Background Early treatment of intracranial lesions in the emergency department is crucial, but it can be challenging to differentiate between them. This differentiation is essential because the ...treatment of each type of lesion is different. Cerebral computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging can help visualize the vascularity of brain lesions and provide absolute quantification of physiological parameters. Compared to magnetic resonance imaging, CTP has several advantages, such as simplicity, wide availability, and reproducibility. Purpose This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of Hounsfield units (HU) in measuring the density of hypercellular lesions and the ability of CTP to quantify hemodynamics in distinguishing intracranial space-occupying lesions. Methods A retrospective study was conducted from March 2016 to March 2022. All patients underwent CTP and CT scans, and relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and HU were obtained for intracranial lesions. Results We included a total of 244 patients in our study. This group consisted of 87 (35.7%) individuals with glioblastomas (GBs), 48 (19.7%) with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), 45 (18.4%) with metastases (METs), and 64 (26.2) with abscesses. Our study showed that the HUs for METs were higher than those for GB (S 57.4% and E 88.5%). In addition, rCBV values for PCNSL and abscesses were lower than those for GB and METs. The HU in PCNSL was higher than those in abscesses (S 94.1% and E 96.6%). Conclusion PCT parameters provide valuable information for diagnosing brain lesions. A comprehensive assessment improves accuracy. Combining rCBV and HU enhances diagnostic accuracy, making it a valuable tool for distinguishing between lesions. PCT's widespread availability allows for the use of both anatomical and functional information with high spatial resolution for diagnosing and managing brain tumor patients.Background Early treatment of intracranial lesions in the emergency department is crucial, but it can be challenging to differentiate between them. This differentiation is essential because the treatment of each type of lesion is different. Cerebral computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging can help visualize the vascularity of brain lesions and provide absolute quantification of physiological parameters. Compared to magnetic resonance imaging, CTP has several advantages, such as simplicity, wide availability, and reproducibility. Purpose This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of Hounsfield units (HU) in measuring the density of hypercellular lesions and the ability of CTP to quantify hemodynamics in distinguishing intracranial space-occupying lesions. Methods A retrospective study was conducted from March 2016 to March 2022. All patients underwent CTP and CT scans, and relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and HU were obtained for intracranial lesions. Results We included a total of 244 patients in our study. This group consisted of 87 (35.7%) individuals with glioblastomas (GBs), 48 (19.7%) with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), 45 (18.4%) with metastases (METs), and 64 (26.2) with abscesses. Our study showed that the HUs for METs were higher than those for GB (S 57.4% and E 88.5%). In addition, rCBV values for PCNSL and abscesses were lower than those for GB and METs. The HU in PCNSL was higher than those in abscesses (S 94.1% and E 96.6%). Conclusion PCT parameters provide valuable information for diagnosing brain lesions. A comprehensive assessment improves accuracy. Combining rCBV and HU enhances diagnostic accuracy, making it a valuable tool for distinguishing between lesions. PCT's widespread availability allows for the use of both anatomical and functional information with high spatial resolution for diagnosing and managing brain tumor patients.
En este artículo de revisión de tema se aborda el concepto de legibilidad y el uso de fórmulas matemáticas como método para la identificación de los niveles de dificultad de un texto con énfasis en ...mensajes relacionados con el campo de la salud. Se analizan algunas investigaciones relacionadas con el uso de fórmulas de legibilidad para el castellano. Se estudian las características de varias fórmulas matemáticas que han sido utilizadas para el análisis de legibilidad en mensajes y textos relacionados con el campo de la salud. Finalmente, se estudia la fórmula de legibilidad de Francisco Szigriszt Pazos, conocida como Fórmula de Perspicuidad, que ha sido validada científicamente. Palabras Clave: comunicación en salud, legibilidad de textos, legibilidad y salud, fórmulas de lecturabilidad, alfabetización en salud. This article reviews the topic and addresses the concept of readability and the use of mathematical formulas as an approach to identify the levels of difficulty of a text that has an emphasis on healthcare-related messages. This article analyzes some studies related to the use of readability formulas for Spanish, and studies the characteristics of several mathematical formulas which have been used to analyze the readability of healthcare-related messages and texts. Finally, this research studies Francisco Szigriszt Pazos' readability formula known as the Perspicuity Formula, which has been validated scientifically. Keywords: health communication, text readability, health and readability, readability formulas, health literacy. Neste artigo de revisão de literatura será abordado o conceito de legibilidade e o uso de fórmulas matemáticas como método para a identificação dos níveis de dificuldade de um texto com ênfase em mensagens pertinentes ao campo da saúde. São analisadas algumas pesquisas relativas ao uso de fórmulas legíveis em castelhano. São apresentadas igualmente, as características de várias fórmulas matemáticas que foram utilizadas para a análise de legibilidade de mensagens e textos atinentes ao campo da saúde. Finalmente, é examinada a fórmula de legibilidade de Francisco Szigriszt Pasos, conhecida como Fórmula de Perspicuidade, que foi validada cientificamente. Palavras-chave: comunicação em saúde; legibilidade de textos; legibilidade e saúde; fórmulas de legibilidade e alfabetização em saúde.
Ethanol increases iron absorption. Therefore, increased amount of iron reaches the liver, and exerts pro-oxidant effects and stimulates ferritin synthesis and hepatic stellate cell activation, ...promoting fibrosis and inflammation. These mechanisms would theoretically support a role of ferritin as a marker of the transition to liver cirrhosis, and, consequently, as a prognostic factor, but there is controversy regarding its behavior in alcoholics. We analyzed among 238 severe alcoholics the prognostic value of iron, ferritin, transferrin, transferrin saturation index (TSI) and total iron binding capacity (TIBC), and the relationships of these variables with liver function, proinflammatory markers (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor α), and the presence of cirrhosis. Patients showed higher serum ferritin (
Z
= 2.50,
p
= 0.031) but lower transferrin (
t
(264) = 4.81,
p
< 0.001), TIBC (
t
(262) = 4.44,
p
< 0.001), and iron (
Z
= 3.19,
p
= 0.001) values compared with 32 age- and sex-matched controls. Ferritin was related to inflammatory cytokines such as IL-8 (
ρ
= 0.18,
p
= 0.012) and to IL-6 (
ρ
= 0.16,
p
= 0.016), but not to liver function. On the contrary, cirrhotics showed lower transferrin (
t
(234) = 4.77,
p
< 0.001) and TIBC (
t
(232) = 4.67,
p
< 0.001), but higher TSI (
Z
= 3.35,
p
< 0.001) than non-cirrhotics. Transferrin, TSI, and TIBC were related to liver function impairment (marked differences among the Child’s groups regarding transferrin (KW (2) = 22.83,
p
< 0.001), TSI (KW (2) = 15.81,
p
< 0.001), and TIBC (KW (2) = 21.38,
p
< 0.001) but only weakly to inflammation (inverse relationships between IL-6 and total iron (
ρ
= − 0.16,
p
= 0.017), TIBC (
ρ
= − 0.20,
p
= 0.002), and transferrin (
ρ
= − 0.20,
p
= 0.003). In accordance, albumin, IL-6, alcohol quitting, and TSI, in this order, were independently related to mortality, but not ferritin or iron.
This article proposes two control strategies to track a desired altitude of an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). These strategies are a Super-Twisting Sliding Mode Controller (Super Twisting-SMC) and a ...Modified Super-Twisting Sliding Mode Controller (Modified Super Twisting-SMC), both controllers are robusts and present a satisfactory effectiveness even under external disturbances. The Lyapunov Stability Theory is used to guarantee the asymptotic convergence of the altitude tracking error in both control laws. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed solutions, a set of simulation results and experimental results are presented. To carry out the experiments an holonomic quad-rotor UAS is used and their altitude is obtained by using a Motion Capture System. From the theoretical and experimental results it can be proved that the Modified Super Twisting-SMC presents a faster response than the Super Twisting-SMC.
Quantum Computing and especially Quantum Machine Learning, in a short period of time, has gained a lot of interest through research groups around the world. This can be seen in the increasing number ...of proposed models for pattern classification applying quantum principles to a certain degree. Despise the increasing volume of models, there is a void in testing these models on real datasets and not only on synthetic ones. The objective of this work is to classify patterns with binary attributes using a quantum classifier. Specially, we show results of a complete quantum classifier applied to image datasets. The experiments show favorable output while dealing with balanced classification problems as well as with imbalanced classes where the minority class is the most relevant. This is promising in medical areas, where usually the important class is also the minority class.
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