Comparison of fine-needle aspiration with fine-needle capillary cytology in thyroid nodules.

INTRODUCTION: High false-negative results have been reported for fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology in thyroid nodules. Fine-needle capillary (FNC) cytology is an alternative technique that prevents aspiration, reducing tissue damage. This study aimed to compare FNA and FNC in assessing thyroid nodules and in terms of their predictive role in the appropriate diagnosis of malignancy. METHODS: This is a comparative prospective study conducted on 486 patients. FNA was performed in 235 patients during 2016 and 2017 and FNC in 251 patients during 2018 and 2019. The quality of cytological specimens was compared and then correlated with the final histopathological findings of 39 patients who underwent thyroidectomy. RESULTS: Both groups were statistically similar regarding age and sex distribution. The FNA technique yielded significantly higher adequate specimens compared with FNC (p<0.001). Abundant blood in the background was found more frequently in the FNA technique (p<0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of FNA for malignancy diagnosis were both 100%, compared with 83.3% and 57.7% for FNC, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The two methods, FNA and FNC, did not differ in terms of overall quality. FNA was superior regarding consistency with the histopathological results and the ability to diagnose malignancy.

Spatial Scale Gap Filling Using an Unmanned Aerial System: A Statistical Downscaling Method for Applications in Precision Agriculture.

Applications of satellite-borne observations in precision agriculture (PA) are often limited due to the coarse spatial resolution of satellite imagery. This paper uses high-resolution airborne observations to increase the spatial resolution of satellite data for related applications in PA. A new variational downscaling scheme is presented that uses coincident aerial imagery products from "AggieAir", an unmanned aerial system, to increase the spatial resolution of Landsat satellite data. This approach is primarily tested for downscaling individual band Landsat images that can be used to derive normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and surface soil moisture (SSM). Quantitative and qualitative results demonstrate promising capabilities of the downscaling approach enabling effective increase of the spatial resolution of Landsat imageries by orders of 2 to 4. Specifically, the downscaling scheme retrieved the missing high-resolution feature of the imageries and reduced the root mean squared error by 15, 11, and 10 percent in visual, near infrared, and thermal infrared bands, respectively. This metric is reduced by 9% in the derived NDVI and remains negligibly for the soil moisture products.

Biomimetic synthesis of calcium phosphate materials on alkaline-treated titanium.

The hydroxyapatite coating on metal implants is a suitable method to create a bioactive surface and to increase the bone-implant bonding strength. In this research, at first the titanium surface was treated with NaOH solutions; 5N and 10N at 60 degrees C for 24 h and 5N at 60 degrees C for 24 h followed by heating at 600 degrees C for 1 h. The samples were immersed in the simulated body fluid (SBF) for 28 days to generate a calcium phosphate coating on titanium substrates. The modified substrates and coatings were characterized using SEM and XRD. According to the results obtained in this work the concentration increase of the NaOH solution has influenced the grain boundaries, whereas the heat treatment at 600 degrees C has induced deeper and larger pores. Both the SEM images and the XRD spectra have illustrated the fact that the bone-like apatite had successfully been deposited on the titanium surface.