RA V-Net: deep learning network for automated liver segmentation.

Segmenting liver from CT images is the first step for doctors to diagnose a patient's disease. Processing medical images with deep learning models has become a current research trend. Although it can automate segmenting region of interest of medical images, the inability to achieve the required segmentation accuracy is an urgent problem to be solved.

Silica Particle-Mediated Growth of Single Crystal Graphene Ribbons on Cu(111) Foil.

The authors report the growth of micrometer-long single-crystal graphene ribbons (GRs) (tapered when grown above 900 °C, but uniform width when grown in the range 850 °C to 900 °C) using silica particle seeds on single crystal Cu(111) foil. Tapered graphene ribbons grow strictly along the Cu<101> direction on Cu(111) and polycrystalline copper (Cu) foils. Silica particles on both Cu foils form (semi-)molten Cu-Si-O droplets at growth temperatures, then catalyze nucleation and drive the longitudinal growth of graphene ribbons.

Current Concepts in Maxillary Reconstruction.

Defects involving the midface and maxilla pose unique challenges to reconstructive surgeons. The maxilla serves as the central keystone of the face and interfaces with various other facial subunits to affect form and function. Reconstructive methods range from prosthetics to free tissue transfer, and the indications for different options are reviewed here.

Allergen Tests of Fruit Sensitization Involving Children with Allergic Diseases.

Fruit is a kind of plant food which is rich in nutrients and immune-regulating ingredients. A meta-analysis has demonstrated that fruits have a protective effects against asthma. On the other hand, clinical syndromes of allergic reactions to fruits manifest as an oral allergy syndrome.

Protist.guru: A Comparative Transcriptomics Database for Protists.

During the last few decades, the study of microbial ecology has been enabled by molecular and genomic data. DNA sequencing has revealed the surprising extent of microbial diversity and how microbial processes run global ecosystems. However, significant gaps in our understanding of the microbial world remain, and one example is that microbial eukaryotes, or protists, are still largely neglected.

Medication-Related Readmissions: Documentation of the Medication Involved and Communication in the Care Continuum.

Of all readmissions, 21% are medication-related readmissions (MRRs). However, it is unknown whether MRRs are recognized at the time of readmission and are communicated in the care continuum. To identify the prevalence of MRRs that contain a documentation on the medication involved (and therefore are regarded as recognized), and the proportion of communicated MRRs.

Computed tomography-based volume calculations of renal ischemia predicts post-traumatic renal function after renal infarction injury.

Objectives: To describe a systematic method to quantify the severity of renal infarction injury and assess its association with post-traumatic renal function after blunt trauma.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who suffered an AAST grade IV renal infarction injury without active bleeding secondary to blunt trauma between 1/2010 and 10/2020. Only patients with a pre-traumatic eGFR within 12 months of injury and post-traumatic eGFR within 3-12 months were included.

Epigenetic downregulation of Socs2 contributes to mutant N-Ras-mediated hematopoietic dysregulation.

RAS mutations occur in a broad spectrum of human hematopoietic malignancies. Activating Ras mutations in blood cells leads to hematopoietic malignancies in mice. In murine hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), mutant N-RasG12D activates Stat5 to dysregulate stem cell function.

Aggressive lipid-lowering therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention - for whom and how?: Aggressive lipid-lowering therapy after PCI.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been established as a definitive method to treat obstructive coronary artery disease. The procedure on its own, however, is insufficient to ensure optimal long-term patient outcomes as it is also necessary to achieve good control of relevant risk factors. The process of atherosclerosis as a result of dyslipidaemia is a risk continuum and secondary preventive measures for patients who have undergone PCI are of paramount importance to mitigate the risk of procedural failure and further cardiovascular events.

Comparing Donor Site Morbidity for Autologous Breast Reconstruction: Thigh vs. Abdomen.

Unlabelled: Although abdominally-based free flaps have long been the gold standard, the profunda artery perforator (PAP) flap has emerged as an important alternative option for autologous breast reconstruction. The aim of this study was to directly compare the donor site morbidity of using the PAP versus deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) free flap.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of patients undergoing autologous breast reconstruction using a DIEP and/or PAP flap from January 2017 to December 2020.

An evaluation of remote sensing algorithms for the estimation of diffuse attenuation coefficients in the ultraviolet bands.

In this study, six algorithms (both empirical and semi-analytical) developed for the estimation of Kd in the ultraviolet (UV) domain (specifically 360, 380, and 400 nm) were evaluated from a dataset of 316 stations covering oligotrophic ocean and coastal waters. In particular, the semi-analytical algorithm (Lee et al. 2013) used remote sensing reflectance in these near-blue UV bands estimated from a recently developed deep learning system as the input.

Comparison of the Efficacy and Safety of Non-vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants with Warfarin in Atrial Fibrillation Patients with a History of Bleeding: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) require oral anticoagulation to prevent ischemic stroke. However, oral anticoagulation may cause bleeding, and patients with AF and a history of bleeding were excluded from pivotal trials comparing non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) and warfarin. We therefore aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of NOACs compared with warfarin in patients with AF and a history of bleeding.

Ureteral Injuries Secondary to Blunt Abdominal Trauma: A 15-Year Review of Presentation, Management, and Outcomes at a Level 1 Trauma Center.

Objective: To report our contemporary experience with ureteral injuries secondary to blunt trauma, with diagnostic methods and management stratified according to injury severity.

Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective 15-year study (4/2005-4/2020) at a regional level I trauma center. Patients were categorized as having a partial or complete transection injury.

Drug delivery system with dual imaging and dual response control drug release functions for chemo-photodynamic synergistic therapy.

Traditional treatment of cancers such as chemotherapy still causes many side effects after the treatment even nowadays, therefore combination therapies by using drug delivery systems are valued by more and more scientists. However, loading multiple drugs in the nanoparticles for drug delivery system may cause insufficient drugs or functional groups, which might let the nanomaterial have fewer functions. Therefore, making the mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have photodynamic therapy function by "doping " lanthanide ions into the material structure, can evade this problem.

Folding and Fracture of Single-Crystal Graphene Grown on a Cu(111) Foil.

A single-crystal graphene film grown on a Cu(111) foil by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has ribbon-like fold structures. These graphene folds are highly oriented and essentially parallel to each other. Cu surface steps underneath the graphene are along the <110> and <211> directions, leading to the formation of the arrays of folds.

Impact of waiting time on hepatocellular carcinoma progression in patients undergoing curative tumour ablation.

Background: A feared consequence to delay in oncological treatment includes disease progression. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between waiting time for ablative therapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and the outcomes of local tumour progression, or new HCC foci.

Methods: Between January 2011 to July 2017, 215 patients with HCC underwent ablative (microwave and radiofrequency) procedures.

Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii Inhibit Osseointegration of Orthopedic Implants.

Bacterial infections routinely cause inflammation and thereby impair osseointegration of orthopedic implants. Acinetobacter spp., which cause osteomyelitis following trauma, on or off the battlefield, were, however, reported to cause neither osteomyelitis nor osteolysis in rodents.

Spiral Growth of Adlayer Graphene.

The morphology of as-grown graphene in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) experiments is sensitive to the reaction environment. Understanding the mechanism of formation of different graphene morphologies is essential to achieve controlled graphene CVD growth. Here the growth and formation mechanism of adlayer graphene spirals are reported.

COVID-19 mental health prevalence and its risk factors in South East Asia.

With the record surge of positive cases in Southeast Asia, there is a need to examine the adverse mental effects of COVID-19 among the under-researched countries. This study aims to synthesize the extant literature reporting the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological outcomes of people in Southeast Asia, and its risk factors. A scoping review was adopted targeting articles published in PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus from January 2020 to March 30, 2021.

Perioperative and Functional Outcomes of Robot-assisted Ureteroenteric Reimplantation: A Multicenter Study of Seven Referral Institutions.

Background: Open revision of ureteroenteric strictures (UESs) is associated with considerable morbidity. There is a lack of data evaluating the feasibility of robotic revisions.

Objective: To analyze the perioperative and functional outcomes of robot-assisted ureteroenteric reimplantation (RUER) for the management of UESs after radical cystectomy (RC).

Gut Ruminococcaceae levels at baseline correlate with risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

Antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) affects a significant proportion of patients receiving antibiotics. We sought to understand if differences in the gut microbiome would influence the development of AAD. We administered a 3-day course of amoxicillin-clavulanate to 30 healthy adult volunteers, and analyzed their stool microbiome, using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, at baseline and up to 4 weeks post antibiotic administration.

Morphological Stabilization in Organic Solar Cells via a Fluorene-Based Crosslinker for Enhanced Efficiency and Thermal Stability.

Power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) and device stability are two key technical factors restricting the commercialization of organic solar cells (OSCs). In the past decades, though the PCEs of OSCs have been significantly enhanced, device instability, especially in the state-of-the-art nonfullerene system, still needs to be solved. In this work, an effective crosslinker (namely, DTODF-4F), with conjugated fluorene-based backbone and crosslinkable epoxy side-chains, has been designed and synthesized, which is introduced to enhance the morphological stabilization of the PM6:Y6-based film.

Pharmacist-structured review of proton pump inhibitor utilisation in primary care: A nonrandomised control study.

Introduction: In the primary care setting, proton pump inhibitor (PPI) overutilisation often stems from the failure to discontinue prophylaxis treatment prior to tertiary care discharge and consider step-down therapy following discharge. Long-term PPI use can result in potential drug-related problems and unnecessary drug expenditure. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of pharmacist-structured review in reducing inappropriate PPI prescriptions and estimate the potential cost saving.