Machine-to-Machine Transfer Function in Deep Learning-Based Quantitative Ultrasound

A Transfer Function approach was recently demonstrated to mitigate data mismatches at the acquisition level for a single ultrasound scanner in deep learning (DL) based quantitative ultrasound (QUS). As a natural progression, we further investigate the transfer function approach and introduce a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Transfer Function, which possesses the ability to mitigate data mismatches at a machine level, i.e., mismatches between two scanners over the same frequency band. This ability opens the door to unprecedented opportunities for reducing DL model development costs, enabling the combination of data from multiple sources or scanners, or facilitating the transfer of DL models between machines with ease. We tested the proposed method utilizing a SonixOne machine and a Verasonics machine. In the experiments, we used a L9-4 array and conducted two types of acquisitions to obtain calibration data: stable and free-hand, using two different calibration phantoms. Without the proposed calibration method, the mean classification accuracy when applying a model on data acquired from one system to data acquired from another system was approximately 50%, and the mean AUC was about 0.40. With the proposed method, mean accuracy increased to approximately 90%, and the AUC rose to the 0.99. Additional observations include that shifts in statistics for the z-score normalization had a significant impact on performance. Furthermore, the choice of the calibration phantom played an important role in the proposed method. Additionally, robust implementation inspired by Wiener filtering provided an effective method for transferring the domain from one machine to another machine, and it can succeed using just a single calibration view without the need for multiple independent calibration frames.Comment: 8 pages, 3 Figure

Can Ultrasound-Guided Femoral Vein Measurements Predict Spinal Anesthesia-Induced Hypotension in Non-Obstetric Surgery? A Prospective Observational Study

Background and objectives: To investigate whether ultrasound (US)-guided femoral vein (FV) and inferior vena cava (IVC) measurements obtained before spinal anesthesia (SA) can be utilized to predict SA-induced hypotension (SAIH) and to identify risk factors associated with SAIH in patients undergoing non-obstetric surgery under SA. Methods: This was a prospective observational study conducted between November 2021 and April 2022. The study included 95 patients over the age of 18 with an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status score of 1 or 2. The maximum and minimum diameters of FV and IVC were measured under US guidance before SA initiation, and the collapsibility index values of FV and IVC were calculated. Patients with and without SAIH were compared. Results: SAIH was observed in 12 patients (12.6%). Patients with and without SAIH were similar in terms of age [58 (IQR: 19–70) vs. 48 (IQR: 21–71; p = 0.081) and sex (males comprised 63.9% of the SAIH and 75.0% of the non-SAIH groups) (p = 0.533). According to univariate analysis, no significant relationship was found between SAIH and any of the FV or IVC measurements. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that having an ASA class of 2 was the only independent risk factor for SAIH development (p = 0.014), after adjusting for age, sex, and all other relevant parameters. Conclusions: There is not enough evidence to accept the feasibility of utilizing US-guided FV or IVC measurements to screen for SAIH development in patients undergoing non-obstetric surgery under SA. For this, multicenter studies with more participants are needed

Ultrastructural effects of topical beta-adrenergic antagonists and an alpha-adrenergic agonist on the rabbit cornea

PubMedID: 10202292In the present study the effects of ß-adrenergic antagonist and ?- adrenergic agonist drugs on rabbit corneas were evaluated in vivo by using transmission electron microscopy. Twenty-four New Zealand albino rabbits were divided into six groups according to the drug applied. The rabbits to which only balanced salt solution (BSS) or BSS and benzalkonium chloride (BAC) were applied were taken as the control groups. The other four groups consisted of the rabbits to which Timoptic 0.5%, Betagan 0.5%, Betoptic 0.5% and Iopidine 1% were applied, respectively. All of drugs were instilled topically twice daily for 6 weeks. In the BSS group, all layers of the cornea were ultrastructurally normal. In the BSS and BAC group slight epithelial and endothelial changes were found. However, in the other groups, loss of microvilli, increase in glycogen particles, nuclear indentation, widening of the intercellular spaces and cytoplasmic vacuolization in epithelium were observed. No significant abnormality was found in the basal lamina, stroma and Descemet's membrane. Slight ultrastructural changes were noted in the endothelium such as vacuolization due to dilatation of the endoplasmic reticulum cisternae and focal cytoplasmic lytic areas. The results of this study indicate that various ultrastructural changes occur in groups treated with antiglaucomatous drug and that topical treatment with timolol and apraclonidine for 6 weeks is more toxic to the rabbit cornea than levobunolol and betaxolol

Optimising Percutaneous Coronary Interventions: The Impact of Stent Type and Diameter on Long-Term Clinical Outcomes in Large Coronary Arteries

Background and Objectives: Our study aimed to reveal the effect of using 4 mm bare-metal stents (BMS), 4 mm drug-eluting stents (DES), or 3 mm DES with 4 mm diameter balloon post-dilation strategies on long-term clinical outcomes and endpoints for large-diameter coronary artery percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Materials and Methods: In our study, patients who had undergone PCI were retrospectively screened between January 2014 and July 2020. The study included 350 patients and was divided into three groups; Group I (n = 134) included patients with direct 4.0 mm BMS implantation, Group II (n = 109) included patients with direct 4.0 DES implantation, and Group III (n = 107) included patients with 4mm NC post-dilatation after 3 mm DES implantation. Primary endpoints were determined as target lesion revascularisation, cardiac mortality, and myocardial infarction associated with the target vessel. Our secondary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Results: No differences were observed between the groups in terms of the baseline variables. Stent length was the highest in Group II and the shortest in Group III. There were no significant differences between the groups regarding major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Conclusions: Our study suggests that in percutaneous coronary interventions for non-complex lesions, there is no significant difference in MACE outcomes when directly implanting a 4 mm diameter DES, a 4 mm diameter BMS, or a 3 mm diameter DES, followed by post-dilation with an appropriately sized NC balloon when the target vessel diameter is in the range of 4 to 4.4 mm

Endo-VMFuseNet: A Deep Visual-Magnetic Sensor Fusion Approach for Endoscopic Capsule Robots

In the last decade, researchers and medical device companies have made major advances towards transforming passive capsule endoscopes into active medical robots. One of the major challenges is to endow capsule robots with accurate perception of the environment inside the human body, which will provide necessary information and enable improved medical procedures. We extend the success of deep learning approaches from various research fields to the problem of sensor fusion for endoscopic capsule robots in the case of asynchronous and asymmetric sensor data without any need of calibration between sensors. The results performed on real pig stomach datasets show that our method achieves high precision for both translational and rotational movements and contains various advantages over traditional sensor fusion techniques

Breeding of Şanlıurfa Pepper via Selection

Biber ülkemizin her bölgesinde yetiştiriciliği yapılan, taze veya çeşitli şekillerde işlenmiş olarakyaygın kullanıma sahip bir sebze türüdür. Türkiye 2.2 milyon ton biber üretimi ile dünyasıralamasında dördüncü sırada yer almaktadır. Bölgeler ve/veya yöreler kendine ait mikro klimalarasahip oldukları için bitki gelişimi ve verimin iyi olabilmesi oraya ait yeni çeşitlerin geliştirilmesigereklidir. Şanlıurfa'da biber üreticileri uzun yıllardır kendi tohumluklarını kendileri sağlamaktadır.Bu durum Şanlıurfa biber popülasyonunda genetik farklılığa neden olmuştur. Sulu tarımla birlikteyeni ticari biber çeşitlerinin bölgede üretilmeye başlamasıyla yeni çeşitler, yerli çeşitlerle yerdeğiştirmektedir. Gelecekte yeni çeşitlerin geliştirilebilmesi için genetik çeşitliliğe gereksinimolacaktır. Bu sebeple çeşitli çevresel streslere tolerans özelliklerine sahip genotiplerin toplanmasıgerekmektedir. Çalışmanın amacı, Şanlıurfa biber popülasyonundan, Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesiiklim şartlarına uygun genotiplerin seleksiyonudur. Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesinden genotiplerinseçimi, seçilen genotiplerin eşit şartlarda performasyonlarının denenmesi, saf hatların elde edilmesive tescilidir. Çalışma sonunda Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesinden seçilen genotiplerin verimdenemeleri bölgede gerçekleştirilmiş ve 6258,25 kg/da ile 1278-14 nolu saf hat İnan 3363 adı ileticari kaydı yapılmıştırPepper is widely produced in Turkey and consumed as fresh or after processing. Turkey, with its 2.2million tons of tomato production, is the world's 4th biggest producer of the world. Because ofregions and/or districts have their own microclimate, it is required to develop new varieties thatbelong there in order to better plant development and yield. This condition has resulted geneticallymodifications at Şanlıurfa pepper population. New commercial pepper varieties has begun to replaceand produced after irrigated farming. In the future, genetic varieties will be necessary for developingnew varieties. For this reason, it is required to collect environmentally tolerated genotypes. The aimof this study is to select some genotypes from Şanlıurfa pepper population that appropriate forSoutheastern Anatolia environmental conditions. Study has some stages: selection of temperaturetolerant pepper genotypes, evaluation of selected varieties performance, to acquire pure line,registration. As a result of the study, yield trials of selected genotypes has been done at region andregistration of 1278-14 pure line, with 6258.25kg/da yield of production, has been completed with acommercial name of Inan336

Green Electrospun Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Gelatin-Based Nanofibrous Membrane by Incorporating 45S5 Bioglass Nanoparticles and Urea for Wound Dressing Applications: Characterization and In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluations

This study reports the fabrication and characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and gelatin (Gel)-based nanofiber membranes cross-linked with citric acid (CA) by a green electrospinning method in which nano 45S5 bioglass (BG) and urea were incorporated. Various combinations of PVA, gelatin, and BG were prepared, and nanofiber membranes with average fiber diameters between 238 and 595 nm were fabricated. Morphological, chemical, and mechanical properties, porosity, swelling, water retention, and water vapor transmission rate of the fabricated membranes were evaluated. PVA:Gel (90:10), 15% CA, and 3% BG were determined as the optimum blend for nanofiber membrane fabrication via electrospinning. The membrane obtained using this blend was further functionalized with 10% w/w polymer urea coating by the electrospray method following the cross-linking. In vitro biocompatibility tests revealed that the fabricated membranes were all biocompatible except for the one that functionalized with urea. In vivo macroscopic and histopathological analysis results of PVA/Gel/BG and PVA/Gel/BG/Urea treated wounds indicated increased collagenization and vascularization and had an anti-inflammatory effect. Furthermore, careful examination of the in vivo macroscopic results of the PVA/Gel/BG/Urea membrane indicated its potential to decrease uneven scar formation. In conclusion, developed PVA/Gel/BG and PVA/Gel/BG/Urea electrospun membranes with multifunctional and biomimetic features may have the potential to be used as beneficial wound dressings