Early Lesions Research Articles

Microleakage Under Orthodontic Brackets Bonded Using a Conventional Adhesive System, Nanocomposites, and Nanoionomers: A Comparative Study.

Background Microleakage under orthodontic brackets has a role in early bracket debonding and white spot lesions due to the ingress of oral fluids in the bracket-adhesive-tooth interface. This in vitro study aimed to evaluate and compare the microleakage under orthodontic brackets bonded with the conventional adhesive system, nanocomposites, and nanoionomers. Materials and methods Forty-five human premolars were extracted for therapeutic reasons and collected for this study. Teeth were randomly assigned to three groups: Group A: conventional etching with conventional adhesive, Group B: conventional etching with nanocomposite, and Group C: conventional etching with nanoionomer. Stainless steel premolar brackets were used for bonding. After thermocycling, the extracted teeth were submerged in a 0.5% solution of basic fuchsine for 24 hours. They were then cut longitudinally. A stereomicroscope was used to assess microleakage along the occlusal and gingival interfaces. Results To compare the microleakage scores between gingival and occlusal aspects within each group, the student's t-test was performed. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the post-hoc Tukey test were applied to the data for intergroup comparison of microleakage scores. On comparing the microleakage scores, the gingival side of interfaces depicted higher microleakage than the occlusal side gingival side across all groups, demonstrating statistically significant results (P <0.05).On intergroup comparison, the occlusal bracket adhesive interface and gingival tooth adhesive interface revealed significantly higher microleakage values for Group B followed by Group C withGroup Athe least. However, there was no significant difference in the microleakage scores between Group B and Group C on intergroup comparison of mean microleakage scores(P <0.05). Conclusion The gingival side showed higher microleakage scores than the occlusal side. Nanoionomers showed microleakage values higher than the Transbond XT but lower than nanocomposites. Based on the results of thepresent study, in terms of microleakage, Transbond XT demonstrated lower microleakage when compared to nanoionomers and nanocomposites.

Abstract B113: Characterization of the epigenomic landscape of the human pancreas and early pancreatic neoplastic lesions

Abstract Study of early pancreas neoplasia in humans had previously been limited by lack of available tissue. Recent work by our group on deceased donor pancreata identified pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) lesions in non-diseased organs and defined a transcriptomic signature for the microenvironment of these pre-cancerous lesions. Prevalence of PanINs in healthy human tissue was higher than expected and established a novel model to expand understanding of the complex biology of these precursor lesions. Epigenetic changes in chromatin structure and the subsequent effects on gene expression are essential processes in neoplasia that have yet to be described at the single cell level in the human pancreas. We hypothesized that characterization of the epigenomic landscape in donor pancreata would identify differences in chromatin structure and gene expression between healthy human tissue and PanINs, thereby expanding prior knowledge and identifying novel targets of study in the biology of early neoplasia in the pancreas. Single nuclei from five donor pancreata (six total samples including one replicate sample from a single donor pancreas) were isolated for transposase-accessible chromatin preparation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) using the 10x Genomics platform. Data analysis was conducted using CellRanger, Seurat, Signac, and AUCell to identify and label chromatin peaks in individual nuclei corresponding to acinar, ductal, and PanIN origin according to gene signatures identified by scRNA on matched pancreata (Carpenter et al 2023, Cancer Discovery). Using this method, cells corresponding to these gene signatures, including PanIN-like cells, were indeed identified in preliminary analysis. Differentially accessible regions of the genome were then analyzed for motif enrichment between these cell types. Motifs enriched in cells identified as PanINs compared to either ductal or acinar cells included several transcription factors implicated in tumorigenesis, including members of the AP-1/Fos/Jun family and multiple zinc-finger protein family members, such as the KLF. These results are similar to previously demonstrated essential factors in pancreatic neoplasia. Differentially expressed motifs between ductal and acinar cells included factors associated with differentiation, including Myod1, Ptf1a, and the TCF family of transcription factors. Together, this study demonstrates that PanINs can be identified in human pancreas tissue by ATAC-seq and that differentially expressed motifs can be identified this model, providing opportunity for further integration with transcriptomic information to elucidate detailed understanding of early neoplasia in the pancreas. Citation Format: Jamie N. Mills, Joyce Thompson, Jacqueline Morales, Padma Kadiyala, Ahmed M. Elhossiny, Howard Crawford, Eileen Carpenter, Marina Pasca di Magliano, Filip Bednar, Simone Benitz. Characterization of the epigenomic landscape of the human pancreas and early pancreatic neoplastic lesions [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Pancreatic Cancer; 2023 Sep 27-30; Boston, Massachusetts. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(2 Suppl):Abstract nr B113.

Early pseudoprogression and progression lesions in glioblastoma patients are both metabolically heterogeneous.

The standard treatment in glioblastoma includes maximal safe resection followed by concomitant radiotherapy plus chemotherapy and adjuvant temozolomide. The first follow-up study to evaluate treatment response is performed 1 month after concomitant treatment, when contrast-enhancing regions may appear that can correspond to true progression or pseudoprogression. We retrospectively evaluated 31 consecutive patients at the first follow-up after concomitant treatment to check whether the metabolic pattern assessed with multivoxel MRS was predictive of treatment response 2 months later. We extracted the underlying metabolic patterns of the contrast-enhancing regions with a blind-source separation method and mapped them over the reference images. Pattern heterogeneity was calculated using entropy, and association between patterns and outcomes was measured with Cramér's V. We identified three distinct metabolic patterns-proliferative, necrotic, and responsive, which were associated with status 2 months later. Individually, 70% of the patients showed metabolically heterogeneous patterns in the contrast-enhancing regions. Metabolic heterogeneity was not related to the regions' size and only stable patients were less heterogeneous than the rest. Contrast-enhancing regions are also metabolically heterogeneous 1 month after concomitant treatment. This could explain the reported difficulty in finding robust pseudoprogression biomarkers.

Rapid regeneration of artificial enamel using laser-assisted biomineralization: With and without mesoscale hierarchy in hydroxyapatite rods

Rapid biomimetic replication of human hard tissues at the nanoscale is an important goal in the field of regenerative medicine. To this end, the repair of human tooth enamel using various techniques has been extensively investigated. In this study, enamel-like hydroxyapatite (HAP) layers were successfully grown on human enamel substrates within 3 min by laser-assisted biomimetic crystallization using indocyanine green (ICG) as a light absorbent. Laser irradiation of ICG-coated substrates in a pseudo-physiological solution enabled enamel regeneration by crystallizing micrometer-thick fluoride-substituted HAP rod layers. The HAP rods formed on the substrates possessed a c-axis-oriented morphology similar to that of natural enamel HAP. The results were reproducible across two substrates derived from two patients; however, the crystallized layers differed in their mesoscale structures. One layer exhibited a mesoscale hierarchical structure, in which approximately 20-nm-wide elemental HAP nanorods self-assembled into approximately 230-nm-wide polycrystalline rods with a slight shift in the c-axis direction of each nanorod. The polycrystalline rods were further assembled to form HAP rod groups, generally aligned along the c axis. This layer integrated into the enamel through layers of low-number-density HAP rods and non-oriented HAP nanoparticles. The layer grown on the other substrate lacked this characteristic mesoscale hierarchy, and a 150–200-nm-wide rod of the HAP single crystals grew without the low-number-density HAP layer. These differences can be attributed to whether or not geometrical selection has occurred at the interface between the enamel substrate and the crystallized layer. The proposed method has the potential to replace conventional resin-based treatments for the repair of early caries lesions.

Intralesional pentraxin 3 increases with atherosclerotic disease progression, but may protect from thrombosis: Friend or foe?

AimTo investigate the role of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) in atherosclerotic disease progression and plaque destabilization, as well as in coronary restenosis after directional coronary atherectomy (DCA). Materials and methodsPTX3 contents of early and advanced atherosclerotic lesions of the aorta obtained at autopsy were determined by ELISA and Western blot. Also, coronary plaques of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or stable angina pectoris (SAP) obtained by DCA were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for PTX3. The effects of PTX3 on smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and thrombogenesis were investigated with cultured human coronary artery SMCs and a flow chamber system, respectively. ResultsAdvanced atherosclerotic lesions contained a significantly larger amount of PTX3 than early lesions (ELISA: 9.96 ± 2.77 ng/100 mg tissue, n = 8 vs 0.24 ± 0.18 ng/100 mg tissue, n = 6, P = 0.0097). Also, ACS plaques contained a significantly larger amount of PTX3 than SAP plaques (PTX3 immunohistochemistry–positive area percentage: 2.88 ± 0.53 %, n = 22 vs 0.67 ± 0.27 %, n = 23, P = 0.0009). Curiously, the patients who would remain free of post-DCA restenosis (n = 19) had plaques with a significantly higher PTX3 immunohistochemistry–positive area percentage than those who would develop restenosis (n = 12) (2.32 ± 0.49 % vs 0.49 ± 0.17 %, P = 0.002). In the mechanistic part of the study, PTX3 inhibited SMC proliferation and migration. PTX3 also inhibited platelet thrombus formation in the condition simulating arterial blood flow. ConclusionsPTX3 is increased in advanced (vs early) atherosclerotic lesions and unstable (vs stable) coronary plaques. The inhibitory effects of PTX3 on SMCs and thrombogenesis suggest that intraplaque PTX3 might have atheroprotective effects.

Red fluorescence intensity as a criterion for assessing remineralization efficacy in early carious lesions

ObjectivesEvaluating early carious lesion activity with an objective and clinically valid approach is crucial for developing effective treatment plans. Therefore, we here assessed the activity of non-cavitated carious lesions using a quantitative light-induced fluorescence-digital (QLF-D) camera and compared the remineralization efficiency after fluoride treatment according to the lesion's activity level. MethodsRed fluorescence emission rate (ΔR) and fluorescence loss (ΔF) were evaluated in 44 non-cavitated carious lesions by using a QLF-D camera. Based on the ΔR level, the lesions were classified into 22 active (ΔR ≥37.55) and 22 inactive carious lesions (ΔR <37.55). Each lesion was treated with 1.23 % fluoride gel for 60 s and then immersed into artificial saliva for 7 days. Subsequently, ΔR and ΔF changes in the lesions were measured. ResultsSignificant interactions between lesion activity and time were found for both ΔR and ΔF (p < 0.001). ΔR of active lesions declined faster and ΔF increased more steeply than did inactive lesions. Specifically, on day 7 post-fluoride treatment, the ΔR reduction rate was 1.40-times higher in active lesions, and the ΔF recovery rate was 2.50-times higher, indicating that active lesions respond more markedly to fluoride application. ConclusionsThis study highlighted the significance of ΔR in predicting remineralization efficiency in non-cavitated carious lesions after fluoride application. It underscored the importance of accurately assessing caries activity when formulating effective treatment plans. Lesion activity, as determined by ΔR, not only influences the outcome of remineralization treatments but also provides a more objective measure for tailoring caries management strategies.

Obesity phenotype induced by high-fat diet promotes diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced precancerous lesions by M1 macrophage polarization in mice liver

Liver precancerous lesions are the key to improving the efficacy of cancer treatment because of the extremely poor prognosis of HCC patients in moderate and late stages. Obesity-related HCC progression is closely related to the inflammatory microenvironment, in which macrophages are one of the major constituents. In the present study, we ask whether obesity promotes diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced precancerous lesions by M1 macrophage polarization. First, an association between obesity and liver precancerous lesions was determined by histopathological observations, immunochemistry and immunoblotting. The characteristics of early precancerous lesions (trabecular thickening) appeared earlier eight weeks in obese mice than in normal diet mice after DEN induction. The glutathione S-transferase placental-1 (Gstp 1) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) expression in obese mice after DEN induction was higher than that in the same period after DEN injection in normal diet mice. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in the total macrophage number (F4/80+) of DEN and M1 macrophage number (CD86+F4/80+) in obese mice compared with that in normal diet mice. Besides, the expressions of four pro-inflammatory factors in DEN-induced obese mice were significantly higher compared with that in normal diet mice. Additionally, angiogenesis was revealed by immunostaining assay to be associated with the inflammatory response. All the results demonstrate that obesity promotes DEN-induced precancerous lesions by inducing M1 macrophage polarization and angiogenesis.

SUBCHONDRAL MICROCHANNEL NETWORK CHANGES IN EARLY OSTEOARTHRITIS

Articular cartilage (AC) and subchondral bone (SB) are intimately intertwined, forming a complex unit called the AC-SB interface. Our recent studies have shown that cartilage and bone marrow are connected by a three-dimensional network of microchannels (i.e. cartilage-bone marrow microchannel connector; CMMC), which differ microarchitecturally in number, size and morphology depending on the maturation stage of the bone and the region of the joint. However, the pathological significance of CMMC is largely unknown. Here, we quantitatively assessed how CMMC microarchitecture relates to cartilage condition and regional differences in early idiopathic osteoarthritis (OA).Two groups of cadaveric female human femoral heads (intact cartilage vs early cartilage lesions) were identified and biopsy-based high-resolution micro-CT imaging was used. Subchondral bone (SB) thickness, CMMC number, maximum and minimum CMMC size, and CMMC morphology were quantified and compared between the two groups. The effect of joint region and cartilage condition on each dependent variable was examined.The number and morphology of CMMCs were influenced by the region of the joint, but not by the cartilage condition. On the other hand, the minimum and maximum CMMC size was modified by both joint location and cartilage condition. The smallest CMMCs were consistently found in the load bearing region (LBR) of the joint. Compared to healthy subjects, the size of the microchannels was increased in early OA, most notably in the non-load bearing region (NLBR) and the peripheral rim (PR) of the femoral head. In addition, subchondral bone thinning was observed in early OA as a localized event associated with areas of partial chondral defect.Our data suggest an enlargement of the SB microchannel network and a collective structural deterioration of the SB in early idiopathic OA.

Remineralisation Potential of Self-assembling Peptide (P11-4) Compared to Other Remineralising Agents: A Narrative Review

Dental caries is a chronic infectious disease that affects the hard tissues of the teeth, primarily the enamel. Remineralisation involves depositing minerals back into demineralised enamel, repairing the damage, and preventing the formation of caries. Self-Assembling Peptide (SAP) P11-4 is a promising new remineralisation agent that mimics the natural process of remineralising dental enamel. It is a biomimetic peptide that binds to the surface of demineralised enamel, forming a three-dimensional network that supports mineral deposition and induces the production of reparative proteins. P11-4 is still in the early stages of development, but it has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of dental caries. SAP P11-4 has been shown to be safe and effective in remineralising early carious lesions. However, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that SAP P11-4 is more effective than other remineralising agents, such as fluoride, Casein Phosphopeptide-Amorphous Calcium Phosphate (CPP-ACP), and Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF). The present review focuses on recent studies discussing the remineralisation potential of SAP P11-4 and compares it to other available remineralising agents. Overall, the review suggests that SAP P11-4 is a promising new remineralisation agent that is effective in treating early carious lesions. However, further research is needed to compare its effectiveness to other remineralisation agents and assess its long-term efficacy.

Brain growth until adolescence after a neonatal focal injury: sex related differences beyond lesion effect.

Early focal brain injuries lead to long-term disabilities with frequent cognitive impairments, suggesting global dysfunction beyond the lesion. While plasticity of the immature brain promotes better learning, outcome variability across individuals is multifactorial. Males are more vulnerable to early injuries and neurodevelopmental disorders than females, but long-term sex differences in brain growth after an early focal lesion have not been described yet. With this MRI longitudinal morphometry study of brain development after a Neonatal Arterial Ischemic Stroke (NAIS), we searched for differences between males and females in the trajectories of ipsi- and contralesional gray matter growth in childhood and adolescence, while accounting for lesion characteristics. We relied on a longitudinal cohort (AVCnn) of patients with unilateral NAIS who underwent clinical and MRI assessments at ages 7 and 16 were compared to age-matched controls. Non-lesioned volumes of gray matter (hemispheres, lobes, regions, deep structures, cerebellum) were extracted from segmented T1 MRI images at 7 (Patients: 23 M, 16 F; Controls: 17 M, 18 F) and 16 (Patients: 18 M, 11 F; Controls: 16 M, 15 F). These volumes were analyzed using a Linear Mixed Model accounting for age, sex, and lesion characteristics. Whole hemisphere volumes were reduced at both ages in patients compared to controls (gray matter volume: -16% in males, -10% in females). In ipsilesional hemisphere, cortical gray matter and thalamic volume losses (average -13%) mostly depended on lesion severity, suggesting diaschisis, with minimal effect of patient sex. In the contralesional hemisphere however, we consistently found sex differences in gray matter volumes, as only male volumes were smaller than in male controls (average -7.5%), mostly in territories mirroring the contralateral lesion. Females did not significantly deviate from the typical trajectories of female controls. Similar sex differences were found in both cerebellar hemispheres. These results suggest sex-dependent growth trajectories after an early brain lesion with a contralesional growth deficit in males only. The similarity of patterns at ages 7 and 16 suggests that puberty has little effect on these trajectories, and that most of the deviation in males occurs in early childhood, in line with the well-described perinatal vulnerability of the male brain, and with no compensation thereafter.

Comparison of MBM and ESD in the Treatment of Single Early Esophageal Cancer and Precancerous Lesions.

Esophageal cancer is a disease with high morbidity and mortality, exploring effective treatment methods is the key to the treatment of this disease. This study aims to compare the clinical efficacy and safety of multi-band mucosectomy (MBM) and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) in the treatment of single early esophageal cancer (EEC) and precancerous lesions, and whether MBM can achieve better clinical effect as an effective treatment method. The clinical data of 70 patients with EEC and precancerous lesions who were treated with MBM and ESD in the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University from May 2021 to May 2023 and could be followed up were retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into two groups according to different treatment methods: MBM group (31 cases) and ESD group (39 cases). The general data, perioperative conditions, endoscopic treatment effect and pathological results of the two groups were compared. The duration of endoscopic treatment in MBM group was shorter than that in ESD group [36 (25~39) min vs 46 (41~57) min, p < 0.05], and there was no significant difference in the intraoperative bleeding rate between the two groups (12.90% vs 7.69%, p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in the rate of intraoperative perforation between the two groups (3.23% vs 7.69%, p > 0.05), and the hospitalization time in MBM group was shorter than that in ESD group [5 (4~7) days vs 8 (7~12) days, p < 0.05]. The hospitalization cost was less [2535 (2423~2786) dollars vs 4485 (3858~5794) dollars, p < 0.05]. No postoperative bleeding occurred in both groups. There was no statistically significant difference in postoperative stenosis rate between MBM group and ESD group (3.23% vs 12.82%, p > 0.05), and no statistically significant difference in postoperative local recurrence rate (12.90% vs 5.13%, p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in the rate of additional surgery (9.68% vs 2.56%, p > 0.05). The en bloc resection rate of MBM group was lower than that of ESD group (77.42% vs 97.44%, p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in the complete resection rate between the two groups (87.10% vs 97.44%, p > 0.05). The postoperative pathological results of MBM group showed 13 cases of low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIN), 11 cases of high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (HGIN), and 7 cases of canceration, while the postoperative pathological results of ESD group showed 10 cases of LGIN, 14 cases of HGIN, and 15 cases of canceration, with no statistical significance (p > 0.05). MBM and ESD are effective methods for the treatment of EEC and precancerous lesions. MBM has the advantages of short hospital stay, quick recovery and low cost. However, compared with MBM, ESD can improve the complete resection rate of the lesion, avoid the occurrence of positive incisal margin, and reduce the risk of secondary treatment and additional surgery.

Malignant Mixed Germ Cell Tumor of the Ovary

Abstract The malignant mixed germ cell tumor (MGCT) is incredibly uncommon in children; however, it has been reported Since 1950. Early lesions are frequently asymptomatic, but advanced tumors can cause a number of symptoms, such as vague abdominal pain and distention. Acute symptoms could be due to the rupture or twisting of the tumor. The prognosis is often favorable, and chemotherapy is frequently administered after conservative surgery, which involves complete excision of the tumor and preservation of reproductive function. We describe a case of MGCT in an 8-year-old girl and highlight the diagnostic conundrum as well as the optimal management strategy.

Uncovering the role of FXYD3 as a potential oncogene and early biomarker in pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive cancer with silent symptoms and high mortality with less than 11% of the 5-year survival rate. Until now, the significance of genes as clinical biomarkers in the early stages of pancreatic cancer has not been fully understood. Hence, this study aims to reveal the significant genes in the early stages of pancreatic cancer using bioinformatic analysis and in vitro experiments, and to serve as clinical biomarkers for early detection. We used Cancer RNA-Seq Nexus database and identified one tumor suppressor gene (NAGK), and five oncogenes (FXYD3, ACTR1A, B3GNT3, SIGIRR, and EXOC1) that are significant in the early stages of pancreatic cancer. The expression of NAGK, FXYD3, ACTR1A, B3GNT3, SIGIRR, and EXOC1 were determined from the GEPIA, UALCAN, and HPA database. It has been shown that pancreatic cancer tumor dissemination is an event that can occur in early lesions, rather than being solely restricted in the developed primary tumor. Thus, the six hub genes that were differentially expressed between stage I and stage II of primary pancreatic cancer tumors were compared to metastasis-related genes (1938 genes) in the human cancer metastasis database (HCMDB), yielding two overlapped genes (B3GNT3 and FXYD3). To establish the expression correlation between these two specific genes with metastatic characteristics of the early stage of pancreatic cancer and migratory ability in pancreatic cancer cell lines, the expression patterns of B3GNT3 and FXYD3 were examined in four different migratory abilities of pancreatic cancer cell lines, including HPAC, BxPC-3, AsPC-1, and PANC-1, as well as the normal pancreatic duct epithelial cell line HPDE6-C7. The results displayed that the expression of the FXYD3 gene was dramatically increased with the migratory ability enhanced of four pancreatic cancer cell lines. Thus, in the follow-up study, we will demonstrate the functional role of FXYD3 in pancreatic cancer tumorigenesis. This study revealed that the FXYD3 may act as a significant oncogene in the early stage of pancreatic cancer.

Gastric Section Correlation Network for Gastric Precancerous Lesion Diagnosis.

Goal: Diagnosing the corpus-predominant gastritis index (CGI) which is an early precancerous lesion in the stomach has been shown its effectiveness in identifying high gastric cancer risk patients for preventive healthcare. However, invasive biopsies and time-consuming pathological analysis are required for the CGI diagnosis. Methods: We propose a novel gastric section correlation network (GSCNet) for the CGI diagnosis from endoscopic images of three dominant gastric sections, the antrum, body and cardia. The proposed network consists of two dominant modules including the scaling feature fusion module and section correlation module. The front one aims to extract scaling fusion features which can effectively represent the mucosa under variant viewing angles and scale changes for each gastric section. The latter one aims to apply the medical prior knowledge with three section correlation losses to model the correlations of different gastric sections for the CGI diagnosis. Results: The proposed method outperforms competing deep learning methods and achieves high testing accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.957, 0.938 and 0.962, respectively. Conclusions: The proposed method is the first method to identify high gastric cancer risk patients with CGI from endoscopic images without invasive biopsies and time-consuming pathological analysis.

Deep Learning Techniques for Brain Lesion Classification Using Various M.R.I. (from 2010 to 2022): Review and Challenges

Brain tumors are conditions brought on by the development of aberrant brain cells. They are classified into non-cancerous (benign) and cancerous (malignant). The morbidity and mortality of brain tumors are challenging to determine. A study in the United Kingdom disclosed that around 15 out of every 100 individuals with brain cancer could survive for ten or more years after being diagnosed. The remedial maneuvers of the brain tumors depend upon the kind of brain tumor, degree of cellular abnormality, location of Cancer in the brain, and other variables. The treatment decision needs assistance from the Deep learning algorithms using magnetic resonance imaging (M.R.I.) data to diagnose brain tumors due to the high dimensionalities of the remedial maneuvers. MRI is a scanning technique that uses strong radio waves and strong magnetic fields to generate detailed images of the body's interior. The study employed deep learning models to detect the tumor region in brain M.R.I. scans, including a Convolutional Neural Network model. The proposed processes involved dataset modification and preprocessing, detection, identification, and classification via CNN. Data mining techniques were utilized to uncover significant relationships and patterns from the data, resulting in successful early brain lesion identification and classification using deep learning approaches.

Kiosk 10R-TC-10 - Cardiac Magnetic Resonance for Early Atrial Lesion Visualization Post Atrial Fibrillation RadioFBequency Catheter Ablation: The CALAMARY Study

Kiosk 10R-TC-10 - Cardiac Magnetic Resonance for Early Atrial Lesion Visualization Post Atrial Fibrillation RadioFBequency Catheter Ablation: The CALAMARY Study

Single-Image-Based Deep Learning for Segmentation of Early Esophageal Cancer Lesions.

Accurate segmentation of lesions is crucial for diagnosis and treatment of early esophageal cancer (EEC). However, neither traditional nor deep learning-based methods up to today can meet the clinical requirements, with the mean Dice score - the most important metric in medical image analysis - hardly exceeding 0.75. In this paper, we present a novel deep learning approach for segmenting EEC lesions. Our method stands out for its uniqueness, as it relies solely on a single input image from a patient, forming the so-called "You-Only-Have-One" (YOHO) framework. On one hand, this "one-image-one-network" learning ensures complete patient privacy as it does not use any images from other patients as the training data. On the other hand, it avoids nearly all generalization-related problems since each trained network is applied only to the same input image itself. In particular, we can push the training to "over-fitting" as much as possible to increase the segmentation accuracy. Our technical details include an interaction with clinical doctors to utilize their expertise, a geometry-based data augmentation over a single lesion image to generate the training dataset (the biggest novelty), and an edge-enhanced UNet. We have evaluated YOHO over an EEC dataset collected by ourselves and achieved a mean Dice score of 0.888, which is much higher as compared to the existing deep-learning methods, thus representing a significant advance toward clinical applications. The code and dataset are available at: https://github.com/lhaippp/YOHO.

The absence of eosinophils is associated with early metastatic lesions in Leishmania amazonensis-infected mice.

Eosinophils are granulocytes that rapidly increase frequency in the bloodstream during helminthic infections and allergic responses. They are found in tissue infected by Leishmania during early disease, but their role during infection is not entirely understood. We aim to compare the disease due to Leishmania amazonensis in BALB/c and Δdbl-GATA1 mice, which lack eosinophils. BALB/c and Δdbl-GATA1 mice infected with L. amazonensis were observed for several weeks. The parasite load and dissemination pattern were assessed. The Δdbl-GATA1 mice developed an anticipated dissemination of L. amazonensis and a worsening disease. No differences were found in the lesion development or the parasite load in the footpad among Δdbl-GATA1 mice and BALB/c eight weeks after infection. However, nine weeks after infection, massive growth of metastatic lesions appeared in several parts of the skin in Δdbl-GATA1 mice, weeks earlier than BALB/c. We observed increased parasites in the bloodstream, probably an essential dissemination route. Thirteen weeks after infection, metastatic lesions were found in all Δdbl-GATA1 mice. These results suggest a protective role of eosinophils in delaying the disease caused by L. amazonensis, although several limitations of this mice strain must be considered.

DCTP-Net: Dual-Branch CLIP-Enhance Textual Prompt-Aware Network for Acute Ischemic Stroke Lesion Segmentation From CT Image.

Detecting early ischemic lesions (EIL) in computed tomography (CT) images is crucial for reducing diagnostic time and minimizing neuron loss due to oxygen deprivation. This paper introduces DCTP-Net, a dual-branch network for segmenting acute ischemic stroke lesions in CT images, consisting of a segmentation branch and a prompt-aware branch. The segmentation branch uses an encoder-decoder network as the backbone to identify lesions, where the encoder fuses CT image features with prompt features from the prompt-aware branch. To enhance semantic feature extraction and reduce the impact of cerebral structural details, we introduce a cross-collaboration dynamic connection (CCDC) module to link the encoder and decoder. The prompt-aware branch includes a learnable prompt (LP) block to incorporate cerebral prior knowledge, and the prompt-aware encoder (PAE) combines the LP block with multi-level features from the segmentation branch for more precise representation. Additionally, we propose a CLIP-enhance textual prompt (CETP) module that utilizes the CLIP text encoder to generate specialized convolutional parameters for the segmentation head. These parameters are tailored to the unique characteristics of each input image, improving segmentation performance. Qualitative and quantitative studies reveal that DCTP-Net outperforms the current state-of-the-art, IS-Net, with Dice score increases of 3.9% on AISD and 3.8% on ISLES2018, demonstrating its superiority in EIL segmentation.

Autopsy Pathology of Heart and Coronary Vessels in Sudden Death: A Cross-sectional Study from Southern India

Introduction: Cardiac diseases emerge as the primary culprits behind sudden and unexplained deaths. Morphological evaluation through autopsy is invaluable in establishing the prevalence of cardiac lesions and coronary atherosclerosis within the general population. It provides healthcare researchers with valuable insights to develop preventive measures and early detection strategies crucial for improving survival rates. Aim: To estimate the prevalence of cardiac lesions in postmortem specimens of the heart from autopsies of sudden and unexplained deaths. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College (a public sector hospital), Cochin, Kerala, India, from January to December 2021 on 140 specimens of the heart. Medicolegal autopsies were performed in the Department of Forensic Medicine, with specimens forwarded to the Pathology Department for histopathological examination. Hearts dissected by the modified Virchow’s method were examined for gross pathology in the cardiac wall, chambers, valves, coronaries and aorta. Microscopy findings were documented and the grading of coronary atherosclerosis was done using the Modified American Heart Association (AHA) criteria. Proportions were analysed from the compiled data using a Chi-square test. Statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 21.0 software. Results: In the study encompassing 140 adult autopsies, the mean age of the study population was 45.98 with a Standard Deviation (SD) of 15.82 years and the male to female ratio was 3.5:1. The prevalence of cardiac lesions was as follows: coronary artery atherosclerosis (80.70%), Ischaemic Heart Disease (IHD) (44.28%), cardiac hypertrophy and hypertension (10%), pericarditis (6.42%) and myocarditis (3.50%). The male- to-female ratio for coronary atherosclerosis was 4.4:1, with triple vessel disease observed in 42.90% of cases. Atherosclerosis severity grades included early non atheromatous lesions (19.3%), Pathological Intimal Thickening (PIT) (23.6%), and advanced atherosclerotic lesions (37.80%). Among cases associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related deaths (10.7%), changes noted included myocarditis, microhaemorrhages, oedema, capillary dilatation, fibrin deposition and inflammatory infiltrates. Conclusion: The present study revealed a high prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis affecting all three vessels, particularly among the younger population. This underscores the significance of screening for cardiovascular risk factors and implementing preventive measures from an early age.