An improved image segmentation algorithm for salient object detection

Semantic object detection is one of the most important and challenging problems in image analysis. Segmentation is an optimal approach to detect salient objects, but often fails to generate meaningful regions due to over-segmentation. This paper presents an improved semantic segmentation approach which is based on JSEG algorithm and utilizes multiple region merging criteria. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is encouraging and effective in salient object detection

Clinical, Cytogenetic, and Molecular Findings in Two Cases of Variant t(8;21) Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

t(8;21)(q22;q22) is present in ~5–10% of patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and is associated with a better overall prognosis. Variants of the t(8;21) have been described in the literature, however, their clinical and prognostic significance has not been well-characterized. Molecular profiling of these cases has not previously been reported but may be useful in better defining the prognosis of this subset of patients. We present two cases of variant t(8;21) AML including clinical, cytogenetic, and molecular data

Comparison of long-term pregnancy outcomes between neosalpingostomy and salpingectomy for infertile women with bilateral severe hydrosalpinx

Objective·To compare the pregnancy outcomes of infertile women with bilateral severe hydrosalpinx receiving neosalpingostomy or salpingectomy.Methods·The single-center prospective cohort study from 2005 to 2012 focused on pregnancy outcomes of infertile women aged 20‒40 years, with bilateral severe hydrosalpinx, undergoing bilateral neosalpingostomy or salpingectomy in International Peace Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. The choice for treatment was based on a shared decision approach, and the participants were divided into the neosalpingostomy group and salpingectomy group. After registration of baseline characteristics, including age, birth place, reproductive history, preoperative hysterosalpingography results, surgical findings, and pregnancy outcomes, women were followed up on an annual basis until July 2020 for the occurrence of live birth by outpatient follow-up or telephone questionnaire. Intention-to-treat analysis and per-protocol analysis were applied to compare the pregnancy outcomes. Kaplan-Meier analysis and COX proportional hazard model were used to analyze the reproductive outcomes. In addition, subgroup analysis was performed based on age stratification. The main outcome measures were live birth rate, cumulative live birth rate, and factors affecting live birth. Secondary outcome measures included the mode of conception, time to live birth, biochemical pregnancy rate, clinical miscarriage rate, and ectopic pregnancy rate.Results·A total of 113 women were included in the analysis, 58 women underwent bilateral neosalpingostomy, and 55 women underwent bilateral salpingectomy. The study demonstrated that in infertile women with bilateral severe hydrosalpinx, bilateral salpingectomy achieved higher cumulative live birth rate than bilateral neosalpingostomy (76.36% vs 62.07, HR=2.18,95%CI 1.37‒3.45). In the neosalpingostomy group, 34.48% (20/58) live births were obtained after in vitro fertilization treatment, and 27.59% (16/58) live births were obtained through spontaneous conception which mainly occurred within 3 years after initial neosalpingostomy, while all live births in the salpingectomy group were obtained after assisted reproductive therapy. However, the risk of ectopic pregnancy was higher in the neosalpingostomy group than that in the salpingectomy group (20.69% vs 1.82%, P<0.001). No statistically significant differences regarding biochemical pregnancy and clinical miscarriage between the two groups were found. During the subgroup analysis, the cumulative live birth rate of the salpingectomy group (n=51) was significantly higher than that of the neosalpingostomy group (n=48) in women younger than 35 years old (HR=2.25, 95%CI 1.39‒3.66), while between two groups of women aged 35 years old or older, there was no statistically significant difference in the cumulative live birth rate (HR=1.60, 95%CI 0.36‒7.19). In addition, after adjustment for confounding factors including age, previous abortion history, fibroid, benign ovarian cyst, and endometriosis, COX proportional hazard analysis revealed that salpingectomy was positively correlated to live birth compared with neosalpingostomy (aHR=1.94, 95%CI 1.18‒3.18).Conclusion·For infertile women with bilateral severe hydrosalpinx, neosalpingostomy provides the possibility for spontaneous conception but also brings about certain risk of ectopic pregnancy. Bilateral salpingectomy can achieve higher cumulative live birth rate while receiving postoperative in vitro fertilization treatment

A hypoxia risk score for prognosis prediction and tumor microenvironment in adrenocortical carcinoma

Background: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignant endocrine tumor derived from the adrenal cortex. Because of its highly aggressive nature, the prognosis of patients with adrenocortical carcinoma is not impressive. Hypoxia exists in the vast majority of solid tumors and contributes to invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance. This study aimed to reveal the role of hypoxia in Adrenocortical carcinoma and develop a hypoxia risk score (HRS) for Adrenocortical carcinoma prognostic prediction.Methods: Hypoxia-related genes were obtained from the Molecular Signatures Database. The training cohorts of patients with adrenocortical carcinoma were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas, while another three validation cohorts with comprehensive survival data were collected from the Gene Expression Omnibus. In addition, we constructed a hypoxia classifier using a random survival forest model. Moreover, we explored the relationship between the hypoxia risk score and immunophenotype in adrenocortical carcinoma to evaluate the efficacy of immune check inhibitors (ICI) therapy and prognosis of patients.Results: HRS and tumor stage were identified as independent prognostic factors. HRS was negatively correlated with immune cycle activity, immune cell infiltration, and the T cell inflammatory score. Therefore, we considered the low hypoxia risk score group as the inflammatory immunophenotype, whereas the high HRS group was a non-inflammatory immunophenotype. In addition, the HRS was negatively related to the expression of common immune checkpoint molecules such as PD-L1, CD200, CTLA-4, and TIGIT, suggesting that patients with a lower hypoxia risk score respond better to immunotherapy.Conclusion: We developed and validated a novel hypoxia risk score to predict the immunophenotype and response of patients with adrenocortical carcinoma to immune check inhibitors therapy. These findings not only provide fresh prognostic indicators for adrenocortical carcinoma but also offer several promising treatment targets for this disease