Biotechnical system based on fuzzy logic prediction for surgical risk classification using analysis of current-voltage characteristics of acupuncture points / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#This study aimed to develop expert fuzzy logic model to assist physicians in the prediction of postoperative complications of prostatic hyperplasia before surgery.@*METHODS@#A method for classification of surgical risks was developed. The effect of rotation of the current-voltage characteristics at biologically active points (acupuncture points) was used for the formation of classifier descriptors. The effect determined reversible and non-reversible changes in electrical resistance at acupuncture points with periodic exposure to a sawtooth probe current. Then, the developed method was tested on the prediction of the success of surgical treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.@*RESULTS@#Input descriptors were obtained from collected data including current-voltage characteristics of 5 acupuncture points and composed of 27 arrays feeding in the model. The maximum diagnostic sensitivity of the classifier for the success of a surgical operation in the control sample was 88% and for testing data set prediction accuracy was 97%.@*CONCLUSION@#The use of tuples of current-voltage characteristic descriptors of acupuncture points in the classifiers could be used to predict the success of surgical treatment with satisfactory accuracy. The model can be a valuable tool to support physicians' diagnosis.

Cateter venoso central de curta permanência: produção de vídeos educativos para a equipe de enfermagem / Catéter venoso central de corta duración: producción de vídeos educativos para el equipo de enfermería / Short-term central venous catheter: Production of educational videos for the Nursing team

RESUMO Objetivo construir e validar roteiros e storyboards para a produção de vídeos educativos, em formato digital, sobre os cuidados e manutenção do cateter venoso central em pacientes adultos. Método estudo metodológico, descritivo, sobre construção e validação dos roteiros e storyboards para a produção de vídeos educativos, ocorrido em duas etapas metodológicas: de pré-produção e de produção. A etapa de pré-produção baseou-se em três fases: construção dos roteiros dos vídeos, elaboração dos storyboards e validação por peritos. A validação dos roteiros e storyboards foi realizada por nove juízes especialistas na temática e dois técnicos especialistas em vídeo. Calculou-se o Índice de Validação de Conteúdo (IVC), considerando-se como aceitável o índice mínimo de 0,80 para cada item dos instrumentos. Resultados produziram-se três vídeos educativos com as seguintes temáticas: cobertura, manutenção e troca e remoção do cateter venoso central. A respeito da validação pelos juízes especialistas na temática e pelos técnicos especialistas em vídeo, todos os itens avaliados resultaram na concordância em IVC de 100,0. Conclusão e implicações para a prática os vídeos educativos foram produzidos, validados e adequados para serem disponibilizados. A participação dos juízes na validação desse material foi fundamental para garantir a relevância teórica e prática do resultado.

RESUMEN Objetivo construir y validar guiones y storyboards para la producción de videos educativos, en formato digital, sobre el cuidado y mantenimiento del catéter venoso central en pacientes adultos. Método estudio metodológico y descriptivo sobre la construcción y validación de guiones y storyboards para la producción de vídeos educativos que se produjo en dos etapas metodológicas: preproducción y producción. La etapa de preproducción se basó en tres fases: construcción de los guiones de los vídeos, elaboración de storyboards y validación por parte de expertos. La validación de los guiones y storyboards fue realizada por 9 jueces especialistas en el tema y 2 técnicos expertos en video. Se calculó el Índice de Validación de Contenido (IVC), considerando como aceptable el índice mínimo de 0,80 para cada ítem de los instrumentos. Resultados se crearon tres vídeos educativos con los siguientes temas: cobertura, mantenimiento e intercambio y retirada del catéter venoso central. A partir de la valoración por parte de los jueces especialistas en el tema y de los técnicos especialistas en vídeo, todos los elementos evaluados resultaron en una concordancia en el IVC de 100,0. Conclusión e implicaciones para la práctica los videos educativos fueron construidos, validados y adecuados para ser puestos a disposición. La participación de los jueces en la validación de este material fue esencial para asegurar la relevancia teórica y práctica del resultado.

ABSTRACT Objective to prepare and validate scripts and storyboards for the production of educational videos, in digital format, about the care and maintenance of the central venous catheters in adult patients. Method a methodological and descriptive study about the elaboration and validation of scripts and storyboards for the production of educational videos that was conducted in two methodological stages: pre-production and production. The pre-production stage was based on three phases: preparation of the video scripts, elaboration of the storyboards, and validation by experts. Validation of the scripts and storyboards was in charge of 9 specialist judges in the subject matter and 2 technical experts in video; the Content Validation Index (CVI) was calculated considering as acceptable a minimum index of 0.80 for each item of the instruments. Results three educational videos were created with the following themes: dressing, maintenance and exchange and removal of the central venous catheter. Concerning the validation by expert judges in the subject matter and expert video technicians, all items evaluated resulted in agreement with a CVI of 100.0. Conclusion and implications for the practice the educational videos were elaborated, validated and suitable to be made available; the judges' participation in the validation of this material was essential to ensure the theoretical and practical relevance of the result.

Content based medical image retrieval based on new efficient local neighborhood wavelet feature descriptor

This paper presents a new class of local neighborhood based wavelet feature descriptor (LNWFD) for content based medical image retrieval (CBMIR). To retrieve images effectively from large medical databases is backbone of diagnosis. Existing wavelet transform based medical image retrieval methods suffer from high length feature vector with confined retrieval performance. Triplet half-band filter bank (THFB) enhanced the properties of wavelet filters using three kernels. The influence of THFB has employed in the proposed method. First, triplet half-band filter bank (THFB) is used for single level wavelet decomposition to obtain four sub-bands. Next, the relationship among wavelet coefficients is exploited at each sub-band using 3 × 3 neighborhood window to form LNWFD pattern. The novelty of the proposed descriptor lies in exploring relation between wavelet transform values of pixels rather than intensity values which gives more detail local information in wavelet sub-bands. Thus, proposed feature descriptor is robust against illumination. Manhattan distance is used to compute similarity between query feature vector and feature vector of database. The proposed method is tested for medical image retrieval using OASIS-MRI, NEMA-CT, and Emphysema-CT databases. The average retrieval precisions achieved are 71.45%, 99.51% of OASIS-MRI and NEMA-CT databases for top ten matches considered respectively and 55.51% of Emphysema-CT database for top 50 matches. The superiority in terms of performance of the proposed method is confirmed by the experimental results over the well-known existing descriptors.

Network-assisted mechanism investigation of Yaobitong Capsules on lumbar intervertebral discs / 中成药

AIM To explore analgesic mechanism of Yaobitong Capsules (Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma,Chuanxiong Rhizoma,Corydalis Rhizoma,etc.) on lumbar intervertebral discs.METHODS An array of data mining,molecular docking and network analysis were employed to investigate the active compounds and key target protein.RESULTS Among the forty-six active hits identified by virtual screening,most compounds displayed good oral bioavailability and might confer an optimal CNS exposure.And eleven molecules (coptisine,diligustilide,corypalmine,chuanxiongterpene,etc.) were further confirmed to alleviate lumbar intervertebral discs through their targeting at nineteen proteins (such as p38,CGRP,MMPs,TNFα) to inhibit the inflammatory response and the infiltration of microvasculature,to reduce the nociceptors sensitivity,and to modulate the balance of Collagen and proteoglycans in catabolic and anabolic responses.CONCLUSION Yaobitong Capsules' clear molecular working mechanism and the key active compounds are revealed by this network-assisted investigation highlight the subsequent experiments on targets and active compounds.

Network pharmacology study of the effective constituents in the Compound Yizhihao against influenza disease / 药学学报

Compound Yizhihao, consists of Radix isatidis, Folium isatidis, Artemisia rupestris, has a significant therapeutic effect on the treatment of influenza and fever. However, the mechanism of its action is still unclear. In this investigation, we collected the key target molecule of influenza disease and the chemical constituents of Compound Yizhihao, and developed Naïve Bayesian classification models based on the input molecular fingerprints and molecule descriptors. The built models were further applied to construct classifiers for predicting the effective constituents. We used the professional network-building software to build the constituent-target network and target-pathway network, which revealed the network pharmacology of the effective constituents in Compound Yizhihao. It will contribute to the further research of mechanism of Compound Yizhihao.

Los Suárez y las instituciones del sistema de protección de la infancia: Un análisis sobre las formas contemporáneas de gobierno de las familias en contextos de desigualdad y pobreza / The Suárez family and the institutions of the system of child protection: An analysis on contemporary forms of governing over families in contexts of inequality and poverty / Os Suárez e as instituições do sistema de proteção da infância: uma análise sobre as formas contemporâneas de poder das famílias em contextos de desigualdade e pobreza

Este artículo se propone problematizar las distintas acciones que los agentes del sistema de protección de la infancia de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, despliegan con el fin de evitar la separación de los niños de sus medio familiar y comunitario. Para ello, se parte del caso de una familia cuyos hijos, luego de diversas intervenciones destinadas a modificar los comportamientos de los padres, fueron finalmente ingresados en una institución de cuidado. A partir de los relatos de diversos actores, recopilados a lo largo de un trabajo de campo etnográfico realizado entre 2007 y 2009, en el marco de la aplicación de las nuevas leyes de protección de los derechos de la infancia, el artículo propone una reflexión sobre las formas diversas a partir de las cuales actualmente se despliega el gobierno de las familias en contextos de desigualdad y pobreza.

This article aims at problematizing the various actions implemented by agents from the City of Buenos Aires‘ children protection system in order to avoid separating children from their families and communities. For this purpose, the paper examines the case of a family whose children were institutionalized after a series of interventions attempting to change the parents‘ behavior. Based on the stories of various actors involved in the process collected through ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2007 and 2009 and in the framework of the implementation of laws protecting childhood, this article analyzes the forms in which families are governed in contexts of inequality and poverty.

Este artigo visa problematizar as diversas ações às quais os agentes do sistema de proteção da infância da cidade de Buenos Aires recorrem a fim de evitarem a separação das crianças de seu meio familiar e comunitário. Para tanto, inicia-se com o caso de uma família cujos filhos, após varias intervenções com o intuito de modificar o comportamento dos país, foram ingressados em uma instituição de cuidado. Com base nos depoimentos de diferentes atores envolvidos -levantados ao longo do trabalho de campo etnográfico realizado entre 2007 e 2009- e no cenário da aplicação das novas leis de proteção aos direitos da infância, propõe-se no artigo uma reflexão a respeito das diversas formas a partir das quais se desdobra o poder das famílias para agir em contextos de pobreza e desigualdade social.

Caracterización morfológica de seis variedades parentales de yacón (Smallanthus sonchifolius) y trece cruzas obtenidas de un plan de hibridación

En el presente trabajo se caracterizan morfológicamente los parentales y las plantas obtenidas a partir de los cruzamientos dialélicos de yacón (Smallanthus sonchifolius), con la finalidad de identificar la diversidad obtenida y confirmar la naturaleza híbrida de estas. Tres descriptores morfológicos de raíz fueron usados para caracterizar a los parentales y a 68 de las 162 plantas obtenidas de las cruzas, cada una con sus respectivas replicaciones, en total se evaluaron 834 plantas. Finalmente se determinaron 44 híbridos, 8 plantas con hibridación no determinada al no identificar si existió cruza, pero que heredaron solo los caracteres del progenitor femenino o son replicaciones de este, 9 plantas con un origen híbrido no específico al no poder determinarse si existió hibridación heredando caracteres compartidos por ambos progenitores o solo caracteres del progenitor femenino o no, 7 plantas cuyo progenitor masculino no es el correspondiente a la cruza, 2 replicaciones de 3 híbridos y 1 replicación de 1 de las 9 plantas con un origen híbrido no específico también presentan un progenitor masculino diferente al de su cruza. Se observó precocidad del parental V24 y pérdida del carácter de moteaduras irregulares púrpura rojizo (indicador de antocianinas) en las 44 plantas con parentales que presentaban este carácter.

The aim of this study is to characterize morphologically the parental and plants and those obtained from the diallel crosses, to identify the variety obtained and to confirm the hybrid nature of these. Three morphological descriptors of root were used to characterize the parental and 68 of the 162 plants obtained from crosses, each with their replication, in total 834 plants were evaluated. Finally 44 hybrids were obtained, 8 plants with no specific hybridization to no identify if there was cross but inheriting only the characters of the female parent or are replications of this, 9 plants with a non-specific hybrid origin unable to determine whether there was hybridization inheriting shared characters by both parents or single characters of the female parent or not; 7 plants whose male parent is not corresponding to the cross, 2 replications of three hybrids and one replication 1 of 1 of 9 plants with a non-specific hybrid origin also presented a different male parent. The parental V24 showed precocity and the loss of irregular reddish purple specks (anthocyanins indicator) was observed in 44 plants with parental that has this character.

A method of generating synthetic medical image for the validation of segmentation algorithms / 国际生物医学工程杂志

Objective To develop a synthetic medical image generation system which can provide test images for the validation of medical image segmentation algorithms.Methods The synthetic image was created based on the deformation of region of interest (ROI) in original clinical images.First the synthetic foreground boundarywas generated by the resampling of the Fourier descriptors of manually segmented foreground boundary in original image.Then all the ROI pixels were divided into 4 categories and their intensities were calculated by texture matching techniques.Results The intracranial hemorrhage image was selected as the original image,and the generated synthetic images were applied to validate the precision and accuracy of multi-threshold segmentation and level set algorithm.Conclusion The proposed system can rapidly generate synthetic images with realistic appearance of clinical cases and well define ground truth foreground boundary.It has strong practicality for quantitative validation of segmentation algorithms.

Molecular Vibration-Activity Relationship in the Agonism of Adenosine Receptors

The molecular vibration-activity relationship in the receptor-ligand interaction of adenosine receptors was investigated by structure similarity, molecular vibration, and hierarchical clustering in a dataset of 46 ligands of adenosine receptors. The resulting dendrogram was compared with those of another kind of fingerprint or descriptor. The dendrogram result produced by corralled intensity of molecular vibrational frequency outperformed four other analyses in the current study of adenosine receptor agonism and antagonism. The tree that was produced by clustering analysis of molecular vibration patterns showed its potential for the functional classification of adenosine receptor ligands.

The Adjacent Vessel Sign on Breast MRI: New Data and a Subgroup Analysis for 1,084 Histologically Verified Cases

OBJECTIVE: The adjacent vessel sign (AVS) is a descriptor for differentiating malignant from benign breast lesions on breast MRI (bMRI). This investigation was designed to verify the previous reports on the diagnostic accuracy of AVS and to assess correlation between AVS, histopathological diagnosis, lesion size and lesion grade. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was approved by the local ethical committee. Experienced radiologists evaluated 1,084 lesions. The exclusion criteria were no histological verification after bMRI and breast interventions that were done up to one year before bMRI (surgery, core biopsy, chemo- or radiation therapy). The native and dynamic contrast-enhanced T1-weighted series were acquired using standardized protocols. The AVS was rated positive if a vessel leading to a lesion could be visualized. Prevalence of an AVS was correlated with the lesions' size, grade and histology using Chi-square-tests. RESULTS: The AVS was significantly associated with malignancy (p 2 cm more often presented with an AVS than did those malignant lesions < 2 cm (p < 0.0001; sensitivity: 65%, PPV: 90%). There was no correlation of the AVS with the tumor grade. The prevalence of an AVS didn't significantly differ between invasive lobular carcinomas versus ductal carcinomas. In situ cancers were less frequently associated with an AVS (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The adjacent vessel sign was significantly associated with malignancy. Thus, it can be used to accurately assess breast lesions on bMRI. In this study, the AVS was particularly associated with advanced and invasive carcinomas.

Population dynamics: seasonal variation of phytoplankton functional groups in brazilian reservoirs (Billings and Guarapiranga, São Paulo) / Dinâmica populacional: variação sazonal dos grupos funcionais fitoplanctônicos em reservatórios brasileiros (Billings e Guarapiranga, São Paulo)

Phytoplankton may function as a "sensor" of changes in aquatic environment and responds rapidly to such changes. In freshwaters, coexistence of species that have similar ecological requirements and show the same environmental requirements frequently occurs; such species groups are named functional groups. The use of phytoplankton functional groups to evaluate these changes has proven to be very useful and effective. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of functional groups of phytoplankton in two reservoirs (Billings and Guarapiranga) that supply water to millions of people in São Paulo city Metropolitan Area, southeastern Brazil. Surface water samples were collected monthly and physical, chemical and biological (quantitative and qualitative analyses of the phytoplankton) were performed. The highest biovolume (mm³.L-1) of the descriptor species and functional groups were represented respectively by Anabaena circinalis Rabenh. (H1), Microcystis aeruginosa (Kützing) Kützing (L M/M) and Mougeotia sp. (T) in the Guarapiranga reservoir and Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii (Wolosz.) Seen. and Subba Raju (S N), Microcystis aeruginosa and M. panniformis Komárek et al. (L M/M), Planktothrix agardhii (Gom.) Anagn. and Komárek and P. cf. clathrata (Skuja) Anagn. and Komárek (S1) in the Billings reservoir. The environmental factors that most influenced the phytoplankton dynamics were water temperature, euphotic zone, turbidity, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrate and total phosphorous.

A comunidade fitoplanctônica pode funcionar como sensor das variações do ambiente aquático respondendo rapidamente as essas alterações. Em sistemas aquáticos continentais é comum a coexistência de espécies que possuem as mesmas necessidades ecológicas e apresentam as mesmas tolerâncias ambientais, tais grupos de espécies fitoplanctônicas são denominados grupos funcionais. O uso de grupos funcionais fitoplanctônicos para avaliar tais alterações tem se mostrado muito útil e eficaz. Assim, o objetivo do estudo foi avaliar a ocorrência de grupos funcionais fitoplanctônicos em dois reservatórios (Billings e Guarapiranga) que suprem de água milhões de pessoas na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo, Sudeste do Brasil. As amostras foram coletadas mensalmente na superfície da coluna d'água e foram analisadas as variáveis físicas, químicas e biológicas (análises qualitativa e quantitativa do fitoplâncton). Os maiores valores de biovolume (mm³.L-1) das espécies descritoras e grupos funcionais foram representados por Anabaena circinalis (H1), Microcystis aeruginosa (L M/M) e Mougeotia sp. (T) no Reservatório Guarapiranga e por Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii (S N), Microcystis aeruginosa e M. panniformis (L M/M), Planktothrix agardhii e P. cf. clathrata (S1) no Reservatório Billings. Os principais fatores ambientais que interferiram na dinâmica do fitoplâncton foram: temperatura da água, zona eufótica, turbidez, condutividade, pH, oxigênio dissolvido, nitrato e fósforo total.