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Rapid detection of pathogenic bacteria within a few minutes is the key to control infectious disease. However, rapid detection of pathogenic bacteria in clinical samples is quite a challenging task due to the complex matrix, as well as the low abundance of bacteria in real samples. Herein, we employ a label-free single-particle imaging approach to address this challenge. By tracking the scattering intensity variation of single particles in free solution, the morphological heterogeneity can be well identified with particle size smaller than the diffraction limit, facilitating the morphological identification of single bacteria from a complex matrix in a label-free manner. Furthermore, the manipulation of convection in free solution enables the rapid screening of low-abundance bacteria in a small field of view, which significantly improves the sensitivity of single-particle detection. As a proof of concept demonstration, we are able to differentiate the group B streptococci (GBS)-positive samples within 10 min from vaginal swabs without using any biological reagents. This is the most rapid and low-cost method to the best of our knowledge. We believe that such a single-particle imaging approach will find wider applications in clinical diagnosis and disease control due to its high sensitivity, rapidity, simplicity, and low cost.
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Bactérias , Doenças Transmissíveis , Análise de Célula Única , Bactérias/isolamento & purificação , Bactérias/patogenicidade , Doenças Transmissíveis/diagnóstico por imagem , Feminino , Humanos , Tamanho da Partícula , Análise de Célula Única/métodos , Esfregaço VaginalRESUMO
BACKGROUND: This study is to propose a clinically applicable 2-echelon (2e) diagnostic criteria for the analysis of thyroid nodules such that low-risk nodules are screened off while only suspicious or indeterminate ones are further examined by histopathology, and to explore whether artificial intelligence (AI) can provide precise assistance for clinical decision-making in the real-world prospective scenario. METHODS: In this prospective study, we enrolled 1036 patients with a total of 2296 thyroid nodules from three medical centers. The diagnostic performance of the AI system, radiologists with different levels of experience, and AI-assisted radiologists with different levels of experience in diagnosing thyroid nodules were evaluated against our proposed 2e diagnostic criteria, with the first being an arbitration committee consisting of 3 senior specialists and the second being cyto- or histopathology. RESULTS: According to the 2e diagnostic criteria, 1543 nodules were classified by the arbitration committee, and the benign and malignant nature of 753 nodules was determined by pathological examinations. Taking pathological results as the evaluation standard, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the AI systems were 0.826, 0.815, 0.821, and 0.821. For those cases where diagnosis by the Arbitration Committee were taken as the evaluation standard, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and AUC of the AI system were 0.946, 0.966, 0.964, and 0.956. Taking the global 2e diagnostic criteria as the gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and AUC of the AI system were 0.868, 0.934, 0.917, and 0.901, respectively. Under different criteria, AI was comparable to the diagnostic performance of senior radiologists and outperformed junior radiologists (all P < 0.05). Furthermore, AI assistance significantly improved the performance of junior radiologists in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules, and their diagnostic performance was comparable to that of senior radiologists when pathological results were taken as the gold standard (all p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The proposed 2e diagnostic criteria are consistent with real-world clinical evaluations and affirm the applicability of the AI system. Under the 2e criteria, the diagnostic performance of the AI system is comparable to that of senior radiologists and significantly improves the diagnostic capabilities of junior radiologists. This has the potential to reduce unnecessary invasive diagnostic procedures in real-world clinical practice.
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Inteligência Artificial , Nódulo da Glândula Tireoide , Ultrassonografia , Humanos , Estudos Prospectivos , Nódulo da Glândula Tireoide/diagnóstico por imagem , Nódulo da Glândula Tireoide/patologia , Feminino , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Adulto , Ultrassonografia/métodos , Radiologistas , Idoso , Glândula Tireoide/diagnóstico por imagem , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , Adulto Jovem , AdolescenteRESUMO
MAIN CONCLUSION: The expression peak of VcAP1.4, VcAP1.6, VcAP3.1, VcAP3.2, VcAG3, VcFLC2, and VcSVP9 coincided with the endo-dormancy release of flower buds. Additionally, GA4+7 not only increased the expression of these genes but also promoted flower bud endo-dormancy release. The MIKCC-type MADS-box gene family is involved in the regulation of flower development. A total of 109 members of the MIKCC-type MADS-box gene family were identified in blueberry. According to the phylogenetic tree, these 109 MIKCC-type MADS-box proteins were divided into 13 subfamilies, which were distributed across 40 Scaffolds. The results of the conserved motif analysis showed that among 20 motifs, motifs 1, 3, and 9 formed the MADS-box structural domain, while motifs 2, 4, and 6 formed the K-box structural domain. The presence of 66 pairs of fragment duplication events in blueberry suggested that gene duplication events contributed to gene expansion and functional differentiation. Additionally, the presence of cis-acting elements revealed that VcFLC2, VcAG3, and VcSVP9 might have significant roles in the endo-dormancy release of flower buds. Meanwhile, under chilling conditions, VcAP3.1 and VcAG7 might facilitate flower bud dormancy release. VcSEP11 might promote flowering following the release of endo-dormancy, while the elevated expression of VcAP1.7 (DAM) could impede the endo-dormancy release of flower buds. The effect of gibberellin (GA4+7) treatment on the expression pattern of MIKCC-type MADS-box genes revealed that VcAP1.4, VcAP1.6, VcAP3.1, VcAG3, and VcFLC2 might promote flower bud endo-dormancy release, while VcAP3.2, VcSEP11, and VcSVP9 might inhibit its endo-dormancy release. These results indicated that VcAP1.4, VcAP1.6, VcAP1.7 (DAM), VcAP3.1, VcAG3, VcAG7, VcFLC2, and VcSVP9 could be selected as key regulatory promoting genes for controlling the endo-dormancy of blueberry flower buds.
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Mirtilos Azuis (Planta) , Mirtilos Azuis (Planta)/genética , Filogenia , Reprodução , Flores/genética , Duplicação GênicaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: To develop a deep learning(DL) model utilizing ultrasound images, and evaluate its efficacy in distinguishing between benign and malignant parotid tumors (PTs), as well as its practicality in assisting clinicians with accurate diagnosis. METHODS: A total of 2211 ultrasound images of 980 pathologically confirmed PTs (Training set: n = 721; Validation set: n = 82; Internal-test set: n = 89; External-test set: n = 88) from 907 patients were retrospectively included in this study. The optimal model was selected and the diagnostic performance evaluation is conducted by utilizing the area under curve (AUC) of the receiver-operating characteristic(ROC) based on five different DL networks constructed at varying depths. Furthermore, a comparison of different seniority radiologists was made in the presence of the optimal auxiliary diagnosis model. Additionally, the diagnostic confusion matrix of the optimal model was calculated, and an analysis and summary of misjudged cases' characteristics were conducted. RESULTS: The Resnet18 demonstrated superior diagnostic performance, with an AUC value of 0.947, accuracy of 88.5%, sensitivity of 78.2%, and specificity of 92.7% in internal-test set, and with an AUC value of 0.925, accuracy of 89.8%, sensitivity of 83.3%, and specificity of 90.6% in external-test set. The PTs were subjectively assessed twice by six radiologists, both with and without the assisted of the model. With the assisted of the model, both junior and senior radiologists demonstrated enhanced diagnostic performance. In the internal-test set, there was an increase in AUC values by 0.062 and 0.082 for junior radiologists respectively, while senior radiologists experienced an improvement of 0.066 and 0.106 in their respective AUC values. CONCLUSIONS: The DL model based on ultrasound images demonstrates exceptional capability in distinguishing between benign and malignant PTs, thereby assisting radiologists of varying expertise levels to achieve heightened diagnostic performance, and serve as a noninvasive imaging adjunct diagnostic method for clinical purposes.
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Aprendizado Profundo , Neoplasias Parotídeas , Ultrassonografia , Humanos , Estudos Retrospectivos , Ultrassonografia/métodos , Neoplasias Parotídeas/diagnóstico por imagem , Neoplasias Parotídeas/patologia , Neoplasias Parotídeas/diagnóstico , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Feminino , Adulto , Idoso , Adulto Jovem , Curva ROC , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Adolescente , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , CriançaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to develop a model combining ultrasound (US) and clinicopathological characteristics to predict the pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective study that included 248 patients with HER2-positive breast cancer who underwent NACT from March 2018 to March 2022. US and clinicopathological characteristics were collected from all patients in this study, and characteristics obtained using univariate analysis at p < 0.1 were subjected to multivariate analysis and then the conventional US and clinicopathological characteristics independently associated with pathologic complete response (pCR) from the analysis were used to develop US models, clinicopathological models, and their combined models by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity to assess their predictive efficacy. RESULTS: The combined model had an AUC of 0.808, a sensitivity of 88.72%, a specificity of 60.87%, and an accuracy of 75.81% in predicting pCR of HER2-positive breast cancer after NACT, which was significantly better than the clinicopathological model (AUC = 0.656) and the US model (AUC = 0.769). In addition, six characteristics were screened as independent predictors, namely the Clinical T stage, Clinical N stage, PR status, posterior acoustic, margin, and calcification. CONCLUSION: The conventional US combined with clinicopathological characteristics to construct a combined model has a good diagnostic effect in predicting pCR in HER2-positive breast cancer and is expected to be a useful tool to assist clinicians in effectively determining the efficacy of NACT in HER2-positive breast cancer patients.
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Neoplasias da Mama , Terapia Neoadjuvante , Humanos , Feminino , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Estudos Retrospectivos , Neoplasias da Mama/diagnóstico por imagem , Neoplasias da Mama/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias da Mama/genética , UltrassonografiaRESUMO
Background: Olfactory disorders (OD) are an umbrella term for a diverse group of smell problems. Numerous tests and questionnaires have been formulated to identify and test the severity of smell impairment, which is not readily available or translated for the Malaysian population. This study aimed to translate the Questionnaire for Olfactory Disorders (QOD) and validate and test the reliability of the Malay Questionnaire for Olfactory Disorders (mQOD). Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in two tertiary centres. A forward and backward translation was conducted for the QOD. The translated questionnaire was distributed to subjects with self-reported smell disorders on days 1 and 7. Internal consistency was analysed using Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability was tested with an intraclass correlation coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test construct validity. Results: A total of 375 participants were recruited, 52 dropped out and 323 completed the questionnaire a second time. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.537 for parosmia (P), 0.892 for life quality (LQ), 0.637 for sincerity (S) and 0.865 for visual analogue score (VAS). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for domain scores was > 0.9, while the ICC for all items was good to excellent. A three-factor model for mQOD showed an acceptable fit with indices chi-square value (CMIN)/degree of freedom (DF) = 3.332, Tucker-Lewis fit index (TLI) = 0.923, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.939, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.079 and standardised root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.0574. Conclusion: The mQOD is a valid and reliable tool for assessing OD in patients.
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Double polymeric grafted layer is constructed by two steps of chemical reaction, in which two polymers had been used, respectively polydopamine (PDA) film and modified PASS (NH2-PASS) resin containing amine group, as the interphase in carbon fiber reinforced poly(arylene sulfide sulfone) (PASS) composite (CF/PASS) to work on enhancing the interfacial property. All the test results of chemical components and chemical structures on the carbon fiber surface show that the double polymeric grafted layer was constructed successfully with PDA and NH2-PASS chains. And obvious characteristics of thin PDA film and a polymer layer can be clearly seen in the morphology of modified carbon fiber. In addition to this, the obvious interphase and change in the thickness of interphase have been observed in the modulus distribution images of CF/PASS. The final superb performance is achieved by PASS composites with a double polymeric grafted layer, 27.2% and 198.6% superior to the original PASS composite for IFSS and ILSS, respectively. Moreover, the result also indicates that constructing a double polymeric grafted layer on a carbon fiber surface is a promising technique to modify carbon fiber for processing high-performance advanced thermoplastic composites and is more environmental friendly as well as convenient.
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BACKGROUND: Given its narrow treatment window, high toxicity, adverse effects, and individual differences in its use, we collected and sorted data on tacrolimus use by real patients with kidney diseases. We then used machine learning technology to predict tacrolimus blood concentration in order to provide a basis for tacrolimus dose adjustment and ensure patient safety. METHODS: This study involved 913 hospitalized patients with nephrotic syndrome and membranous nephropathy treated with tacrolimus. We evaluated data related to patient demographics, laboratory tests, and combined medication. After data cleaning and feature engineering, six machine learning models were constructed, and the predictive performance of each model was evaluated via external verification. RESULTS: The XGBoost model outperformed other investigated models, with a prediction accuracy of 73.33%, F-beta of 91.24%, and AUC of 0.5531. CONCLUSIONS: Through this exploratory study, we could determine the ability of machine learning to predict TAC blood concentration. Although the results prove the predictive potential of machine learning to some extent, in-depth research is still needed to resolve the XGBoost model's bias towards positive class and thereby facilitate its use in real-world settings.
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Glomerulonefrite Membranosa , Síndrome Nefrótica , Humanos , Tacrolimo/uso terapêutico , Síndrome Nefrótica/tratamento farmacológico , Imunossupressores/efeitos adversos , Glomerulonefrite Membranosa/diagnóstico , Glomerulonefrite Membranosa/tratamento farmacológico , Resultado do Tratamento , Quimioterapia Combinada , TecnologiaRESUMO
The plant Sophora flavescens Ait. has been used in the clinical management of colorectal cancer (CRC). Its constituent compounds, notably the alkaloids matrine, oxymatrine, and sophoridine, have received considerable research attention in experimental models of CRC in vivo and in vitro. This review found that extracts of S. flavescens and/or its constituent compounds have been reported to inhibit CRC cell proliferation by inducing cell-cycle arrest at the G1 phase, inducing apoptosis via the intrinsic pathway, interfering in cancer metabolism, inhibiting metastasis and angiogenesis, regulating senescence and telomeres, regulating the tumour microenvironment and down-regulating cancer-related inflammation. In addition, matrine and oxymatrine reversed multi-drug resistance and enhanced the effects of chemotherapies. These anti-cancer effects were associated with regulation of several cellular signalling pathways including: MAPK/ERK, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, p38MAPK, NF-κB, Hippo/LATS2, TGF-ß/Smad, JAK/STAT3, RhoA/ROC, and Wnt/ ß-catenin pathways. These multiple actions in CRC suggest the alkaloids of S. flavescens may be therapeutic candidates for CRC management. Nevertheless, there remains considerable scope for future research into its flavonoid constituents, the effects of combinations of compounds, and the interaction between these compounds and anti-cancer drugs. In addition, more research is needed to investigate likely drug ligand-receptor interactions for each of the bioactive compounds.
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Alcaloides/uso terapêutico , Antineoplásicos Fitogênicos/uso terapêutico , Neoplasias Colorretais/tratamento farmacológico , Quinolizinas/uso terapêutico , Sophora , Animais , Humanos , Fitoterapia , MatrinasRESUMO
A magnetic targeting nanoparticle based on graphene oxide-ferroferric oxide (GO-Fe3O4) was investigated as a potential drug delivery vehicle. The formation of GO/Fe3O4 hybrid material was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The GO/Fe3O4 hybrid still shows a higher saturation magnetization of 58.42 emu/g after coating with graphene oxide. Drug loading and releasing experiments demonstrate the GO-Fe3O4 hybrid has a good loading capacity of (6.47±0.08) mg/mg for temozolomide and a satisfactory release under slightly acidic condition. The MTT assays of glioma C6 cells exhibits the GO-Fe3O4 hybrid does not display toxicity with the concentration ranged from 40 to 120 µg/mL in vitro, while the complex of temozolomide loaded on GO/Fe3O4 has a better inhibitory effect on the proliferation of rat glioma C6 cells. All results suggest the prepared GO/Fe3O4 has potential applications in targeted anticancer drug delivery.
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Neoplasias Encefálicas/tratamento farmacológico , Sistemas de Liberação de Medicamentos , Glioma/tratamento farmacológico , Temozolomida/administração & dosagem , Animais , Antineoplásicos Alquilantes/administração & dosagem , Antineoplásicos Alquilantes/farmacologia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Proliferação de Células/efeitos dos fármacos , Portadores de Fármacos/química , Liberação Controlada de Fármacos , Grafite/química , Nanopartículas Magnéticas de Óxido de Ferro , Ratos , Temozolomida/farmacologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Cisplatin is one of the first-line drugs for urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) treatment. However, its considerable side effects and the emergence of drug resistance are becoming major limitations for its application. This study aimed to investigate whether matrine and cisplatin could present a synergistic anti-tumor effect on UBC cells. METHODS: Cell viability assay was used to assess the suppressive effect of matrine and cisplatin on the proliferation of the UBC cells. Wound healing assay and transwell assay were applied respectively to determine the migration and invasion ability of the cells. The distribution of cell cycles, the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the apoptosis rate were detected by flow cytometry (FCM). The expressions of the relative proteins in apoptotic signal pathways and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) related genes were surveyed by western blotting. The binding modes of the drugs within the proteins were detected by CDOCKER module in DS 2.5. RESULTS: Both matrine and cisplatin could inhibit the growth of the UBC cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. When matrine combined with cisplatin at the ratio of 2000:1, they presented a synergistic inhibitory effect on the UBC cells. The combinative treatment could impair cell migration and invasion ability, arrest cell cycle in the G1 and S phases, increase the level of ROS, and induce apoptosis in EJ and T24 cells in a synergistic way. In all the treated groups, the expressions of E-cadherin, ß-catenin, Bax, and Cleaved Caspase-3 were up-regulated, while the expressions of Fibronectin, Vimentin, Bcl-2, Caspase-3, p-Akt, p-PI3K, VEGFR2, and VEGF proteins were down-regulated, and among them, the combination of matrine and cisplatin showed the most significant difference. Molecular docking algorithms predicted that matrine and cisplatin could be docked into the same active sites and interact with different residues within the tested proteins. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that the combination of matrine and cisplatin could synergistically inhibit the UBC cells' proliferation through down-regulating VEGF/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, indicating that matrine may serve as a new option in the combinative therapy in the treatment of UBC.
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BACKGROUND: The study was designed to develop a platform to verify whether the extract of herbs combined with chemotherapy drugs play a synergistic role in anti-tumor effects, and to provide experimental evidence and theoretical reference for finding new effective sensitizers. METHODS: Inhibition of tanshinone IIA and adriamycin on the proliferation of A549, PC9 and HLF cells were assessed by CCK8 assays. The combination index (CI) was calculated with the Chou-Talalay method, based on the median-effect principle. Migration and invasion ability of A549 cells were determined by wound healing assay and transwell assay. Flow cytometry was used to detect the cell apoptosis and the distribution of cell cycles. TUNEL staining was used to detect the apoptotic cells. Immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the expression of Cleaved Caspase-3. Western blotting was used to detect the proteins expression of relative apoptotic signal pathways. CDOCKER module in DS 2.5 was used to detect the binding modes of the drugs and the proteins. RESULTS: Both tanshinone IIA and adriamycin could inhibit the growth of A549, PC9, and HLF cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, while the proliferative inhibition effect of tanshinone IIA on cells was much weaker than that of adriamycin. Different from the cancer cells, HLF cells displayed a stronger sensitivity to adriamycin, and a weaker sensitivity to tanshinone IIA. When tanshinone IIA combined with adriamycin at a ratio of 20:1, they exhibited a synergistic anti-proliferation effect on A549 and PC9 cells, but not in HLF cells. Tanshinone IIA combined with adriamycin could synergistically inhibit migration, induce apoptosis and arrest cell cycle at the S and G2 phases in A549 cells. Both groups of the single drug treatment and the drug combination up-regulated the expressions of Cleaved Caspase-3 and Bax, but down-regulated the expressions of VEGF, VEGFR2, p-PI3K, p-Akt, Bcl-2, and Caspase-3 protein. Compared with the single drug treatment groups, the drug combination groups were more statistically significant. The molecular docking algorithms indicated that tanshinone IIA could be docked into the active sites of all the tested proteins with H-bond and aromatic interactions, compared with that of adriamycin. CONCLUSIONS: Tanshinone IIA can be developed as a novel agent in the postoperative adjuvant therapy combined with other anti-tumor agents, and improve the sensibility of chemotherapeutics for non-small cell lung cancer with fewer side effects. In addition, this experiment can not only provide a reference for the development of more effective anti-tumor medicine ingredients, but also build a platform for evaluating the anti-tumor effects of Chinese herbal medicines in combination with chemotherapy drugs.
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Abietanos/farmacologia , Apoptose/efeitos dos fármacos , Movimento Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Proliferação de Células/efeitos dos fármacos , Doxorrubicina/farmacologia , Células A549 , Abietanos/química , Abietanos/metabolismo , Antineoplásicos/química , Antineoplásicos/metabolismo , Antineoplásicos/farmacologia , Western Blotting , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/metabolismo , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/patologia , Pontos de Checagem do Ciclo Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Linhagem Celular , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Relação Dose-Resposta a Droga , Doxorrubicina/química , Doxorrubicina/metabolismo , Sinergismo Farmacológico , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/metabolismo , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Microscopia de Fluorescência , Simulação de Acoplamento Molecular , Estrutura Molecular , Ligação Proteica , Domínios Proteicos , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Soluble cluster of differentiation 14 (sCD14) plays a role in the development and manifestation of atopic symptoms, although the results of previous studies have been inconclusive. The aim of this study is to evaluate the practical use of sCD14 as a predictive biomarker of allergy in young children. METHODS: Children aged 0-1 year from a birth cohort in the Prediction of Allergies in Taiwanese Children (PATCH) study were enrolled. Cord blood sCD14 concentrations were measured. Pediatrician evaluation and questionnaire interviews were performed periodically until 1 year of age to determine the children's allergic and respiratory symptoms. RESULTS: Two hundred and six 1-year-old subjects were enrolled. Wheeze was positively associated with cord blood sCD14, a family member with asthma and parental smoking. Prolonged cough was associated with cord blood sCD14, older maternal age and more siblings. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, cord blood sCD14 was the only independent predictive biomarker for wheeze and prolonged cough by 1 year of age. Every 100-ng/ml increase in cord blood sCD14 resulted in a 1.56-fold higher risk of developing wheeze and a 1.62-fold higher risk of prolonged cough in children by 1 year of age. CONCLUSIONS: Cord blood sCD14 may be a useful biomarker for predicting infant wheeze and prolonged cough by 1 year of age.
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Tosse/sangue , Tosse/diagnóstico , Sangue Fetal/metabolismo , Receptores de Lipopolissacarídeos/sangue , Sons Respiratórios/diagnóstico , Biomarcadores , Comorbidade , Tosse/epidemiologia , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Recém-Nascido , Estimativa de Kaplan-Meier , Masculino , Fenótipo , Prognóstico , Vigilância em Saúde Pública , Curva ROC , Fatores de Risco , Taiwan/epidemiologiaRESUMO
Hunger has been a concern for generations and has continued to plague hundreds of millions of people around the world. Although many efforts have been devoted to reduce hunger, challenges such as growing competitions for natural resources, emerging climate changes and natural disasters, poverty, illiteracy, and diseases are posing threats to food security and intensifying the hunger crisis. Concerted efforts of scientists to improve agricultural and food productivity, technology, nutrition, and education are imperative to facilitate appropriate strategies for defeating hunger and malnutrition. This paper provides some aspects of world hunger issues and summarizes the efforts and measures aimed to alleviate food problems from the food and nutritional sciences perspectives. The prospects and constraints of some implemented strategies for alleviating hunger and achieving sustainable food security are also discussed. This comprehensive information source could provide insights into the development of a complementary framework for dealing with the global hunger issue.
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Agricultura , Tecnologia de Alimentos , Fome , Ciências da Nutrição , Conservação dos Recursos Naturais , Manipulação de Alimentos , Abastecimento de Alimentos , Tecnologia de Alimentos/métodos , Tecnologia de Alimentos/tendências , Saúde Global , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Humanos , Desnutrição/epidemiologia , Desnutrição/prevenção & controle , Ciências da Nutrição/educação , PobrezaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: This study investigated executive functions (EFs) in young adult survivors of childhood bacterial meningitis (BM). These skills are important for normal development, and their potential vulnerability in early years suggests that childhood BM could affect executive functions in the longer term. METHOD: The adult self-report Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function was administered to 474 young adult survivors of childhood BM who participated in the 20|30 Dutch Postmeningitis study. Average scores were compared to population-norm group scores. Subgroup scores were compared according to causative pathogen and age at onset. RESULTS: Young adult survivors of childhood BM scored lower on overall metacognition than the age-matched population norm group. Young adult survivors of childhood BM caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, S. agalactiae, or Escherichia coli had lower scores than cases caused by Neisseria meningitidis. Survivors with age-at-onset below 12 months had a higher (worse) overall EF score than survivors with age-at-onset above 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Young adult survivors of childhood BM experience difficulties in EF. However, most of the self-reported EF scores were within the norm. Future studies need to additionally assess EF in adult survivors of childhood BM using performance-based tests.
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Weakly supervised vision tasks, including detection and segmentation, have attracted much attention in the vision community recently. However, the lack of detailed and precise annotations in the weakly supervised case leads to a large accuracy gap between weakly- and fully-supervised methods. In this article, we propose a new framework, Salvage of Supervision (SoS), with the key idea being to effectively harness every potentially useful supervisory signal in weakly supervised vision tasks. Starting with weakly supervised object detection (WSOD), we propose SoS-WSOD to shrink the technology gap between WSOD and FSOD, which utilizes the weak image-level labels, the pseudo-labels, and the power of semi-supervised object detection for WSOD. Moreover, SoS-WSOD removes restrictions in traditional WSOD methods, including the reliance on ImageNet pretraining and inability to use modern backbones. The SoS framework also extends to weakly supervised semantic segmentation and instance segmentation. On several weakly supervised vision benchmarks, SoS achieves significant performance boost and generalization ability.
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Algoritmos , Benchmarking , Semântica , Aprendizado de Máquina SupervisionadoRESUMO
PURPOSE: We aimed to explore the possible function of guiding dominant microflora for aerobic vaginitis (AV) women patients in China to know its diagnostic ability for the further clinical application. METHOD: The characteristics and community compositions of AV vaginal microbiota was evaluated by high-throughput 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) sequencing after the vaginal microecology evaluations. RESULTS: The increased colonization of Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus anginosus and the absence of Lactobacillus are typical manifestations of AV patients. In addition, Lactobacillus were the major correlated bacteria with control groups of Modified Donders' Score under 3. Most of the significant KEGG pathways were classified into metabolism pathway, where the two bacteria behaved their own metabolism characteristics. CONCLUSION: The increased colonizations of Streptococcus agalactiae and Streptococcus anginosus and the absences of Lactobacillus are the typical manifestations of AV.
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Microbiota , Vaginite , Humanos , Feminino , RNA Ribossômico 16S/genética , Vaginite/diagnóstico , Vaginite/microbiologia , Vagina/microbiologia , Streptococcus agalactiae/genética , Microbiota/genética , Bactérias/genéticaRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the value of a model combining conventional ultrasonography and clinicopathologic features for predicting axillary status after neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer. METHODS: This retrospective study included 329 patients with lymph node-positive who underwent neoadjuvant systemic treatment (NST) from June 2019 to March 2022. Ultrasound and clinicopathological characteristics of breast lesions and axillary lymph nodes were analyzed before and after NST. The diagnostic efficacy of ultrasound, clinicopathological characteristics, and combined model were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression and receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) analyses. RESULTS: The area under ROC (AUC) for the ability of the combined model to predict the axillary pathological complete response (pCR) after NST was 0.882, that diagnostic effectiveness was significantly better than that of the clinicopathological model (AUC of 0.807) and the ultrasound feature model (AUC of 0.795). In addition, eight features were screened as independent predictors of axillary pCR, including clinical N stage, ERBB2 status, Ki-67, and after NST the maximum diameter reduction rate and margins of breast lesions, the short diameter, cortical thickness, and fatty hilum of lymph nodes. CONCLUSIONS: The combined model constructed from ultrasound and clinicopathological features for predicting axillary pCR has favorable diagnostic results, which allowed more accurate identification of BC patients who had received axillary pCR after NST. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: A combined model incorporated ultrasound and clinicopathological characteristics of breast lesions and axillary lymph nodes demonstrated favorable performance in evaluating axillary pCR preoperatively and non-invasively.
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Neoplasias da Mama , Humanos , Feminino , Neoplasias da Mama/diagnóstico por imagem , Neoplasias da Mama/tratamento farmacológico , Terapia Neoadjuvante/métodos , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Estudos Retrospectivos , Metástase Linfática/diagnóstico por imagem , Metástase Linfática/patologia , Linfonodos/patologia , Ultrassonografia , Resposta Patológica Completa , Axila/diagnóstico por imagemRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to develop AI-assisted software incorporating a deep learning (DL) model based on static ultrasound images. The software aims to aid physicians in distinguishing between malignant and benign thyroid nodules with echogenic foci and to investigate how the AI-assisted DL model can enhance radiologists' diagnostic performance. METHODS: For this retrospective study, a total of 2724 ultrasound (US) scans were collected from two independent institutions, encompassing 1038 echogenic foci nodules. All echogenic foci were confirmed by pathology. Three DL segmentation models (DeepLabV3+, U-Net, and PSPNet) were developed, with each model using two different backbones to extract features from the nodular regions with echogenic foci. Evaluation indexes such as Mean Intersection over Union (MIoU), Mean Pixel Accuracy (MPA), and Dice coefficients were employed to assess the performance of the segmentation model. The model demonstrating the best performance was selected to develop the AI-assisted diagnostic software, enabling radiologists to benefit from AI-assisted diagnosis. The diagnostic performance of radiologists with varying levels of seniority and beginner radiologists in assessing high-echo nodules was then compared, both with and without the use of auxiliary strategies. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was used as the primary evaluation index, both with and without the use of auxiliary strategies. RESULTS: In the analysis of Institution 2, the DeepLabV3+ (backbone is MobileNetV2 exhibited optimal segmentation performance, with MIoU = 0.891, MPA = 0.945, and Dice = 0.919. The combined AUROC (0.693 [95% CI 0.595-0.791]) of radiology beginners using AI-assisted strategies was significantly higher than those without such strategies (0.551 [0.445-0.657]). Additionally, the combined AUROC of junior physicians employing adjuvant strategies improved from 0.674 [0.574-0.774] to 0.757 [0.666-0.848]. Similarly, the combined AUROC of senior physicians increased slightly, rising from 0.745 [0.652-0.838] to 0.813 [0.730-0.896]. With the implementation of AI-assisted strategies, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of both senior physicians and beginners in the radiology department underwent varying degrees of improvement. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the DL-based auxiliary diagnosis model using US static images can improve the performance of radiologists and radiology students in identifying thyroid echogenic foci.
Assuntos
Aprendizado Profundo , Nódulo da Glândula Tireoide , Humanos , Nódulo da Glândula Tireoide/diagnóstico por imagem , Nódulo da Glândula Tireoide/patologia , Estudos Retrospectivos , Curva ROCRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) is a chronic functional vestibular disorder where there is persistent dizziness or unsteadiness occurring on most days for more than 3 months duration. Treatment recommendations for PPPD include vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) with or without medications and/or cognitive behavioral therapy. OBJECTIVES: This paper is a pilot study designed to compare the effects of Bal Ex as a home-based VRT on the quality of life (EQ-5D), dizziness handicap (DHI) and mental health (DASS-21) against hospital-based VRT. DESIGN: This was an assessor-blinded, randomized controlled pilot study where PPPD patients were randomly selected to undergo Bal Ex, the home-based VRT (intervention group) or hospital-based (control group) VRT. The participants were reviewed at 4 weeks and 12 weeks after the start of therapy to assess the primary endpoints using the subjective improvement in symptoms as reported by patients, changes in DHI scores, DASS-21 scores and EQ5D VAS scores. RESULTS: Thirty PPPD patients successfully completed the study with 15 in each study group. Within 4 weeks, there were significant improvements in the total DHI scores as well as anxiety levels. By the end of 12 weeks, there were significant improvements in the DHI, DASS-21 and EQ5D. The degree of improvement between Bal Ex and the control was comparable. CONCLUSION: VRT is an effective modality in significantly improving quality of life, dizziness handicap, depression, and anxiety levels within 3 months in PPPD. Preliminary results show Bal Ex is as effective as hospital-based VRT and should be considered as a treatment option for PPPD.