Elastic Deformation of Optical Coherence Tomography Images of Diabetic Macular Edema for Deep-Learning Models Training: How Far to Go?

Unlabelled: - Objective: To explore the clinical validity of elastic deformation of optical coherence tomography (OCT) images for data augmentation in the development of deep-learning model for detection of diabetic macular edema (DME).

Methods: Prospective evaluation of OCT images of DME (n = 320) subject to elastic transformation, with the deformation intensity represented by ([Formula: see text]). Three sets of images, each comprising 100 pairs of scans (100 original & 100 modified), were grouped according to the range of ([Formula: see text]), including low-, medium- and high-degree of augmentation; ([Formula: see text] = 1-6), ([Formula: see text] = 7-12), and ([Formula: see text] = 13-18), respectively.

Fostering engineering and science students' and teachers' systems thinking and conceptual modeling skills.

As science and technology create an ecosystem that is becoming increasingly more knowledge-intensive, complex, and interconnected, the next generation science standards include systems thinking and systems modeling among 21st skills that should be fostered. We examined the effect of an online cross-disciplinary learning process on the development of systems thinking and modeling skills among engineering students and engineering and science teachers. The study, which used quantitative and qualitative tools, included 55 participants who performed four food-related learning assignments and created conceptual models in Object-Process Methodology.

[Personal protective equipment wearing in the context of COVID-19 in a hospital in Burkina Faso].

Introduction: Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used by health care workers to protect themselves and patients from various exposures such as infectious agents. However, the wearing of this equipment is not always optimal, especially in an epidemic context of COVID-19 transmission.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of this study, in the specific context of COVID-19, is to contribute to the improvement of PPE wearing practices by health workers.

Modeling with Real-Time Informative Feedback: Implementing and Evaluating a New Massive Open Online Course Component.

As part of the design, development, and deployment of a massive open online course (MOOC) on model-based systems engineering, we introduced MORTIF-Modeling with Real-Time Informative Feedback, a new learning-by-doing feature that enables the learner to model, receive detailed feedback, and resubmit improved solutions. We examined the pedagogical usability of MORTIF by investigating characteristics of participants working with it, and their perceived contribution, preferred question type, and learning style. The research included 295 participants and applied the mixed-methods approach, using MOOC server data and online questionnaires.

Cystoid macular edema secondary to ibrutinib.

Purpose: To describe a unique case of cystoid macular edema associated with Ibrutinib treatment for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).

Observations: A 73-year-old male patient presented to the ophthalmology clinic complaining of decreased vision in his seeing-eye ('only eye', left). Further clinal examination and imaging revealed the presence of a cystoid macular edema (CME).

Object-Process Methodology as an Alternative to Human Factors Task Analysis.

Objective: We define and demonstrate the use of OPM-TA-a model-based task analysis (TA) framework that uses object-process methodology (OPM) ISO 19450 as a viable alternative to traditional TA techniques.

Background: A variety of different TA methods exist in human factors engineering, and several of them are often applied successively for a broad task representation, making it difficult to follow.

Method: Using OPM-TA, we modeled how an International Space Station (ISS) astronaut would support extravehicular activities using the existing robotic arm workstation with a new control panel and an electronic procedure system.

[Wholesale distribution and delivery of plant-based medicinal products through the pharmaceutical system of Burkina Faso].

Objective: In order to improve the contribution of medicines from traditional pharmacopoeia to health care, African countries like Burkina Faso have adopted for several years, policies and regulations organizing their distribution. This study aims to analyze the situation of the wholesale and retail sale of herbal medicines imported by the official pharmaceutical facilities.

Method: This is a retrospective study involving all 18 drug wholesalers and 115 pharmacies in the city of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

Disorganization of the Retinal Inner Layers as a Predictor of Visual Acuity in Eyes With Macular Edema Secondary to Vein Occlusion.

Purpose: To determine whether spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) disorganization of the retinal inner layers (DRIL) is predictive of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in retinal vein occlusion macular edema (RVO-ME).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Methods: Setting: Two tertiary centers.

Minding the Cyber-Physical Gap: Model-Based Analysis and Mitigation of Systemic Perception-Induced Failure.

The cyber-physical gap (CPG) is the difference between the 'real' state of the world and the way the system perceives it. This discrepancy often stems from the limitations of sensing and data collection technologies and capabilities, and is inevitable at some degree in any cyber-physical system (CPS). Ignoring or misrepresenting such limitations during system modeling, specification, design, and analysis can potentially result in systemic misconceptions, disrupted functionality and performance, system failure, severe damage, and potential detrimental impacts on the system and its environment.

Chronic Progressive Neurodegeneration in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Prion Disease.

Neurodegenerative diseases present pathologically with progressive structural destruction of neurons and accumulation of mis-folded proteins specific for each condition leading to brain atrophy and functional disability. Many animal models exert deposition of pathogenic proteins without an accompanying neurodegeneration pattern. The lack of a comprehensive model hinders efforts to develop treatment.

Operation room tool handling and miscommunication scenarios: an object-process methodology conceptual model.

Objective: Errors in the delivery of medical care are the principal cause of inpatient mortality and morbidity, accounting for around 98,000 deaths in the United States of America (USA) annually. Ineffective team communication, especially in the operation room (OR), is a major root of these errors. This miscommunication can be reduced by analyzing and constructing a conceptual model of communication and miscommunication in the OR.

Conceptual modeling of mRNA decay provokes new hypotheses.

Biologists are required to integrate large amounts of data to construct a working model of the system under investigation. This model is often informal and stored mentally or textually, making it prone to contain undetected inconsistencies, inaccuracies, or even contradictions, not much less than a representation in free natural language. Using Object-Process Methodology (OPM), a formal yet visual and humanly accessible conceptual modeling language, we have created an executable working model of the mRNA decay process in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as well as the import of its components to the nucleus following mRNA decay.

Pomegranate seed oil nanoemulsions for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases: the case of genetic CJD.

Unlabelled: Neurodegenerative diseases generate the accumulation of specific misfolded proteins, such as PrP(Sc) prions or A-beta in Alzheimer's diseases, and share common pathological features, like neuronal death and oxidative damage. To test whether reduced oxidation alters disease manifestation, we treated TgMHu2ME199K mice, modeling for genetic prion disease, with Nano-PSO, a nanodroplet formulation of pomegranate seed oil (PSO). PSO comprises large concentrations of a unique polyunsaturated fatty acid, Punicic acid, among the strongest natural antioxidants.

Conceptual Model-based Systems Biology: mapping knowledge and discovering gaps in the mRNA transcription cycle.

We propose a Conceptual Model-based Systems Biology framework for qualitative modeling, executing, and eliciting knowledge gaps in molecular biology systems. The framework is an adaptation of Object-Process Methodology (OPM), a graphical and textual executable modeling language. OPM enables concurrent representation of the system's structure-the objects that comprise the system, and behavior-how processes transform objects over time.

A methodology for eliciting and modeling exceptions.

Exceptions in safety-critical systems must be addressed during conceptual design and risk analysis. We developed a conceptual model of exceptions, a methodology for eliciting and modeling exceptions, and templates for modeling them in an extension of the Object-Process Methodology (OPM)-a system analysis and design methodology and language that uses a single graphical model for describing systems, including their timing exceptions, which has been shown to be an effective modeling methodology. Using an antibiotics treatment guideline as a case study, we demonstrate the value of our approach in eliciting and modeling exceptions that occur in clinical care systems.

Situation-Based Access Control: privacy management via modeling of patient data access scenarios.

Access control is a central problem in privacy management. A common practice in controlling access to sensitive data, such as electronic health records (EHRs), is Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). RBAC is limited as it does not account for the circumstances under which access to sensitive data is requested.

Conceptual modeling in systems biology fosters empirical findings: the mRNA lifecycle.

One of the main obstacles to understanding complex biological systems is the extent and rapid evolution of information, way beyond the capacity individuals to manage and comprehend. Current modeling approaches and tools lack adequate capacity to model concurrently structure and behavior of biological systems. Here we propose Object-Process Methodology (OPM), a holistic conceptual modeling paradigm, as a means to model both diagrammatically and textually biological systems formally and intuitively at any desired number of levels of detail.

Eliciting and characterizing scenarios of disclosure of private health data.

Sensitive health information is kept in Electronic Health Records (EHRs) which makes the data accessible, enabling its transfer against patient consent. Hence, the need for privacy-preserving mechanisms is a top priority. As a first step towards the development of privacy-preserving access control language, we used qualitative research methods to characterize scenarios of requests for disclosure of patient data and identify the entities involved, the context of the request, and the requested data.

Haptoglobin phenotype in age-related macular degeneration patients.

Purpose: To investigate a possible role of the haptoglobin phenotype in the development of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in human subjects.

Design: Prospective, observational, comparative population study.

Methods: The study was carried out in an institutional setting.

Anatomic and functional results of vitrectomy and long-term intraocular tamponade for stage 2 macular holes.

Purpose: To investigate the results of pars plana vitrectomy combined with long-term intraocular tamponade in patients with a stage 2 macular hole.

Methods: In a retrospective study, 50 consecutive eyes operated on for stage 2 macular hole were reviewed. The surgical technique included pars plana vitrectomy, separation of the posterior hyaloid, and intraocular tamponade with either 12.

Multiple retinal arteriolar occlusions associated with coexisting primary antiphospholipid syndrome and factor V Leiden mutation.

Purpose: To investigate a case of a young woman with both primary antiphospholipid syndrome and factor V Leiden mutation who developed multiple retinal arteriolar occlusions.

Method: Case report of a 25-year-old woman with history and laboratory tests confirming the diagnosis of both primary antiphospholipid syndrome and factor V Leiden mutation who presented with blurred vision in both eyes.

Results: Multiple retinal arteriolar occlusions were observed in both of her eyes.