SDLFormer: A Sparse and Dense Locality-enhanced Transformer for Accelerated MR Image Reconstruction

Transformers have emerged as viable alternatives to convolutional neural networks owing to their ability to learn non-local region relationships in the spatial domain. The self-attention mechanism of the transformer enables transformers to capture long-range dependencies in the images, which might be desirable for accelerated MRI image reconstruction as the effect of undersampling is non-local in the image domain. Despite its computational efficiency, the window-based transformers suffer from restricted receptive fields as the dependencies are limited to within the scope of the image windows. We propose a window-based transformer network that integrates dilated attention mechanism and convolution for accelerated MRI image reconstruction. The proposed network consists of dilated and dense neighborhood attention transformers to enhance the distant neighborhood pixel relationship and introduce depth-wise convolutions within the transformer module to learn low-level translation invariant features for accelerated MRI image reconstruction. The proposed model is trained in a self-supervised manner. We perform extensive experiments for multi-coil MRI acceleration for coronal PD, coronal PDFS and axial T2 contrasts with 4x and 5x under-sampling in self-supervised learning based on k-space splitting. We compare our method against other reconstruction architectures and the parallel domain self-supervised learning baseline. Results show that the proposed model exhibits improvement margins of (i) around 1.40 dB in PSNR and around 0.028 in SSIM on average over other architectures (ii) around 1.44 dB in PSNR and around 0.029 in SSIM over parallel domain self-supervised learning. The code is available at https://github.com/rahul-gs-16/sdlformer.gitComment: Accepted at MICCAI workshop MILLanD 2023 Medical Image Learning with noisy and Limited Dat

Protein-Flavonoid Interaction Studies by a Taylor Dispersion Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Technique: A Novel Method to Assess Biomolecular Interactions

Flavonoids are common polyphenolic compounds widely distributed in fruits and vegetables. These pigments have important pharmacological relevance because emerging research suggests possible anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties as well other beneficial health effects. These compounds are relatively hydrophobic molecules, suggesting the role of blood transport proteins in their delivery to tissues. In this study, we assess the binding interactions of four flavonoids (kaempferol, luteolin, quercetin, and resveratrol) with human serum albumin (HSA), the most abundant protein in the blood, and with glutathione S-transferase pi isoform-1 (GSTP1), an enzyme with well-characterized hydrophobic binding sites that plays an important role in detoxification of xenobiotics with reduced glutathione, using a novel Taylor dispersion surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique. For the first time, HSA sites revealed a high-affinity binding site for flavonoid interactions. Out of the four flavonoids that we examined, quercetin and kaempferol showed the strongest equilibrium binding affinities (KD) of 63 ± 0.03 nM and 37 ± 0.07 nM, respectively. GSTP1 displayed lower affinities in the micromolar range towards all of the flavonoids tested. The interactions of flavonoids with HSA and GSTP1 were studied successfully using this novel SPR assay method. The new method is compatible with both kinetic and equilibrium analyses

Protein-Flavonoid Interaction Studies by a Taylor Dispersion Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Technique: A Novel Method to Assess Biomolecular Interactions

Flavonoids are common polyphenolic compounds widely distributed in fruits and vegetables. These pigments have important pharmacological relevance because emerging research suggests possible anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties as well other beneficial health effects. These compounds are relatively hydrophobic molecules, suggesting the role of blood transport proteins in their delivery to tissues. In this study, we assess the binding interactions of four flavonoids (kaempferol, luteolin, quercetin, and resveratrol) with human serum albumin (HSA), the most abundant protein in the blood, and with glutathione S-transferase pi isoform-1 (GSTP1), an enzyme with well-characterized hydrophobic binding sites that plays an important role in detoxification of xenobiotics with reduced glutathione, using a novel Taylor dispersion surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique. For the first time, HSA sites revealed a high-affinity binding site for flavonoid interactions. Out of the four flavonoids that we examined, quercetin and kaempferol showed the strongest equilibrium binding affinities (KD) of 63 ± 0.03 nM and 37 ± 0.07 nM, respectively. GSTP1 displayed lower affinities in the micromolar range towards all of the flavonoids tested. The interactions of flavonoids with HSA and GSTP1 were studied successfully using this novel SPR assay method. The new method is compatible with both kinetic and equilibrium analyses

Lutein, zeaxanthin, and meso-zeaxanthin: The basic and clinical science underlying carotenoid-based nutritional interventions against ocular disease

Pušenje je štetna navika raširena među svim slojevima pučanstva. Smatra se rizičnim čimbenikom za zdravlje koji dovodi do prijevremenog umiranja. Duhanski dim sadrži više od četiri tisuće sastojaka koji djelujući podražajno, toksično, kancerogeno i psihoaktivno remete funkcije pojedinih organa. Ne postoji ni jedan organ ili organski sustav koji nije zahvaćen štetnim učincima pušenja. U ovom radu opisano je djelovanje duhanskog dima na krvožilni, dišni i probavni sustav. Također su spomenute i opasnosti pasivnog pušenja. Naglašena je važnost zdravstvenog odgoja te su razrađene metode zdravstvenog odgoja kojima se ovisnicima o pušenju nastoji promijeniti štetno zdravstveno ponašanje. Posebno je naglašena važnost medicinske sestre koja svojim znanjem i osobnim primjerom ima veliki utjecaj na smanjenje uporabe duhana kod pojedinca i zajednice. Opisan je pristup medicinske sestre kod određenih skupina kao što su trudnice, djeca i mladi te starije osobe.Smoking is a harmful habit widespread among all sections of the population. It is considered a risk factor for health leading to premature death. Tobacco smoke contains more than four thousand ingredients that have an irritant, toxic, carcinogenic and psychoactive effect on the functions of individual organs. There is no organ or organ system that is not affected by the harmful effects of smoking. This paper describes the effect of tobacco smoke on the circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems. The dangers of secondhand smoke were also mentioned. The importance of health education is emphasized and methods of health education that seek to change addictive behaviors are elaborated. Particular emphasis is placed on the importance of the nurse, who with her knowledge and personal example has a great influence on reducing the use of tobacco in individuals and in the community. The approach of the nurse to specific groups such as pregnant women, children and young people and the elderly is described

Printed, skin-mounted hybrid system for ECG measurements

In this paper we report a design and fabrication process for a screen printed, skin-mounted hybrid system for electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements. The system consists of printed electrodes on a stretchable bandage substrate designed to be attached to the chest, an electronics module, and a data receiving device. The electronics unit is reversibly attached to the single-use electrode bandage to measure the ECG data. The ECG data is then transmitted to a mobile device via Bluetooth Low Energy and the mobile device then displays the data graphically and sends it further a cloud for storing and further analysis. The attained quality of the measured ECG signals is fully satisfactory to compute important cardiac parameters and after preprocessing the signal could be used for more profound analysis of ECG wave shapes.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe