55 research outputs found
Slim U-Net: Efficient Anatomical Feature Preserving U-net Architecture for Ultrasound Image Segmentation
We investigate the applicability of U-Net based models for segmenting Urinary
Bladder (UB) in male pelvic view UltraSound (US) images. The segmentation of UB
in the US image aids radiologists in diagnosing the UB. However, UB in US
images has arbitrary shapes, indistinct boundaries and considerably large
inter- and intra-subject variability, making segmentation a quite challenging
task. Our study of the state-of-the-art (SOTA) segmentation network, U-Net, for
the problem reveals that it often fails to capture the salient characteristics
of UB due to the varying shape and scales of anatomy in the noisy US image.
Also, U-net has an excessive number of trainable parameters, reporting poor
computational efficiency during training. We propose a Slim U-Net to address
the challenges of UB segmentation. Slim U-Net proposes to efficiently preserve
the salient features of UB by reshaping the structure of U-Net using a less
number of 2D convolution layers in the contracting path, in order to preserve
and impose them on expanding path. To effectively distinguish the blurred
boundaries, we propose a novel annotation methodology, which includes the
background area of the image at the boundary of a marked region of interest
(RoI), thereby steering the model's attention towards boundaries. In addition,
we suggested a combination of loss functions for network training in the
complex segmentation of UB. The experimental results demonstrate that Slim
U-net is statistically superior to U-net for UB segmentation. The Slim U-net
further decreases the number of trainable parameters and training time by 54%
and 57.7%, respectively, compared to the standard U-Net, without compromising
the segmentation accuracy.Comment: Accepted in 9th ACM International Conference on Biomedical and
Bioinformatics Engineering (ICBBE) 2022 http://www.icbbe.com
Expert-Agnostic Ultrasound Image Quality Assessment using Deep Variational Clustering
Ultrasound imaging is a commonly used modality for several diagnostic and
therapeutic procedures. However, the diagnosis by ultrasound relies heavily on
the quality of images assessed manually by sonographers, which diminishes the
objectivity of the diagnosis and makes it operator-dependent. The supervised
learning-based methods for automated quality assessment require manually
annotated datasets, which are highly labour-intensive to acquire. These
ultrasound images are low in quality and suffer from noisy annotations caused
by inter-observer perceptual variations, which hampers learning efficiency. We
propose an UnSupervised UltraSound image Quality assessment Network, US2QNet,
that eliminates the burden and uncertainty of manual annotations. US2QNet uses
the variational autoencoder embedded with the three modules, pre-processing,
clustering and post-processing, to jointly enhance, extract, cluster and
visualize the quality feature representation of ultrasound images. The
pre-processing module uses filtering of images to point the network's attention
towards salient quality features, rather than getting distracted by noise.
Post-processing is proposed for visualizing the clusters of feature
representations in 2D space. We validated the proposed framework for quality
assessment of the urinary bladder ultrasound images. The proposed framework
achieved 78% accuracy and superior performance to state-of-the-art clustering
methods.Comment: Accepted in IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
(ICRA) 202
Fungal systematics and evolution : FUSE 7
publishedVersio
Compositional and functional difference in cumin (Cuminum cyminum) essential oil extracted by hydrodistillation and SCFE
Essential oils were obtained from same raw material of cumin seed by extraction with hydrodistillation and super critical fluid extraction (SCFE). For SCFE, supercritical carbon dioxide at 45°C and 100 bar was used as variable for the extraction. The composition of the extracts was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Yield of essential oil was more in the SCFE method. Extract obtained by supercritical fluid extraction technique using CO2 was heavier than the hydrodistilled volatile oil. Cumin oil obtained by hydrodistillation contained higher percentage of cuminaldehyde (52.6%), then did oil obtained by SCFE (37.3%), whereas cumin oil obtained by hydrodistillation had the lower percentage of cuminic alcohol (13.3%) as compared to 19.3% in SCFE method. However, cuminal (2-caren-10-al) content was almost similar in cumin oil obtained by the SCFE and hydrodistillation method (24.5â25.8%). Hydrodistilled volatile oil showed better antioxidant activity measured by DPPH and FRAP assay and more total phenol content. The results indicated that though essential oil yield was more in the SCFE method, antioxidant property was more in conventional hydrodistillation method. SCFE extracted non polar (wax materials) compounds along with volatile oil and it was recorded that enhanced aroma of signature compounds of cumin
CS784: Language Acquisition
Bilingual representation and learning in a connectionist framewor
Socioeconomic risk factors for cholera in different transmission settings: An analysis of the data of a cluster randomized trial in Bangladesh
© 2017 Background Cholera remains a threat globally, and socioeconomic factors play an important role in transmission of the disease. We assessed socioeconomic risk factors for cholera in vaccinated and non-vaccinated communities to understand whether the socioeconomic risk factors differ by transmission patterns for cholera. Methods We used data from a cluster randomized control trial conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh. There were 90 geographic clusters; 30 in each of the three arms of the study: vaccine (VAC), vaccine plus behavioural change (VBC), and non-intervention. The data were analysed for the three populations: (1) vaccinees in the vaccinated communities (VAC and VBC arms), (2) non-vaccinated individuals in the vaccinated communities and (3) all individuals in the non-vaccinated communities (non-intervention arm). A generalized estimating equation with logit link function was used to evaluate the risk factors for cholera among these different populations adjusting for household level correlation in the data. Results A total of 528 cholera and 226 cholera with severe dehydration (CSD) in 268,896 persons were observed during the two-year follow-up. For population 1, the cholera risk was not associated with any socioeconomic factors; however CSD was less likely to occur among individuals living in a household having â€4 members (aOR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.32â0.96). Among population 2, younger participants and individuals reporting diarrhoea during registration were more likely to have cholera. Females and individuals reporting diarrhoea during registration were at increased risk of CSD. Among population 3, individuals living in a household without a concrete floor, in an area with high population density, closer to the study hospital, or not treating drinking water were at significantly higher risk for both cholera and CSD. Conclusion The profile of socioeconomic factors associated with cholera varies by individualsâ vaccination status as well as the transmission setting. In a vaccinated community where transmission would be expected to be lower, socioeconomic factors may not increase the risk of the disease
Association of HbE Haemoglobinopathy in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Cross-sectional Study
Introduction: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic
inflammatory disease of autoimmune origin that affects multiple
systems, with the haematologic system being commonly
involved. However, the co-existence of haemoglobinopathies
and connective tissue disorders has rarely been investigated,
and the available data on this matter are primarily anecdotal.
Aim: To determine the prevalence of Haemoglobin E (HbE)
haemoglobinopathy in adult SLE patients and to assess the
association of HbE haemoglobinopathy and SLE with disease
activity.
Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional
study was conducted at the Department of General Medicine,
Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Hospital, Imphal,
Manipur, India, from April 2021 to July 2022. The study included
SLE patients diagnosed during the study period who attended the
rheumatology Outpatient Department (OPD). The independent
variables were age, gender, occupation, religion, and family
history, while HbE haemoglobinopathy, Mean Corpuscular
Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH), Red
Blood Cell (RBC) count, and Systemic Lupus Activity Measure
Revised Index (SLAM-R index) score were the dependent
variables. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0, with proportions analysed
using the Chi-square test and Fisherâs-exact test, and means
compared using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and independent
t-test. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Of the 105 SLE patients included in the study, 93%
were females. The majority of participants (36.2%) were in the
age group of 21-30 years. Twenty-five patients (23.8%) had
HbE haemoglobinopathy. Anaemia and MCV were significantly
associated with HbE patients. Among the 25 HbE patients,
24 (96%) had active SLE disease. Among the HbE negative
patients, 55 (68.7%) had active disease, while 25 (31.3%) did not
have any active disease. Active SLE disease was significantly
associated with HbE haemoglobinopathy (p-value=0.002).
Conclusion: The overall prevalence of HbE haemoglobinopathy
in SLE patients was found to be 24%. Hb levels and MCV
levels were significantly lower in HbE patients. There was a
significant association between active SLE disease and HbE
haemoglobinopathy
Reproductive morbidity in an Indian urban slum: need for health action
In developing countries the mortality and morbidity due to reproductive tract infections/sexually transmitted infections (RTIs/STIs) are very high relative to those associated with other health problems. The consequences of RTIs which are numerous and potentially devastating include postabortal and puerperal sepsis, ectopic pregnancy, fetal and perinatal death, cervical cancer, infertility, chronic physical pain, emotional distress, and social rejection in women. The impact of RTIs on the transmission of HIV infection and the morbidity and mortality of HIV adds substantially to the total health impact of RTIs. This study has been conducted in an urban slum in the vicinity of Maulana Azad Medical College, of New Delhi, India, during August 1996 to November 2000. The slum settings are characterised by a migratory population living under overcrowded and stressful conditions, where loosened traditional and social constraints, a range of sociocultural factors, and economic compulsions limit access to health care and social support services, thereby providing an environment conducive to acquiring and transmitting RTIs/STIs. The slum area comprised 826 hutments with a total population of 3676. The area had adverse sex ratio, 635 females per 1000 males and there were 500 (13.6%) single men. The majority of residents were migrants from the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The present study was conducted with the objective of assessing the prevalence of various RTIs among married women in the urban slum setting using peripheral (field level) and confirmatory laboratory tests
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