6 research outputs found
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Individuals With Scleroderma May Have Increased Risk of Sleep-Disordered Breathing.
STUDY OBJECTIVES:Scleroderma is associated with abnormal skin thickening, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, and abnormalities of the upper airway. These changes can cause cardiopulmonary complications, potentially including sleep-disordered breathing. The objective of this study is to examine the risk of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with scleroderma. METHODS:We retrospectively identified patients with documented scleroderma. We abstracted data from their electronic health records, including findings from antibody tests, serial pulmonary function tests, transthoracic echocardiography, high-resolution computed tomography, and overnight forehead oximetry. RESULTS:We identified 171 patients with scleroderma. Mean age at the time of initial consult was 56.5 years (range, 18-96 years), and 150 (86.7%) were women. Scleroderma was categorized as limited disease for 108 (62.4%), diffuse disease for 59 (34.1%), and mixed connective tissue disease for 6 (3.5%). Fifty-four patients (31.2%) had abnormal overnight forehead oximetry results, defined as an oxygen desaturation index greater than 5 or a baseline mean arterial oxygen saturation level less than 90%. CONCLUSIONS:Cardiopulmonary complications are common in patients with scleroderma, one of which may be sleep-disordered breathing. In our cohort, approximately one-third of individuals with scleroderma had evidence of sleep-disordered breathing. Moreover, the rate of sleep-disordered breathing in our population of scleroderma patients was twice the rate of pulmonary hypertension and was approximately the same as the rate of interstitial lung disease. Future prospective studies are needed to further assess the role of sleep-disordered breathing in scleroderma clinical outcomes
Segmentation and intensity estimation for microarray images with saturated pixels
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microarray image analysis processes scanned digital images of hybridized arrays to produce the input spot-level data for downstream analysis, so it can have a potentially large impact on those and subsequent analysis. Signal saturation is an optical effect that occurs when some pixel values for highly expressed genes or peptides exceed the upper detection threshold of the scanner software (2<sup>16 </sup>- 1 = 65, 535 for 16-bit images). In practice, spots with a sizable number of saturated pixels are often flagged and discarded. Alternatively, the saturated values are used without adjustments for estimating spot intensities. The resulting expression data tend to be biased downwards and can distort high-level analysis that relies on these data. Hence, it is crucial to effectively correct for signal saturation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We developed a flexible mixture model-based segmentation and spot intensity estimation procedure that accounts for saturated pixels by incorporating a censored component in the mixture model. As demonstrated with biological data and simulation, our method extends the dynamic range of expression data beyond the saturation threshold and is effective in correcting saturation-induced bias when the lost information is not tremendous. We further illustrate the impact of image processing on downstream classification, showing that the proposed method can increase diagnostic accuracy using data from a lymphoma cancer diagnosis study.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The presented method adjusts for signal saturation at the segmentation stage that identifies a pixel as part of the foreground, background or other. The cluster membership of a pixel can be altered versus treating saturated values as truly observed. Thus, the resulting spot intensity estimates may be more accurate than those obtained from existing methods that correct for saturation based on already segmented data. As a model-based segmentation method, our procedure is able to identify inner holes, fuzzy edges and blank spots that are common in microarray images. The approach is independent of microarray platform and applicable to both single- and dual-channel microarrays.</p
Recommended from our members
Individuals With Scleroderma May Have Increased Risk of Sleep-Disordered Breathing.
Study objectivesScleroderma is associated with abnormal skin thickening, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, and abnormalities of the upper airway. These changes can cause cardiopulmonary complications, potentially including sleep-disordered breathing. The objective of this study is to examine the risk of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with scleroderma.MethodsWe retrospectively identified patients with documented scleroderma. We abstracted data from their electronic health records, including findings from antibody tests, serial pulmonary function tests, transthoracic echocardiography, high-resolution computed tomography, and overnight forehead oximetry.ResultsWe identified 171 patients with scleroderma. Mean age at the time of initial consult was 56.5 years (range, 18-96 years), and 150 (86.7%) were women. Scleroderma was categorized as limited disease for 108 (62.4%), diffuse disease for 59 (34.1%), and mixed connective tissue disease for 6 (3.5%). Fifty-four patients (31.2%) had abnormal overnight forehead oximetry results, defined as an oxygen desaturation index greater than 5 or a baseline mean arterial oxygen saturation level less than 90%.ConclusionsCardiopulmonary complications are common in patients with scleroderma, one of which may be sleep-disordered breathing. In our cohort, approximately one-third of individuals with scleroderma had evidence of sleep-disordered breathing. Moreover, the rate of sleep-disordered breathing in our population of scleroderma patients was twice the rate of pulmonary hypertension and was approximately the same as the rate of interstitial lung disease. Future prospective studies are needed to further assess the role of sleep-disordered breathing in scleroderma clinical outcomes
Recommended from our members
Individuals With Scleroderma May Have Increased Risk of Sleep-Disordered Breathing.
STUDY OBJECTIVES:Scleroderma is associated with abnormal skin thickening, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, and abnormalities of the upper airway. These changes can cause cardiopulmonary complications, potentially including sleep-disordered breathing. The objective of this study is to examine the risk of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with scleroderma. METHODS:We retrospectively identified patients with documented scleroderma. We abstracted data from their electronic health records, including findings from antibody tests, serial pulmonary function tests, transthoracic echocardiography, high-resolution computed tomography, and overnight forehead oximetry. RESULTS:We identified 171 patients with scleroderma. Mean age at the time of initial consult was 56.5 years (range, 18-96 years), and 150 (86.7%) were women. Scleroderma was categorized as limited disease for 108 (62.4%), diffuse disease for 59 (34.1%), and mixed connective tissue disease for 6 (3.5%). Fifty-four patients (31.2%) had abnormal overnight forehead oximetry results, defined as an oxygen desaturation index greater than 5 or a baseline mean arterial oxygen saturation level less than 90%. CONCLUSIONS:Cardiopulmonary complications are common in patients with scleroderma, one of which may be sleep-disordered breathing. In our cohort, approximately one-third of individuals with scleroderma had evidence of sleep-disordered breathing. Moreover, the rate of sleep-disordered breathing in our population of scleroderma patients was twice the rate of pulmonary hypertension and was approximately the same as the rate of interstitial lung disease. Future prospective studies are needed to further assess the role of sleep-disordered breathing in scleroderma clinical outcomes