Differentiation of invasive ductal and lobular carcinoma of the breast using MRI radiomic features: a pilot study.

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the main causes of cancer-related mortality among women. For clinical management to help patients survive longer and spend less time on treatment, early and precise cancer identification and differentiation of breast lesions are crucial. To investigate the accuracy of radiomic features (RF) extracted from dynamic contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE MRI) for differentiating invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) from invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC). Methods: This is a retrospective study. The IDC of 30 and ILC of 28 patients from Dukes breast cancer MRI data set of The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), were included. The RF categories such as shape based, Gray level dependence matrix (GLDM), Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), First order, Gray level run length matrix (GLRLM), Gray level size zone matrix (GLSZM), NGTDM (Neighbouring gray tone difference matrix) were extracted from the DCE-MRI sequence using a 3D slicer. The maximum relevance and minimum redundancy (mRMR) was applied using Google Colab for identifying the top fifteen relevant radiomic features. The Mann-Whitney U test was performed to identify significant RF for differentiating IDC and ILC. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to ascertain the accuracy of RF in distinguishing between IDC and ILC. Results: Ten DCE MRI-based RFs used in our study showed a significant difference (p <0.001) between IDC and ILC. We noticed that DCE RF, such as Gray level run length matrix (GLRLM) gray level variance (sensitivity (SN) 97.21%, specificity (SP) 96.2%, area under curve (AUC) 0.998), Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) difference average (SN 95.72%, SP 96.34%, AUC 0.983), GLCM interquartile range (SN 95.24%, SP 97.31%, AUC 0.968), had the strongest ability to differentiate IDC and ILC. Conclusions: MRI-based RF derived from DCE sequences can be used in clinical settings to differentiate malignant lesions of the breast, such as IDC and ILC, without requiring intrusive procedures.

Litter and plastic monitoring in the Indian marine environment: A review of current research, policies, waste management, and a roadmap for multidisciplinary action.

Environmental contamination due to plastic waste mismanagement is a growing global concern. Plastic problem is of particular concern to the Indian Ocean nations as Asia currently contributes to the highest share of mismanaged plastic waste. Consequently, there is a worldwide interest to understand the distribution and transboundary movement of plastic from this region, which is crucial for implementing management measures. This review article focuses on current knowledge of plastic research, policies, waste management, socio-economics, challenges, and research opportunities. To date, marine plastic studies have focused on a few locations, providing an analysis of distribution and plastic-organism interactions in the Indian marine system. Along with scientific investigation, enforcement, improvisation, and, if necessary, framing new policies, integrated technologies to manage plastic waste, and behavioural changes are essential to mitigate plastic pollution. Such measures will be effective through a combination of actions among national and international researchers, industries, environmental managers, and the public.