Automatic Generation of Interpretable Lung Cancer Scoring Models from Chest X-Ray Images

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide with early detection being the key to a positive patient prognosis. Although a multitude of studies have demonstrated that machine learning, and particularly deep learning, techniques are effective at automatically diagnosing lung cancer, these techniques have yet to be clinically approved and adopted by the medical community. Most research in this field is focused on the narrow task of nodule detection to provide an artificial radiological second reading. We instead focus on extracting, from chest X-ray images, a wider range of pathologies associated with lung cancer using a computer vision model trained on a large dataset. We then find the set of best fit decision trees against an independent, smaller dataset for which lung cancer malignancy metadata is provided. For this small inferencing dataset, our best model achieves sensitivity and specificity of 85% and 75% respectively with a positive predictive value of 85% which is comparable to the performance of human radiologists. Furthermore, the decision trees created by this method may be considered as a starting point for refinement by medical experts into clinically usable multi-variate lung cancer scoring and diagnostic models

Antimicrobial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities of Bixa orellana Linn

Bixa orellana Linn., commonly known as "lipstick plant", is used in folk medicines to treat infections of microbial origin as well as coloring agents in food stuffs in the LDCs like Bangladesh. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the warm water extract of leaves of B. orellana were evaluated against 25 multidrug resistant (MDR) clinical isolates and 6 food-borne pathogens using the micro-dilution broth method modified to comply with the NCCLS standards. The total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of warm water, ethanol, and methanol extracts of the seeds and leaves of B. orellana were also evaluated. The brine shrimp lethality assay was conducted to assess the toxicity of the extracts. Except Pseudomonas spp., all the MDR isolates and food-borne pathogens tested were susceptible to the warm water extract of the leaves. The MIC and MBC ranged between 8-256 μg/mL and 16 - 256 μg/mL, respectively. Among the test organisms, Streptococcus spp. and Shigella dysenteriae-1 MJ-84 showed highest susceptibility while Escherichia coli exhibited moderate susceptibility to warm water extract of the leaves. The highest total phenolic content (99.99 mg of GAE/g of extractives) and antioxidant capacity (IC50 value 13 μg/mL) were observed in ethanolic extract of seeds of B. orellana, whereas the IC50 of the reference standard BHT (tert-butyl-1-hydroxytoluene) was 59.2 μg/mL. On the other hand, in the brine shrimp lethality bioassay the methanolic extract of the seeds of B. orellana demonstrated strong cytotoxic activity with IC50 value of 19.3 μg/mL. These results suggest that the extracts of B. orellana possess bioactive compoundsColegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Morphological Characters of the Thickbody Skate Amblyraja frerichsi (Krefft 1968) (Rajiformes: Rajidae), with Notes on Its Biology

Detailed descriptions of morphological features, morphometrics, neurocranium anatomy, clasper structure and egg case descriptions are provided for the thickbody skate Amblyraja frerichsi; a rare, deep-water species from Chile, Argentina and Falkland Islands. The species diagnosis is complemented from new observations and aspects such as colour, size and distribution are described. Geographic and bathymetric distributional ranges are discussed as relevant features of this taxońs biology. Additionally, the conservation status is assessed including bycatch records from Chilean fisheries

Synthesis of Breast Cancer Targeting Conjugate of Temporin-SHa Analog and its Effect on Pro- and Anti-Apoptotic Protein Expression in MCF-7 Cells

The frog natural product temporin-SHa (FLSGIVGMLGKLFamide) is a potent antimicrobial peptide, as is the analog [S3K]SHa. By solid-phase synthesis, we prepared temporin-SHa and several temporin-SHa analogs with one or more D-alanine residues incorporated. The natural product and the analog [G10a]SHa were found to be cytotoxic in mammalian cell lines and induce cell death. To achieve selectivity, we conjugated the analog [G10a]SHa with a breast cancer targeting peptide (BCTP). The resulting peptide temporin [G10a]SHa-BCTP conjugate was selectively active against the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line with no cytotoxicity in NIH-3T3 fibroblasts. Unlike the natural product or [G10a]SHa, the conjugated peptide induced apoptosis, down regulating the expression of Bcl-2 and survivin and up regulating Bax and caspase-3

On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)

Current Research into Applications of Tomography for Fusion Diagnostics

Retrieving spatial distribution of plasma emissivity from line integrated measurements on tokamaks presents a challenging task due to ill-posedness of the tomography problem and limited number of the lines of sight. Modern methods of plasma tomography therefore implement a-priori information as well as constraints, in particular some form of penalisation of complexity. In this contribution, the current tomography methods under development (Tikhonov regularisation, Bayesian methods and neural networks) are briefly explained taking into account their potential for integration into the fusion reactor diagnostics. In particular, current development of the Minimum Fisher Regularisation method is exemplified with respect to real-time reconstruction capability, combination with spectral unfolding and other prospective tasks

The effect of beryllium oxide on retention in JET ITER-like wall tiles

Preliminary results investigating the microstructure, bonding and effect of beryllium oxide formation on retention in the JET ITER-like wall beryllium tiles, are presented. The tiles have been investigated by several techniques: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipped with Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Transmission Electron microscopy (TEM) equipped with EDX and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), Raman Spectroscopy and Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS). This paper focuses on results from melted materials of the dump plate tiles in JET. From our results and the literature, it is concluded, beryllium can form micron deep oxide islands contrary to the nanometric oxides predicted under vacuum conditions. The deepest oxides analyzed were up to 2-micron thicknesses. The beryllium Deuteroxide (BeOxDy) bond was found with Raman Spectroscopy. Application of EELS confirmed the oxide presence and stoichiometry. Literature suggests these oxides form at temperatures greater than 700 °C where self-diffusion of beryllium ions through the surface oxide layer can occur. Further oxidation is made possible between oxygen plasma impurities and the beryllium ions now present at the wall surface. Under Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) nanometric Beryllium oxide layers are formed and passivate at room temperature. After continual cyclic heating (to the point of melt formation) in the presence of oxygen impurities from the plasma, oxide growth to the levels seen experimentally (approximately two microns) is proposed. This retention mechanism is not considered to contribute dramatically to overall retention in JET, due to low levels of melt formation. However, this mechanism, thought the result of operation environment and melt formation, could be of wider concern to ITER, dependent on wall temperatures