Review of the application of the most current sophisticated image processing methods for the skin cancer diagnostics purposes.

This paper presents the most current and innovative solutions applying modern digital image processing methods for the purpose of skin cancer diagnostics. Skin cancer is one of the most common types of cancers. It is said that in the USA only, one in five people will develop skin cancer and this trend is constantly increasing. Implementation of new, non-invasive methods plays a crucial role in both identification and prevention of skin cancer occurrence. Early diagnosis and treatment are needed in order to decrease the number of deaths due to this disease. This paper also contains some information regarding the most common skin cancer types, mortality and epidemiological data for Poland, Europe, Canada and the USA. It also covers the most efficient and modern image recognition methods based on the artificial intelligence applied currently for diagnostics purposes. In this work, both professional, sophisticated as well as inexpensive solutions were presented. This paper is a review paper and covers the period of 2017 and 2022 when it comes to solutions and statistics. The authors decided to focus on the latest data, mostly due to the rapid technology development and increased number of new methods, which positively affects diagnosis and prognosis.

Longitudinal analysis of T2 relaxation time variations following radiotherapy for prostate cancer.

Aim of this paper is to evaluate short and long-term changes in T2 relaxation times after radiotherapy in patients with low and intermediate risk localized prostate cancer. A total of 24 patients were selected for this retrospective study. Each participant underwent 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging on seven separate occasions: initially after the implantation of gold fiducials, the required step for Cyberknife therapy guidance, followed by MRI scans two weeks post-therapy and monthly thereafter. As part of each MRI scan, the prostate region was manually delineated, and the T2 relaxation times were calculated for quantitative analysis. The T2 relaxation times between individual follow-ups were analyzed using Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance that revealed a significant difference across all measurements (F (6, 120) = 0.611, p << 0.001). A Bonferroni post hoc test revealed significant differences in median T2 values between the baseline and subsequent measurements, particularly between pre-therapy (M0) and two weeks post-therapy (M1), as well as during the monthly interval checks (M2 - M6). Some cases showed a delayed decrease in relaxation times, indicating the prolonged effects of therapy. The changes in T2 values during the course of radiotherapy can help in monitoring radiotherapy response in unconfirmed patients, quantifying the scarring process, and recognizing the therapy failure.

Regular Running Is Related to the Knee Joint Cartilage Structure in Healthy Adults.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether regular running distance and biomechanics are related to medial central femur cartilage (MCFC) structure. METHODS: The cross-sectional study sample consisted of 1164 runners and nonrunners aged 18-65 yr. Participants completed questionnaires on physical activity and their running history. We performed quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of knee cartilage-T2 relaxation time (T2) mapping (high T2 indicates cartilage degeneration)-and a running biomechanical analysis using a three-dimensional motion capture system. A 14-d monitoring of the physical activity was conducted. RESULTS: Those aged 35-49 yr were at 84% higher odds of having MCFC T2 in the highest level (85th percentile, P < 0.05) compared with youngest adults indicating that MCFC structures may be altered with aging. Being male was associated with 34% lower odds of having T2 at the highest level ( P < 0.05) compared with females. Nonrunners and runners with the highest weekly running distance were more likely to have a high T2 compared with runners with running distance of 6-20 km·wk -1 ( P < 0.05). In addition, the maximal knee internal adduction moment was associated with a 19% lower odds of having T2 at the highest level ( P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Females compared with males and a middle-aged cohort compared with the younger cohort seemed to be associated with the degeneration of MCFC structures. Runners who ran 6-20 km·wk -1 were associated with a higher quality of their MCFC compared with highly active individuals and nonrunners. Knee frontal plane biomechanics was related to MCFC structure indicating a possibility of modifying the medial knee collagen fibril network through regular running.

Correlations between Achilles tendon material and structural properties and quantitative magnetic resonance imagining in different athletic populations.

Achilles tendon stiffness (kAT) and Young's modulus (yAT) are important determinants of tendon function. However, their evaluation requires sophisticated equipment and time-consuming procedures. The goal of this study was twofold: to compare kAT and yAT between populations using the classical approach proposed in the literature (a combination of ultrasound and force data) and the MRI technique to understand the MRI's capability in determining differences in kAT and yAT. Furthermore, we investigated potential correlations between short and long T2* relaxation time, kAT and yAT to determine whether T2* relaxation time may be associated with material or structural properties. Twelve endurance and power athlete, and twelve healthy controls were recruited. AT T2* short and long components were measured using standard gradient echo MRI at rest, while kAT and yAT were evaluated using the classical method (combination of ultrasound and dynamometric measurements). Power athletes had the highest kAT (3064 ± 260, 2714 ± 260 and 2238 ± 189 N/mm for power athletes, endurance athletes and healthy control, respectively) and yAT (2.39 ± 0.28, 1.64 ± 0.22 and 1.97 ± 0.32 GPa for power athletes, endurance athletes and healthy control, respectively) and the lowest T2* short component (0.58 ± 0.07, 0.77 ± 0.06 and 0.74 ± 0.08 ms for power athletes, endurance athletes and healthy control, respectively). Endurance athletes had the highest T2* long component value. No correlations were reported between T2* long component, kAT or yAT in the investigated populations, whereas the T2* short component was negatively correlated with yAT. These results suggest that T2* short component could be used to investigate the differences in AT material properties in different populations.

A innovative wavelet transformation method optimization in the noise-canceling application within intelligent building occupancy detection monitoring.

The study deals with detection of the occupation of Intelligent Building (IB) using data obtained from indirect methods with Big Data Analysis within IoT. In the area of daily living activity monitoring, one of the most challenging tasks is occupancy prediction, giving us information about people's mobility in the building. This task can be done via monitoring of CO2 as a reliable method, which has the ambition to predict the presence of the people in specific areas. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid system, which is based on the Support Vector Machine (SVM) prediction of the CO2 waveform with the use of sensors that measure indoor/outdoor temperature and relative humidity. For each such prediction, we also record the gold standard CO2 signal to objectively compare and evaluate the quality of the proposed system. Unfortunately, this prediction is often linked with a presence of predicted signal activities in the form of glitches, often having an oscillating character, which inaccurately approximates the real CO2 signals. Thus, the difference between the gold standard and the prediction results from SVM is increasing. Therefore, we employed as the second part of the proposed system a smoothing procedure based on Wavelet transformation, which has ambitions to reduce inaccuracies in predicted signal via smoothing and increase the accuracy of the whole prediction system. The whole system is completed with an optimization procedure based on the Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm, which finally classifies the wavelet's response to recommend the most suitable wavelet settings to be used for data smoothing.

Achilles tendon structure is associated with regular running volume and biomechanics.

Achilles tendinopathy was reported to have the highest incidence proportion of all running-related injuries. The purpose of this study was to analyse the association between the Achilles tendon structure and running activity status. 350 healthy participants (runners and inactive controls, 30-50 years) participated in this research. Each participant completed questionnaires: socioeconomic, psychological, physical activity habits, running status and history and VISA-A. Magnetic resonance imaging, anthropological, running biomechanics and 14 days of physical activity monitoring assessments were performed. There was a higher odd of being in the upper quartile of the Achilles tendon T2* relaxation time with higher maximal knee extension moment independent of age and sex. Compared with runners who ran 21-40 km per week, non-runners and those who ran more than 40 km per week had increased odds of having longest the Achilles tendon T2* relaxation time. Regular running of 21 to 40 km per week is related to the Achilles tendon T2* relaxation time indicating possibly better water content and collagen orientation in these runners with compare to inactive non-runners or highly active individuals. In addition, Achilles tendon T2* relaxation time as indirect indicator of the Achilles tendon structure was positively related to the maximal knee extension moment during running.

Prevention of sarcopenia in patients with obesity after bariatric and metabolic surgery: The effect of programmed training on the muscle tissue and anthropometric functions - A randomized controlled trial (SarxOb study protocol).

Obesity is a serious metabolic disease that significantly increases cardiovascular risks and other health complications. Sarcopenia is an independent risk factor for morbidity and mortality in patients suffering from obesity that increases the health risks and is associated with cardiac, respiratory and other diseases.  Bariatric and metabolic surgery (BMS) leads to significant changes in body composition. Our pilot study showed that bariatric patients are at risk of sarcopenia after BMS. This finding resulted in a hypothesis that an exercise plan in the experimental group will lead to postural stabilization and a lower decline in muscle homotopy, further leading to a greater reduction in fat mass and a positive effect of exercise on skeletal muscle volume and strength and endocrine-metabolic function. The aim of the present study is to determine the effect of programmed aerobic and strength training on muscle function, volume, and morphology in patients after BMS. The study is a single-center, randomized clinical trial after sleeve gastrectomy focused on muscle tissue. The experimental group will perform targeted physical activity once a week for 12 months and the training plan will include anaerobic and aerobic components. Magnetic resonance imaging of skeletal muscles will be correlated with the values of densitometry examination and changes in body composition, certain blood parameters of myokines, biomechanical analysis of movement abnormalities, and behavioral and dietary counseling. This study will address the research questions about the effect of programmed training on muscle tissue and muscular functions after BMS.

Use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Quantify Fat and Steatosis in the Pancreas in Patients after Bariatric Surgery: a Retrospective Study.

INTRODUCTION: Pancreatic steatosis (PS) has both metabolic consequences and local effects on the pancreas itself. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most reliable non-invasive method for diagnosing PS. We investigated the impact of metabolic syndrome (MS) on the presence of PS, differences in individuals with and without PS, and the metabolic effects of bariatric procedures. METHODS: Changes in anthropometric and basic biochemistry values and MS occurrence were evaluated in 34 patients with obesity who underwent a bariatric procedure. After the procedure, patients underwent MRI with manual 3D segmentation mask creation to determine the pancreatic fat content (PFC). We compared the differences in the PFC and the presence of PS in individuals with and without MS and compared patients with and without PS. RESULTS: We found no significant difference in the PFC between the groups with and without MS or in the occurrence of PS. There were significant differences in patients with and without PS, especially in body mass index (BMI), fat mass, visceral adipose tissue (VAT), select adipocytokines, and lipid spectrum with no difference in glycemia levels. Significant metabolic effects of bariatric procedures were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Bariatric procedures can be considered effective in the treatment of obesity, MS, and some of its components. Measuring PFC using MRI did not show any difference in relation to MS, but patients who lost weight to BMI < 30 did not suffer from PS and had lower overall fat mass and VAT. Glycemia levels did not have an impact on the presence of PS.

Comparative analysis of wavelet transform filtering systems for noise reduction in ultrasound images.

Wavelet transform (WT) is a commonly used method for noise suppression and feature extraction from biomedical images. The selection of WT system settings significantly affects the efficiency of denoising procedure. This comparative study analyzed the efficacy of the proposed WT system on real 292 ultrasound images from several areas of interest. The study investigates the performance of the system for different scaling functions of two basic wavelet bases, Daubechies and Symlets, and their efficiency on images artificially corrupted by three kinds of noise. To evaluate our extensive analysis, we used objective metrics, namely structural similarity index (SSIM), correlation coefficient, mean squared error (MSE), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and universal image quality index (Q-index). Moreover, this study includes clinical insights on selected filtration outcomes provided by clinical experts. The results show that the efficiency of the filtration strongly depends on the specific wavelet system setting, type of ultrasound data, and the noise present. The findings presented may provide a useful guideline for researchers, software developers, and clinical professionals to obtain high quality images.

Does the Achilles Tendon Influence Foot Strike Patterns During an Exhaustive Run?

The study purpose was to investigate whether there is a relationship between the Achilles tendon (AT) length, moment arm length, and the foot strike pattern (FP) change during an exhaustive run (EXR) in nonrearfoot FP runners. Twenty-eight runners were recruited and divided into 2 groups (highly trained/moderately trained) according to their weekly training volume. Participants underwent the graded exercise test, the EXR with biomechanical analysis at the beginning, and at the end, and the magnetic resonance imaging scan of the AT. Correlations were used to assess associations between FP change (value of the difference between end and beginning) and the selected performance and AT variables. AT length significantly correlated with the FP change according to foot strike angle (r = -.265, P = .049). The AT moment arm length significantly correlated with the FP change according to strike index during EXR (r = -.536, P = .003). Multiple regression showed that AT length was a significant predictor for the FP change according to foot strike angle if the second predictor was the graded exercise test duration and the third predictor was training group association. These results suggest that a runner's training volume, along with a longer AT and AT moment arm appear to be associated with the ability to maintain a consistent FP during EXR by nonrearfoot FP runners.

A Comparison of Alternative Approaches to MR Cardiac Triggering: A Pilot Study at 3 Tesla.

This pilot comparative study evaluates the usability of the alternative approaches to magnetic resonance (MR) cardiac triggering based on ballistocardiography (BCG): fiber-optic sensor (O-BCG) and pneumatic sensor (P-BCG). The comparison includes both the objective and subjective assessment of the proposed sensors in comparison with a gold standard of ECG-based triggering. The objective evaluation included several image quality assessment (IQA) parameters, whereas the subjective analysis was performed by 10 experts rating the diagnostic quality (scale 1 - 3, 1 corresponding to the best image quality and 3 the worst one). Moreover, for each examination, we provided the examination time and comfort rating (scale 1 - 3). The study was performed on 10 healthy subjects. All data were acquired on a 3 T SIEMENS MAGNETOM Prisma. In image quality analysis, all approaches reached comparable results, with ECG slightly outperforming the BCG-based methods, especially according to the objective metrics. The subjective evaluation proved the best quality of ECG (average score of 1.68) and higher performance of P-BCG (1.97) than O-BCG (2.03). In terms of the comfort rating and total examination time, the ECG method achieved the worst results, i.e. the highest score and the longest examination time: 2.6 and 10:49 s, respectively. The BCG-based alternatives achieved comparable results (P-BCG 1.5 and 8:06 s; OBCG 1.9, 9:08 s). This study confirmed that the proposed BCG-based alternative approaches to MR cardiac triggering offer comparable quality of resulting images with the benefits of reduced examination time and increased patient comfort.

Recent Trends, Construction, and Applications of Smart Textiles and Clothing for Monitoring of Health Activity: A Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Review.

In the area of biomedical signal monitoring, wearable electronics represents a dynamically growing field with a significant impact on the market of commercial products of biomedical signal monitoring and acquisition, as well as consumer electronic for vital functions monitoring. Since the electrodes are perceived as one of the most important part of the biomedical signal monitoring, they have been one of the most frequent subjects in the research community. Electronic textile (e-textile), also called smart textile represents a modern trend in the wearable electronics, integrating of functional materials with common clothing with the goal to realize the devices, which include sensors, antennas, energy harvesters and advanced textiles for self-cooling and heating. The area of textile electrodes and e-textile is perceived as a multidisciplinary field, integrating material engineering, chemistry, and biomedical engineering. In this review, we provide a comprehensive view on this area. This multidisciplinary review integrates the e-textile characteristics, materials and manufacturing of the textile electrodes, noise influence on the e-textiles performance, and mainly applications of the textile electrodes for biomedical signal monitoring and acquisition, including pressure sensors, electrocardiography, electromyography, electroencephalography and electrooculography monitoring.

Quantitative and Comparative Analysis of Effectivity and Robustness for Enhanced and Optimized Non-Local Mean Filter Combining Pixel and Patch Information on MR Images of Musculoskeletal System.

In the area of musculoskeletal MR images analysis, the image denoising plays an important role in enhancing the spatial image area for further processing. Recent studies have shown that non-local means (NLM) methods appear to be more effective and robust when compared with conventional local statistical filters, including median or average filters, when Rician noise is presented. A significant limitation of NLM is the fact that thy have the tendency to suppress tiny objects, which may represent clinically important information. For this reason, we provide an extensive quantitative and objective analysis of a novel NLM algorithm, taking advantage of pixel and patch similarity information with the optimization procedure for optimal filter parameters selection to demonstrate a higher robustness and effectivity, when comparing with NLM and conventional local means methods, including average and median filters. We provide extensive testing on variable noise generators with dynamical noise intensity to objectively demonstrate the robustness of the method in a noisy environment, which simulates relevant, variable and real conditions. This work also objectively evaluates the potential and benefits of the application of NLM filters in contrast to conventional local-mean filters. The final part of the analysis is focused on the segmentation performance when an NLM filter is applied. This analysis demonstrates a better performance of tissue identification with the application of smoothing procedure under worsening image conditions.

Running and Physical Activity in an Air-Polluted Environment: The Biomechanical and Musculoskeletal Protocol for a Prospective Cohort Study 4HAIE (Healthy Aging in Industrial Environment-Program 4).

Far too little attention has been paid to health effects of air pollution and physical (in)activity on musculoskeletal health. The purpose of the Healthy aging in industrial environment study (4HAIE) is to investigate the potential impact of physical activity in highly polluted air on musculoskeletal health. A total of 1500 active runners and inactive controls aged 18-65 will be recruited. The sample will be recruited using quota sampling based on location (the most air-polluted region in EU and a control region), age, sex, and activity status. Participants will complete online questionnaires and undergo a two-day baseline laboratory assessment, including biomechanical, physiological, psychological testing, and magnetic resonance imaging. Throughout one-year, physical activity data will be collected through Fitbit monitors, along with data regarding the incidence of injuries, air pollution, psychological factors, and behavior collected through a custom developed mobile application. Herein, we introduce a biomechanical and musculoskeletal protocol to investigate musculoskeletal and neuro-mechanical health in this 4HAIE cohort, including a design for controlling for physiological and psychological injury factors. In the current ongoing project, we hypothesize that there will be interactions of environmental, biomechanical, physiological, and psychosocial variables and that these interactions will cause musculoskeletal diseases/protection.

Towards to Optimal Wavelet Denoising Scheme-A Novel Spatial and Volumetric Mapping of Wavelet-Based Biomedical Data Smoothing.

Wavelet transformation is one of the most frequent procedures for data denoising, smoothing, decomposition, features extraction, and further related tasks. In order to perform such tasks, we need to select appropriate wavelet settings, including particular wavelet, decomposition level and other parameters, which form the wavelet transformation outputs. Selection of such parameters is a challenging area due to absence of versatile recommendation tools for suitable wavelet settings. In this paper, we propose a versatile recommendation system for prediction of suitable wavelet selection for data smoothing. The proposed system is aimed to generate spatial response matrix for selected wavelets and the decomposition levels. Such response enables the mapping of selected evaluation parameters, determining the efficacy of wavelet settings. The proposed system also enables tracking the dynamical noise influence in the context of Wavelet efficacy by using volumetric response. We provide testing on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) image data and EMG signals mostly of musculoskeletal system to objectivise system usability for clinical data processing. The experimental testing is done by using evaluation parameters such is MSE (Mean Squared Error), ED (Euclidean distance) and Corr (Correlation index). We also provide the statistical analysis of the results based on Mann-Whitney test, which points out on statistically significant differences for individual Wavelets for the data corrupted with Salt and Pepper and Gaussian noise.

Recent Trends, Technical Concepts and Components of Computer-Assisted Orthopedic Surgery Systems: A Comprehensive Review.

Computer-assisted orthopedic surgery (CAOS) systems have become one of the most important and challenging types of system in clinical orthopedics, as they enable precise treatment of musculoskeletal diseases, employing modern clinical navigation systems and surgical tools. This paper brings a comprehensive review of recent trends and possibilities of CAOS systems. There are three types of the surgical planning systems, including: systems based on the volumetric images (computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or ultrasound images), further systems utilize either 2D or 3D fluoroscopic images, and the last one utilizes the kinetic information about the joints and morphological information about the target bones. This complex review is focused on three fundamental aspects of CAOS systems: their essential components, types of CAOS systems, and mechanical tools used in CAOS systems. In this review, we also outline the possibilities for using ultrasound computer-assisted orthopedic surgery (UCAOS) systems as an alternative to conventionally used CAOS systems.