Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to have profound effects on the future of video capsule endoscopy (VCE) technology. The potential lies in improving anomaly detection while reducing ...manual labour. Existing work demonstrates the promising benefits of AI-based computer-assisted diagnosis systems for VCE. They also show great potential for improvements to achieve even better results. Also, medical data is often sparse and unavailable to the research community, and qualified medical personnel rarely have time for the tedious labelling work. We present
Kvasir-Capsule
, a large VCE dataset collected from examinations at a Norwegian Hospital.
Kvasir-Capsule
consists of 117 videos which can be used to extract a total of 4,741,504 image frames. We have labelled and medically verified 47,238 frames with a bounding box around findings from 14 different classes. In addition to these labelled images, there are 4,694,266 unlabelled frames included in the dataset. The
Kvasir-Capsule
dataset can play a valuable role in developing better algorithms in order to reach true potential of VCE technology.
STUDY QUESTION
Does in utero exposure to constituents of cigarette smoke have a programming effect on daughters' age of menarche and markers of long-term reproductive health?
SUMMARY ANSWER
In utero ...exposure to constituents of cigarette smoke was associated with earlier age of menarche and—to a lesser extent—changes in the testosterone profile of the young women.
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Studies observe potential effects of in utero exposure to constituents of cigarette smoke on the intrauterine formation of female gonads, but the consequences on long-term reproductive health in daughters remain unclear.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE AND DURATION
A prospective cohort study was designed using data from 965 pregnant women enrolled prior to a routine 30th-week antenatal examination at a midwifery practice in Denmark from 1988 to 1989 and a follow-up of their 19–21-year-old daughters in 2008.
Participants/materials, setting and methods
The pregnant women provided information on lifestyle factors during pregnancy, including the exact number of cigarettes smoked per day during the first and the second trimesters. A total of 438 eligible daughters were asked to complete a web-based questionnaire on reproductive health and subsequently invited to participate in a clinical examination during 2008. Of the 367 daughters (84%) who answered the questionnaire, 267 (61%) agreed to further examination. Information on menstrual pattern was provided at examination, blood samples were drawn to be analyzed for serum levels of reproductive hormones FSH, LH, estradiol (E2), sex hormone-binding globulin, anti-Müllerian hormone, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate (DHEAS), free testosterone and free E2 and number of follicles (2–9 mm) were examined by transvaginal ultrasound.
The daughters were divided into three exposure groups according to the level of maternal smoking during first trimester non-exposed (reference), low-exposed (mother smoking >0–9 cigarettes/day) and high-exposed (mother smoking ≥10 cigarettes/day). Data were analyzed by multiple regression analyses in which we adjusted for potential confounders. Both crude and adjusted test for trend were carried out using maternal smoking during the first trimester as a continuous variable.
MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
We observed an inverse association between in utero exposure to constituents of cigarette smoke and age of menarche (P = 0.001). Daughters exposed to >0–9 cigarettes/day debuted with –2.7 95% confidence interval (CI) –5.2 to –0.1 percentage earlier age of menarche, whereas daughters exposed to ≥10 cigarettes/day had –4.1 (95% CI: –6.6 to –1.5) percentage earlier age of menarche corresponding to 6.5 (95% CI: –10.7 to –2.2) months. There was a non-significant tendency towards lower levels of testosterone and DHEAS with increasing in utero exposure to constituents of cigarette smoke but no associations with follicle number, cycle length or serum levels of the other reproductive hormones were observed.
LIMITATIONS AND REASONS FOR CAUTION
We collected information on age of menarche retrospectively but the recall time was relatively short (2–10 years) and the reported values were within the normal range of Caucasians. Analyses of reproductive hormones are presented only for the group of daughters who were non-users of hormonal contraceptives because users were excluded, leaving only a low number of daughters available for the analyses (n = 75), as reflected in the wide CIs. The analyses of hormones were
further adjusted for menstrual phase at time of clinical examination (follicular, ovulation and luteal phase) because blood samples were not collected on a specific day of the menstrual cycle.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
This study supports the limited evidence of an inverse association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and age of menarche and further addresses to what extent reproductive capacity and hormones may be programmed by maternal smoking during pregnancy. A trend toward earlier maturation of females is suggested to have implications on long-term reproductive function.
STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
Supported by a scholarship from The Lundbeck Foundation (R93-A8476). No conflict of interest declared.
Initial performance of the COSINE-100 experiment Adhikari, G.; Adhikari, P.; de Souza, E. Barbosa ...
The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields,
02/2018, Volume:
78, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
COSINE is a dark matter search experiment based on an array of low background NaI(Tl) crystals located at the Yangyang underground laboratory. The assembly of COSINE-100 was completed in the summer ...of 2016 and the detector is currently collecting physics quality data aimed at reproducing the DAMA/LIBRA experiment that reported an annual modulation signal. Stable operation has been achieved and will continue for at least 2 years. Here, we describe the design of COSINE-100, including the shielding arrangement, the configuration of the NaI(Tl) crystal detection elements, the veto systems, and the associated operational systems, and we show the current performance of the experiment.
A search for inelastic boosted dark matter (IBDM) using the COSINE-100 detector with 59.5 days of data is presented. This relativistic dark matter is theorized to interact with the target material ...through inelastic scattering with electrons, creating a heavier state that subsequently produces standard model particles, such as an electron-positron pair. In this study, we search for this electron-positron pair in coincidence with the initially scattered electron as a signature for an IBDM interaction. No excess over the predicted background event rate is observed. Therefore, we present limits on IBDM interactions under various hypotheses, one of which allows us to explore an area of the dark photon parameter space that has not yet been covered by other experiments. This is the first experimental search for IBDM using a terrestrial detector.
Objective
To investigate long‐term pattern of mortality in menopausal women according to different modalities of hormone therapy.
Design
Population‐based prospective cohort study.
Setting
Denmark ...1993–2013.
Population
A total of 29 243 women aged 50–64 years at entry into the Diet, Cancer and Health Cohort, enrolled 1993–97 and followed through 31 December 2013.
Methods
Cox’ proportional hazards models for increasingly longer periods of follow‐up time were used to estimate mortality pattern according to baseline hormone use adjusted for relevant potential confounders.
Main outcome(s)
All‐cause and cause‐specific mortality. Outcome information was obtained from the Danish Register of Causes of Death (linkage 99.6%).
Results
A total of 4098 women died during a median follow up of 17.6 years. After adjustment for relevant lifestyle risk factors, hormone use had no impact on all‐cause mortality, regardless of modality. Among baseline users, lower cardiovascluar disease mortality was only evident after 5 years hazard ratio (HR) 0.54; 95% CI 0.32–0.92, but dissipated with additional follow up. Conversely, lower colorectal cancer mortality (HR 0.64; 95% CI 0.46–0.89) and higher breast cancer mortality (HR 1.34; 95% CI 1.05–1.72) only became evident after 15 years of follow up. There were no significant associations for mortality from other types of cancer or from stroke.
Conclusions
In this long‐term follow‐up study, taking hormones during menopause was not associated with overall mortality among middle‐aged women. Investigating cause‐specific mortality revealed significant, albeit weak, differential associations according to both causes of death and over time, underlining the importance of carefully considering individual risks and duration of treatment when making decisions on hormone therapy.
Tweetable
Long‐term follow‐up study confirms no association between menopausal hormone therapy and overall mortality.
Tweetable
Long‐term follow‐up study confirms no association between menopausal hormone therapy and overall mortality.
The Korea Invisible Mass Search (KIMS) collaboration has developed low-background NaI(Tl) crystals that are suitable for the direct detection of WIMP dark matter. Building on experience accumulated ...during the KIMS-CsI programs, the KIMS-NaI experiment will consist of a 200 kg NaI(Tl) crystal array surrounded by layers of shielding structures and will be operated at the Yangyang underground laboratory. The goal is to provide an unambiguous test of the DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation signature. Measurements of six prototype crystals show progress in the reduction of internal contamination from radioisotopes. Based on our understanding of these measurements, we expect to achieve a background level in the final detector configuration that is less than 1 count/day/keV/kg for recoil energies around 2 keV. The annual modulation sensitivity for the KIMS-NaI experiment shows that an unambiguous 7
σ
test of the DAMA/LIBRA signature would be possible with a 600 kg year exposure with this system.
Neuronal activity in the spinal cord results in extracellular potassium accumulation that is significantly higher in the dorsal horn than in the ventral horn. This is suggestive of differences in ...K(+) clearance, widely thought to involve diffusional K(+) uptake by astrocytes. We previously identified the inward rectifying K(+) channel Kir4.1 as the major K(+) conductance in spinal cord astrocytes in situ and hence hypothesized that different expression levels of Kir4.1 may account for the observed differences in potassium dynamics in spinal cord. Our results with immunohistochemical staining demonstrated highest Kir4.1 channel expression in the ventral horn and very low levels of Kir4.1 in the apex of the dorsal horn. Western blots from tissue of these two regions similarly confirmed much lower levels of Kir4.1 in the apex of the dorsal horn. Whole cell patch-clamp recordings from astrocytes in rat spinal cord slices also showed a difference in inwardly rectifying currents in these two regions. However, no statistical difference in either fast-inactivating (Ka) or delayed rectifying potassium currents (Kd) was observed, suggesting these differences were specific to Kir currents. Importantly, when astrocytes in each region were challenged with high K(+)(o), astrocytes from the dorsal horn showed significantly smaller (60%) K(+) uptake currents than astrocytes from the ventral horn. Taken together, these data support the conclusion that regional differences in astrocytic expression of Kir4.1 channels result in marked changes in potassium clearance rates in these two regions of the spinal cord.
Background
Globally there are several operational definitions for sarcopenia, complicating clinical and research applications.
Objective
The objective of the Australian and New Zealand Society for ...Sarcopenia and Frailty Research (ANZSSFR) Task Force on Diagnostic Criteria for Sarcopenia was to reach consensus on the operational definition of sarcopenia for regional use by clinicians and researchers.
Method
A four-Phase modified Delphi process was undertaken in which 24 individuals with expertise or a recognised interest in sarcopenia from different fields across Australia and New Zealand were invited to be Task Force members. An initial face-to-face meeting was held in Adelaide, South Australia, in November 2017, followed by two subsequent online Phases conducted by electronic surveys. A final Phase was used to approve the final statements. Responses were analysed using a pre-specified strategy. The level of agreement required for consensus was 80%.
Results
In Phase 2, 94.1% of Task Force respondents voted in favour of adopting an existing operational definition of sarcopenia. In Phase 3, 94.4% of respondents voted in favour of adopting the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) definition as the operational definition for sarcopenia in Australia and New Zealand.
Conclusion
With consensus achieved, the ANZSSFR will adopt, promote and validate the EWGSOP operational definition of sarcopenia for use by clinicians and researchers in Australia and New Zealand.
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