Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease Based on Structural MRI Images Using a Regularized Extreme Learning Machine and PCA Features.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative brain disorder that attacks neurotransmitters, brain cells, and nerves, affecting brain functions, memory, and behaviors and then finally causing dementia on elderly people. Despite its significance, there is currently no cure for it. However, there are medicines available on prescription that can help delay the progress of the condition.

R Peak Detection Method Using Wavelet Transform and Modified Shannon Energy Envelope.

Rapid automatic detection of the fiducial points-namely, the P wave, QRS complex, and T wave-is necessary for early detection of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). In this paper, we present an R peak detection method using the wavelet transform (WT) and a modified Shannon energy envelope (SEE) for rapid ECG analysis. The proposed WTSEE algorithm performs a wavelet transform to reduce the size and noise of ECG signals and creates SEE after first-order differentiation and amplitude normalization.

Upper critical solution temperature (UCST) phase transition of halide salts of branched polyethylenimine and methylated branched polyethylenimine in aqueous solutions.

The upper critical solution temperature (UCST) phase transition of halide salts of branched polyethylenimine (PEI) and methylated branched polyethylenimine (MPEI) is first reported in aqueous solutions. In particular, iodide counter-ions can introduce UCST properties in MPEI. The importance of the counter-ion composition of MPEI for UCST transition is discussed in detail.

Comparison of pH-sensitive degradability of maleic acid amide derivatives.

We synthesized five maleic acid amide derivatives (maleic, citraconic, cis-aconitic, 2-(2'-carboxyethyl) maleic, 1-methyl-2-(2'-carboxyethyl) maleic acid amide), and compared their degradability for the future development of pH-sensitive biomaterials with tailored kinetics of the release of drugs, the change of charge density, and the degradation of scaffolds. The degradation kinetics was highly dependent upon the substituents on the cis-double bond. Among the maleic acid amide derivatives, 2-(2'-carboxyethyl) maleic acid amide with one carboxyethyl and one hydrogen substituent showed appropriate degradability at weakly acidic pH, and the additional carboxyl group can be used as a pH-sensitive linker.

Lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase separation of glycol ethers for forward osmotic control.

Lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase transition of glycol ether (GE)-water mixtures induces an abrupt change in osmotic pressure driven by a mild temperature change. The temperature-controlled osmotic change was applied for the forward osmosis (FO) desalination. Among three GEs evaluated, di(ethylene glycol) n-hexyl ether (DEH) was selected as a potential FO draw solute.

Sonoelastographic lesion stiffness: preoperative predictor of the presence of an invasive focus in nonpalpable DCIS diagnosed at US-guided needle biopsy.

Objectives: To retrospectively evaluate whether sonoelastographic evaluation could help predict the presence of an invasive focus in nonpalpable DCIS diagnosed at US-guided needle biopsy.

Methods: One hundred and three consecutive nonpalpable DCIS lesions diagnosed at US-guided needle biopsy were analyzed. To identify the preoperative factors associated with upgrade to invasive cancers on surgical histology, lesion size, B-mode US findings, elasticity score, biopsy variables, and histological variables were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression.

Computer-aided evaluation of breast MRI for the residual tumor extent and response monitoring in breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of a computer-aided evaluation program (CAE) of breast MRI for the assessment of residual tumor extent and response monitoring in breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-seven patients with breast cancers who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery and dynamic contrast enhanced MRI before and after chemotherapy were included as part of this study. For the assessment of residual tumor extent after completion of chemotherapy, the mean tumor diameters measured by radiologists and CAE were compared to those on histopathology using a paired student t-test.

Real-time US elastography in the differentiation of suspicious microcalcifications on mammography.

The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the use of US elastography in the differentiation of mammographically detected suspicious microcalcifications, using histology as the reference standard. Between May 2006 and April 2007, real-time US elasticity images were obtained in 77 patients (age range, 24-67 years; mean, 46 years) with 77 mammographically detected areas of microcalcifications (42 benign and 35 malignant lesions) prior to needle biopsy. Two experienced radiologists reviewed cine clips of elasticity and B-mode images and assigned an elasticity score of 1 to 3 in consensus, based on the degree of strain in the hypoechoic lesion without information of mammography and histology.

An example-based face hallucination method for single-frame, low-resolution facial images.

This paper proposes a face hallucination method for the reconstruction of high-resolution facial images from single-frame, low-resolution facial images. The proposed method has been derived from example-based hallucination methods and morphable face models. First, we propose a recursive error back-projection method to compensate for residual errors, and a region-based reconstruction method to preserve characteristics of local facial regions.

Glasses removal from facial image using recursive error compensation.

In this paper, we propose a new method of removing glasses from a human frontal facial image. We first detect the regions occluded by the glasses and generate a natural looking facial image without glasses by recursive error compensation using PCA reconstruction. The resulting image has no trace of the glasses frame or of the reflection and shade caused by the glasses.