Automatic Segmentation of Metastatic Livers by Means of U-Net-Based Procedures.

The liver is one of the most common sites for the spread of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells, with metastases present in about 80% of patients. Clinical and preclinical studies of PDAC require quantification of the liver's metastatic burden from several acquired images, which can benefit from automatic image segmentation tools. We developed three neural networks based on U-net architecture to automatically segment the healthy liver area (HL), the metastatic liver area (MLA), and liver metastases (LM) in micro-CT images of a mouse model of PDAC with liver metastasis.

Ultrathin Transistors and Circuits for Conformable Electronics.

Adapting electronics to perfectly conform to nonplanar and rough surfaces, such as human skin, is a challenging task, which could open up new applications in fields of high economic and scientific interest, ranging from health to robotics, human-machine interface, and Internet of Things. The key to success lies in defining a technology that can lead to ultrathin devices, exploiting ultimately thin materials, with high mechanical flexibility and excellent electrical properties. Here, we report a hybrid approach for the development of high-performance, ultrathin and conformable electronic devices, based on the integration of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides, i.

Assembling Fe single-molecule magnets on a TiO monolayer.

The decoration of technologically relevant surfaces, such as metal oxides, with Single-Molecule Magnets (SMMs) constitutes a persistent challenge for the integration of these molecular systems into novel technologies and, in particular, for the development of spintronic and quantum devices. We used UHV thermal sublimation to deposit tetrairon(III) propeller-shaped SMMs (Fe) as a single layer on a TiO ultrathin film grown on Cu(001). The properties of the molecular deposit were studied using a multi-technique approach based on standard topographic and spectroscopic measurements, which demonstrated that molecules remain largely intact upon deposition.

Decrease in Heparan Sulphate Binding in Tropism-Retargeted Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus (ReHV) Delays Blood Clearance and Improves Systemic Anticancer Efficacy.

The role of the interaction with cell-surface glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) during in vivo HSV infection is currently unknown. The rationale of the current investigation was to improve the anticancer efficacy of systemically administered retargeted oHSVs (ReHVs) by decreasing their binding to GAGs, including those of endothelial cells, blood cells, and off-tumor tissues. As a proof-of-principle approach, we deleted seven amino acids critical for interacting with GAGs from the glycoprotein C (gC) of R-337 ReHV.