Fast-track virtual reality software to facilitate 3-dimensional reconstruction in congenital heart disease.

Objectives: Two limitations of the clinical use of 3-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and virtual reality systems are the relatively high cost and the amount of experience required to use hardware and software to effectively explore medical images. We have tried to simplify the process and validate a new tool developed for this purpose with a novel software package.

Methods: Five patients with right partial anomalous pulmonary venous return with adequate preoperative images acquired with magnetic resonance imaging were enrolled.

New Approach to Accelerated Image Annotation by Leveraging Virtual Reality and Cloud Computing.

Three-dimensional imaging is at the core of medical imaging and is becoming a standard in biological research. As a result, there is an increasing need to visualize, analyze and interact with data in a natural three-dimensional context. By combining stereoscopy and motion tracking, commercial virtual reality (VR) headsets provide a solution to this critical visualization challenge by allowing users to view volumetric image stacks in a highly intuitive fashion.

Towards Human in the Loop Analysis of Complex Point Clouds: Advanced Visualizations, Quantifications, and Communication Features in Virtual Reality.

Multiple fields in biological and medical research produce large amounts of point cloud data with high dimensionality and complexity. In addition, a large set of experiments generate point clouds, including segmented medical data or single-molecule localization microscopy. In the latter, individual molecules are observed within their natural cellular environment.

Breast Magnetic Resonance Image Analysis for Surgeons Using Virtual Reality: A Comparative Study.

Purpose: The treatment of breast cancer, the leading cause of cancer and cancer mortality among women worldwide, is mainly on the basis of surgery. In this study, we describe the use of a medical image visualization tool on the basis of virtual reality (VR), entitled DIVA, in the context of breast cancer tumor localization among surgeons. The aim of this study was to evaluate the speed and accuracy of surgeons using DIVA for medical image analysis of breast magnetic resonance image (MRI) scans relative to standard image slice-based visualization tools.

Partial breast resection for multifocal lower quadrant breast tumour using virtual reality.

Oncoplastic surgery allows an increase in the number of indications for conservative breast cancer treatments. However, uncertainty as to whether it can be performed still exists in certain situations such as with multicentric or multifocal lesions, even when the breast volume can accommodate it. With the aid of a virtual reality software, DIVA, allowing the precise visualisation of tumours and breast volumes based entirely on the patient's MRI, we report the ability to rapidly confirm and secure an indication for partial surgery of multiple lesions in a 31-year-old patient.

DIVA, a 3D virtual reality platform, improves undergraduate craniofacial trauma education.

Craniofacial fractures management is challenging to teach due to the complex anatomy of the head, even when using three-dimensional CT-scan images. DIVA is a software allowing the straightforward visualization of CT-scans in a user-friendly three-dimensional virtual reality environment. Here, we assess DIVA as an educational tool for craniofacial trauma for undergraduate medical students.

Genuage: visualize and analyze multidimensional single-molecule point cloud data in virtual reality.

Experimentally recorded point cloud data, such as those generated by single-molecule localization microscopy, are continuously increasing in size and dimension. Gaining an intuitive understanding and facilitating the analysis of such multidimensional data remains challenging. Here we report a new open-source software platform, Genuage, that enables the easy perception of, interaction with and analysis of multidimensional point clouds in virtual reality.

DIVA: Natural Navigation Inside 3D Images Using Virtual Reality.

As three-dimensional microscopy becomes commonplace in biological research, there is an increasing need for researchers to be able to view experimental image stacks in a natural three-dimensional viewing context. Through stereoscopy and motion tracking, commercial virtual reality headsets provide a solution to this important visualization challenge by allowing researchers to view volumetric objects in an entirely intuitive fashion. With this motivation, we present DIVA, a user-friendly software tool that automatically creates detailed three-dimensional reconstructions of raw experimental image stacks that are integrated in virtual reality.

A survey of primary care physician referral to bariatric surgery in Manitoba: access, perceptions and barriers.

Background: There is an important disconnect between surgical programs and primary care physicians (PCP) in the delivery of bariatric care. The objective of this study is to assess PCP knowledge and perception of a provincial bariatric surgery program.

Methods: A 32-question, IRB approved, survey was developed by bariatric surgery experts and vetted by local PCPs.

Outcomes of extracorporeal, transumbilical versus intracorporeal laparoscopic appendectomy for acute uncomplicated appendicitis in children and adolescents: A retrospective observational cohort study.

Background: An extracorporeal (ECA), transumbilical appendectomy has been proposed as a treatment for appendicitis. This study assessed the 30-day perioperative outcomes and cost between ECA and traditional intracorporeal (ICA) techniques for acute uncomplicated appendicitis.

Methods: IRB approval was obtained for this retrospective cohort study of acute uncomplicated appendicitis in children aged 4 to 17 between April 2014 and April 2017.

Author Correction: Single molecule localisation microscopy reveals how HIV-1 Gag proteins sense membrane virus assembly sites in living host CD4 T cells.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Single molecule localisation microscopy reveals how HIV-1 Gag proteins sense membrane virus assembly sites in living host CD4 T cells.

Monitoring virus assembly at the nanoscale in host cells remains a major challenge. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) components are addressed to the plasma membrane where they assemble to form spherical particles of 100 nm in diameter. Interestingly, HIV-1 Gag protein expression alone is sufficient to produce virus-like particles (VLPs) that resemble the immature virus.

Local and national laparoscopic skill competitions: residents' opinions and impact on adoption of simulation-based training.

Background: Dedicated practice using laparoscopic simulators improves operative performance. Yet, voluntary utilization is minimal. We hypothesized that skill competition between peers, at the local and national level, positively influences residents' use of laparoscopic simulators.

Association between Prehospital Time and Mortality following Blunt Thoracic Aortic Injuries.

Background: Blunt thoracic aortic injuries (BTAIs) can be lethal, but advances in trauma systems and surgical care have helped reduce mortality. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether time from injury to presentation is associated with mortality following BTAI.

Methods: Using the Ontario Trauma Registry, all patients were identified who were hospitalized with BTAI between 1999 and 2009.

Single-Molecule Imaging of Nav1.6 on the Surface of Hippocampal Neurons Reveals Somatic Nanoclusters.

Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels are responsible for the depolarizing phase of the action potential in most nerve cells, and Nav channel localization to the axon initial segment is vital to action potential initiation. Nav channels in the soma play a role in the transfer of axonal output information to the rest of the neuron and in synaptic plasticity, although little is known about Nav channel localization and dynamics within this neuronal compartment. This study uses single-particle tracking and photoactivation localization microscopy to analyze cell-surface Nav1.

A serious game skills competition increases voluntary usage and proficiency of a virtual reality laparoscopic simulator during first-year surgical residents' simulation curriculum.

Background: The objective of this study was to assess the effect of a serious game skills competition on voluntary usage of a laparoscopic simulator among first-year surgical residents' standard simulation curriculum.

Methods: With research ethics board approval, informed consent was obtained from first-year surgical residents enrolled in an introductory surgical simulation curriculum. The class of 2013 served as a control cohort following the standard curriculum which mandates completion of six laparoscopic simulator skill tasks.

Multifocus microscopy with precise color multi-phase diffractive optics applied in functional neuronal imaging.

Multifocus microscopy (MFM) allows high-resolution instantaneous three-dimensional (3D) imaging and has been applied to study biological specimens ranging from single molecules inside cells nuclei to entire embryos. We here describe pattern designs and nanofabrication methods for diffractive optics that optimize the light-efficiency of the central optical component of MFM: the diffractive multifocus grating (MFG). We also implement a "precise color" MFM layout with MFGs tailored to individual fluorophores in separate optical arms.

PSF engineering in multifocus microscopy for increased depth volumetric imaging.

Imaging and localizing single molecules with high accuracy in a 3D volume is a challenging task. Here we combine multifocal microscopy, a recently developed volumetric imaging technique, with point spread function engineering to achieve an increased depth for single molecule imaging. Applications in 3D single molecule localization-based super-resolution imaging is shown over an axial depth of 4 µm as well as for the tracking of diffusing beads in a fluid environment over 8 µm.

A Primer on the Bayesian Approach to High-Density Single-Molecule Trajectories Analysis.

Tracking single molecules in living cells provides invaluable information on their environment and on the interactions that underlie their motion. New experimental techniques now permit the recording of large amounts of individual trajectories, enabling the implementation of advanced statistical tools for data analysis. In this primer, we present a Bayesian approach toward treating these data, and we discuss how it can be fruitfully employed to infer physical and biochemical parameters from single-molecule trajectories.

Dynamics of CRISPR-Cas9 genome interrogation in living cells.

The RNA-guided CRISPR-associated protein Cas9 is used for genome editing, transcriptional modulation, and live-cell imaging. Cas9-guide RNA complexes recognize and cleave double-stranded DNA sequences on the basis of 20-nucleotide RNA-DNA complementarity, but the mechanism of target searching in mammalian cells is unknown. Here, we use single-particle tracking to visualize diffusion and chromatin binding of Cas9 in living cells.

Predictors of Discharge Home after Blunt Traumatic Thoracic Aortic Injury.

Background: Blunt traumatic thoracic aortic injury (BTAI) can be a highly lethal injury but in the last decade major advances have been made in diagnostic accuracy, injury grading, and therapy. Traditionally, emphasis has been on studying survival postinjury with a paucity of studies examining the discharge characteristics of patients that survive a BTAI. The purpose of this study is to define the epidemiology and predictors of disposition in patients with BTAI in a provincial database.