Statistical Feature Analysis Research Articles

Estimating the depth of anesthesia using fuzzy soft computation applied to EEG features

Estimating the depth of anesthesia (DOA) is still a challenging area in anesthesia research. The objective of this study was to design a fuzzy rule based system which integrates electroencephalogram (EEG) features to quantitatively estimate the DOA. The proposed method is based on the analysis of single-channel EEG using frequency and time domain methods. A clinical study was conducted on 22 patients to construct subsets of reference data corresponding to four well-defined anesthetic states: awake, moderate anesthesia, surgical anesthesia and isoelectric. Statistical analysis of features was used to design input membership functions (MFs). The input space was partitioned with respect to the derived MFs and the training data was used to label the partitions and extract efficient fuzzy if-then rules. Consequently, the fuzzy rule-base index (FRI) is derived between 0 (isoelectric) to 100 (fully awake) using fuzzy inference engine and designed output MFs. We also applied the same features to an adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) derived without any prior knowledge. The results show that FRI correlates more with the clinically accepted DOA index, CSI™ (CSM, Danmeter, Denmark). In addition to this achievement the main idea behind this study is to simplify the mutual knowledge exchange between the human expert and the machine, leading to enhance both interpretability of the results and performance of the system.

Invariance of polarized reflectance measured at the top of atmosphere by PARASOL satellite instrument in the visible range with marine constituents in open ocean waters

The influence of oceanic constituents on the polarized reflectance measured at the top of atmosphere (TOA) over open ocean waters in one visible band is investigated. First, radiative transfer modelling is used to quantify the effects of biomass concentration on the TOA polarized signal for a wide range of observation geometries. The results showed that the TOA polarized reflectance remains insensitive to variations in the chlorophyll a concentration whatever the geometrical conditions in oligotrophic and mesotrophic waters, which represent about 90% of the global ocean. The invariance of the polarized signal with water content is explained by the prevailing influence of both atmospheric effects and skylight reflections at the sea surface on the polarization state of the radiation reaching the top of atmosphere level. The simulations also revealed that multidirectional and polarized TOA reflectances obtained in the visible spectrum are powerful tools for the discrimination between the aerosol optical properties. In the second part of the paper, the theoretical results are rigorously validated using original multiangle and polarized measurements acquired by PARASOL satellite sensor, which is used for the first time for ocean color purposes. First, a statistical analysis of the geometrical features of PARASOL instrument showed that the property of invariance of the TOA polarized reflectance is technically verified for more than 85% of viewed targets, and thus, indicating the feasibility of separating between the atmospheric and oceanic parameters from space remotely sensed polarized data. Second, PARASOL measurements acquired at regional and global scales nicely corroborated the simulations. This study also highlighted that the radiometric performance of the polarized visible wavelength of PARASOL satellite sensor can be used either for the aerosol detection or for atmospheric correction algorithms over open ocean waters regardless of the biomass concentration.

System and method for classification of voice signals

A system and method for classifying a voice signal to one of a set of predefined categories, based upon a statistical analysis of features extracted from the voice signal. The system includes an acoustic processor and a classifier. The acoustic processor extracts features that are characteristic of the voice signal and generates feature vectors using the extracted spectral features. The classifier uses the feature vectors to compute the probability that the voice signal belongs to each of the predefined categories and classifies the voice signal to a predefined category that is associated with the highest probability.

Computational modeling of protein mutant stability: analysis and optimization of statistical potentials and structural features reveal insights into prediction model development

BackgroundUnderstanding and predicting protein stability upon point mutations has wide-spread importance in molecular biology. Several prediction models have been developed in the past with various algorithms. Statistical potentials are one of the widely used algorithms for the prediction of changes in stability upon point mutations. Although the methods provide flexibility and the capability to develop an accurate and reliable prediction model, it can be achieved only by the right selection of the structural factors and optimization of their parameters for the statistical potentials. In this work, we have selected five atom classification systems and compared their efficiency for the development of amino acid atom potentials. Additionally, torsion angle potentials have been optimized to include the orientation of amino acids in such a way that altered backbone conformation in different secondary structural regions can be included for the prediction model. This study also elaborates the importance of classifying the mutations according to their solvent accessibility and secondary structure specificity. The prediction efficiency has been calculated individually for the mutations in different secondary structural regions and compared.ResultsResults show that, in addition to using an advanced atom description, stepwise regression and selection of atoms are necessary to avoid the redundancy in atom distribution and improve the reliability of the prediction model validation. Comparing to other atom classification models, Melo-Feytmans model shows better prediction efficiency by giving a high correlation of 0.85 between experimental and theoretical ΔΔG with 84.06% of the mutations correctly predicted out of 1538 mutations. The theoretical ΔΔG values for the mutations in partially buried β-strands generated by the structural training dataset from PISCES gave a correlation of 0.84 without performing the Gaussian apodization of the torsion angle distribution. After the Gaussian apodization, the correlation increased to 0.92 and prediction accuracy increased from 80% to 88.89% respectively.ConclusionThese findings were useful for the optimization of the Melo-Feytmans atom classification system and implementing them to develop the statistical potentials. It was also significant that the prediction efficiency of mutations in the partially buried β-strands improves with the help of Gaussian apodization of the torsion angle distribution. All these comparisons and optimization techniques demonstrate their advantages as well as the restrictions for the development of the prediction model. These findings will be quite helpful not only for the protein stability prediction, but also for various structure solutions in future.

The Redshift Dependence of Gamma‐Ray Absorption in the Environments of Strong‐Line AGNs

The case of {gamma}-ray absorption due to photon-photon pair production of jet photons in the external photon environments, such as the accretion disk and the broad-line region radiation fields, of {gamma}-ray--loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that exhibit strong emission lines is considered. I demonstrate that this 'local opacity,' if detected, will almost unavoidably be redshift-dependent in the sub-TeV range. This introduces nonnegligible biases and complicates approaches for studying the evolution of the extragalactic background light with contemporary GeV instruments such as the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST ), where the {gamma}-ray horizon is probed by means of statistical analysis of absorption features (e.g., the Fazio-Stecker relation) in AGN spectra at various redshifts. It particularly applies to strong-line quasars, where external photon fields are potentially involved in {gamma}-ray production.

ChromatinDB: a database of genome-wide histone modification patterns forSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Covalent modifications to histone proteins play a critical role in regulating gene transcription. Previous studies have used chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) based microarray assays to profile genomic regions that are enriched or depleted for a particular histone modification. Such studies have been conducted extensively in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but currently no comprehensive data repositories or analysis tools are available for these data sets. For this reason, we have developed the ChromatinDB database, which contains genome-wide ChIP data for 22 different histones or histone modifications in S. cerevisiae. ChromatinDB provides novel tools to facilitate the visualization and statistical analysis of chromatin features for user-selected gene sets. http://www.bioinformatics2.wsu.edu/ChromatinDB. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Identification and ERA-15 Climatology of Potential Vorticity Streamers and Cutoffs near the Extratropical Tropopause

Abstract A novel approach is introduced to identify potential vorticity (PV) streamers and cutoffs as indicators of Rossby wave breaking near the extratropical tropopause and to compile climatologies of these features on different isentropic surfaces. The method is based on a contour searching algorithm that identifies the dynamical tropopause [2 potential vorticity units (PVU; PVU ≡ 1 × 10−6 K kg−1 m2 s−1) isoline] on isentropic surfaces. The contour is then analyzed to search for cutoffs and filament-like streamers. Whereas the identification of cutoffs is unambiguous, the one for streamers requires the specification of two parameters that determine the width and length of the contour feature to be classified as a streamer. This technique has been applied to the PV distribution in the Northern Hemisphere on isentropes from 295 to 360 K during the time period from 1979 to 1993 using the 15-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-15). The climatology reveals a pronounced zonal asymmetry in the occurrence of PV streamers and cutoffs. On all isentropes considered there are clear frequency maxima whose location changes with altitude. For instance, in winter and on the 300-K isentrope, stratospheric streamers and cutoffs occur most frequently near 50°–60°N over the western side of Canada and Siberia. On higher isentropes, the maxima are located farther south and at the downstream end of the storm-track regions. Considering continental areas, the Mediterranean appears as a region with particularly abundant PV features. As noted in previous studies, there is a significant seasonal cycle if considering the frequency of PV features on individual isentropes. It is shown that this is mainly due to the seasonal cycle in the location of the isentropes themselves. Comparing the streamer and cutoff frequencies during different seasons on isentropes that are comparably located in the zonal mean yields a fairly robust pattern with almost no seasonal cycle. This indicates on the one hand that care should be taken when considering the seasonal cycle of dynamical processes on isentropes and on the other hand that Rossby wave breaking occurs year-round with almost constant frequency. A quantitative statistical analysis of individual PV features reveals that stratospheric and tropospheric streamers often occur in pairs.

원격탐사를 이용한 남해안의 적조영역 검출과 통계적 특징 분석에 관한 연구

1990년대 이후 적조현상은 전 세계적으로 환경문제의 큰 관심이 되고 있으며 선진각국들은 해상용 위성을 이용하여 조기에 적조영역을 검출하는 연구를 진행하고 있다. 그러나 우리나라는 대부분의 해안이 굴곡이 심하고 연안에서 탁류가 많아 저해상도인 해상용 위성으로 소규모 적조 영역을 검출하기가 어렵다. 또한 기존의 적조영역 검출은 해상용 위성영상의 해색(sea color) 한 가지 특징에 의한 방법이 대부분이었다. 이처럼 해색과 같이 영상에서 소수의 특징을 가지고 적조영역을 검출한다는 것은 false negative 오류를 유발할 수 있다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 고정밀 육상용 위성의 남해안 영상에 대해 GLCM(Gray Level Co occurrence Matrix)의 질감 정보 6가지를 이용해서 질감정보를 취득하고 이 정보로부터 주성분 분석을 통해 차원을 축소하여 불필요한 성분을 제거한 후 2개의 주성분 누적 영상으로 변환시켰다. 실험결과 2개의 주성분 변환 누적 영상의 고유값은 94.6%였으며, 이를 해색 한 가지 만을 이용한 적조영역 영상 및 주성분을 모두 가지고 있는 영상들과 비교했을 때 가장 정확한 결과를 나타내었다. 그리고 검출된 적조영역을 질감에 대한 통계적 특성을 이용하여 탁류가 많은 연안 및 적조현상이 없는 바다와 비교하여 정량적으로 구분하였다. Red tide is becoming hot issue of environmental problem worldwide since the 1990. Advanced nations, are progressing study that detect red tide area on early time using satellite for sea. But, our country most seashores bends serious. Also because there are a lot of turbid method streams on coast, hard to detect small red tide area by satellite for sea that is low resolution. Also, method by sea color that use one feature of satellite image for sea of existent red tide area detection was most. In this way, have a few feature in image with sea color and it can cause false negative mistake that detect red tide area. Therefore, in this paper, acquired texture information to use GLCM(Gray Level Co occurrence Matrix)'s texture 6 information about high definition land satellite south Coast image. Removed needless component reducing dimension through principal component analysis from this information. And changed into 2 principal component accumulation images, Experiment result 2 principal component conversion accumulation image's eigenvalues were 94.6%. When component with red tide area that uses only sea color image and all principal component image. displayed more correct result. And divided as quantitative,, it compares with turbid stream and the sea that red tide does not exist using statistical feature analysis about texture.

Signs of predation in the Middle Jurassic of south‐central Poland: evidence from echinoderm taphonomy

Distinct faunal aggregates are described from the Middle Jurassic (uppermost Bajocian/lowermost Bathonian and Middle Bathonian) clay deposits of Częstochowa area, south-central Poland. These aggregates are composed of molluscs (scaphopods, gastropods, bivalves, ammonites and belemnites), articulate brachiopods and echinoderms (asteroids, crinoids and echinoids). A large percentage of the fossils, especially bivalves, are fragmented, but some fossils are complete. Although most of the fossils are crushed and fragmented, they are still identifiable to at least the genus level. Thorough statistical analysis of taphonomic features indicates that the preservation of asteroid marginal plates is distinct from the ossicles derived from the host clays. The high frequency of bite marks and the good state of preservation suggest that the accumulations are the products of predation activities and most probably are the effect of regurgitation. Taking into account the rich and diverse fauna, the predator was a bottom-feeding generalist. Possible predators include palaeospinacid sharks, a tooth of which was collected from the same bedding surface, but not associated with regurgitated remains. Although the bite marks on the asteroid ossicles point to sharks as potential producers of regurgitates, other vertebrates, like durophagous pycnodontiform fish, cannot be excluded.

A case-control study on high-risk factors for newborn hearing loss in seven cities of Shandong province

To investigate the high-risk factors for newborn hearing loss and to provide information for preventing the development of hearing loss and delaying its progression, from May 2003 to June 2006, neonates who failed to pass the universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) were referred to Jinan Newborn Hearing Screening and Rehabilitation Center from 7 newborn hearing screening centers in seven cities of Shandong province. One-to-one pair-matched case-control method was employed for statistical analysis of the basic features of definitely identified cases. High-risk factors relating to the bilateral hearing loss were evaluated by univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis. Our results revealed that 721 transferred newborns who didn't pass the hearing screening received audiological and medical evaluation and 367 were confirmed to have hearing loss. Of them, 177 neonates with hearing loss who met the matching requirements were included in the study as subjects. Univariate analysis showed that high-risk factors related to hearing loss incuded age of father, education backgrounds of parents, parity, birth weight, gestational weeks, craniofacial deformity, history of receiving treatment in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), neonatal disease, family history of otopathy and family history of congenital hearing loss. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed that 4 independent risk factors were related to bilateral hearing loss, including parity (OR=16.285, 95% CI 3.379-78.481), neonatal disease (OR=34.968, 95% CI 2.720-449.534), family history of congenital hearing loss (OR=69.488, 95% CI 4.417-1093.300) and birth weight (OR=0.241, 95% CI 0.090-0.648). It is concluded that parity, neonatal disease and family history of hearing loss are the promoting factors of bilateral hearing loss in neonates and appropriate intervention measures should be taken to deal with the risk factors.

Construction and validation of a prototype microarray for efficient and high‐throughput genotyping of angiosperms

Until recently, the identification of plants relied on conventional techniques, such as morphological, anatomical and chemical profiling, that are often inefficient or unfeasible in certain situations. Extensive literature exists describing the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) DNA-based identification techniques, which offer a reliable platform, but their broad application is often limited by a low throughput. However, hybridization-based microarray technology represents a rapid and high-throughput tool for genotype identification at a molecular level. Using an innovative technique, a 'Subtracted Diversity Array' (SDA) of 376 features was constructed from a pooled genomic DNA library of 49 angiosperm species, from which pooled non-angiosperm genomic DNA was subtracted. Although not the first use of a subtraction technique for genotyping, the SDA method was superior in accuracy, sensitivity and efficiency, and showed high-throughput capacity and broad application. The SDA technique was validated for potential genotyping use, and the results indicated a successful subtraction of non-angiosperm DNA. Statistical analysis of the polymorphic features from the pilot study enabled the establishment of accurate phylogenetic relationships, confirming the potential use of the SDA technique for genotyping. Further, the technique substantially enriched the presence of polymorphic sequences; 68% were polymorphic when using the array to differentiate six angiosperm clades (Asterids, Rosids, Caryophyllids, Ranunculids, Monocots and Eumagnoliids). The 'proof of concept' experiments demonstrate the potential of establishing a highly informative, reliable and high-throughput microarray-based technique for novel application to sequence independent genotyping of major angiosperm clades.

Statistical Analysis of features used in Automatic Audio Genre Classification

This paper presents statistical models for some of the most important features used to classify audio signals into musical genres. The genres used here are selected according to a given taxonomy. The features are computed for each genre using the signals from a dataset and the results are grouped into histograms. Each proposed statistical model consists of an estimated Probability Density Function (PDF), optimized to best fit a determined histogram and the optimization criterion is the minimization of the Mean Square Error (MSE). Finally, the paper discusses how these models can be applied to classify audio signals into genres.

Enterocolic Lymphocytic Phlebitis: Statistical Analysis of Histology Features in Viable and Ischemic Bowel

Enterocolic lymphocytic phlebitis is a rare cause of segmental ischemic enterocolitis. This artery-sparing transmural vasculitis is classically a circumferential phlebitis with perivenular lymphocyte cuffing and thrombi in the absence of systemic manifestations. Myointimal hyperplasia may represent a chronic phase of enterocolic lymphocytic phlebitis. Subclinical or early stage enterocolic lymphocytic phlebitis is not well delineated. We analyzed 600 submucosal and subserosal veins from both ischemic and intact bowel segments to discern if vascular morphology varied between sites. Crescentic and circumferential lymphocytic phlebitis is more common in viable bowel than in the ischemic segment. A nonsignificant trend was found for increased crescentic morphology between intact bowel remote from the ischemic focus compared with that adjacent to the ischemic focus. Hallmarks of ischemic bowel are necrotizing phlebitis and thrombi formation. Thrombophlebitis morphology is distinctly different in viable and ischemic bowel, changing from the classic lymphocytic to necrotizing lesions respectively.

Investigation of physico-chemical features of soil colloidal suspensions

The knowledge of surface properties of soil mobile colloids is of great importance to predict their role, but these properties are difficult to assess due to the heterogeneity and the complex nature of natural colloids. Physico-chemical features of natural colloids circulating in the soil solution were investigated with complementary approaches: microscopic techniques (TEM and AFM), potentiometric titrations and electrophoretic measurements. This study was realized on two colloidal suspensions isolated from soil solutions collected in situ from the plough layers of two different soils (MC and MPM). Colloidal particle properties including morphology, size distribution, specific surface area, electrophoretic mobility, and surface site concentration were compared before and after oxidation of the organic matter of the colloidal suspensions by H 2O 2 treatment. Statistical analysis of the geometrical features of TEM and AFM images revealed a comparable mean size of 170 ± 70 nm for the two samples, and a mean height of 6.5 ± 4.6 nm and 9.9 ± 8.2 nm for the MPM and MC, respectively. From the 3D-analysis of AFM images, the specific surface areas were assessed at 203 m 2/g and 260 m 2/g for MC and MPM suspensions, respectively. Phyllosilicates (illite, interstratified clays and smectite) primarily present in the two samples seem to dominate the surface charge behaviour of the soil colloidal suspensions as seen by potentiometric or electrophoretic titrations. However, TEM after staining and AFM observations show also the presence of organic phases with different status according to the sample, i.e. surface coatings or interparticle bonds. The data clearly indicate the influence of organic matter on the main physico-chemical characteristics of colloids (morphology, size distribution and surface charge) related to the reactivity and the transfer of colloids in soils.

Statistics of the deformation of the front of a tunnel-crack propagating in some inhomogeneous medium

We present a statistical analysis of some geometrical features of the front of a tensile tunnel-crack propagating quasistatically, according to some Paris-type law, in some elastic solid with spatially varying Paris constant. The work is based on an earlier formula of the authors, which provides the first-order change of the distribution of the mode I stress intensity factor along the front of a tunnel-crack, arising from some small but otherwise arbitrary in-plane perturbation of this front. The quantities studied include the power spectrum and the autocorrelation function of the deviation of the two parts of the front from reference straight lines, the autocorrelation function of the derivative of this deviation in the direction of the crack front, the mean squared fluctuation of the deviation, and its correlation distance. The various measures of the magnitude of the deviation of the front from straightness are all found to increase in time at a considerable rate, which means in some sense that the “wavyness” of the front continuously grows. However, the correlation distance of the deviation also increases, which mitigates the preceding conclusion, since it means in another sense that the crack front tends to “straighten back” in time. Also, comparisons are made with the cases of a semi-infinite crack propagating quasistatically or dynamically, using some results of Rice and coworkers for the latter case. The rate of growth of the various measures of the magnitude of the deviation from straightness is much larger for the tunnel-crack than for the semi-infinite one. This is because the finite width of the tunnel-crack induces a “destabilizing” effect of the straight configuration of the front for sinusoidal perturbations with large wavelengths, which is typical of such finite crack geometries.

Caracterização de lesões intersticiais de pulmão em radiograma de tórax utilizando análise local de textura

OBJETIVO: Caracterizar lesões intersticiais em radiografias frontais de tórax, com base na análise de atributos estatísticos de textura, os quais permitem detectar sinais de anormalidades com natureza difusa. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: O esquema começa com a segmentação semi-automática dos campos pulmonares, sendo o contorno externo marcado manualmente, com posterior divisão automática de cada pulmão em seis regiões. O banco de imagens utilizado neste trabalho é composto por 482 regiões obtidas de exames contendo lesões e 324 regiões obtidas de exames normais. Os atributos de textura são extraídos automaticamente de cada uma dessas regiões e uma seleção das melhores combinações de atributos é feita através da distância Jeffries-Matusita. A classificação das regiões em normal ou suspeita é feita pela comparação com os k vizinhos mais próximos e o treinamento do classificador é baseado na técnica de treino e teste "half-half" e correlação cruzada. RESULTADOS: Os resultados obtidos foram analisados através do valor da área sob a curva ROC ("receiver operating characteristic"), a qual indica um sistema perfeito para uma área igual a 1. Os resultados forneceram uma área sob a curva ROC (A Z) igual a 0,887, com valores de sensibilidade igual a 0,804 e especificidade igual a 0,793. CONCLUSÃO: Os resultados indicam que o sistema de caracterização baseado em atributos de textura possui bom potencial para o auxílio ao diagnóstico de lesões intersticiais de pulmão.

Tthe structure of uterine contractions anomalies in contemporary obstetrics: clinical and statistical aspects

The complex clinical end statistical analysis of features of current of labors in the period with 1994 for 2003 has shown, that in structure of anomalies of patrimonial activity there are authentic changes. Along with significant decrease of frequency of revealing of weakness of patrimonial activity and tendency to decrease of frequency of revealing notcoordinated of patrimonial activity frequency of revealing of fast and prompt labors essentially has increased. Diagnostics notcoordinated of patrimonial activity in the greatest degree is connected to preferences, erudition and experience of the doctor, than with real correlation of revealed attributes and symptoms specific of this pathology of labors. The precisely same attributes and symptoms are characteristic for some variants of weakness of patrimonial activity, that gives the basis to attribute both kinds of this pathology of labors to hypertonic dysfunction of uterus, in a basis of which development lays corporalcervical dyssinergia, instead of the pathology the driver of a rhythm, as it was considered earlier.

Nh3D: A reference dataset of non-homologous protein structures

BackgroundThe statistical analysis of protein structures requires datasets in which structural features can be considered independently distributed, i.e. not related through common ancestry, and that fulfil minimal requirements regarding the experimental quality of the structures it contains. However, non-redundant datasets based on sequence similarity invariably contain distantly related homologues. Here we provide a reference dataset of non-homologous protein domains, assuming that structural dissimilarity at the topology level is incompatible with recognizable common ancestry. The dataset is based on domains at the Topology level of the CATH database which hierarchically classifies all protein structures. It contains the best refined representatives of each Topology level, validates structural dissimilarity and removes internally duplicated fragments. The compilation of Nh3D is fully scripted.ResultsThe current Nh3D list contains 570 domains with a total of 90780 residues. It covers more than 70% of folds at the Topology level of the CATH database and represents more than 90% of the structures in the PDB that have been classified by CATH. We observe that even though all protein pairs are structurally dissimilar, some pairwise sequence identities after global alignment are greater than 30%.ConclusionNh3D is freely available as a reference dataset for the statistical analysis of sequence and structure features of proteins in the PDB. Regularly updated versions of Nh3D and the corresponding PDB-formatted coordinate sets are accessible from our Web site .

Detection of asymmetric blotches (asymmetric structureless areas) in dermoscopy images of malignant melanoma using relative color

Dermoscopy, also known as dermatoscopy or epiluminescence microscopy (ELM), is a non-invasive, in vivo technique, which permits visualization of features of pigmented melanocytic neoplasms that are not discernable by examination with the naked eye. One prominent feature useful for melanoma detection in dermoscopy images is the asymmetric blotch (asymmetric structureless area). Using both relative and absolute colors, blotches are detected in this research automatically by using thresholds in the red and green color planes. Several blotch indices are computed, including the scaled distance between the largest blotch centroid and the lesion centroid, ratio of total blotch areas to lesion area, ratio of largest blotch area to lesion area, total number of blotches, size of largest blotch, and irregularity of largest blotch. The effectiveness of the absolute and relative color blotch features was examined for melanoma/benign lesion discrimination over a dermoscopy image set containing 165 melanomas (151 invasive melanomas and 14 melanomas in situ) and 347 benign lesions (124 nevocellular nevi without dysplasia and 223 dysplastic nevi) using a leave-one-out neural network approach. Receiver operating characteristic curve results are shown, highlighting the sensitivity and specificity of melanoma detection. Statistical analysis of the blotch features are also presented. Neural network and statistical analysis showed that the blotch detection method was somewhat more effective using relative color than using absolute color. The relative-color blotch detection method gave a diagnostic accuracy of about 77%.

Cyclin D1, E2F1 expression levels are associated with characteristics and prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

SUMMARY. We performed a multi-institutional analysis of E2F1 and cyclin D1 expression in cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Cyclin D1 and E2F1 are involved in the transition of cell cycle phases and associated with tumor progression. However, no previous studies have concurrently analyzed combined E2F1 and cyclin D1 expression. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship of E2F1 and cyclin D1 in ESCC. We studied 122 patients with primary ESCC who underwent surgical tumor resection. Immunohistochemical analyses were performed for E2F1 and cyclin D1. A statistical analysis of immunohistochemistry results, clinicopathological features, and prognosis was performed. E2F1/cyclin D1 (-/-) tumors were present in 31 patients (25.4%) and correlated with reduced tumor progression. In these patients, pT (P=0.0001), pN (P<0.0001), p-Stage (P=0.0019), and survival rates were better than in patients who were positive for either E2F1 or cyclin D1 (P=0.0232). The expression of E2F1 and cyclin D1 is an indicator of tumor progression and prognosis in patients with ESCC. Combined analysis of E2F1 and cyclin D1 expression helps to determine the characteristics and prognosis of ESCC.