Data-Driven Clustering of Plantar Thermal Patterns in Healthy Individuals: An Insole-Based Approach to Foot Health Monitoring.

Monitoring plantar foot temperatures is essential for assessing foot health, particularly in individuals with diabetes at increased risk of complications. Traditional thermographic imaging measures foot temperatures in unshod individuals lying down, which may not reflect thermal characteristics of feet in shod, active, real-world conditions. These controlled settings limit understanding of dynamic foot temperatures during daily activities.

OPTIMISATION OF A PAEDIATRIC CT BRAIN PROTOCOL: A FIGURE-OF-MERIT APPROACH.

Paediatric head computed tomography (CT) dose optimisation was carried out using three figure-of-merits (FOMs), based on tube voltage, current, noise, volumetric computed tomography dose index (CTDIvol) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). FOM1: spatial resolution and total minimum contrast level (N) against CTDIvol; FOM2: noise against CTDIvol; FOM3: CNR against CTDIvol. Stage 1: Application of FOM1 and FOM2 on a Catphan without current modulation.

Should processed or raw image data be used in mammographic image quality analyses? A comparative study of three full-field digital mammography systems.

The purpose of this study is to compare a number of measured image quality parameters using processed and unprocessed or raw images in two full-field direct digital units and one computed radiography mammography system. This study shows that the difference between raw and processed image data is system specific. The results have shown that there are no significant differences between raw and processed data in the mean threshold contrast values using the contrast-detail mammography phantom in all the systems investigated; however, these results cannot be generalised to all available systems.

Engaging diversity's underbelly: a story from an immigrant parish community.

: This story explores an intervention conducted in a Catholic parish community in New York City. The intervention, conducted by the author and a Jesuit priest, focused on issues of unity and diversity among the various Chinese immigrant subgroups in the parish (primarily Cantonese- and Mandarin-speakers). Issues of class, power, and a history of colonialism in the Catholic Church are explored as central to the relations among culturally diverse Chinese American community members and between the members and the practitioners and the church authority.

The Avalon Gardens Men's Association: A Community Health Psychology Case Study.

This article follows the development and progress of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's 'Healthy and Safe Communities' initiative as it was implemented by a community empowerment organization during a four-year community revitalization project in the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots. The author explores practical aspects of Community Health Psychology through assessing the ways in which its organizing principles were manifest in community-wide processes of individual and community change in one low-income housing project in South Central Los Angeles called Avalon Gardens. Specifically highlighted is how a group of African American and Latino men in the community created a group forum that helped foster, support and sustain an empowerment process that supported health promotion, health consciousness and significant health improvement in the community.