Search results for: lung cancer
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 361

Search results for: lung cancer

91 Case Based Reasoning Technology for Medical Diagnosis

Authors: Abdel-Badeeh M. Salem

Abstract:

Case based reasoning (CBR) methodology presents a foundation for a new technology of building intelligent computeraided diagnoses systems. This Technology directly addresses the problems found in the traditional Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, e.g. the problems of knowledge acquisition, remembering, robust and maintenance. This paper discusses the CBR methodology, the research issues and technical aspects of implementing intelligent medical diagnoses systems. Successful applications in cancer and heart diseases developed by Medical Informatics Research Group at Ain Shams University are also discussed.

Keywords: Medical Informatics, Computer-Aided MedicalDiagnoses, AI in Medicine, Case-Based Reasoning.

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90 Geochemistry of Tektites from Maoming of Guandong Province, China

Authors: Yung-Tan Lee, Ren-Yi Huang, Jyh-Yi Shih, Meng-Lung Lin, Yen-Tsui Hu, Hsiao-Ling Yu, Chih-Cheng Chen

Abstract:

We measured the major and trace element contents and Rb-Sr isotopic compositions of 12 tektites from the Maoming area, Guandong province (south China). All the samples studied are splash-form tektites which show pitted or grooved surfaces with schlieren structures on some surfaces. The trace element ratios Ba/Rb (avg. 4.33), Th/Sm (avg. 2.31), Sm/Sc (avg. 0.44), Th/Sc (avg. 1.01) , La/Sc (avg. 2.86), Th/U (avg. 7.47), Zr/Hf (avg. 46.01) and the rare earth elements (REE) contents of tektites of this study are similar to the average upper continental crust. From the chemical composition, it is suggested that tektites in this study are derived from similar parental terrestrial sedimentary deposit which may be related to post-Archean upper crustal rocks. The tektites from the Maoming area have high positive εSr(0) values-ranging from 176.9~190.5 which indicate that the parental material for these tektites have similar Sr isotopic compositions to old terrestrial sedimentary rocks and they were not dominantly derived from recent young sediments (such as soil or loess). The Sr isotopic data obtained by the present study support the conclusion proposed by Blum et al. (1992)[1] that the depositional age of sedimentary target materials is close to 170Ma (Jurassic). Mixing calculations based on the model proposed by Ho and Chen (1996)[2] for various amounts and combinations of target rocks indicate that the best fit for tektites from the Maoming area is a mixture of 40% shale, 30% greywacke, 30% quartzite.

Keywords: Geochemistry, Guandong province, South China, Tektites

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89 Health Effects of Trihalomethanes as Chlorinated Disinfection by Products: A Review Article

Authors: M. R. Mohamadshafiee, L. Taghavi

Abstract:

Trihalomethanes (THMs) were among the first disinfection byproducts to be discovered in chlorinated water. The substances form during a reaction between chlorine and organic matter in the water. Trihalomethanes are suspected to have negative effects on birth such as, low birth weight, intrauterine growth retardation in term births, as well as gestational age and preterm delivery. There are also some evidences showing these by-products to be mutagenic and carcinogenic, the greatest amount of evidence being related to the bladder cancer. However, there exist inconsistencies regarding such effects of THMs as different studies have provided different results in this regard. The aim of the present study is to provide a review of the related researches about the above mentioned health effects of THMs.

Keywords: Trihalomethans, by-products, disinfection, carcinogenic

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88 Generation of Numerical Data for the Facilitation of the Personalized Hyperthermic Treatment of Cancer with An Interstital Antenna Array Using the Method of Symmetrical Components

Authors: Prodromos E. Atlamazoglou

Abstract:

The method of moments combined with the method of symmetrical components is used for the analysis of interstitial hyperthermia applicators. The basis and testing functions are both piecewise sinusoids, qualifying our technique as a Galerkin one. The dielectric coatings are modeled by equivalent volume polarization currents, which are simply related to the conduction current distribution, avoiding in that way the introduction of additional unknowns or numerical integrations. The results of our method for a four dipole circular array, are in agreement with those already published in literature for a same hyperthermia configuration. Apart from being accurate, our approach is more general, more computationally efficient and takes into account the coupling between the antennas.

Keywords: Hyperthermia, integral equations, insulated antennas, method of symmetrical components.

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87 Applications of Support Vector Machines on Smart Phone Systems for Emotional Speech Recognition

Authors: Wernhuar Tarng, Yuan-Yuan Chen, Chien-Lung Li, Kun-Rong Hsie, Mingteh Chen

Abstract:

An emotional speech recognition system for the applications on smart phones was proposed in this study to combine with 3G mobile communications and social networks to provide users and their groups with more interaction and care. This study developed a mechanism using the support vector machines (SVM) to recognize the emotions of speech such as happiness, anger, sadness and normal. The mechanism uses a hierarchical classifier to adjust the weights of acoustic features and divides various parameters into the categories of energy and frequency for training. In this study, 28 commonly used acoustic features including pitch and volume were proposed for training. In addition, a time-frequency parameter obtained by continuous wavelet transforms was also used to identify the accent and intonation in a sentence during the recognition process. The Berlin Database of Emotional Speech was used by dividing the speech into male and female data sets for training. According to the experimental results, the accuracies of male and female test sets were increased by 4.6% and 5.2% respectively after using the time-frequency parameter for classifying happy and angry emotions. For the classification of all emotions, the average accuracy, including male and female data, was 63.5% for the test set and 90.9% for the whole data set.

Keywords: Smart phones, emotional speech recognition, socialnetworks, support vector machines, time-frequency parameter, Mel-scale frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC).

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86 Toxic Effect of Sodium Nitrate on Germinating Seeds of Vigna radiata

Authors: Nilima D. Gajbhiye

Abstract:

Sodium nitrate has been used industrially in a number of work fields ranging from agriculture to food industry. Sodium nitrate and nitrite are associated with a higher risk of cancer in human beings. In present study, the effect of sodium nitrate on germinating seeds was studied. Two different sets of ungerminated Vigna radiata seeds were taken. In one set Vigna radiata seeds were soaked in distilled water for 4 hours and they were allowed to germinate in distilled water (Control) and 0.1 to 1% and 10% concentrations of sodium nitrate (NaNo3). In soaked seed set, on 2nd day radical developed in control and 0.1 to 1% concentrations of sodium nitrate. Seeds size was enlarged in 1% and 10% concentrations of sodium nitrate. On 3rd day in 0.1% sodium nitrate length of the radicle was 7.5cm with one leaf let and control sample showed 9cm with one leaflet. On 5th day in 0.1% sodium nitrate length of the radicle was 10 cm with one leaf let and control sample showed 11.5cm with one leaflet. No radicle developed in 1 and 10% NaNo3 concentrations. On 10th day all plants including control were dead. More number of mitotic cells was observed in apical root meristems of control germinating seeds and less mitotic cells were observed in 0.1% NaNo3 germinating seeds. But cells were elongated in 0.9%NaNo3 concentration and particles are deposited in the cells and no mitotic cells were observed. In other sets, dry seeds were allowed to germinate in Distilled water (control) and in 0.1 to 1% and 10% concentrations of sodium nitrate. In dry seed set, on 2nd day radicle developed from control set. In 0.1 to 1% concentrations of sodium nitration seed enlarged in size but but not allowed germination. But in 10% NaNo3 seeds coat colour was changed from dark green to brown. On 3rd day the radicle was developed in 0.1% concentration of NaNo3. No growth of radicle was observed in 0.3 to 10% concentrations of NaNo3 but plumule was observed in control plant. Seed coat color was changed from dark green to brown in color in 1% and 10% NaNo3. On 5th day in control seeds the radicle growth was 11cm and 0.1% NaNo3 concentration was 1.3 cm. On 10th day all plants including control were dead. More number of mitotic cells was observed in apical root meristems of control germinating seeds and less mitotic cells were observed in 0.1% NaNo3 germinating seeds. At higher concentrations of NaNo3 allowed seed germination in soaked seeds but produced radicle decay. In comparison to it, in dry seed set, germination of seeds observed only in 0.1% NaNo3 concentration. The inhibitory effect of NaNo3 on seed germination is due to reduction of water imbibition and mitotic activity.

Keywords: Germinating seeds, NaNo3, Vigna radiate, mitotic activity.

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85 Study of Integrated Vehicle Image System Including LDW, FCW, and AFS

Authors: Yi-Feng Su, Chia-Tseng Chen, Hsueh-Lung Liao

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to develop an advanced driver assistance system characterized with the functions of lane departure warning (LDW), forward collision warning (FCW) and adaptive front-lighting system (AFS). The system is mainly configured a CCD/CMOS camera to acquire the images of roadway ahead in association with the analysis made by an image-processing unit concerning the lane ahead and the preceding vehicles. The input image captured by a camera is used to recognize the lane and the preceding vehicle positions by image detection and DROI (Dynamic Range of Interesting) algorithms. Therefore, the system is able to issue real-time auditory and visual outputs of warning when a driver is departing the lane or driving too close to approach the preceding vehicle unwittingly so that the danger could be prevented from occurring. During the nighttime, in addition to the foregoing warning functions, the system is able to control the bending light of headlamp to provide an immediate light illumination when making a turn at a curved lane and adjust the level automatically to reduce the lighting interference against the oncoming vehicles driving in the opposite direction by the curvature of lane and the vanishing point estimations. The experimental results show that the integrated vehicle image system is robust to most environments such as the lane detection and preceding vehicle detection average accuracy performances are both above 90 %.

Keywords: Lane mark detection, lane departure warning (LDW), dynamic range of interesting (DROI), forward collision warning (FCW), adaptive front-lighting system (AFS).

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84 A Tubular Electrode for Radiofrequency Ablation Therapy

Authors: Carlos L. Antunes, Tony R. Almeida, Nélia Raposeiro, Belarmino Gonçalves, Paulo Almeida, André Antunes

Abstract:

In the last two decades radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been considered a promising medical procedure for the treatment of primary and secondary malignancies. However, the needle-based electrodes so far developed for this kind of treatment are not suitable for the thermal ablation of tumors located in hollow organs like esophagus, colon or bile duct. In this work a tubular electrode solution is presented. Numerical and experimental analyses were performed to characterize the volume of the lesion induced. Results show that this kind of electrode is a feasible solution and numerical simulation might provide a tool for planning RFA procedure with some accuracy.

Keywords: 3D modeling, cancer, medical therapy, radiofrequency ablation.

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83 Bioinformatics Profiling of Missense Mutations

Authors: I. Nassiri, B. Goliaei, M. Tavassoli

Abstract:

The ability to distinguish missense nucleotide substitutions that contribute to harmful effect from those that do not is a difficult problem usually accomplished through functional in vivo analyses. In this study, instead current biochemical methods, the effects of missense mutations upon protein structure and function were assayed by means of computational methods and information from the databases. For this order, the effects of new missense mutations in exon 5 of PTEN gene upon protein structure and function were examined. The gene coding for PTEN was identified and localized on chromosome region 10q23.3 as the tumor suppressor gene. The utilization of these methods were shown that c.319G>A and c.341T>G missense mutations that were recognized in patients with breast cancer and Cowden disease, could be pathogenic. This method could be use for analysis of missense mutation in others genes.

Keywords: Bioinformatics, missense mutations, PTEN tumorsuppressor gene.

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82 Procedure to Use Quantitative Bone-Specific SPECT/CT in North Karelia Central Hospital

Authors: L. Korpinen, P. Taskinen, P. Rautio

Abstract:

This study aimed to describe procedures that we developed to use in the quantitative, bone-specific SPECT/CT at our hospital. Our procedures included the following questions for choosing imaging protocols, which were based on a clinical doctor's referral: (1) Is she/he a cancer patient or not? (2) Are there any indications of inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis? We performed about 1,106 skeletal scintigraphies over two years. About 394 patients were studied with quantitative bone-specific single-photon emission computed tomography/computerized tomography (SPECT/CT) (i.e., about 36% of all bone scintigraphies). Approximately 64% of the patients were studied using the conventional Anterior-Posterior/Posterior-Anterior imaging. Our procedure has improved efficiency and decreased cycle times.

Keywords: Skeletal scintigraphy, SPECT/CT, imaging.

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81 Effect of Porous Multi-Layer Envelope System on Effective Wind Pressure of Building Ventilation

Authors: Ying-Chang Yu, Yuan-Lung Lo

Abstract:

Building ventilation performance is an important indicator of indoor comfort. However, in addition to the geometry of the building or the proportion of the opening, the ventilation performance is also very much related to the actual wind pressure of the building. There are more and more contemporary building designs built with multi-layer exterior envelope. Due to ventilation and view observatory requirement, the porous outer layer of the building is commonly adopted and has a significant wind damping effect, causing the phenomenon of actual wind pressure loss. However, the relationship between the wind damping effect and the actual wind pressure is not linear. This effect can make the indoor ventilation of the building rationalized to reasonable range under the condition of high wind pressure, and also maintain a good amount of ventilation performance under the condition of low wind pressure. In this study, wind tunnel experiments were carried out to simulate the different wind pressures flow through the porous outer layer, and observe the actual wind pressure strength engage with the window layer to find the decreasing relationship between the damping effect of the porous shell and the wind pressure. Experiment specimen scale was designed to be 1:50 for testing real-world building conditions; the study found that the porous enclosure has protective shielding without affecting low-pressure ventilation. Current study observed the porous skin may damp more wind energy to ease the wind pressure under high-speed wind. Differential wind speed may drop the pressure into similar pressure level by using porous skin. The actual mechanism and value of this phenomenon will need further study in the future.

Keywords: Renault number, porous media, wind damping, wind tunnel test, building ventilation.

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80 Physicians’ Knowledge and Perception of Gene Profiling in Malaysia

Authors: Farahnaz Amini, Woo Yun Kin, Lazwani Kolandaiveloo

Abstract:

Availability of different genetic tests after completion of Human Genome Project increases the physicians’ responsibility to keep themselves update on the potential implementation of these genetic tests in their daily practice. However, due to numbers of barriers, still many of physicians are not either aware of these tests or are not willing to offer or refer their patients for genetic tests. This study was conducted an anonymous, cross-sectional, mailed-based survey to develop a primary data of Malaysian physicians’ level of knowledge and perception of gene profiling. Questionnaire had 29 questions. Total scores on selected questions were used to assess the level of knowledge. The highest possible score was 11. Descriptive statistics, one way ANOVA and chi-squared test was used for statistical analysis. Sixty three completed questionnaires were returned by 27 general practitioners (GPs) and 36 medical specialists. Responders’ age ranges from 24 to 55 years old (mean 30.2 ± 6.4). About 40% of the participants rated themselves as having poor level of knowledge in genetics in general whilst 60% believed that they have fair level of knowledge; however, almost half (46%) of the respondents felt that they were not knowledgeable about available genetic tests. A majority (94%) of the responders were not aware of any lab or company which is offering gene profiling services in Malaysia. Only 4% of participants were aware of using gene profiling for detection of dosage of some drugs. Respondents perceived greater utility of gene profiling for breast cancer (38%) compared to the colorectal familial cancer (3%). The score of knowledge ranged from 2 to 8 (mean 4.38 ± 1.67). Non- significant differences between score of knowledge of GPs and specialists were observed, with score of 4.19 and 4.58 respectively. There was no significant association between any demographic factors and level of knowledge. However, those who graduated between years 2001 to 2005 had higher level of knowledge. Overall, 83% of participants showed relatively high level of perception on value of gene profiling to detect patient’s risk of disease. However, low perception was observed for both statements of using gene profiling for general population in order to alter their lifestyle (25%) as well as having the full sequence of a patient genome for the purpose of determining a patient’s best match for treatment (18%). The lack of clinical guidelines, limited provider knowledge and awareness, lack of time and resources to educate patients, lack of evidence-based clinical information and cost of tests were the most barriers of ordering gene profiling mentioned by physicians. In conclusion Malaysian physicians who participate in this study had mediocre level of knowledge and awareness in gene profiling. The low exposure to the genetic questions and problems might be a key predictor of lack of awareness and knowledge on available genetic tests. Educational and training workshop might be useful in helping Malaysian physicians incorporate genetic profiling into practice for eligible patients.

Keywords: Gene Profiling, Knowledge, Malaysia, Physician.

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79 Improving RBF Networks Classification Performance by using K-Harmonic Means

Authors: Z. Zainuddin, W. K. Lye

Abstract:

In this paper, a clustering algorithm named KHarmonic means (KHM) was employed in the training of Radial Basis Function Networks (RBFNs). KHM organized the data in clusters and determined the centres of the basis function. The popular clustering algorithms, namely K-means (KM) and Fuzzy c-means (FCM), are highly dependent on the initial identification of elements that represent the cluster well. In KHM, the problem can be avoided. This leads to improvement in the classification performance when compared to other clustering algorithms. A comparison of the classification accuracy was performed between KM, FCM and KHM. The classification performance is based on the benchmark data sets: Iris Plant, Diabetes and Breast Cancer. RBFN training with the KHM algorithm shows better accuracy in classification problem.

Keywords: Neural networks, Radial basis functions, Clusteringmethod, K-harmonic means.

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78 Use of Segmentation and Color Adjustment for Skin Tone Classification in Dermatological Images

Authors: F. Duarte

Abstract:

The work aims to evaluate the use of classical image processing methodologies towards skin tone classification in dermatological images. The skin tone is an important attribute when considering several factor for skin cancer diagnosis. Currently, there is a lack of clear methodologies to classify the skin tone based only on the dermatological image. In this work, a recent released dataset with the label for skin tone was used as reference for the evaluation of classical methodologies for segmentation and adjustment of color space for classification of skin tone in dermatological images. It was noticed that even though the classical methodologies can work fine for segmentation and color adjustment, classifying the skin tone without proper control of the acquisition of the sample images ended being very unreliable.

Keywords: Segmentation, classification, color space, skin tone, Fitzpatrick.

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77 Geochemistry of Cenozoic Basaltic Rocksaround Liuhe National Geopark, Jiangsu Province, Eastern China: Petrogenesis and Mantle Source

Authors: Yung-Tan Lee, Ren-Yi Huang, Ju-Chin Chen, Jyh-Yi Shih, Meng-Lung Lin, Hsiao-Ling Yu, Yen-Tsui Hu, Chih-Cheng Chen

Abstract:

Cenozoic basalts found in Jiangsu province of eastern China include tholeiites and alkali basalts. The present paper analyzed the major, trace elements, rare earth elements of these Cenozoic basalts and combined with Sr-Nd isotopic compositions proposed by Chen et al. (1990)[1] in the literatures to discuss the petrogenesis of these basalts and the geochemical characteristics of the source mantle. Based on major, trace elements and fractional crystallization model established by Brooks and Nielsen (1982)[2] we suggest that the basaltic magma has experienced olivine + clinopyroxene fractionation during its evolution. The chemical compositions of basaltic rocks from Jiangsu province indicate that these basalts may belong to the same magmatic system. Spidergrams reveal that Cenozoic basalts from Jiangsu province have geochemical characteristics similar to those of ocean island basalts(OIB). The slight positive Nb and Ti anomalies found in basaltic rocks of this study suggest the presence of Ti-bearing minerals in the mantle source and these Ti-bearing minerals had contributed to basaltic magma during partial melting, indicating a metasomatic event might have occurred before the partial melting. Based on the Sr vs. Nd isotopic ratio plots, we suggest that Jiangsu basalts may be derived from partial melting of mantle source which may represent two-end members mixing of DMM and EM-I. Some Jiangsu basaltic magma may be derived from partial melting of EM-I heated by the upwelling asthenospheric mantle or asthenospheric diapirism.

Keywords: Geochemistry, Jiangsu Province, Cenozoic basalts, Fractional crystallization.

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76 Apoptotic Induction Ability of Harmalol and Its Binding: Biochemical and Biophysical Perspectives

Authors: Kakali Bhadra

Abstract:

Harmalol administration caused remarkable reduction in proliferation of HepG2 cells with GI50 of 14.2 mM, without showing much cytotoxicity in embryonic liver cell line, WRL-68. Data from circular dichroism and differential scanning calorimetric analysis of harmalol-CT DNA complex shows conformational changes with prominent CD perturbation and stabilization of CT DNA by 8 oC. Binding constant and stoichiometry was also calculated using the above biophysical techniques. Further, dose dependent apoptotic induction ability of harmalol was studied in HepG2 cells using different biochemical assays. Generation of ROS, DNA damage, changes in cellular external and ultramorphology, alteration of membrane, formation of comet tail, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential and a significant increase in Sub Go/G1 population made the cancer cell, HepG2, prone to apoptosis. Up regulation of p53 and caspase 3 further indicated the apoptotic role of harmalol.

Keywords: Apoptosis, beta carboline alkaloid, comet assay, cytotoxicity, ROS.

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75 An Approach Based on Statistics and Multi-Resolution Representation to Classify Mammograms

Authors: Nebi Gedik

Abstract:

One of the significant and continual public health problems in the world is breast cancer. Early detection is very important to fight the disease, and mammography has been one of the most common and reliable methods to detect the disease in the early stages. However, it is a difficult task, and computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems are needed to assist radiologists in providing both accurate and uniform evaluation for mass in mammograms. In this study, a multiresolution statistical method to classify mammograms as normal and abnormal in digitized mammograms is used to construct a CAD system. The mammogram images are represented by wave atom transform, and this representation is made by certain groups of coefficients, independently. The CAD system is designed by calculating some statistical features using each group of coefficients. The classification is performed by using support vector machine (SVM).

Keywords: Wave atom transform, statistical features, multi-resolution representation, mammogram.

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74 Carcinogenic Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Urban Air Particulate Matter

Authors: A. Szabó Nagy, J. Szabó, Zs. Csanádi, J. Erdős

Abstract:

An assessment of the air quality of Győr (Hungary) was performed by determining the ambient concentrations of PM10-bound carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) in different seasons. A high volume sampler was used for the collection of ambient aerosol particles, and the associated cPAH compounds (benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), benzo[a]anthracene, benzofluoranthene isomers, indeno[123-cd]pyrene and dibenzo[ah]anthracene) were analyzed by a gas chromatographic method. Higher mean concentrations of total cPAHs were detected in samples collected in winter (9.62 ng/m3) and autumn (2.69 ng/m3) compared to spring (1.05 ng/m3) and summer (0.21 ng/m3). The calculated BaP toxic equivalent concentrations have also reflected that the local population appears to be exposed to significantly higher cancer risk in the heating seasons. Moreover, the concentration levels of cPAHs determined in this study were compared to other Hungarian urban sites.

Keywords: Air, carcinogenic, PAH, PM10.

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73 Indicator of Small Calcification Detection in Ultrasonography using Decorrelation of Forward Scattered Waves

Authors: Hirofumi Taki, Takuya Sakamoto, Makoto Yamakawa, Tsuyoshi Shiina, Toru Sato

Abstract:

For the improvement of the ability in detecting small calcifications using Ultrasonography (US) we propose a novel indicator of calcifications in an ultrasound B-mode image without decrease in frame rate. Since the waveform of an ultrasound pulse changes at a calcification position, the decorrelation of adjacent scan lines occurs behind a calcification. Therefore, we employ the decorrelation of adjacent scan lines as an indicator of a calcification. The proposed indicator depicted wires 0.05 mm in diameter at 2 cm depth with a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 100%, which were hardly detected in ultrasound B-mode images. This study shows the potential of the proposed indicator to approximate the detectable calcification size using an US device to that of an X-ray imager, implying the possibility that an US device will become a convenient, safe, and principal clinical tool for the screening of breast cancer.

Keywords: Ultrasonography, Calcification, Decorrelation, Forward scattered wave

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72 An Automated Method to Segment and Classify Masses in Mammograms

Authors: Viet Dzung Nguyen, Duc Thuan Nguyen, Tien Dzung Nguyen, Van Thanh Pham

Abstract:

Mammography is the most effective procedure for an early diagnosis of the breast cancer. Nowadays, people are trying to find a way or method to support as much as possible to the radiologists in diagnosis process. The most popular way is now being developed is using Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) system to process the digital mammograms and prompt the suspicious region to radiologist. In this paper, an automated CAD system for detection and classification of massive lesions in mammographic images is presented. The system consists of three processing steps: Regions-Of- Interest detection, feature extraction and classification. Our CAD system was evaluated on Mini-MIAS database consisting 322 digitalized mammograms. The CAD system-s performance is evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) and Freeresponse ROC (FROC) curves. The archived results are 3.47 false positives per image (FPpI) and sensitivity of 85%.

Keywords: classification, computer-aided detection, featureextraction, mass detection.

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71 Rapid Study on Feature Extraction and Classification Models in Healthcare Applications

Authors: S. Sowmyayani

Abstract:

The advancement of computer-aided design helps the medical force and security force. Some applications include biometric recognition, elderly fall detection, face recognition, cancer recognition, tumor recognition, etc. This paper deals with different machine learning algorithms that are more generically used for any health care system. The most focused problems are classification and regression. With the rise of big data, machine learning has become particularly important for solving problems. Machine learning uses two types of techniques: supervised learning and unsupervised learning. The former trains a model on known input and output data and predicts future outputs. Classification and regression are supervised learning techniques. Unsupervised learning finds hidden patterns in input data. Clustering is one such unsupervised learning technique. The above-mentioned models are discussed briefly in this paper.

Keywords: Supervised learning, unsupervised learning, regression, neural network.

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70 Evaluation of the Immunoregulatory Activity of rFip-gts Purified from Baculovirus-infected Insect Cells

Authors: Tzong Yuan Wu, Sheng Kuo Hsieh, Tzyy Rong Jinn

Abstract:

Fip-gts, an immunomodulatory protein purified from Ganoderma tsugae, has been reported to possess therapeutic effects in the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. For medicinal application, a recombinant Fip-gts was successfully expressed and purified in Sf21 insect cells by our previously work. It is important to evaluate the immunomodulatory activity of the rFip-gts. To assess the immunomodulatory potential of rFip-gts, the T lymphocytes of murine splenocytes were used in the present study. Results revealed that rFip-gts induced cellular aggregation formation. Additionally, the expression of IL-2 and IFN-r were up-regulated after the treatment of rFip-gts, and a corresponding increased production of IL-2 and IFN-r in a dose-dependent manner. The results showed that rFip-gts has an immunomodulatory activity in inducing Th1 lymphocytes from murine splenocytes released IL-2 and IFN-γ, thus suggest that rFip-gts may have therapeutic potential in vivo as an immune modulator.

Keywords: Fungal immunomodulatory protein, Ganodermatsugae, Interleukin 2, Interferon γ, Lingzhi.

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69 Computer Aided Classification of Architectural Distortion in Mammograms Using Texture Features

Authors: Birmohan Singh, V. K. Jain

Abstract:

Computer aided diagnosis systems provide vital opinion to radiologists in the detection of early signs of breast cancer from mammogram images. Architectural distortions, masses and microcalcifications are the major abnormalities. In this paper, a computer aided diagnosis system has been proposed for distinguishing abnormal mammograms with architectural distortion from normal mammogram. Four types of texture features GLCM texture, GLRLM texture, fractal texture and spectral texture features for the regions of suspicion are extracted. Support vector machine has been used as classifier in this study. The proposed system yielded an overall sensitivity of 96.47% and an accuracy of 96% for mammogram images collected from digital database for screening mammography database.

Keywords: Architecture Distortion, GLCM Texture features, GLRLM Texture Features, Mammograms, Support Vector Machine.

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68 Radiobiological Model in Radiotherapy Planning for Prostate Cancer Treatment

Authors: Pradip Deb

Abstract:

Quantitative radiobiological models can be used to assess the optimum clinical outcome from sophisticated therapeutic modalities by calculating tumor control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP). In this study two 3D-CRT and an IMRT treatment plans were developed with an initial prescription dose of 60 Gy in 2 Gy/fraction to prostate. Sensitivity of TCP and Complication free tumor control probability (P+) to the different values of α/β ratio was investigated for various prescription doses planned to be delivered in either a fixed number of fractions (I) or in a fixed dose per fraction (II) in each of the three different treatment plans. High dose/fraction and high α/β value result in comparatively smaller P+ and IMRT plans resulted in the highest P+, mainly due to the decrease in NTCP. If α/β is lower than expected, better tumor control can be achieved by increasing dose/fraction but decreasing the number of fractions.

Keywords: Linear Quadratic Model, TCP, NTCP, α/β ratio.

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67 The Dialectic between Effectiveness and Humanity in the Era of Open Knowledge from the Perspective of Pedagogy

Authors: Sophia Ming Lee Wen, Chao-Ching Kuo, Yu-Line Hu, Yu-Lung Ho, Chih-Cheng Huang, Yi-Hwa Lee

Abstract:

Teaching and learning should involve social issues by which effectiveness and humanity is due consideration as a guideline for sharing and co-creating knowledge. A qualitative method was used after a pioneer study to confirm pre-service teachers’ awareness of open knowledge. There are 17 in-service teacher candidates sampling from 181 schools in Taiwan. Two questions are to resolve: a) How did teachers change their educational ideas, in particular, their attitudes to meet the needs of knowledge sharing and co-creativity; and b) How did they acknowledge the necessity of working out an appropriate way between the educational efficiency and the nature of education for high performance management. This interview investigated teachers’ attitude of sharing and co-creating knowledge. The results show two facts in Taiwan: A) Individuals who must be able to express themselves will be capable of taking part in an open learning environment; and B) Teachers must lead the direction to inspire high performance and improve students’ capacity via knowledge sharing and co-creating knowledge, according to the student-centered philosophy. Collected data from interviewing showed that the teachers were well aware of changing their teaching methods and make some improvements to balance the educational efficiency and the nature of education. Almost all teachers acknowledge that ICT is helpful to motivate learning enthusiasm. Further, teaching integrated with ICT saves teachers’ time and energy on teaching preparation and promoting effectiveness. Teachers are willing to co-create knowledge with students, though using information is not easy due to the lack of operating skills of the website and ICT. Some teachers are against to co-create knowledge in the informational background since they hold that is not feasible for there being a knowledge gap between teachers and students. Technology would easily mislead teachers and students to the goal of instrumental rationality, which makes pedagogy dysfunctional and inhumane; however, any high quality of teaching should take a dialectical balance between effectiveness and humanity.

Keywords: Open knowledge, dialect between effectiveness and humanity, pedagogy, critical thinking.

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66 Dextran/Poly(L-histidine) Graft Copolymer for pH-Responsive Drug Delivery

Authors: Dae Hwan Kang, Young-IL Jeong, Chung-Wook Chung

Abstract:

pH-sensitive drug targeting using nanoparticles for cancer chemotherapy have been spotlighted in recent decades. Graft copolymer composed of poly (L-histidine) (PHS) and dextran (DexPHS) was synthesized and pH-sensitive nanoparticles were fabricated for pH-responsive drug delivery of doxorubicin (DOX). Nanoparticles of DexPHS showed pH-sensitive changes in particle sizes and drug release behavior, i.e. particle sizes and drug release rate were increased at acidic pH, indicating that DexPHS nanoparticles have pH-sensitive drug delivery potentials. Antitumor activity of DOX-incorporated DexPHS nanoparticles were studied using CT26 colorectal carcinoma cells. Results indicated that fluorescence intensity was higher at acidic pH than basic pH. These results indicated that DexPHS nanoparticles have pH-responsive drug targeting.

Keywords: pH-sensitive polymer, nanoparticles, block copolymer, poly (L-histidine).

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65 Study of Peptide Fragment of Alpha-Fetoprotein as a Radionuclide Vehicle

Authors: Alesya Ya. Maruk, Olga E. Klementyeva, Ekaterina I. Lesik, Anton A. Larenkov, Alexander B. Bruskin

Abstract:

Alpfa-fetoprotein and its fragments may be an important vehicle for targeted delivery of radionuclides to the tumor. We investigated the effect of conditions on the labeling of biologically active synthetic peptide based on the (F-afp) with technetium-99m. The influence of the nature of the buffer solution, pH, concentration of reductant, concentration of the peptide and the reaction temperature on the yield of labeling was examined. As a result, the following optimal conditions for labeling of (F-afp) are found: pH 8.5 (phosphate and bicarbonate buffers) and pH from 1.7 to 7.0 (citrate buffer). The reaction proceeds with sufficient yield at room temperature for 30 min at the concentration of SnCl2 and (Fafp) (F-afp) is to be less than 10 mkg/ml and 25 mkg/ml, respectively. Investigations of the test drug accumulation in the tumor cells of human breast cancer were carried out. Results can be assumed that the in vivo study of the (F-afp) in experimental tumor lesions will show concentrations sufficient for imaging these lesions by SPECT.

Keywords: peptide, technetium-99m, tumor, SPECT.

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64 Metal-Based Anticancer Agents: In vitro DNA Binding, Cleavage and Cytotoxicity

Authors: Mala Nath, Nagamani Kompelli, Partha Roy, Snehasish Das

Abstract:

Two new metal-based anticancer chemotherapeutic agents, [(Ph2Sn)2(HGuO)2(phen)Cl2] 1 and [(Ph3Sn)(HGuO)(phen)]- Cl.CH3OH.H2O 2, were designed, prepared and characterized by analytical and spectral (IR, ESI-Mass, 1H, 13C and 119Sn NMR) techniques. The proposed geometry of Sn(IV) in 1 and 2 is distorted octahedral and distorted trigonal-bipyramidal, respectively. Both 1 and 2 exhibit potential cytotoxicity in vitro against MCF-7, HepG-2 and DU-145 cell lines. The intrinsic binding constant (Kb) values of 1 (2.33 × 105 M-1) and 2 (2.46 × 105 M-1) evaluated from UV-Visible absorption studies suggest non-classical electrostatic mode of interaction via phosphate backbone of DNA double helix. The Stern- Volmer quenching constant (Ksv) of 1 (9.74 × 105 M-1) and 2 (2.9 × 106 M-1) determined by fluorescence studies suggests the groove binding and intercalation mode for 1 and 2, respectively. Effective cleavage of pBR322 DNA is induced by 1.Their interaction with DNA of cancer cells may account for potency.

Keywords: Anticancer agents, DNA binding studies, NMR spectroscopy, organotin.

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63 Medical Advances in Diagnosing Neurological and Genetic Disorders

Authors: Simon B. N. Thompson

Abstract:

Retinoblastoma is a rare type of childhood genetic cancer that affects children worldwide. The diagnosis is often missed due to lack of education and difficulty in presentation of the tumor. Frequently, the tumor on the retina is noticed by photography when the red-eye flash, commonly seen in normal eyes, is not produced. Instead, a yellow or white colored patch is seen or the child has a noticeable strabismus. Early detection can be life-saving though often results in removal of the affected eye. Remaining functioning in the healthy eye when the child is young has resulted in super-vision and high or above-average intelligence. Technological advancement of cameras has helped in early detection. Brain imaging has also made possible early detection of neurological diseases and, together with the monitoring of cortisol levels and yawning frequency, promises to be the next new early diagnostic tool for the detection of neurological diseases where cortisol insufficiency is particularly salient, such as multiple sclerosis and Cushing’s disease.

Keywords: Cortisol, Neurological Disease, Retinoblastoma, Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis, Yawning.

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62 Seasonal Variation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Associated with PM10 in Győr, Hungary

Authors: A. Szabó Nagy, J. Szabó, Zs. Csanádi, J. Erdős

Abstract:

The main objective of this study was to assess the seasonal variation of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations associated with PM10 in an urban site of Győr, Hungary. A total of 112 PM10 aerosol samples were collected in the years of 2012 and 2013 and analyzed for PAHs by gas chromatography method. The total PAH concentrations (sum of the concentrations of 19 individual PAH compounds) ranged from 0.19 to 70.16 ng/m3 with the mean value of 12.29 ng/m3. Higher concentrations of both total PAHs and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) were detected in samples collected in the heating seasons. Using BaPequivalent potency index on the carcinogenic PAH concentration data, the local population appears to be exposed to significantly higher cancer risk in the heating seasons. However, the comparison of the BaP and total PAH concentrations observed for Győr with other cities it was found that the PAH levels in Győr generally corresponded to the EU average.

Keywords: Air quality, benzo[a]pyrene, PAHs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

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