Grid Databases for Shared Image Analysis in the MammoGrid Project

The MammoGrid project aims to prove that Grid infrastructures can be used for collaborative clinical analysis of database-resident but geographically distributed medical images. This requires: a) the provision of a clinician-facing front-end workstation and b) the ability to service real-world clinician queries across a distributed and federated database. The MammoGrid project will prove the viability of the Grid by harnessing its power to enable radiologists from geographically dispersed hospitals to share standardized mammograms, to compare diagnoses (with and without computer aided detection of tumours) and to perform sophisticated epidemiological studies across national boundaries. This paper outlines the approach taken in MammoGrid to seamlessly connect radiologist workstations across a Grid using an "information infrastructure" and a DICOM-compliant object model residing in multiple distributed data stores in Italy and the UKComment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Reconstruction a protein 3D structure from it contact map: Tools comparison

Reconstruction a protein 3D structure using its contact map is not less than revolutionizes molecular biology.Recently, there are many research efforts that provide guidelines for protein contact map prediction; these efforts used machine learning approaches such as neural network and distance geometric.One of the approaches to help biologists is applying a software technique. As the consequence there are many categories of tools that have been developed to incorporate this technique.This paper analyses several predicting protein 3D structure tools. These tools are built to help to understand and predict a protein 3D structure.The paper briefly discusses the advantages of these tools; it also, gives the disadvantages of the existing tools, and, finally, talks about the proposed reconstructing a protein 3D tool

Experiences of Engineering Grid-Based Medical Software

Objectives: Grid-based technologies are emerging as potential solutions for managing and collaborating distributed resources in the biomedical domain. Few examples exist, however, of successful implementations of Grid-enabled medical systems and even fewer have been deployed for evaluation in practice. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the use in clinical practice of a Grid-based imaging prototype and to establish directions for engineering future medical Grid developments and their subsequent deployment. Method: The MammoGrid project has deployed a prototype system for clinicians using the Grid as its information infrastructure. To assist in the specification of the system requirements (and for the first time in healthgrid applications), use-case modelling has been carried out in close collaboration with clinicians and radiologists who had no prior experience of this modelling technique. A critical qualitative and, where possible, quantitative analysis of the MammoGrid prototype is presented leading to a set of recommendations from the delivery of the first deployed Grid-based medical imaging application. Results: We report critically on the application of software engineering techniques in the specification and implementation of the MammoGrid project and show that use-case modelling is a suitable vehicle for representing medical requirements and for communicating effectively with the clinical community. This paper also discusses the practical advantages and limitations of applying the Grid to real-life clinical applications and presents the consequent lessons learned.Comment: 18 pages, 2 tables, 5 figures. In press International Journal of Medical Informatics. Elsevier publisher

Fragment Kinetic Energies and Modes of Fragment Formation

Kinetic energies of light fragments A <= 10 from the decay of target spectators in 197Au 197Au collisions at 1000 MeV per nucleon have been measured with high-resolution telescopes at backward angles. Except for protons and apart from the observed evaporation components, the kinetic-energy spectra exhibit slope temperatures of about 17 MeV, independent of the particle species, but not corresponding to the thermal or chemical degrees of freedom at breakup. It is suggested that these slope temperatures may reflect the intrinsic Fermi motion and thus the bulk density of the spectator system at the instant of becoming unstable. PACS numbers: 25.70.Pq, 21.65.+f, 25.70.M

Prevalence of infraocclusion of primary molars determined using a new 2D image analysis methodology

The reported prevalence of infraocclusion varies widely, reflecting differences in definitions and measurement/scoring approaches.This study aimed to quantify the prevalence and extent of infraocclusion in singletons and twins during the late mixed dentition stage of dental development using a new diagnostic imaging method and objective criteria. The study also aimed to determine any associations between infraocclusion and sex, arch type, arch side and tooth type.Two samples were analysed; 1,454 panoramic radiographs of singletons and 270 dental models of twins. Both samples ranged in age from 8-11 years. Adobe Photoshop CS5 was used to measure the extent of infraocclusion. Repeatability tests showed systematic and random errors were small.The prevalence in the maxilla was low (<1%), whereas the prevalence in the mandible was 22% in the singleton sample and 32% in the twin sample. The primary mandibular first molar was affected more often than the second molar. There was no significant difference in the expression between sexes or sides.A new technique for measuring infraocclusion has been developed with high intra- and inter-operator reproducibility. This method should enhance early diagnosis of tooth developmental abnormalities and treatment planning during late mixed dentition stage of development.Ruba Odeh, Suzanna Mihailidis, Grant Townsend, Raija Lähdesmäki, Toby Hughes, and Alan Broo

Evidence against GB virus C infection in dromedary camels

A recent publication described finding GB virus C (GBV-C) RNA in four of twenty two dromedary camel sera, and sequence analysis found that these viruses were phylogenetically clustered within human GBV-C isolates. Since all other GB viruses to date form monophyletic groups according to their host species, the close relationship between the sequences generated from camel sera and human GBV-C isolates seemed implausible, leading us to conduct an independent analysis of the sequences. Our investigation found three lines of evidence arguing against GBV-C infection in dromedary camels. First, strong evidence of artifactual sequence generation was identified for some of the sequences. Secondly, the sequence diversity within individual camel sera was ten- to one-hundred fifty two-fold greater than that described for GBV-C within a human host. Finally, GBV-C sequences generated from each camel shared near complete identity with human isolates previously described by the same laboratory. Taken together, these data strongly suggest laboratory contamination. We suggest that additional validation experiments are needed before it is possible to conclude that camels are permissive for GBV-C infection

Part of the D - dimensional Spiked harmonic oscillator spectra

The pseudoperturbative shifted - l expansion technique PSLET [5,20] is generalized for states with arbitrary number of nodal zeros. Interdimensional degeneracies, emerging from the isomorphism between angular momentum and dimensionality of the central force Schrodinger equation, are used to construct part of the D - dimensional spiked harmonic oscillator bound - states. PSLET results are found to compare excellenly with those from direct numerical integration and generalized variational methods [1,2].Comment: Latex file, 20 pages, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. & Ge

Bound - states for truncated Coulomb potentials

The pseudoperturbative shifted - $l$ expansion technique PSLET is generalized for states with arbitrary number of nodal zeros. Bound- states energy eigenvalues for two truncated coulombic potentials are calculated using PSLET. In contrast with shifted large-N expansion technique, PSLET results compare excellently with those from direct numerical integration.Comment: TEX file, 22 pages. To appear in J. Phys. A: Math. & Ge

Plants as a Source of Anticancer Agents: from Bench to Bedside

Cancer is the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. Conventional anticancer therapies are associated with lack of selectivity and serious side effects. Cancer hallmarks are biological capabilities acquired by cancer cells during neoplastic transformation. Targeting multiple cancer hallmarks is a promising strategy to treat cancer. The diversity in chemical structure and the relatively low toxicity make plant-derived natural products a promising source for the development of new and more effective anticancer therapies that have the capacity to target multiple hallmarks in cancer. In this review, we discussed the anticancer activities of ten natural products extracted from plants. The majority of these products inhibit cancer by targeting multiple cancer hallmarks, and many of these chemicals have reached clinical applications. Studies discussed in this review provide a solid ground for researchers and physicians to design more effective combination anticancer therapies using plant-derived natural products