Comparing the Clinical Viability of Automated Fundus Image Segmentation Methods.

Recent methods for automatic blood vessel segmentation from fundus images have been commonly implemented as convolutional neural networks. While these networks report high values for objective metrics, the clinical viability of recovered segmentation masks remains unexplored. In this paper, we perform a pilot study to assess the clinical viability of automatically generated segmentation masks in the diagnosis of diseases affecting retinal vascularization. Five ophthalmologists with clinical experience were asked to participate in the study. The results demonstrate low classification accuracy, inferring that generated segmentation masks cannot be used as a standalone resource in general clinical practice. The results also hint at possible clinical infeasibility in experimental design. In the follow-up experiment, we evaluate the clinical quality of masks by having ophthalmologists rank generation methods. The ranking is established with high intra-observer consistency, indicating better subjective performance for a subset of tested networks. The study also demonstrates that objective metrics are not correlated with subjective metrics in retinal segmentation tasks for the methods involved, suggesting that objective metrics commonly used in scientific papers to measure the method's performance are not plausible criteria for choosing clinically robust solutions.

Utilizing Zirconium MOF-functionalized Fiber Substrates Prepared by Molecular Layer Deposition for Toxic Gas Capture and Chemical Warfare Agent Degradation.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of porous organic-inorganic solids extensively explored for numerous applications owing to their catalytic activity and high surface area. In this work MOF thin films deposited in a one-step, molecular layer deposition (MLD), an all-gas-phase process, on glass wool fibers are characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and their capabilities towards toxic industrial chemical (TIC) capture and chemical warfare agents (CWA) degradation are investigated. It is shown that despite low volume of the active material used, MOFs thin films are capable of removal of harmful gaseous chemicals from air stream and CWA from neutral aqueous environment. The results confirm that the MLD-deposited MOF thin films, amorphous and crystalline, are suitable materials for use in air filtration, decontamination, and physical protection against CWA and TIC.

All-gas-phase synthesis of amino-functionalized UiO-66 thin films.

Thin films of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) prepared using all-gas-phase techniques such as atomic/molecular layer deposition (ALD/MLD) are emerging due to their potential for enabling suitable applications. Their high and specific porosity enables their use as membranes for separations and as a basis for sensors in microelectronics, provided that films can be made. The properties of such MOF materials can be tuned by choosing linker molecules that are functionalized with a variety of chemical groups. However, thin films of these functionalised MOFs have so far been prepared through wet based chemistries, which are difficult to combine with microelectronics and high aspect ratio structures. We here report on the thin film deposition of amino-functionalised UiO-66 through an all-gas-phase ALD/MLD process. By using amino-functionalised linkers, modulation by acetic acid to control the stoichiometry of the deposited film was no longer required, as opposed to the case in which unmodified terephthalic acid was used as a linker. The growth and properties of the films were characterised using an in situ quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and other techniques to obtain information on their growth dynamics and physical properties.

Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease in Adult Males in Vojvodina: A Cross-sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most significant global health problems accompanied by numerous complicatons, with constant increase in the number of affected people. This number is much higher in early phases of disease and patients are mostly asymptomatic, so early detection of CKD is crucial. The aim was examination of the prevalence of CKD in the general population of males in Vojvodina, based on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urine albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR), and exploring the determinants and awareness of CKD. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 3060 male examinees from the general population, over 18 years of age, whose eGFR and ACR were calculated, first morning urine specimen examined, arterial blood pressure measured and body mass index calculated. Standard biochemistry methods determined creatinine, urea, uric acid and glucose serum concentrations as well as albumin and creatinine urine levels. RESULTS: Prevalence of CKD in the adult male population is 7.9%, highest in men over 65 years of age (46.7%), while in the other age groups it is 3.6-12.6%. The largest number of examinees with a positive CKD marker suffer from arterial hypertension (HTA) and diabetes mellitus (DM). Only 1.3% of examinees with eGFR<60 ml/min/1.73 m2 and/or ACR≥ 3 mg/mmol had been aware of positive CKD biomarkers. CONCLUSIONS: Obtained results show the prevalence of CKD in adult males is 7.9%, HTA and DM are the most important CKD risk factors and the level of CKD awareness is extremely low (1.3%) indicating the necessity for introduction of early stage disease recognition measures, including raising CKD awareness.