Robust and fully automated segmentation of mandible from CT scans

Mandible bone segmentation from computed tomography (CT) scans is challenging due to mandible's structural irregularities, complex shape patterns, and lack of contrast in joints. Furthermore, connections of teeth to mandible and mandible to remaining parts of the skull make it extremely difficult to identify mandible boundary automatically. This study addresses these challenges by proposing a novel framework where we define the segmentation as two complementary tasks: recognition and delineation. For recognition, we use random forest regression to localize mandible in 3D. For delineation, we propose to use 3D gradient-based fuzzy connectedness (FC) image segmentation algorithm, operating on the recognized mandible sub-volume. Despite heavy CT artifacts and dental fillings, consisting half of the CT image data in our experiments, we have achieved highly accurate detection and delineation results. Specifically, detection accuracy more than 96% (measured by union of intersection (UoI)), the delineation accuracy of 91% (measured by dice similarity coefficient), and less than 1 mm in shape mismatch (Hausdorff Distance) were found.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI) 201

A prospective randomized study to compare dexmedetomidine and dexamethasone as an adjunct to bupivacaine in transversus abdominis plane block for post-operative analgesia in caesarean delivery

Background: Caesarean section is most frequently performed surgery worldwide. Patients experience moderate to severe pain in the first 48 hours post-operatively. Aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of dexmedetomidine and dexamethasone as an adjunct to bupivacaine in ultrasound guided TAP block for postoperative analgesia in patients of caesarean section.Methods: A total 120 ASA I and II patients undergoing elective and emergency caesarean section under subarachnoid block were randomly divided into three groups B, BDM, BDX to receive bupivacaine alone or dexmedetomidine or dexamethasone as an adjunct to bupivacaine in ultrasound guided TAP block. Postoperatively, the patients were evaluated for pain level at rest and on movement with a 10 cm visual analog scale (VAS) pain score (0 = no pain and 10 = worst pain), time to demand of first analgesic request, number of analgesic requirements, nausea or vomiting, sedation and patient satisfaction at 0 hours and at 2, 4, 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours.Results: VAS score was significantly higher in group B in comparison to BDM and BDX, and higher in BDX in comparison to group BDM. Mean duration of analgesia was significantly higher in group BDM in comparison to group B and BDX. Total number of rescue analgesic demands were significantly lower in group BDM in comparison to group B and BDX. Sedation score and satisfaction score was higher in group BDM as compared to group B and BDX.Conclusions: Addition of dexmedetomidine and dexamethasone as an adjunct to bupivacaine reduces postoperative pain, prolongs analgesia, decreases demand for additional analgesics and provides better maternal satisfaction as compared to plain bupivacaine group in TAP block in patients undergoing caesarean section under subarachnoid block. Among dexmedetomidine and dexamethasone, dexmedetomidine had prolonged analgesia as compared to dexamethasone group

Relational Reasoning Network (RRN) for Anatomical Landmarking

Accurately identifying anatomical landmarks is a crucial step in deformation analysis and surgical planning for craniomaxillofacial (CMF) bones. Available methods require segmentation of the object of interest for precise landmarking. Unlike those, our purpose in this study is to perform anatomical landmarking using the inherent relation of CMF bones without explicitly segmenting them. We propose a new deep network architecture, called relational reasoning network (RRN), to accurately learn the local and the global relations of the landmarks. Specifically, we are interested in learning landmarks in CMF region: mandible, maxilla, and nasal bones. The proposed RRN works in an end-to-end manner, utilizing learned relations of the landmarks based on dense-block units and without the need for segmentation. For a given a few landmarks as input, the proposed system accurately and efficiently localizes the remaining landmarks on the aforementioned bones. For a comprehensive evaluation of RRN, we used cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of 250 patients. The proposed system identifies the landmark locations very accurately even when there are severe pathologies or deformations in the bones. The proposed RRN has also revealed unique relationships among the landmarks that help us infer several reasoning about informativeness of the landmark points. RRN is invariant to order of landmarks and it allowed us to discover the optimal configurations (number and location) for landmarks to be localized within the object of interest (mandible) or nearby objects (maxilla and nasal). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first of its kind algorithm finding anatomical relations of the objects using deep learning.Comment: 10 pages, 6 Figures, 3 Table

Bandwidth improved design of slot antenna

The intent of this paper is to introduce a modified design of printed slot antenna used for ultra wide band (UWB) applications ranging for 9.1 to10.6 Ghz. Antenna element was feed by coplanar waveguide (CPW) for the suitable interfacing with monolithic microwave integrated circuits. Here it has been presented by simulation results that the antenna can cover wide bandwidth with suitable return loss

Craniofacial Analysis May Indicate Co-Occurrence of Skeletal Malocclusions and Associated Risks in Development of Cleft Lip and Palate

Non-syndromic orofacial clefts encompass a range of morphological changes affecting the oral cavity and the craniofacial skeleton, of which the genetic and epigenetic etiologic factors remain largely unknown. The objective of this study is to explore the contribution of underlying dentofacial deformities (also known as skeletal malocclusions) in the craniofacial morphology of non-syndromic cleft lip and palate patients (nsCLP). For that purpose, geometric morphometric analysis was performed using full skull cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of patients with nsCLP (n = 30), normocephalic controls (n = 60), as well as to sex- and ethnicity- matched patients with an equivalent dentofacial deformity (n = 30). Our outcome measures were shape differences among the groups quantified via principal component analysis and associated principal component loadings, as well as mean shape differences quantified via a Procrustes distance among groups. According to our results, despite the shape differences among all three groups, the nsCLP group shares many morphological similarities in the maxilla and mandible with the dentofacial deformity group. Therefore, the dentoskeletal phenotype in nsCLP could be the result of the cleft and the coexisting dentofacial deformity and not simply the impact of the cleft

A novel approach to track public emotions related to epidemics in multilingual data

Emergence of new epidemic and re-appearance of older diseases causes great impact towards public health. Surveys based techniques which are costly and time-consuming are the most popular methods to measure information related to public health and used in decision making. Early monitoring of these epidemics helps in rapid decision making. Social media platforms provide rich source of information related to public health in forms of blogs, tweets, public posts etc., but these data is in unstructured form contains multiple languages words. This research focused on developing an automatic system for detecting public emotions related to epidemics in multilingual unstructured data to gain deeper understanding of public emotions and health related information. This approach gives timely information related to epidemics, corresponding symptoms, prevention techniques and awareness, which can help government and health agencies for rapid decision making. Experimental analysis of data set provides results that significantly beat the baseline term counting methods used for sentiment analysis

Passive micropump for microfluidics based devices

One of the essential elements of microfluidics is driving liquid flow in microchannels. Device discussed gives a way to pump liquid passively through a microchannel. The present work represents fiber and paper based passive micro-pumping of liquids through microfluidic devices. The porous structure and network of capillaries inside the paper and fiber materials support spontaneous liquid movement. Agarose gel coating is used with paper in order to achieve variations flow rates. The effect of gel concentration on liquid flow is studied. The concept can be used ubiquitously for microfluidics device application. For its low-cost and is feasible to integrate with devices for low resource settings

Análise comparativa das atividades antioxidantes e anti-inflamatórias dos chás vermelho, azul e preto para benefícios à saúde

The current COVID-19 predicament necessitates a greater emphasis on developing immunity. Herbal teas are abundant in antioxidants which are important for strengthening the immune system. Hot water decoction of Hibiscus rosa sinensis flowers (red tea), Clitoria ternatea flowers (blue tea) and commercially available black tea were evaluated by comparing for in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Anthocyanin pigment in red, blue, and black tea demonstrated Rf values of 0.52, 0.86 and 0.78 respectively. Blue and black teas exhibited dominance of polyphenols, flavonoids, tannins, glycosides, terpenoids, saponins as compared to red tea. The highest total phenolic (12.25 ± 0.245 mg GAE/gm extract-1) and flavonoid (15.84 ± 0.268mg QE/gm extract-1) content were observed with black and blue tea respectively. Blue tea, and black tea extracts exhibited FRPA values of 1.81 ± 0.413 mg and 1.93 ± 0.178 mg AAE per gram extract-1 respectively. Black tea exhibits the highest antioxidant capacity in reducing molybdate ions (1.94 ± 0.354 mg AAE per gram extract-1) followed by blue tea (1.56 ± 0.199 mg AAE per gram extract-1). Blue tea extract at a very low concentration showed highest percentage hemolytic inhibition (57.14 ± 0.567%). According to the study, blue tea is a rich source of antioxidants with significant anti-inflammatory properties. The research may offer a valuable supplementary strategyfor its therapeutic applications.La situación actual de COVID-19 requiere un mayor énfasis en desarrollar inmunidad. Los tés de hierbas son ricos en antioxidantes, que son importantes para fortalecer el sistema inmunológico. Se evaluó la decocción en agua caliente de flores de Hibiscus rosa sinensis (té rojo), flores de Clitoria ternatea (té azul) y té negro comercialmente disponible para determinar sus propiedades antioxidantes y antiinflamatorias in vitro. El pigmento de antocianina en el té rojo, azul y negro demostró valores de Rf de 0,52, 0,86 y 0,78, respectivamente. Los tés azul y negro exhibieron un predominio de polifenoles, flavonoides, taninos, glucósidos, terpenoides y saponinas en comparación con el té rojo. Los niveles más altos de fenoles totales (12,25 ± 0,245 mg EAG/g de extracto-1) y flavonoides (15,84 ± 0,268 mg QE/g de extracto-1) se observaron en los tés negro y azul, respectivamente. Los extractos de té azul y té negro exhibieron valores de FRPA de 1,81 ± 0,413 mg y 1,93 ± 0,178 mg de AAE por gramo de extracto-1, respectivamente. El té negro tiene la mayor capacidad antioxidante en la reducción de iones molibdato (1,94 ± 0,354 mg AAE por gramo de extracto-1), seguido del té azul (1,56 ± 0,199 mg AAE por gramo de extracto-1). El extracto de té azul a muy baja concentración presentó el mayor porcentaje de inhibición hemolítica (57,14 ± 0,567%). Según el estudio, el té azul es una rica fuente de antioxidantes con importantes propiedades antiinflamatorias. La investigación puede ofrecer una valiosa estrategia complementaria para sus aplicaciones terapéuticas.A situação atual do COVID-19 exige uma maior ênfase no desenvolvimento da imunidade. Os chás de ervas são abundantes em antioxidantes, importantes para fortalecer o sistema imunológico. A decocção de água quente de flores de Hibiscus rosa sinensis (chá vermelho), flores de Clitoria ternatea (chá azul) e chá preto comercialmente disponível, foi avaliada comparando as propriedades antioxidantes e anti-inflamatórias in vitro. O pigmento antocianina no chá vermelho, azul e preto, demonstrou valores de Rf de 0,52, 0,86 e 0,78, respectivamente. Os chás azul e preto, exibiram predominância de polifenóis, flavonoides, taninos, glicosídeos, terpenoides e saponinas em comparação com o chá vermelho. Os maiores teores de fenólicos totais (12,25 ± 0,245 mg EAG/gm extrato-1) e flavonoides (15,84 ± 0,268 mg QE/gm extrato-1) foram observados nos chás preto e azul, respectivamente. Os extratos de chá azul e chá preto exibiram valores de FRPA de 1,81 ± 0,413 mg e 1,93 ± 0,178 mg de AAE por grama de extrato-1, respectivamente. O chá preto apresenta a maior capacidade antioxidante na redução de íons molibdato (1,94 ± 0,354 mg AAE por grama de extrato-1), seguido pelo chá azul (1,56 ± 0,199 mg AAE por grama de extrato-1). O extrato de chá azul em concentração muito baixa, apresentou a maior porcentagem de inibição hemolítica (57,14 ± 0,567%). De acordo com o estudo, o chá azul é uma rica fonte de antioxidantes com propriedades anti-inflamatórias significativas. A pesquisa pode oferecer uma valiosa estratégia complementar para suas aplicações terapêuticas