Assessing biological self-organization patterns using statistical complexity characteristics: a tool for diffusion tensor imaging analysis.

Object: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) are well-known and powerful imaging techniques for MRI. Although DTI evaluation has evolved continually in recent years, there are still struggles regarding quantitative measurements that can benefit brain areas that are consistently difficult to measure via diffusion-based methods, e.g.

Intra- and inter-examiner reliability of digital images of skin donor areas in burns.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to evaluate intra- and inter-rater reliability in the analysis of digital images of donor areas for skin in burn patients using the CaPAS plugin in the ImageJ®.

Methods: Donor sites were reviewed by two independent reviewers in duplicate. The capture of images was standardized on the same device and distance (with a millimeter ruler), without a flash.

Prediction of Radiation-Related Dental Caries Through PyRadiomics Features and Artificial Neural Network on Panoramic Radiography.

The prediction and detection of radiation-related caries (RRC) are crucial to manage the side effects of the head and the neck cancer (HNC) radiotherapy (RT). Despite the demands for the prediction of RRC, no study proposes and evaluates a prediction method. This study introduces a method based on artificial intelligence neural network to predict and detect either regular caries or RRC in HNC patients under RT using features extracted from panoramic radiograph.

MRI radiomics for the prediction of recurrence in patients with clinically non-functioning pituitary macroadenomas.

Twelve to 66% of patients with clinically non-functioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) experience tumor recurrence 1-5 years after the first surgery. Nevertheless, there is still no recurrence prediction factor concisely established and reproduced in the literature for NFPA management. The present study evaluates the prognostic value of MRI Radiomics features combined with machine learning models to assess recurrence after the first surgery in patients with clinically non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA).

Tsallis-Entropy Segmentation through MRF and Alzheimer anatomic reference for Brain Magnetic Resonance Parcellation.

Quantifying the intracranial tissue volume changes in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assists specialists to analyze the effects of natural or pathological changes. Since these changes can be subtle, the accuracy of the automatic compartmentalization method is always criticized by specialists. We propose and then evaluate an automatic segmentation method based on modified q-entropy (Mqe) through a modified Markov Random Field (MMRF) enhanced by Alzheimer anatomic reference (AAR) to provide a high accuracy brain tissues parcellation approach (Mqe-MMRF).

Relationship between microvascular changes, autonomic denervation, and myocardial fibrosis in Chagas cardiomyopathy: Evaluation by MRI and SPECT imaging.

Background: The relationship between microvasculopathy, autonomic denervation, and myocardial fibrosis, in Chagas cardiomyopathy is incompletely understood. The aim of this study was to explore the relative extent and anatomic distribution of myocardial hypoperfusion, autonomic denervation, and myocardial scarring using Single-Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT) imaging and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

Methods: Thirteen patients with Chagas disease all had Iodine-123-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) SPECT, Tc-Sestamibi (MIBI) rest-stress SPECT, and gadolinium late enhancement MRI imaging within a 2-month interval.

High-voltage electric stimulation of the donor site of skin grafts accelerates the healing process. A randomized blinded clinical trial.

Introduction: Severe burns benefit from skin grafting, and grafting surgery is of great importance in the treatment of these injuries. As a result, there is formation of an additional wound at the donor site, which is painful and susceptible to infection. However, the therapeutic approach to these problems at donor sites for skin grafting is insufficiently explored in the literature.

Changes in the Complexity of Heart Rate Variability with Exercise Training Measured by Multiscale Entropy-Based Measurements.

Quantifying complexity from heart rate variability (HRV) series is a challenging task, and multiscale entropy (MSE), along with its variants, has been demonstrated to be one of the most robust approaches to achieve this goal. Although physical training is known to be beneficial, there is little information about the long-term complexity changes induced by the physical conditioning. The present study aimed to quantify the changes in physiological complexity elicited by physical training through multiscale entropy-based complexity measurements.

Isotropic anomalous filtering in Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Noise is inherent to Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DWI) and noise reduction methods are necessary. Although process based on classical diffusion is one of the most used approaches for digital image, anomalous diffusion has the potential for image enhancement and it has not been tested for DWI noise reduction. This study evaluates Anomalous Diffusion (AD) filter as DWI enhancement method.

Fractal dimension in quantifying the degree of myocardial cellular rejection after cardiac transplantation.

Introduction: The term "Fractal" is derived from the Latin fractus meaning "irregular" or "broken" considering the observed structure with a non-integer dimension. There are many studies which employed the Fractal Dimension (FD) as a diagnostic tool. One of the most common methods for its study is the "Box Counting Method".

Ultrasonic tissue characterization of vulnerable carotid plaque: correlation between videodensitometric method and histological examination.

Background: To establish the correlation between quantitative analysis based on B-mode ultrasound images of vulnerable carotid plaque and histological examination of the surgically removed plaque, on the basis of a videodensitometric digital texture characterization.

Methods: Twenty-five patients (18 males, mean age 67 +/- 6.9 years) admitted for carotid endarterectomy for extracranial high-grade internal carotid artery stenosis (> or = 70% luminal narrowing) underwent to quantitative ultrasonic tissue characterization of carotid plaque before surgery.