Демографічні фактори розвитку соціального капіталу

У статті проаналізовано тенденції змін основних демографічних показників в Україні й Донецькому регіоні зокрема, показано вплив цих факторів на розвиток соціального капіталу. Акцентовано, що дослідження демографічних факторів формування соціального капіталу на державному і регіональному рівнях дозволяє відповідним державним органам управління отримувати повну інформацію стосовно будь-яких змін демографічного розвитку та вживати заходів з оптимізації параметрів трудового та інтелектуального потенціалу населення.In the article the tendencies of changes of basic demographic indicators are analysed in Ukraine and Donetsk region in particular, influence of these factors is rotined on development of social capital. It is accented, that research of demographic factors of forming of social capital on state and regional levels allows the proper public organs of management to get complete information on any changes of demographic development and take measures from optimization of parameters of labour and intellectual potential of population

Optimized preoperative planning of double outlet right ventricle patients by 3D printing and virtual reality: a pilot study

OBJECTIVES: In complex double outlet right ventricle (DORV) patients, the optimal surgical approach may be difficult to assess based on conventional 2-dimensional (2D) ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT) imaging. The aim of this study is to assess the added value of 3-dimensional (3D) printed and 3D virtual reality (3D-VR) models of the heart used for surgical planning in DORV patients, supplementary to the gold standard 2D imaging modalities.METHODS: Five patients with different DORV subtypes and high-quality CT scans were selected retrospectively. 3D prints and 3D-VR models were created. Twelve congenital cardiac surgeons and paediatric cardiologists, from 3 different hospitals, were shown 2D-CT first, after which they assessed the 3D print and 3D-VR models in random order. After each imaging method, a questionnaire was filled in on the visibility of essential structures and the surgical plan.RESULTS: Spatial relationships were generally better visualized using 3D methods (3D printing/3D-VR) than in 2D. The feasibility of ventricular septum defect patch closure could be determined best using 3D-VR reconstructions (3D-VR 92%, 3D print 66% and US/CT 46%, P < 0.01). The percentage of proposed surgical plans corresponding to the performed surgical approach was 66% for plans based on US/CT, 78% for plans based on 3D printing and 80% for plans based on 3D-VR visualization.CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that both 3D printing and 3D-VR have additional value for cardiac surgeons and cardiologists over 2D imaging, because of better visualization of spatial relationships. As a result, the proposed surgical plans based on the 3D visualizations matched the actual performed surgery to a greater extent.Thoracic Surger

Standardized evaluation methodology and reference database for evaluating coronary artery centerline extraction algorithms

Efficiently obtaining a reliable coronary artery centerline from computed tomography angiography data is relevant in clinical practice. Whereas numerous methods have been presented for this purpose, up to now no standardized evaluation methodology has been published to reliably evaluate and compare the performance of the existing or newly developed coronary artery centerline extraction algorithms. This paper describes a standardized evaluation methodology and reference database for the quantitative evaluation of coronary artery centerline extraction algorithms. The contribution of this work is fourfold: 1) a method is described to create a consensus centerline with multiple observers, 2) well-defined measures are presented for the evaluation of coronary artery centerline extraction algorithms, 3) a database containing thirty-two cardiac CTA datasets with corresponding reference standard is described and made available, and 4) thirteen coronary artery centerline extraction algorithms, implemented by different research groups, are quantitatively evaluated and compared. The presented evaluation framework is made available to the medical imaging community for benchmarking existing or newly developed coronary centerline extraction algorithms

Feasibility and relevance of discrete vasculature modeling in routine hyperthermia treatment planning

Purpose: To investigate the effect of patient specific vessel cooling on head and neck hyperthermia treatment planning (HTP). Methods and materials: Twelve patients undergoing radiotherapy were scanned using computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and contrast enhanced MR angiography (CEMRA). 3D patient models were constructed using the CT and MRI data. The arterial vessel tree was constructed from the MRA images using the ‘graph-cut’ method, combining information from Frangi vesselness filtering and region growing, and the results were validated against manually placed markers in/outside the vessels. Patient specific HTP was performed and the change in thermal distribution prediction caused by arterial cooling was evaluated by adding discrete vasculature (DIVA) modeling to the Pennes bioheat equation (PBHE). Results: Inclusion of arterial cooling showed a relevant impact, i.e., DIVA modeling predicts a decreased treatment quality by on average 0.19 °C (T90), 0.32 °C (T50) and 0.35 °C (T20) that is robust against variations in the inflow blood rate (|ΔT| 0.5 °C) were observed. Conclusion: Addition of patient-specific DIVA into the thermal modeling can significantly change predicted treatment quality. In cases where clinically detectable vessels pass the heated region, we advise to perform DIVA modeling

Small coronary calcifications are not detectable by 64-slice contrast enhanced computed tomography

Recently, small calcifications have been associated with unstable plaques. Plaque calcifications are both in intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) easily recognized. However, smaller calcifications might be missed on MSCT due to its lower resolution. Because it is unknown to which extent calcifications can be detected with MSCT, we compared calcification detection on contrast enhanced MSCT with IVUS. The coronary arteries of patients with myocardial infarction or unstable angina were imaged by 64-slice MSCT angiography and IVUS. The IVUS and MSCT images were registered and the arteries were inspected on the presence of calcifications on both modalities independently. We measured the length and the maximum circumferential angle of each calcification on IVUS. In 31 arteries, we found 99 calcifications on IVUS, of which only 47 were also detected on MSCT. The calcifications missed on MSCT (n = 52) were significantly smaller in angle (27° ± 16° vs. 59° ± 31°) and length (1.4 ± 0.8 vs. 3.7 ± 2.2 mm) than those detected on MSCT. Calcifications could only be detected reliably on MSCT if they were larger than 2.1 mm in length or 36° in angle. Half of the calcifications seen on the IVUS images cannot be detected on contrast enhanced 64-slice MSCT angiography images because of their size. The limited resolution of MSCT is the main reason for missing small calcifications

Vortex Characterization for Engineering Applications

Realistic engineering simulation data often have features that are not optimally resolved due to practical limitations on mesh resolution. To be useful to application engineers, vortex characterization techniques must be sufficiently robust to handle realistic data with complex vortex topologies. In this paper, we present enhancements to the vortex topology identification component of an existing vortex characterization algorithm. The modified techniques are demonstrated by application to three realistic data sets that illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of our approach