Segmentation of choroidal area in optical coherence tomography images using a transfer learning-based conventional neural network: a focus on diabetic retinopathy and a literature review.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of DeepLabv3+with Squeeze-and-Excitation (DeepLabv3+SE) architectures for segmenting the choroid in optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Methods: A total of 300 B-scans were selected from 21 patients with mild to moderate diabetic retinopathy. Six DeepLabv3+SE variants, each utilizing a different pre-trained convolutional neural network (CNN) for feature extraction, were compared.

The effect of Brucella abortus on glial activation and cell death in adult male rat's hippocampus.

A zoonotic disease called brucellosis can cause flu-like symptoms and heart inflammation. The bacteria responsible for this disease can also enter the brain, causing a condition called neurobrucellosis that can result in long-term neurological problems. In this study, researchers aimed to determine the changes in the hippocampal cells of rats infected with Brucella.

The model of solving ethical challenges with nursing based on faith in God: a new model for nurses to care during epidemics.

Background: The existence of various ethical challenges, the inability to resolve ethical conflicts, and, as a result, the low quality of care and the occurrence of dissatisfaction in patients and nurses have been discussed for years. By creating new ethical challenges, the Covid-19pandemic has played an important role in making the process of care for these patients more difficult and complicated. This study was conducted with the aim of designing a prescriptive model to help provide ethical-care and resolve ethical conflicts during the Covid-19pandemic.

Efficient segmentation of active and inactive plaques in FLAIR-images using DeepLabV3Plus SE with efficientnetb0 backbone in multiple sclerosis.

This research paper introduces an efficient approach for the segmentation of active and inactive plaques within Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images, employing a convolutional neural network (CNN) model known as DeepLabV3Plus SE with the EfficientNetB0 backbone in Multiple sclerosis (MS), and demonstrates its superior performance compared to other CNN architectures. The study encompasses various critical components, including dataset pre-processing techniques, the utilization of the Squeeze and Excitation Network (SE-Block), and the atrous spatial separable pyramid Block to enhance segmentation capabilities. Detailed descriptions of pre-processing procedures, such as removing the cranial bone segment, image resizing, and normalization, are provided.

The role of histamine and its receptors in breast cancer: from pathology to therapeutic targets.

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, and despite the development of new treatment methods and the decreasing mortality rate in recent years, one of the clinical problems in breast cancer treatment is chronic inflammation in the tumor microenvironment. Histamine, an inflammatory mediator, is produced by tumor cells and can induce chronic inflammation and the growth of some tumors by recruiting inflammatory cells. It can also affect tumor physiopathology, antitumor treatment efficiency, and patient survival.

Effectiveness of polyacrylamide-g-gelatin/ACL/Mg-Fe LDH composite hydrogel as an eliminator of crystal violet dye.

Cationic synthetic dyes are one of the hazards in aqueous solutions that can affect the health of humans and living organisms. In the current work, polyacrylamide (PAM)-g-gelatin hydrogel and modified PAM-g-gelatin hydrogel using activated carbon of Luffa cylindrica (ACL) and ACL/Mg-Fe LDH were applied to eliminate crystal violet (CV), a cationic dye, from water media. The hydrogels were synthesized using free radical polymerization approach, and the hydrogels were characterized using FTIR, XRD, TGA-DTG, BET, SEM, and EDX-Map.

An Evaluation of the Relationship Between Medication Regimen Complexity as Measured by the MRC-ICU to Medication Errors in Critically Ill Patients.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between medication regimen complexity-intensive care unit (MRC-ICU) score at 24 hours and medication errors identified throughout the ICU. A single-center, observational study was conducted from August to October 2021. The primary outcome was the association between MRC-ICU at 24 hours and total medication errors identified.

Challenging in leprosy relapse with antiphospholipid syndrome diagnosis: A case report.

Key Clinical Message: Infectious diseases like leprosy can cause antiphospholipid antibodies, leading to blood clots. Clinicians should consider this for patients with unusual thrombotic events and prior infectious disease history.

Abstract: This case report details the diagnostic challenge of a 42-year-old man with a history of treated leprosy who presented with clinical features suggestive of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS).

Medication regimen complexity (MRC-ICU) for in-hospital mortality prediction in COVID-19 patients.

Purpose: The medication regimen complexity-intensive care unit (MRC-ICU) score was developed prior to the existence of COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to assess if MRC-ICU could predict in-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19.

Methods: A single-center, observational study was conducted from August 2020 to January 2021.

Ethical care in patients with Covid-19: A grounded theory.

Background: Providing ethical care during the Covid-19 pandemic has become an inevitable challenge due to facing limitations such as fear of contracting the disease, lack of equipment and emergence of ethical conflicts; So that there is no clear picture of how to provide ethical care for patients with Covid-19. The study aimed to explain the ethical care process of patients with Covid-19.

Method: This qualitative study was conducted in 2021-2023 using the grounded theory research method.

Assessment of area and structural irregularity of retinal layers in diabetic retinopathy using machine learning and image processing techniques.

Diabetes retinopathy prevention necessitates early detection, monitoring, and treatment. Non-invasive optical coherence tomography (OCT) shows structural changes in the retinal layer. OCT image evaluation necessitates retinal layer segmentation.

Rare oto-tricho-tussia/tinnitus: A case report.

Key Clinical Message: Oto-tricho is associated with the symptoms of gag reflex and non-neuropathic tinnitus, which can be treated by removing the hair and its follicle.

Abstract: Oto-tricho refers to a disorder of hair growth in the tympanic membrane (TM). In its early stages, it can manifest as symptoms such as tinnitus, chronic pain, cough, and nausea.

Induction of proteome changes involved in the cloning of mcr-1 and mcr-2 genes in Escherichia coli DH5-α strain to evaluate colistin resistance.

Objectives: Plasmid genes, termed mobile colistin resistance-1 (mcr-1) and mobile colistin resistance-2 (mcr-2), are associated with resistance to colistin in Escherichia coli (E. coli). These mcr genes result in a range of protein modifications contributing to colistin resistance.

The elderberry diet protection against intrahippocampal Aβ-induced memory dysfunction; the abrogated apoptosis and neuroinflammation.

This study evaluates whether elderberry (EB) effectively decreases the inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain cells to reduce Aβ toxicity. In the Aβ + EB group, EB powder was added to rats' routine diet for eight consecutive weeks. Then, spatial memory, working memory, and long-term memory, were measured using the Morris water maze, T-maze, and passive avoidance test.

Optogenetic activation of visual thalamus generates artificial visual percepts.

The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), a retinotopic relay center where visual inputs from the retina are processed and relayed to the visual cortex, has been proposed as a potential target for artificial vision. At present, it is unknown whether optogenetic LGN stimulation is sufficient to elicit behaviorally relevant percepts, and the properties of LGN neural responses relevant for artificial vision have not been thoroughly characterized. Here, we demonstrate that tree shrews pretrained on a visual detection task can detect optogenetic LGN activation using an AAV2-CamKIIα-ChR2 construct and readily generalize from visual to optogenetic detection.

A Soft-Tissue Landmark to Assess Humeral Component Rotation in Total Elbow Arthroplasty.

Hypothesis: Assessing the rotational alignment of the humeral component during total elbow arthroplasty is dependent upon bony landmarks that can be absent or altered in cases of distal humerus fractures, revision arthroplasty, severe bone loss, or deformity. We hypothesize that the intermuscular septum can be used as a reliable soft-tissue landmark to set the rotation of the humeral component intra-operatively when previously described bony landmarks are not reliable or present.

Materials And Methods: Forty-eight unpaired cadaveric human subjects (mean age and standard deviation 63 ± 12 years; 24 males, 24 females) underwent computed tomography (CT) scans.

Enhancement of cisplatin-induced apoptosis by saffron in human lung cancer cells.

Background: Cisplatin is a prevalent chemotherapeutic agent, and it has been used extensively to treat lung cancer. However, its clinical efficacy is hampered by its safety profile and dose-limiting toxicity. Saffron is a natural product that has shown significant anticancer effects.

QTc is Prolonged in Patients with SSc and Associates with Skin Score.

Background: Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease characterised by endothelial dysfunction and fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. Cardiac involvement during systemic sclerosis can be primary or secondary to pulmonary arterial hypertension and renal pathology. Among the disorders in systemic sclerosis, prolongation of QTc time is also associated with more anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies, longer duration, and severity of disease.

Deletion of the Circadian Clock Gene in the Whole Body, but Not in Neurons or Astroglia, Affects Sleep in Response to Sleep Deprivation.

The sleep-wake cycle is a highly regulated behavior in which a circadian clock times sleep and waking, whereas a homeostatic process controls sleep need. Both the clock and the sleep homeostat interact, but to what extent they influence each other is not understood. There is evidence that clock genes, in particular (), might be implicated in the sleep homeostatic process.

Insights into the Aggressiveness of the Emerging North American Population 3 (NA3) of .

In the United States and Canada, () is the predominant etiological agent of Fusarium head blight (FHB), an economically devastating fungal disease of wheat and other small grains Besides yield losses, FHB leads to grain contamination with trichothecene mycotoxins that are harmful to plant, human, and livestock health. Three genetic North American populations of , differing in their predominant trichothecene chemotype (i.e.

Use of Methadone Versus Oxycodone to Facilitate Weaning of Parenteral Opioids in Critically Ill Adult Patients.

Background: No previous literature has compared methadone with oxycodone for intravenous (IV) opioid weaning.

Objective: To determine if a weaning strategy using enteral methadone or oxycodone results in faster time to IV opioid discontinuation.

Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective, cohort medical record review of mechanically ventilated adults in an intensive care unit (ICU) who received a continuous IV infusion of fentanyl or hydromorphone for ≥72 hours and an enteral weaning strategy using either methadone or oxycodone from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2021.

Automated assessment of the smoothness of retinal layers in optical coherence tomography images using a machine learning algorithm.

Quantifying the smoothness of different layers of the retina can potentially be an important and practical biomarker in various pathologic conditions like diabetic retinopathy. The purpose of this study is to develop an automated machine learning algorithm which uses support vector regression method with wavelet kernel and automatically segments two hyperreflective retinal layers (inner plexiform layer (IPL) and outer plexiform layer (OPL)) in 50 optical coherence tomography (OCT) slabs and calculates the smoothness index (SI). The Bland-Altman plots, mean absolute error, root mean square error and signed error calculations revealed a modest discrepancy between the manual approach, used as the ground truth, and the corresponding automated segmentation of IPL/ OPL, as well as SI measurements in OCT slabs.