Long-term results of a randomized partial irradiation trial compared to whole breast irradiation in the early stage and low-risk breast cancer patients after conservative surgery

xlomafota.13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Long-term results of a randomized partial irradiation trial compared to whole breast irradiation in the early stage and low-risk breast cancer patients after conservative surgery Via Latest Results for Clinical and Translational Oncology Abstract Purpose To report long-term results of a randomized trial comparing accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) to whole-breast irradiation (WBI) in terms of efficacy, toxicity, and cosmesis. Methods and materials WBI group was treated with 3D conformal external irradiation, 2 Gy daily/fraction, 5 fractions/week, to a total dose of 50 Gy. APBI group was treated with 3D conformal external irradiation 3.75 Gy/fraction, twice a day, 5 fractions/week, to a total dose of 37.5 Gy in the APBI group. Patients were followed up every 6 months up to 5 years and yearly thereafter. During follow-up visits, the clinician evaluated chronic toxicity and scored cosmetic results with a four-scale system. Results After a median follow-up of 10.3 years, 43 patients in each group (84%) are alive without disease. One patient died after disease progression in the APBI arm, and there was no death in the WBI arm. The rest of the patients died from another disease different than breast cancer, similarly between groups. There was greater fibrosis in the APBI group (9 patients grade 1 and one grade 2) compared to WBI (3 patients grade 1 and one grade 2); p = 0.18. Regarding cosmesis, in APBI group, 19 and 21 (43.2 and 47%) patients had excellent or good results, similar to the WBI group with 18 patients (40.9%) in each cosmesis outcome. The WBI group did not have any patient with poor cosmesis but the APBI had 3 (6.8%; p = 0.24). Conclusion After a follow-up of 10 years, there were no differences in efficacy between the 2 treatment arms. Despite slight greater toxicity in the APBI group, the cosmesis was similar and satisfactory in both groups. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Challenges and future directions in breast cancer care in Fukushima prefecture in Japan: correspondence to “A survey on the current status of clinical resources for diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in rural hospitals of the Tohoku region in Japan”

xlomafota.13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Challenges and future directions in breast cancer care in Fukushima prefecture in Japan: correspondence to "A survey on the current status of clinical resources for diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in rural hospitals of the Tohoku region in Japan" Via Latest Results for Breast Cancer View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Anisotropic Mechanical Properties of the Human Uterus Measured by Spherical Indentation

xlomafota.13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Anisotropic Mechanical Properties of the Human Uterus Measured by Spherical Indentation Via Latest Results for Annals of Biomedical Engineering Abstract The mechanical function of the uterus is critical for a successful pregnancy. During gestation, uterine tissue grows and stretches to many times its size to accommodate the growing fetus, and it is hypothesized the magnitude of uterine tissue stretch triggers the onset of contractions. To establish rigorous mechanical testing protocols for the human uterus in hopes of predicting tissue stretch during pregnancy, this study measures the anisotropic mechanical properties of the human uterus using optical coherence tomography (OCT), instrumented spherical indentation, and video extensometry. In this work, we perform spherical indentation and digital image correlation to obtain the tissue's force and deformation response to a ramp-hold loading regimen. We translate previously reported fiber architecture, measured via optical coherence tomography, into a constitutive fiber composite material model to describe the equilibrium material behavior during indentation. We u se an inverse finite element method integrated with a genetic algorithm (GA) to fit the material model to our experimental data. We report the mechanical properties of human uterine specimens taken across different anatomical locations and layers from one non-pregnant (NP) and one pregnant (PG) patient; both patients had pathological uterine tissue. Compared to NP uterine tissue, PG tissue has a more dispersed fiber distribution and equivalent stiffness material parameters. In both PG and NP uterine tissue, the mechanical properties differ significantly between anatomical locations. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Methodology for Evaluation of WIAMan Injury Assessment Reference Curves Using Whole Body Match-Paired Data

xlomafota.13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Methodology for Evaluation of WIAMan Injury Assessment Reference Curves Using Whole Body Match-Paired Data Via Latest Results for Annals of Biomedical Engineering Abstract Development of the Warrior Injury Assessment Manikin (WIAMan) capability has included the creation of injury assessment reference curves (IARCs) specific to under-body blast (UBB) loading mechanisms and injuries. The WIAMan IARCs were created from high-rate vertical loading tests of component post-mortem human surrogates (PMHS) and analogous components of the WIAMan anthropomorphic test device (ATD). Validation of the WIAMan IARCs is required prior to the WIAMan ATD being utilized for injury assessment in live-fire vehicle test events. A portion of the validation process involves evaluating the ability of the IARCs to predict injury at the system level (whole body). This study evaluates a methodology to assess the performance of the WIAMan IARCs using match-paired tests of whole body PMHS and the WIAMan ATD. The methodology includes a qualitative analysis designed to identify false-positive and false-negative ATD predictions, as well as a quantitative analysis th at utilizes area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AROC) and Brier score indices to grade IARC performance. Three WIAMan IARCs were used to exemplify the proposed methodology and results are provided. Attributes of the false-prediction, AROC, and Brier score portions of the methodology are presented, with results indicating the new methodology is thorough and robust in evaluation of IARCs. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Miniature Flexible Instrument with Fibre Bragg Grating-Based Triaxial Force Sensing for Intraoperative Gastric Endomicroscopy

xlomafota.13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Miniature Flexible Instrument with Fibre Bragg Grating-Based Triaxial Force Sensing for Intraoperative Gastric Endomicroscopy Via Latest Results for Annals of Biomedical Engineering Abstract Optical biopsy methods, such as probe-based endomicroscopy, can be used to identify early-stage gastric cancer in vivo. However, it is difficult to scan a large area of the gastric mucosa for mosaicking during endoscopy. In this work, we propose a miniaturised flexible instrument based on contact-aided compliant mechanisms and fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensing for intraoperative gastric endomicroscopy. The instrument has a compact design with an outer diameter of 2.7 mm, incorporating a central channel with a diameter of 1.9 mm for the endomicroscopic probe to pass through. Experimental results show that the instrument can achieve raster trajectory scanning over a large tissue surface with a positioning accuracy of 0.5 mm. The tip force sensor provides a 4.6 mN resolution for the axial force and 2.8 mN for transverse forces. Validation with random samples shows that the force sensor can provide consistent and accurate three-axis force detection. Endomicr oscopic imaging experiments were conducted, and the flexible instrument performed no gap scanning (mosaicking area more than 3 mm2) and contact force monitoring during scanning, demonstrating the potential of the system in clinical applications. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Real-time automotive night-vision system for drivers to inhibit headlight glare of the oncoming vehicles and enhance road visibility

xlomafota.13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Real-time automotive night-vision system for drivers to inhibit headlight glare of the oncoming vehicles and enhance road visibility Via Latest Results for Journal of Real-Time Image Processing Abstract The vision problem of drivers during the night is mainly owing to the high-intensity headlight-beam of the oncoming vehicle from the reverse direction. It causes temporary blindness to the driver. To overcome this situation, people generally use color windshield glass, sun visor, and night-vision glass. But, these are not considered as the best solution since it decreases the light intensity of the entire view including the road. Many researchers used various image enhancement techniques to overcome this situation. But, the existing approaches are unable to dim the high-beam headlights of oncoming vehicles without affecting the road view. In this paper, a novel night-vision system is proposed to resolve the problem in real-time for manual-driving vehicles and autonomous vehicles. The proposed method includes region segmentation of frames, local enhancement techniques in different regions followed by adaptive Gaussian filtering. Pixels masking, gamma correction, a nd low-light pixel enhancement are applied to three distinct regions. Both autonomous vehicles and manual drivers can get a bright and a prominent view of the road with dim headlights of oncoming vehicles in real-time. Numerous heuristic real-time test reveals the performance superiority of the projected system compared to state-of-art methods in quantitative as well as qualitative point of view. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Biorecovery of nanogold and nanogold compounds from gold-containing ores and industrial wastes

xlomafota.13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Biorecovery of nanogold and nanogold compounds from gold-containing ores and industrial wastes Via Latest Results for Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Abstract In nature, microorganisms developed at various places and adapted to the various weather and geological conditions. Microorganisms participate in geological transformations leading to the dissolution of some minerals and conversion to others. While some microorganisms with their metabolic activity increase the mobility of metals, others cause precipitation of metals and the formation of new minerals. These biogeochemical interactions found practical application in the recovery of metals. In the article, the proposals for improvement of existing engineering commercial processes for recovery of metals are given which can enable the formation of nanogold and nanogold compounds. Key points • Amino acids in pretreatment can increase the dissolution of the layer around the gold. • Amino acids in the complexing stage can increase gold leaching. • After the complexing stage, the bionanosynthesis of gold and its compounds is possible. Graphical abstract View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.