Lesion segmentation using 3D scan and deep learning for the evaluation of facial portwine stain birthmarks.

BACKGROUND: Portwine stain (PWS) birthmarks are congenital vascular malformations. The quantification of PWS area is an important step in lesion classification and treatment evaluation. AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluate the combination of 3D scan with deep learning for automated PWS area quantization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PWS color was measured using a portable spectrophotometer. PWS patches (29.26-45.82 cm2) of different color and shape were generated for 2D and 3D PWS model. 3D images were acquired by a handheld 3D scanner to create texture maps. For semantic segmentation, an improved DeepLabV3+ network was developed for PWS lesion extraction from texture mapping of 3D images. In order to achieve accurate extraction of lesion regions, the convolutional block attention module (CBAM) and DENSE were introduced and the network was trained under Ranger optimizer. The performance of different backbone networks for PWS lesion extraction were also compared. RESULTS: IDeepLabV3+ (Xception) showed the best results in PWS lesion extraction and area quantification. Its mean Intersection over Union (MIou) was 0.9797, Mean Pixel Accuracy (MPA) 0.9908, Accuracy 0.9989, Recall 0.9886 and F1-score 0.9897, respectively. In PWS area quantization, the mean value of the area error rate of this scheme was 2.61 ± 2.33. CONCLUSIONS: The new 3D method developed in this study was able to achieve accurate quantification of PWS lesion area and has potentials for clinical applications.

Effect of different washing solutions on soil enzyme activity and microbial community in agricultural soil severely contaminated with cadmium.

Soil enzyme activities and microbial communities have a good response to the remediation effect of heavy metal-contaminated soils. To evaluate the effect of three commonly used washing agents, ferric chloride (FC), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and ethylenediamine-tetra-methylenephosphonic acid (EDTMP) on soil enzyme activities and microbial community in cadmium (Cd)-contaminated agricultural soil were collected from farmland near a non-ferrous metal smelter. The soil enzyme activities, microbial community, chemical forms of Cd and some physicochemical properties of the soil washed with different washing solutions were determined. The results showed that the three washing solutions had moderate removal efficiencies for Cd in the tested soil and the breakdown product of EDTMP has a certain stabilizing effect on Cd. The geometric mean and the integrated total enzyme activity index showed that soil washing with FC and EDTA was more beneficial to the restoration of biochemical functions than that with EDTMP. After soil washing, the Chao1 index of bacteria increased, and the microbial community structure changed. Pearson correlation analysis and redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that the three washing solutions affected soil enzyme activities and microbial community by altering soil nutrient, total Cd concentration and Cd fractions in soils.

Evaluation of lensed fibers used in photodynamic therapy (PDT).

BACKGROUND: The combination of diode laser and lensed optical fiber is a commonly used technique in photodynamic therapy (PDT). The design of the lensed fiber can affect the beam quality, therefore, directly or indirectly effect treatment outcomes. In this study, several commercially available microlens and convex lens fibers used in PDT were evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of five types of lensed fibers were evaluated. The beam uniformity, expansion, and transmittance properties of lensed fibers to laser beams of 532 nm and 630 nm were analyzed. In addition, the spectral transmissions of lensed fibers were also examined using a broad band light source (400-1000 nm). RESULTS: Using microlens alone could significantly improve the light beam uniformity. The combination of lens and macrobendings could further improve the light beam uniformity. The beam expansion effect was determined by the numerical aperture (NA) of lens. The microlens fibers of higher NA showed better beam expansion effect than the convex lens of lower NA. The overall transmittance of tested lensed fibers ranged between 70 % and 77 %. CONCLUSIONS: Tested fibers showed good transmission property to the tested PDT wavelengths. Generally speaking, utilizing macrobending could improve the transmission quality of lens based frontal fiber-optic light distributors in PDT applications.

The effect of simulated acid rain on the stabilization of cadmium in contaminated agricultural soils treated with stabilizing agents.

Stabilization technology is one of widely used remediation technologies for cadmium (Cd)-contaminated agricultural soils, but stabilized Cd in soil may be activated again when external conditions such as acid rain occurred. Therefore, it is necessary to study the effect of acid rain on the performance of different stabilizing agents on Cd-polluted agriculture soils. In this study, Cd-contaminated soils were treated with mono-calcium phosphate (MCP), mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP), and artificial zeolite (AZ) respectively and incubated 3 months. These treatments were followed by two types of simulated acid rain (sulfuric acid rain and mixed acid rain) with three levels of acidity (pH = 3.0, 4.0, and 5.6). The chemical forms of Cd in the soils were determined by Tessier's sequential extraction procedure, and the leaching toxicities of Cd in the soils were assessed by toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP). The results show that the three stabilizing agents could decrease the mobility of Cd in soil to some degree with or without simulated acid rain (SAR) treatment. The stabilization performances followed the order of AZ < MAP < MCP. Acid rain soaking promoted the activation of Cd in stabilized soil, and both anion composition and pH of acid rain were two important factors that influenced the stabilization effect of Cd.

Concentrations and potential health hazards of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in shallow groundwater of a metal smelting area in Southeastern China.

A total of 20 shallow groundwater samples were collected from a metal smelting area in southeastern China to determine the concentrations of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), calculate their toxic equivalents (TEQs) to benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), and estimate the carcinogenic risk of drinking the shallow groundwater. The total concentrations of the 16PAHs (∑PAHs) in the shallow groundwater ranged from 9.62 to 1663.93ngL(-1), with a mean value of 312.63ngL(-1), and the total concentrations of the 7 potentially carcinogenic PAHs (∑PAHC7) ranged from 3.11 to 33.60ngL(-1), with a mean value of 9.61ngL(-1). Naphthalene and BaP, were the dominant PAH species and potentially carcinogenic PAH species in the shallow groundwater of the study area, and they account for 89.97% of ∑PAHs and 82.62% of ∑PAHC7, respectively. High molecular weight-PAHs (HM-PAHs) accounted for a relatively high proportion in the majority of shallow groundwater samples with lower concentrations of ΣPAHs, indicated that HM-PAHs were mainly from historical residues. The TEQs to BaP of the 16PAHs in the 20 shallow groundwater samples varied greatly from 2.55 to 32.73ngL(-1), with a mean value of 8.61ngL(-1), and BaP was the dominant contributor. The total carcinogenic risk levels caused by the 16PAHs in the shallow groundwater in majority of the area were found to be higher than the limit set by the US EPA, posing a potentially serious health risk to those who depend on shallow groundwater for drinking water.

Levels and patterns of organochlorine pesticides in agricultural soils in an area of extensive historical cotton cultivation in Henan province, China.

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have attracted widespread concern because of their environmental persistence and toxicity. The historical influence of different agricultural land use types on soil concentrations of OCP residues was investigated by collecting a total of 52 surface soil samples from long-term cotton fields and fields with other crops in Lvdian township, Henan province, eastern central China. The concentration, composition, and possible sources of 16 OCPs were determined and a health risk assessment of these soils was conducted. Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), heptachlor, chlordane, and dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane plus its main metabolites (DDTs) were the most frequently detected OCPs with concentrations of 2.9-56.4 ng g(-1), 4.3-14.0 ng g(-1), 18.0-1254.4 ng g(-1), and below detection limit (BDL) -206.1 ng g(-1), respectively. Analysis of variance of p,p-DDE shows significant (P < 0.05) differences while other OCPs show no significant differences between historical cotton fields and fields containing other crops. Compositional analysis suggests that the HCH is derived mainly from the use of lindane and that there are recent inputs. Analysis of variance and compositional analysis indicate that the p,p-DDE in surface soil from long-term cotton fields is derived mainly from the aerobic biodegradation of historical residues. The sum of carcinogenic risk values of OCPs for soil samples were found to be 1.58 × 10(-6), posing a low cancer risk to the inhabitants of the region studied.

Spatial characteristics of cadmium in topsoils in a typical e-waste recycling area in southeast China and its potential threat to shallow groundwater.

Informal electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) recycling often creates secondary sources of cadmium (Cd) pollution. To characterize the total Cd concentration (Cdtotal) in topsoil and evaluate the threat of Cd in topsoils to shallow groundwater, 187 topsoil samples and 12 shallow groundwater samples were collected in a typical e-waste recycling area in southeast China. Soil organic matter content, soil pH and Cdtotal in topsoil, pH and dissolved Cd concentration in shallow groundwater were measured. Cdtotal in the topsoils showed an inverse distribution trend with soil pH in that high Cd concentrations (and low pH values) were found in the surrounding area of the metal recycling industrial park where there were many family-operated e-waste recycling facilities before the industrial park was established and with low concentrations (and high pH values) in other areas, and they had similar spatial correlation structures. Cd accumulation and acidification were synchronous in topsoils, and soil pH was significantly correlated with Cdtotal in topsoils with low to moderate negative correlation coefficient (r=-0.24), indicating that both of them maybe correlated with informal recycling. The shallow groundwater in the surrounding area of the metal recycling industrial park was seriously contaminated by Cd, and topsoil Cd accumulation and acidification in the surrounding area of e-waste recycling sites significantly increase the risk of shallow groundwater contaminated by Cd. Action is urgently required to control Cd accumulation and acidification by improving the recycling operations of e-wastes in order to reduce the risk of Cd leaching from topsoils and shallow groundwater contamination.

Concentrations and potential health hazards of organochlorine pesticides in (shallow) groundwater of Taihu Lake region, China.

A total of 27 shallow groundwater samples were collected from the Taihu Lake region (TLR), to determine the concentrations of 14 organochlorine pesticide (OCP) species, identify their possible sources, and estimate health risk of drinking the shallow groundwater. All OCP species occurred in the shallow groundwater of TLR with high detection frequency except p, p'-dichlorodiphenyldichlorothane (p, p'-DDD) and p, p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p, p'-DDT). DDTs and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) were the dominant OCP contaminants in the shallow groundwater of TLR, and they account for 44.2% total OCPs. The low α-HCH/γ-HCH ratio, high ß-HCH/(α+γ)-HCH ratio and ß-HCH being the dominant HCH isomers for the majority of samples suggest that the HCHs were mainly from the historical use of lindane after a period of degradation. p, p'-DDE being the dominant DDT metabolite for all the samples indicated that the DDTs were mainly from the historical residues. Compositional analysis also suggested that there were fresh input sources of heptachlors, aldrins and endrins in addition to the historical residues. Correlation analysis indicated the hexachlorobenzene (HCB) impurity in the shallow groundwater of TLR was likely from the historical application of lindane and technical HCH (a mixture of HCH isomers that is produced by photochlorination of benzene). Carcinogenic risk values for α-HCH, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, aldrins and dieldrin in the shallow groundwater in majority area of TLR were found to be >10(-6), posing a potentially serious cancer risk to those dependant on shallow groundwater for drinking water.