An Empirical Evaluation of a Novel Ensemble Deep Neural Network Model and Explainable AI for Accurate Segmentation and Classification of Ovarian Tumors Using CT Images.

Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide among the female population. Early diagnosis is crucial for patient treatment. In this work, our main objective is to accurately detect and classify ovarian cancer. To achieve this, two datasets are considered: CT scan images of patients with cancer and those without, and biomarker (clinical parameters) data from all patients. We propose an ensemble deep neural network model and an ensemble machine learning model for the automatic binary classification of ovarian CT scan images and biomarker data. The proposed model incorporates four convolutional neural network models: VGG16, ResNet 152, Inception V3, and DenseNet 101, with transformers applied for feature extraction. These extracted features are fed into our proposed ensemble multi-layer perceptron model for classification. Preprocessing and CNN tuning techniques such as hyperparameter optimization, data augmentation, and fine-tuning are utilized during model training. Our ensemble model outperforms single classifiers and machine learning algorithms, achieving a mean accuracy of 98.96%, a precision of 97.44%, and an F1-score of 98.7%. We compared these results with those obtained using features extracted by the UNet model, followed by classification with our ensemble model. The transformer demonstrated superior performance in feature extraction over the UNet, with a mean Dice score and mean Jaccard score of 0.98 and 0.97, respectively, and standard deviations of 0.04 and 0.06 for benign tumors and 0.99 and 0.98 with standard deviations of 0.01 for malignant tumors. For the biomarker data, the combination of five machine learning models-KNN, logistic regression, SVM, decision tree, and random forest-resulted in an improved accuracy of 92.8% compared to single classifiers.

Performance Analysis of Segmentation and Classification of CT-Scanned Ovarian Tumours Using U-Net and Deep Convolutional Neural Networks.

Difficulty in detecting tumours in early stages is the major cause of mortalities in patients, despite the advancements in treatment and research regarding ovarian cancer. Deep learning algorithms were applied to serve the purpose as a diagnostic tool and applied to CT scan images of the ovarian region. The images went through a series of pre-processing techniques and, further, the tumour was segmented using the UNet model. The instances were then classified into two categories-benign and malignant tumours. Classification was performed using deep learning models like CNN, ResNet, DenseNet, Inception-ResNet, VGG16 and Xception, along with machine learning models such as Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, AdaBoosting and XGBoosting. DenseNet 121 emerges as the best model on this dataset after applying optimization on the machine learning models by obtaining an accuracy of 95.7%. The current work demonstrates the comparison of multiple CNN architectures with common machine learning algorithms, with and without optimization techniques applied.

An optimized features selection approach based on Manta Ray Foraging Optimization (MRFO) method for parasite malaria classification.

Malaria is a serious and lethal disease that has been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), with an estimated 219 million new cases and 435,000 deaths globally. The most frequent malaria detection method relies mainly on the specialists who examine the samples under a microscope. Therefore, a computerized malaria diagnosis system is required. In this article, malaria cell segmentation and classification methods are proposed. The malaria cells are segmented using a color-based k-mean clustering approach on the selected number of clusters. After segmentation, deep features are extracted using pre-trained models such as efficient-net-b0 and shuffle-net, and the best features are selected using the Manta-Ray Foraging Optimization (MRFO) method. Two experiments are performed for classification using 10-fold cross-validation, the first experiment is based on the best features selected from the pre-trained models individually, while the second experiment is performed based on the selection of best features from the fusion of extracted features using both pre-trained models. The proposed method provided an accuracy of 99.2% for classification using the linear kernel of the SVM classifier. An empirical study demonstrates that the fused features vector results are better as compared to the individual best-selected features vector and the existing latest methods published so far.

A Study on Weak Edge Detection of COVID-19's CT Images Based on Histogram Equalization and Improved Canny Algorithm.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a substantial threat to people's lives and health due to its high infectivity and rapid spread. Computed tomography (CT) scan is one of the important auxiliary methods for the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19. However, CT image lesion edge is normally affected by pixels with uneven grayscale and isolated noise, which makes weak edge detection of the COVID-19 lesion more complicated. In order to solve this problem, an edge detection method is proposed, which combines the histogram equalization and the improved Canny algorithm. Specifically, the histogram equalization is applied to enhance image contrast. In the improved Canny algorithm, the median filter, instead of the Gaussian filter, is used to remove the isolated noise points. The K-means algorithm is applied to separate the image background and edge. And the Canny algorithm is improved continuously by combining the mathematical morphology and the maximum between class variance method (OTSU). On selecting four types of lesion images from COVID-CT date set, MSE, MAE, SNR, and the running time are applied to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The average values of these evaluation indicators are 1.7322, 7.9010, 57.1241, and 5.4887, respectively. Compared with other three methods, these values indicate that the proposed method achieves better result. The experimental results prove that the proposed algorithm can effectively detect the weak edge of the lesion, which is helpful for the diagnosis of COVID-19.

SOSPCNN: Structurally Optimized Stochastic Pooling Convolutional Neural Network for Tetralogy of Fallot recognition.

Aim: This study proposes a new artificial intelligence model based on cardiovascular computed tomography for more efficient and precise recognition of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Methods: Our model is a structurally optimized stochastic pooling convolutional neural network (SOSPCNN), which combines stochastic pooling, structural optimization, and convolutional neural network. In addition, multiple-way data augmentation is used to overcome overfitting. Grad-CAM is employed to provide explainability to the proposed SOSPCNN model. Meanwhile, both desktop and web apps are developed based on this SOSPCNN model. Results: The results on ten runs of 10-fold cross-validation show that our SOSPCNN model yields a sensitivity of 92.25±2.19, a specificity of 92.75±2.49, a precision of 92.79±2.29, an accuracy of 92.50±1.18, an F1 score of 92.48±1.17, an MCC of 85.06±2.38, an FMI of 92.50±1.17, and an AUC of 0.9587. Conclusion: The SOSPCNN method performed better than three state-of-the-art TOF recognition approaches.

Utilizing telemedicine in oncology settings: Patient favourability rates and perceptions of use analysis using Chi-Square and neural networks.

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine is an alternative to traditional face-to-face doctor-patient office visits. Although telemedicine is becoming more prevalent, few studies have looked at the perceived favorability rate among patients utilizing telemedicine over the traditional office visit to a provider's office considering data samples from more than 5 clinics in northern Louisiana. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to measure patient favorability of using telemedicine to receive care. This study looks at the perceived positive and negative favorability rates of patients in the oncology settings. The researchers analyzed how age, income level, and education level influenced the perceived patient favorability rates and their willingness to utilize telemedicine. METHODS: The investigators used Chi-Square analysis to identify favorability with respect to age education and income levels. In addition to this Artificial Neural Networks were used to identify the threshold for favorability with respect to age, income, and education. RESULTS: Chi-Square tests of association showed that of the variables analyzed, only education level had a statistically significant relationship with a patient's favorability rate of telemedicine utilization. While our neural network analysis indicated that the threshold for income, age, and education are $34,999, 66 years, and a college degree. CONCLUSION: In this article the investigators have successfully demonstrated the use of Artificial Neural Networks in identifying favorability of telemedicine used in addition to the traditional statistical methods such as Chi-Square. Thereby, creating a path for future research using advanced computational techniques like Artificial Neural Networks in analyzing human behavior.