Dataset of breast thermography images for the detection of benign and malignant masses.

Thermographic image analysis is a subfield of diagnostic image processing aimed at detecting breast abnormalities in women at an early stage. It is a developing field of research and its effectiveness and scope require scientific assessment to be determined. An open-access dataset has been created for the scientific community to test and develop techniques for computational detection of normal and abnormal breast conditions from thermograms. This dataset is a valuable resource for researchers due to the scarcity of publicly available datasets of breast thermographic images. It includes thermographic images of the female chest area in three capture positions: anterior, left oblique and right oblique. The data set comes from 119 women ranging from 18 to 81 years of age. A table is attached to the dataset with the diagnosis of breast pathology, showing that 84 patients had benign pathology and 35 patients had malignant pathology. The diagnoses of women with healthy breast pathology are not included.

Circulating microRNAs as promising testicular translatable safety biomarkers: current state and future perspectives.

Drug-induced testicular injury (DITI) is one of the often-observed and challenging safety issues seen during drug development. Semen analysis and circulating hormones currently utilized have significant gaps in their ability to detect testicular damage accurately. In addition, no biomarkers enable a mechanistic understanding of the damage to the different regions of the testis, such as seminiferous tubules, Sertoli, and Leydig cells. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that modulate gene expression post-transcriptionally and have been indicated to regulate a wide range of biological pathways. Circulating miRNAs can be measured in the body fluids due to tissue-specific cell injury/damage or toxicant exposure. Therefore, these circulating miRNAs have become attractive and promising non-invasive biomarkers for assessing drug-induced testicular injury, with several reports on their use as safety biomarkers for monitoring testicular damage in preclinical species. Leveraging emerging tools such as 'organs-on-chips' that can emulate the human organ's physiological environment and function is starting to enable biomarker discovery, validation, and clinical translation for regulatory qualification and implementation in drug development.

Infrared Imaging Tools for Diagnostic Applications in Dermatology.

Infrared (IR) imaging is a collection of non-invasive imaging techniques that utilize the IR domain of the electromagnetic spectrum for tissue assessment. A subset of these techniques construct images using back-reflected light, while other techniques rely on detection of IR radiation emitted by the tissue as a result of its temperature. Modern IR detectors sense thermal emissions and produce a heat map of surface temperature distribution in tissues. Thus, the IR spectrum offers a variety of imaging applications particularly useful in clinical diagnostic area, ranging from high-resolution, depth-resolved visualization of tissue to temperature variation assessment. These techniques have been helpful in the diagnosis of many medical conditions including skin/breast cancer, arthritis, allergy, burns, and others. In this review, we discuss current roles of IR-imaging techniques for diagnostic applications in dermatology with an emphasis on skin cancer, allergies, blisters, burns and wounds.

Medical thermography (digital infrared thermal imaging - DITI) in paediatric forearm fractures - A pilot study.

Trauma is the most common cause of hospitalisation in children, and forearm fractures comprise 35% of all paediatric fractures. One-third of forearm fractures are distal forearm fractures, which are the most common fractures in the paediatric population. This type of fracture represents an everyday problem for the paediatric surgeon. The three phases of fracture healing in paediatric trauma are associated with skin temperature changes that can be measured and then compared with standard plain radiographs of visible callus formation, and eventually these methods can be used in everyday practice. Thermographic assessment of temperature distribution within the examined tissues enables a quick, non-contact, non-invasive measurement of their temperature. Medical thermography is used as a screening method in other parts of medicine, but the use of this method in traumatology has still not been researched.

Evaluation of digital infra-red thermal imaging as an adjunctive screening method for breast carcinoma: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Early screening plays a pivotal role in management of breast cancer. Given the socio-economic situation in India, there is a strong felt need for a screening tool which reaches the masses rather than waiting for the masses to reach tertiary centers to be screened. Digital infra-red thermal imaging (DITI) or breast thermography as a screening test offers this possibility and needs to be carefully assessed in Indian scenario. METHODS: The study involved 1008 female patients of age 20-60 years that had not been diagnosed of cancer of breast earlier. All the subjects in this population were screened for both the breasts using DITI. Based on the measured temperature gradients (ΔT) in thermograms, the subjects were classified in one of the three groups, normal (ΔT ≤ 2.5), abnormal (ΔT > 2.5, <3) and potentially having breast cancer (ΔT ≥ 3). All those having (ΔT > 2.5) underwent triple assessment that consisted of clinical examination, radiological and histopathological examination. Those with normal thermograms were subjected to only clinical examination. RESULTS: Forty nine female breasts had thermograms with temperature gradients exceeding 2.5 and were subjected to triple assessment. Forty one of these which had ΔT ≥ 3 were proven to be having cancer of breast and were offered suitable treatment. Eight thermograms had temperature gradients exceeding 2.5 but less than 3. Most of these were lactating mothers or had fibrocystic breast diseases. As a screening modality, DITI showed sensitivity of 97.6%, specificity of 99.17%, positive predictive value 83.67% and negative predictive value 99.89%. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study involving 1008 subjects for screening of breast cancer, thermography turns out to be a very useful tool for screening. Because it is non-contact, pain-free, radiation free and comparatively portable it can be used in as a proactive technique for detection of breast carcinoma.

Single and triple moxibustion with large, indirect moxa induced differential effects on skin temperature and blood perfusion in healthy human subjects: Counterevidence to a previous report.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the possible differences in skin temperature and blood perfusion changes between single and triple moxibustion. DESIGN AND SETTING: Thirty healthy volunteers were randomly divided into two groups: a triple moxibustion group (n=15) received indirect moxibustion on CV12 for 30min and a single moxibustion group (n=15) for 10min. After 10min of bed rest, skin temperature and blood perfusion were measured by digital infrared thermal imaging and laser Doppler perfusion imaging eight times in total, pre-moxibustion and 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30min post moxibustion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENT: The changes in the skin temperature and blood perfusion in an area 5cm in diameter around CV12 at 0min post treatment compared to baseline was the main outcome measurement. RESULTS: The difference of changes in skin temperature and blood perfusion on CV12 between the two groups remained statistically significant for 30min in an area 5cm in diameter around CV12 and for 25min in a 15-cm-diameter area. No adverse events were reported. CONCLUSION: Triple moxibustion with large, indirect moxa appeared to induce greater increases in skin temperature and blood perfusion than single moxibustion.