OReX: Object Reconstruction from Planner Cross-sections Using Neural Fields

Reconstructing 3D shapes from planar cross-sections is a challenge inspired by downstream applications like medical imaging and geographic informatics. The input is an in/out indicator function fully defined on a sparse collection of planes in space, and the output is an interpolation of the indicator function to the entire volume. Previous works addressing this sparse and ill-posed problem either produce low quality results, or rely on additional priors such as target topology, appearance information, or input normal directions. In this paper, we present OReX, a method for 3D shape reconstruction from slices alone, featuring a Neural Field as the interpolation prior. A simple neural network is trained on the input planes to receive a 3D coordinate and return an inside/outside estimate for the query point. This prior is powerful in inducing smoothness and self-similarities. The main challenge for this approach is high-frequency details, as the neural prior is overly smoothing. To alleviate this, we offer an iterative estimation architecture and a hierarchical input sampling scheme that encourage coarse-to-fine training, allowing focusing on high frequencies at later stages. In addition, we identify and analyze a common ripple-like effect stemming from the mesh extraction step. We mitigate it by regularizing the spatial gradients of the indicator function around input in/out boundaries, cutting the problem at the root. Through extensive qualitative and quantitative experimentation, we demonstrate our method is robust, accurate, and scales well with the size of the input. We report state-of-the-art results compared to previous approaches and recent potential solutions, and demonstrate the benefit of our individual contributions through analysis and ablation studies

The molecular contribution of TNF-α in the link between obesity and breast cancer.

Obesity is a growing worldwide medical problem, as it pre-disposes the affected hosts to a number of severe diseases, including postmenopausal breast cancer. Obesity development is characterised, amongst others, by aberrant secretion of adipokines. White fat tissue infiltrating macrophages secrete tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) so that its circulating levels correlate positively with body mass index (BMI). In the study presented here, the effect of TNF-α on cell proliferation, cell signalling pathway activation and cell cycle in two breast cancer cell lines and one breast epithelial cell lines was assessed to determine the contribution of TNF-α on breast cancer progression and aetiology, respectively. TNF-α acted differently on all three cell lines. In MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, cell proliferation and PI3-kinase activation were not affected, while MAP-kinase activation and cell cycle progression were decreased, with indications of increased apoptosis. This suggests a growth inhibitory function of TNF-α in these cells. In SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells, cell proliferation and cell signalling pathway activation increased, while cell cycle progression decreased, which contradictorily suggests both growth promoting and growth inhibiting properties of TNF-α on these cells. This makes TNF-α an unlikely candidate for a general contribution to the link between obesity and breast cancer progression, however, individual tumours may be responsive to a proliferative signal of TNF-α. In MCF-10A breast epithelial cells, cell proliferation and MAP-kinase activation increased, while cell cycle progression was unaffected. This suggests a strong proliferative response in these cells, suggesting the possibility that TNF-α may contribute to breast cancer aetiology as a novel link between obesity and increased risk of breast cancer development

Obesity and its health impact in Africa: a systematic review.

Obesity and its association with co-morbidities in Africa are on the rise. This systematic review examines evidence of obesity and its association with co-morbidities within the African continent. Comparative studies conducted in Africa on adults 17 years and older with mean body mass index (BMI) ≥ 28 kg/m2 were included. Five electronic databases were searched. Surveys, case-control and cohort studies from January 2000 to July 2010 were evaluated. Of 720 potentially relevant articles, 10 met the inclusion criteria. Prevalence of obesity was higher in urban than rural subjects with significant increases in obesity rates among women. Inflammatory marker levels were significantly elevated among Africans compared with Caucasians. The co-relationship between obesity and chronic diseases was also highlighted. This systematic review demonstrates that while obesity remains an area of significant public health importance to Africans, particularly in urban areas, there is little evidence of proper diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention

The single-nucleotide polymorphism (GPX4c718t) in the glutathione peroxidase 4 gene influences endothelial cell function : Interaction with selenium and fatty acids

© 2013 The Authors. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Molecular aspects of insulin resistance, cell signaling pathways and breast cancer in relation to obesity.

A growing number of clinical studies validate a relation of insulin resistance and breast cancer in obese patients. We hypothesised that high plasma insulin levels cause aberrant insulin signalling in breast epithelial cells which may be responsible for an increase in cell proliferation, indicative of potential carcinogenesis and increased cancer progression. It was of particular interest to determine any differences of high insulin concentrations in activating the phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI-3 kinase) pathway or the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase) pathway, the latter being linked to increased cell proliferation. We used two cell line models to investigate the carcinogenic (MCF-10A, immortalised breast epithelial cells) and cancer progression (MDA-MB-231, ER-negative breast cancer cells) potential of insulin. Insulin treatment (100 nM, 24 h) increased cell proliferation in MCF-10A cells, but had no cell proliferative effect on MDA-MB-231 cells. Additionally expression of PCNA as marker of proliferation was tested. The use of PI-3 kinase and MAP kinase specific inhibitors (Wortmannin and PD98059, respectively) demonstrated both pathways being responsible for the observed increase in cell proliferation (MCF-10A). Simultaneous treatment with both inhibitors eliminated insulin induced cell proliferation entirely. Phosphorylation of ERK1/2 was examined as specific activity measurement of MAP kinase pathway. Insulin induced higher phosphorylation levels in MCF-10A cells than in MDA-MB-231. These preliminary results suggest that insulin may initiate carcinogenesis of breast epithelial cells by increasing cell proliferation rather than increasing cancer progression of existing tumours. These effects may be mediated by insulin activating both the PI-3 kinase and the MAP kinase signalling pathways

Competencies and skills to enable effective care of severely obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery across a multi-disciplinary healthcare perspective: a systematic review.

Increasing numbers of illicit and unlicensed medicines are in general circulation and regularly seized by the police and other regulatory authorities. Forensic identification of seized tablets tends to focus on visual appearance and chromatographic identification of the contained drug. This process is relatively time consuming and places a strain on forensic laboratories. It was therefore of interest to investigate the possible application of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as a fast and efficient tool to facilitate the identification of contained drug/s and associated tablet excipients. Sixteen different cases (Cases A to P) of diazepam tablets obtained from Police Scotland were characterised based on visual appearance (colour and manufacturers' logos), physical attributes (size, weight and hardness), drug type, drug quantity (HPLC) and thermal properties (DSC). Raw DSC data was further processed using principal component analysis (PCA) as an objective assessment of the thermograms obtained with a view to statistical grouping of different cases. Cases J/K, M/O and L/P could be paired on visual appearance and Cases B/C/E/G and J/K/L/P on tablet hardness (17-23 and 80-89 N respectively). HPLC indicated that 75% of the cases examined contained diazepam but less than half of these contained the recognised amount (10 mg); Cases B/E/L/P contained phenazepam and J/K contained etizolam. The thermal signatures of individual tablets provided by DSC produced qualitative information about both drugs and excipients, indicating lactose in Cases D/F/H/I/J/K/M/N/O and Emcompress' in B/E/L/P. In particular, DSC coupled with PCA provided confident groupings of A/C/G, B/E/L/P and H/I/J/K, and specific pairings of B/E, L/P and F/N

Modulation of angiogenesis by inflammatory markers and the role of matrix metalloproteinases in an endothelial cell/fibroblast co-culture system.

Increased levels of inflammatory markers such as tumour necrosis factor-α (TNFα) and interleukin- 6 (IL-6) have been associated with formation of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis, and linked to chronic inflammation in obesity. This study aimed to establish and use a versatile co-culture cell system to further investigate the role of TNFα and IL-6 in modulating (i) tubule formation and (ii) cell-cell interactions via matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) enzyme activity and secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), E-selectin and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Co-cultures of human endothelial cells and fibroblasts were incubated with TNFα (10 ng/mL) or IL-6 (10 ng/mL) added 2 and/or 7 days after co-culture establishment. Cell viability by enzymatic conversion was determined by MTT assay; tubule formation was detected by immunostaining; VEGF, E-selectin and PGE2 expression by ELISA analysis and MMP enzyme activity by gel zymography. Treatmentspecific and time dependent differences in tubule formation were observed: IL-6 significantly increased tubule formation, whilst TNFα significantly inhibited tubule formation. Treatment-specific differences in levels of MMP activities which correlate to tubule formation were also observed. This study showed inflammatory markers, typically associated with obese status, affect tubule formation differently in a heterogeneous cell environment similar to that observed in vivo

SEGMENTASI SUARA RESPIRASI UNTUK ANALISIS KUANTITATIF SECARA REAL TIME<br><br>(SEGMENTATION OF RESPIRATORY SOUND FOR QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS IN REAL TIME)

ABSTRAKSI: Secara umum respirasi adalah proses menghirup oksigen yang tersebar bebas di udara kemudian menghela karbondioksida keluar dari dalam tubuh. Pada saat menghirup dan menghela napas akan timbul suara pada saluran pernapasan, hal ini dikarenakan adanya turbulensi akibat perbedaan volume paru-paru, saluran pernapasan, dan ruang bebas. Respirasi bisa menjadi salah satu indikasi kesehatan seseorang. Seseorang dengan proses respirasi yang baik memiliki vitalitas yang baik. Respirasi dikatan baik jika berada pada rate tertentu, dimana untuk dewasa 12-20 respirasi per menit.Tugas akhir yang berjudul “Segmentasi Suara Respirasi Untuk Analisis Kuantitatif Secara Real Time” ini mencoba untuk mengukur rate respirasi (tingkat respirasi) menggunakan suatu sistem stetoskop elektronik sebagai alat akuisisi suara respirasi yang akan dihubungkan ke soundcard PC, dan perangkat lunak monitoring untuk mengukur rate respirasi. Perangkat lunak direalisasikan menggunakan pemrograman Borland Delphi 7. Stetoskop elektronik yang direalisasikan menggunakan beberapa blok yang terdiri dari blok Pencatu Microfon, Pre Amplifier, Low Pass Filter, dan penguat Op Amp. Tiap blok pada stetoskop elektronik bekerja dengan baik. Terdapat pergeseran frekuensi cut-off pada LPF, dari 2,5 KHz saat perancangan berubah menjadi 2,3 KHz saat realisasi, hal ini disebabkan adanya perubahan nilai pada kapasitor saat realisasi yang dimaksudkan untuk menyesuaikan dengan nilai kapasitor yang ada di pasaran.Tingkat respirasi diukur menggunakan sistem yang direalisasikan dan dengan cara manual, kemudian dibandingkan untuk mendapatkan tingkat akurasi sistem. Sistem memiliki tingkat akurasi 96,71 % saat mendeteksi respirasi biasa, 96,33 % saat mendeteksi respirasi lambat, dan 48,72 % saat mendeteksi respirasi cepat. Akurasi sistem menjadi kecil saat mendeteksi respirasi cepat dikarenakan selubung sinyal respirasi saat inspirasi dan ekspirasi sulit dibedakan, dan algoritma perangkat lunak yang dikembangkan disesuaikan untuk pernapasan biasa dan lambat.Kata Kunci : Respiration Rate, Rate Pernapasan, Stetoskop Elektronik, Delphi 7ABSTRACT: Generally, respiration is the process of inhaling oxygen which spread freely in the air and then heaved a carbon dioxide out of the body. When they inhale and exhale breath will result a respiratory sounds, this is because the turbulence caused by differences in lung volume, respiratory tract and free space. Respiration could be one indication of a person\u27s health. Someone with a good process of respiration has good vitality. Respiration is well if located at a certain rate, for adults’ 12-20 respiration per minute.This Final project entitled “Segmentation of Respiratory Sound for Quantitative Analysis in Real Time” is trying to measure the rate of respiration using a system of electronic stethoscope as a respiratory sound acquisition tool that will be connected to a PC soundcard, and monitoring software to measure the respiration rate. Software is realized by using Borland Delphi 7. Electronic stethoscope is realized by using some blocks consisting of block Microphone Supply, Pre Amplifier, Low Pass Filter and Op Amp amplifier. Each block on the electronic stethoscope are work well. There are cut-off frequency shifts in the LPF, from 2.5 KHz when the design changed to 2.3 kHz when realized, due to a change in the value at the time of realization of capacitors that are intended to adjust the capacitor values that exist in the marketplace.Rate of respiration was measured using a system which is realized and by way of manual, and then compared in order to obtain the accuracy of the system. The system has 96.71% accuracy when used to detect respiration, 96.33 % at detecting slow respiration, and 48.72 % when detecting rapid respiration. Accuracy of the system is fall into a small when detecting rapid respiration due to the signal respiration envelope is difficult to distinguish during inspiration and expiration. Algorithm and software developed and adjusted for normal breathing slowly.Keyword: Respiration Rate, Electronic Stethoscope, Delphi 7