SegPC-2021: A challenge & dataset on segmentation of Multiple Myeloma plasma cells from microscopic images.

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is an emerging ailment of global concern. Its diagnosis at the early stages is critical for recovery. Therefore, efforts are underway to produce digital pathology tools with human-level intelligence that are efficient, scalable, accessible, and cost-effective. Following the trend, a medical imaging challenge on "Segmentation of Multiple Myeloma Plasma Cells in Microscopic Images (SegPC-2021)" was organized at the IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), 2021, France. The challenge addressed the problem of cell segmentation in microscopic images captured from the slides prepared from the bone marrow aspirate of patients diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. The challenge released a total of 775 images with 690 and 85 images of sizes 2040×1536 and 1920×2560 pixels, respectively, captured from two different (microscope and camera) setups. The participants had to segment the plasma cells with a separate label on each cell's nucleus and cytoplasm. This problem comprises many challenges, including a reduced color contrast between the cytoplasm and the background, and the clustering of cells with a feeble boundary separation of individual cells. To our knowledge, the SegPC-2021 challenge dataset is the largest publicly available annotated data on plasma cell segmentation in MM so far. The challenge targets a semi-automated tool to ensure the supervision of medical experts. It was conducted for a span of five months, from November 2020 to April 2021. Initially, the data was shared with 696 people from 52 teams, of which 41 teams submitted the results of their models on the evaluation portal in the validation phase. Similarly, 20 teams qualified for the last round, of which 16 teams submitted the results in the final test phase. All the top-5 teams employed DL-based approaches, and the best mIoU obtained on the final test set of 277 microscopic images was 0.9389. All these five models have been analyzed and discussed in detail. This challenge task is a step towards the target of creating an automated MM diagnostic tool.

Impact of Helicobacter pylori on hematological parameters among Saudi population.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate prevalence and association between iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 79 participants with unexplained IDA. The study was carried out between November 2018 to April 2020 in the College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University in collaboration with Al-Noor Specialist Hospital, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Complete blood count (CBC), serum iron, and ferritin levels were measured. Anti-H. pylori antibody was detected using anti-H. pylori immunoglobulin G enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The prevalence of H. pylori infection among IDA patients was 62%. There was a significant difference between female and male subjects with a positive H. pylori status (p=0.001). There was also a significant difference between females and males with a positive H. pylori infection according to red blood cell count, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, and mean cor-puscular hemoglobin (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: The current study shows an association between H. pylori infection and unexplained IDA with significant difference between postmenopausal Saudi females and males. This will lead to more effective treatment in IDA and the eradication of H. pylori, as well as the prevention of recurrence, which are necessary and may provide a significant reduction in the overall disease burden.

Pure posterior chordoid foramen magnum meningioma: A case report and review of literature.

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Meningiomas are extra-axial central nervous system (CNS) tumors that arise from the arachnoid cells of the dura mater. Only 1.8-3.2% of all meningiomas are located at foramen magnum (FM) and pure posterior FM meningioma are very rare. The diagnosis of malignancy in patients with meningiomas has been a controversial issue. Only a histological study can confirm this situation. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of A 52-year-old female presented with a history of neck pain with progressive spastic quadriparesis. CLINICAL DISCUSSION: Magnetic resonance imaging MRI T1 and T2 weighted images revealed well-defied pure posterior foramen magnum Lesion. Although the lesion was very sticky to neurovascular components. Simpson grade I was achieved. Histopathology revealed Chordoid meningioma. The patient had a dramatic recovery. CONCLUSION: Although choroid meningioma is usually well circumscribed, sticky tumors should be suspected. Recurrence of Chordoid meningioma should be suspected. Total excision should be achieved and routine follow-up should be informed. Reports about chordoid meningioma aren't common, but reports on choroid foramen magnum meningioma are very rare. The opportunity to give the patient a symptom-free and normal life should not be missed in such cases.

Complete resection of pure anterior foramen magnum meningioma without neurovascular injuries poses a big challenge: Case report.

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Meningiomas are common neoplasms representing 14.3-19% of all intracranial tumors. Among all the meningiomas, only 1.8-3.2% arises at the foramen magnum (FM) level.Most of the lesions (68%-98%) arising anterolaterally, followed by postolateral, purely posterior and, more rarely, purely anterior. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of A 42-year-old female presented with a history of neck pain with progressive spastic hemiparesis. CLINICAL DISCUSSION: MRI revealed well-defied pure anterior and on both sides of vertebral artery, foramen magnum lesion. Through conservative transcondylar approach, Lesion was removed totally in a piecemeal fashion. Histopathology revealed meningothelial meningioma. The patient had a dramatic recovery. CONCLUSION: The exposure allowed by the far-lateral retrocondylar or partial transcondylar approach is adequate for resecting even anterior intradural FMMs.Reports about Foramen magnum meningioma aren't common, but reports on pure anterior foramen magnum meningioma are very rare. The prerequisite for treating FM meningiomas (FMMs) is the perfect knowledge of the surgical anatomy. The opportunity to give the patient a symptom-free and normal life should not be missed in such cases.

Spontaneous migration of a falling bullet in the cerebellum reveals the importance of intraoperative skull X-ray.

Cranial gunshot wounds (CGSWs) are the most lethal types of the cranial traumas and they are usually mortal. Falling bullets or gravitational bullets are the ones that move under the effect of the gravity force after the muzzle force diminished. CGSWs constitute a major clinical challenge for neurosurgeons dealing with trauma in both the military and civil experience. We report the case of a 21-year-old man with a falling bullet wound to the head. The decision of surgical treatment of a bullet injury is difficult if it is in close proximity to vital structures; removal of the bullet may cause significant neurological damage; however, migration can lead to a worsening of the neurological status of the patient. Before surgical removal of any intracranial bullet, as valuable information, it is recommended that a plain skull X-ray be obtained after final positioning of the head.

Degraded Historical Document Binarization: A Review on Issues, Challenges, Techniques, and Future Directions.

In this era of digitization, most hardcopy documents are being transformed into digital formats. In the process of transformation, large quantities of documents are stored and preserved through electronic scanning. These documents are available from various sources such as ancient documentation, old legal records, medical reports, music scores, palm leaf, and reports on security-related issues. In particular, ancient and historical documents are hard to read due to their degradation in terms of low contrast and existence of corrupted artefacts. In recent times, degraded document binarization has been studied widely and several approaches were developed to deal with issues and challenges in document binarization. In this paper, a comprehensive review is conducted on the issues and challenges faced during the image binarization process, followed by insights on various methods used for image binarization. This paper also discusses the advanced methods used for the enhancement of degraded documents that improves the quality of documents during the binarization process. Further discussions are made on the effectiveness and robustness of existing methods, and there is still a scope to develop a hybrid approach that can deal with degraded document binarization more effectively.

Microorganism penetration in dentinal tubules of instrumented and retreated root canal walls. In vitro SEM study.

OBJECTIVES: This in vitro study aimed to investigate the ability of Candida albicans (C. albicans) and Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) to penetrate dentinal tubules of instrumented and retreated root canal surface of split human teeth. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty intact extracted human single-rooted teeth were divided into 4 groups, negative control, positive control without canal instrumentation, instrumented, and retreated. Root canals in the instrumented group were enlarged with endodontic instruments, while root canals in the retreated group were enlarged, filled, and then removed the canal filling materials. The teeth were split longitudinally after canal preparation in 3 groups except the negative control group. The teeth were inoculated with both microorganisms separately and in combination. Teeth specimens were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the depth of penetration into the dentinal tubules was assessed using the SMILE view software (JEOL Ltd). RESULTS: Penetration of C. albicans and E. faecalis into the dentinal tubules was observed in all 3 groups, although penetration was partially restricted by dentin debris of tubules in the instrumented group and remnants of canal filling materials in the retreated group. In all 3 groups, E. faecalis penetrated deeper into the dentinal tubules by way of cell division than C. albicans which built colonies and penetrated by means of hyphae. CONCLUSIONS: Microorganisms can easily penetrate dentinal tubules of root canals with different appearance based on the microorganism size and status of dentinal tubules.