Anomaly Detection on the Rail Lines Using Semantic Segmentation and Self-supervised Learning

This paper introduces a novel application of anomaly detection on the rail lines using deep learning methods on camera data. We propose a two-fold approach for identifying irregularities like coal, dirt, and obstacles on the rail tracks. In the first stage, a binary semantic segmentation is performed to extract only the rails from the background. In the second stage, we deploy our proposed autoencoder utilizing the self-supervised learning techniques to address the unavailability of labelled anomalies. The extracted rails from stage one are divided into multiple patches and are fed to the autoencoder, which is trained to reconstruct the non-anomalous data only. Hence, during the inference, the regeneration of images with any abnormalities produces a larger reconstruction error. Applying a predefined threshold to the reconstruction errors can detect an anomaly on a rail track. Stage one, rail extracting network achieves a high value of 52:78% mean Intersection over Union (mIoU). The second stage autoencoder network converges well on the training data. Finally, we evaluate our two-fold approach on real scenario test images, no false positives or false negativ

Prevalence of Coronary Artery Disease and Its Risk Factors in Patients Undergoing Permanent Pacemaker Implantation

Introduction: Some pacemaker implanted patients have an atherosclerotic disease which promotes conduction system ischemia and conduction disturbances. The aim of this study was to determine prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) and its risk factors in patients undergoing permanent pacemaker implantation (PPI).Methods: This prospective, single-center hospital based study examined patients older than 40 years who required PPI. Presence of atherosclerotic risk factors and CAD was examined.Results: Of 258 patients undergoing PPI, CAD was present in 50 (19.37 %) patients. CAD was more common among middle age and elderly patients (P = 0.03). Patients older than or equal 76.5 years had specificity of 78.8% for an association with CAD. Multivariate analysis showed that age (odds ratio: 1.042; 95% confidence interval: 1.009–1.075; P = 0.01) and diabetes (odds ratio: 3.437; 95% confidence interval: 1.618–7.303; P = 0.001) had a statistically significant association with CAD. Of 169 patients with involvement of the atrioventricular (AV) node, 28 (16.6 %) had associated left anterior descending artery (LAD) involvement with P = 0.01, suggesting an association between LAD disease and chronic degenerative changes in the AV node.Conclusion: CAD was present in 19.4% of patients undergoing PPI. Age and diabetes had a strong association with CAD. LAD stenosis was significantly more prevalent in AV nodal/ infra-hisian disease compared with sinus nodal disease

Carotid Stenting in a Nonagenarian Patient

Carotid artery stenosis is a disabling disease in all age groups. Elderly people are more prone to recurrent strokes due to advancing age and multiple co-morbidities. Treatment options for symptomatic carotid stenosis in the very elderly are the same as in younger patients although with a higher operative risk. We describe a successful case of carotid artery stenting in a nonagenarian with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis, a subgroup for whom treatment options are rarely discussed in guidelines

Culture Conversion Among HIV Co-Infected Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Patients in Tugela Ferry, South Africa

Little is known about the time to sputum culture conversion in MDR-TB patients co-infected with HIV, although such patients have, historically, had poor outcomes. We describe culture conversion rates among MDR-TB patients with and without HIV-co-infection in a TB-endemic, high-HIV prevalent, resource-limited setting.Patients with culture-proven MDR-TB were treated with a standardized second-line regimen. Sputum cultures were taken monthly and conversion was defined as two negative cultures taken at least one month apart. Time-to-conversion was measured from the day of initiation of MDR-TB therapy. Subjects with HIV received antiretroviral therapy (ART) regardless of CD4 count.Among 45 MDR-TB patients, 36 (80%) were HIV-co-infected. Overall, 40 (89%) of the 45 patients culture-converted within the first six months and there was no difference in the proportion who converted based on HIV status. Median time-to-conversion was 62 days (IQR 48-111). Among the five patients who did not culture convert, three died, one was transferred to another facility, and one refused further treatment before completing 6 months of therapy. Thus, no patients remained persistently culture-positive at 6 months of therapy.With concurrent second-line TB and ART medications, MDR-TB/HIV co-infected patients can achieve culture conversion rates and times similar to those reported from HIV-negative patients worldwide. Future studies are needed to examine whether similar cure rates are achieved at the end of MDR-TB treatment and to determine the optimal use and timing of ART in the setting of MDR-TB treatment

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Preliminary Evaluation of Clinical and Angiographic Outcomes with Biodegradable Polymer Coated Sirolimus-Eluting Stent in De Novo Coronary Artery Disease: Results of the MANIPAL-FLEX Study

Objective. The objective of the MANIPAL-FLEX study was to evaluate the feasibility, preliminary safety, and efficacy of the Supraflex sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) implantation, in de novo coronary artery disease, using clinical and quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) follow-ups. Methods. This was a prospective, nonrandomized, multicenter, single-arm study that enrolled 189 patients with de novo coronary artery disease who were treated with the Supraflex SES. Of 189 patients enrolled, the first 61 consecutive patients who consented to a 9-month follow-up evaluation by QCA, irrespective of presence of symptoms, were to be followed up with angiography at 9 months. The primary endpoint of the study was target lesion failure (TLF), including cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and target lesion revascularization during 12-month follow-up after the index procedure. Results. The mean age of the study population was 58±11 years, with 51.3% (97/189) of hypertensive patients. Total of 66 lesions, analyzed by offline QCA, showed good scaffolding of the target vessel with in-stent late lumen loss at 9 months of 0.18 ± 0.23 mm. The observed TLF at 30-day, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up were 2 (1.1%), 6 (3.2%), and 10 (5.3%), respectively. Conclusion. This study provides preliminary evidence for the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of the Supraflex sirolimus-eluting stent

Impact of occlusal support and perceived chewing ability on oral health-related quality of life among patients attending a private dental institution in India

Purpose: Presence of functional tooth units is essential for preserving masticatory function among individuals. Representing the essence of health promotion practice, demand to measure varied evaluation outcomes is highlighted. Aim and Objectives:(1) To assess the influence of occlusal support and perceived chewing ability on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among adults attending a private dental institution in Mangalore. (2) To evaluate occlusal support using Eichner index (EI), perceived chewing ability using a self-administered questionnaire and OHRQoL using Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14). Materials and Methods: Overall, 300 adults attending a private dental institution in Mangalore were included. EI was used to group participants into three groups. The chewing ability was assessed using a questionnaire on perceived difficulty while chewing eight common foods. OHRQoL was measured employing OHIP-14. Perceived general and oral health status and demographic information were collected. Results: The mean perceived chewing ability score was 12.98 ± 6.2 and the mean total OHIP score was 9.23 ± 8.9. EI showed a significant relation with perceived chewing ability, OHIP, and perceived general health status (P < 0.05). Perceived chewing ability and OHIP demonstrated a significant correlation (r = 0.31, P< 0.001). Age, gender, education, occupation, monthly income, family income, and number of family members demonstrated a significant association with EI (P < 0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that EI, perceived chewing ability, and perceived oral health emerged as significant predictors of OHRQoL (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Occlusal support was significantly associated with perceived chewing ability, OHRQoL, and perceived general health status

Indirect sinus lift done using “Autogenous Core Lift” Technique in combination with alloplastic phosphosilicate putty in atrophic maxillary posterior region: A clinical report with 1-Year follow-up

Pneumatization of the sinus is a common occurrence after extraction of maxillary posterior teeth. Implant procedures require a clinically acceptable level of bone to be present for implants to be placed in function. Residual bone with >4 mm of height can be managed using the indirect sinus lift procedure, whereas bone height <4 mm requires a direct sinus lift using lateral window approach. This clinical case report describes the use of autogenous core used to lift the membrane in conjunction with calcium phosphosilicate putty using minimal armamentarium, thereby avoiding the associated morbidity and complications associated with a direct sinus lift procedure

A Single Step Impression Technique of Flabby Ridges Using Monophase Polyvinylsiloxane Material: A Case Report

Complete denture fabrication in clinically compromised situations such as flabby ridges is a challenging task for the clinician. Accurate impressioning of these tissues plays a major role in ensuring a well-fitting prosthesis. In this paper, the authors have proposed a newer technique of impression making of the flabby tissues using a combination of readily available newer and older materials to ensure an accurate and easy impression of these tissues

A clinical assessment of the volume of interproximal papilla after definitive prosthesis around immediate and delayed loading implants placed in the maxillary esthetic zone: An in vivo study

Background: The presence of the dental papilla is critical to achieve esthetics in a single tooth implant restoration. Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in the papilla fill between implant and teeth comparing immediate implant placement and provisionalised single tooth implant restorations with delayed implant placement and provisionalised single tooth implant restorations. The papilla fill in these two groups was evaluated using the Jemt papilla index. Results: It was seen that there was no statistically significant difference seen in the volume of the papilla between both the groups. There was a statistically significant difference seen in both the groups on the distal and mesial side from the initial stage go the follow up period of 10 days, 3 months and 6 months. Conclusion: The interpretation of clinical papilla is a difficult task since many different clinical situations can be encountered while studying single tooth implant restorations. The single tooth implant restoration is a specific entity; the distance between the mesial and the distal side of one implant is never the same. Therefore the present study analysed the papilla as a unit and focused on the vertical fill related to the implant and adjacent teeth