Memory-Efficient Deep Salient Object Segmentation Networks on Gridized Superpixels

Computer vision algorithms with pixel-wise labeling tasks, such as semantic segmentation and salient object detection, have gone through a significant accuracy increase with the incorporation of deep learning. Deep segmentation methods slightly modify and fine-tune pre-trained networks that have hundreds of millions of parameters. In this work, we question the need to have such memory demanding networks for the specific task of salient object segmentation. To this end, we propose a way to learn a memory-efficient network from scratch by training it only on salient object detection datasets. Our method encodes images to gridized superpixels that preserve both the object boundaries and the connectivity rules of regular pixels. This representation allows us to use convolutional neural networks that operate on regular grids. By using these encoded images, we train a memory-efficient network using only 0.048\% of the number of parameters that other deep salient object detection networks have. Our method shows comparable accuracy with the state-of-the-art deep salient object detection methods and provides a faster and a much more memory-efficient alternative to them. Due to its easy deployment, such a network is preferable for applications in memory limited devices such as mobile phones and IoT devices.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to MMSP 201

Leveraging progressive model and overfitting for efficient learned image compression

Deep learning is overwhelmingly dominant in the field of computer vision and image/video processing for the last decade. However, for image and video compression, it lags behind the traditional techniques based on discrete cosine transform (DCT) and linear filters. Built on top of an autoencoder architecture, learned image compression (LIC) systems have drawn enormous attention in recent years. Nevertheless, the proposed LIC systems are still inferior to the state-of-the-art traditional techniques, for example, the Versatile Video Coding (VVC/H.266) standard, due to either their compression performance or decoding complexity. Although claimed to outperform the VVC/H.266 on a limited bit rate range, some proposed LIC systems take over 40 seconds to decode a 2K image on a GPU system. In this paper, we introduce a powerful and flexible LIC framework with multi-scale progressive (MSP) probability model and latent representation overfitting (LOF) technique. With different predefined profiles, the proposed framework can achieve various balance points between compression efficiency and computational complexity. Experiments show that the proposed framework achieves 2.5%, 1.0%, and 1.3% Bjontegaard delta bit rate (BD-rate) reduction over the VVC/H.266 standard on three benchmark datasets on a wide bit rate range. More importantly, the decoding complexity is reduced from O(n) to O(1) compared to many other LIC systems, resulting in over 20 times speedup when decoding 2K images

Extracorporeal photopheresis in the treatment of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease: A position statement from the Turkish Society of Apheresis (TSA)

Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is still the most important cause of mortality and morbidity after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Though perfect response rates are not achieved, steroids are still the first-line treat-ment. In the face of the presence of the drugs approved by FDA in recent years for acute and chronic GVHD as second-line therapy in the steroid-refractory group, there exists no standard approach. Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) with an immunomodulatory effect, is favored in the treatment of both acute and chronic steroid refractory GVHD as it does not increase the risk of relapses or infections. Having a low profile of side effects, ECP is also generally well-tolerated by patients. Being a time requiring procedure, the fact is that it is not able to be practiced in all health centers and requires central venous catheters in patients unfit for venous access may be enumerated among its shortcomings. No complete standard is available with respect to ECP application frequency-time; it varies from one center to another. The Turkish Society of Apheresis established the Turkish ECP (TECP) group and sought some answers to the questions regarding the use of ECP in the treatment of GVHD, and issued a position statement

LOCALIZATION AND MORPHOMETRY OF MANDIBULAR FORAMEN

Foramen mandibulae, ramus mandibulae'nın orta kısmının arkasında bulunur, içinden nervus alveolaris inferior ve damarlar geçer. Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı, foramen mandibulae'nın morfometrik ölçümlerinin ve lokalizasyonunun belirlenmesidir. Gereç ve Yöntem: Bu çalışma 102 kuru mandibula'da yapıldı (204 taraf). Foramen mandibulae'larda altı ayrı morfometrik ölçüm yapıldı. Foramen mandibulae ile caput mandibulae, ramus mandibulae'nın arka kenarı, ramus mandibulae'nın ön kenarı, corpus mandibulae'nın alt kenarı, incisura mandibulae ve angulus mandibulae arası uzaklıklar ölçüldü. Bulgular: Foramen mandibulae ile caput mandibulae, ramus mandibulae'nın arka kenarı, ramus mandibulae'nın ön kenarı, corpus mandibulae'nın alt kenarı, incisura mandibulae'nın en derin noktası ve angulus mandibulae'nın en çıkıntılı noktası arası ortalama uzaklıklar sırasıyla, sağda 41,73 ± 3,97 mm; 14,32 ± 2,09 mm; 12,86 ± 2,46 mm; 29,51 ± 3,93 mm; 23,65 ± 3,38 mm; 22,80 ± 4,32 mm ve solda 41,36 ± 4,37 mm; 14,59 ± 2,13 mm; 12,77 ± 1,90 mm; 26,39 ± 4,05 mm; 24,18 ± 3,02 mm; 22,18 ± 3,90 mm olarak ölçüldü. Sağ ve sol taraf karşılaştırmasında foramen mandibulae ile incisura mandibulae'nın en derin noktası ve foramen mandibulae ile angulus mandibulae'nın en çıkıntılı noktası arası uzaklıkların ortalama değerleri anlamlı bir fark gösterdi. Sonuç: Foramen mandibulae'nın lokalizasyonu, mandibular anestezide, ağız içi girişimlerde, dentofasyal deformitelerin restorasyonunda ve maksillofasyal cerrahide önemlidir. Mandibular sinirin hasarından kaçınmak için bu bölge anatomisinin iyi bilinmesi gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmada, foramen mandibulae'nın morfometrik anatomisini ve lokalizasyonunu tanımlamaya çalıştık. Bu bilgilerden diş hekimliğinde, ağız içi, maksillofasyal cerrahide yararlanılabilir. Mandibular foramen is located just posterior to the middle of the ramus of mandible which transmits the inferior alveolar nerve and vessels. Objective of this study is to determine the localization and morphometric measurements of mandibular foramen. Material and methods: This study was conducted on 102 dry mandibles (204 sides). Six morphometric measurements were taken from mandibular foramen. The tances between mandibular foramen and head of mandible, posterior margin of ramus of mandible, anterior margin of ramus of mandible, inferior margin of mandibular body, the deepest point of mandibular notch and the most prominent point of mandibular angle were measured. Results: The average distances between mandibular foramen and head of mandible, mandibular foramen and posterior margin of ramus of mandible, mandibular foramen and anterior margin of ramus of mandible, mandibular foramen and inferior margin of mandibular body, mandibular foramen and the deepest point of mandibular notch and mandibular foramen and the most prominent point of mandibular angle were 41.73 ± 3.97 mm; 14.32 ± 2.09 mm; 12.86 ± 2.46 mm; 29.51 ± 3.93 mm; 23.65 ± 3.38 mm; 22.80 ± 4.32 mm on the right side and 41.36 ± 4.37 mm; 14.59 ± 2.13 mm; 12.77 ± 1.90 mm; 26.39 ± 4.05 mm; 24.18 ± 3.02 mm; 22.18 ± 3.90 mm on the left side, respectively. The correlation between distance of mandibular foramen - the deepest point of mandibular notch and mandibular foramen- the most prominent point of mandibular angle on the left and right side were showed significant difference. Conclusion: The localization of mandibular foramen is important in mandibular anesthesia, oral procedures, restoration of dentofacial deformities and maxillofacial surgery. It is necessary to know this anatomic area for avoiding to damage mandibular nerve. In this study, we tried to determine the localization and morphometric anatomy of mandibular foramen. These information may be helpful for oral procedures, maxillofacial surgery and dentistry

Evaluation of the Burnout Levels of Health Care Workers During the Pandemic in Pediatric and Adult Emergency Services

Introduction:During the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the emergency services provide seven days/24-hour regular health care, while the risk of burnout is gradually increasing among healthcare workers struggling with the increasing workload. Few studies monitored the mental health of doctors, nurses, and allied health personnel working in emergency departments to support frontline health workers and more data is needed.Methods:The Maslach burnout scale (MBI) was administered voluntarily to doctors, nurses, and allied health personnel in the pediatric emergency and adult emergency services in May 2020 and December 2020. A socio-demographic information form containing questions about the institution, profession, and working conditions was distributed. The socio-demographic data of the same participants on both dates were compared with the effects of the pandemic on their daily lives, working conditions, and subscales of MBI (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement scores) with an interval of six months (May 2020-December 2020).Results:One hundred seventeen health personnel participated in our study in May 2020 and 122 in December 2020. 95.7% of respondents (112/117) in May 2020; in December 2020, 69.9% (84/122) of them met the criteria in two or more of the subscales of MBI (high emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores, low personal achievement scores) and were found to be exhausted. In a six-month comparison, it was found that physicians, among physicians, pediatric assistants working in the pediatric emergency department, and healthcare workers aged 29 and younger were better able to cope with burnout.Conclusion:Considering the known harmful effects of burnout on patient care and the well-being of healthcare workers, frontline personnel in emergency services may need more mental support during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need for more preventive, descriptive, protective, and remedial studies on frontline health workers’ physical and mental health