Physics Informed Neural Networks for Estimation of Tissue Properties from Multi-echo Configuration State MRI.

This work investigates the use of configuration state imaging together with deep neural networks to develop quantitative MRI techniques for deployment in an interventional setting. A physics modeling technique for inhomogeneous fields and heterogeneous tissues is presented and used to evaluate the theoretical capability of neural networks to estimate parameter maps from configuration state signal data. All tested normalization strategies achieved similar performance in estimating and .

Design and evaluation of an open-source block face imaging system for 2D histology to magnetic resonance image registration.

This study introduces a comprehensive hardware-software framework designed to enhance the quality of block face image capture-an essential intermediary step for registering 2D histology images to ex vivo magnetic resonance (MR) images. A customized camera mounting and lighting system is employed to maintain consistent relative positioning and lighting conditions. Departing from traditional transparent paraffin, dyed paraffin is utilized to enhance contrast for subsequent automatic segmentation.

Influenza vaccine effectiveness against hospitalizations and emergency department or urgent care encounters for children, adolescents, and adults during the 2023-2024 season, United States.

Background: The 2023-2024 influenza season had predominant influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus activity, but A(H3N2) and B viruses co-circulated. Seasonal influenza vaccine strains were well-matched to these viruses.

Methods: Using health care encounters data from health systems in 8 states, we evaluated influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) against influenza-associated medical encounters from October 2023-April 2024.

A honey bee-associated virus remains infectious and quantifiable in postmortem hosts.

Corpse-mediated pathogen transmission is a viable route through which naïve hosts can become infected, but its likelihood for honey bee-associated viruses is largely unknown. While these viruses can be easily detected in deceased bees, it remains unclear if they stay infectious within postmortem hosts or if enough viral RNA degradation-and subsequently virus inactivation-occurs post-host death to render these viruses inviable. This knowledge gap has important implications for how researchers perform honey bee virus studies and for our general understanding of honey bee virus transmission.

Prevention of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Among Black or African American Children With and Without Sickle Cell Disease in the United States After Introduction of 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, 2005 Through 2019.

Background: Administration of pneumococcal vaccines and oral penicillin prophylaxis has been recommended for children with sickle cell disease (SCD) to reduce the risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). Characterizing changes in IPD cases among children with SCD after 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) introduction could help inform the need for additional prevention measures.

Methods: Using data from Active Bacterial Core surveillance, we characterized IPD cases among Black or African American (Black) children aged less than 18 years with SCD, non-SCD IPD risk factors, and no IPD risk factors across three time periods (pre-PCV13 [2005-2009], early-PCV13 [2010-2014], and late-PCV13 [2015-2019]), and assessed proportion of IPD cases caused by serotypes in new pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV15, PCV20) recommended after 2019.