited Sb-doped tin oxide films

The structural, electrical and optical properties of single sol-gel derived antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) films sintered at 550°C have been measured. The reproducibility of both the preparation and the characterization procedures have been tested by a round-robin test involving eight laboratories within a Concerted European Action (CEA) project. The resistivity measured as a function of Sb content has been obtained by electric and reflectance and transmission measurements. Their differences are discussed in terms of structural and grain boundary effects. An increase of Sb content results in a decrease of the crystallite size (7.0 to 5.4 nm) and a greater influence of the grain boundary

Two-proton correlations from 158 AGeV Pb+Pb central collisions

The two-proton correlation function at midrapidity from Pb+Pb central collisions at 158 AGeV has been measured by the NA49 experiment. The results are compared to model predictions from static thermal Gaussian proton source distributions and transport models RQMD and VENUS. An effective proton source size is determined by minimizing CHI-square/ndf between the correlation functions of the data and those calculated for the Gaussian sources, yielding 3.85 +-0.15(stat.) +0.60-0.25(syst.) fm. Both the RQMD and the VENUS model are consistent with the data within the error in the correlation peak region.Comment: RevTeX style, 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. More discussion are added about the structure on the tail of the correlation function. The systematic error is revised. To appear in Phys. Lett.

Event-by-event fluctuations of average transverse momentum in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

We present first data on event-by-event fluctuations in the average transverse momentum of charged particles produced in Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. This measurement provides previously unavailable information allowing sensitive tests of microscopic and thermodynamic collision models and to search for fluctuations expected to occur in the vicinity of the predicted QCD phase transition. We find that the observed variance of the event-by-event average transverse momentum is consistent with independent particle production modified by the known two-particle correlations due to quantum statistics and final state interactions and folded with the resolution of the NA49 apparatus. For two specific models of non-statistical fluctuations in transverse momentum limits are derived in terms of fluctuation amplitude. We show that a significant part of the parameter space for a model of isospin fluctuations predicted as a consequence of chiral symmetry restoration in a non-equilibrium scenario is excluded by our measurement.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Baryon Stopping and Charged Particle Distributions in Central Pb+Pb Collisions at 158 GeV per Nucleon

Net proton and negative hadron spectra for central \PbPb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon at the CERN SPS were measured and compared to spectra from lighter systems. Net baryon distributions were derived from those of net protons, utilizing model calculations of isospin contributions as well as data and model calculations of strange baryon distributions. Stopping (rapidity shift with respect to the beam) and mean transverse momentum \meanpt of net baryons increase with system size. The rapidity density of negative hadrons scales with the number of participant nucleons for nuclear collisions, whereas their \meanpt is independent of system size. The \meanpt dependence upon particle mass and system size is consistent with larger transverse flow velocity at midrapidity for \PbPb compared to \SS central collisions.Comment: This version accepted for publication in PRL. 4 pages, 3 figures. Typos corrected, some paragraphs expanded in response to referee comments, to better explain details of analysi

HIV-1 Enhancing Effect of Prostatic Acid Phosphatase Peptides Is Reduced in Human Seminal Plasma

We recently reported that HIV-1 infection can be inhibited by innate antimicrobial components of human seminal plasma (SP). Conversely, naturally occurring peptidic fragments from the SP-derived prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) have been reported to form amyloid fibrils called “SEVI” and enhance HIV-1 infection in vitro. In order to understand the biological consequence of this proviral effect, we extended these studies in the presence of human SP. PAP-derived peptides were agitated to form SEVI and incubated in the presence or absence of SP. While PAP-derived peptides and SEVI alone were proviral, the presence of 1% SP ablated their proviral activity in several different anti-HIV-1 assays. The anti-HIV-1 activity of SP was concentration dependent and was reduced following filtration. Supraphysiological concentrations of PAP peptides and SEVI incubated with diluted SP were degraded within hours, with SP exhibiting proteolytic activity at dilutions as high as 1∶200. Sub-physiological concentrations of two prominent proteases of SP, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and matriptase, could degrade physiological and supraphysiological concentrations of PAP peptides and SEVI. While human SP is a complex biological fluid, containing both antiviral and proviral factors, our results suggest that PAP peptides and SEVI may be subject to naturally occurring proteolytic components capable of reducing their proviral activity

Parent-reported health care expenditures associated with autism spectrum disorders in Heilongjiang province, China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to determine the health expenses incurred by families with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those expenses' relation to total household income and expenditures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this cross-sectional study, health care expenditure data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Expenses included annual costs for clinic visits, medication, behavioral therapy, transportation, and accommodations. Health care costs as a percentage of total household income and expenditures were also determined. The participants included 290 families with ASD children who were treated at the Children Development and Behavior Research Center, Harbin Medical University, China.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Families with ASD children from urban and rural areas had higher per-capita household expenditures by 60.8% and 74.7%, respectively, compared with provincial statistics for 2007. Behavioral therapy accounted for the largest proportion of health expenses (54.3%) for ASD children. In 19.9% of urban and 38.2% of rural families, health care costs exceeded the total annual household income. Most families (89.3% of urban families; 88.1% of rural families) in that province reported higher health care expenditures than the provincial household average.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>For families with ASD children, the economic burden of health care is substantially higher than the provincial average.</p

Snake Cathelicidin from Bungarus fasciatus Is a Potent Peptide Antibiotics

Background: Cathelicidins are a family of antimicrobial peptides acting as multifunctional effector molecules of innate immunity, which are firstly found in mammalians. Recently, several cathelicidins have also been found from chickens and fishes. No cathelicidins from other non-mammalian vertebrates have been reported. Principal Findings: In this work, a cathelicidin-like antimicrobial peptide named cathelicidin-BF has been purified from the snake venoms of Bungarus fasciatus and its cDNA sequence was cloned from the cDNA library, which confirm the presence of cathelicidin in reptiles. As other cathelicidins, the precursor of cathelicidin-BF has cathelin-like domain at the N terminus and carry the mature cathelicidin-BF at the C terminus, but it has an atypical acidic fragment insertion between the cathelin-like domain and the C-terminus. The acidic fragment is similar to acidic domains of amphibian antimicrobial precursors. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the snake cathelicidin had the nearest evolution relationship with platypus cathelicidin. The secondary structure of cathelicidin-BF investigated by CD and NMR spectroscopy in the presence of the helicogenic solvent TFE is an amphipathic α-helical conformation as many other cathelicidins. The antimicrobial activities of cathelicidin BF against forty strains of microorganisms were tested. Cathelicidin-BF efficiently killed bacteria and some fungal species including clinically isolated drug-resistance microorganisms. It was especially active against Gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, it could exert antimicrobial activity against some saprophytic fungus. No hemolytic and cytotoxic activity was observed at the dose of up to 400 µg/ml. Cathelicidin-BF could exist stably in the mice plasma for at least 2.5 hours. Conclusion: Discovery of snake cathelicidin with atypical structural and functional characterization offers new insights on the evolution of cathelicidins. Potent, broad spectrum, salt-independent antimicrobial activities make cathelicidin-BF an excellent candidate for clinical or agricultural antibiotics