Apical lesions, the general term for chronic infectious diseases, are very common dental diseases in modern life, and are caused by various factors. The current prevailing endodontic treatment makes ...use of X-ray photography taken from patients where the lesion area is marked manually, which is therefore time consuming. Additionally, for some images the significant details might not be recognizable due to the different shooting angles or doses. To make the diagnosis process shorter and efficient, repetitive tasks should be performed automatically to allow the dentists to focus more on the technical and medical diagnosis, such as treatment, tooth cleaning, or medical communication. To realize the automatic diagnosis, this article proposes and establishes a lesion area analysis model based on convolutional neural networks (CNN). For establishing a standardized database for clinical application, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) with application number 202002030B0 has been approved with the database established by dentists who provided the practical clinical data. In this study, the image data is preprocessed by a Gaussian high-pass filter. Then, an iterative thresholding is applied to slice the X-ray image into several individual tooth sample images. The collection of individual tooth images that comprises the image database are used as input into the CNN migration learning model for training. Seventy percent (70%) of the image database is used for training and validating the model while the remaining 30% is used for testing and estimating the accuracy of the model. The practical diagnosis accuracy of the proposed CNN model is 92.5%. The proposed model successfully facilitated the automatic diagnosis of the apical lesion.
Caries is a dental disease caused by bacterial infection. If the cause of the caries is detected early, the treatment will be relatively easy, which in turn prevents caries from spreading. The ...current common procedure of dentists is to first perform radiographic examination on the patient and mark the lesions manually. However, the work of judging lesions and markings requires professional experience and is very time-consuming and repetitive. Taking advantage of the rapid development of artificial intelligence imaging research and technical methods will help dentists make accurate markings and improve medical treatments. It can also shorten the judgment time of professionals. In addition to the use of Gaussian high-pass filter and Otsu’s threshold image enhancement technology, this research solves the problem that the original cutting technology cannot extract certain single teeth, and it proposes a caries and lesions area analysis model based on convolutional neural networks (CNN), which can identify caries and restorations from the bitewing images. Moreover, it provides dentists with more accurate objective judgment data to achieve the purpose of automatic diagnosis and treatment planning as a technology for assisting precision medicine. A standardized database established following a defined set of steps is also proposed in this study. There are three main steps to generate the image of a single tooth from a bitewing image, which can increase the accuracy of the analysis model. The steps include (1) preprocessing of the dental image to obtain a high-quality binarization, (2) a dental image cropping procedure to obtain individually separated tooth samples, and (3) a dental image masking step which masks the fine broken teeth from the sample and enhances the quality of the training. Among the current four common neural networks, namely, AlexNet, GoogleNet, Vgg19, and ResNet50, experimental results show that the proposed AlexNet model in this study for restoration and caries judgments has an accuracy as high as 95.56% and 90.30%, respectively. These are promising results that lead to the possibility of developing an automatic judgment method of bitewing film.
The surfactants used for emulsion is one of the best techniques for microencapsulation of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) since it is economical. The biosurfactants have many advantages such as lower ...toxicity, higher biodegradability. In this study, microcapsules were prepared via spray drying using Bifidobacterium adolescentis species cultured in soy milk extract with biosurfactant prepared using Alcaligenes piechaudii CC-ESB2 to improve their powder properties. The soy milk was used to increase the health benefits instead of the milk. The optimum bacterial strain viability, water activity, and moisture content of the microcapsules were achieved at a spray dryer inlet/outlet temperature of 120/60°C. The composition of the carrier affects the particle size of the microcapsules. Using 90% maltodextrin (MD), 5% isomalto-oligosaccharide syrup (IMOS) and 5% biosurfactant as a carrier increased the viability of the LAB. Scanning electron microscope observations showed that the LAB microcapsules were able to effectively retain their completeness. Furthermore, microcapsules added with a biosurfactant prepared using A. piechaudii CC-ESB2 displayed significantly better flow properties than those without the surfactant and biosurfactant, which indicates that the biosurfactant assists in enhancing the powder properties of the microcapsules. It also has sufficient biological activity as a LAB product because the probiotics exceed 106 CFU/mL The spray-dried abandoned supernatant with biosurfactant exhibited superior bacteriostasis, which suggests that the supernatant of B. adolescentis during microencapsulation not only retains its bacteriostatic effect under high spray drying temperatures, but also provides additional antibacterial effects for the microcapsules.
•The microcapsules of Bifidobacterium adolescentis were prepared via spray drying.•Biosurfactant fermented by Alcaligenes piechaudii could improve the powder properties.•To produce LAB microcapsules using non-toxic biosurfactant as the carrier.
Abstract Purpose The current study aims to analyze multiple variables and to determine the factors influencing postoperative complications in reconstructive microsurgeries for head and neck cancer. ...Patients and Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of head and neck cancer patients who underwent free flap reconstruction after ablation surgery at Cathay General Hospital from January 2010 to December 2014. Clinical and surgical procedure-related factors were retrieved from a database and analyzed. Major complications included flap failure and life-threatening events. Minor complications were defined as problems that only needed routine wound care or conservative treatments. To evaluate the group differences, the chi-square test was applied for categorical variables and the Mann–Whitney U-test was used for continuous variables. Results A total of 158 patients was included in the study. The mean age of our study population was 52.4 years (range 34–84 years). Of the 158 study patients, 145 (91.8%) were men and 13 (8.2%) were women. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 23.71 kg/m2 . Most of the patients (93.7%) had a history of cigarette smoking. Some patients had diabetes (20.3%) and hypertension (31.6%). The percentage of patients who underwent radiotherapy before surgery was 19.6%. The percentage for whom the flap needed a further salvage operation was 8.9%. The success rate of our microvascular surgeries was 95.6%. The major complication rate was 6.3% and the minor complication rate was 27.8%. No surgical mortality was noted. Conclusion In our groups, poor nutrition status such as low BMI and low albumin data were associated with a higher tendency for patients to experience postoperative complications. Patients who had diabetes or who had received radiotherapy before surgery had a high risk for major complications. Large skin paddle size seemed to be an influencing factor for minor complications such as wound dehiscence and superficial loss of flaps.
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) had been applied in Internet of Things (IoT) and in Industry 4.0. Since a WSN system contains multiple wireless sensor nodes, it is necessary to develop a low-power ...and multiband wireless communication system that satisfies the specifications of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Certification European (CE). In a WSN system, many devices are of very small size and can be slipped into a Universal Serial Bus (USB), which is capable of connecting to wireless systems and networks, as well as transferring data. These devices are widely known as USB dongles. This paper develops a planar USB dongle antenna for three frequency bands, namely 2.30-2.69 GHz, 3.40-3.70 GHz, and 5.15-5.85 GHz. This study proposes a novel antenna design that uses four loops to develop the multiband USB dongle. The first and second loops construct the low and intermediate frequency ranges. The third loop resonates the high frequency property, while the fourth loop is used to enhance the bandwidth. The performance and power consumption of the proposed multiband planar USB dongle antenna were significantly improved compared to existing multiband designs.
As the popularity of dental implants continues to grow at a rate of about 14% per year, so do the risks associated with the procedure. Complications such as sinusitis and nerve damage are not ...uncommon, and inadequate cleaning can lead to peri-implantitis around the implant, jeopardizing its stability and potentially necessitating retreatment. To address this issue, this research proposes a new system for evaluating the degree of periodontal damage around implants using Periapical film (PA). The system utilizes two Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) models to accurately detect the location of the implant and assess the extent of damage caused by peri-implantitis. One of the CNN models is designed to determine the location of the implant in the PA with an accuracy of up to 89.31%, while the other model is responsible for assessing the degree of Peri-implantitis damage around the implant, achieving an accuracy of 90.45%. The system combines image cropping based on position information obtained from the first CNN with image enhancement techniques such as Histogram Equalization and Adaptive Histogram Equalization (AHE) to improve the visibility of the implant and gums. The result is a more accurate assessment of whether peri-implantitis has eroded to the first thread, a critical indicator of implant stability. To ensure the ethical and regulatory standards of our research, this proposal has been certified by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) under number 202102023B0C503. With no existing technology to evaluate Peri-implantitis damage around dental implants, this CNN-based system has the potential to revolutionize implant dentistry and improve patient outcomes.
The sensory qualities of Taiwanese teas are evaluated by the experts from the Tea Research and Extension Station (TRES) at tea competitions held annually. The prices of Taiwanese teas are also ...influenced by the results of these tea competitions. However, a tea winning an award and having a high sensory quality and price does not mean that it is liked by Taiwanese consumers. The check all that apply method (CATA) is a scientific method of sensory evaluation. It is able to evaluate the sensory characteristics with consumers and is cheap and time-saving. Twelve samples of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) Oolong tea made by the Taiwan Tea No. 12 cultivar were selected from the first Taiwanese GABA tea competition in 2020. The aim of this research was to study young Taiwanese consumers’ acceptability for GABA Oolong tea infusions, and their opinions towards the sensory qualities of teas through questionnaires composed of CATA questions and hedonic scales. Based on the results, the CATA method identified 21 important descriptive terms for GABA tea that were selected by over 20% of consumers. It was found that the consumers like GABA Oolong teas with 13 specific sensory characteristics, but dislike the ones with another 6 specific sensory characteristics. We conjecture that the different process of tea production will affect consumers’ preference for GABA Oolong tea. Overall, GABA Oolong tea has the same delightful sensory characteristics as traditional Taiwanese specialty Oolong teas, and is liked by the young Taiwanese consumers.
This paper presents the development of a wide-beam width, dual-band, omnidirectional antenna for the mm-wave band used in 5G communication systems for indoor coverage. The 5G indoor environment ...includes features of wide space and short range. Additionally, it needs to function well under a variety of circumstances in order to carry out its diverse set of network applications. The waveguide antenna has been designed to be small enough to meet the requirements of mm-wave band and utilizes a corrugated horn to produce a wide beam width. Additionally, it is small enough to integrate with 5G communication products and is easy to manufacture. This design is simple enough to have multi-feature antenna performance and is more useful for the femtocell repeater. The corrugated circularly polarized horn antenna has been designed for two frequency bands; namely, 26.5-30 GHz for the low band and 36-40 GHz for high band. The results of this study show that return-loss is better than 18 dB for both low and high band. The peak gain is 6.1 dBi for the low band and 8.7 dBi for the high band. The beam width is 105 degrees and 77 degrees for the low band and the high band, respectively. The axial ratio is less than 5.2 dB for both low and high band. Generally, traditional circularly polarized antennas cannot meet the requirements for broadband. The designs for the antennas proposed here can meet the requirements of FR2 bandwidths. This feature limits axial ratio performance. The measurement error in the current experiment comes from the high precision control on the size of the ridge.
This study led in the pioneering technique incubated in a bioreactor with the forced air injection system. The purpose of this study was to establish the optimal incubation conditions for this ...technique. The results showed that the speed at which
Inonotus obliquus
was incubated with the forced air injection system was superior to that with a normal bioreactor. A nitrogen to oxygen ratio of 50:50 provided the best results with the forced air injection system, including in terms of the achievement of biomass, total triterpenes, betulinic acid content, and the scavenging activities of DPPH radicals, which reached up to 21.3 g/1000 mL, 2.1 g/1000 mL, 1.9 g/1000 mL, and 87.3%, respectively. The results showed that the bioreactor with the forced air injection system could more effectively incubate
I. obliquus
by using less vapor while still utilizing a model close to that of a traditional bioreactor. The innovative bioreactor fermentation model was thus more economical than the traditional bioreactor model.
Electrocardiogram (ECG) is the primary basis for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. However, the amount of ECG data of patients makes manual interpretation time-consuming and onerous. ...Therefore, the intelligent ECG recognition technology is an important means to decrease the shortage of medical resources. This study proposes a novel classification method for arrhythmia that uses for the very first time a three-heartbeat multi-lead (THML) ECG data in which each fragment contains three complete heartbeat processes of multiple ECG leads. The THML ECG data pre-processing method is formulated which makes use of the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database as training samples. Four arrhythmia classification models are constructed based on one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) combined with a priority model integrated voting method to optimize the integrated classification effect. The experiments followed the recommended inter-patient scheme of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) recommendations, and the practicability and effectiveness of THML ECG data are proved with ablation experiments. Results show that the average accuracy of the N, V, S, F, and Q classes is 94.82%, 98.10%, 97.28%, 98.70%, and 99.97%, respectively, with the positive predictive value of the N, V, S, and F classes being 97.0%, 90.5%, 71.9%, and 80.4%, respectively. Compared with current studies, the THML ECG data can effectively improve the morphological integrity and time continuity of ECG information and the 1D-CNN model of ECG sequence has a higher accuracy for arrhythmia classification. The proposed method alleviates the problem of insufficient samples, meets the needs of medical ECG interpretation and contributes to the intelligent dynamic research of cardiac disease.
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