Bildsegmentation zur Untersuchung von Streulichtbildern bei der laseroptischen Diagnose von rheumatoider Arthritis

Optical imaging in biomedicine is governed by the light absorption and scattering interaction on microscopic and macroscopic constituents in the medium. Therefore, light scattering characteristics of human tissue correlates with the stage of some diseases. In the near infrared range the scattering event with the coefficient approximately two orders of magnitude greater than absorption plays a dominant role. The potential of an experimental laser diode based setup for the transillumination of rheumatoid finger joints and the pattern of the stray light detection are demonstrated. For evaluating the scattering light images a new non-local image segmentation method is presented. Regarding a noisy picture as a multicomponent mixture of gray scaled particles, this method minimizes a non-convex free energy functional under the constraint of mass conservation of the components. Contrary to constructing equilibrium distributions as steady states of an adequate evolution equation, a direct descent method for the free energy is used to separate the components of the image

The interactive effects of various nitrogen fertiliser formulations applied to urine patches on nitrous oxide emissions in grassland

peer-reviewedPasture-based livestock agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) nitrous oxide (N2O). Although a body of research is available on the effect of urine patch N or fertiliser N on N2O emissions, limited data is available on the effect of fertiliser N applied to patches of urinary N, which can cover up to a fifth of the yearly grazed area. This study investigated whether the sum of N2O emissions from urine and a range of N fertilisers, calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) or urea ± urease inhibitor ± nitrification inhibitor, applied alone (disaggregated and re-aggregated) approximated the N2O emission of urine and fertiliser N applied together (aggregated). Application of fertiliser to urine patches did not significantly increase either the cumulative yearly N2O emissions or the N2O emission factor in comparison to urine and fertiliser applied separately with the emissions re-aggregated. However, there was a consistent trend for approximately 20% underestimation of N2O loss generated from fertiliser and urine applied separately when compared to figures generated when urine and fertiliser were applied together. N2O emission factors from fertilisers were 0.02%, 0.06%, 0.17% and 0.25% from urea ± dicyandiamide (DCD), urea + N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) + DCD, urea + NBPT and urea, respectively, while the emission factor for urine alone was 0.33%. Calcium ammonium nitrate and urea did not interact differently with urine even when the urea included DCD. N2O losses could be reduced by switching from CAN to urea-based fertilisers

The effects of multidisciplinary rehabilitation: RePCa-a randomised study among primary prostate cancer patients

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is the effectiveness of multidisciplinary rehabilitation on treatment-related adverse effects after completed radiotherapy in patients with prostate cancer (PCa). METHODS: In a single-centre oncology unit in Odense, Denmark, 161 PCa patients treated with radiotherapy and androgen deprivation therapy were randomly assigned to either a programme of two nursing counselling sessions and two instructive sessions with a physical therapist (n=79) or to usual care (n=82). Primary outcome was Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC-26) urinary irritative sum-score. Before radiotherapy, pre-intervention 4 weeks after radiotherapy, and after a 20-week intervention, measurements included self-reported disease-specific quality of life (QoL; EPIC-26, including urinary, bowel, sexual, and hormonal symptoms), general QoL (Short-form-12, SF-12), pelvic floor muscle strength (Modified Oxford Scale), and pelvic floor electromyography. Intension-to-treat analyses were made with adjusted linear regression. RESULTS: The intervention improved, as compared with controls, urinary irritative sum-score 5.8 point (Cohen's d=0.40; P=0.011), urinary sum-score (d=0.34; P=0.023), hormonal sum-score (d=0.19; P=0.018), and the SF-12 Physical Component Summary, d=0.35; P=0.002. Patients with more severe impairment gained most. Pelvic floor muscle strength measured by electromyography declined in both groups, P=0.0001. CONCLUSION: Multidisciplinary rehabilitation in irradiated PCa patients improved urinary and hormonal symptoms, and SF-12 physical QoL

Bildsegmentation zur Untersuchung von Streulichtbildern bei der laseroptischen Diagnose von rheumatoider Arthritis

Optical imaging in biomedicine is governed by the light absorption and scattering interaction on microscopic and macroscopic constituents in the medium. Therefore, light scattering characteristics of human tissue correlates with the stage of some diseases. In the near infrared range the scattering event with the coefficient approximately two orders of magnitude greater than absorption plays a dominant role. The potential of an experimental laser diode based setup for the transillumination of rheumatoid finger joints and the pattern of the stray light detection are demonstrated. For evaluating the scattering light images a new non-local image segmentation method is presented. Regarding a noisy picture as a multicomponent mixture of gray scaled particles, this method minimizes a non-convex free energy functional under the constraint of mass conservation of the components. Contrary to constructing equilibrium distributions as steady states of an adequate evolution equation, a direct descent method for the free energy is used to separate the components of the image

Combining stable isotopes with contamination indicators: A method for improved investigation of nitrate sources and dynamics in aquifers with mixed nitrogen inputs.

Excessive nitrate (NO3−) concentration in groundwater raises health and environmental issues that must be addressed by all European Union (EU) member states under the Nitrates Directive and the Water Framework Directive. The identification of NO3− sources is critical to efficiently control or reverse NO3− contamination that affects many aquifers. In that respect, the use of stable isotope ratios 15N/14N and 18O/16O in NO3− (expressed as δ15N-NO3− and δ18O-NO3−, respectively) has long shown its value. However, limitations exist in complex environments where multiple nitrogen (N) sources coexist. This two-year study explores a method for improved NO3− source investigation in a shallow unconfined aquifer with mixed N inputs and a long established NO3− problem. In this tillage-dominated area of free-draining soil and subsoil, suspected NO3− sources were diffuse applications of artificial fertiliser and organic point sources (septic tanks and farmyards). Bearing in mind that artificial diffuse sources were ubiquitous, groundwater samples were first classified according to a combination of two indicators relevant of point source contamination: presence/absence of organic point sources (i.e. septic tank and/or farmyard) near sampling wells and exceedance/non-exceedance of a contamination threshold value for sodium (Na+) in groundwater. This classification identified three contamination groups: agricultural diffuse source but no point source (D+P−), agricultural diffuse and point source (D+P+) and agricultural diffuse but point source occurrence ambiguous (D+P±). Thereafter δ15N-NO3− and δ18O-NO3− data were superimposed on the classification. As δ15N-NO3− was plotted against δ18O-NO3−, comparisons were made between the different contamination groups. Overall, both δ variables were significantly and positively correlated (p 0.6, 0.53 ≤ slope ≤ 0.76), i.e. where point source contamination was characterised or suspected. These lines originated from the 2–6‰ range for δ15N-NO3−, which suggests that i) NO3− contamination was dominated by an agricultural diffuse N source (most likely the large organic matter pool that has incorporated 15N-depleted nitrogen from artificial fertiliser in agricultural soils and whose nitrification is stimulated by ploughing and fertilisation) rather than point sources and ii) denitrification was possibly favoured by high dissolved organic content (DOC) from point sources. Combining contamination indicators and a large stable isotope dataset collected over a large study area could therefore improve our understanding of the NO3− contamination processes in groundwater for better land use management. We hypothesise that in future research, additional contamination indicators (e.g. pharmaceutical molecules) could also be combined to disentangle NO3− contamination from animal and human wastes

Monte Carlo simulation of signals in digital diaphanoscopy of the maxillary sinuses

Digital diaphanoscopy method has potential to separate normal and pathological conditions of the maxillary sinuses. The entirety of all the features of the investigated area (the presence or absence of pathology, its etiology and morphological features) affects the resulting images of the maxillary sinuses by the digital diaphanoscopy. In this work, the MonteCarlo numerical simulation method was used to determine the patterns of propagation of light radiation in biological tissue. A biologically heterogeneous environment, represented by structures of the skull and maxillary sinuses, as well as pathological changes in them was modelled in the TracePro software

Computed Tomography-Derived 3D Modeling to Guide Sizing and Planning of Transcatheter Mitral Valve Interventions

A plethora of catheter-based strategies have been developed to treat mitral valve disease. Evolving 3-dimensional (3D) multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) technology can accurately reconstruct the mitral valve by means of 3-dimensional computational modeling (3DCM) to allow virtual implantation of catheter-based devices. 3D printing complements computational modeling and offers implanting physician teams the opportunity to evaluate devices in life-size replicas of patient-specific cardiac anatomy. MDCT-derived 3D computational and 3D-printed modeling provides unprecedented insights to facilitate hands-on procedural planning, device training, and retrospective procedural evaluation. This overview summarizes current concepts and provides insight into the application of MDCT-derived 3DCM and 3D printing for the planning of transcatheter mitral valve replacement and closure of paravalvular leaks. Additionally, future directions in the development of 3DCM will be discussed

Effects of Dietary Glutamine Supplementation on the Body Composition and Protein Status of Early-Weaned Mice Inoculated with Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guerin

Glutamine, one of the most abundant amino acids found in maternal milk, favors protein anabolism. Early-weaned babies are deprived of this source of glutamine, in a period during which endogenous biosynthesis may be insufficient for tissue needs in states of metabolic stress, mainly during infections. The objective of this study was to verify the effects of dietary glutamine supplementation on the body composition and visceral protein status of early-weaned mice inoculated with Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). Mice were weaned early on their 14th day of life and seperated into two groups, one of which was fed a glutamine-free diet (n = 16) and the other a glutamine-supplemented diet (40 g/kg diet) (n = 16). At 21 days of age, some mice were intraperitoneally injected with BCG. Euthanasia was performed at the 28th day of age. BCG inoculation significantly reduced body weight (P < 0.001), lean mass (P = 0.002), water (P = 0.006), protein (P = 0.007) and lipid content (P = 0.001) in the carcass. Dietary glutamine supplementation resulted in a significant increase in serum IGF-1 (P = 0.019) and albumin (P = 0.025) concentration, muscle protein concentration (P = 0.035) and lipid content (P = 0.002) in the carcass. In conclusion, dietary glutamine supplementation had a positive influence on visceral protein status but did not affect body composition in early-weaned mice inoculated with BCG

Prevalence of headache in Europe: a review for the Eurolight project

The main aim of the present study was to do an update on studies on headache epidemiology as a preparation for the multinational European study on the prevalence and burden of headache and investigate the impact of different methodological issues on the results. The study was based on a previous study, and a systematic literature search was performed to identify the newest studies. More than 50% of adults indicate that they suffer from headache in general during the last year or less, but when asked specifically about tension-type headache, the prevalence was 60%. Migraine occurs in 15%, chronic headache in about 4% and possible medication overuse headache in 1–2%. Cluster headache has a lifetime prevalence of 0.2–0.3%. Most headaches are more prevalent in women, and somewhat less prevalent in children and youth. Some studies indicate that the headache prevalence is increasing during the last decades in Europe. As to methodological issues, lifetime prevalences are in general higher than 1-year prevalences, but the exact time frame of headache (1 year, 6 or 3 months, or no time frame stated) seems to be of less importance. Studies using personal interviews seem to give somewhat higher prevalences than those using questionnaires