12 research outputs found
An Analysis by Synthesis Approach for Automatic Vertebral Shape Identification in Clinical QCT
Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) is a widely used tool for osteoporosis
diagnosis and monitoring. The assessment of cortical markers like cortical bone
mineral density (BMD) and thickness is a demanding task, mainly because of the
limited spatial resolution of QCT. We propose a direct model based method to
automatically identify the surface through the center of the cortex of human
vertebra. We develop a statistical bone model and analyze its probability
distribution after the imaging process. Using an as-rigid-as-possible
deformation we find the cortical surface that maximizes the likelihood of our
model given the input volume. Using the European Spine Phantom (ESP) and a high
resolution \mu CT scan of a cadaveric vertebra, we show that the proposed
method is able to accurately identify the real center of cortex ex-vivo. To
demonstrate the in-vivo applicability of our method we use manually obtained
surfaces for comparison.Comment: Presented on German Conference on Pattern Recognition (GCPR) 2018 in
Stuttgar
Density-Dependent Material and Failure Criteria Equations Highly Affect the Accuracy and Precision of QCT/FEA-Based Predictions of Osteoporotic Vertebral Fracture Properties
Vitamin D deficiency in an Italian cohort of infertile women
Problem: The purpose of this study was to explore whether vitamin D might be a marker of female primary infertility in association with the presence of autoimmune diseases (ADs).Methods: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study in consecutive outpatients of the Polymedical Center for Prevention of Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion (RSA), in Rome, Italy. Women were eligible if they received a diagnosis of primary infertility or RSA. Serum vitamin D, calcium, and PTH were analyzed.Results: Women with primary infertility (n=70) or RSA/non-infertile (n=105) were enrolled; controls (n=250) were included. Infertile women presented lower vitamin D (P=0.03) and higher prevalence of AD (P=0.007) than non-infertile women. In the multivariate analysis, the presence of ADs is associated with higher odds of infertility (OR=2.2), while normal vitamin D was a protective factor (OR=0.9).Conclusion: We described that having vitamin D deficiency and suffering from an AD are independent risk factors for women primary infertility. Supplementation of vitamin D might be useful for pregnancy outcome