Thermography based breast cancer detection using texture features and minimum variance quantization

In this paper, we present a system based on feature extraction techniques and image segmentation techniques for detecting and diagnosing abnormal patterns in breast thermograms. The proposed system consists of three major steps: feature extraction, classification into normal and abnormal pattern and segmentation of abnormal pattern. Computed features based on Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrices (GLCM) are used to evaluate the effectiveness of textural information possessed by mass regions. A total of 20 GLCM features are extracted from thermograms. The ability of feature set in differentiating abnormal from normal tissue is investigated using a Support Vector Machine classifier, Naive Bayes classifier and K-Nearest Neighbor classifier. To evaluate the classification performance, five-fold cross validation method and Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed. The verification results show that the proposed algorithm gives the best classification results using K-Nearest Neighbor classifier and a accuracy of 92.5 %. Image segmentation techniques can play an important role to segment and extract suspected hot regions of interests in the breast infrared images. Three image segmentation techniques: minimum variance quantization, dilation of image and erosion of image are discussed. The hottest regions of thermal breast images are extracted and compared to the original images. According to the results, the proposed method has potential to extract almost exact shape of tumors

Graft-take Success in Walnut Under Controlled Conditions and Plant Development in the Nursery

The production of walnut nursery plants is a complex process, being dependent upon a range of factors that affect graft-take success and behaviour of walnut plants in the nursery. The experiment included two parts. Three different treatments were used in the heated room under controlled air temperature and humidity conditions: Treatment 1-grafting without paraffin treatment of the scion and graft union, coupled with covering the graft with sawdust up to the top of the scion; Treatment 2-grafting involving paraffin treatment of the scion and graft union, coupled with covering the graft with sawdust up to the top of the scion; and Treatment 3-grafting involving paraffin treatment of the scion and graft union, coupled with covering the graft with both sawdust up to the top of the scion and polyethylene foil. The treatments were evaluated for their effect on graft-take success. Graft planting in the nursery was followed by two treatments: treatment without foliar fertilisation and treatment with foliar fertilisation. Under controlled conditions, treatment 3 induced a higher graft-take success as compared to the other two treatments, whereas foliar fertilisation in the nursery had a positive effect on the survival, production of class 1 plants and vegetative growth of walnut plants

Long-term treatment with olanzapine in hospital conditions: Prevalence and predictors of the metabolic syndrome

© 2015, Serbia Medical Society. All rights reserved. Introduction The risk of metabolic abnormalities is greatly increased in schizophrenic patients started on an atypical antipsychotic medication. Patients with psychiatric disorders exceed mortality ranges resulting from, among others, increased risk of cardiovascular events. Other factors contributing to the development of metabolic syndrome include prolonged duration of illness, increasing age, female sex and lifestyle factors. Objective This cross-sectional study was taken up to assess the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in schizophrenic patients receiving olanzapine monotherapy for at least six months and to determine the most important risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome presence in these patients. Methods A total of 93 long term hospitalized schizophrenic patients (71 men, 22 women), had a screening of the following: case-history data, psychiatric scales, anthropometric measures, blood (fasting glucose, lipid status, C-reactive protein – CRP) and urine samples (microalbuminuria). Results Prevalence of MetS according to International Diabetes Federation criteria in our study was 34.4%. The multivariate analysis distinguished the following significant predictors of MetS presence (in order of appearance): data about diabetes mellitus in family history (p=0.002), body mass index >25 kg/m2 (p=0.002), hyperlipidemia in family history (p=0.008), and elevated CRP value (p=0.042). Conclusion High rate of MetS in patients treated with olanzapine in this study exceeds MetS prevalence in general population. Among observed parameters, our study pointed to several “high risk” predictors associated with MetS presence. Regular monitoring of cardiometabolic risk factors is highly recommended. Positive heredity distress mentioned above may direct a psychiatrist to prescribe some other drug than olanzapine in the long term treatment of schizophrenia

Biologija cvetanja i oprašivanja oraha

Common walnut (Juglans regia L.) is a monoecious, herkogamous, anemophilous, heterodichogamous and autofertile plant. Study of the sexual cycle of the walnut is hindered by the presence of a relatively long juvenile period and high genetic diversity, so that many questions in the field of reproductive biology of the walnut still remained unresolved. This paper gives an overview of current knowledge regarding the sexual process of walnut, with the focus on the morphology of staminate and pistillate flowers, the dynamics of their opening, as well as ecological and physiological aspects of dichogamy, pollen transfer, stigmas receptivity, pollen germination, pollen tube growth in the pistil, singamia, apomixis and pistillate flower abortion.Obični orah (Juglans regia L.) je monoecijska, herkogama, anemofilna, heterodihogama i autofertilna biljka. Proučavanje polnog ciklusa oraha otežano je usled prisustva relativno dugog juvenilnog perioda i velike genetske raznolikosti, pa su mnoga pitanja iz oblasti reproduktivne biologije oraha ostala i dalje nerazjašnjena. U radu je dat prikaz dosadašnjih saznanja u vezi sa polnim procesom oraha, pri čemu je težište stavljeno na građu muških i ženskih cvetova, dinamiku njihovog otvaranja, kao i ekološke i fiziološke aspekte dihogamije, transfera polena, receptivnosti žigova, klijanja polena, rasta polenove cevi u tučku, singamije, apomiksisa i abortiranja ženskih cvetova

Hemijsko proređivanje cvetova i plodova breskve

The paper presents an overview of the most important aspects of the chemical crop load regulation in the peach. Importance of crop load optimizing, strategies for flowers and fruits thinning (inhibition of flower induction, killing of flower buds, prevention of fruit set and stimulation of fruitlet abscission), the time of applications, concentration, efficiency and adverse effects of the most often used chemicals are discussed.Rad prikazuje pregled najvažnijih aspekata hemijskog regulisanja prinosa kod breskve. Obrađeni su: značaj dovođenja prinosa na optimalan nivo, strategije koje se koriste za proređivanje cvetova i plodova (kočenje indukcije cvetova, ubijanje cvetnih pupoljaka, sprečavanje zametanja plodova i podsticanje otpadanja mladih plodova), vreme aplikacije, koncentracija, efikasnost i štetni efekti najčešće korišćenih hemijskih materija

Pomološke karakteristike klonova Oblačinske višnje u leskovačkom području

This work presents a three-year study of oblacinska sour cherry clones. The studies were carried out at the production plantings of sour cherry of DP '' Porecje'' Vucje laboratories and the Faculty of Technology. The work presents the technology of nine clones of oblacinska sour cherry. Clone 28, which is the most prevalent in productive plantings, was used for comparison. During the performance of experiment, the vegetative and generative potential, important chemical and technological properties of fruits, yield, the content of dry matter and sugar were monitored. The obtained data of oblacinska sour cherries clones were processed by using the statistical methods. Based on all the examined traits, the following three sour cherry clones showed the highest quality properties: 56/21, 34/10 and 62/22.U radu su prikazana trogodišnja istraživanja devet klonova Oblačinske višnje. Ispitivanja su obavljena u proizvodnim zasadima Oblačinske višnje u D.P. „Porečje“ Vučje i laboratorijama Tehnološkog fakulteta. Za upoređenje je korišćen klon 28,koji je najviše rasprostranjen u proizvodnim zasadima. Tokom istraživanja praćen je vegetativni i generativni potencijal, fenologija cvetanja, važnije hemijske i tehnološke osobine plodova, sadržaj rastvorljivih suvih materija i šećera. Dobijeni podaci ispitivanih klonova Oblačinske višnje obrađeni su statističkim metodama. Na osnovu istraživanja najbolje rezultate su pokazala tri klona Oblačinske višnje i to: 56/21, 34/10 i 62/22

The impact of SARS-CoV-2 measures on patient samples and complication rates in spine surgery – A single center analysis

ObjectiveOver the past two years during the pandemic, the German health system has taken drastic measures, like the continuous use of face masks for all staff, restrictions of hospital visits as well as cancellation of elective surgical procedures. As a potential side effect of these measures, a significant reduction of surgical site infections was reported for neurosurgical patients. The purpose of our study was to analyze the impact of these measures on spinal surgery.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis to compare patient samples, procedures and infection rates before (January 2019 – March 2020) and during (April 2020 – June 2021) the pandemic to evaluate the impact of the measures mentioned above. Demographic and clinical data were collected and correlated with the occurrence of postoperative complications, especially infection.ResultsOur analysis showed no relevant decrease of spine surgeries (838 surgeries in non-pandemic group vs. 831 surgeries pandemic group). The most common postoperative complication was wound infection in both groups, followed by urinary tract infection and pneumonia. In both patient groups, infections were more prevalent in surgeries of multilevel posterior instrumentation. Comparing the two groups of patients, a slight, non-significant (0.5%) reduction of overall postoperative complications in the pandemic group was observed. However, the number of spinal surgeries classified as emergencies in our institution increased by 10.2% during the last 15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with this finding the urgent transfer of patients from smaller hospitals increased by 14.2%, compared to previous years.ConclusionThe volume of spinal surgeries remained high and complication rates stable during the pandemic. A reason why complication rates did not drop as reported previously might be a significant change in patient sample due to the increase of emergency surgeries. A decrease of complication rates, especially infections by the measures of infection prevention for the pandemic was not observed

Zuclopenthixol decanoate in pregnancy: Successful outcomes in two consecutive off springs of the same mother

Introduction. Almost all individual antipsychotics are classified into the intermediate pregnancy risk category as no or limited data exist about human pregnancy outcomes. We presented the case of zuclopenthixol decanoate using in two successive pregnancies of the same woman, which had not been published in the available peer-reviewed literature. Case report. A middle-age female subject who suffered from schizophrenia received zuclopenthixol decanoate injection during her two consecutive pregnancies. About four and a half months before diagnosis of the first pregnancy (~3.5 years after psychosis emergence), zuclopenthixol decanoate (400 mg every other week, im injection) was introduced to the treatment protocol (due to previous non-compliance with halo-peridol and risperidone). A significant clinical improvement was achieved and the dose during pregnancy was reduced to 200 mg once monthly and maintained to date. In both pregnancies the women gave birth to healthy girls who have been developing normally until now, at their ages of 6 months and of 3.5 years. During pregnancy and after giving birth to children the mothers' psychiatric status and her social functioning were significantly improved and are still stable. Close monitoring of the mother's health, a multidisciplinary approach to both her treatment and the monitoring of pregnancies as well as the complete compliance with the prescribed drug protocol were likely to be crucial for the therapeutic success. Conclusion. A favorable outcome of the present case suggests that the zuclopenthixol decanoate is a rational therapeutic option for pregnant women suffering from psychosis when the expected benefit exceed the potential risk, but a definitive evidence for its safety requires large, controlled studies