Regressive Changes Research Articles

Second-Harmonic Generated Quantifiable Fibrosis Parameters Provide Signatures for Disease Progression and Regression in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

The current ordinal fibrosis staging system for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has a limited dynamic range. The goal of this study was to determine if second-harmonic generated (SHG) quantifiable collagen fibrillar properties (qFP) and their derived qFibrosis score capture changes in disease progression and regression in a murine model of NASH, in which disease progression can be induced by a high fat sugar water (HFSW) diet and regression by reversal to chow diet (CD). DIAMOND mice were fed a CD or HFSW diet for 40 to 52 weeks. Regression related changes were studied in mice with diet reversal for 4 weeks after 48 to 60 weeks of a HFSW diet. As expected, mice on HFSW developed steatohepatitis with stage 2 to 3 fibrosis between weeks 40 and 44. Both the collagen proportionate area and the qFibrosis score based on 15 SHG-quantified collagen fibrillar properties in humans were significantly higher in mice on HFSW for 40 to 44 weeks compared to CD fed mice. These changes were greatest in the sinusoids (Zone 2) with further increase in septal and portal fibrosis related scores between weeks 44 and 48. Diet reversal led to decrease in qFibrosis, septal thickness, and cellularity with greatest changes in Zone 2. Specific qFPs associated with progression only, regression only, or both processes were identified and categorized based on direction of fibrosis change. Complementing recent human studies, these findings support the concept that changes of disease progression and regression can be assessed using SHG-based image quantification of fibrosis related parameters.

Evaluation of acute toxicity and histology effect on liver of glyphosate and atrazine in the African catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822)

Aquatic organisms are exposed to chemical pesticides including glyphosate (Sharp 480 SL) and atrazine (Atraforce), two phytocidal molecules used for agriculture purposes in Benin. In this study, we assessed the acute toxicity of these two herbicides with emphasis on their histopathological effects on the liver of catfish Clarias gariepinus. One hundred and eighty juveniles of C. gariepinus (mean length 7.26 ± 0.59 cm and mean weight 5.21 ± 3.22 g) were exposed over 96 h to increasing concentrations of each phytocide. The values of 96 h-LC50 were 6.175 × 103 and 3.165 ppm, respectively for Sharp 480 SL and Atraforce. This indicates that Sharp 480 SL was nontoxic, while Atraforce displayed a moderate toxicity to C. gariepinus juveniles. During the tests, the behavioral responses (hyperexcitation, lethargy, loss of balance, discoloration of skin, etc.) that usually precede death were observed in exposed fishes, confirming the neurotoxicity of these phytocides. Histological alterations observed in liver of contaminated fishes were regressive changes, such as necrosis, hepatocyte vacuolation, nuclear degeneration, hepatocytes degeneration, sinusoids dilatation, etc. These results indicate that exposure to these herbicides had destructive effects on the liver of C. gariepinus.

Характеристика показників фізичного станучоловіків похилого віку

The relevance of the research topic. The paper presents the results of the assessment of physical condition indicators in 60-70-year-old men. The aim of the study was to identify the characteristics of physical condition indicators in senior men. Methods: theoretical analysis of special scientific and methodological literature, anthropometric and medical biological methods, and mathematical statistics. The study was conducted at the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering (Rivne, Ukraine). The ascertaining pedagogical experiment involved 50 senior men (with an average age of 65.06 ± 3.06 years). Results. Physical condition indicators characterizing physical development and functional status of the cardiorespiratory system were identified. Regressive changes at the morphological level were found: a trend to the increase in certain somatometric parameters and decrease in physiometric indicators of senior men. A significant decrease in the cardiorespiratory capacities of the studied subjects was revealed: 84 % of elderly men needed treatment to improve the functional state of the cardiovascular system. The majority (60 %) of respondents were diagnosed with high blood pressure. The obtained results also indicated decreased adaptation potential and increased tension of the regulatory systems. Satisfactory adaptation of the cardiovascular system was found in 8 %; tension of the adaptation mechanisms – in 20 %; unsatisfactory adaptation – in 40 %; and failure of adaptation – in 32 % of senior men. Conclusions. Based on the results of the study, the physical condition indicators of senior men were assessed. It was found that most of the indicators have certain deviations from the normal range, which should be taken into account when developing a comprehensive program based on the use of means of health-enhancing recreational physical activity.

Pathological complete response in multimodal treatment of esophageal cancer: a retrospective cohort study.

To evaluate pathological complete response (pCR, ypT0ypN0) after neoadjuvant treatment compared with non-complete response (non-CR) in patients with esophageal cancer (EC), and 393 patients were retrospectively analyzed. Survival probability was analyzed in patients with: (i) pCR vs non-CR; (ii) complete response of the primary tumor but persisting lymphatic metastases (non-CR-T0N+) and (iii) pCR and tumor-free lymphnodes exhibiting signs of postneoadjuvant regression vs. no signs of regression. (i) Median overall survival (mOS) was favorable in patients with pCR (pCR: mOS not reached vs. non-CR: 41months, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that grade of regression was not an independent predictor for prolonged survival. Instead, the achieved postneoadjuvant TNM-stage (T-stage: Hazard ratio [HR] ypT3-T4 vs. ypT0-T2: 1.837; N-stage: HR ypN1-N3 vs. ypN0: 2.046; Postneoadjuvant M-stage: HR ypM1 vs. ycM0: 2.709), the residual tumor (R)-classification (HR R1 vs. R0: 4.195) and the histologic subtype of EC (HR ESCC vs. EAC: 1.688) were prognostic factors. Patients with non-CR-T0N+ have a devastating prognosis, similar to those with local non-CR and lymphatic metastases (non-CR-T + N+) (non-CR-T0N+: 22.0months, non-CR-T + N-: mOS not reached, non-CR-T + N+: 23.0months; P-values: non-CR-T0N+ vs. non-CR-T + N-: 0.016; non-CR-T0N+ vs. non-CR-T + N+: 0.956; non-CR-T + N- vs. non-CR-T + N+: <0.001). Regressive changes in lymphnodes after neoadjuvant treatment did not influence survival-probability in patients with pCR (mOS not reached in each group; EAC-patients: P = 0.0919; ESCC-patients: P = 0.828). Particularly, the achieved postneoadjuvant ypTNM-stage influences the survival probability of patients with EC. Patients with non-CR-T0N+ have a dismal prognosis, and only true pathological complete response with ypT0ypN0 offers superior survival probabilities.

Childhood Wheeze, Allergic Rhinitis, and Eczema in Hong Kong ISAAC Study from 1995 to 2015.

The prevalence of allergic diseases has been increasing in developing areas but has reached a plateau in many developed areas. Regular surveys are imperative to assess the disease burden for the prioritization of resource allocation. We examined the change in the prevalence of wheezing, allergic rhinitis (AR), and eczema in school-aged children with possible associative factors and possible health effects of school air quality. This was the third repeated cross-sectional study conducted in 2015-2016 using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) protocol. Our first and second surveys were conducted in 1994-1995 and 2000-2001, respectively. Regarding the third survey, we recruited 3698 children aged 6-7 from 33 local schools in 18 districts. Air quality, temperature, and humidity were also measured. The changes in prevalence, multiple regression, and GLIMMIX procedure were analyzed. From our first survey to our third survey, the increased prevalences for lifetime wheeze, current wheeze, lifetime rhinitis, current rhinitis, current rhinoconjunctivitis, lifetime chronic rash, and current chronic rash were 4.2%, 2.1%, 12.5%, 12.6%, 14.2%, 3.9%, and 4.1%, respectively. Increased prevalence of parental atopy had the strongest association with an increased prevalence of each of these seven health outcomes. There was no significant association between school air pollutant levels and the prevalence of health outcomes. There was an increase in the prevalence of wheezing, allergic rhinitis, and eczema across the surveys. The most important associated risk factor identified was the increased prevalence of a parental history of atopy.

Thymic Seminoma with Regressive Changes Obscured by Granulomatous Reaction.

Primary thymic seminoma is an exceedingly rare tumour. There are few case reports about mediastinal thymic seminoma accompanied by secondary changes. We report a case of a 29-year male admitted to our hospital because of chest pain and dyspnea for 8 months. Computed tomography of the thorax revealed hypodense, solid masses showing calcification and cystic degeneration in the anterior mediastinum. Histopathological examination of the resected specimen revealed a diagnosis of thymic seminoma with regressive and reactive changes. The present case was unique in its presentation as a primary seminoma showing combination of cystic degeneration, follicular hyperplasia, fibrosis, calcification and granulomatous reaction in one case. High level of suspicion is necessary to identify seminomas in a thymic lesion accompanied by secondary changes. Excluding the possibility of metastasis from testicular seminoma is very important before making this diagnosis. Key Words:Thymus, Seminoma, Granuloma, Calcification, Cyst.

Thymic Seminoma with Regressive Changes Obscured by Granulomatous Reaction

Thymic Seminoma with Regressive Changes Obscured by Granulomatous Reaction

Trans Rights, Trans Justice: A Conversation About Key Trans Legal Issues in Canada

In November 2021, this virtual roundtable discussion brought together three activist-scholars to examine current trans legal issues in Canada and reflect on a broader vision for trans justice. The conversation’s starting points were the recent Superior Court of Québec’s decision in Centre for Gender Advocacy v Attorney General of Quebec, which found that Québec law about identification papers discriminated against trans and non-binary people, and the provincial government’s shocking response in proposing regressive and harmful legal changes. The panelists contextualized these legal twists by discussing the recurring patterns of trans rights victories being followed by anti-trans backlash; the gaps between legal reforms and their implementation; the law’s promises for, and limits in, effecting social change; and the vital role that community expertise can and must play in (re)defining the future of trans justice.

Discrete white matter hyperintensity (WMH) growth quantification is superior to measurements of total longitudinal WMH volume change: implications for clinical trials in VCID

AbstractBackgroundSmall vessel ischemic disease (SVID) is a major risk factor for late‐life cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID). White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are a SVID biomarker that can be detected on MRI FLAIR imaging. Prior studies show dynamic change in WMH volumes that increase and decrease within subjects over time. We reported a method to quantify discrete WMH volume growth and regression in individuals over one‐year with instrumental validation performed within the MarkVCID consortium. The present study provides preliminary evidence for the clinical relevance of this methodology.Method3D MRI T1‐weighted and FLAIR images at baseline and 12‐month follow‐up visits for sixty‐one participants (mean age 74 ± 5.9 years, 31 women) were analyzed. The Stroop test was administered using the CANS‐MCI computerized battery. WMH growth and regression were quantified for all participants. A linear regression model was used to assess the association of dynamic WMH changes with Stroop performance.ResultWMH growth, but not regression or total WMH volume changes was associated with Stroop performance at the 12‐months (β = ‐0.24, P = 0.02) after controlling for sex, and age (graph).ConclusionThese data show that WMH growth, but not regression or total WMH volume change, was associated with a decline in performance on the Stroop test over12‐months. These findings highlight the importance of studying dynamic, within subject, WMH growth and regression rather than solely focusing on longitudinal change in total WMH volume measurements. Measurement of WMH growth may help reduce sample sizes, facilitate clinical trial conduct, and optimize the potential to identify interventions intended to mitigate SVID contributions to VCID.

Retinal Vascular Plexuses Are Unequally Affected in Canine Inherited Retinal Degenerations.

To characterize the progression of vascular changes that occur in each retinal plexus, in three canine models of inherited retinal degeneration. In this retrospective cohort study, we examined the retinal imaging records of 44 dogs from a research colony that had undergone optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) imaging. Animals enrolled included crd2/NPHP5 and xlpra2/RPGR mutant dogs imaged at different stages of photoreceptor loss, as well as RHOT4R/+ dogs after acute light-induced rod degeneration. Also included were normal controls imaged at similar ages. OCT angiograms of the superficial vascular plexus combined with the intermediate capillary plexus (SVP + ICP), and the deep capillary plexus (DCP) were analyzed using the AngioTool software to calculate vessel density and other vascular parameters. A reduction in vessel density was seen over time in both the SVP + ICP and DCP in all mutant dogs but was more pronounced in the DCP. Scans were subclassified based on outer nuclear layer (ONL) thinning compared to age-matched normal controls. When ONL loss was 0% to 50%, vessel density in the DCP was significantly lower than in age-matched controls. In all cases, when ONL loss exceeded 87.5%, vessel density in the SVP + ICP was significantly reduced as well. In the acute light-induced rod degeneration model, the vascular regression changes were observed mainly in the DCP. Vessel density reduction in dogs undergoing retinal degeneration is first detected by OCTA in the DCP, and only at later stages in the SVP + ICP.

Impact on the antioxidant system, histology, and cell death of zebrafish liver after exposure to industrial sludge leachate.

The improper disposal of sludge is a still-present phenomenon in China. The leachate formed at the bottom of the sludge pile would cause toxicological effects on aquatic organisms and affect the health of humans by entering the surrounding rivers and groundwater. In this study, the hepatotoxicity of zebrafish induced by sludge leachate was assessed by antioxidant enzyme activities, semi-quantitative histopathological assessment, and TUNEL apoptosis assay. The results indicated that the leachate would induce oxidative stress and eventually lead to an increase in lipid peroxide after a 7-day exposure. The histopathological indexes demonstrated that exposure to leachate would cause histological damage by circulatory disturbances, regressive changes, progressive changes, and inflammatory responses. According to the TUNEL results, it could be inferred that apoptotic hepatocytes increased after exposure for 7days due to oxidative stress and histological damage. Overall, this study provided a valuable approach to assessing the toxic effects of sludge leachate and described the underlying mechanism of leachate-induced hepatotoxicity in zebrafish. This work will generate new insights into the ecological toxicity of leachate and promote the development of sludge disposal in China.

Digital pathology with artificial intelligence analyses provides greater insights into treatment-induced fibrosis regression in NASH.

Liver fibrosis is a key prognostic determinant for clinical outcomes in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Current scoring systems have limitations, especially in assessing fibrosis regression. Second harmonic generation/two-photon excitation fluorescence (SHG/TPEF) microscopy with artificial intelligence analyses provides standardized evaluation of NASH features, especially liver fibrosis and collagen fiber quantitation on a continuous scale. This approach was applied to gain in-depth understanding of fibrosis dynamics after treatment with tropifexor (TXR), a non-bile acid farnesoid X receptor agonist in patients participating in the FLIGHT-FXR study (NCT02855164). Unstained sections from 198 liver biopsies (paired: baseline and end-of-treatment) from 99 patients with NASH (fibrosis stage F2 or F3) who received placebo (n= 34), TXR 140μg (n= 37), or TXR 200μg (n= 28) for 48 weeks were examined. Liver fibrosis (qFibrosis®), hepatic fat (qSteatosis®), and ballooned hepatocytes (qBallooning®) were quantitated using SHG/TPEF microscopy. Changes in septa morphology, collagen fiber parameters, and zonal distribution within liver lobules were also quantitatively assessed. Digital analyses revealed treatment-associated reductions in overall liver fibrosis (qFibrosis®), unlike conventional microscopy, as well as marked regression in perisinusoidal fibrosis in patients who had either F2 or F3 fibrosis at baseline. Concomitant zonal quantitation of fibrosis and steatosis revealed that patients with greater qSteatosis reduction also have the greatest reduction in perisinusoidal fibrosis. Regressive changes in septa morphology and reduction in septa parameters were observed almost exclusively in F3 patients, who were adjudged as 'unchanged' with conventional scoring. Fibrosis regression following hepatic fat reduction occurs initially in the perisinusoidal regions, around areas of steatosis reduction. Digital pathology provides new insights into treatment-induced fibrosis regression in NASH, which are not captured by current staging systems. The degree of liver fibrosis (tissue scarring) in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the main predictor of negative clinical outcomes. Accurate assessment of the quantity and architecture of liver fibrosis is fundamental for patient enrolment in NASH clinical trials and for determining treatment efficacy. Using digital microscopy with artificial intelligence analyses, the present study demonstrates that this novel approach has greater sensitivity in demonstrating treatment-induced reversal of fibrosis in the liver than current systems. Furthermore, additional details are obtained regarding the pathogenesis of NASH disease and the effects of therapy.

Association between Development Assistance for Health and Disease Burden: A Longitudinal Analysis on Official Development Assistance for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in 2005-2017.

From the early stage of the millennium development goals campaign, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria have received huge aid funds. With the datasets published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments, and World Health Organization from 2005 to 2017, we analyzed the association between the total DAH or DAH per capita and the disease burden. We measured the total DAH or DAH per capita as the dependent variable, with six independent variables of disease burden for Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY), number of infected people, number of deaths, prevalence, incidence, and mortality rate. For the trend in ODA targeting, the likelihood ratio test of the fixed effects models was used to assess any existence of slope changes in linear regression across the years. The total amount of DAH and DAH per capita was found positively related with every aspect of disease burden, with the regression coefficients increasing during 2005-2017. For instance, the slope of association between the DAH per capita and the disease burden of malaria became steeper over time (likelihood ratio, χ2 = 26.14, p &lt; 0.001). Although the selection criteria for the recipient country have been controversial, ODA targeting has been performed based on disease burden in this research.

Accuracy of Noninvasive Diagnostic Tests for the Detection of Significant and Advanced Fibrosis Stages in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Systematic Literature Review of the US Studies.

The purpose of this systematic literature review (SLR) was to evaluate the accuracy of noninvasive diagnostic tools in detecting significant or advanced (F2/F3) fibrosis among patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) in the US healthcare context. The SLR was conducted in PubMed and Web of Science, with an additional hand search of public domains and citations, in line with the PRISMA statement. The study included US-based original research on diagnostic test sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. Twenty studies were included in qualitative evidence synthesis. Imaging techniques with the highest diagnostic accuracy in F2/F3 detection and differentiation were magnetic resonance elastography and vibration-controlled transient elastography. The most promising standard blood biomarkers were NAFLD fibrosis score and FIB-4. The novel diagnostic tools showed good overall accuracy, particularly a score composed of body mass index, GGT, 25-OH-vitamin D, and platelet count. The novel approaches in liver fibrosis detection successfully combine imaging techniques and blood biomarkers. While noninvasive techniques could overcome some limitations of liver biopsy, a tool that would provide a sufficiently sensitive and reliable estimate of changes in fibrosis development and regression is still missing.

Time series models show comparable projection performance with joinpoint regression: A comparison using historical cancer data from World Health Organization.

BackgroundCancer is one of the major causes of death and the projection of cancer incidences is essential for future healthcare resources planning. Joinpoint regression and average annual percentage change (AAPC) are common approaches for cancer projection, while time series models, traditional ways of trend analysis in statistics, were considered less popular. This study aims to compare these projection methods on seven types of cancers in 31 geographical jurisdictions.MethodsUsing data from 66 cancer registries in the World Health Organization, projection models by joinpoint regression, AAPC, and autoregressive integrated moving average with exogenous variables (ARIMAX) were constructed based on 20 years of cancer incidences. The rest of the data upon 20-years of record were used to validate the primary outcomes, namely, 3, 5, and 10-year projections. Weighted averages of mean-square-errors and of percentage errors on predictions were used to quantify the accuracy of the projection results.ResultsAmong 66 jurisdictions and seven selected cancers, ARIMAX gave the best 5 and 10-year projections for most of the scenarios. When the ten-year projection was concerned, ARIMAX resulted in a mean-square-error (or percentage error) of 2.7% (or 7.2%), compared with 3.3% (or 15.2%) by joinpoint regression and 7.8% (or 15.0%) by AAPC. All the three methods were unable to give reasonable projections for prostate cancer incidence in the US.ConclusionARIMAX outperformed the joinpoint regression and AAPC approaches by showing promising accuracy and robustness in projecting cancer incidence rates. In the future, developments in projection models and better applications could promise to improve our ability to understand the trend of disease development, design the intervention strategies, and build proactive public health system.

Fluid Intelligence Test Scores Across the Schooling: Evidence of Nonlinear Changes in Girls and Boys

The results of the analyses of the changes of fluid intelligence scores measured by the Standard Progressive Matrices test across all school years were presented. Sex differences in fluid intelligence scores for each year of schooling as well as in fluid intelligence changes across schooling were analyzed. A total of 1581 participants (51.1% boys) aged 6.8 to 19.1 years from one public school were involved in this cross-sectional study, of whom 871 were primary schoolchildren (mean age = 9.23; range 6.8–11.6), 507 were secondary schoolchildren (mean age = 14.06; range 10.8–18.0), and 203 were high schoolchildren (mean age = 17.25; range 15.3–19.1). To examine the changes in fluid intelligence both correlation analysis and polynomial regression of the total, boys’ and girls’ samples were performed. Linear, quadratic, and cubic regression models were fitted to the data. To explore sex differences in fluid intelligence in each year of schooling, the series of ANOVA were carried out. The results revealed that the school-age change in fluid intelligence is nonlinear for both girls and boys. The changes for girls during the schooling are best described by a quadratic relationship while those for boys are best reflected by a cubic relationship.

The Evolution Mode and Driving Mechanisms of the Relationship between Construction Land Use and Permanent Population in Urban and Rural Contexts: Evidence from China’s Land Survey

(1) Background: Achieving harmonious human–land relations is one of the key objectives of sustainable urban–rural development, and the degree of decoupling of permanent population levels from changes in construction land use is an important factor in related analyses. Due to the existence of huge urban–rural differences, rethinking China’s human–land relations from the perspective of integrating urban and rural areas is of great value for the advancement of high-quality urban–rural development. (2) Methods: By studying the lower reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers of China, and based on data from the second and third national land surveys of China, this paper analyzes the spatio-temporal evolution of urban and rural population, construction land use, and human–land relations from 2009 to 2019 using exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and a decoupling model; in addition, this paper proposes a differentiated zoning management strategy and establishes a new framework that integrates evolutionary patterns, human–land relations, spatial effects, and policy design. (3) Results: The geographic distribution patterns of urban and rural population and construction land use remained stable over time, with high levels of spatial heterogeneity, agglomeration, and correlation. Changes in urban and rural population levels and construction land use are becoming increasingly diversified and complex, with both increases and reductions existing side by side. Based on a Boston Consulting Group matrix, the evolution patterns of urban and rural population and construction land use are divided into four types, referred to as star-cities, cow-cities, question-cities, and dog-cities. Over the time period examined in this paper, the spatial autocorrelation of urban land evolution patterns turned from negative to positive; however, that of rural land, as well as those of urban and rural population evolution patterns, were statistically insignificant. Urban human–land relations are coordinated, in general, and are mostly in a state of either weak decoupling or expansive coupling. In contrast, rural human–land relations are seriously imbalanced, and most of them are in a state of strong negative decoupling. Human–land relations are dominated by regressive changes in urban areas but remain unchanged in rural areas. Cold- and hot-spot cities are concentrated in clusters or in bands, forming a core-periphery structure. The formation and evolution of the decoupling relationship between construction land use and permanent population are the results of multiple factors, including urbanization, industrialization, globalization, and government demand and policy intervention. The interaction effects between different factors show bifactor enhancement and nonlinear enhancement, with complex driving mechanisms and large urban–rural differences. It should be highlighted that the influence intensity, operation mechanism, and changes in the trends for different factors vary greatly. Urbanization rate, gross domestic product, and government revenue are key factors that exert a strong direct driving force; international trade, foreign direct investment, and per capita GDP are important factors, while the remaining factors are auxiliary factors that remain heavily dependent on interaction effects. (4) Conclusions: To further transform human–land relations from imbalanced to coordinated, we divide the study area into four area types based on the concept of urban–rural community: urban and rural intensive policy areas, urban intensive policy areas, rural intensive policy areas, and urban and rural controlled policy areas. Furthermore, we put forward suggestions on the differentiated management of land use for the four types of policy areas.

Possible Ameliorative Impact of Curcumin on Regressive Changes Induced by Diabetes on Parotid Glands of Albino Rats

Possible Ameliorative Impact of Curcumin on Regressive Changes Induced by Diabetes on Parotid Glands of Albino Rats

Auto-Weighted Structured Graph-Based Regression Method for Heterogeneous Change Detection

Change detection using heterogeneous remote sensing images is an increasingly interesting and very challenging topic. To make the heterogeneous images comparable, some graph-based methods have been proposed, which first construct a graph for the image to capture the structure information and then use the graph to obtain the structural changes between images. Nonetheless, previous graph-based change detection approaches are insufficient in representing and exploiting the image structure. To address these issues, in this paper, we propose an auto-weighted structured graph (AWSG)-based regression method for heterogeneous change detection, which mainly consists of two processes: learning the AWSG to capture the image structure and using the AWSG to perform structure regression to detect changes. In the graph learning process, a self-conducted weighting strategy is employed to make the graph more robust, and the local and global structure information are combined to make the graph more informative. In the structure regression process, we transform one image to the domain of the other image by using the learned AWSG, where the high-order neighbor information hidden in the graph is exploited to obtain a better regression image and change image. Experimental results and comparisons on four real datasets with seven state-of-the-art methods demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Perioperative Exhaled Nitric Oxide as an Indicator for Postoperative Pneumonia in Surgical Lung Cancer Patients: A Prospective Cohort Study Based on 183 Cases.

Introduction This study is conducted to investigate the correlation between perioperative fractional exhaled nitric oxide and postoperative pneumonia (POP) and the feasibility of perioperative FeNO for predicting POP in surgical lung cancer patients. Methods Patients who were diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were prospectively analyzed, and the relationship between perioperative FeNO and POP was evaluated based on patients' basic characteristics and clinical data in the hospital. Results There were 218 patients enrolled in this study. Finally, 183 patients were involved in the study, with 19 of them in the POP group and 164 in the non-POP group. The POP group had significantly higher postoperative FeNO (median: 30.0 vs. 19.0 ppb, P < 0.001) as well as change in FeNO (median: 10.0 vs. 0.0 ppb, P < 0.001) before and after the surgery. For predicting POP based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, a cutoff value of 25 ppb for postoperative FeNO (Youden's index: 0.515, sensitivity: 78.9%, and specificity: 72.6%) and 4 ppb for change in FeNO (Youden's index: 0.610, sensitivity: 84.2%, specificity: 76.8%) were selected. Furthermore, according to the bivariate regression analysis, FEV1/FVC (OR = 0.948, 95% CI: 0.899–0.999, P=0.048), POD1 FeNO (OR = 1.048, 95% CI: 1.019–1.077, P=0.001), and change in FeNO (OR = 1.087, 95% CI: 1.044–1.132, P < 0.001) were significantly associated with occurrence of POP. Conclusions This prospective study revealed that a high postoperative FeNO (>25 ppb), as well as an increased change in FeNO (>4 ppb), may have the potential in detecting the occurrence of POP in surgical lung cancer patients.