Optimum Slice Reduction Algorithm For Fast Surface Reconstruction From Contour Slices

Tesis ini memfokus kepada pembinaan semula permukaan daripada siri hirisan kontur, dengan tujuan mempercepatkan proses pembinaan semula di samping mengekalkan kualiti output pada tahap yang boleh diterima. This thesis is concerned with the reconstruction of surface from a series of contour slices, with the aim to speed up the reconstruction process while preserving the output quality at an acceptable level

Optimum Slice Reduction Algorithm For Fast Surface Reconstruction From Contour slices [QA571. T164 2007 f rb].

Tesis ini memfokus kepada pembinaan semula permukaan daripada siri hirisan kontur, dengan tujuan mempercepatkan proses pembinaan semula di samping mengekalkan kualiti output pada tahap yang boleh diterima. Teknik yang dicadangkan dalam tesis ini memproses hirisan-hirisan kontur sebelum pembinaan semula permukaan. This thesis is concerned with the reconstruction of surface from a series of contour slices, with the aim to speed up the reconstruction process while preserving the output quality at an acceptable level. The proposed technique in this thesis, preprocesses the slices of contour prior to surface reconstruction

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy v. group psychoeducation for people with generalised anxiety disorder: randomised controlled trial

Background: Research suggests that an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) course may be effective for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). Aims: To compare changes in anxiety levels among participants with GAD randomly assigned to MBCT, cognitive–behavioural therapy-based psychoeducation and usual care. Method: In total, 182 participants with GAD were recruited (trial registration number: CUHK_CCT00267) and assigned to the three groups and followed for 5 months after baseline assessment with the two intervention groups followed for an additional 6 months. Primary outcomes were anxiety and worry levels. Results: Linear mixed models demonstrated significant group × time interaction (F(4,148) = 5.10, P = 0.001) effects for decreased anxiety for both the intervention groups relative to usual care. Significant group × time interaction effects were observed for worry and depressive symptoms and mental health-related quality of life for the psychoeducation group only. Conclusions: These results suggest that both of the interventions appear to be superior to usual care for the reduction of anxiety symptoms

Yap1 Hydroxylation Suppress Prostate Cancer Metastasis

View full abstracthttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/leading-edge/1031/thumbnail.jp

Sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorder in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a growing prevalence of sleep problems associated with significant behavioral problems and more severe autism clinical presentation. Little is known about the relationships between autism traits and sleep problems in Hong Kong. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether children with autism have increased sleep problems than non-autistic children in Hong Kong. The secondary objective was to examine the factors associated with sleep problems in an autism clinical sample.MethodsThis cross-sectional study recruited 135 children with autism and 102 with the same age range of non-autistic children, aged between 6 and 12 years. Both groups were screened and compared on their sleep behaviors using the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ).ResultsChildren with autism had significantly more sleep problems than non-autistic children [t(226.73) = 6.20, p < 0.001]. Bed -sharing [beta = 0.25, t(165) = 2.75, p = 0.07] and maternal age at birth [beta = 0.15, t(165) = 2.05, p = 0.043] were significant factors associated with CSHQ score on the top of autism traits. Stepwise linear regression modeling identified that only separation anxiety disorder (beta = 4.83, t = 2.40, p = 0.019) best-predicted CSHQ.ConclusionIn summary, autistic children suffered from significantly more sleep problems and co-occurring separation anxiety disorder brings greater sleep problems as compared to non-autistic children. Clinicians should be more aware of sleep problems to provide more effective treatments to children with autism

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Coronary artery stenosis detection and visualization / Tang Sze Ling

The manual operation of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) diagnosis from volumetric Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) is a very time consuming process and lead to inter- and intra-observer variability of the readers. This thesis investigates the computeraided CAD diagnosis in order to reduce reading time and manual operators’ variability. Particularly, this thesis aims to (1) minimize the interaction level of the computer-aided procedure, (2) visualize the arteries without obstruction and (3) detect the stenosis with consistent observation using the computer-aided procedure. First, a novel idea, the Orthogonal Planar Search (OPS) mechanism is proposed for coronary artery centerline extraction. Particularly, the OPS is conducted locally on the identified orthogonal plane (axial, sagittal or coronal). A metrics to select the best representation of vessel cross section is incorporated with tracking direction estimation throughout the centerline extraction process. The centerline extraction requires predefined root seed (ostia) for each coronary artery tree. The proposed method benchmarked with the state-of-the-art methods and achieved comparable results. The experimental results show that the proposed method performs the best tradeoff between accuracy and efficiency. Second, the stretched Curved Planar Reformation (CPR) is adapted to overcome the issue on obstruction. The sequence of points is resampled evenly to preserve the length of centerline. With this, the points are projected directly within a single image without other calculation required. In order to avoid the issue of stenosis underestimation or overestimation from a single image, two CPR projection angles are employed for the coronary artery evaluation. Third, a stenosis detection algorithm from two images is proposed in this thesis. In contrast to the conventional methods which perform detection from a single image, the stenosis detection algorithm using two images from various view angles to avoid false positive (stenosis overestimated) and false negative (stenosis underestimated). The performance evaluation results show that the stenosis detection algorithm performs better average sensitivity than several state-of-the-art algorithms