Magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers for chronic kidney disease: a position paper from the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action PARENCHIMA

Functional renal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has seen a number of recent advances, and techniques are now available that can generate quantitative imaging biomarkers with the potential to improve the management of kidney disease. Such biomarkers are sensitive to changes in renal blood flow, tissue perfusion, oxygenation and microstructure (including inflammation and fibrosis), processes that are important in a range of renal diseases including chronic kidney disease. However, several challenges remain to move these techniques towards clinical adoption, from technical validation through biological and clinical validation, to demonstration of cost-effectiveness and regulatory qualification. To address these challenges, the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action PARENCHIMA was initiated in early 2017. PARENCHIMA is a multidisciplinary pan-European network with an overarching aim of eliminating the main barriers to the broader evaluation, commercial exploitation and clinical use of renal MRI biomarkers. This position paper lays out PARENCHIMA’s vision on key clinical questions that MRI must address to become more widely used in patients with kidney disease, first within research settings and ultimately in clinical practice. We then present a series of practical recommendations to accelerate the study and translation of these techniques

Multiresolution Model For Image Interpolation With Adaptive Filtering

This paper proposes an image interpolation model based on a multiresolution scheme. The method uses two different known image resolutions to establish a mapping between them. The mapping is then used to extrapolate the unknown resolution to produce an expanded image with increased definition and with a mean square reconstruction error lower than for the conventional methods. In other words, details in a high resolution image are implicitly predicted based only on its low-frequency resolutions. A high subjective quality is obtained due to the similar nature of the mappings, which are constructed by means of an adaptive bidimensional FIR filter.42203220

Inferring recommendation interactions in clinical guidelines

The formal representation of clinical knowledge is still an open research topic. Classical representation languages for clinical guidelines are used to produce diagnostic and treatment plans. However, they have important limitations, e.g. when looking for ways to re-use, combine, and reason over existing clinical knowledge. These limitations are especially problematic in the context of multimorbidity; patients that suffer from multiple diseases. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes a model for clinical guidelines (TMR4I) that allows the re-use and combination of knowledge from multiple guidelines. Semantic Web technology is applied to implement the model, allowing us to automatically infer interactions between recommendations, such as recommending the same drug more than once. It relies on an existing Linked Data set, DrugBank, for identifying drug-drug interactions. We evaluate the model by applying it to two realistic case studies on multimorbidity that combine guidelines for two (Duodenal Ulcer and Transient Ischemic Attack) and three diseases (Osteoarthritis, Hypertension and Diabetes) and compare the results with existing methods

Digestibilidade do bagaço de cana-de-açúcar tratado com reagentes químicos e pressão de vapor Digestibility of sugar cane bagasse treated with chemical reagents and steam pressure

Com o objetivo de elevar a digestibilidade do bagaço de cana-de-açúcar, este resíduo agro-industrial foi tratado com inúmeros reagentes químicos acompanhados ou não de tratamento físico. Após ensaios preliminares, nos quais diversos agentes deslignificantes foram avaliados, dez tratamentos foram selecionados para serem melhor estudados em ensaios de digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca e da matéria orgânica. Em seguida, para o ensaio de digestibilidade in vivo, foram feitas quatro dietas à base de: 1 - Bagaço auto-hidrolisado (BAH), pressão de 17 kgf/cm² por 5 min; 2 - Bagaço tratado com 4% Na2S + 6% NaOH, pressão de 12 kgf/cm² por 8 min; 3 - Bagaço tratado com 2% Na2S + 3% NaOH, pressão de 12 kgf/cm² por 8 min; e 4 - Bagaço tratado com 9% H2O2 + 7% NaOH, a 70ºC por 8 min. Bagaço tratado com 4% Na2S + 6% NaOH e submetido a 12 kgf/cm² de pressão apresentou os melhores coeficientes de digestibilidade da matéria seca, matéria orgânica, fibra em detergente neutro e fibra em detergente ácido e o maior valor de nutrientes digestíveis totais. Em seguida, o bagaço tratado com 9% H2O2 + 7% NaOH a 70ºC por 8 min apresentou os melhores resultados. Piores resultados foram observados para o bagaço hidrolizado. A melhor digestibilidade de algumas das dietas, particularmente das frações fibrosas, sugere a exiqüibilidade do emprego de menores quantidades de alimento concentrado em dietas à base de bagaço de cana tratado química/fisicamente.<br>In order to increase the sugar cane bagasse digestibility, this agricultural by-product was treated with several chemical reagents with or without physical treatment. After preliminary evaluation, where several delignificant agents were evaluated, ten treatments were selected for more detailed in vitro dry and organic matter disappearance trials. Then, for the in vivo digestibility trial, four sugar cane bagasse based diets were made: 1 - Hydrolyzed sugar cane bagasse, pressure of 17 kgf/cm² per 5 min; 2 - Bagasse treated with 4% Na2S + 6% NaOH, pressure of 12 kgf/cm² for 8 min; 3 - Bagasse treated with 2% Na2S + 3% NaOH, pressure of 12 kgf/cm² for 8 min; 4 - Bagasse treated with 9% H2O2 + 7% NaOH, at 70ºC for 8 min. The bagasse treated with 4% Na2S + 6% NaOH and pressure of 12 kgf/cm² for 8 min exhibited the highest coefficients of digestibility for dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber, as well as the highest total digestible nutrient values. Secondly, the bagasse treated with 9% H2O2 + 7% NaOH, at 70ºC for 8 min showed the best results. Hydrolyzed sugar cane bagasse presented the worst results. The best digestibility data of some diets, particularly of the fibrous fractions, suggests the possibility of reducing the amount of concentrate meal in chemically/physically treated sugar cane based diets