Content-based video classification and compariSon

Automatic video analysis tools have dramatically increased in importance as the Internet video revolution has blossomed. This thesis presents an approach for automatic comparison of videos based on the inherent content. Also, an approach for creating groups (or clusters) of similar videos from a large video database is given; First, methods simplifying and summarizing the content of videos will be presented. Such methods include shot boundary detection and key frame feature extraction; Next, a comparison of different distance measures between videos will be given. These distance measures will be used to construct video clusters, and results will be compared

Single-cell analysis: visualizing pharmaceutical and metabolite uptake in cells with label-free 3D mass spectrometry imaging

Detecting metabolites and parent compound within a cell type is now a priority for pharmaceutical development. In this context, three-dimensional secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) imaging was used to investigate the cellular uptake of the antiarrhythmic agent amiodarone, a phospholipidosis-inducing pharmaceutical compound. The high lateral resolution and 3D imaging capabilities of SIMS combined with the multiplex capabilities of ToF mass spectrometric detection allows for the visualization of pharmaceutical compound and metabolites in single cells. The intact, unlabeled drug compound was successfully detected at therapeutic dosages in macrophages (cell line: NR8383). Chemical information from endogenous biomolecules was used to correlate drug distributions with morphological features. From this spatial analysis, amiodarone was detected throughout the cell with the majority of the compound found in the membrane and subsurface regions and absent in the nuclear regions. Similar results were obtained when the macrophages were doped with amiodarone metabolite, desethylamiodarone. The FWHM lateral resolution measured across an intracellular interface in a high lateral resolution ion images was approximately 550 nm. Overall, this approach provides the basis for studying cellular uptake of pharmaceutical compounds and their metabolites on the single cell level

Evaluation of a point of care ultrasound curriculum for Indonesian physicians taught by first-year medical students.

BACKGROUND:The purpose of this study was to assess the short-term efficacy of a 4-week ultrasound curriculum taught by American first-year medical students to general practitioners working in public health care clinics, or puskesmas, in Bandung, Indonesia. METHODS:We performed a prospective, observational study of Indonesian health care practitioners from public clinics in Bandung, Indonesia. These practitioners were enrolled in a 4-week ultrasound training course taught by first-year American medical students. A total of six sessions were held comprising of 38 ultrasound milestones. A pre-course and post-course written exam and practical exam was taken by each participant. RESULTS:We enrolled 41 clinicians in the course. The average pre-course exam score was 35.2% with a 2.4% pass rate, whereas the average post-course exam score was 82.0% with a 92.7% pass rate. The average practical score at the completion of the course was 83.2% (SD=0.145) with 82.9% of the class passing (score above 75.0%). CONCLUSION:Our data suggests that first-year medical students can effectively teach ultrasound to physicians in Indonesia using a 4-week intensive ultrasound training course. Future studies are needed to determine the amount of training required for proficiency and to evaluate the physicians' perceptions of the student-instructors' depth of knowledge and skill in point of care ultrasound

Study protocol: phase II study to evaluate the effect of cetuximab monotherapy after immunotherapy with PD-1 inhibitors in patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer

Background: Immunotherapy with programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitors, as a single agent or in combination with chemotherapy, is the standard first-line treatment for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer (R/M HNSCC). Unfortunately, there is no established second-line treatment for the many patients who fail immunotherapy. Cetuximab is the only targeted therapy approved in HNSCC but historically has a low response rate of 13%. Objectives: We hypothesize that cetuximab monotherapy following an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) will lead to increased efficacy due to a potential synergistic effect on the antitumor immune response, as a result of activation effects of both treatments on innate and adaptative immune responses. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the only ongoing prospective clinical study that evaluates the combination of cetuximab and ICIs administered sequentially. Methods and analysis: In this non-randomized, open-label, phase II trial, 30 patients with R/M HNSCC who have previously failed or could not tolerate a PD-1 inhibitor as a single agent or in combination with chemotherapy will subsequently be treated with cetuximab monotherapy. Outcomes of interest include overall response rate, duration of response, progression-free survival, overall survival, and treatment toxicity, as well as treatment outcome measured by a patient-reported outcome questionnaire. Saliva and blood will be collected for correlative studies to investigate the immune response status at the end of therapy with an ICI and the effect of cetuximab on the antitumor immune response. The results will be correlated with the response to cetuximab and the time window between the last administration of an ICI and the loading dose of cetuximab. The clinical study is actively recruiting. Ethics: This study was approved by the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center Institutional Review Board: IRB00065239. Clinical trial registration: This study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04375384

Childhood cancer research in Oxford II: The Childhood Cancer Research Group

Background We summarise the work of the Childhood Cancer Research Group, particularly in relation to the UK National Registry of Childhood Tumours (NRCT). Methods The Group was responsible for setting up and maintaining the NRCT. This registry was based on notifications from regional cancer registries, specialist children’s tumour registries, paediatric oncologists and clinical trials organisers. For a large sample of cases, data on controls matched by date and place of birth were also collected. Results Significant achievements of the Group include: studies of aetiology and of genetic epidemiology; proposals for, and participation in, international comparative studies of these diseases and on a classification system specifically for childhood cancer; the initial development of, and major contributions to, follow-up studies of the health of long-term survivors; the enhancement of cancer registration records by the addition of clinical data and of birth records. The Group made substantial contributions to the UK government’s Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment. Conclusion An important part of the ethos of the Group was to work in collaboration with many other organisations and individuals, both nationally and internationally: many of the Group’s achievements described here were the result of such collaborations