An ant colony algorithm for the sequential testing problem under precedence constraints.

We consider the problem of minimum cost sequential testing of a series (parallel) system under precedence constraints that can be modeled as a nonlinear integer program. We develop and implement an ant colony algorithm for the problem. We demonstrate the performance of this algorithm for special type of instances for which the optimal solutions can be found in polynomial time. In addition, we compare the performance of the algorithm with a special branch and bound algorithm for general instances. The ant colony algorithm is shown to be particularly effective for larger instances of the problem

TestAnt: an ant colony system approach to sequential testing under precedence constraints

We consider the problem of minimum cost sequential testing (diagnosis) of a series (or parallel) system under precedence constraints. We model the problem as a nonlinear integer program. We develop and implement an ant colony algorithm for the problem. We demonstrate the performance of this algorithm for special type of instances for which the optimal solutions can be found in polynomial time. In addition, we compare the performance of the ant colony algorithm with a branch and bound algorithm for randomly generated general instances of the problem. The ant colony algorithm is particularly effective as the problem size gets larger

Acute granulomatous iridocyclitis in a child with tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis syndrome

Background: Tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis [TINU] syndrome is a rare disorder that may also be underdiagnosed. Patients with TINU syndrome typically present with an acute bilateral nongranulomatous anterior uveitis following symptoms of systemic illness

Retrospective study of 112 patients who had colposcopy-guided biopsy: Comparison of the cytology results with histology

We aimed to examine Papanicolaou smear results with histology for determining the false-negative/positive rate and also discussing reasons of discrepancies. The medical records of 112 patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (I, II and III), atypical squamous cells on Papanicolaou smears and benign cellular changes, who underwent colposcopy-guided biopsy, over a 36 months period were reviewed. All Papanicolaou smears and histology slides showing any discordance were retrieved and reviewed to determine reasons of any discrepancies. Based on the results of our study, we determined a 5.3% of false-negative rate and a 3.5% of false-positive rate for the Papanicolaou smear examination. The efficiency of the Papanicolaou smear was 90.7%. Our study results are quite similar to those of previous reports. Despite the relative small number of cases, our false-negative and positive rates are acceptable. We recommend comparing the histology with cytology results regularly for determining causes of any discrepancies and also for obtaining an optimal internal quality assurance mechanism

The Impact of Phosphohistone-H3-Assisted Mitotic Count and Ki67 Score in the Determination of Tumor Grade and Prediction of Distant Metastasis in Well-Differentiated Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors.

This study investigated the impact of phosphohistone-H3 (PHH3)-assisted mitotic count by comparing its performance with conventional mitotic count and Ki67 score as well as the status of distant metastasis. A total of 43 surgically resected pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (panNET) with complete follow-up information has been subjected to a standardized assessment with respect to mitotic count (both conventional and PHH3-assisted) and Ki67 score. Five participants assessed mitotic count and the time spent was recorded in both methods. All tumors were assigned to a G1 category of mitotic rate on conventional mitotic count that failed to identify three tumors with a G2 category of mitotic rate on PHH3. Near-perfect and fair agreements were achieved among observers when using PHH3 and conventional method, respectively. The mean time spent to determine mitotic count on PHH3-stained slides was significantly shorter (p < 0.001). The performance of PHH3-assisted mitotic grade category was significant as the three cases with a G2 mitotic category were associated with distant metastasis (p = 0.01). Despite its performance, the PHH3-assisted mitotic count downgraded 17 cases that were classified as G2 based on Ki67 scores in this series. The Ki67 grade category was either the same or higher than the mitotic grade category. Ten patients developed distant metastasis. Eleven tumors exhibited vascular invasion characterized by intravascular tumor cells admixed with thrombus. Our results indicate that PHH3-assisted mitotic count facilitates an accurate mitotic count with a perfect agreement among observers. The small size of this cohort is an important limitation of the current study, a G2 mitotic grade category based on PHH3 immunohistochemistry was one of the correlates of panNETs with distant metastasis. While the prognostic impact of PHH3-assisted mitotic count needs to be clarified in larger cohorts, Ki67 scores designated higher grade category in all cases; thus, it was the best determinant of the tumor grade. More importantly, the presence of vascular invasion along with the Ki67 grade category was found to be independent predictors of distant metastasis