Fully automated epicardial adipose tissue volume quantification with deep learning and relationship with CAC score and micro/macrovascular complications in people living with type 2 diabetes: the multicenter EPIDIAB study.

Background: The aim of this study (EPIDIAB) was to assess the relationship between epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) and the micro and macrovascular complications (MVC) of type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Methods: EPIDIAB is a post hoc analysis from the AngioSafe T2D study, which is a multicentric study aimed at determining the safety of antihyperglycemic drugs on retina and including patients with T2D screened for diabetic retinopathy (DR) (n = 7200) and deeply phenotyped for MVC. Patients included who had undergone cardiac CT for CAC (Coronary Artery Calcium) scoring after inclusion (n = 1253) were tested with a validated deep learning segmentation pipeline for EAT volume quantification.

Left Ventricular Trabeculations at Cardiac MRI: Reference Ranges and Association with Cardiovascular Risk Factors in UK Biobank.

Background The extent of left ventricular (LV) trabeculation and its relationship with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors is unclear. Purpose To apply automated segmentation to UK Biobank cardiac MRI scans to () assess the association between individual characteristics and CV risk factors and trabeculated LV mass (LVM) and () establish normal reference ranges in a selected group of healthy UK Biobank participants. Materials and Methods In this cross-sectional secondary analysis, prospectively collected data from the UK Biobank (2006 to 2010) were retrospectively analyzed.

It Looks Like a Spinal Cord Tumor but It Is Not.

Differentiating neoplastic from non-neoplastic spinal cord pathologies may be challenging due to overlapping clinical and radiological features. Spinal cord tumors, which comprise only 2-4% of central nervous system tumors, are rarer than non-tumoral myelopathies of inflammatory, vascular, or infectious origins. The risk of neurological deterioration and the high rate of false negatives or misdiagnoses associated with spinal cord biopsies require a cautious approach.

Automatic Deep-Learning Segmentation of Epicardial Adipose Tissue from Low-Dose Chest CT and Prognosis Impact on COVID-19.

Background: To develop a deep-learning (DL) pipeline that allowed an automated segmentation of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) from low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) and investigate the link between EAT and COVID-19 clinical outcomes. Methods: This monocentric retrospective study included 353 patients: 95 for training, 20 for testing, and 238 for prognosis evaluation. EAT segmentation was obtained after thresholding on a manually segmented pericardial volume.

Medical image segmentation automatic quality control: A multi-dimensional approach.

In clinical applications, using erroneous segmentations of medical images can have dramatic consequences. Current approaches dedicated to medical image segmentation automatic quality control do not predict segmentation quality at slice-level (2D), resulting in sub-optimal evaluations. Our 2D-based deep learning method simultaneously performs quality control at 2D-level and 3D-level for cardiovascular MR image segmentations.

Deep Learning-based Automated Segmentation of Left Ventricular Trabeculations and Myocardium on Cardiac MR Images: A Feasibility Study.

Purpose: To develop and evaluate a complete deep learning pipeline that allows fully automated end-diastolic left ventricle (LV) cardiac MRI segmentation, including trabeculations and automatic quality control of the predicted segmentation.

Materials And Methods: This multicenter retrospective study includes training, validation, and testing datasets of 272, 27, and 150 cardiac MR images, respectively, collected between 2012 and 2018. The reference standard was the manual segmentation of four LV anatomic structures performed on end-diastolic short-axis cine cardiac MRI: LV trabeculations, LV myocardium, LV papillary muscles, and the LV blood cavity.

Mouthparts and nectar feeding of the flower visiting cricket Glomeremus orchidophilus (Gryllacrididae).

Glomeremus orchidophilus (Gryllacrididae) is a flower visiting cricket on the tropical island La Réunion. This species is the only Orthoptera shown to be a pollinator of a plant. We studied its nectar feeding behavior and mouthpart morphology in detail.

Chemical and morphological filters in a specialized floral mimicry system.

Many plant species attract insect pollinators through chemical mimicry of their oviposition sites, often detaining them in a trap chamber that ensures pollen transfer. These plant mimics are considered to be unspecialized at the pollinator species level, yet field observations of a mycoheterotrophic rainforest orchid (Gastrodia similis), which emits an odour reminiscent of rotting fruit, indicate that it is pollinated by a single drosophilid fly species (Scaptodrosophila bangi). We investigated the roles of floral volatiles and the dimensions of the trap chamber in enforcing this specialization, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses, bioassays and scanning electron microscopy.

Orthoptera, a new order of pollinator.

Background And Aims: Pollinator-mediated selection and evolution of floral traits have long fascinated evolutionary ecologists. No other plant family shows as wide a range of pollinator-linked floral forms as Orchidaceae. In spite of the large size of this model family and a long history of orchid pollination biology, the identity and specificity of most orchid pollinators remains inadequately studied, especially in the tropics where the family has undergone extensive diversification.

Independent recruitment of saprotrophic fungi as mycorrhizal partners by tropical achlorophyllous orchids.

Mycoheterotrophic orchids have adapted to shaded forest understory by shifting to achlorophylly and receiving carbon from their mycorrhizal fungi. In temperate forests, they associate in a highly specific way with fungi forming ectomycorrhizas on nearby trees, and exploiting tree photosynthates. However, many rainforests lack ectomycorrhizal fungi, and there is evidence that some tropical Asiatic species associate with saprotrophic fungi.

Screening of medicinal plants from Reunion Island for antimalarial and cytotoxic activity.

Aim Of The Study: Nine plants from Reunion Island, selected using ethnopharmacology and chemotaxonomy, were investigated for their potential antimalarial value.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-eight extracts were prepared by maceration using CH(2)Cl(2) and MeOH, and were tested for in vitro activity against the 3D7 and W2 strain of Plasmodium falciparum. The most active extracts were then tested for in vitro cytotoxicity on human WI-38 fibroblasts to determine the selectivity index.

Bird pollination in an angraecoid orchid on Reunion Island (Mascarene Archipelago, Indian Ocean).

Background And Aims: Although numerous angraecoid orchids in Madagascar display typical sphingophilous syndrome (i.e. white, nectariferous, long-spurred flowers, producing a strong scent at the crepuscule that is attractive to moths), three species of Angraecum in Reunion, belonging to the endemic section Hadrangis, have atypical unscented and short-spurred flowers.

Declared hepatitis C screening strategies in blood recipients in French hospitals.

Aims Of The Study: In spite of official recommendations and measures in France, screening strategies of hepatitis C performed in the field of transfusion are not clearly known. The aim of this study is to describe the screening strategies before and after the current year of the transfusion in blood recipients in several French medical departments and hospitals.

Materials And Methods: A qualitative study using the key informant technique was carried out.

Screening blood donations for hepatitis C in Central Africa: analysis of a risk- and cost-based decision tree.

Four screening strategies (no testing, HC Abbott, HC Pasteur, and a combined test) for the detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody in donated blood were considered in a formal decision tree. Decision criteria included residual risk of infection and overall monetary cost. Tree parameters were determined using data from the Central African Republic.

Evidence for high genetic diversity and long-term endemicity of hepatitis C virus genotypes 1 and 2 in West Africa.

During 1994 and 1995, the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and its genotypes were studied in several rural and urban populations in three West African countries: Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Benin. The following groups were screened for antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV): 459 villagers in the forest region of Guinea; 965 individuals in urban, suburban, and rural populations of the Bobo Dioulasso area, Burkina Faso; and 582 blood donors in Cotonou, Benin. In Benin, 60 patients with sickle cell anemia (30 with and 30 without history of multiple transfusion) and 13 hospital patients with liver disease were also tested.

A multicenter evaluation of the routine use of a new white cell-reduction apheresis system for collection of platelets.

Background: Residual white cells (WBCs) cause serious side effects in platelet transfusion. An in-line WBC-reduction system based on fluidized particle bed technology was recently developed as a modification of an existing plateletpheresis system.

Study Design And Methods: In an investigational phase, three flow profiles were evaluated using prototype software in five centers, each using their standard conditions.

Liver dysfunction in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation recipients.

Liver dysfunction is common in allogeneic bone marrow graft recipients, but no systematic studies of pre- and posttransplantation liver biopsies have been performed to identify and compare hepatic lesions. This study involved 25 consecutive patients who had undergone serial viral screening tests, liver tests, and pre- and posttransplantation liver biopsy. The aims were to ascertain the origin of liver disorders prior to bone marrow transplantation, to determine the mechanism and severity of liver dysfunction occurring early after transplantation, and to identify a possible relationship between pre-existing liver lesions and the frequency and nature of early liver dysfunction after transplantation.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype analysis in apparently healthy anti-HCV-positive Parisian blood donors.

Background: As only a few studies have examined the prevalence of various hepatitis C virus (HCV) subtypes in blood donors, information about the variability and route of infection in apparently healthy persons is limited.

Study Design And Methods: Blood donations collected at a large Parisian hospital (52,441) were investigated for antibodies to HCV. Serum samples were screened with an enzyme immunoassay.

HCV infection in a rural population of the Central African Republic (CAR): evidence for three additional subtypes of genotype 4.

The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies, HCV infection, and genotypes was studied in a rural population of the Central African Republic. In five villages, blood samples were taken from all the inhabitants present during the survey, belonging to Pygmies (299) and to Bantu and Banda ethnic groups (247). Using a second-generation ELISA screening and confirmation by immunoblot assay for the detection of HCV antibodies, all the Pygmies were negative, whereas seven Bantus/Bandas, aged > 35 years and with no familial relationship, were positive, giving a prevalence of 2.