Validating the ratio of insulin like growth factor binding protein 4 to sex hormone binding globulin as a prognostic predictor of preterm birth in Viet Nam: a case-cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To validate a serum biomarker developed in the USA for preterm birth (PTB) risk stratification in Viet Nam. METHODS: Women with singleton pregnancies (n = 5000) were recruited between 19+0-23+6 weeks' gestation at Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City. Maternal serum was collected from 19+0-22+6 weeks' gestation and participants followed to neonatal discharge. Relative insulin-like growth factor binding protein 4 (IGFBP4) and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) abundances were measured by mass spectrometry and their ratio compared between PTB cases and term controls. Discrimination (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, AUC) and calibration for PTB <37 and <34 weeks' gestation were tested, with model tuning using clinical factors. Measured outcomes included all PTBs (any birth ≤37 weeks' gestation) and spontaneous PTBs (birth ≤37 weeks' gestation with clinical signs of initiation of parturition). RESULTS: Complete data were available for 4984 (99.7%) individuals. The cohort PTB rate was 6.7% (n = 335). We observed an inverse association between the IGFBP4/SHBG ratio and gestational age at birth (p = 0.017; AUC 0.60 [95% CI, 0.53-0.68]). Including previous PTB (for multiparous women) or prior miscarriage (for primiparous women) improved performance (AUC 0.65 and 0.70, respectively, for PTB <37 and <34 weeks' gestation). Optimal performance (AUC 0.74) was seen within 19-20 weeks' gestation, for BMI >21 kg/m2 and age 20-35 years. CONCLUSION: We have validated a novel serum biomarker for PTB risk stratification in a very different setting to the original study. Further research is required to determine appropriate ratio thresholds based on the prevalence of risk factors and the availability of resources and preventative therapies.

Comparison of Normalization Techniques for Radiomics Features From Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Predicting Histologic Grade of Meningiomas

Purpose@#This study aimed to compare the effects of different normalization methods on radiomics features extracted from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). @*Materials and Methods@#Preoperative T1-contrast enhanced MRI data from 212 patients with meningiomas were obtained from two university hospitals. The tumors were segmented using 3D Slicer software, and the PyRadiomics framework was used to extract radiomics features. We developed four experiments to predict the histological grade of meningiomas prior to surgery. The first experiment was performed without normalization.The next three experiments used the StandardScaler, MinMaxScaler, and RobustScaler to normalize radiomics features. The PyCaret framework was used for feature selection and to explore an optimized machine learning model for predicting meningioma grades. The prediction models were trained and validated using data from the first hospital. External test data from the second hospital were used to test the performance of the final models. @*Results@#Our testing results demonstrated that meningioma grade prediction performance depends highly on the choice of the normalization method. The RobustScaler demonstrated a higher level of accuracy and sensitivity than the other normalization methods. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and specificity of the RobustScaler method were comparable to those of no-normalization but higher than those of the Standard and MinMaxScaler methods. @*Conclusion@#The results of our study suggest that careful consideration of the normalization method may provide a way to optimize the experimental results.Keywords: Meningiomas; Radiomics features; Magnetic resonance ima

Highly Stable White Light Emission from III-Nitride Nanowire LEDs Utilizing Nanostructured Alumina-Doped Mn4+ and Mg2.

In this report, red-emitting alumina nanophosphors doped with Mn4+ and Mg2+ (Al2O3:Mn4+, Mg2+) are synthesized by a hydrothermal method using a Pluronic surfactant. The prepared samples are ceramic-sintered at various temperatures. X-ray diffraction shows that Al2O3:Mn4+, Mg2+ annealed at 500 °C exhibits a cubic γ-Al2O3 phase with the space group Fd3m-227. The tetragonal δ-Al2O3 and rhombohedral α-Al2O3 phase is obtained at 1000 and 1300 °C, respectively. Cube-like nanoparticles in a size of ∼40 nm are observed for the alumina heated at 500-1000 °C. The size and red-emitting intensity of the phosphors remarkably increased with annealed temperature ∼1300 °C. Emission spectra of the phosphors show strong peaks at 678 and 692 nm due to 2 E g → 4 A 2 transitions of the Mn4+ ion, under a light excitation of 460 nm. A strong zero-phonon line (ZPL) emission is observed in the luminescence spectra of δ-Al2O3:Mn4+, Mg2+ at 298 K, whereas a weak one is observed in those of α- and γ-Al2O3:Mn4+, Mg2+. The alumina phosphors exhibited an excellent waterproof ability during 60 days in water and good thermal stability in the range of 77-573 K. A warm-white light-emitting diode (WLED) fabricated using In x Ga1-x N nanowire chips with Al2O3:Mn4+, Mg2+ red-emitting nanophosphors presents a high color rendering index of ∼95.1 and a low correlated color temperature of ∼4998 K. Moreover, the current-voltage characteristic of the nanowire LEDs could be improved using Al2O3:Mn4+, Mg2+ nanophosphors which is attributed to the increased heat dissipation in the nanowire LEDs.

Comparison of psychomotor development among children conceived through icsi in-vitro-fertilisation and naturally at 5 through 30 months of age, Vietnam.

OBJECTIVE(S): To compare psychomotor development during 5 months to 30 months of age among children who were conceived via ICSI in-vitro fertilization to those conceived naturally. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study was conducted during 2017-2018 with children visiting Tu Du Hospital for scheduled health checks. We randomly recruited 935 five-to-thirty-month-old children and distributed them into two groups for comparison: a group of 426 ICSI/IVF children and a group of 509 Naturally Conceived (NC) children. A team of pediatric mental health professionals used the revised Brunet-Lézine scale to directly examine those children and assess their Developmental Quotient (DQ). Controlling confounders with Propensity Score Matching (PSM), we analyzed and compared psychomotor development in 421 IVF children conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) against 421 NC. RESULT(S): At DQ cut-off point of 85, study data pinpointed no difference in such single DQs as motor posture, sociability and global scores between the two cohort groups. However, there was a difference in coordination and language DQs. IVF group's low-score proportion for coordination was 2.16 times that of NC group [95 % CI: 1.11-4.21] and its low-score proportion for language was 2.15 times that of NC group [95 % CI: 1.15-4.01]. CONCLUSION: This study showed that IVF was not completely free from adverse effects. At the age of five to thirty months, IVF children would develop language and motor coordination more slowly than NC children, suggesting IVF should be done only when needed.