RamanFormer: A Transformer-Based Quantification Approach for Raman Mixture Components.

Raman spectroscopy is a noninvasive technique to identify materials by their unique molecular vibrational fingerprints. However, distinguishing and quantifying components in mixtures present challenges due to overlapping spectra, especially when components share similar features. This study presents "RamanFormer", a transformer-based model designed to enhance the analysis of Raman spectroscopy data. By effectively managing sequential data and integrating self-attention mechanisms, RamanFormer identifies and quantifies components in chemical mixtures with high precision, achieving a mean absolute error of 1.4% and a root mean squared error of 1.6%, significantly outperforming traditional methods such as least squares, MLP, VGG11, and ResNet50. Tested extensively on binary and ternary mixtures under varying conditions, including noise levels with a signal-to-noise ratio of up to 10 dB, RamanFormer proves to be a robust tool, improving the reliability of material identification and broadening the application of Raman spectroscopy in fields, such as material science, forensics, and biomedical diagnostics.

Nonuniformly Sampled Data Processing Using LSTM Networks.

We investigate classification and regression for nonuniformly sampled variable length sequential data and introduce a novel long short-term memory (LSTM) architecture. In particular, we extend the classical LSTM network with additional time gates, which incorporate the time information as a nonlinear scaling factor on the conventional gates. We also provide forward-pass and backward-pass update equations for the proposed LSTM architecture. We show that our approach is superior to the classical LSTM architecture when there is correlation between time samples. In our experiments, we achieve significant performance gains with respect to the classical LSTM and phased-LSTM architectures. In this sense, the proposed LSTM architecture is highly appealing for the applications involving nonuniformly sampled sequential data.

Is There a Relationship Between Optic Canal, Foramen Rotundum, and Vidian Canal?

OBJECTIVES: In this retrospective study, we investigated the relationship between paranasal sinus, optic canal, foramen rotundum, and vidian canal measurements. METHODS: Computed tomographic (CT) images of 320 adult subjects and 640 sides (right and left) were used. Paranasal sinus dimensions, optic canal (OC), foramen rotundum (FR), vidian canal (VC), bilateral FR (FRFR), bilateral vidian canal (VCVC), VC-foramen rotundum (VCFR), and VC-optic canal (VCOC) distances were measured. RESULTS: Right VCFR (6.06 mm), and right and left VCOC values (20.34 and 20.31 mm) of the males were significantly higher than those of the females (5.50, 18.91, and 18.80 mm, respectively). Foramen rotundum, OC, and VC values were positively correlated with each other. There was also positive correlation between FR width and maxillary sinus height. Increase of OC width was related to increase in FR width and area, VCVC distance; and decrease in maxillary sinus width. There was positive correlation between FRFR, VCVC, VCFR, and VCOC distance values. There was negative correlation between VC width and area; VCVC, VCFR, and VCOC distance; and maxillary sinus, ethmoid sinus, and sphenoid sinus measurement values. As these sinuses pneumatized more, VC width and area values decreased. CONCLUSION: As a conclusion, the paranasal sinus, OC, VC, and FR values showed relationship with each other. Before performing craniofacial and/or skull base surgeries, CT view should be taken to evaluate the localization and the course and dimensions of the OC and vidian nerve. It should be kept in mind that in the presence of more pneumatized paranasal sinuses in CT views, VC dimensions decreased.

Nutcracker Syndrome Accompanying Pelvic Congestion Syndrome; Color Doppler Sonography and Multislice CT Findings: A Case Report.

Nutcracker syndrome (NCS) is a rare pathology, caused by compression of the left renal vein (LRV) between the abdominal aorta (AA) and the superior mesenteric artery (SMA), due to reduction of the angle between AA and SMA. This leads to LRV varices, left gonadal vein varices and therefore, the pelvic congestion syndrome. For this reason, coexistence of NCS and pelvic congestion syndrome has been described. It manifests by hematuria, proteinuria, and nonspecific pelvic pain secondary to pelvic congestion, dyspareunia and persistent genital arousal. We report a 27-year-old woman who experienced hematuria and left flank pain. The diagnosis of NCS accompanied by pelvic congestion syndrome was missed initially, but later on the diagnosis was made by color Doppler ultrasound, abdominal computed tomography (CT) and CT angiography that were later performed. She refused interventional and surgical treatments, and was lost to follow up.