Kramerwolf2446

Accurate glioma grading and IDH mutation status prediction are critically essential for individualized preoperative treatment decisions. This study aims to compare the diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance (MR) amide proton transfer (APT) and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in glioma grading and IDH mutation status prediction.

Fifty-one glioma patients without treatment were retrospectively included. APT-weighted (APTw) effect and DKI indices, including mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA), mean kurtosis (MK), and kurtosis FA (KFA) were obtained from APT and diffusion-weighted images, respectively. DKI indices in tumors were normalized to that in contralateral normal appearing white matter (CNAWM) and the APTw difference (ΔAPTw) between the two regions was calculated. Student's t-test, one-way ANOVA and ROC analyses were conducted.

Among the enrolled 51 patients, 13 had glioma-II, 17 had glioma-III and 21 had glioma-IV. 25 patients were diagnosed as IDH-mutant, and 26 as IDH-wild type. MD and MK differed significantly between glioma-IV and glioma II/III (P < 0.05), but not between glioma-II and glioma-III. FA and KFA showed no significant difference among the three groups (P > 0.05). IDH-mutant group exhibited significantly higher MD and lower FA, MK and ΔAPTw than IDH-wild type (P < 0.05), whereas the two groups showed comparable KFA values. In contrast, ΔAPTw differed significantly across tumor grades and IDH mutation status (P < 0.05), with consistently better discriminatory performance than DKI indices in glioma grading and IDH mutation status prediction.

APT imaging was superior to DKI in glioma grading and IDH mutation status prediction, benefiting accurate diagnoses and treatment decisions.

APT imaging was superior to DKI in glioma grading and IDH mutation status prediction, benefiting accurate diagnoses and treatment decisions.

To develop a candidate instrument to assess image quality in digital mammography, by identifying clinically relevant features in images that are affected by lower image quality.

Interviews with fifteen expert breast radiologists from five countries were conducted and analysed by using adapted directed content analysis. During these interviews, 45 mammographic cases, containing 44 lesions (30 cancers, 14 benign findings), and 5 normal cases, were shown with varying image quality. The interviews were performed to identify the structures from breast tissue and lesions relevant for image interpretation, and to investigate how image quality affected the visibility of those structures. The interview findings were used to develop tentative items, which were evaluated in terms of wording, understandability, and ambiguity with expert breast radiologists. The relevance of the tentative items was evaluated using the content validity index (CVI) and modified kappa index (k*).

Twelve content areas, representing the content of image quality in digital mammography, emerged from the interviews and were converted into 29 tentative items. Fourteen of these items demonstrated excellent CVI ≥ 0.78 (k* > 0.74), one showed good CVI < 0.78 (0.60 ≤ k* ≤ 0.74), while fourteen were of fair or poor CVI < 0.78 (k* ≤ 0.59). In total, nine items were deleted and five were revised or combined resulting in 18 items.

By following a mixed-method methodology, a candidate instrument was developed that may be used to characterise the clinically-relevant impact that image quality variations can have on digital mammography.

By following a mixed-method methodology, a candidate instrument was developed that may be used to characterise the clinically-relevant impact that image quality variations can have on digital mammography.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a systemic manifestation of atherosclerosis that is associated with a high risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). LDL aggregation contributes to atherosclerotic plaque progression and may contribute to plaque instability. We aimed to determine if LDL aggregation is associated with MACE in patients with PAD undergoing lower extremity revascularization (LER).

Two hundred thirty-nine patients with PAD undergoing LER had blood collected at baseline and were followed prospectively for MACE (myocardial infarction, stroke, cardiovascular death) for one year. Nineteen age, sex and LDL-C-matched control subjects without cardiovascular disease also had blood drawn. Subject LDL was exposed to sphingomyelinase and LDL aggregate size measured via dynamic light scattering.

Mean age was 72.3±10.9 years, 32.6% were female, and LDL-cholesterol was 68±25mg/dL. LDL aggregation was inversely associated with triglycerides, but not associated with demographics, LDL-cholesterol gation of this assay for risk stratification in patients with atherosclerotic CVD.

We show that in the setting of very well controlled LDL-cholesterol, patients with PAD with the most rapid LDL aggregation had a significantly elevated MACE risk following LER even after multivariable adjustment. This measure further improved the classification specificity of an established risk prediction tool. Our findings support broader investigation of this assay for risk stratification in patients with atherosclerotic CVD.In this study, two highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N8 viruses were isolated from chicken and geese in 2018 and 2019 (Chicken/ME-2018 and Geese/Egypt/MG4/2019). The hemagglutinin and neuraminidase gene analyses revealed their close relatedness to the clade-2.3.4.4b H5N8 viruses isolated from Egypt and Eurasian countries. A monovalent inactivated oil-emulsion vaccine containing a reassortant virus with HA gene of the Chicken/ME-2018/H5N8 strain and a bivalent vaccine containing same reassortant virus plus a previously generated reassortant H5N1 strain (CK/Eg/RG-173CAL/17). The safety of both vaccines was evaluated in specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens. To evaluate the efficacy of the prepared vaccines, 2-week-old SPF chickens were vaccinated with 0.5 mL of a vaccine formula containing 108/EID50 /dose from each strain via the subcutaneous route. selleck chemical Vaccinated birds were challenged with either wild-type HPAI-H5N8 or H5N1 viruses separately at 3 weeks post-vaccine. Results revealed that both vaccines induced protective hemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) antibody titers as early as 2 weeks PV (≥5.0 log2). Vaccinated birds were protected clinically against both subtypes (100 % protection). HPAI-H5N1 virus shedding was significantly reduced in birds that were vaccinated with the bivalent vaccine; meanwhile, HPAI-H5N8 virus shedding was completely neutralized in both tracheal and cloacal swabs after 3 days post-infection in birds that had been vaccinated with either vaccine. In conclusion, the developed bivalent vaccine proved to be efficient in protecting chickens clinically and reduced virus shedding via the respiratory and digestive tracts. The applicability of the multivalent avian influenza vaccines further supported their value to facilitate vaccination programs in endemic countries.Successfully employing ultrasonic testing to distinguish a flaw in close proximity to another flaw or geometrical feature depends on the wavelength and the bandwidth of the ultrasonic transducer. This explains why the frequency is commonly increased in ultrasonic testing in order to improve the axial resolution. However, as the frequency increases, the penetration depth of the propagating ultrasonic waves is reduced due to an attendant increase in attenuation. The nondestructive testing research community is consequently very interested in finding methods that combine high penetration depth with high axial resolution. This work aims to improve the compromise between the penetration depth and the axial resolution by using a convolutional neural network to separate overlapping echoes in time traces in order to estimate the time-of-flight and amplitude. The originality of the proposed framework consists in its training of the neural network using data generated in simulations. The framework was validated experimentally to detect flat bottom holes in an aluminum block with a minimum depth corresponding to λ/4.The presence of pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds in aquatic systems is a matter of great concern. The occurrence, fate, and potential toxicity of these compounds have triggered the interest of the scientific community. As a result of their high solubility and low volatility, they are common in aquatic systems, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are the main reservoir for these contaminants. Conventional WWTPs have demonstrated an inability to remove these contaminants completely; hence, different advanced treatment processes have been explored to compensate for the lapses of the conventional system. The outcome of this study revealed the significant improvements made using advanced treatment processes to diminish the number of contaminants; however, some contaminants have proven to be refractory. Thus, there is a need to modify various advanced treatment processes or employ additional treatment processes. Polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) are a liquid membrane technology that is highly efficient at removing contaminants from water. They have been widely studied for the removal of heavy metals and nutrients from aquatic systems; however, only a few studies have investigated the use of PIMs to remove pharmaceutically active compounds from aquatic systems. This research aims to raise awareness on the application of PIMs as a promising water treatment technology which has a great potential for the remediation of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors in the aquatic system, due to its versatility, ease/low cost of preparation and high contaminant selectivity.Daylight-activated detoxifying nanofibrous membranes (LDNMs) are fabricated by grafting benzophenone-3,3',4,4'-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BD) and biological thiols successively on poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) (EVOH) nanofibrous membrane. Taking the merits of photoactivity of BD, high-reactivity of biological thiols, and high specific surface area and porosity of the nanofibrous membrane, 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D) can be efficiently detoxified on the LDNMs under daylight irradiation via a thiol-ene click reaction. The detoxification function of the LDNMs is "switched on" by light irradiation and continues by following a cascade of chemical attacks of thiyl radicals formed during the photoexcitation process. The resultant LDNMs present rapid detoxification rate (i.e., t1/2 =~30 min) and massive detoxification amount (i.e., ~12 mg/g) against 1,3-D vapor under ambient conditions. More importantly, the LDNMs perform a detoxification tailing effect after moving the light-irradiated membrane to a dark environment, thus ensuring the protective function in the absence of sufficient light sources. The detoxification property of the LDNMs in an outdoor environment with sunlight irradiation shows comparable results to the lab-scale outcomes, enabling them to serve as innovative materials for personal protective equipment in practical applications. The successful fabrication of LDNMs may inspire new insights into the design of protective materials providing aggressive protection.