Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the United States with more than 200,000 new cases in 2018. Multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) is increasingly used for prostate cancer ...evaluation. Prostate organ segmentation is an essential step of surgical planning for prostate fusion biopsies. Deep learning convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are the predominant method of machine learning for medical image recognition. In this study, we describe a deep learning approach, a subset of artificial intelligence, for automatic localization and segmentation of prostates from mpMRI.
This retrospective study included patients who underwent prostate MRI and ultrasound-MRI fusion transrectal biopsy between September 2014 and December 2016. Axial T2-weighted images were manually segmented by two abdominal radiologists, which served as ground truth. These manually segmented images were used for training on a customized hybrid 3D-2D U-Net CNN architecture in a fivefold cross-validation paradigm for neural network training and validation. The Dice score, a measure of overlap between manually segmented and automatically derived segmentations, and Pearson linear correlation coefficient of prostate volume were used for statistical evaluation.
The CNN was trained on 299 MRI examinations (total number of MR images = 7774) of 287 patients. The customized hybrid 3D-2D U-Net had a mean Dice score of 0.898 (range, 0.890-0.908) and a Pearson correlation coefficient for prostate volume of 0.974.
A deep learning CNN can automatically segment the prostate organ from clinical MR images. Further studies should examine developing pattern recognition for lesion localization and quantification.
Purpose
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to significant disruptions in the healthcare system including surges of infected patients exceeding local capacity, closures of ...primary care offices, and delays of non-emergent medical care. Government-initiated measures to decrease healthcare utilization (i.e., “flattening the curve”) have included shelter-in-place mandates and social distancing, which have taken effect across most of the USA. We evaluate the immediate impact of the Public Health Messaging and shelter-in-place mandates on Emergency Department (ED) demand for radiology services.
Methods
We analyzed ED radiology volumes from the five University of California health systems during a 2-week time period following the shelter-in-place mandate and compared those volumes with March 2019 and early April 2019 volumes.
Results
ED radiology volumes declined from the 2019 baseline by 32 to 40% (
p
< 0.001) across the five health systems with a total decrease in volumes across all 5 systems by 35% (
p
< 0.001). Stratifying by subspecialty, the smallest declines were seen in non-trauma thoracic imaging, which decreased 18% (
p
value < 0.001), while all other non-trauma studies decreased by 48% (
p
< 0.001).
Conclusion
Total ED radiology demand may be a marker for public adherence to shelter-in-place mandates, though ED chest radiology demand may increase with an increase in COVID-19 cases.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Study objective The current outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa is the largest on record and has overwhelmed the capacity of local health systems and the international community to provide ...sufficient isolation and treatment of all suspected cases. The goal of this study is to develop a clinical prediction model that can help clinicians risk-stratify patients with suspected Ebola virus disease in the context of such an epidemic. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed of patient data collected during routine clinical care at the Bong County Ebola Treatment Unit in Liberia during its first 16 weeks of operation. The predictive power of 14 clinical and epidemiologic variables was measured against the primary outcome of laboratory-confirmed Ebola virus disease, using logistic regression to develop a final prediction model. Bootstrap sampling was used to assess the internal validity of the model and estimate its performance in a simulated validation cohort. Results Ebola virus disease testing results were available for 382 (97%) of 395 patients admitted to the Ebola treatment unit during the study period. A total of 160 patients (42%) tested positive for Ebola virus disease. Logistic regression analysis identified 6 variables independently predictive of laboratory-confirmed Ebola virus disease, including sick contact, diarrhea, loss of appetite, muscle pains, difficulty swallowing, and absence of abdominal pain. The Ebola Prediction Score, constructed with these 6 variables, had an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.75 (95% confidence interval 0.70 to 0.80) for the prediction of laboratory-confirmed Ebola virus disease. Patients with higher Ebola Prediction Scores had higher likelihoods of laboratory-confirmed Ebola virus disease. Conclusion The Ebola Prediction Score can be used by clinicians as an adjunct to current Ebola virus disease case definitions to risk-stratify patients with suspected Ebola virus disease. Clinicians can use this new tool for the purpose of cohorting patients within the suspected-disease ward of an Ebola treatment unit or community-based isolation center to prevent nosocomial infection or as a triage tool when patient numbers overwhelm available capacity. Given the inherent limitations of clinical prediction models, however, a low-cost, point-of-care test that can rapidly and definitively exclude Ebola virus disease in patients should be a research priority.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
4.
Invertebrate models of fungal infection Arvanitis, Marios; Glavis-Bloom, Justin; Mylonakis, Eleftherios
Biochimica et biophysica acta,
September 2013, 2013-Sep, 2013-09-00, Volume:
1832, Issue:
9
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The morbidity, mortality and economic burden associated with fungal infections, together with the emergence of fungal strains resistant to current antimicrobial agents, necessitate broadening our ...understanding of fungal pathogenesis and discovering new agents to treat these infections. Using invertebrate hosts, especially the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the model insects Drosophila melanogaster and Galleria mellonella, could help achieve these goals. The evolutionary conservation of several aspects of the innate immune response between invertebrates and mammals makes the use of these simple hosts an effective and fast screening method for identifying fungal virulence factors and testing potential antifungal compounds. The purpose of this review is to compare several model hosts that have been used in experimental mycology to-date and to describe their different characteristics and contribution to the study of fungal virulence and the detection of compounds with antifungal properties. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Animal Models of Disease.
•Several invertebrate hosts have been used to-date to study fungal infections.•These model hosts can help in the discovery of new antifungal agents.•They can also help identify aspects of the innate immune response to pathogens.•We aim to present their characteristics and their relative differences.•We focus mostly on Drosophila, Caenorhabditis and Galleria.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Minimally invasive alternatives to traditional prostate surgery are increasingly utilized to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia and localized prostate cancer in select patients. Advantages of these ...treatments over prostatectomy include lower risk of complication, shorter length of hospital stay, and a more favorable safety profile. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) has become a widely accepted imaging modality for evaluation of the prostate gland and provides both anatomical and functional information. As prostate mpMRI and minimally invasive prostate procedure volumes increase, it is important for radiologists to be familiar with normal post-procedure imaging findings and potential complications. This paper reviews the indications, procedural concepts, common post-procedure imaging findings, and potential complications of prostatic artery embolization, prostatic urethral lift, irreversible electroporation, photodynamic therapy, high-intensity focused ultrasound, focal cryotherapy, and focal laser ablation.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, VSZLJ, ZAGLJ
The rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) revealed significant constraints in critical care capacity. In anticipation of subsequent waves, reliable prediction of disease severity is ...essential for critical care capacity management and may enable earlier targeted interventions to improve patient outcomes. The purpose of this study is to develop and externally validate a prognostic model/clinical tool for predicting COVID-19 critical disease at presentation to medical care.
This is a retrospective study of a prognostic model for the prediction of COVID-19 critical disease where critical disease was defined as ICU admission, ventilation, and/or death. The derivation cohort was used to develop a multivariable logistic regression model. Covariates included patient comorbidities, presenting vital signs, and laboratory values. Model performance was assessed on the validation cohort by concordance statistics. The model was developed with consecutive patients with COVID-19 who presented to University of California Irvine Medical Center in Orange County, California. External validation was performed with a random sample of patients with COVID-19 at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia.
Of a total 3208 patients tested in the derivation cohort, 9% (299/3028) were positive for COVID-19. Clinical data including past medical history and presenting laboratory values were available for 29% (87/299) of patients (median age, 48 years range, 21-88 years; 64% 36/55 male). The most common comorbidities included obesity (37%, 31/87), hypertension (37%, 32/87), and diabetes (24%, 24/87). Critical disease was present in 24% (21/87). After backward stepwise selection, the following factors were associated with greatest increased risk of critical disease: number of comorbidities, body mass index, respiratory rate, white blood cell count, % lymphocytes, serum creatinine, lactate dehydrogenase, high sensitivity troponin I, ferritin, procalcitonin, and C-reactive protein. Of a total of 40 patients in the validation cohort (median age, 60 years range, 27-88 years; 55% 22/40 male), critical disease was present in 65% (26/40). Model discrimination in the validation cohort was high (concordance statistic: 0.94, 95% confidence interval 0.87-1.01). A web-based tool was developed to enable clinicians to input patient data and view likelihood of critical disease.
We present a model which accurately predicted COVID-19 critical disease risk using comorbidities and presenting vital signs and laboratory values, on derivation and validation cohorts from two different institutions. If further validated on additional cohorts of patients, this model/clinical tool may provide useful prognostication of critical care needs.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Prostate carcinoma is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) is a non-invasive tool that can improve prostate lesion detection, ...classification, and volume quantification. Machine learning (ML), a branch of artificial intelligence, can rapidly and accurately analyze mpMRI images. ML could provide better standardization and consistency in identifying prostate lesions and enhance prostate carcinoma management. This review summarizes ML applications to prostate mpMRI and focuses on prostate organ segmentation, lesion detection and segmentation, and lesion characterization. A literature search was conducted to find studies that have applied ML methods to prostate mpMRI. To date, prostate organ segmentation and volume approximation have been well executed using various ML techniques. Prostate lesion detection and segmentation are much more challenging tasks for ML and were attempted in several studies. They largely remain unsolved problems due to data scarcity and the limitations of current ML algorithms. By contrast, prostate lesion characterization has been successfully completed in several studies because of better data availability. Overall, ML is well situated to become a tool that enhances radiologists' accuracy and speed.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Summary Background Dehydration due to diarrhoea is a leading cause of child death worldwide, yet no clinical tools for assessing dehydration have been validated in resource-limited settings. The ...Dehydration: Assessing Kids Accurately (DHAKA) score was derived for assessing dehydration in children with diarrhoea in a low-income country setting. In this study, we aimed to externally validate the DHAKA score in a new population of children and compare its accuracy and reliability to the current Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) algorithm. Methods DHAKA was a prospective cohort study done in children younger than 60 months presenting to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, with acute diarrhoea (defined by WHO as three or more loose stools per day for less than 14 days). Local nurses assessed children and classified their dehydration status using both the DHAKA score and the IMCI algorithm. Serial weights were obtained and dehydration status was established by percentage weight change with rehydration. We did regression analyses to validate the DHAKA score and compared the accuracy and reliability of the DHAKA score and IMCI algorithm with receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves and the weighted κ statistic. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT02007733. Findings Between March 22, 2015, and May 15, 2015, 496 patients were included in our primary analyses. On the basis of our criterion standard, 242 (49%) of 496 children had no dehydration, 184 (37%) of 496 had some dehydration, and 70 (14%) of 496 had severe dehydration. In multivariable regression analyses, each 1-point increase in the DHAKA score predicted an increase of 0·6% in the percentage dehydration of the child and increased the odds of both some and severe dehydration by a factor of 1·4. Both the accuracy and reliability of the DHAKA score were significantly greater than those of the IMCI algorithm. Interpretation The DHAKA score is the first clinical tool for assessing dehydration in children with acute diarrhoea to be externally validated in a low-income country. Further validation studies in a diverse range of settings and paediatric populations are warranted. Funding National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Although dehydration from diarrhea is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under five, existing methods of assessing dehydration status in children have limited accuracy.
To assess ...the accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound measurement of the aorta-to-IVC ratio as a predictor of dehydration in children.
A prospective cohort study of children under five years with acute diarrhea was conducted in the rehydration unit of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). Ultrasound measurements of aorta-to-IVC ratio and dehydrated weight were obtained on patient arrival. Percent weight change was monitored during rehydration to classify children as having "some dehydration" with weight change 3-9% or "severe dehydration" with weight change > 9%. Logistic regression analysis and Receiver-Operator Characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the accuracy of aorta-to-IVC ratio as a predictor of dehydration severity.
850 children were enrolled, of which 771 were included in the final analysis. Aorta to IVC ratio was a significant predictor of the percent dehydration in children with acute diarrhea, with each 1-point increase in the aorta to IVC ratio predicting a 1.1% increase in the percent dehydration of the child. However, the area under the ROC curve (0.60), sensitivity (67%), and specificity (49%), for predicting severe dehydration were all poor.
Point-of-care ultrasound of the aorta-to-IVC ratio was statistically associated with volume status, but was not accurate enough to be used as an independent screening tool for dehydration in children under five years presenting with acute diarrhea in a resource-limited setting.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK