Object Detection in Ground-Penetrating Radar Images Using a Deep Convolutional Neural Network and Image Set Preparation by Migration

Ground-penetrating radar allows the acquisition of many images for investigation of the pavement interior and shallow geological structures. Accordingly, an efficient methodology of detecting objects, such as pipes, reinforcing steel bars, and internal voids, in ground-penetrating radar images is an emerging technology. In this paper, we propose using a deep convolutional neural network to detect characteristic hyperbolic signatures from embedded objects. As a first step, we developed a migration-based method to collect many training data and created 53510 categorized images. We then examined the accuracy of the deep convolutional neural network in detecting the signatures. The accuracy of the classification was 0.945 (94.5%)–0.979 (97.9%) when using several thousands of training images and was much better than the accuracy of the conventional neural network approach. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the deep convolutional neural network in detecting characteristic events in ground-penetrating radar images

Clinical Features of Idiopathic Interstitial Pneumonia with Systemic Sclerosis-Related Autoantibody in Comparison with Interstitial Pneumonia with Systemic Sclerosis.

Patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias sometimes have a few features of connective tissue disease (CTD) and yet do not fulfil the diagnostic criteria for any specific CTD.This study was conducted to elucidate the characteristics, prognosis, and disease behavior in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc)-related autoantibodies.We retrospectively analyzed medical records of 72 ILD patients: 40 patients with SSc (SSc-ILD) and 32 patients with SSc-related autoantibody-positive ILD but not with CTD (ScAb-ILD), indicating lung-dominant CTD with SSc-related autoantibody.Patients with SSc-ILD were predominantly females and non-smokers, and most had nonspecific interstitial pneumonia confirmed by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and pathological analysis. However, about half of the patients with ScAb-ILD were male and current or ex-smokers. On HRCT analysis, honeycombing was more predominant in patients with ScAb-ILD than with SSc-ILD. Pathological analysis showed the severity of vascular intimal or medial thickening in the SSc-ILD patients to be significantly higher than that in the ScAb-ILD patients. Survival curves showed that the patients with ScAb-ILD had a significantly poorer outcome than those with SSc-ILD.Data from this study suggest that lung-dominant CTD with SSc-related autoantibody is a different disease entity from SSc-ILD

Study protocol for the PURSUIT-HFpEF study: A Prospective, Multicenter, Observational Study of Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

Suna S, Hikoso S, Yamada T On behalf of the OCVC-Heart Failure Investigators, et al. Study protocol for the PURSUIT-HFpEF study: a Prospective, Multicenter, Observational Study of Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction. BMJ Open 2020;10:e038294. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-03829

Kaplan-Meier survival curves of all-cause mortality.

<p>Overall cumulative 5-year mortality was 24.4%. (A) Patients with ScAb-ILD (dotted line) had worse survival than those with SSc-ILD (dashed line) (p = 0.011). (B) In patients with ScAb-ILD, those with extensive disease (dashed line) had worse survival than those with limited disease (solid line) (p = 0.015). (C) In patients with SSc-ILD, those with KL-6 ≥ 1000 U/mL (dashed line) had worse survival than those with KL-6 < 1000 U/mL (solid line) (p = 0.049). (D) The survival curves for patients with each type of autoantibody were not significantly different (p = 0.905 for comparison between anti-scleroderma-70 and anti-U1 RNP antibody, p = 0.089 for comparison between anti-scleroderma-70 and anti-centromere antibody, and p = 0.137 for comparison between anti-U1 RNP and anti-centromere antibody).</p

Baseline characteristics at the time of diagnosis as interstitial lung disease.

<p>Baseline characteristics at the time of diagnosis as interstitial lung disease.</p

Examples of pathological scoring.

<p>(A-B) Typical imaging in each grade of organizing pneumonia (intra-alveolar polyps) as found in patients with ScAb-ILD (hematoxylin-eosin stain) ([A]: grade 1 and [B]: grade 3). (C-D) Vascular intimal or medial thickening as found in patients SSc-ILD (Elastica van Gieson stain) ([C]: grade 1 and [D] grade 3].</p