Synthetic Breast Ultrasound Images: A Study to Overcome Medical Data Sharing Barriers.

The vast potential of medical big data to enhance healthcare outcomes remains underutilized due to privacy concerns, which restrict cross-center data sharing and the construction of diverse, large-scale datasets. To address this challenge, we developed a deep generative model aimed at synthesizing medical data to overcome data sharing barriers, with a focus on breast ultrasound (US) image synthesis. Specifically, we introduce CoLDiT, a conditional latent diffusion model with a transformer backbone, to generate US images of breast lesions across various Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) categories.

Ultrasound Viscosity Imaging in Breast Lesions: A Multicenter Prospective Study.

Rationale And Objectives: To explore and validate the clinical value of ultrasound (US) viscosity imaging in differentiating breast lesions by combining with BI-RADS, and then comparing the diagnostic performances with BI-RADS alone.

Materials And Methods: This multicenter, prospective study enrolled participants with breast lesions from June 2021 to November 2022. A development cohort (DC) and validation cohort (VC) were established.

Markedly hypoechoic: a new definition improves the diagnostic performance of thyroid ultrasound.

Objectives: To determine the contribution of a modified definition of markedly hypoechoic in the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules.

Methods: A total of 1031 thyroid nodules were included in this retrospective multicenter study. All of the nodules were examined with US before surgery.

[Changes of soil water budget in the area covered by biological soil crusts in Mu Us sandy land, China].

Exploring and quantifying the impacts of biological soil crusts on soil hydrological processes and soil water budget in semi-arid ecosystems can provide a theoretical basis for vegetation restoration and reconstruction in deserts. Based on continuous observation of soil water content in different types of areas covered by biological soil crusts (, algae, moss) and bare sand in the Mu Us sandy land during the growing season (May to October) from 2018 to 2020, we examined the effects of biological soil crusts on soil water budget at a depth of 0-40 cm. Results showed that algae and moss crusts significantly reduced soil water supplement below 40 cm by rainfall and increased soil water evaporation loss, compared with that under bare sand.

Shear wave elastography and pulsed doppler for breast lesions: Similar diagnostic performance and positively correlated stiffness and blood flow resistance.

Purpose: To compare the diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography (SWE) and pulsed Doppler ultrasound in breast lesions, and to explore whether the quantitative SWE parameters correlated with pulsed Doppler ultrasound parameters.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-nine patients with 79 breast lesions who had undergone conventional ultrasound, pulsed Doppler ultrasound and SWE examination were included. All of them underwent core needle biopsy or surgery within one week.

Thyroid Parenchyma Microcalcifications on Ultrasound for Predicting Lymph Node Metastasis in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: A Prospective Multicenter Study in China.

Cervical lymph node metastasis (LNM) was found to be clinically significant prognostic factors of patients with papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC). Ultrasound (US) characteristics of thyroid nodules and thyroid parenchyma may be used to predict LNM. To investigate the value of nodular US features as well as thyroid parenchymal microcalcifications on US in predicting LNM in patients with PTC.

Thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TIRADS) for ultrasound features of nodules: multicentric retrospective study in China.

Purpose: To establish a practical and simplified Chinese thyroid imaging reporting and data system (C-TIRADS) based on the Chinese patient database.

Methods: A total of 2141 thyroid nodules that were neither cystic nor spongy were used in the current study. These specimens were derived from 2141 patients in 131 alliance hospitals of the Chinese Artificial Intelligence Alliance for Thyroid and Breast Ultrasound.

Qualitative Evaluation of Virtual Touch Imaging Quantification: A Simple and Useful Method in the Diagnosis of Breast Lesions.

Objective: To test the value of qualitative virtual touch imaging quantification (VTIQ) features in differentiating benign from malignant breast lesions.

Methods: From November 2016 to August 2017, 230 lesions were subjected to conventional US and virtual touch imaging quantification before biopsy. The maximum shear wave velocity (SWVmax) was measured using a standardized method.

Similar Reproducibility for Strain and Shear Wave Elastography in Breast Mass Evaluation: A Prospective Study Using the Same Ultrasound System.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the inter-operator reproducibility of strain elastography (SE) and shear wave elastography (SWE) in three groups: all lesions, benign lesions and malignant lesions. Ninety-one lesions from ninety-one women were examined by SE and SWE from January 2017 to December 2017 by two radiologists. The reproducibility of elastic score, SE strain ratio and SWE Young's modulus between operators was prospectively evaluated.

Preoperative Axillary Ultrasound in the Selection of Patients With a Heavy Axillary Tumor Burden in Early-Stage Breast Cancer: What Leads to False-Positive Results?

Objectives: To determine whether imaging and clinicopathologic features could predict false-positive axillary ultrasound (US) results in the selection of patients with breast cancer who had a heavy axillary tumor burden (≥3 tumor-involved nodes).

Methods: Among 788 patients with histologically confirmed invasive breast cancer at Ruijin Hospital from October 2014 to September 2015, 162 patients (cT1-T2, cN0) with 167 axillae had suspicious axillary US findings. Ultrasound findings were considered suspicious for metastasis if cortical thickening of greater than 3 mm or effacement of the fatty hilum was present.

Elastography ultrasound for breast lesions: fat-to-lesion strain ratio vs gland-to-lesion strain ratio.

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance of the fat-to-lesion strain ratio (FLR) and gland-to-lesion strain ratio (GLR) in the diagnosis of breast lesions.

Methods: This was an institutional ethics committee approved prospective study. One hundred and ninety-three breast lesions in 193 women (mean age, 46.

[Storages and distributed patterns of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen during the succession of artificial sand-binding vegetation in arid desert ecosystem].

Soil carbon pool acts as the largest one of carbon pools in the terrestrial ecosystem. The storages and distributed patterns of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) evaluated accurately are helpful to predict the feedback between the terrestrial ecosystem and climate changes. Based on the data about bulk density, content of SOC and TN at 0-100 cm soil profile, the density of SOC and TN at the temporal (chronosequence of artificial vegetation) and spatial (vertical) distributed patterns have been estimated.

[Transcriptional regulation of BHLHB2 induced by PML-RARα].

Objective of this study was to investigate the transcriptional regulation of BHLHB2 gene by the PML-RARα fusion protein in APL cells and reveal the pathogenesis of APL. RT-PCR was performed to detect the expression change of BHLHB2 before and after the induction of PML-RARα in PR9 cells, and its expression level after the treatment of ATRA in PR9 and APL patient derived NB4 cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-based PCR was used to analyze whether the BHLHB2 promoter could be bound by PML-RARα in vivo.

Simulation of the ligament forces affected by prosthetic alignment in a trans-tibial amputee case study.

The aims of this study were to predict and explain the patterns of ligament forces in the stump of a left trans-tibial amputee during walking, and to study the effects of the prosthetic alignment. Musculoskeletal modeling and computer simulation were combined to calculate ligament forces. The prosthesis was aligned to be in optimal position for the subject and then changed by +/-6 degrees in the sagittal plane.

[Spatial pattern of sand-mound of Nitraria in different habitat at the southeastern fringe of the Tengger desert].

Based on the geo-statistics and quantitative ecology method, the spatial pattern of sand-mound of Nitraria was been analyzed in different habitat at the southeastern fringe of the Tengger desert in order to keep the natural mounds stability and ecological efficiency. The results showed that the different groundwater level and plant growth condition resulted in difference of Nitraria population at capacity of withstanding sand bury and the effect of sand-binding. The coverage, density and biomass of Nitraria population at the lacustrine basin lowland were significant higher than those of the alluvial fan (p < 0.

Spatial variability of organochlorine pesticides (DDTs and HCHs) in surface soils from the alluvial region of Beijing, China.

The spatial variability in the concentrations of 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis-(p-chlorophenyl) ethane (DDT) in surface soils was studied on the basis of the analysis of 131 soil samples collected from the surface layer (0-20 cm depth) of the alluvial region of Beijing, China. The concentrations of total HCHs (including alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-isomers) and total DDTs (including p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDD, p,p'-DDE, and o,p'-DDT) in the surface soils tested were in the range from nondetectable to 31.72 microg/kg dry soil, with a mean value of 0.