Iterative Segmentation from Limited Training Data: Applications to Congenital Heart Disease

We propose a new iterative segmentation model which can be accurately learned from a small dataset. A common approach is to train a model to directly segment an image, requiring a large collection of manually annotated images to capture the anatomical variability in a cohort. In contrast, we develop a segmentation model that recursively evolves a segmentation in several steps, and implement it as a recurrent neural network. We learn model parameters by optimizing the interme- diate steps of the evolution in addition to the final segmentation. To this end, we train our segmentation propagation model by presenting incom- plete and/or inaccurate input segmentations paired with a recommended next step. Our work aims to alleviate challenges in segmenting heart structures from cardiac MRI for patients with congenital heart disease (CHD), which encompasses a range of morphological deformations and topological changes. We demonstrate the advantages of this approach on a dataset of 20 images from CHD patients, learning a model that accurately segments individual heart chambers and great vessels. Com- pared to direct segmentation, the iterative method yields more accurate segmentation for patients with the most severe CHD malformations.Comment: Presented at the Deep Learning in Medical Image Analysis Workshop, MICCAI 201

Pengaruh Kekerasan Verbal Orang Tua dalam Keluarga terhadap Kepercayaan Diri Anak Usia 6-12 Tahun di GKII Rhema Makassar

Kekerasan verbal merupakan salah satu kekerasan dalam rumah tangga yang selama ini tidak terlalu populer di ruang publik, namun memiliki dampak yang luar biasa bila dibandingkan dengan dampak dari kekerasan-kekerasan lain yang sering dipaparkan di ruang publik. Kekerasan verbal telah menjadikan keluarga sebagai sasaran yang paling tepat. Keluarga yang seharusnya menjadi tempat untuk meningkatkan rasa percaya diri setiap anak, sekarang telah menjadi tempat untuk menekan, bahkan mematikan rasa percaya diri anak itu sendiri. Orang tua yang seharusnya menjadi tameng yang kuat untuk melindungi anak-anak dari kekerasan verbal, sekarang sedang dipakai Iblis untuk menjadi senjata yang mematikan bagi anak-anak. Adanya anak yang kurang percaya diri akibat dari  kekerasan verbal orang tua di dalam keluarga sehingga perlu dilakukan penelitian dengan tujuan mengetahui sejauh mana pengaruh kekerasan verbal orang tua dalam keluarga terhadap kepercayaan diri anak usia 6-12 tahun. Penulis mengambil tempat penelitian di Gereja Kemah Injil Indonesia jemaat Rhema Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan. Menggunakan metode penelitian kuantitatif dengan sampel penelitian 13 orang anak, 17 orang tua, 3 guru sekolah minggu setempat. Dengan menggunakan angket yang bersifat rahasia. Hasil penelitian bahwa orang tua di GKII Rhema Makassar secara tidak sadar sering memperlihatkan contoh komunikasi verbal yang kurang baik, tetapi dalam melakukan kekerasan verbal, sebagian besar orang tua tidak pernah melakukan kekerasan verbal kepada anak secara langsung, sebagian besar anak usia 6-12 tahun di GKII Rhema Makassar memiliki tingkat kepercayaan diri yang baik/tinggi, ada pengaruh kekerasan verbal orang tua kepada anak, yakni semakin tinggi tingkat kekerasan verbal yang dilakukan orang tua, maka tingkat kepercayaan diri anak akan semakin rendah, sedangkan semakin rendah tingkat kekerasan verbal yang dilakukan orang tua, maka tingkat kepercayaan diri anak akan semakin tinggi

Xenon lighting adjusted to plant requirements

Xenon lamps are available as low and high power lamps with relatively high efficiency and a relatively long lifetime up to several thousand hours. Different construction types of short-arc and long-arc lamps permit a good adaptation to various applications in projection and illumination techniques without substantial changes of the spectral quality. Hence, the xenon lamp was the best choice for professional technical purposes where high power at simultaneously good spectral quality of the light was required. However, technical development does not stand still. Between the luminous efficacy of xenon lamps of 25-50 lm/W and the theoretical limit for 'white light' of 250 lm/W is still much room for improvement. The present development mainly favors other lamp types, like metal halide lamps and fluorescent lamps for commercial lighting purposes. The enclosed sections deal with some of the properties of xenon lamps relevant to plant illumination; particularly the spectral aspects, the temporal characteristics of the emission, and finally the economy of xenon lamps will be addressed. Due to radiation exceeding the natural global radiation in both the ultraviolet (UV) and the infrared (IR) regions, filter techniques have to be included into the discussion referring to the requirements of plant illumination. Most of the presented results were obtained by investigations in the GSF phytotron or in the closed Phytocell chambers of the University of Erlangen. As our experiences are restricted to area plant illumination rather than spot lights our discussion will concentrate on low pressure long-arc xenon lamps which are commonly used for such plant illuminations. As the spectral properties of short-arc lamps do not differ much from those of long-arc lamps most of our conclusions will be valid for high pressure xenon lamps too. These lamps often serve as light sources for small sun simulators and for monochromators which are used for action spectroscopy of plant responses

UV filters for lighting of plants

The wavelength dependent interaction of biological systems with radiation is commonly described by appropriate action spectra. Particularly effective plant responses are obtained for ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Excess shortwave UV-B radiation will induce genetic defects and plant damage. Besides the ecological discussion of the deleterious effects of the excess UV radiation there is increasing interest in horticultural applications of this spectral region. Several metabolic pathways leading to valuable secondary plant products like colors, odors, taste, or resulting in mechanical strength and vitality are triggered by UV radiation. Thus, in ecologically as well as in economically oriented experiments the exact generation and knowledge of the spectral irradiance, particularly near the UV absorption edge, is essential. The ideal filter 'material' to control the UV absorption edge would be ozone itself. However, due to problems in controlling the toxic and chemically aggressive, instable gas, only rather 'small ozone filters' have been realized so far. In artificial plant lighting conventional solid filter materials such as glass sheets and plastic foils (celluloseacetate or cellulosetriacetate) which can be easily handled have been used to absorb the UV-C and the excess shortwave UV-B radiation of the lamp emissions. Different filter glasses are available which provide absorption properties suitable for gradual changes of the spectral UV-B illumination of artificial lighting. Using a distinct set of lamps and filter glasses an acceptable simulation of the UV-B part of natural global radiation can be achieved. The aging of these and other filter materials under the extreme UV radiation in the lamphouse of a solar simulator is presently unavoidable. This instability can be dealt with only by a precise spectral monitoring and by replacing the filters accordingly. For this reason attempts would be useful to develop real ozone filters which can replace glass filters. In any case chamber experiments require a careful selection of the filter material used and must be accompanied by a continuous UV-B monitoring

Cytokines Activate JAK-STAT Signaling Pathway in MG-63 Cells on Titanium and Zirconia.

Although titanium has been traditionally used as the gold standard for dental implants, recent years have seen the widespread application of zirconia implants given their superiority with regards to reduced bacterial adhesion, inflammation and cellular-interaction in terms of bio-compatibility. The JAK-STAT signaling pathway plays an important role in bone remodeling and formation. The aim of the study was to investigate the activation of the JAK-STAT pathway through different cytokines in osteoblast-like cells (MG-63) on zirconia in comparison to titanium discs. IFN-γ induced the very strong activation of STAT1 protein, IFN-α activated both STAT1 and STAT3 molecules, IL-6 activated STAT3 and IL-4 induced the activation of STAT6 on both surfaces. The activation of STAT proteins was confirmed by western blot, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry using phospho-specific anti-STAT antibodies, which recognize only phosphorylated STAT proteins. The incubation of MG-63 cells with IFN-γ caused the upregulation of MHC class I and class II proteins when MG-63 cells were grown on zirconia and titanium discs. In sum, the present study shows that the JAK-STAT pathway is activated in MG-63 cells when they are incubated on titanium or zirconia surfaces

High-pressure transport properties of CeRu_2Ge_2

The pressure-induced changes in the temperature-dependent thermopower S(T) and electrical resistivity \rho(T) of CeRu_2Ge_2 are described within the single-site Anderson model. The Ce-ions are treated as impurities and the coherent scattering on different Ce-sites is neglected. Changing the hybridisation \Gamma between the 4f-states and the conduction band accounts for the pressure effect. The transport coefficients are calculated in the non-crossing approximation above the phase boundary line. The theoretical S(T) and \rho(T) curves show many features of the experimental data. The seemingly complicated temperature dependence of S(T) and \rho(T), and their evolution as a function of pressure, is related to the crossovers between various fixed points of the model.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure