Automatic segmentation of wrist bone fracture area by K-means pixel clustering from X-ray image

Early detection of subtle fracture is important particularly for the senior citizens’ quality of life. Naked eye examination from X-ray image may cause false negatives due to operator subjectivity thus computer vision based automatic detection software is much needed in practice.  In this paper, we propose an automatic extraction method for suspisious wrist fracture regions. We apply K-means in pixel clustering to form the candidate part of possible fracture from wrist X-ray image automatically. This method can recover previously detected patterned false cases with edge detection method after fuzzy stretching. The proposed method is successful in 16 out of 20 tested cases in experiment

Effects of a commercial whitening toothpaste containing hydrogen peroxide and citric acid on dentin abrasion and erosion

Background Hydrogen peroxide (HP) and citric acid (CA), key contributors to toothpaste acidity, can lead to dental loss. This study aimed to compare the amount of abrasion or loss of dentin based on pH, buffering, and concentration of HP and CA in commercial and experimental toothpastes after toothbrushing or immersion. Methods Bovine dentin specimens were randomly assigned to nine solutions. The prepared solutions included two commercial toothpastes (whitening toothpaste [WT] with HP and CA; conventional toothpaste [CT] without HP and CA), reference slurry (RS), two CA solutions (1.92%, CAS1; 0.001%, CAS2), basic solution (7.16% sodium phosphate dibasic [SPDS]), CA phosphate buffer solution (3.58% SPDS and 0.96% CA [CAPB]), HP solution (4%, HPS), and distilled water (DW). Dentin specimens were performed in two treatments: one with only abrasion (10,000 brushings) and one with only immersion (1 h). After treatments, the amount of dentin loss and surface images were measured and observed using noncontact profilometry. Data were analyzed using an one-way analysis of variance and the Tukey test as a post hoc analysis (p < 0.05). Results WT with pH 5.0 had lower dentin abrasion than CT and RS after brushing but had higher dentin loss than both after immersion. The dentin surfaces of CAS1, CAPB, and WT were damaged after immersion, whereas HPS, CAS2, CT, SPDS, RS, and DW remained intact after soaking. CAS2 and HPS, which had a pH of 5.0 like WT, did not significantly differ from those of DW after brushing. Conclusions WT containing HP and CA did not cause significant dentin abrasion but may cause additional dentin loss even without brushing. After brushing or immersion, the CA concentration may affect the dentin surface more than the HP concentration included in WT. The amount of abrasion or loss of dentin after brushing or soaking can vary based on the composition, concentration, and buffer in the solution, even if the pH of the solution is similar to pH 5.0.This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Educatio

Nicolau Syndrome after Intramuscular Injection: 3 Cases

Nicolau syndrome is a rare complication of intramuscular injection consisting of ischemic necrosis of skin, soft tissue, and muscular tissue that arises locoregionally. The characteristic pattern is pain around the injection site, developing into erythema, a livedoid dermatitis patch, and necrosis of the skin, subcutaneous fat, and muscle tissue. Three patients were injected with drugs (diclofenac sodium, ketoprofen, meperidine) for pain relief. Three patients complained of pain, and a skin lesion was observed, after which necrosis developed on their buttocks. Each patient underwent debridement and coverage. The wound healed uneventfully. We report three cases of Nicolau syndrome in the buttocks following diclofenac intramuscular injection