The Role Of Diffusion-Weighted Mr Imaging And Adc Values In The Diagnosis Of Gastric Tumors

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) in the diagnosis of gastric tumors by means of measuring the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of these lesions, and making a comparison with the endoscopic biopsy results. Subjects and Methods: Seventy patients having gastric tumor constituted the case group. For the control group 30 healthy individuals were included. Abdominal MRI examinations were performed with a 1,5 Tesla unit. DWI examinations were obtained by single shot spin echoplanar imaging. The ADC was measured based on the tissue of the gastric tumoral entities and normal gastric mucosa in the control group. Results: Mean ADC values were 0,84 ± 0,17 × 10-3 mm2/s and 1,79 ± 0,08 × 10-3 mm2/s in gastric tumor group and in control group, respectively, being statistically significant (p < 0.05). There was no significance among ADC values of adenocarcinoma subgroups. The comparison of the ADC values in the adenocarcinoma and lymphoma cases were also found to be statistically significant. Conclusions: DWI is beneficial in the diagnosis of malignant gastric lesions by the aid of ADC measurements. Although ADC quantification seems to be invaluable in the evaluation of histopathologic subgroups of adeno - carcinoma, it can help in the diagnosis of gastric lymphoma

A MODEL FOR TONAL CONTEXT TIME COURSE CALCULATION FROM ACOUSTICAL INPUT

This paper presents a two‐stage model that calculates tonal context as a continuous function in time. The model is capable of processing acoustical polyphonic inputs. The first stage is a simple note recogniser that produces pitch‐class note output corresponding to the acoustical input. A bank of leaky integrators constitute the second stage. The integration rates and saturation limits of these integrators vary with each musical event according to the relations among input notes and the candidates of tonal centre. User controllable parameters enable musical memory time span control. The output of the model is the tonal context vector retaining normalised values of the leaky integrators with each integrator holding the strength value of a specific tonal centre

RECOGNITION OF MUSICAL TONALITY FROM SOUND INPUT

Work on the problem of computer based determination of the musical mode and tonality of a melody from sound input is presented. The study proposes a tool for determination of a time dependent tonal context vector for melodies from acoustical input. Each element of this vector, called a tonal component, indicates the extent of a specific scale usage. The system is made up of two stages: The first is involved in digital signal processing and is used to convert sound input of melodies into a sequence of musical note intervals and their associated occurrence times. The second stage uses finite state automats to match patterns of the interval sequences with pre-programmed scale patterns. The output consists of a time dependent tonal context vector whose elements are relative strengths of various tonal components regarding the melody under consideration

The effects of level of support for animal protection organisations on attitudes to the use of animals and other social issues

Animal protection issues are being advanced increasingly by Non-Government Organisations, yet the views of their supporters are little understood. We surveyed attitudes towards animals and other social issues in 3,462 university students from over 103 universities in eleven European and Asian countries. The extent to which those respondents that supported animal protection organisations had more concern for animals than those who did not support such organisations was investigated, and whether this concern was generalised to other world social issues. Of the respondents, 36% sometimes and 6% very often supported animal protection organisations and 2% identified themselves as key members. Supporters and key members had increased scores on indices that measured their concerns for animal welfare (+ 6%), animals in experimentation (+ 7%), and other major social issues (+ 5%), compared with non-supporters. Supporters were also likely to have lived with pets for longer, suggesting that this was one of the drivers for their increased concern for animals. Key members of the organisations rated the sentience of humans lower (-9%) than other students rated them, and nearer to that of animals. The level of support for the organisations was directly related to avoidance of poultry, pork and beef meat. It is concluded that support for animal protection organisations is an indicator of attitudes towards animals and other social issues, and food consumption habits

Internationalization of Animal Welfare Standards

Thanks to human progress, there is little doubt that the Earth is a much smaller place than previously. Technological advances in communication and travel have enabled enterprises and ideas to permeate previously inaccessible areas, in an increasingly globalized landscape. International trade is at an all-time high, including trade of animal products and live animals. This globalization has resulted in nonhuman animals being subjected to situations in which their welfare is severely compromised such as live-trade export and substandard transnational slaughter procedures. Conversely, globalization can be used as a gateway to also propagate social progression in the form of improved animal welfare standard implementation. Just as globalization is now allowing business ventures international opportunities, social progression issues now also have international exposure. This presents opportunities to move forward as a global community, which is less defined by borders