Automated tooth crown design with optimized shape and biomechanics properties

Despite the large demand for dental restoration each year, the design of crown restorations is mainly performed via manual software operation, which is tedious and subjective. Moreover, the current design process lacks biomechanics optimization, leading to localized stress concentration and reduced working life. To tackle these challenges, we develop a fully automated algorithm for crown restoration based on deformable model fitting and biomechanical optimization. From a library of dental oral scans, a conditional shape model (CSM) is constructed to represent the inter-teeth shape correlation. By matching the CSM to the patient’s oral scan, the optimal crown shape is estimated to coincide with the surrounding teeth. Next, the crown is seamlessly integrated into the finish line of preparation via a surface warping step. Finally, porous internal supporting structures of the crown are generated to avoid excessive localized stresses. This algorithm is validated on clinical oral scan data and achieved less than 2 mm mean surface distance as compared to the manual designs of experienced human operators. The mechanical simulation was conducted to prove that the internal supporting structures lead to uniform stress distribution all over the model

Histone H4 acetylation by immunohistochemistry and prognosis in newly diagnosed adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients

Background: Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are a novel anti-tumor therapy. To determine whether HDAC inhibitors may be useful in the treatment of adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), we examined the acetylation of histone H4 by immunohistochemistry in newly diagnosed ALL patients and evaluated the impact of acetylation on complete remission (CR) rate, relapse-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS). Methods: Patients >= 18 years of age and an available diagnostic bone marrow biopsy were evaluated. Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to identify univariate and multivariate correlates of CR, RFS, and OS. The variables histone H4 acetylation (positive or negative), white blood count, cytogenetic (CG) risk group (CALGB criteria), and age were used in multivariate analysis. Results: On multivariate analysis, histone acetylation was associated with a trend towards an improved OS (for all CG risk groups) (HR = 0.51, p = 0.09). In patients without poor risk CG, there was an impressive association between the presence of histone acetylation and an improved CR rate (OR 3.43, p = 0.035), RFS (HR 0.07, p = 0.005), and OS (HR 0.24, p = 0.007). This association remained statistically significant in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: These data provide a rationale for the design of novel regimens incorporating HDAC inhibitors in ALL

Valorization of Grain and Oil By-Products with Special Focus on Hemicellulose Modification

Hemicellulose is one of the most important natural polysaccharides in nature. Hemicellulose from different sources varies in chemical composition and structure, which in turn affects the modification effects and industrial applications. Grain and oil by-products (GOBPs) are important raw materials for hemicellulose. This article reviews the modification methods of hemicellulose in GOBPs. The effects of chemical and physical modification methods on the properties of GOBP hemicellulose biomaterials are evaluated. The potential applications of modified GOBP hemicellulose are discussed, including its use in film production, hydrogel formation, three-dimensional (3D) printing materials, and adsorbents for environmental remediation. The limitations and future recommendations are also proposed to provide theoretical foundations and technical support for the efficient utilization of these by-products

Association between Chronotype and Dyslipidemia among Population Aged 40-65 Years

Background Lipid metabolism of middle-aged and older adults may be influenced by their late bedtime behavior, but the association between the above two still needs to be analyzed in-depth. Objective To explore the association between chronotype and dyslipidemia among populations with different gender, central obesity, late evening snacks and smoking. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted among the population aged 40-65 years who received health examination in physical examination center, the First People's Hospital of Fuquan City from March to August, 2022 (n=697). General information and sleep conditions of the included patients were collected and chronotype was evaluated by single-item question of the Morning and Evening Questionnaire. Unconditional binary Logistic regression model was used to evaluate the association between chronotype and the risk of dyslipidemia. Stratified analysis was also performed by gender, central obesity and late evening snacks among the whole population, and performed by smoking among male population. Sensitivity analysis was used to exclude the effect of shift work. Results Among the included subjects, morningness preference chronotype accounted for 56.4% (n=393), while eveningness preference chronotype accounted for 43.6% (n=304), with 334 cases (47.9%) detected with dyslipidemia. Unconditional binary Logistic regression analysis showed that chronotype was an influencing factor of dyslipidemia〔OR (95%CI) =1.54 (1.10, 2.16) 〕, the risk of hypertriglyceridemia〔OR (95%CI) =1.48 (1.04, 2.12) 〕and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol〔OR (95%CI) =1.79 (1.18, 2.72) 〕was higher in the adults with eveningness chronotype than those with morningness chronotype (P<0.05). Stratified analysis of the whole population showed that the risk of low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was 1.80 times (95%CI: 1.12, 2.91) and 1.73 times (95%CI: 1.02, 2.81) in adults with eveningness chronotype of that in adults with morningness chronotype among male population and the central obesity population, respectively (P<0.05) ; the risk of hypertriglyceridemia was 3.43 times (95%CI: 1.30, 8.99) in adults with eveningness chronotype of that in adults with morningness chronotype among population with late evening snacks (P<0.05) ; while there was no significant effect of chronotype on dyslipidemia and other lipid indexes in female and non central obesity populations (P>0.05). The stratified analysis by smoking in male population showed that the risk of low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was 1.83 times (95%CI: 1.03, 3.26) in adults with eveningness chronotype of that in adults with morningness chronotype in smoking population (P<0.05) ; while there was no significant of chronotype on hypercholesterolemia, hyper-LDL cholesterolemia and non-HDL-C abnormalities in both smoking and non-smoking populations (P>0.05) . Conclusion Eveningness preference chronotype may be a risk factor for dyslipidemia in adults aged 40-65 years, and the associations between dyslipidemia and chronotype may vary across populations with different gender, central obesity, late evening snacks, and smoking status

The Mediating Effect of Waist Circumference and Fasting Plasma Glucose on the Association between Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome and Arterial Stiffness in a Population Aged 40-65 Years

Background Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a sleep-related disease. Evidence has shown that OSAS may increase the risk of developing arterial stiffness (AS) , but the mechanism of action still needs to be further explored. Objective To explore the mediating effect of waist circumference (WC) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) on the association between OSAS and AS. Methods A total of 1 053 health examinees were selected from Physical Examination Center, the First People's Hospital of Fuquan City from March 23 to November 30, 2022. General demographic data were collected. The risk of OSAS was assessed using the STOP-Bang Questionnaire (high or low risk of OSAS was diagnosed by STOP-Bang score ≥4 points or <4 points) . AS was assessed, and 553 cases with AS and 500 without were assigned to AS and non-AS groups, respectively. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the factors associated with AS. FPG was converted to exponential form (-2.576 1) to obtain the exponential value of FPG (FPGa) . Multiple linear model was used to analyze the relationship of OSAS with WC and FPGa. The mediation effect of WC and FPG between OSAS and AS was analyzed using Hayes Process models 4 and 6 in R. Results AS and non-AS groups had statistically significant differences in mean age, sex ratio, prevalence of smoking and hypertension, mean body mass index, WC, neck circumference, FPG, triglyceride, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol as well as the level of OSAS risk (P<0.05) . Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that compared with individuals with low-risk OSAS, the risk of AS increased in those with high-risk OSAS (P<0.05) , and the risk of AS increased by 0.048 times for every 1 cm increase in WC and 0.512 times for every 1 mmol/L increase in FPG (P<0.05) . Multiple linear regression analysis showed that OSAS was associated with WC and FPGa (P<0.05) , and WC was an associated factor of FPGa (P<0.05) . The chained multimediator model showed that OSAS directly affected the incidence of AS〔β=0.661, 95%CI (0.284, 1.038) 〕. The indirect mediation effect value (β) of the "OSAS→WC→AS" path was 0.224〔95%CI (0.073, 0.398) 〕, accounting for 20.86% of the total effect. The indirect mediation effect value (β) of the "OSAS→FPGa→AS" path was 0.115〔95%CI (0.024, 0.216) 〕, accounting for 10.71% of the total. The indirect mediation effect value (β) of the "OSAS→WC→FPGa→AS" path was 0.074〔95%CI (0.036, 0.126) 〕, accounting for 6.89% of the total. Conclusion WC and FPG may partially mediate the relationship between OSAS and AS. In addition, they are involved in the process of "OSAS→WC→FPGa→AS" as chained mediators. People with high risk of OSAS should actively control WC to reduce the possibility of developing central obesity, and regulate FPG to prevent the occurrence of AS

Efficient contour-based annotation by iterative deep learning for organ segmentation from volumetric medical images

Purpose Training deep neural networks usually require a large number of human-annotated data. For organ segmentation from volumetric medical images, human annotation is tedious and inefficient. To save human labour and to accelerate the training process, the strategy of annotation by iterative deep learning recently becomes popular in the research community. However, due to the lack of domain knowledge or efficient human-interaction tools, the current AID methods still suffer from long training time and high annotation burden. Methods We develop a contour-based annotation by iterative deep learning (AID) algorithm which uses boundary representation instead of voxel labels to incorporate high-level organ shape knowledge. We propose a contour segmentation network with a multi-scale feature extraction backbone to improve the boundary detection accuracy. We also developed a contour-based human-intervention method to facilitate easy adjustments of organ boundaries. By combining the contour-based segmentation network and the contour-adjustment intervention method, our algorithm achieves fast few-shot learning and efficient human proofreading. Results For validation, two human operators independently annotated four abdominal organs in computed tomography (CT) images using our method and two compared methods, i.e. a traditional contour-interpolation method and a state-of-the-art (SOTA) convolutional network (CNN) method based on voxel label representation. Compared to these methods, our approach considerably saved annotation time and reduced inter-rater variabilities. Our contour detection network also outperforms the SOTA nnU-Net in producing anatomically plausible organ shape with only a small training set. Conclusion Taking advantage of the boundary shape prior and the contour representation, our method is more efficient, more accurate and less prone to inter-operator variability than the SOTA AID methods for organ segmentation from volumetric medical images. The good shape learning ability and flexible boundary adjustment function make it suitable for fast annotation of organ structures with regular shape.peerReviewe

AnatomySketch : An Extensible Open-Source Software Platform for Medical Image Analysis Algorithm Development

The development of medical image analysis algorithm is a complex process including the multiple sub-steps of model training, data visualization, human–computer interaction and graphical user interface (GUI) construction. To accelerate the development process, algorithm developers need a software tool to assist with all the sub-steps so that they can focus on the core function implementation. Especially, for the development of deep learning (DL) algorithms, a software tool supporting training data annotation and GUI construction is highly desired. In this work, we constructed AnatomySketch, an extensible open-source software platform with a friendly GUI and a flexible plugin interface for integrating user-developed algorithm modules. Through the plugin interface, algorithm developers can quickly create a GUI-based software prototype for clinical validation. AnatomySketch supports image annotation using the stylus and multi-touch screen. It also provides efficient tools to facilitate the collaboration between human experts and artificial intelligent (AI) algorithms. We demonstrate four exemplar applications including customized MRI image diagnosis, interactive lung lobe segmentation, human-AI collaborated spine disc segmentation and Annotation-by-iterative-Deep-Learning (AID) for DL model training. Using AnatomySketch, the gap between laboratory prototyping and clinical testing is bridged and the development of MIA algorithms is accelerated. The software is opened at https://github.com/DlutMedimgGroup/AnatomySketch-Software.peerReviewe

Histone H4 acetylation by immunohistochemistry and prognosis in newly diagnosed adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients

Abstract Background Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are a novel anti-tumor therapy. To determine whether HDAC inhibitors may be useful in the treatment of adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), we examined the acetylation of histone H4 by immunohistochemistry in newly diagnosed ALL patients and evaluated the impact of acetylation on complete remission (CR) rate, relapse-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS). Methods Patients ≥18 years of age and an available diagnostic bone marrow biopsy were evaluated. Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to identify univariate and multivariate correlates of CR, RFS, and OS. The variables histone H4 acetylation (positive or negative), white blood count, cytogenetic (CG) risk group (CALGB criteria), and age were used in multivariate analysis. Results On multivariate analysis, histone acetylation was associated with a trend towards an improved OS (for all CG risk groups) (HR = 0.51, p = 0.09). In patients without poor risk CG, there was an impressive association between the presence of histone acetylation and an improved CR rate (OR 3.43, p = 0.035), RFS (HR 0.07, p = 0.005), and OS (HR 0.24, p = 0.007). This association remained statistically significant in multivariate analysis. Conclusions These data provide a rationale for the design of novel regimens incorporating HDAC inhibitors in ALL.</p