Comparative analysis between different volumetric methods on measuring intracranial hemorrhage incorporating roundness index.

Intracranial hematoma (ICH) volume is considered a predictor of clinical outcome and mortality rate in ICH patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The ABC/2 method for ICH volume is the standard method used to date, however, its level of accuracy has been questioned in some studies. This study compared the performance of the ABC/2 method with planimetry and truncated pyramidal methods to highlight the potential of the planimetry method applied with automatic segmentation for evaluation of epidural hematoma (EDH) and intraparenchymal hematoma (IPH) volume. Six different phantoms were designed to evaluate the accuracy of volume estimation methods. 221 hematoma regions extracted from CT scans of 125 patients with head injury were also used to analyze the efficiency. The roundness index was utilized for the quantification of the ellipsoid-like shape. Regions of EDH and IPH on the CT scans were annotated by radiologists. The estimation errors for each method were statistically analyzed and compared. In addition, the relationship between the errors and roundness index was examined. The planimetry method showed the lowest relative error on phantom data. In the case of the CT scan data, the truncated pyramidal method resulted in the underestimation of the volumes of EDH and IPH. Meanwhile, the ABC/2, through principal component analysis (PCA) in the two-dimensional and PCA in the three-dimensional methods, resulted in a significant overestimation. In addition, both these approaches produced relative errors that showed a correlation with the roundness indexes for IPH. In comparison to other methods, the planimetry method had the lowest level of error with regards to calculation of the volume and it was also independent of the hematoma shape. The planimetry method, therefore, has the potential to serve as a useful tool for the assessment of ICH volume in TBI patients by using a deep learning system.

The potential effects of temperature on outpatient visits: a case study in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Climate change is a crucial cause of health issues, as reported in many studies. Temperature is one of the important factors related to extreme weather. Chiang Mai, the center of the north of Thailand, is also affected by temperature changes that have led to many outpatient visits. Better information will help the health service to be well-prepared. This research applied typical meteorological data and solar radiation into the distributed lag nonlinear model and a quasi-Poisson regression model. The "hot effect" and "cold effect" on outpatient visits caused by respiratory diseases, dermatophytosis, and intestinal infectious diseases in a public Chiang Mai hospital between January 2015 and December 2019 were then investigated. Of the 185,202 cases, results showed that all of the diseases mentioned had more than 10% of relative risk (RR) in cold effects. However, the RR of dermatophytosis was found to be 114%, a very high risk. In the case of hot effects, the patients of the age 19-29 have relatively high RR over 20% for respiratory diseases and dermatophytosis. It was also observed that cold effects lasted longer than hot effects.