A fundamental study assessing the generalized fitting method in conjunction with every possible coalition of N-combinations (G-EPOC) using the appendicitis detection task of computed tomography

Purpose: Increased use of deep learning (DL) in medical imaging diagnoses has led to more frequent use of 10-fold cross-validation (10-CV) for the evaluation of the performance of DL. To eliminate some of the (10-fold) repetitive processing in 10-CV, we proposed a "generalized fitting method in conjunction with every possible coalition of N-combinations (G-EPOC)", to estimate the range of the mean accuracy of 10-CV using less than 10 results of 10-CV. Material and methods: G-EPOC was executed as follows. We first provided (2N-1) coalition subsets using a specified N, which was 9 or less, out of 10 result datasets of 10-CV. We then obtained the estimation range of the accuracy by applying those subsets to the distribution fitting twice using a combination of normal, binominal, or Poisson distributions. Using datasets of 10-CVs acquired from the practical detection task of the appendicitis on CT by DL, we scored the estimation success rates if the range provided by G-EPOC included the true accuracy. Results: G-EPOC successfully estimated the range of the mean accuracy by 10-CV at over 95% rates for datasets with N assigned as 2 to 9. Conclusions: G-EPOC will help lessen the consumption of time and computer resources in the development of computer-based diagnoses in medical imaging and could become an option for the selection of a reasonable K value in K-CV

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging assessment for glossopharyngeal neuralgia : value of three-dimensional T2-reversed MR imaging (3D-T2R) in conjunction with other modes of 3D MR imaging

Background: To retrospectively examine the usefulness of gray-scale reversal imaging of T2-weighted images (3D-T2R) in conjunction with other modes of 3D MRI for preoperative assessments in patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN) due to neurovascular compression. Material/Methods: Imaging findings on 3D-T2R, constructive interference in steady state (CISS), and MRA were analyzed with reference to operative charts in 10 patients with GPN. Results: Offending vessels were associated with the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) in 9 of 10 patients (90%). Eight of the 10 patients (80%) had offending vessels located at the supraolivary fossette. Of those eight patients, six (75%) had a shift of the ipsilateral vertebral artery to the affected side. Five (42%) and seven (48%) contact points were associated with the root entry/exit zone and the peripheral nerve system segment, respectively. In six of nine contact points (67%), 3D-T2R demonstrated the pathomorphological features at the contact points better than CISS. Conclusions: The offending vessels were mostly associated with posterior inferior cerebellar arteries, were frequently located at the supraolivary fossette, and had attachments at the root entry/exit zone and at the peripheral segment of the glossopharyngeal nerve, which was well demonstrated on 3D-T2R

Right adrenal vein identification using unenhanced magnetic resonance imaging

Purpose: Unenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is known to be useful in characterizing adrenal adenomas through the implementation of in-phase (IPI) and opposed-phase imaging (OPI) based on chemical shift artifacts. However, whether unenhanced MRI can contribute to the identification of right adrenal vein (RAV) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of unenhanced MRI for the identification of RAV. Material and methods: This retrospective study reviewed 30 patients (16 men; median age 60 years; range 34-76 years) who underwent MRI and subsequent adrenal venous sampling (AVS). Chemical shift MRI was acquired using echo times of 2.3 ms (OPI) and 4.6 ms (IPI) with a slice thickness of 3 mm and a gap of 1 mm. T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) was also performed. Identification of RAVs was performed by 2 independent radiologists. Inter-observer agreement on a 3-point rating scale was evaluated using κ statistics. The identification rate of RAVs was compared between OPI, IPI, and T2WI using McNemar’s test. Results: Good inter-observer agreement was found for the OPI (κ = 0.744), whereas fair agreement was obtained for both other sequences (IPI: κ = 0.375; T2WI: 0.348). For both raters, the identification rate of RAVs was higher with OPI (36/60; 60.0%) than with other sequences (IPI: 16/60, 26.7%; T2WI: 9/60, 15.0%; p < 0.05, each). Conclusions: OPI may play a screening role in the identification of RAVs preceding AVS, which could reduce the required radiation exposure and doses of contrast agent

Room-Temperature Electron Spin Transport in a Highly Doped Si Channel

We report on the first demonstration of generating a spin current and spin transport in a highly doped Si channel at room temperature (RT) using a four-terminal lateral device with a spin injector and a detector consisting of an Fe/MgO tunnel barrier. Spin current was generated using a nonlocal technique, and spin injection signals and Hanle-type spin precession were successfully detected at 300 K, thus proving spin injection with the elimination of spurious signals. The spin diffusion length and its lifetime at RT were estimated to be 0.6 \"im and 1.3 ns by the Hanle-type spin precession, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 4 Figure

MADGAN: unsupervised medical anomaly detection GAN using multiple adjacent brain MRI slice reconstruction.

BACKGROUND: Unsupervised learning can discover various unseen abnormalities, relying on large-scale unannotated medical images of healthy subjects. Towards this, unsupervised methods reconstruct a 2D/3D single medical image to detect outliers either in the learned feature space or from high reconstruction loss. However, without considering continuity between multiple adjacent slices, they cannot directly discriminate diseases composed of the accumulation of subtle anatomical anomalies, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Moreover, no study has shown how unsupervised anomaly detection is associated with either disease stages, various (i.e., more than two types of) diseases, or multi-sequence magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. RESULTS: We propose unsupervised medical anomaly detection generative adversarial network (MADGAN), a novel two-step method using GAN-based multiple adjacent brain MRI slice reconstruction to detect brain anomalies at different stages on multi-sequence structural MRI: (Reconstruction) Wasserstein loss with Gradient Penalty + 100 [Formula: see text] loss-trained on 3 healthy brain axial MRI slices to reconstruct the next 3 ones-reconstructs unseen healthy/abnormal scans; (Diagnosis) Average [Formula: see text] loss per scan discriminates them, comparing the ground truth/reconstructed slices. For training, we use two different datasets composed of 1133 healthy T1-weighted (T1) and 135 healthy contrast-enhanced T1 (T1c) brain MRI scans for detecting AD and brain metastases/various diseases, respectively. Our self-attention MADGAN can detect AD on T1 scans at a very early stage, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), with area under the curve (AUC) 0.727, and AD at a late stage with AUC 0.894, while detecting brain metastases on T1c scans with AUC 0.921. CONCLUSIONS: Similar to physicians' way of performing a diagnosis, using massive healthy training data, our first multiple MRI slice reconstruction approach, MADGAN, can reliably predict the next 3 slices from the previous 3 ones only for unseen healthy images. As the first unsupervised various disease diagnosis, MADGAN can reliably detect the accumulation of subtle anatomical anomalies and hyper-intense enhancing lesions, such as (especially late-stage) AD and brain metastases on multi-sequence MRI scans

Storage and allogeneic transplantation of peripheral nerve using a green tea polyphenol solution in a canine model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In our previous study, allogeneic-transplanted peripheral nerve segments preserved for one month in a polyphenol solution at 4°C could regenerate nerves in rodents demonstrated the same extent of nerve regeneration as isogeneic fresh nerve grafts. The present study investigated whether the same results could be obtained in a canine model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A sciatic nerve was harvested from a male beagle dog, divided into fascicules of < 1.5 mm diameter, and stored in a polyphenol solution (1 mg/ml) for one month at 4°C. The nerve fascicles were transplanted into 10 female beagle dogs to bridge 3-cm right ulnar nerve gaps. In the left ulnar nerve in each dog, a 3-cm nerve segment was harvested, turned in the opposite direction, and sutured in situ. Starting one day before transplantation, the immunosuppressant FK506 was administered subcutaneously at doses of 0.1 mg/kg daily in four dogs (PA0.1 group), 0.05 mg/kg daily in four dogs (PA0.05 group), or 0.05 mg/kg every other day in two dogs (PA0.025 group). Twelve weeks after surgery, electrophysiological and morphological studies were performed to assess the regeneration of the right and left ulnar nerves. The data for the right ulnar nerve were expressed as percentages relative to the left ulnar nerve. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify the sex-determining region of the Y-chromosome (<it>Sry</it>) and β-actin to investigate whether cells of donor origin remained in the allogeneic nerve segments. FK506 concentration was measured in blood samples taken before the animals were killed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The total myelinated axon numbers and amplitudes of the muscle action potentials correlated significantly with the blood FK506 concentration. Few axons were observed in the allogeneic-transplanted nerve segments in the PA0.025 group. PCR showed clear <it>Sry</it>-specific bands in specimens from the PA0.1 and PA0.05 groups but not from the PA0.025 group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Successful nerve regeneration was observed in the polyphenol-treated nerve allografts when transplanted in association with a therapeutic dose of FK506. The data indicate that polyphenols can protect nerve tissue from ischemic damage for one month; however, the effects of immune suppression seem insufficient to permit allogeneic transplantation of peripheral nerves in a canine model.</p

地域社会における観光デザインに関する実践的研究/有馬温泉及び六甲摩耶山上地区を対象として

神戸市は、有馬温泉及び六甲摩耶山上地区など観光地を有する。しかし、近年双方の観光客は減少の傾向にある。本研究では、前出地区の活性化を目的に本学学生と共に実践的なデザインを行った。また、別府温泉「混浴温泉世界」、九州地区の温泉観光地として、「由布院温泉」及び「黒川温泉」の調査を行った。研究の結果、地域社会との連携方法として、地元の観光地におけるデザインの実践が展開でき、学生たちと共同で行えることが分かった。さらに調査からも観光地におけるアート＆デザインによる活性化を目的とした実践の場があると考えられる。Kobe city has sightseeing spot such as Arima Onsen and Rokko Maya area. However, recently as for both tourists tend to decrease. In this studies, practical design made with the students for the purpose of activation in both sightseeing spots. In addition, we investigated the Beppu Onsen “Mixed Bathing World”, and “Yufuin Onsen” and “Kurokawa Onsen” in the Kyushu District.The result of research, as collaboration method of community, be able to develop the practice of the design in sightseeing spot of local, it was joint with the students and it understood that it can do. Furthermore, we thought that there are place of the practice which designates the activation with Art & Design in sightseeing spots

UAV-based exploratory survey of invertebrates on Nishinoshima Island

西之島は2013年以降断続的に噴火を繰り返しており、2017年からは毎年噴火が記録されている。特に2019年12月からの激しい噴火以降は火山活動への警戒により、島のほぼ全てのエリアで上陸調査ができない状況が続いている。しかし、その期間中も西之島では生態系遷移が進むと考えられる。そこで無人航空機（UAV）を活用することにより、遠隔からの生態系モニタリングを実施することとした。小型の無脊椎動物については撮影調査による情報収集が難しいことから、粘着トラップ、吸引機、採水器をUAV で運搬して試料を採集する新規の手法により調査を試みた。粘着トラップではカクレイワガニとシラミバエの1種が捕獲され、採水サンプルの環境DNA解析では軟体動物、棘皮動物のDNA が検出された。生態系遷移の初期段階を明らかにするための調査においては網羅的な生物群の時間的変化を記録することが重要である。火山活動が続く西之島において安全に生態系モニタリングを継続するためにUAVを活用した多様な生物の探索技術は重要な手段となりうる。Nishinoshima Island has been volcanically active since 2013, with eruptions recorded every year since 2017. Especially since the severe eruption in December 2019, almost all areas of the island cannot be surveyed ashore due to the warnings of volcanic activity. However, ecological succession on Nishinoshima Island may continue to progress even during the period. We utilised UAVs to carry out remote ecosystem monitoring. As it is difficult to collect information on small invertebrates by photographing surveys, we tried new methods for collecting samples by transporting a sticky trap, a vacuum cleaner and a water sampler using a UAV. Geograpsus grayi and Olfersia sp. were captured in the sticky traps. Environmental DNA analysis of the collected water samples detected molluscs and echinoderms. It is important to record temporal changes of a comprehensive biological dataset in order to clarify the earliest stages of ecosystem succession on oceanic islands. Various biological survey techniques using UAVs can be important tools for safely conducting continuous implementation of ecosystem monitoring on Nishinoshima Island, where volcanic activity is continuing.departmental bulletin pape