Diseased Area Research Articles

Deficiency of the purinergic receptor P2X4 limits atherosclerosis in mice

Abstract Introduction Extracellular nucleotides like ATP promote inflammation as danger signals in various chronic diseases via purinergic receptors. In our previous work we identified P2X4 expression in murine atherosclerotic lesions. Therefore, we hypothesized a contribution of the ATP-P2X4 axis to vascular inflammation in atherosclerosis. Methods To investigate the functional role of P2X4 in atherogenesis, wild-type LDL-receptor deficient mice (LDLR−/−) and P2X4-deficient LDLR−/− mice (P2X4−/−LDLR−/−) were fed a high cholesterol diet for 16 weeks. Plaque progression in aortic arches was monitored by echography at intervals of 4 weeks, and leukocyte subsets in blood samples were analysed by flow cytometry. Atherosclerotic lesions were then assessed histologically in aortic root, arch, and abdominal aorta. In order to assess leukocyte recruitment, intravital microscopy was performed after injection of ATP in P2X4−/− or wildtype mice (WT). Regarding transferability to human disease, atherosclerotic plaque from carotid endarterectomy has been stained immunohistochemically for P2X4-receptor expression. Results After 16 weeks, P2X4-deficient mice showed significantly reduced atherosclerotic lesions in the aortic root (n=40, LDLR−/−: 0.47 mm2, P2X4−/−LDLR−/−: 0.39 mm2, p=0.04). Ly6C- monocyte count in peripheral blood was higher in P2X4−/−LDLR−/− (n=32, LDLR−/−: 241/μl, P2X4−/−LDLR−/−: 542/μl, p=0.0088), shifting the balance to a more anti-inflammatory subset. Memory-cell generation of CD4-T-cells is significantly higher in knockout-mice, suggesting an involvement of T-helper cells (n=25, LDLR−/−: 27%, P2X4−/−LDLR−/−: 46%, p=0.0003). Peritoneally injected ATP induced leukocyte rolling in WT, but not in P2X4-deficient mice. In human carotid arteries, atherosclerotic plaque shows higher staining for P2X4−/− receptor than not diseased areas. Conclusion P2X4-deficiency enhances anti-inflammatory leukocytes in peripheral blood and reduces atherosclerosis. Therefore, blocking the ATP-P2X4 axis may prevent leukocyte recruitment to atherosclerotic lesions and could present a potential new target for anti-atherogenic therapy. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): This work was supported by a research grant of the German Research Foundation (DFG) to Peter Stachon. Sebastian König was supported by a research grant of the German Cardiac Society (DGK)

First report of stem blight and leaf spot in horse purslane caused by Gibbago trianthemae in Sinaloa, Mexico

Horse purslane (Trianthema portulacastrum L.) is a common weed in Mexico, where it competes with different agricultural crops and grows along watercourses, railways and roadsides, abandoned fields, and urban communities. In Sinaloa, this weed grows abundantly during the rainy season (July–September) and competes with summer crops such as corn and sorghum during the fall-winter season, and with common bean and corn mainly in alluvial soils. In recent years, horse purslane has suffered a 100% incidence of stem blight and leaf spot, with a diseased foliar area ranging from 35% to 80%. Ten isolates of an unknown fungus were obtained from symptomatic tissue and identified as Gibbago trianthemae Simmons, based on morphological features of the anamorph, with this identification confirmed in nine isolates by ITS rDNA sequence analysis. The identity of the fungus coincides with previous reports from other parts of the world, where it causes symptoms on horse purslane similar to those described here. In particular, due to its host specificity and aggressiveness towards horse purslane, G. trianthemae has been considered as a potential mycoherbicide. The pathogenicity of six fungal isolates was demonstrated according to Koch’s postulates. Our study provides new research directions for determining host specificity, obtaining aggressive strains, establishing the most appropriate inoculum levels, and demonstrating the influence of climatic conditions on the severity of the disease, which will help to assess the utility of the pathogen as a potential mycoherbicide.

Assessment of Inflammation and Calcification in Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum Arteries and Skin with 18F-FluroDeoxyGlucose and 18F-Sodium Fluoride Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Imaging: The GOCAPXE Trial.

Background: Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is an inherited metabolic disease characterized by elastic fiber fragmentation and ectopic calcification. There is growing evidence that vascular calcification is associated with inflammatory status and is enhanced by inflammatory cytokines. Since PXE has never been considered as an inflammatory condition, no incidence of chronic inflammation leading to calcification in PXE has been reported and should be investigated. In atherosclerosis and aortic stenosis, positron emission tomography combined with computed tomographic (PET-CT) imaging has demonstrated a correlation between inflammation and calcification. The purpose of this study was to assess skin/artery inflammation and calcification in PXE patients. Methods: 18F-FluroDeoxyGlucose (18F-FDG) and 18F-Sodium Fluoride (18F-NaF) PET-CT, CT-imaging and Pulse wave velocity (PWV) were used to determine skin/vascular inflammation, tissue calcification, arterial calcium score (CS) and stiffness, respectively. In addition, inorganic pyrophosphate, high-sensitive C-reactive protein and cytokines plasma levels were monitored. Results: In 23 PXE patients, assessment of inflammation revealed significant 18F-FDG uptake in diseased skin areas contrary to normal regions, and exclusively in the proximal aorta contrary to the popliteal arteries. There was no correlation between 18F-FDG uptake and PWV in the aortic wall. Assessment of calcification demonstrated significant 18F-NaF uptake in diseased skin regions and in the proximal aorta and femoral arteries. 18F-NaF wall uptake correlated with CS in the femoral arteries, and aortic wall PWV. Multivariate analysis indicated that aortic wall 18F-NaF uptake is associated with diastolic blood pressure. There was no significant correlation between 18F-FDG and 18F-NaF uptake in any of the artery walls. Conclusion: In the present cross-sectional study, inflammation and calcification were not correlated. PXE would appear to more closely resemble a chronic disease model of ectopic calcification than an inflammatory condition. To assess early ectopic calcification in PXE patients, 18F-NaF-PET-CT may be more relevant than CT imaging. It potentially constitutes a biomarker for disease-modifying anti-calcifying drug assessment in PXE.

Оccurrence of bacterial spot caused by Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni on peach and apricot in Serbia.

Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni (Xap) causes bacterial spot of leaves and fruits, defoliation, fruit dropping and twigs, branches or trunk cankers in most cultivated and ornamental Prunus species. The bacterium is listed as an EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation) A2 quarantine pathogen. Xap was first detected in 2019 on peach [Prunus persica L., unknown cultivar (cv.)] leaves in a 13-year-old orchard located in Irig (GPS: 45°6'10.538'' N, 19°54'8.04'' E), with a disease incidence of 10-20%. Thereafter, Xap was detected in 2020 on apricot (Prunus armeniaca L., cvs. NS4, NS Rodna and Roxana) leaves and fruits in a 5-year-old orchard located in Bešenovo (GPS: 45°04'59.0'' N, 19°41'23.0'' E), with disease incidence of 30-50%. Symptoms on leaves appeared along leaf midribs or margins in form of brown to black spots, with a pale green to yellow halo, evident on both leaf surfaces. The diseased area on leaves dropped out giving a shot-hole appearance, leaves turn yellow and drop prematurely. Bacterial spots of apricot fruits appeared in form of water-soaked or dark brown sunken lesions. Primarly detection of Xap in collected samples was obtained using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with Xap - specific primers XapY17-F/XapY17-R, after amplifying target fragments of 943-bp (1). Xap reference strain NCPPB 3156 served as positive control. Isolations performed on yeast extract-dextrose-calcium carbonate agar (YDC) resulted in pale yellow, circular, raised and mucoid colonies after 3 days at 26 °C. A total of 20 representative isolates were aerobic, gram negative, catalase positive, oxidase and arginine dihydrolase negative; they induced hypersensitivity reaction, reduced nitrates, hydrolyzed aesculin and gelatine, but not starch, produced H2S, not produced indole (2). NCBI BLASTn search of the ftsX (ABC transporter ATP-binding protein) sequences (1) indicated 100% identity of Serbian isolates with Xap strains XAP HU2 (P. persica, Acc. no. MG049921) and XAP HU1 (P. armeniaca, Acc. no. KY039173) from Hungary. The nucleotide sequences of one isolate from peach (Xp219) and one from apricot (Xp320) were deposited in GenBank under Acc. nos. MT890969 and MT890970, respectively. Pathogenicity was performed on detached peach and apricot leaves for all 20 isolates and on leaves and shoots of potted 1-year-old plants of peach (cv. Vineyard peach) and apricot (cv. NS Rodna) for three isolates from each host (3, 4). Sterile distilled water and reference strain NCPPB 3156 were used as negative and positive controls. On detached leaves all isolates caused typical water-soaked spots 3 days after inoculation (DAI), while 10 DAI spots became brown and necrotic. Same symptoms were appeared on the leaves of potted plants. On peach and apricot shoots water-soaked, slightly reddish lesions emerged on inoculation sites 7-10 DAI, while 20 DAI lesions become dark, circular to elliptical 3.5-4 and 2.5-3 cm in size for peach and apricot, respectively. Negative controls were symptomless. Reisolated bacteria were confirmed to be the same as the original using PCR (1), fulfilling Koch's postulates. This is the first report of Xap in Serbia, which has occurred with a limited distribution in the Fruška Gora region (Vojvodina). Only two orchards in Serbia have been deteched with Xap so far. In the diseased peach orchard Xap was eradicated by uprooting trees. The apricot orchard is still under official control to limit disease spread. Appropriate cultivation practices, national inspection and surveillance is in place to prevent further pathogen spread and establishment to new hosts and regions in Serbia.

The Effect of Periodontal and Peri-Implanter Health on IL-1β and TNF-α Levels in Gingival Crevicular and Peri-Implanter Sulcus Fluid: a Cross-Sectional Study

It is stated that peri-implanter diseases have destructive effects similar to periodontal diseases. This study aims to compare IL-1β and TNF-α levels in healthy and diseased areas. Forty non-smokers systemically health individuals (40 implants/40 teeth) (age:38-67) were included in the study. In clinical and radiographic examinations; plaque index (PIn), gingival index (GI), periodontal pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL) and marginal bone loss (MBL) values were recorded. The gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and peri-implanter sulcus fluids (PISF) of the patients were collected, and IL-1β and TNF-α levels were measured by ELISA in the samples. The collected data were analyzed with the help of SPSS v.22 package program. Sample PPD score showed a statistically significant difference between the diseased and healthy groups and also sample CAL showed statistically significant higher in Periodontitis(P) compared to periodontally heathy(H) and Gingivitis(G) (p>0.05). IL-1beta and TNF-α levels in GCF/PISF; In the P and Peri-implantitis (PI) group, it was found statistically significantly higher than the H, Healthy-Implant (HI), besides P showed higher levels compared to G (p<0.05). Within the limitations of our study, it can be said that IL-1β and TNF-α among inflammatory cytokines in GCF/PISF will increase in periodontal and peri-implanter diseases, it can also be said that this increase in cytokines may indicate that periodontal and peri-implanter diseases have similar immunological structure. Peri-implant mucositis without periodontitis history has similarity to peri-implantitis and periodontitis in terms of IL-1β and TNF-α levels in GCF/PISF.

Choriocapillaris Involvement in Acute Syphilis Posterior Placoid Chorioretinitis is Responsible for Functional Impairment and Points towards an Immunologic Mechanism: A Comprehensive Clinicopathological Approach.

Purpose:To evaluate the multimodal imaging of acute syphilitic posterior placoid chorioretinitis (ASPPC) lesions in order to elucidate their pathophysiology which seems to resemble choriocapillaritis as in primary inflammatory choriocapillaropathies such as multifocal choroiditis (MFC) and acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy (APMPPE).Methods:Charts of patients with ASPPC seen in the Centre for Ophthalmic Specialised Care, Lausanne, Switzerland, were retrieved. Fundus autofluorescence (FAF), spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), fluorescein angiography (FA), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), and when available, OCT angiography were analyzed and compared to a case of MFC.Results:One woman aged 58 and 2 men aged 50 and 31 with unilateral ASPPC were analyzed. All had positive syphilis serologies (venereal disease research laboratory [VDRL] and treponema Pallidum hemagglutination assay [TPHA]). Two were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive. Mean best corrected visual acuity was 0.2 ± 0.1 at presentation and 1.0 for all patients 6 weeks later, after antibiotic treatment for neurosyphilis. All had central scotomata with a mean defect (MD) of 12.2 ± 2.6. Six weeks later, MD values were 3.9 ± 1.7. Microperimetry had a mean score of 25/560 at presentation and recovered to a mean of 444/560 6 weeks later. Multimodal imaging features consisted of FA tissue staining, ICGA hypofluorescent choriocapillaris non-perfusion, FAF hyperautofluorescence, and loss of the ellipsoid line in the diseased areas. The findings were consistent and identical in ASPPC and a case of MFC and pointed toward the involvement of the choriocapillaris.Conclusions:Similarities seen in multimodal imaging features in ASPPC and choriocapillaritis highlight the role of the choriocapillaris in the pathophysiologic mechanism of both conditions. Inflammatory choriocapillaris non-perfusion triggered by infectious agents seems to be the common pathway through which the eye is reacting.

Searching the Damaged Pine Trees from Wilt Disease Based on Deep Learning

소나무 재선충은 한국과 일본, 중국을 포함한 동아시아 지역의 소나무산림에 막대한 피해를 주는 원인이며, 피해목의 조기 발견과 제거는 재선충 확산을 막는 효과적인 방법이다. 본 논문에서는 드론으로 촬영되고 처리된 RGB 정사영상을 딥러닝 분류에 의한 재선충 피해목 탐색방법을 제안한다. 제안된 방법은 학습영상 데이터가 많지 않다는 가정아래 ResNet18을 백본으로 하는 패치기반의 분류기를 구성하고 RGB 정사영상을 분류하고 그 결과를 heatmap 형태로 만든다. 제작된 정사영상의 heat map는 재선충 피해목의 분포를 알아내고 확산해가는 모습을 관찰할 수 있게 하며, 재선충 피해목 지역의 RGB 분포 특징을 추출해낼 수도 있다. 본 연구의 패치기반 분류기 성능은 94.7%의 정확도를 나타내었다.Pine wilt disease is one of the reasons that results in huge damage on pine trees in east Asia including Korea, Japan, and China, and early finding and removing the diseased trees is an efficient way to prevent the forest from wide spreading. This paper proposes a searching method of the damaged pine trees from wilt disease in ortho-images corrected from RGB images, which are captured by unmanned aviation vehicles. The proposed method constructs patch-based classifier using ResNet18 backbone network, classifies the RGB ortho-image patches, and make the results as a heat map. The heat map can be used to find the distribution of diseased pine trees, to show the trend of spreading disease, and to extract the RGB distribution of the diseased areas in the image. The classifier in the work shows 94.7% of accuracy.

Emidec: A Database Usable for the Automatic Evaluation of Myocardial Infarction from Delayed-Enhancement Cardiac MRI

One crucial parameter to evaluate the state of the heart after myocardial infarction (MI) is the viability of the myocardial segment, i.e., if the segment recovers its functionality upon revascularization. MRI performed several minutes after the injection of a contrast agent (delayed enhancement-MRI or DE-MRI) is a method of choice to evaluate the extent of MI, and by extension, to assess viable tissues after an injury. The Emidec dataset is composed of a series of exams with DE-MR images in short axis orientation covering the left ventricle from normal cases or patients with myocardial infarction, with the contouring of the myocardium and diseased areas (if present) from experts in the domains. Moreover, classical available clinical parameters when the patient is managed by an emergency department are provided for each case. To the best of our knowledge, the Emidec dataset is the first one where annotated DE-MRI are combined with clinical characteristics of the patient, allowing the development of methodologies for exam classification as for exam quantification.

Rhizoctonia solani AG 2-2 IIIB causing root rot of onion in Idaho.

In September of 2018, onion plants (Allium cepa cv. Joaquin) grown in one field in southwest Idaho were observed to have roots with brown discoloration over 10-20% of the total root surface area. Approximately 10% of plants over a 1 ha area were affected and these plants were about visually 50% smaller than the typical bulb size present in the field. To determine the causal agent, 3 mm pieces of symptomatic roots from four plants were placed in sodium hypochlorite (2%) for one minute, followed by two rinses in sterile water and plated on to water agar medium amended with penicillin G (0.2 g/liter) and streptomycin sulfate (0.8 g/liter). After 3 days at 21°C, fungal colonies with septate hyphae with right-angled branching resembling Rhizoctonia solani were observed in over half of the 16 isolations attempted. Species identity was confirmed through rDNA ITS sequencing, as described previously (Woodhall et al., 2013), with DNA obtained from a single representative hyphal tip culture grown on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) which was designated isolate ON3. The resulting sequence (MT672318), was 100% identical (678/678bp) to a sequence previously identified as R. solani AG 2-2 IIIB on GenBank (FJ492137). Pathogenicity of the culture was determined by inoculating ten 20-day-old plants (cv. Joaquin) grown in premium potting compost (Scotts) with a single, fully colonized 10 mm2 plug taken from a 2-week-old PDA culture of isolate ON3. A further nine plants were inoculated with sterile PDA plugs as controls. Plants were grown in the greenhouse at 21C in a 16-hour light regime. After 24 days, each plant was assessed for root rot disease as described previously (Misawa et al. 2017). Root rot was observed on nine of the inoculated plants. Mean diseased root area was 32% of the total root surface, with a minimum of 5% and a maximum of 100% diseased root area and a standard deviation equal to 39.6. No root browning was observed on any of the control plants. Isolations were attempted from nine symptomatic plants and R. solani was successfully isolated from seven plant samples onto water agar. Sequencing was used to confirm identity as AG2-2IIIB. To our knowledge, this is the first report of R. solani AG 2-2 IIIB affecting onions in Idaho. Previous work in the Pacific Northwest recovered R. solani AG2-1, 3, 4 and 8 and also BNR AG A from stunted onions (Patzek et al., 2013). In Japan, Misawa et al. (2017) found AG 2-2 IIIB to be pathogenic to Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum). In Idaho, R. solani AG 2-2 IIIB has was previously reported causing disease in sugar beets (Strausbaugh et al. 2011) and potatoes (Woodhall et al. 2012). Growers should consider crop rotation strategies or soil treatments if R. solani AG2-2IIIB is causing disease in their crops.

Field Characterization of Partial Resistance to Gray Leaf Spot in Elite Maize Germplasm.

Forty-eight inbred lines of maize with varying levels of resistance to gray leaf spot (GLS) were artificially inoculated with Cercospora zeina and evaluated to characterize partial disease resistance in maize under field conditions from 2012 to 2014 across 12 environments in western Kenya. Eight measures of disease epidemic-that is, final percent diseased leaf area (FPDLA), standardized area under the disease progress curve (SAUDPC), weighted mean absolute rate of disease increase (ρ), disease severity scale (CDSG), percent diseased leaf area at the inflection point (PDLAIP), SAUDPC at the inflection point (SAUDPCIP), time from inoculation to transition of disease progress from the increasing to the decreasing phase of epidemic increase (TIP), and latent period (LP)-were examined. Inbred lines significantly (P < 0.05) affected all measures of disease epidemic except ρ. However, the proportion of the variation attributed to the analysis of variance model was most strongly associated with SAUDPC (R2 = 89.4%). Inbred lines were also most consistently ranked for disease resistance based on SAUDPC. Although SAUDPC was deemed the most useful variable for quantifying partial resistance in the test genotypes, the proportion of the variation in SAUDPC in each plot was most strongly (R2 = 93.9%) explained by disease ratings taken between the VT and R4 stages of plant development. Individual disease ratings at the R4 stage of plant development were nearly as effective as SAUDPC in discerning the differential reaction of test genotypes. Thus, GLS rankings of inbred lines based on disease ratings at these plant developmental stages should be useful in prebreeding nurseries and preliminary evaluation trials involving large germplasm populations.

Recent Advances in Nanocarrier-Assisted Therapeutics Delivery Systems.

Nanotechnologies have attracted increasing attention in their application in medicine, especially in the development of new drug delivery systems. With the help of nano-sized carriers, drugs can reach specific diseased areas, prolonging therapeutic efficacy while decreasing undesired side-effects. In addition, recent nanotechnological advances, such as surface stabilization and stimuli-responsive functionalization have also significantly improved the targeting capacity and therapeutic efficacy of the nanocarrier assisted drug delivery system. In this review, we evaluate recent advances in the development of different nanocarriers and their applications in therapeutics delivery.

A printing-spray-transfer process for attaching biocompatible and antibacterial coatings to the surfaces of patient-specific silicone stents

An antibacterial coating with stable antibacterial properties and favorable biocompatibility is recognized as an effective method to prevent bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation on biomedical implant surfaces. In this study, a convenient and low-cost printing-spray-transfer process was proposed that enables reliably attaching antibacterial and biocompatible coatings to patient-specific silicone implant surfaces. A desktop three-dimensional printer was used to print the mold of silicone implant molds according to the characteristics of the diseased areas. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) uniformly decorated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs/CNTs) were synthesized as the antibacterial materials for the spray process. The well-distributed AgNPs/CNT coating was anchored to the silicone surface through an in-mold transfer printing process. Stable adhesion of the coatings was assessed via tape testing and UV–vis spectra. Hardly any AgNPs/CNTs peeled off the substrate, and the adhesion was rated at 4B. Antibacterial activity, Ag release, cell viability and morphology were further assessed, revealing high antibacterial activity and great biocompatibility. The process proposed herein has potential applications for fabricating stable antibacterial coatings on silicone implant surfaces, especially for patient-specific silicone implants such as silicone tracheal stents.

UAV IMAGES AND DEEP-LEARNING ALGORITHMS FOR DETECTING FLAVESCENCE DOREE DISEASE IN GRAPEVINE ORCHARDS

Abstract. One of the major challenges in precision viticulture in Europe is the detection and mapping of flavescence dorée (FD) grapevine disease to monitor and contain its spread. The lack of effective cures and the need for sustainable preventive measures are nowadays crucial issues. Insecticides and the plants uprooting are commonly employed to withhold disease infection, even if these solutions imply serious economic consequences and a strong environmental impact. The development of a rapid strategy to identify the disease is required to cover large portions of the crop and thus to limit damages in a time-effective way. This paper investigates the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), a cost-effective approach to early detection of diseased areas. We address this task with an object detection deep network, Faster R-CNN, instead of a traditional pixel-wise classifier. This work tests Faster R-CNN performance on this specific application through a comparative analysis with a pixel-wise classification algorithm (Random Forest). To take advantage of the full image resolution, the experimental analysis is performed using the original UAV imagery acquired in real conditions (instead of the derived orthomosaic). The first result of this paper is the definition of a new dataset for FD disease identification by UAV original imagery at the canopy scale. Moreover, we demonstrate the feasibility of applying Faster-R-CNN as a quasi-real-time alternative solution to semantic segmentation. The trained Faster-R-CNN achieved an average precision of 82% on the test set.

History of regenerative medicine in the field of orthopedics

The demand and surge of regenerative medical treatments for various musculoskeletal disorders and injuries have increased exponentially in the recent past. We have reviewed the evolution of these treatments, from the past to the present times. This era has seen a paradigm shift from the replacement to regenerative methods of treatment for many orthopedic disorders. The regenerative medicine helps in restoring the natural tissue in the body at the diseased area. From the ancient methods of provoking tissue healing by noxious stimuli, now, many sophisticated and scientifically proven techniques of regeneration of tissues have come up and are being used globally. Cell therapies have been used as a treatment for a variety of musculoskeletal pathologies including osteoarthritis, cartilage defects, tendinopathies, delayed union and non-unions, non-union of fractures, and treatment of avascular necrosis of femoral head and other bones. Cellular therapies, with or without tissue engineering, seem to the future of regenerative medicine and these may make the replacement of a diseased joint or bone redundant in the near future.

Apple fruit sorting using novel thresholding and area calculation algorithms

The speed and capacity (kg/hr) for sorting apples are two important factors that have to be taken care of post-harvest. To increase the speed and capacity of apples being sorted, a new algorithm for segmenting the region of interest from an apple fruit image and to find the percentage of defective area after sorting process has been proposed in this paper. First, the region of interest from the acquired color image of an apple fruit was segmented using the proposed global thresholding algorithm GTA. Features were extracted from the segmented image using the coefficients obtained by applying wavelet transformation using the Haar filter. Further, the Naive Bayesian classifier was applied to sort apples as defective and sound. Second, the defective area of the defective sample was segmented using the K-means algorithm and median filter. The defective area in percentage was calculated using the proposed diseased area calculation algorithm DACA to decide about the acceptance of that defective sample. The performance of the proposed GTA was compared with Otsu’s and Kapur’s thresholding algorithms. With less segmentation time, it was found that the Naive Bayesian classification using GTA gave a 96.67% accuracy rate than Otsu’s with 65% and Kapur’s with 93.33% accuracy rate. The execution time of the proposed DACA was less when compared to the bwarea function in MATLAB.

To Detection of Fish Disease using Augmented Reality and Image Processing

Fish mortality due to diseases. The diseased identification at early stage to prevent and spreading of diseases. The image processing technique is already existed to detect fish disease. The Augmented model and Image Processing a new&nbsp; approach to detect fish disease using smart phone.The comparison of the disease fish on the spot is not possible in image processing technique. The AR model technique has over come on the spot identification of disease fish. Taken one Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS) diseased fish model for the proposed approach.The images&nbsp; taken with the AR model for image processin&nbsp; HSV&nbsp; operation for better accuracy to diseased area detection.

Clinical and Radiographic Features of Cryptococcal Neoformans Meningitis-associated Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome

Cryptococcal meningitis is the most common intracranial infectious fungal disease. After a period of antifungal treatment, as the number of cells in the cerebrospinal fluid decreases, the biochemical indexes improve and the number of cryptococcus reduces, the patient’s condition suddenly worsen. Most of the symptoms are severe headache, raised intracranial pressure, together with impaired clinical nerve function. These presentations are often mistaken for a failure of antifungal treatment. In fact it’s an encephalitis syndrome which is unrecognized by most clinicians: Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). To increase awareness we retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 100 cases of cryptococcal neoformans meningitis, among which 26 patients develop CM-IRIS. All patients have been divided into three groups: Group 1, patients who were not treated with glucocorticoid and didn’t experienced IRIS; Group 2, patients who were not treated with glucocorticoid although developed CM-IRIS; Group 3, patients started treatment with glucocorticoid for two weeks with new onset CM-IRIS. Compared with the group treated with glucocorticoid, treatment without glucocorticoid was subjected to a higher risk of incident IRIS. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Imaging findings demonstrated diseased area of the white matter area, and it looked like commonly in the supratentorial region. Moreover, if it appears in the infratentorial region then must be combined with supratentorial region.

Deep Learning-Based Detection of Pigment Signs for Analysis and Diagnosis of Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Ophthalmological analysis plays a vital role in the diagnosis of various eye diseases, such as glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa (RP), and diabetic and hypertensive retinopathy. RP is a genetic retinal disorder that leads to progressive vision degeneration and initially causes night blindness. Currently, the most commonly applied method for diagnosing retinal diseases is optical coherence tomography (OCT)-based disease analysis. In contrast, fundus imaging-based disease diagnosis is considered a low-cost diagnostic solution for retinal diseases. This study focuses on the detection of RP from the fundus image, which is a crucial task because of the low quality of fundus images and non-cooperative image acquisition conditions. Automatic detection of pigment signs in fundus images can help ophthalmologists and medical practitioners in diagnosing and analyzing RP disorders. To accurately segment pigment signs for diagnostic purposes, we present an automatic RP segmentation network (RPS-Net), which is a specifically designed deep learning-based semantic segmentation network to accurately detect and segment the pigment signs with fewer trainable parameters. Compared with the conventional deep learning methods, the proposed method applies a feature enhancement policy through multiple dense connections between the convolutional layers, which enables the network to discriminate between normal and diseased eyes, and accurately segment the diseased area from the background. Because pigment spots can be very small and consist of very few pixels, the RPS-Net provides fine segmentation, even in the case of degraded images, by importing high-frequency information from the preceding layers through concatenation inside and outside the encoder-decoder. To evaluate the proposed RPS-Net, experiments were performed based on 4-fold cross-validation using the publicly available Retinal Images for Pigment Signs (RIPS) dataset for detection and segmentation of retinal pigments. Experimental results show that RPS-Net achieved superior segmentation performance for RP diagnosis, compared with the state-of-the-art methods.

Alcohol Septal Ablation Versus Surgical Myectomy in Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy

The surgical myomectomy for hypertrophied myocardium in patients with HOCM is a well-established and evidence-based treatment modality. However, with the drawback of exposing the patient to major surgery and prolonged post-operative periods, cardiologists together with their surgical peers found the advent of a potentially less invasive procedure. This has been accomplished by the installation of alcohol through the coronary arteries in order to shrink the diseased and hypertrophied muscle area with an aim to alleviate the symptoms in the first instance if not completely curing the pathology as an endeavor goal. Nevertheless, with this invention, a few complications have started to emerge. The main drawback was heart block, which could require permanent pacemaker insertion in most of the cases. In the interim, there is no clear pathway or guideline to decide which treatment option would be the best, and there is no certain inclusion or exclusion criteria incorporate patients who can undergo either one of the modalities. In this review, four studies were scrutinized to investigate the major consequences of each route, especially focusing on the proportion of complete heart block. Also, the role of MRI in the delineation of the resected area either surgically or by alcohol administration is studied in detail. After reviewing these articles, it has been concluded that despite alcohol septal ablation being less invasive approach, surgical therapy remains the preferred treatment modality and it is preferred treatment modality and so far, it is the gold standard option in the management of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy. Nevertheless, it could not be overlooked the lack of strong RCTS in such area which could be one of the main points that future trialists need to consider.

Induction of ASC pyroptosis requires gasdermin D or caspase-1/11-dependent mediators and IFN\u03b2 from pyroptotic macrophages

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been used in cell-based therapies for a variety of disorders. Some factors such as inflammatory mediators in the diseased area might damage the survival of MSCs and affect their efficacy. Pyroptosis is a form of programmed necrosis as a response for immune cells to cytosolic pathogenic stimuli. Whether MSCs develop pyroptosis under pathological stimulation, its underlying mechanism and biological significance are still unclear. Here, we found that LPS, flagellin, dsDNA, nigericin (NIG), or LPS combined with nigericin (LPS/NIG) could not induce pyroptosis in adipose-tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs). However, when applied the culture media collected from LPS/NIG-induced pyroptotic bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) to incubate ASCs, ASCs developed pyroptosis. Inhibition of caspases or deletion of Caspase-1/11 in ASCs did not affect the pyroptotic macrophage media-triggered ASC pyroptosis while ablation of Caspase-1/11 abolished BMDM pyroptosis induced by LPS/NIG. Media collected from LPS/NIG stimulated Gsdmd−/− or Caspase-1/11−/− BMDMs could not induce pyroptosis of ASCs. In addition, RNA-seq analysis showed that interferon (IFN)-stimulated genes were upregulated in pyroptotic ASCs. Adding IFNβ could boost LPS/NIG stimulated BMDM media-induced ASC pyroptosis. Surprisingly, the pyroptotic ASCs had a lower bactericidal ability to P. Aeruginosa. Taken together, induction of ASC pyroptosis requires gasdermin D or caspase-1/11-dependent mediators and IFNβ from pyroptotic macrophages.