Skin Color Changes Research Articles

Computer-Aid System for Automated Jaundice Detection

At the beginning of their lives, newborns may have a widespread condition known as Jaundice or Hyperbilirubinemia. High levels of bilirubin in the blood are the primary cause of jaundice. Severe cases of jaundice may cause acute bilirubin encephalopathy due to the toxicity of bilirubin to the cells of the brain, which may lead to kernicterus. Kernicterus causes several symptoms, including a permanent upward look, loss of hearing, and repetitive and uncontrolled movements. Therefore, diagnosing this condition at the appropriate time helps to prevent chronic effects. In this study, jaundice or hyperbilirubinemia is diagnosed using a computer vision system based on a random forest algorithm. The system comprises a digital HD camera, a computer device with a Matlab application installed to analyze and detect the skin color changes of the infant, and an Arduino Uno microcontroller to control an LED ultraviolet light. A set of neonate images were collected to train the random forest algorithm, including 374 for normal and 137 for jaundiced infants. |The experimental results using the random forest algorithm for classification reached an accuracy of 98.4375%. The results of this study are promising and open doors for new monitoring applications in various medical diseases detection with a high degree of accuracy.

Online New Media Oriented Privacy Data Recognition Mechanism Based on Deep Learning

Although the current face de-recognition algorithm can effectively protect the user’s identity, it will change the original attributes of the image, destroy the visual effect, or change the characteristics of the image to varying degrees. Traditional methods such as pixelation and occlusion can effectively realize face de-recognition, but the processed image cannot be used for basic processing such as face statistics and expression recognition, which greatly destroys the usability of the image in the field of online new media. In order to preserve more attributes of the original image and reduce the changes of facial skin color and texture features caused by the above de-recognition algorithm’s operation on the whole facial area, this paper proposes a privacy protection model of face image based on generative adversarial network and facial feature analysis. Our model realizes face recognition based on changing the original image as little as possible. Specifically, we identify and extract features from fixed parts in face images, including eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, and cheeks. Then, we designed a face privacy recognition and protection model based on conditional generative adversarial networks. We verify our proposed method on two most commonly used face datasets in face research, namely CelebFaces Attributes and Labeled Faces in the Wild, and the results show that our proposed method achieve better performance compared with other face privacy protection methods.

Coordinated microRNA/mRNA Expression Profiles Reveal Unique Skin Color Regulatory Mechanisms in Chinese Giant Salamander (Andrias davidianus).

The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) has been increasingly popular in the aquaculture market in China in recent years. In the breeding process of Andrias davidianus, we found that some albino individuals were extremely rare and could not be inherited stably, which severely limits their commercialization in the aquaculture market. In this study, we performed transcriptome and small RNA (sRNA) sequencing analyses in the skin samples of wild-type (WT) and albino (AL) Andrias davidianus. In total, among 5517 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 2911 DEGs were down-regulated in AL, including almost all the key genes involved in melanin formation. A total of 25 miRNAs were differentially expressed in AL compared to WT, of which 17 were up-regulated. Through the integrated analysis, no intersection was found between the target genes of the differentially expressed miRNAs and the key genes for melanin formation. Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway analyses on DEGs showed that these genes involved multiple processes relevant to melanin synthesis and the key signal pathway MAPK. Interestingly, the transcription factors SOX10 and PAX3 and the Wnt signaling pathway that play a key role in other species were not included, while the other two transcription factors in the SOX family, SOX21 and SOX7, were included. After analyzing the key genes for melanin formation, it was interesting to note an alternative splicing form of the MITF in WT and a critical mutation of the SLC24A5 gene in AL, which might be the main reason for the skin color change of Andrias davidianus. The results contributed to understanding the molecular mechanism of skin pigmentation in Andrias davidianus and accelerating the acquisition process of individuals with specific body colors by genetic means.

A Pilot Study of Autonomic Function Screening Tests for Differentiating Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type II and Traumatic Neuropathic Pain.

Background and Objectives: One of the most challenging tasks in a clinical setting is to differentiate between complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) type II and traumatic neuropathic pain (NeP). CRPS is characterized by several dysautonomic manifestations, such as edema, hyper/hypohidrosis, skin color change, and tachycardia. This study compared the outcomes of autonomic function screening tests in patients with CRPS type II and traumatic NeP for diagnostic differentiation. Materials and Methods: CRPS type II was diagnosed according to the Budapest research criteria, while NeP was diagnosed according to the updated grading system suggested by the International Association for the Study of Pain Special Interest Group on Neuropathic Pain in 2016. Twenty patients with CRPS type II and twenty-five with traumatic NeP were investigated. Results: Twelve patients with CRPS type II presented abnormal results for the quantitative sudomotor axon reflex test (QSART). Abnormal QSART results were more common in the CRPS type II group. Conclusions: Analysis of QSART combined with other ancillary tests can help in the differential diagnosis of CRPS type II and traumatic NeP if factors influencing abnormal QSART are sufficiently controlled.

Quality Changes of European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) Stored Under Refrigerated Conditions at 2±1°C

This study aims to determine microbiological, sensory and color changes of whole European eel (Anguilla anguilla) aerobically stored at 2.00±1.00°C for 19 days. Samples were analyzed with periodical intervals in terms of Total Mesophilic Aerobic Bacteria (TMAB), Total Psychrophilic Aerobic Bacteria (TPAB), Psedumonas sp. and Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB). For the sensory analysis, samples were evaluated to describe the changes in skin color and mucus, eyes shape and clarity, texture and odor. Description of color changes consisted of L*, a*, b*, ∆E, chroma and hue angle during the storage period. The count of TMAB, TPAB, Pseudomonas sp. and LAB were found to be 1.53±0.08; 1.08±0.12; 1.15±0.21 and 1.15±0.21 log cfu/g, respectively. Significant differences were not found for the first 2 days of the storage for any microbiological parameters (p>0.05). At the end of the storage time, the counts of microorganisms were significantly increased (p<0.05) and reached 8.08±0.65; 7.56±0.08; 7.53±0.76; 2.80±0.14 log cfu/g, respectively. In terms of sensory changes whole European eel samples were resulted unacceptable for consumption after 13 days of storage with an 8.20±0.83 sensory score while 9.75±0.95 was the highest score for the samples on day 19th. The changes in the color of the samples were significant on the first and 5th days of storage (p<0.05). ∆E, L* and b* values were significantly increased (p<0.05) while chroma and a values were decreased on day 5. Overall results for this study are proving that Pseudomonas sp. could be the indicator microorganism that could be used to determine the shelf life of European eel together with the sensory analysis, linear correlation with storage time was not obtained for ∆E or any other color parameters and whole European eel could be stored at 2.00°C for 13 days based on sensory and microbiological quality changes.

Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis (IGM): Clinical Features and Non-Surgical Management

Background: Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis (IGM) is a benign disease; it can clinically and radiologically mimic the symptoms of breast cancer. Objectives: Due to the rare and limited number of studies in Iran, this study was designed and conducted to evaluate patients' clinical characteristics and treatment management with IGM. Methods: In this cross-sectional and retrospective descriptive-analytic study, we studied the medical records of 293 patients with IGM, such as demographic information, characteristics of breast lesions, type of treatment, complications, and their outcome, which were recorded in the Cancer Research Centers of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU) from 2010 to 2019. The patients were contacted by telephone to visit clinically or collect additional information. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 24. Results: The mean age of patients was 39.21 (ST = 8.29) years. Breast involvement in 236 cases (80.5%) was unilateral, and in 50 cases (17.1%), the involvement was Pere pri-Areola. The most common type of treatment was conservative therapy (analgesia + drainage) (178 cases, 60.8%), which was the primary treatment in our study; 66 patients (22.5%) received antibiotic therapy + analgesia + drainage, and 41(14%) cases received corticosteroid in addition to this treatment. Totally, 132 cases (79.5%) were completely cured with the performed treatments, 17 cases (5.8%) had a recurrence of symptoms, and 14.7% of the patients were still receiving treatment. Recurrence after 1 year in patients who had a longer duration of disease (more than 12 months) was higher than in those who had a shorter period (less than 12 months) (15.3% vs. 5.1%, P = 0.004). Also, the highest recurrence rate was in the group receiving corticosteroids compared to the group receiving the usual treatment and usual treatment plus antibiotics. This relationship was statistically significant (22.0% vs. 9 % and 6.1%, respectively, P = 0.032). Complications (scar or breast skin color change) were significantly higher in patients without a pregnancy history than in patients who had pregnancy (50.0% vs. 22.8%, P = 0.030). Also, these complications were significantly higher in patients who had a longer duration of disease (more than 12 months) than in shorter periods of disease (less than 12 months) (31.4% vs. 17.3%, P = 0.005). Conclusions: The results of our study and its comparison with the results of other studies still emphasize the uncertainty of the etiology of IGM disease and its treatment, but to some extent, our study has shown that conservative treatment (drainage with analgesic drugs) is one of the best treatment options. Also, corticosteroid therapy is associated with a higher recurrence rate, but in some cases is necessary and recommended in many studies.

Transcriptome analysis reveals important regulatory genes and pathways for tuber color variation in Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit.

During the growth of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. (P. ternata), the violet-red skin was occasionally produced spontaneously under natural cultivation. However, the specific mechanism leading to the color change is still unclear. This study performed transcriptomes in violet-red and pale-yellow skin and their peeled tubers of P. ternata, and the total flavonoids and anthocyanin contents were also determined. The results showed that the majority of genes involved in anthocyanin production were considerably increased in the violet-red skin of P. ternata tuber compared to the pale-yellow skin. Especially, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and chalcone synthase (CHS) showed a remarkable increase in gene expression levels. Notably, shikimate O-hydroxycinnamoyltransferase (HCT), naringenin 3-dioxygenase (F3H), flavanone 4-reductase (DFR), and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) were explicitly expressed in violet-red skin of P. ternata tuber, while undetectable in pale-yellow skin. The upregulation of these genes may explain the accumulation of anthocyanins, which forms the violet-red skin of P. ternata tuber. The transcription factors, including C2H2, bZIP, ERF, GATA, bHLH, C3H, NAC, MYB-related, and MYB families, might trigger the skin color change in P. ternata. The entire anthocyanin content in the violet-red skin of P. ternata tuber was 71.10μg/g, and pale-yellow skin was 7.74μg/g. According to phenotypic and transcriptome results, the elevated expression levels of genes linked to the synthesis of anthocyanins considerably contributed to the violet-red skin alterations in P. ternata tuber. This study provides a new understanding of the formation of the violet-red skin, lays a theoretical foundation for the cultivation of unique varieties of P. ternata, and provides transcriptome data for further study of the differences between different colors of P. ternata.

Abstract P3-05-34: CANTO-RT: Skin toxicities evaluation of a multicenter prospective cohort of irradiated patients for early-stage breast cancer

Abstract Purpose: Skin damage is the most common and most important toxicity during and after radiotherapy. Its assessment and understanding of the factors influencing its occurrence, is a major issue in the management of patients irradiated for an early breast cancer (BC). Method: CANTO (NCT01993498) is a prospective clinical cohort study of 10 150 patients with stage I-III BC treated from 2012-2017 in 26 cancer centers. In this study, we used CANTO-RT, a sub-cohort of CANTO, including 3480 patients who received RT. We are focus on specifical skin toxicities: Erythema, fibrosis, telangectasia and skin color change (CTCAE v4.0). These toxicities were assessed at baseline 0-3-6 (M0), 12 (M12), 36 (M36) months. The RT-related variables were independent variables. Multivariable logistic regression models assessed associations between RT-related variables and skin toxicities of interest. Results: We studied 3480 patients from 2012 to 2017. Patients had a median age of 56.8 years and a mean BMI of 26. The majority of patients had SBR grade 1-2, TNM 1-2, RH+/HER2- breast cancer. Most patients had conservative surgery and 52.7% received chemotherapy. All the patients received radiotherapy mainly normofractionated 50Gy in 25 fractions, in 3D, with a boost of 16Gy in 8fractions. The prevalence of toxicities of interest varied over time, so at M0, 41.1% of patients had erythema while 24.8% of patients had fibrosis. At M12 and M36, the prevalence of erythema decreased from 8.8% to 2.9% respectively while fibrosis remains stable from 25.1% to 22.5%. The prevalence of telangiectasia increases from 1% to 7.1% from M0 to M36. The prevalence of the skin color change decreased from 31.7% to 17.5% from M12 to M36. After adjustments, at M0 and M12, we showed a statistically significant association between the occurrence of skin erythema and obesity (OR: 1.3 p < 0.003); the presence of axillary dissection (OR: 1.33 p < 0.003); the type of surgery (OR: 0.71 p < 0.001); the use of taxane- based chemotherapy (OR: 1.46 p < 0.005) and the 3DvsIMRT irradiation technique (OR: 0.42 p < 0.001). However, no radiotherapy factors were statistically related to erythema from M12. Regarding fibrosis, a statistically significant association is found, at M0, with age at diagnosis (OR: 1.43 p < 0.018), obesity (OR: 1.44 p < 0.001), tobacco (OR: 1.4 p < 0.008), and the use of boost (OR: 1.61 p < 0.001). Only obesity and the type of surgery received by the patient remained statistically significant factors at M12 and M36. Obesity and age at diagnosis represented at M12 and M36 a risk associated with the onset of telangiectasias. The skin color change is consistently correlated at M12-M36 with obesity and smoking. The use of a boost increases the skin color change at M36. Conclusion: In this study we identified several risk factors for acute and late skin toxicity such as obesity in the occurrence of skin erythema, fibrosis or telangiectasia. The use of a boost was mainly related to the occurrence of skin color change while the use of IMRT-type technique decreased the occurrence of skin erythema. The knowledge of its predictive factors allows a personalized management of the patient by adapting our treatments and our monitoring according to these different factors. Table 2a. Skin toxicity if interest: Erythema at M0 and M12 (multivariate analysis) Relationship between radiation therapy parameters and the occurrence of skin toxicity Table 2b. Skin toxicity if interest: Fibrosis at M0, M12, and M36 (multivariate analysis) Evolution of skin toxicities of interest over time for a given patient (Sankey plot) Table 3. Grade CTCAEv4 of toxicities of interest * A= erythema. B= fibrosis, C= telangiectasia, D=skin color Citation Format: Sofiane Allali, Matthieu Carton, Thomas Sarrade, Sibille Everhard, Karine Peigneux, Phillipe Guibert, Claire Chara-brunaud, Julien Blanchecotte, David Pasquier, Severine Racadot, Celine Bourgier, Youlia M. Kirova. CANTO-RT: Skin toxicities evaluation of a multicenter prospective cohort of irradiated patients for early-stage breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-05-34.

Unilateral erythema in a newborn

A 10-day-old newborn male was referred to our clinic for the evaluation of congenital dermal melanocytosis. During the physical examination, when the baby was lying on his side, a sharply demarcated erythema involving half of his body was noticed (Figure 1). The change of colour lasted a few minutes. The baby was otherwise healthy, and no additional signs were observed. The baby's mother reported only one other isolated similar episode of about the same duration occurring at home when the baby was lying naked on the changing table. HP is a rare event that consists of a sudden unilateral transient change in skin colour with a sharp demarcation along the body midline, resulting in two different body colours.1 HP usually occurs between the 3rd and 4th day of life, and typically appears when the baby is lying on the side and may last from 30 s up to 20 min. It can be a single event or it can be recurrent. Newborns can experience several episodes in just a few days.2 Pathophysiology of HP is still not completely clear although there is evidence to support a sympathetic autonomic dysfunction, probably because of hypothalamic immaturity in the newborn.2 HP represents a benign condition although it has also been reported in the context of hypoxia and as an epiphenomenon of central nervous system disorders such as meningitis, hypothalamic and brain stem lesions or sympathetic nervous system lesions. Exacerbation has been described in patients receiving treatment with prostaglandin E1.1, 3 While the clinical characteristics of HP make it easily distinguishable, a differential diagnosis should include infectious neonatal skin rashes, such as parechovirus, herpes virus and candida infection, neonatal lupus erythematosus and capillary malformations such as those in the PROS spectrum and cutis marmorata telangiectatica congenita. HP can be a manifestation of the rare disorder paroxysmal extreme pain disorder, part of SCN9A neuropathic pain syndromes, a group of sodium channelopathies where systemic symptoms such as tonic nonepileptic attacks and syncope with bradycardia are associated with the transient skin colour change.4 HP is a benign and self-resolving phenomenon. As mentioned, only in rare circumstances HP is a manifestation of central nervous system disorders in association with other signs and symptoms and never presenting as the sole clue of such conditions.5 The recognition of the phenomenon is therefore important since, while being certainly peculiar, it does not require further investigations or therapeutic measures. Alice Nadia Rossi wrote the first draft of the manuscript and adjusted it according to the comments of the other authors. Francesco Paolo Salamone collected data and clinical images and helped writing the manuscript. Martina Mussi participated in data collection. Marco Adriano Chessa participated in the revision of the manuscript. Iria Neri carried out the final revision of the manuscript before submission. All of the authors participated in the preparation of the manuscript. There are no prior publications or submissions with any overlapping information, including studies and patients. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. All patients in this manuscript have given written informed consent for participation in the study and the use of their de-identified, anonymized, aggregated data and their case details (including photographs) for publication. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Caizhixuan hair tonic regulates both apoptosis and the PI3K/Akt pathway to treat androgenetic alopecia.

Caizhixuan hair tonic (CZX) is a topical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparation for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia (AGA). However, its active compounds and underlying mechanism for treating AGA are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to observe the effects of CZX on hair growth promotion in AGA mice and to explore the active components and mechanism. Testosterone propionate was administered subcutaneously to mice to establish an AGA mouse model. The therapeutic effects of CZX on AGA were evaluated by observing skin colour changes, hair growth time, and average hair length; calculating the hair growth score; and performing skin histopathological analysis. Following that, CZX chemical components were analysed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS). Network pharmacology was used to predict the major effects and possible mechanisms of CZX for the treatment of AGA. Furthermore, RT-qPCR and Western blotting were performed to assess the expression of key genes and proteins involved in PI3K/Akt and apoptosis pathways in order to validate CZX's predicted mechanism in AGA. CZX promoted hair growth and improved the pathological morphology of hair follicles in the skin. In UPLC-Q-TOF/MS analysis, 69 components from CZX were isolated. Based on network pharmacology, CZX alleviated AGA by regulating PI3K/Akt and apoptosis pathways. According to RT-qPCR and Western blotting, CZX upregulated the expressions of PI3K, Akt, and Bcl-2, while downregulating that of Bax and caspase-3. CZX promotes hair growth to treat AGA by regulating the PI3K/Akt and apoptosis pathways.

RNA-Seq Based Transcriptomic Analysis of Bud Sport Skin Color in Grape Berries

The most common bud sport trait in grapevines is the change in color of grape berry skin, and the color of grapes is mainly developed by the composition and accumulation of anthocyanins. Many studies have shown that MYBA is a key gene regulates the initiation of bud sport color and anthocyanin synthesis in grape peels. In the current study, we used berry skins of ‘Italia’, ‘Benitaka’, ‘Muscat of Alexandria’, ‘Flame Muscat’, ‘Rosario Bianco’, ‘Rosario Rosso’, and ‘Red Rosario’ at the véraison stage (10 weeks post-flowering and 11 weeks post-flowering) as research materials. The relative expressions of genes related to grape berry bud sport skin color were evaluated utilizing RNA-Seq technology. The results revealed that the expressions of the VvMYBA1/A2 gene in the three red grape varieties at the véraison stage were higher than in the three white grape varieties. The VvMYBA1/A2 gene is known to be associated with UFGT in the anthocyanin synthesis pathway. According to the results, VvMYBA1/A2 gene expression could also be associated with the expression of LDOX. In addition, a single gene (gene ID: Vitvi19g01871) displayed the highest expressions in all the samples at the véraison stage for the six varieties. The expression of this gene was much higher in the three green varieties compared to the three red ones. GO molecular function annotation identified it as a putative metallothionein-like protein with the ability to regulate the binding of copper ions to zinc ions and the role of maintaining the internal stable state of copper ions at the cellular level. High expression levels of this screened gene may play an important role in bud sport color of grape berry skin at the véraison stage.

Complex regional pain syndrome after multiple revision total hip arthroplasty surgeries

BackgroundPersistent pain after total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a real concern for the surgeon and is a significant cause of patient dissatisfaction; periprosthetic joint infection (PJI), aseptic loosening, and instability are among the common causes of painful THA. However, few rare causes have been reported in the literature; the complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) was reported to occur after primary hip and knee arthroplasties. Case presentation: We present a female patient who had bilateral hip resurfacing when she was 28 years old after being diagnosed with bilateral hip avascular necrosis; over 16 years, she was satisfied. She started developing pain in her right hip in 2019, diagnosed as aseptic loosening, and a revision using a cementless THA was performed. Six months later, she was diagnosed with PJI, which was treated in two stages; after the first-stage revision THA, the patient complained of persistent pain in her lower leg with a burning sensation and change in skin color, not responding to conservative lines. During the second-stage revision THA and after receiving spinal anesthesia, the skin color of the right lower limb changed to normal. The postoperative diagnosis was made as CRPS, treated effectively with sympathetic block. At six months postoperative, the patient was pain-free, and the implants showed proper position. Conclusions: Although rare, CRPS could cause persistent pain after repeated hip surgeries, and the diagnosis is reached mainly by exclusion.

The Level of Surface Coverage of Surgical Site Disinfection Depends on the Visibility of the Antiseptic Agent-A Virtual Reality Randomized Controlled Trial.

Surgical site infections (SSIs) have a significant impact on outcome associated with surgical treatment. Therefore, skin antisepsis has evolved as a standard preoperative procedure in the operating room to reduce the perioperative risk of an SSI. In their "Global Guidelines for the prevention of surgical site infections", the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend the use of an agent with remanent additives and considers colored agents as helpful. However, colored and remanent disinfectants are not available in Germany. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether using a colored antiseptic solution increases the quality of preoperative skin antisepsis. This study was designed as a randomized, double-blinded controlled trial. To examine the level of coverage of skin antisepsis, an appropriate virtual reality (VR) environment was generated. Participants could see a movable surgical clamp with a swab in their hand. When touching the skin, the participants recognized an optical change in the appearance of the skin: Using a colored antiseptic solution resulted in orange-colored skin. Using an uncolored agent, a shiny wet look was visible without a change in natural skin color. Data of 141 participants (female: 61.0% (n = 86); mean age: 28 y (Range 18-58 y, SD = 7.53 y)) were included in the study. The level of disinfection coverage was higher in the group using the colored disinfectant. On average, 86.5% (sd = 10.0) of the leg skin was covered when a colored disinfectant was used, whereas only 73.9% (sd = 12.8) of the leg skin was covered when the participants had to use an uncolored agent (p < 0.001, effect size: f = 0.56, η2 = 0.24). The use of an uncolored disinfectant leads to a lower surface coverage of the perioperative skin disinfection. Thus far, it is unclear whether using uncolored disinfectants is associated with higher risks for perioperative infections compared with the use of non-remanent disinfectants. Therefore, further research is necessary and current German guidelines should be re-evaluated accordingly.

Rat bite fever with multifocal musculoskeletal infection and septic shock

We report an unusual, severe and transient skin color changes in a 36 weeks baby in his first day of life. The changes included sever blanching of the right toes and the penis, concomitant with sever mottling of the back and anterior abdominal wall mainly on the right side but were not well demarcated

Therapeutic Effects of Pinus koraiensis on 1-Fluoro-2,4-Dinitrofluorobenzene-induced Contact Dermatitis in Mice

Background Korean pine nuts (Semen Pinus koraiensis ( P. koraiensis)) have been a valuable ingredient in Korean cuisine since ancient times, and the classical literature on traditional medicine states that pine nuts can moisturize skin. Aims To confirm the therapeutic efficacy of the ethanol extract of these pine nuts in an animal contact dermatitis (CD) model. Materials and Methods Korean pine nuts were extracted using 70% ethanol, and the crude extract obtained was condensed and lyophilized to produce EEPK (the 70% ethanol extract of P. koraiensis). A DNFB (1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene)-induced BALB/c mouse model of CD was used to investigate the effects of EEPK on skin symptoms, histopathological abnormalities, and cytokine secretion in inflamed tissues. Results EEPK reduced skin color changes, lesion severities, and dorsal skin thickening and inhibited epidermis hyperplasia and immune cell infiltration into inflamed tissues. In addition, EEPK suppressed the productions of tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ, interleukin-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 but did not affect body weights or spleen/body weight ratios. Conclusion P. koraiensis has potential as a therapeutic agent for CD and as a treatment for inflammatory skin disease management products. Furthermore, the mechanism underlying its therapeutic effects differs from that of corticosteroids.

X-iPPGNet: A novel one stage deep learning architecture based on depthwise separable convolutions for video-based pulse rate estimation

Pulse rate (PR) is one of the most important markers for assessing a person’s health. With the increasing demand for long-term health monitoring, much attention is being paid to contactless PR estimation using imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG). This non-invasive technique is based on the analysis of subtle changes in skin color. Despite efforts to improve iPPG, the existing algorithms are vulnerable to less-constrained scenarios (i.e., head movements, facial expressions, and environmental conditions). In this article, we propose a novel end-to-end spatio-temporal network, namely X-iPPGNet, for instantaneous PR estimation directly from facial video recordings. Unlike most existing systems, our model learns the iPPG concept from scratch without incorporating any prior knowledge or going through the extraction of blood volume pulse signals. Inspired by the Xception network architecture, color channel decoupling is used to learn additional photoplethysmographic information and to effectively reduce the computational cost and memory requirements. Moreover, X-iPPGNet predicts the pulse rate from a short time window (2 s), which has advantages with high and sharply fluctuating pulse rates. The experimental results revealed high performance under all conditions including head motions, facial expressions, and skin tone. Our approach significantly outperforms all current state-of-the-art methods on three benchmark datasets: MMSE-HR (MAE = 4.10 ; RMSE = 5.32 ; r = 0.85), UBFC-rPPG (MAE = 4.99 ; RMSE = 6.26 ; r = 0.67), MAHNOB-HCI (MAE = 3.17 ; RMSE = 3.93 ; r = 0.88).

Feasibility of Skin Water Content Imaging Using CMOS Sensors.

Pressure injuries (PI) result from pressure-induced damage to the skin and underlying tissues. Currently, Stage I PI are detected using visual skin assessments. However, this visual method is unable to detect skin color changes in persons with darkly pigmented skin, which results in a higher Stage II-IV PI incidence and PI-associated mortality in persons with a darker complexion. Thus, a more objective method of early-stage PI detection is of great importance. Optical spectroscopy is a promising modality for the noncontact diagnosis and monitoring of skin water content, capable of detecting edema and Stage I PI. The scope of the current study is to assess the feasibility of imaging the water content of the skin using Si-based sensors. We have considered two primary cases: the elevated bulk water content (edema) and localized water pool (e.g., blood vessels). These two cases were analyzed using analytical models. We found that detecting the watercontent contrast associated with edema in tissues is within the reach of Si-based sensors. However, although the effect is expected to be detectable even with consumer-grade cameras, with the current state of technologies, their use in real-world conditions faces numerous technical challenges, mainly due to the narrow dynamic range.

CORRELATION BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND DECISIONS EXACTNESS OF THE FACE WHITENING COSMETIC PRODUCTS SELECTION IN TEENAGE GIRLS OF SUMBERPINANG VILLAGE JEMBER

Facial whitening cosmetics are preparations or combinations of ingredients that used on the outside of the body that serves to brighten or change skin color become white, clean and shining. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between knowledge and decisions exactness about facial whitening cosmetic products in teenage girls of Sumberpinang Village, Jember, (period of June 2022). The type of research conducted was descriptive research. the survey design was cross sectional. Sampling technique by using consecutive sampling which done by door to door. The total sample in this study was 70 respondents according to the criteria inclussion that has been determined. Bivariate analysis results with Kendall's correlation test obtained p value = 0,001 (p0,05),which means there was correlation between knowledge and decision on the selection of facial whitening cosmetic products in teenage girl. The correlation coefficient obtained was 0,386 which indicates weak correlation. It can be concluded that there was weak correlation between knowledge and decisions exactness about facial whitening cosmetic products in teenage girls of Sumberpinang Village, Jember (period of June 2022).Keyword : knowledge level, teenage girls, decisions exactness, face whitening cosmetic

VideoCAD: An Uncertainty-Driven Neural Network for Coronary Artery Disease Screening From Facial Videos

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is highly prevalent worldwide but is challenging to identify due to its hidden symptoms. Facial videos provide a possible means for CAD screening as facial features and skin color changes are associated with CAD risk. However, opposite test results of CAD may be drawn from facial features and skin color changes. A neural network, VideoCAD, is proposed in this work to address this problem. It consists of two modules, PulseCAD and ImageCAD. PulseCAD predicts whether CAD was present based on the facial features in a video frame, and ImageCAD performs CAD prediction based on the pulse-related features in skin color changes. VideoCAD quantifies the uncertainties of the two modules’ predictions before selecting the prediction with lower uncertainty as the final result. VideoCAD is evaluated on 1200 video samples of 200 subjects (50% CAD). Its predictions are in substantial agreement with the ground truths, with both the sensitivity (SE) and specificity (SP) of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$&gt;0.88$ </tex-math></inline-formula> . It also outperforms the state-of-the-art methods that only consider the face or pulse features, achieving a >20% increase in Cohen’s Kappa coefficient. This technique may hold promise to achieve opportunistic screening for occult CAD in the community.

Comparing pre-trained algorithms for facial emotion recognition: An analysis

Facial emotion recognition is an evolving field that aims to detect and interpret human emotions based on facial expressions. This technology combines computer vision, machine learning, and artificial intelligence techniques to analyze facial features and accurately classify emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. The human face is a powerful channel for emotional communication, and facial emotion recognition seeks to replicate this ability using computational algorithms. By capturing and analyzing facial cues such as eyebrow movements, eye widening, lip curvature, and changes in skin color, these systems can infer emotional states in real-time. The applications of facial emotion recognition are diverse and impactful. In psychology, it enables researchers to study emotional responses and behavior, providing insights into mental health conditions and aiding therapists in understanding their clients' emotional states. In human-computer interaction, this technology allows for more intuitive and personalized interactions, enhancing user experiences. In marketing and advertising, facial emotion recognition helps companies understand consumer emotional engagement and tailor their strategies accordingly. In healthcare, it can aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of mental health conditions, enabling personalized treatment options.