Lumbar disk 3D modeling from limited number of MRI axial slices

This paper studies the problem of clinical MRI analysis in the field of lumbar intervertebral disk herniation diagnosis. It discusses the possibility of assisting radiologists in reading the patients MRI images by constructing a 3D model for the region of interest using simple computer vision methods. We use axial MRI slices of the lumbar area. The proposed framework works with a very small number of MRI slices and goes through three main stages. Namely, the region of interest extraction and enhancement, inter-slice interpolation, and 3D model construction. We use the Marching Cubes algorithm to construct the 3D model of the the region of interest. The validation of our 3D models is based on a radiologist’s analysis of the models. We tested the proposed 3D model construction on 83 cases and We have a 95% accuracy according to the radiologist evaluation. This study shows that 3D model construction can greatly ease the task of the radiologist which enhances the working experience. This leads eventually to more accurate and easy diagnosis process

Improving radiologists’ and orthopedists’ QoE in diagnosing lumbar disk herniation using 3D modeling

This article studies and analyzes the use of 3D models, built from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) axial scans of the lumbar intervertebral disk, that are needed for the diagnosis of disk herniation. We study the possibility of assisting radiologists and orthopedists and increasing their quality of experience (QoE) during the diagnosis process. The main aim is to build a 3D model for the desired area of interest and ask the specialists to consider the 3D models in the diagnosis process instead of considering multiple axial MRI scans. We further propose an automated framework to diagnose the lumber disk herniation using the constructed 3D models. We evaluate the effectiveness of increasing the specialists QoE by conducting a questionnaire on 14 specialists with different experiences ranging from residents to consultants. We then evaluate the effectiveness of the automated diagnosis framework by training it with a set of 83 cases and then testing it on an unseen test set. The results show that the the use of 3D models increases doctors QoE and the automated framework gets 90% of diagnosis accuracy

COVID-19 simulation study—the effect of strict non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on controlling the spread of COVID-19

BACKGROUND: From the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 infection has changed our lives in many aspects and introduced limitations in the way people interact and communicate. In this paper, we are evaluating the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) in limiting the spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 pandemic during a wedding ceremony from Irbid, Northern Jordan. Agent-based modeling was used in a real wedding event that occurred at the beginning of the spread of the pandemic in Jordan. Two infected nationals of Jordan, who arrived in Jordan about a week before the event, initiated the spread of the pandemic within the contact community. METHODS: In this work, a strict national NPI that the government implemented is developed by using an abstract model with certain characteristics similar to the Jordanian community. Thus, the Jordanian community is represented in terms of ages, occupations, and population movements. After that, the extent of the impact of the NPI measures on the local community is measured. RESULTS: We observed the deterioration of the state of society while the epidemic is spreading among individuals in the absence of preventive measures. Also, the results show that the herd immunity case was an epidemic, with a high level of spread among the community with 918 cases during a short interval of time. On the other hand, the preventive measures scenario shows a totally controlled spread with only 74 cases applied on the same interval of time. Furthermore, a convergence in the actual results of the real system with the hypothetical system were detected in the case of applying the strict NPI measures. Finally, strict NPI at the community level following social gatherings seem to be effective measures to control the spread of the COVID- 19 pandemic