International Survey on Criteria for Training and Accreditation in Interventional Neuroradiology

Purpose With the rapid expansion of the field of interventional neuroradiology (INR) and the diverse background of aspiring neuro-interventionists, there is an ever increasing need to establish consensus criteria for training and accreditation in INR.Materials and Methods We performed a survey to explore the current state of criteria for training and accreditation in INR. The questionnaire consisting of 11 questions was emailed to the members of World Federation of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology (WFITN) worldwide. It was focused on the training charter, training program, qualifying examination, and education after training program as perceived by practitioners in each country. Results A total of 52 WFITN members in 19 countries responded to the questionnaire. There was a huge variation internationally and nationally due to the unique situation and challenges in each country and institution. Criteria for training and accreditation in INR were well established in some countries of Europe, North America, and Asia but not specified in other countries. Conclusion It is critical to establish consensus criteria for training and accreditation in INR in order to ensure safe practice and continued expansion and development of INR as a specialty

Integrating safety culture into OSH risk mitigation via information technologies

The occupational safety and health (OSH) risk management continues to be a key topic for worldwide industries, especially in the construction industry. Most of prior technologies were used to directly but passively impact safe working engineering in a technical way. However, technologies may also indirectly but actively influence workers’ safe performance in a managerial way. This research aimed to examine this severe safety problem in the construction industry, and taking which as an example, prevention measures for OSH risk mitigation are discussed. The analyses find that large portion of the OSH fatalities and injuries are related to workers’ unsafe acts and lack of awareness on the OSH hazards. The lack of effectiveness was ascribed the OSH training content as well as the one-off nature of construction industry. An innovative approach is proposed, which integrates the safety culture into the OSH risk mitigation via the application of cutting-edge information technologies. Particularly, a virtual reality-based pilot application which links the safety culture and risk mitigation is demonstrated

Filamentary and Interface-Type Memristors Based on Tantalum Oxide for Energy-Efficient Neuromorphic Hardware

To implement artificial neural networks (ANNs) based on memristor devices, it is essential to secure the linearity and symmetry in weight update characteristics of the memristor, and reliability in the cycle-to-cycle and device-to-device variations. This study experimentally demonstrated and compared the filamentary and interface-type resistive switching (RS) behaviors of tantalum oxide (Ta2O5 and TaO2)-based devices grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) to propose a suitable RS type in terms of reliability and weight update characteristics. Although Ta2O5 is a strong candidate for memristor, the filament-type RS behavior of Ta2O5 does not fit well with ANNs demanding analog memory characteristics. Therefore, this study newly designed an interface-type TaO2 memristor and compared it to a filament type of Ta2O5 memristor to secure the weight update characteristics and reliability. The TaO2-based interface-type memristor exhibited gradual RS characteristics and area dependency in both high-and low-resistance states. In addition, compared to the filamentary memristor, the RS behaviors of the TaO2-based interface-type device exhibited higher suitability for the neuromorphic, symmetric, and linear long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). These findings suggest better types of memristors for implementing ionic memristor-based ANNs among the two types of RS mechanisms

Exemplary diagnoses of recent small subcortical infarct, transient global amnesia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, encephalitis and lymphoma made on diffusion-weighted imaging.

(a) A 62 year old man with memory impairment since one year ago was subsequently diagnosed with vascular dementia. Axial diffusion-weighted image (left, b value = 1000 sec/mm2, slice thickness/gap, 2/0 mm) showed a tiny diffusion restricted lesion in the right paracentral lobule suggesting a recent small subcortical infarct (arrow). There was hyperintensity in the corresponding area (arrow) on the axial fluid-attenuated inversion recovery image (right), which was indistinguishable from white matter hyperintensity due to severe small vessel disease. (b) A 50 year old man with a history of transient memory impairment was subsequently diagnosed with transient global amnesia. Axial, diffusion-weighted image (left, b value = 1000 sec/mm2, slice thickness/gap, 2/0 mm) showed a tiny diffusion restricted lesion in the right hippocampus (arrow). This lesion was not demonstrable in the corresponding area (arrow) on the axial fluid-attenuated inversion recovery image (right). (c) A 63 year old woman who presented with rapidly progressive memory decline was subsequently diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Axial, diffusion-weighted image (left, b value = 1000 sec/mm2, slice thickness/gap, 2/0 mm) showed diffuse cortical diffusion restriction in bilateral parietal lobes (arrows) with subtle hyperintensity in the corresponding area (arrows) on the axial fluid-attenuated inversion recovery image (right). (d) A 50 year old woman who reported memory impairment following bone marrow transplantation for myelodysplastic syndrome was subsequently diagnosed as encephalitis on multidisciplinary consensus. Axial diffusion-weighted image (left, b value = 1000 sec/mm2, slice thickness/gap, 2/0 mm) showed diffusion restriction in bilateral medial temporal lobes (arrows), with subtle hyperintensity in the corresponding area (arrows) on the axial fluid-attenuated inversion recovery image (right). (e) A 75 year old man who presented with progressive memory impairment was subsequently diagnosed as diffuse large B cell lymphoma on stereotactic biopsy. Axial diffusion-weighted image (left, b value = 1000 sec/mm2, slice thickness/gap, 2/0 mm) showed diffusion restriction associated with a mass-like lesion involving the splenium of the corpus callosum that was hyperintense with perilesional edema on the axial fluid-attenuated inversion recovery image (right).</p

Fig 3 -

Fig 3 - </p

Patient flow diagram.

DWI = diffusion-weighted imaging.</p

Data for patient characteristics, vascular risk factors and diagnostic yield.

(PDF)</p

Genome-Wide Transcriptome Analysis of Rice Seedlings after Seed Dressing with Paenibacillus yonginensis DCY84T and Silicon

Plant-growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) are beneficial microorganisms that can also protect against disease and environmental stress. Silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element in soil, and is known to increase plant growth, grain yield, resistance to biotic stress, and tolerance to abiotic stress. Combined treatment of PGPB and Si has been shown to further enhance plant growth and crop yield. To determine the global effects of the PGPB and Si on rice growth, we compared rice plants treated with Paenibacillus yonginensis DCY84T (DCY84T) and Si with untreated rice. To identify the genes that respond to DCY84T+Si treatment in rice, we performed an RNA-Seq transcriptome analysis by sampling treated and untreated roots on a weekly basis for three weeks. Overall, 576 genes were upregulated, and 394 genes were downregulated in treated roots, using threshold fold-changes of at least 2 (log2) and p-values &lt; 0.05. Gene ontology analysis showed that phenylpropanoids and the L-phenylalanine metabolic process were prominent in the upregulated genes. In a metabolic overview analysis using the MapMan toolkit, pathways involving phenylpropanoids and ethylene were strongly associated with upregulated genes. The functions of seven upregulated genes were identified as being associated with drought stress through a literature search, and a stress experiment confirmed that plants treated with DCY84T+Si exhibited greater drought tolerance than the untreated control plants. Furthermore, the predicted protein&ndash;protein interaction network analysis associated with DCY84T+ Si suggests mechanisms underlying growth promotion and stress tolerance

Diagnostic yield of diffusion-weighted imaging in patients with cognitive impairment by age groups and sex.

Diagnostic yield of diffusion-weighted imaging in patients with cognitive impairment by age groups and sex.</p

Diagnostic yield of diffusion-weighted imaging in patients with cognitive impairment and clinical characteristics of patients with positive findings.

Diagnostic yield of diffusion-weighted imaging in patients with cognitive impairment and clinical characteristics of patients with positive findings.</p