A systematic review of deep learning-based denoising for low-dose computed tomography from a perceptual quality perspective.

Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scans are essential in reducing radiation exposure but often suffer from significant image noise that can impair diagnostic accuracy. While deep learning approaches have enhanced LDCT denoising capabilities, the predominant reliance on objective metrics like PSNR and SSIM has resulted in over-smoothed images that lack critical detail. This paper explores advanced deep learning methods tailored specifically to improve perceptual quality in LDCT images, focusing on generating diagnostic-quality images preferred in clinical practice.

Resilience, Survival, and Functional Independence in Older Adults Facing Critical Illness.

Background: Older adults surviving critical illness often experience new or worsening functional impairments. Modifiable positive psychological constructs such as resilience may mitigate post-intensive care morbidity.

Research Question: Is pre-ICU resilience associated with: (1) post-ICU survival; (2) the drop in functional independence during the ICU stay; or (3) the trend in predicted independence before vs after the ICU stay?

Study Design And Methods: This retrospective cohort study was performed by using Medicare-linked Health and Retirement Study surveys from 2006 to 2018.

Geriatric conditions and healthcare utilization among older adults living in subsidized housing.

Background: Nearly 2.9 million older Americans with lower incomes live in subsidized housing. While regional and single-site studies show that this group has higher rates of healthcare utilization compared to older adults in the general community, little is known about healthcare utilization nationally nor associated risk factors.

Estimating Vitamin K Antagonist Anticoagulation Benefit in People With Atrial Fibrillation Accounting for Competing Risks: Evidence From 12 Randomized Trials.

Background: Patients with atrial fibrillation have a high mortality rate that is only partially attributable to vascular outcomes. The competing risk of death may affect the expected anticoagulant benefit. We determined if competing risks materially affect the guideline-endorsed estimate of anticoagulant benefit.

Measuring Implicit Bias in ICU Notes Using Word-Embedding Neural Network Models.

Background: Language in nonmedical data sets is known to transmit human-like biases when used in natural language processing (NLP) algorithms that can reinforce disparities. It is unclear if NLP algorithms of medical notes could lead to similar transmissions of biases.

Research Question: Can we identify implicit bias in clinical notes, and are biases stable across time and geography?

Study Design And Methods: To determine whether different racial and ethnic descriptors are similar contextually to stigmatizing language in ICU notes and whether these relationships are stable across time and geography, we identified notes on critically ill adults admitted to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), from 2012 through 2022 and to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital (BIDMC) from 2001 through 2012.

Resistive versus active assisted robotic training for the upper limb after a stroke: A randomized controlled study.

Background: Selection of a suitable training modality according to the status of upper limb function can maximize the effects of robotic rehabilitation; therefore, it is necessary to identify the optimal training modality.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare robotic rehabilitation approaches incorporating either resistance training (RET) or active-assisted training (AAT) using the same rehabilitation robot in people with stroke and moderate impairment.

Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, we randomly allocated 34 people with stroke who had moderate impairment to either the experimental group (RET, n = 18) or the control group (AAT, n = 16).

Overestimation of anticoagulant benefit in patients with atrial fibrillation and low life expectancy: evidence from 12 randomized trials.

Background: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) have a high rate of all-cause mortality that is only partially attributable to vascular outcomes. While the competing risk of death may affect expected anticoagulant benefit, guidelines do not account for it. We sought to determine if using a competing risks framework materially affects the guideline-endorsed estimate of absolute risk reduction attributable to anticoagulants.

Acquisition of a single grid-based phase-contrast X-ray image using instantaneous frequency and noise filtering.

Background: To obtain phase-contrast X-ray images, single-grid imaging systems are effective, but Moire artifacts remain a significant issue. The solution for removing Moire artifacts from an image is grid rotation, which can distinguish between these artifacts and sample information within the Fourier space. However, the mechanical movement of grid rotation is slower than the real-time change in Moire artifacts.

Comparing Machine Learning to Regression Methods for Mortality Prediction Using Veterans Affairs Electronic Health Record Clinical Data.

Background: It is unclear whether machine learning methods yield more accurate electronic health record (EHR) prediction models compared with traditional regression methods.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare machine learning and traditional regression models for 10-year mortality prediction using EHR data.

Design: This was a cohort study.

Trends in Geriatric Conditions Among Older Adults Admitted to US ICUs Between 1998 and 2015.

Background: Older adults are increasingly admitted to the ICU, and those with disabilities, dementia, frailty, and multimorbidity are vulnerable to adverse outcomes. Little is known about how pre-existing geriatric conditions have changed over time.

Research Question: How have changes in disability, dementia, frailty, and multimorbidity in older adults admitted to the ICU changed from 1998 through 2015?

Study Design And Methods: Medicare-linked Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) data identifying patients 65 years of age and older admitted to an ICU between 1998 and 2015.

THE USES AND ABUSES OF AN AGE-PERIOD-COHORT METHOD: ON THE LINEAR ALGEBRA AND STATISTICAL PROPERTIES OF INTRINSIC AND RELATED ESTIMATORS.

As a sophisticated and popular age-period-cohort method, the Intrinsic Estimator (IE) and related estimators have evoked intense debate in demography, sociology, epidemiology and statistics. This study aims to provide a more holistic review and critical assessment of the overall methodological significance of the IE and related estimators in age-period-cohort analysis. We derive the statistical properties of the IE from a linear algebraic perspective, provide more precise mathematical proofs relevant to the current debate, and demonstrate the essential, yet overlooked, link between the IE and classical statistical tools that have been employed by scholars for decades.

Patterns and Trends in Advance Care Planning Among Older Adults Who Received Intensive Care at the End of Life.

This study uses Medicare claims data to identify and assess disparities in the use of advance care planning among adults 65 years or older who died between 2000 and 2015 and received intensive care during the last 30 days of life.

Rates and timing of subsequent amputation after initial minor amputation.

Objective: Studies evaluating major amputation after initial minor amputation are few with rates of subsequent major amputation ranging from 14% to 35% with limited understanding of associated comorbidities and time to limb loss. The aim of this study is to determine the major amputation rates for patients who had already undergone an initial minor amputation and determine which factors are associated with the need for subsequent major amputation.

Methods: Using statewide data between 2005 and 2013, patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), diabetes mellitus (DM), and combined PAD/DM who had a lower extremity ulcer and who had also undergone a minor amputation were identified.

The unrealized potential: cohort effects and age-period-cohort analysis.

This study aims to provide a systematical introduction of age-period-cohort (APC) analysis to South Korean readers who are unfamiliar with this method (we provide an extended version of this study in Korean). As health data in South Korea has substantially accumulated, population-level studies that explore long-term trends of health status and health inequalities and identify macrosocial determinants of the trends are needed. Analyzing long-term trends requires to discern independent effects of age, period, and cohort using APC analysis.

Development of Purtscher-like retinopathy after pre-eclampsia combined with acute pancreatitis.

Visual disturbances are common among women with pre-eclampsia. The obstetricians should have an understanding of the various conditions associated with visual impairments. We report a case of Purtscher-like retinopathy developed after pre-eclampsia combined with acute pancreatitis.

A case of lymphangioleiomyomatosis originated in the pelvic cavity.

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis is a rare disease that is characterized by proliferation of abnormal smooth muscle-like cells, especially that which occurs in the pulmonary parenchyme. It primarily affects women of child-bearing age. The majority of primary lymphangioleiomyomatosis occurs in the lung, but there are a few reports of extrapulmonary cases.

Deregulation of catalase, not MnSOD, is associated with necrotic death of p53-defective DF-1 cells under antimycin A-induced oxidative stress.

One of distinct genetic alterations in spontaneously immortalized DF-1 cells was found to be dysfunction of p53 and E2F-1 as well as altered antioxidant gene expression (upregulation of MnSOD and downregulation of catalase). We have characterized the cellular responses of primary and immortal DF-1 cells to oxidative stress and found that DF-1 cells were more sensitive to oxidative stress than their primary counterparts when treated with antimycin A. The increased DF-1 cell death by oxidative stress was accompanied by an increase in the levels of intracellular superoxide anions and hydrogen peroxide.