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Frontiers in Neurology 2024Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of all injury-related deaths and disabilities in the world, especially in low to middle-income countries...
INTRODUCTION
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of all injury-related deaths and disabilities in the world, especially in low to middle-income countries (LMICs) which also suffer from lower levels of funding for all levels of the health care system for patients suffering from TBI. These patients do not generally get comprehensive diagnostic workup, monitoring, or treatment, and return to work too quickly, often with undiagnosed post-traumatic deficits which in turn can lead to subsequent incidents of physical harm.
METHODS
Here, we share methods and results from our research project to establish innovative, simple, and scientifically based practices that dramatically leverage technology and validated testing strategies to identify post-TBI deficits quickly and accurately, to circumvent economic realities on the ground in LMICs. We utilized paper tests such as the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA), line-bisection, and Bell's test. Furthermore, we combined modifications of neuroscience computer tasks to aid in assessing peripheral vision, memory, and analytical accuracies. Data from seventy-one subjects (51 patients and 20 controls, 15 females and 56 males) from 4 hospitals in Ethiopia are presented. The traumatic brain injury group consists of 17 mild, 28 moderate, and 8 severe patients (based on the initial Glasgow Comma Score). Controls are age and education-matched subjects (no known history of TBI, brain lesions, or spatial neglect symptoms).
RESULTS
We found these neurophysiological methods can: 1) be implemented in LMICs and 2) test impairments caused by TBI, which generally affect brain processing speed, memory, and both executive and cognitive controls.
DISCUSSION
The main findings indicate that these examinations can identify several deficits, especially the MoCA test. These tests show great promise to assist in the evaluation of TBI patients and support the establishment of dedicated rehabilitation centers. Our next steps will be expansion of the cohort size and application of the tests to other settings.
PubMed: 38933324
DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1397625 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024This study presents the Fast Fruit 3D Detector (FF3D), a novel framework that contains a 3D neural network for fruit detection and an anisotropic Gaussian-based...
This study presents the Fast Fruit 3D Detector (FF3D), a novel framework that contains a 3D neural network for fruit detection and an anisotropic Gaussian-based next-best view estimator. The proposed one-stage 3D detector, which utilizes an end-to-end 3D detection network, shows superior accuracy and robustness compared to traditional 2D methods. The core of the FF3D is a 3D object detection network based on a 3D convolutional neural network (3D CNN) followed by an anisotropic Gaussian-based next-best view estimation module. The innovative architecture combines point cloud feature extraction and object detection tasks, achieving accurate real-time fruit localization. The model is trained on a large-scale 3D fruit dataset and contains data collected from an apple orchard. Additionally, the proposed next-best view estimator improves accuracy and lowers the collision risk for grasping. Thorough assessments on the test set and in a simulated environment validate the efficacy of our FF3D. The experimental results show an AP of 76.3%, an AR of 92.3%, and an average Euclidean distance error of less than 6.2 mm, highlighting the framework's potential to overcome challenges in orchard environments.
PubMed: 38931642
DOI: 10.3390/s24123858 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Robotic inspection is advancing in performance capabilities and is now being considered for industrial applications beyond laboratory experiments. As industries...
Robotic inspection is advancing in performance capabilities and is now being considered for industrial applications beyond laboratory experiments. As industries increasingly rely on complex machinery, pipelines, and structures, the need for precise and reliable inspection methods becomes paramount to ensure operational integrity and mitigate risks. AI-assisted autonomous mobile robots offer the potential to automate inspection processes, reduce human error, and provide real-time insights into asset conditions. A primary concern is the necessity to validate the performance of these systems under real-world conditions. While laboratory tests and simulations can provide valuable insights, the true efficacy of AI algorithms and robotic platforms can only be determined through rigorous field testing and validation. This paper aligns with this need by evaluating the performance of one-stage models for object detection in tasks that support and enhance the perception capabilities of autonomous mobile robots. The evaluation addresses both the execution of assigned tasks and the robot's own navigation. Our benchmark of classification models for robotic inspection considers three real-world transportation and logistics use cases, as well as several generations of the well-known YOLO architecture. The performance results from field tests using real robotic devices equipped with such object detection capabilities are promising, and expose the enormous potential and actionability of autonomous robotic systems for fully automated inspection and maintenance in open-world settings.
PubMed: 38931502
DOI: 10.3390/s24123721 -
Journal of Clinical Medicine Jun 2024To determine the differences in the effects of intense pulsed light (IPL) treatment when including the upper and lower lid or lateral canthus area in patients with...
To determine the differences in the effects of intense pulsed light (IPL) treatment when including the upper and lower lid or lateral canthus area in patients with meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). Patients who underwent three IPL treatment sessions at 3-week intervals were divided into three groups according to the treatment sites: group A, lower lid; group B, upper and lower lids; and group C, lower lid and lateral canthal area. Before and after the IPL treatment sessions, we obtained the lid abnormality score (LAS), meibum expressibility (ME), meibum quality (MQ), lipid layer thickness (LLT), type I Schirmer test (ST), tear break-up time (TBUT) test, corneal fluorescein staining scores (CFSs), and Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI). IPL treatment significantly improved LASs, ME, MQ, TBUT, CFS, and OSDI values in all groups. Differences in LAS values before and after IPL treatment were significantly greater in groups B and C than those in group A. IPL treatment encompassing the upper lid and lateral canthus together with the lower lid elicited additional improvement in patients with MGD. The additional effect on treating the lateral canthus was similar to the effect observed on the additional treatment of the upper lid.
PubMed: 38930110
DOI: 10.3390/jcm13123581 -
Life (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Computer-vision-based plant leaf segmentation technology is of great significance for plant classification, monitoring of plant growth, precision agriculture, and other...
Computer-vision-based plant leaf segmentation technology is of great significance for plant classification, monitoring of plant growth, precision agriculture, and other scientific research. In this paper, the YOLOv8-seg model was used for the automated segmentation of individual leaves in images. In order to improve the segmentation performance, we further introduced a Ghost module and a Bidirectional Feature Pyramid Network (BiFPN) module into the standard Yolov8 model and proposed two modified versions. The Ghost module can generate several intrinsic feature maps with cheap transformation operations, and the BiFPN module can fuse multi-scale features to improve the segmentation performance of small leaves. The experiment results show that Yolov8 performs well in the leaf segmentation task, and the Ghost module and BiFPN module can further improve the performance. Our proposed approach achieves a 86.4% leaf segmentation score (best Dice) over all five test datasets of the Computer Vision Problems in Plant Phenotyping (CVPPP) Leaf Segmentation Challenge, outperforming other reported approaches.
PubMed: 38929762
DOI: 10.3390/life14060780 -
Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) May 2024Different techniques for artificial iris implantation with or without an intraocular lens, depending on lens status, are described in the literature. We describe a...
Different techniques for artificial iris implantation with or without an intraocular lens, depending on lens status, are described in the literature. We describe a surgical technique for a custom-made artificial iris and toric-intraocular lens intrascleral flange fixation. We modified the "Backpack" artificial iris implantation surgical technique to facilitate an accurate alignment of the toric-intraocular lens in a patient with aphakia, aniridia, and high asymmetric astigmatism secondary to blunt trauma. Two months after the surgery, uncorrected visual acuity was 20/30, corrected to 20/25 with a refraction of -2.00 in the diopter sphere with no residual astigmatism. The artificial iris implant and toric-intraocular lens were well-centered. The patient was satisfied with the visual and cosmetic outcomes. This procedure, however, is not complication-free as our patient developed uveitis and increased intraocular pressure during the postoperative period, which was treated successfully.
Topics: Humans; Iris; Lenses, Intraocular; Sclera; Lens Implantation, Intraocular; Visual Acuity; Astigmatism; Male; Aniridia; Female
PubMed: 38929482
DOI: 10.3390/medicina60060865 -
Foods (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Two studies were conducted to investigate the impact of fresh pork display lamps on consumers' sensory responses to pork products. In the first experiment, 63...
Two studies were conducted to investigate the impact of fresh pork display lamps on consumers' sensory responses to pork products. In the first experiment, 63 participants were asked to evaluate pork products with different degrees of freshness under four fresh pork display lights and two LED lights. In the other experiment, 30 subjects participated in the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test under the same lamps, with the aim of showing whether the fresh pork display lamps impaired color discrimination. The results showed that the light source had a significant effect on the color appearance evaluation of the pork products. The ratings for perceived freshness under the fresh pork display lamps were significantly higher than those of ordinary LED lamps, while the color discrimination performance of the subjects under those lamps was poor. It was demonstrated that improper component proportions of the light spectrum could influence observers' assessment of meat quality and weaken the observers' ability to distinguish the freshness level. Through this study, the authors would like to remind lamp users and manufacturers to not only be concerned about the improvement in the color appearance of pork, but also the need for consumers to be aware of the authentic freshness of the pork products.
PubMed: 38928769
DOI: 10.3390/foods13121827 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jun 2024Our study aimed to investigate the role of ferroptosis in sevoflurane-induced hearing impairment and explore the mechanism of the microRNA-182-5p...
Our study aimed to investigate the role of ferroptosis in sevoflurane-induced hearing impairment and explore the mechanism of the microRNA-182-5p (miR-182-5p)/Glutathione Peroxidase 4 (GPX4) pathway in sevoflurane-induced ototoxicity. Immunofluorescence staining was performed using myosin 7a and CtBP2. Cell viability was assessed using the CCK-8 kit. Fe concentration was measured using FerroOrange and Mi-to-FerroGreen fluorescent probes. The lipid peroxide level was assessed using BODIPY 581/591 C11 and MitoSOX fluorescent probes. The auditory brainstem response (ABR) test was conducted to evaluate the hearing status. Bioinformatics tools and dual luciferase gene reporter analysis were used to confirm the direct targeting of miR-182-5p on GPX4 mRNA. GPX4 and miR-182-5p expression in cells was assessed by qRT-PCR and Western blot. Ferrostatin-1 (Fer-1) pretreatment significantly improved hearing impairment and damage to ribbon synapses in mice caused by sevoflurane exposure. Immunofluorescence staining revealed that Fer-1 pretreatment reduced intracellular and mitochondrial iron overload, as well as lipid peroxide accumulation. Our findings indicated that miR-182-5p was upregulated in sevoflurane-exposed HEI-OC1 cells, and miR-182-5p regulated GPX4 expression by binding to the 3'UTR of GPX4 mRNA. The inhibition of miR-182-5p attenuated sevoflurane-induced iron overload and lipid peroxide accumulation. Our study elucidated that the miR-182-5p/GPX4 pathway was implicated in sevoflurane-induced ototoxicity by promoting ferroptosis.
Topics: Ferroptosis; MicroRNAs; Sevoflurane; Phospholipid Hydroperoxide Glutathione Peroxidase; Animals; Mice; Ototoxicity; Signal Transduction; Cell Line; Male; Hearing Loss; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Phenylenediamines; Cyclohexylamines
PubMed: 38928480
DOI: 10.3390/ijms25126774 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jun 2024While urinary polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing is effective in organism identification in patients with complex urinary tract infections (cUTI), limited data...
While urinary polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing is effective in organism identification in patients with complex urinary tract infections (cUTI), limited data exists on the clinical usefulness of this test. We serially surveyed physicians treating symptomatic patients with cUTI both at presentation and after PCR, and urine culture (UC) results were available to ascertain how the test results modified the therapy. A total of 96 unique surveys completed by 21 providers were included in the data analysis. The mean age for female and male patients was 69.4 ± 15.5 and 71.6 ± 12.7 years, respectively. The test positivity and line-item concordance for UC and PCR were consistent with prior reports. The PCR results modified or confirmed treatment in 59/96 (61.5%) and 25/96 (26.0%) of the cases, respectively, with 12/29 (41.4%) and 47/67 (70.1%) having negative and positive PCR results, respectively, resulting in treatment change (difference 28.7%, < 0.01). Of these, 55/59 (57.3%) were alterations in the antibiotic regimen. PCR use to modify treatment was similar across providers and not statistically different when stratified by patient age, gender, or prior empiric therapy. In 31/59 (52.5%) of the cases, the PCR results modified the treatment where UC would not; conversely, UC would have modified the treatment in 3/37 (8.1%) of the cases where PCR did not (difference 44.4%, < 0.01). We find that PCR test results are used by clinicians in managing cUTI, and use of this test provides an opportunity to improve antibiotic stewardship in this difficult-to-treat subset of patients.
Topics: Humans; Urinary Tract Infections; Female; Male; Aged; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Clinical Decision-Making; Middle Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Urinalysis
PubMed: 38928323
DOI: 10.3390/ijms25126616 -
Genes Jun 2024The retinal features of Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) are insufficiently characterized in Arab populations. This retrospective study investigated the retinal features and...
The retinal features of Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) are insufficiently characterized in Arab populations. This retrospective study investigated the retinal features and genotypes of BBS in Saudi patients managed at a single tertiary eye care center. Data analysis of the identified 46 individuals from 31 families included visual acuity (VA), systemic manifestations, multimodal retinal imaging, electroretinography (ERG), family pedigrees, and genotypes. Patients were classified to have cone-rod, rod-cone, or generalized photoreceptor dystrophy based on the pattern of macular involvement on the retinal imaging. Results showed that nyctalopia and subnormal VA were the most common symptoms with 76% having VA ≤ 20/200 at the last visit (age: 5-35). Systemic features included obesity 91%, polydactyly 56.5%, and severe cognitive impairment 33%. The predominant retinal phenotype was cone-rod dystrophy 75%, 10% had rod-cone dystrophy and 15% had generalized photoreceptor dystrophy. ERGs were undetectable in 95% of patients. Among the 31 probands, 61% had biallelic variants in BBSome complex genes, 32% in chaperonin complex genes, and 6% had biallelic variants in ; including six previously unreported variants. Interfamilial and intrafamilial variabilities were noted, without a clear genotype-phenotype correlation. Most BBS patients had advanced retinopathy and were legally blind by early adulthood, indicating a narrow therapeutic window for rescue strategies.
Topics: Humans; Bardet-Biedl Syndrome; Male; Saudi Arabia; Female; Child; Adolescent; Adult; Child, Preschool; Mutation; Young Adult; Pedigree; Retrospective Studies; Electroretinography; Phenotype; Visual Acuity; Retina; ADP-Ribosylation Factors
PubMed: 38927698
DOI: 10.3390/genes15060762