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Automated segmentation of individual calf muscle compartments from 3D magnetic resonance (MR) images is essential for developing quantitative biomarkers for muscular disease progression and its prediction. Achieving clinically acceptable results is a challenging task due to large variations in muscle shape and MR appearance. In this paper, we present a novel fully convolutional network (FCN) that utilizes contextual information in a large neighborhood and embeds edge-aware constraints for individual calf muscle compartment segmentations. An encoder-decoder architecture is used to systematically enlarge convolution receptive field and preserve information at all resolutions. Edge positions derived from the FCN output muscle probability maps are explicitly regularized using kernel-based edge detection in an end-to-end optimization framework. Our method was evaluated on 40 T1-weighted MR images of 10 healthy and 30 diseased subjects by fourfold cross-validation. Mean DICE coefficients of 88.00-91.29% and mean absolute surface positioning errors of 1.04-1.66 mm were achieved for the five 3D muscle compartments.A real-time methodology that finds spatio-temporal correspondence between the positions of the target point in the pre-treatment 3DCT image and during the procedure was proposed. It based on minimizing the target registration error in III tier registration circuits. Particle Swarm Optimization and Differential Evaluation were used to find optimal values of Elastic Body Spline parameters in the generation of abdominal deformation field. Different transformation classes have been tested rigid, affine, Thin Plate Spline, Elastic Body Spline. The lowest TRE was obtained for the swarm optimization algorithm - differential evolution for the rigid and affine version 3.47 and 3.73 mm, respectively.

Spinal stabilization by an anterior vertebral body replacement is frequently used in patients suffering from destroyed vertebral bodies. The aim of this study was to analyse (i) the choice of endplate size and positioning of vertebral body replacements in daily patient care and (ii) if these factors have an influence on clinical and radiological outcomes.

Patients' outcomes were analysed three years after vertebral body replacement implantation using the visual analogue scale spine score. Safe zones on the vertebral body endplates were defined. Overall endplate coverage and implant subsidence were evaluated by CT and X-ray. Compression tests were performed on 22 lumbar vertebral bodies to analyse endplates sizes' influence on subsidence.

Mean coverage of the vertebral body's superior and inferior endplates by the vertebral body replacement was 27.8% and 30.8%, respectively. Mean overlap of the safe zone by the implant was 49.8% and 40.6%. Mean subsidence was 1.1±1.2mm, but it did not have any effect on the outcome. In the compression tests, no significant difference (p=0.468) was found between the two endplate sizes.

Coverage of vertebral body endplates and positioning of implants in the safe zone did not entirely comply with the given recommendations. The amount of endplate coverage had no influence on subsidence or long-term outcomes in daily patient care. On the other hand, correct positioning of the implant may influence its subsidence.

Coverage of vertebral body endplates and positioning of implants in the safe zone did not entirely comply with the given recommendations. The amount of endplate coverage had no influence on subsidence or long-term outcomes in daily patient care. On the other hand, correct positioning of the implant may influence its subsidence.The objective of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of 1 % injectable doramectin to control Dermatobia hominis in naturally infested beef cattle in a farm with history of clinical parasitism after avermectin use. The study was conducted in a commercial beef cattle farm in Brazil. Twenty crossbred cattle (Nellore x Angus) were selected based on the minimum number of 10 live larvae. Assessment of infestation was performed based on tactile-visual inspection of the entire body of the animals. The animals were allocated to two experimental groups of ten animals each treated group - dosed with doramectin 200 μg/kg live weight (LW), and control group - dosed with saline solution 1 mL/50 kg LW. Both treatments were administered subcutaneously in a single dose. After treatment, larval counts were performed at 1, 3, 7 and 14 days post-treatment (DPT). For the treatment to be considered efficient, it should reach an efficacy greater than or equal to 90 % by the 10th DPT and the average larval count in the treated animals should be statistically lower than the average larval count in the control group. The geometric means of larval counts at the beginning of the study were 27.2 and 26.3 for the control and treated groups, respectively. After 72 h of treatment, there was a significant reduction (p  less then  0.01) in the larvae counts of the treated group, extending to the 14th DPT, at which point maximum efficacy for doramectin (86.3 %) was obtained. After treatment, 90 % of the animals remained parasitized with live larvae on the 7th DPT and 70 % on the 14th DPT, while in the control group, all animals were infested on all dates. The administration of injectable doramectin was not effective in controlling D. hominis in naturally infested cattle.Fasciolosis is a foodborne zoonotic disease that affects grazing animals and causes substantial economic losses worldwide. Excretory/secretory (E/S) products and cathepsin L mimotopes from Fasciola hepatica were used to immunise experimentally infected sheep against liver flukes. The level of protection was measured in terms of fluke burden, morphometric measurements and faecal egg counts, as well as the humoral and cellular immune responses elicited. Five groups of 5 sheep each were immunised with 1 × 1013 phage particles of cathepsin L1 (group 1 SGTFLFS), cathepsin L1 (group 2 WHVPRTWWVLPP) and immunodominant E/S product (group 3) mimotopes with Quil A adjuvant, and wild-type M13KE phage (group 4) at the beginning and as a booster two weeks later. The control group received phosphate-buff ;ered saline. All groups were challenged with 300 metacercariae at week four and slaughtered 18 weeks later. The mean fluke burdens after challenge were reduced by 52.39 % and 67.17 % in sheep vaccinated with E/S products (nd (314TFLFS318) were associated with significant protection.The urgent needs for water protection are not only developing the highly efficient wastewater treatment technologies but also designing the eco-friendly materials. In this work, the eco-friendly composite fibers composed of poly(L-lactide) (PLLA), poly(D-lactide) (PDLA) and maghemite nanoparticles γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were fabricated through electrospinning technology. Through regulating the processing parameters and introducing additional annealing treatment, nanoscale porous structure and the stereocomplex crystallites (SCs) are simultaneously constructed in the composite electrospun fibers. Physicochemical performances measurements exhibited that the fiber membranes had excellent lipophilicity, good mechanical performances, and high hydrolysis resistance, and all of which endowed the fiber membranes with high oil adsorption capacities, and the maximum oil adsorption capacities achieved 148.9 g/g at 23 °C and 114.8 g/g at 60 °C. Further results showed that the fiber membranes had good oil/water separation ability. The gravity-driven oil flux was 6824.4 L/m2h2, and the water rejection ratio was nearly 100% during separating oil/water mixture. Specifically, the fiber membranes showed good stability during the cycling measurements. It is evidently confirmed that the composite PLLA-based fiber membranes with porous structure and SCs can be used in wastewater treatment, especially in some rigorous circumstances.The concentration of nonionic surfactants like Triton X-100 (TX100) can influence the transport and fate of emerging contaminants (e.g., carbon nanotubes) in porous media, but limited research has previously addressed this issue. This study investigates the co-transport of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and various concentrations of TX100 in saturated quartz sand (QS). Batch experiments and molecular dynamics simulations were conducted to investigate the interactions between TX100 and MWCNTs. Results indicated that the concentration ratio of MWCNTs and TX100 strongly influences the dispersion of MWCNTs and interaction forces between MWCNTs and QS during the transport. Breakthrough curves of MWCNTs and TX100 and retention profiles of MWCNTs were determined and simulated in column studies. MWCNTs strongly enhanced the retention of TX100 in QS due to the high affinity of TX100 for MWCNTs. Conversely, the concentration of TX100 had a non-monotonic impact on MWCNT retention. The maximum transport of MWCNTs in the QS occurred at an input concentration of TX100 that was lower than the critical micelle concentration. This suggests that the relative importance of factors influencing MWCNTs changed with TX100 sorption. Results from interaction energy calculations and modeling of competitive blocking indicate that the predictive ability of interaction energy calculations and colloid filtration theory may be lost because TX100 mainly altered intermolecular forces between the MWCNT and porous media. selleck chemical This study provides new insights into the co-transport of surfactants and MWCNTs in porous media, which can be useful for environmental applications and risk management.Humans are exposed to complex mixtures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). However, human health risk assessment of PFAS currently relies on animal toxicity data derived from individual substance exposure, which may not adequately predict the risk from combined exposure due to possible interactions that can influence the overall risk. Long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), particularly perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are recognised as global emerging contaminants of concern due to their ubiquitous distribution in all environmental media, wildlife, and humans, persistency, bioaccumulative-, toxic-, and human health-risk potentials. This article reviews the current understanding of the human health risks associated with PFAS exposure focusing on more recent toxicological and epidemiological studies from 2010 to 2020. The existing information on PFAA mixtures was also reviewed in an attempt to highlight the need for greater focus on their potential interactions as mixtures within the class of these chemicals. A growing number of toxicological studies have indicated several adverse health outcomes of PFAA exposure, including developmental and reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, genotoxicity, immunotoxicity, thyroid disruption, and carcinogenicity. Epidemiological findings further support some of these adverse human health outcomes. However, the mechanisms underlying these adverse effects are not well defined. A few in vitro studies focusing on PFAA mixtures revealed that these compounds may act additively or interact synergistically/antagonistically depending on the species, dose level, dose ratio, and mixture components. Hence, the combined effects or potential interactions of PFAS mixtures should be considered and integrated into toxicity assessment to obtain a realistic and more refined human health risk assessment.