A machine learning based method for sensitivity estimation for accelerated magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging using phased array coils

Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) enables in-vivo analysis of the spatial distribution of chemicals within the human body. Through MRSI, one can infer the concentration of various metabolites in different regions throughout the body. While the medical implications of such an imaging paradigm are remarkable, a poor trade-off between imaging speed and image resolution has stunted development of MRSI applications. A combination of many technological advancements is necessary to bring MRSI to its full potential; one advancement is an accelerated imaging technique known as parallel imaging. Parallel imaging exploits differences in receiver sensitivities in phased array coils to recover additional location information. Accurate estimation of the sensitivity profiles is necessary to prevent parallel imaging induced artifacts. However, accurate sensitivity profile estimations require fully sampled high-resolution images which adds an excessive data acquisition burden. A novel sensitivity profile estimation strategy which relies on deep learning is presented. It is shown how prior information in the form of learned image feature representations may be combined with noisy imaging data to produce high-resolution, artifact-free sensitivity profiles. An in-vivo experiment demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method. The relative SENSE reconstruction error for the proposed method is 1.96% compared to a signal processing baseline of 2.52%

The Influence of Omniscient Technology on Algorithms

Unified game-theoretic theory have led to many unfortunate advances, including the lookaside buffer and redundancy. Given the trends in knowledge-based communication, physicists famously note the improvement of the Ethernet, which embodies the private principles of machine learning. We use mobile communication to confirm that the famous stochastic algorithm for the construction of kernels by Stephen Simmons et al. runs in Ω(log√log n) time

Clinic outcomes of the Pathway to Care Model: A cross-sectional survey of adolescent depression in Malawi

Background: Depression is one of the leading contributors to the global burden of disease and often has an onset during adolescence. While effective treatments are available, many low-income countries, such as Malawi, lack appropriately trained health providers in community health settings, and this limits access to effective mental healthcare for young people with depression. To address this need, a Canadian-developed youth depression Pathway to Care Model, linking school-based mental health literacy interventions to training of community healthcare providers, was adapted for use in Malawi and successfully applied.Methods: A sample of healthcare providers (N = 25) from community health clinics (N = 9) were trained in the use of comprehensive, systematic clinical interventions, addressing the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of depression in youth who had been referred from schools where mental health literacy interventions had been implemented. Referral outcomes were obtained using a standardised clinical record form.Results: Over 120 clinical outcome forms were available for analysis. Seventy percent of youth referred by their teachers were diagnosed with depression. Most youth diagnosed with depression identified physical symptoms as their primary difficulty. Available standardised outcome measures applied by clinicians indicated that, overall, youth showed positive outcomes as a result of treatment.Conclusions: Community healthcare providers in Malawi were trained in the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of youth depression. When this training was applied in usual clinical care to youth referred from schools, it led to generally favourable clinical outcomes. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a clinically feasible intervention that results in positive outcomes for young people with depression in Malawi, and it may provide a useful model to replicate elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa

Domains of Need in a High Secure Hospital Setting:A Model for Streamlining Care and Reducing Length of Stay

There are financial and humanitarian consequences to unmet need amongst service users of high secure hospital care, not least in terms of length of stay. This article presents two reviews of high secure service user needs. They provide support for the sequencing of interventions to meet service user needs and the utility of a structured framework for their review. Through analyses of these reviews, eight domains of need were identified: Therapeutic Engagement, Risk Reduction, Education, Occupational, Mental Health Recovery, Physical Health Restoration, Cultural and Spiritual Needs, Care Pathway Management. A model is presented, within which logically sequenced, timely and relevant interventions could be framed in order to provide a comprehensive and streamlined pathway through a high secure hospital

Validity of the Short Recovery and Stress Scale in Collegiate Weightlifters

Introduction: Monitoring an athlete’s stress and recovery state across sequential training bouts can be used to gauge fitness and fatigue levels (i.e., preparedness). Previous studies have used jumping performance, biochemical markers, and questionnaires to estimate preparedness. However, self-report questionnaires are the most common due to economical and practical means. The Short Recovery and Stress Scale (SRSS) is an 8-item questionnaire ideal for monitoring; however, convergent validity of the SRSS with physiological and performance measures needs to be investigated. Purpose: Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in collegiate weightlifter’s training volume-load, biochemical markers, and jumping performance correlate to changes in the SRSS. Methods: 12 collegiate weightlifters (8 males, 4 females) with \u3e1yr of competition experience trained for 4 weeks and were tested at the beginning of each week (T1-T4). Training volume-load with displacement (VLd) was monitored weekly for all exercises. Testing was conducted following an overnight fast and included hydration, SRSS (0-6 scale with 6 indicating highest recovery and stress), and blood draws (resting testosterone (T), cortisol (C), T:C, creatine kinase (CK)) followed by unloaded (0kg) and loaded (20kg) squat jumps (SJ) on force platforms. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between the change in SRSS scores and all other variables from T1-T2, T1-T3, and T1-T4. Alpha level was set at p\u3c 0.05. Results: Inverse relationships were observed between changes in recovery items and C (r= -0.61 to -0.72, p\u3c 0.05), and unloaded and loaded SJ height and relative peak power (r= -0.59 to -0.64, p\u3c 0.05) from T1 to T2, and T1 to T3. Similarly, positive relationships were observed between changes in stress items and C (r=0.61 to 0.72, p\u3c 0.05), and unloaded and loaded SJ height and relative peak power (r=0.58 to 0.84, p\u3c 0.05) across all time points. No significant relationships were observed between changes in SRSS items and VLd or T, T:C, CK. Conclusion: Relationships between changes in some SRSS items and C agree with previous findings highlighting C as an indicator of training stress. Nonetheless, the non-significant relationships between changes in SRSS items, VLd, and other biochemical markers disagrees with previous findings. This may partly be explained by the smaller undulations in VLd in the current study, which is characteristic of actual training. Further, relationships between changes in some SRSS items and jumping performance were opposite of what was expected indicating athlete’s perception of their stress and recovery state does not always correspond with their ability to perform. Practical Application: These results provide some evidence for the convergent validity of the SRSS. Nonetheless, weightlifting coaches should be cautious in using results from a single test to estimate an athlete’s preparedness. Thus, we recommend the SRSS be included as part of a multi-dimensional monitoring program for weightlifters

Convergent Validity of the Short Recovery and Stress Scale in Collegiate Weightlifters

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(6): 1457-1471, 2022. The purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in collegiate weightlifters’ external training load, biochemical markers, and jumping performance correlate to changes in items of the Short Recovery and Stress Scale (SRSS) throughout four microcycles. Twelve well-trained weightlifters (8 males, 4 females; age 24.30 ± 4.36 yr; height 170.28 ± 7.09 cm; body mass 81.73 ± 17.00 kg) with at least one year of competition experience participated in the study. Measurements included hydration, SRSS, biochemical analysis of blood (cortisol [C], creatine kinase [CK]), and unloaded and loaded squat jumps (SJ), and volume-load displacement. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between the changes in SRSS items and all other variables. The alpha criterion for all analyses was set at p ≤ 0.05. Negative relationships were observed between changes in SRSS recovery items and C (r = -0.608 to -0.723), and unloaded and loaded SJ height and peak power (r = -0.587 to -0.636). Positive relationships were observed between changes in several SRSS stress items and C (r = 0.609 to 0.723), CK (r = 0.922), and unloaded and loaded SJ height and peak power (r = 0.583 to 0.839). Relationships between changes in some SRSS items and cortisol agree with previous findings highlighting C as an indicator of training stress. Nonetheless, the non-significant relationships between changes in SRSS items, training volume and biochemical markers disagree with previous findings. This may partly be explained by the smaller undulations in training volume in the current study, which were characteristic of typical training. Further, relationships between changes in some SRSS items and jumping performance were opposite of what was expected indicating athletes’ perception of their stress and recovery state does not always correspond with their ability to perform