Health care consequences of hospitalization with Clostrioides difficile infection: a propensity score matching study.

Background: Clostridiodies difficile infection (CDI) has been characterized by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an urgent public health threat and a major concern in hospital, outpatient and extended-care facilities worldwide.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients aged ≥ 18 hospitalized with CDI in New York State (NYS) between January 1, 2014-December 31, 2016. Data were extracted from NY Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative (SPARCS) and propensity score matching was performed to achieve comparability of the CDI (exposure) and non-CDI (non-exposure) groups.

Antimicrobial copper alloys decreased bacteria on stethoscope surfaces.

Background: Stethoscopes may serve as vehicles for transmission of bacteria among patients. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of antimicrobial copper surfaces to reduce the bacterial concentration associated with stethoscope surfaces.

Methods: A structured prospective trial involving 21 health care providers was conducted at a pediatric emergency division (ED) (n = 14) and an adult medical intensive care unit located in tertiary care facilities (n = 7).

Effectiveness of fecal-derived microbiota transfer using orally administered capsules for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection.

Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), a complication of antibiotic-induced injury to the gut microbiome, is a prevalent and dangerous cause of infectious diarrhea. Antimicrobial therapy for CDI is typically effective for acute symptoms, but up to one third of patients later experience recurrent CDI. Fecal-derived microbiota transplantation (FMT) can ameliorate the underlying dysbiosis and is highly effective for recurrent CDI.

Efficient computation of enclosed volume and surface area from the same triangulated surface representation.

We demonstrate that the volume enclosed by triangulated surfaces can be computed efficiently in the same elegant way the volume enclosed by digital surfaces can be computed by digital surface integration. Although digital surfaces are effective and efficient for visualization and volume measurement, their drawback is that surface area measurements derived from them are inaccurate. On the other hand, triangulated surfaces give more accurate surface area measurements, but volume measurements and visualization are less efficient.

Does the Terminologia Anatomica really matter?

This article points out how the Terminologia Anatomica is often ignored and suggests ways that its acceptance can be improved.

Rigid model-based 3D segmentation of the bones of joints in MR and CT images for motion analysis.

There are several medical application areas that require the segmentation and separation of the component bones of joints in a sequence of images of the joint acquired under various loading conditions, our own target area being joint motion analysis. This is a challenging problem due to the proximity of bones at the joint, partial volume effects, and other imaging modality-specific factors that confound boundary contrast. In this article, a two-step model-based segmentation strategy is proposed that utilizes the unique context of the current application wherein the shape of each individual bone is preserved in all scans of a particular joint while the spatial arrangement of the bones alters significantly among bones and scans.

A framework for evaluating image segmentation algorithms.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a framework for evaluating image segmentation algorithms. Image segmentation consists of object recognition and delineation. For evaluating segmentation methods, three factors-precision (reliability), accuracy (validity), and efficiency (viability)-need to be considered for both recognition and delineation.

Iso-shaping rigid bodies for estimating their motion from image sequences.

In many medical imaging applications, due to the limited field of view of imaging devices, acquired images often include only a part of a structure. In such situations, it is impossible to guarantee that the images will contain exactly the same physical extent of the structure at different scans, which leads to difficulties in registration and in many other tasks, such as the analysis of the morphology, architecture, and kinematics of the structures. To facilitate such analysis, we developed a general method, referred to as iso-shaping, that generates structures of the same shape from segmented image sequences.

The geometric architecture of the subtalar and midtarsal joints in rheumatoid arthritis based on magnetic resonance imaging.

Objective: To compare in vivo the 3-dimensional (3-D) geometric architecture of the subtalar and midtarsal joints in normal and rheumatoid arthritic (RA) feet, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis.

Methods: MRI was performed on 23 patients with RA, all of whom had disease activity in the subtalar and/or midtarsal joints. Image processing techniques were used to create 3-D reconstructions of the calcaneus (C), cuboid (c), navicular (N), and talus (T) bones.