Success Rate Research Articles

Classification of Lombok Songket and Sasambo Batik Motifs Using the Convolution Neural Network (CNN) Algorithm

Sasambo batik is a traditional batik from the West Nusa Tenggara province. Sasambo itself is an abbreviation of three tribes, namely the Sasak (sa) in the Lombok Islands, the Samawa (sam), and the Mbojo (bo) tribes in Sumbawa Island. Classification of batik motifs can use image processing technology, one of which is the Convolution Neural Network (CNN) algorithm. Before entering the classification process, the batik image first undergoes image resizing. After that, proceed with the operation of the convolution, pooling, and fully connected layers. The sample image of Lombok songket motifs and Sasambo batik consists of 20 songket fabric data with the same motif and color and 14 songket data with the same motif but different colors. In addition, there are 10 data points on songket fabrics with other motifs and colors. In addition, there are 5 data points on Sasambo batik fabrics with the same motif and color and 5 data points on Sasambo batik fabrics with the same motif but different colors. The training data rotates the image by 150as many as 20 photos. Testing with motifs with the same color shows that the system's success rate is 83.85%. The highest average recognition for Sasambo batik cloth is in testing motifs with the same color for data in the database at 93.66%. The CNN modeling classification results indicate that the Sasambo batik cloth can be a reference for developing songket categorization using a website platform or the Android system.

Patient profiles and success rates under different sedation techniques in a tertiary care center.

Sedation is commonly utilized for individuals otherwise unable to receive dental treatment, such as those with disabilities, medically complex conditions, and dentophobics. The aim was to characterize the profiles of patients receiving various types of sedation and assess the corresponding success rates. This was a 5-year records-based retrospective study. Data regarding the indication for sedation, medical history, sedation type, and treatments performed were recorded. In total, 103 patients underwent 389 treatment sessions under sedation; 42.7% of the patients were disabled. The most commonly administered sedation was moderate sedation, (49.4%), followed by deep (36.8%) and inhaled sedation (13.9%). Successful treatment results were achieved in 96.1% of sessions, with no adverse effects noted during recovery. The high success rates were independent of patient age, sex, and sedation type. There was a positive association between the indication for sedation and the type of sedation. The medically complex patients and the dentophobic patients received mainly moderate sedation (85.3% and 58.2%, respectively), whereas the disabled patients received deep sedation (51.2%). In total, 94% of patients were returning (re-visiting) patients. A statistically significant association was found between the type of sedation administered and the success rate during the first and last sessions (P < .001). The success rate at the first session may be predictive of the success in subsequent sessions. A significant positive correlation was found between patient characteristics and the chosen sedation type leading to a high success rate across the various sedation modalities.

(O-25) SURGICAL TREATMENT FOR CHRONIC TESTICULAR PAIN: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract Introduction and Objetives Chronic testicular pain (CTP) is defined as 3 months of intermittent or constant testicular pain that is significantly bothersome to the patient. There exist a variety of different surgical treatment options for CTP. They are generally kept as second or even third-line option for persistent cases. This study aims to review and elucidate the literature about surgical treatment for chronic testicular pain. Methods We searched Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane for articles evaluating surgical treatments for CTP. Search terms included “orchialgia”, “spermatic cord”, “chronic scrotal pain”, “chronic testicular pain” and “surgery”. Results Microsurgical Denervation of the Spermatic Cord (MDSC) is the surgical standard when a procedure is indicated for idiopathic chronic orchialgia unresponsive to conservative therapies. The positive response to spermatic cord block is a predictor of MDSC response. Pain relief after MDSC ranges from 76% to 100%. Ultrasound-guided targeted cryoablation could be used in persistent CTP after MDSC with 75% success rate. Epididymectomy is better indicated for CTP in structural abnormality such as cyst, granuloma or mass, with pain relief reaching 50% to 92%. In case of post-vasectomy pain syndrome, vasectomy reversal and MDSC has an overall success from 50% to 100% and 71% to 81% respectively. Ilioinguinal and genitofemoral peripheral nerve stimulation could be used in persistant CTP, and spinal cord stimulation as well. Orchiectomy can be considered as a last resort in case patients do not respond to other forms of treatment, but do not delivers a 100% relief a pain. Conclusion Although it’s variables choices, there is not a gold standard surgical treatment for CTP, representing a challenge for clinicians. Large, controlled trials must be performed to establish strong and reliable evidence for the surgical treatment of CTP. Financing No conflict.

Clinical characteristics of acute non-varicose upper gastrointestinal bleeding and the effect of endoscopic hemostasis.

Acute non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (ANVUGIB) constitutes a prevalent emergency within Gastroenterology, encompassing 80%-90% of all gastrointestinal hemorrhage incidents. This condition is distinguished by its abrupt onset, swift progression, and notably elevated mortality rate. To gather clinical data from patients with ANVUGIB at our hospital in order to elucidate the clinical characteristics specific to our institution and analyze the therapeutic effectiveness of endoscopic hemostasis. We retrospectively retrieved the records of 532 patients diagnosed with ANVUGIB by endoscopy at our hospital between March 2021 and March 2023, utilizing our medical record system. Data pertaining to general patient information, etiological factors, disease outcomes, and other relevant variables were meticulously collected and analyzed. Among the 532 patients diagnosed with ANVUGIB, the male-to-female ratio was 2.91:1, with a higher prevalence among males. Notably, 43.6% of patients presented with black stool as their primary complaint, while 27.4% had hematemesis as their initial symptom. Upon admission, 17% of patients exhibited both hematemesis and black stool, while most ANVUGIB patients primarily complained of overt gastrointestinal bleeding. Urgent routine blood examinations at admission revealed that 75.8% of patients had anemia, with 63.4% experiencing moderate to severe anemia, and 1.5% having extremely severe anemia (hemoglobin < 30 g/L). With regard to etiology, 53.2% of patients experienced bleeding without a definitive trigger, 24.2% had a history of using gastric mucosa-irritating medications, 24.2% developed bleeding after alcohol consumption, 2.8% attributed it to improper diet, 1.7% to emotional excitement, and 2.3% to fatigue preceding the bleeding episode. Drug-induced ANVUGIB was more prevalent in the elderly than middle-aged and young individuals, while bleeding due to alcohol consumption showed the opposite trend. Additionally, diet-related bleeding was more common among the young age group compared to the middle-aged group. Gastrointestinal endoscopy identified peptic ulcers as the most frequent cause of ANVUGIB (73.3%), followed by gastrointestinal malignancies (10.9%), acute gastric mucous lesions (9.8%), and androgenic upper gastrointestinal bleeding (1.5%) among inpatients with ANVUGIB. Of the 532 patients with gastrointestinal bleeding, 68 underwent endoscopic hemostasis, resulting in an endoscopic treatment rate of 12.8%, with a high immediate hemostasis success rate of 94.1%. ANVUGIB patients exhibit diverse characteristics across different age groups, and endoscopic hemostatic treatments have demonstrated remarkable efficacy.

Unveiling success determinants for AMB-assisted phase expansion of fusion proteins in ARP/wARP

Fusion proteins (FPs) are frequently utilized as a biotechnological tool in the determination of macromolecular structures using X-ray methods. Here, we explore the use of different protein tags in various FP, to obtain initial phases by using them in a partial molecular replacement (MR) and constructing the remaining FP structure with ARP/wARP. Usually, the tag is removed prior to crystallization, however leaving the tag on may facilitate crystal formation, and structural determination by expanding phases from known to unknown segments of the complex. In this study, the Protein Data Bank was mined for an up-to-date list of FPs with the most used protein tags, Maltose Binding Protein (MBP), Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), Thioredoxin (TRX), Glutathione transferase (GST) and the Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier Protein (SUMO). Partial MR using the protein tag, followed by automatic model building, was tested on a subset of 116 FP. The efficiency of this method was analyzed and factors that influence the coordinate construction of a substantial portions of the fused protein were identified. Using MBP, GFP, and SUMO as phase generators it was possible to build at least 75 % of the protein of interest in 36 of the 116 cases tested. Our results reveal that tag selection has a significant impact; tags with greater structural stability, such as GFP, increase the success rate. Further statistical analysis identifies that resolution, Wilson B factor, solvent percentage, completeness, multiplicity, protein tag percentage in the FP (considering amino acids), and the linker length play pivotal roles using our approach. In cases where a structural homologous is absent, this method merits inclusion in the toolkit of protein crystallographers.

Two-Year Clinical Outcome of MitraClip Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair From the J-MITRA Registry Data.

The introduction of transcatheter edge-to-edge repair for moderate-to-severe or severe mitral regurgitation (MR) utilizing the MitraClip system became reimbursed and clinically accessible in Japan in April 2018. This study presents the 2-year clinical outcomes of all consecutively treated patients who underwent MitraClip implantation in Japan and were prospectively enrolled in the Japanese Circulation Society-oriented J-MITRA registry. Analysis encompassed 2,739 consecutive patients enrolled in the J-MITRA registry with informed consent (mean age: 78.3±9.6 years, 1,550 males, STS risk score 11.7±8.9), comprising 1,999 cases of functional MR, 644 of degenerative MR and 96 in a mixed group (DMR and FMR). The acute procedure success rate was 88.9%. After MitraClip implantation, >80% exhibited an MR grade ≤2+ and the trend was sustained over the 2 years. Within this observation period, the mortality rate was 19.3% and the rate of heart failure readmissions was 20.6%. The primary composite endpoint, inclusive of cardiovascular death and heart failure readmission, was significantly higher in patients with functional MR than in with degenerative MR (32.0% vs. 17.5%, P<0.001). The 2-year clinical outcomes after MitraClip implantation were deduced from comprehensive data within an all-Japan registry.

Clinical Outcomes of Urgent or Emergency Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation - Insights From the Nationwide Registry of Japan Transcatheter Valve Therapies.

Limited data are available for clinical outcomes in patients who underwent urgent or emergency transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). This study investigated in-hospital and 1-year outcomes and explored prognostic covariates in urgent/emergency TAVI using nationwide registry data.Methods and Results: Among 26,775 patients who underwent TAVI between August 2013 and December 2019, 25,495 with 1-year follow-up information were analyzed in this study. Baseline and procedural characteristics, as well as clinical adverse events, were compared between the urgent/emergency and elective TAVI groups. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality within 1 year after TAVI. Multivariable Cox regression models were constructed to identify independent predictors after urgent or emergency TAVI. Urgent or emergency TAVI was performed in 578 (2.3%) patients. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons score was significantly higher in the urgent/emergency than elective TAVI group (13.3% vs. 6.0%; P<0.001). Device success rate was comparable between the 2 groups. All-cause death-free survival within 1 year was lower in the urgent/emergency than elective TAVI group (77.2% vs. 92.2%; log rank P<0.001). Malignancy, albumin and creatinine concentrations, ejection fraction, and mean pressure gradient were associated with 1-year mortality in the urgent/emergency TAVI group. Despite higher surgical risk and more comorbidities, the procedure was successfully performed in patients undergoing urgent/emergency TAVI, although it should be noted that prognosis was worse than for elective TAVI.

Influence of Concomitant Meniscal Allograft Transplantation on Midterm Outcomes After Osteochondral Allograft Transplantation: A Comparative Matched-Pair Analysis.

Osteochondral allograft transplantation (OCAT) is an accepted knee joint-preserving treatment strategy for focal osteochondral lesions that is often conducted in combination with meniscal allograft transplantation (MAT). Despite its frequent and simultaneous utilization, there remains a lack in the literature reporting on outcomes and failure rates after concomitant procedures. To determine (1) the midterm clinical success rate after OCAT+MAT in comparison with a matched-pair cohort undergoing isolated OCAT, (2) whether patient-specific and procedural variables influence the risk of failure, and (3) patient-reported outcome measures over time. Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. A single-center matched-pair cohort study was conducted investigating outcomes in patients who underwent OCAT of the medial or lateral femoral condyle with and without MAT between 2004 and 2020. Patients were matched 1:1 by age (±5 years), sex (male or female), body mass index (±5), and grouped Kellgren and Lawrence grade (grades 0-1 or 2-4). The minimum follow-up time was 2 years. Radiographic variables (International Cartilage Regeneration & Joint Preservation Society [ICRS] grade and Kellgren and Lawrence grade) were assessed preoperatively and at follow-up. Subjective patient-reported outcome measures (Lysholm score, Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score [KOOS] including subscores, International Knee Documentation Committee [IKDC] score, and visual analog scale score) were collected preoperatively and at follow-up. Clinical failure was defined as revision surgery for graft failure or conversion to total knee arthroplasty. Patient-reported, clinical, and radiographic outcomes were compared between groups. In total, 66 patients (33 treated with isolated OCAT, 33 treated with OCAT+MAT; 57.6% male) with a mean age of 26.3 years (range, 18-62 years) were followed for a mean of 5.6 years (minimum, 2 years; range, 24-218 months). The 2 cohorts showed no difference in Kellgren and Lawrence grade postoperatively (P = .59). There was a significantly higher ICRS grade detected at follow-up in the OCAT+MAT group (2.81 ± 1.10) compared with the OCAT group (2.04 ± 0.96) (P < .05). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups regarding reoperation rate (OCAT: n = 6; OCAT+MAT: n = 13; P = .116), time to reoperation (OCAT: 46.67 ± 47.27 months vs OCAT+MAT: 28.08 ± 30.16 months; P = .061), and failure rate (OCAT: n = 4 [12.1%] vs OCAT+MAT: n = 5 [15.2%]; P = .66). In the OCAT+MAT group, an increase of tibial slope by 1° conferred a 1.65-fold increase in the hazard for failure over decreased slope (hazard ratio, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.10-2.50; P < .05). The overall survival rate was 86% at a mean follow-up of 5.6 years. Patient-reported outcome scores were significantly improved at the final follow-up compared with preoperative status. No significant differences were seen between groups with respect to subjective IKDC, Lysholm, Tegner, and KOOS results, except for the KOOS Symptoms subscale score, which was significantly higher in the OCAT+MAT group than in the OCAT group (mean difference, 14.6; P < .05) and did exceed the minimal clinically important difference threshold of 10.7. Midterm results after isolated OCAT and OCAT+MAT show high rates of healing and sustainable subjective improvement of knee function and quality of life. However, it should be noted that the difference in reoperation rate and time to reoperation between the groups is arguably clinically important and that lack of statistical significance may be because of low power. These results imply that isolated OCAT is an efficient joint-preserving treatment that can be combined with MAT in well-selected patients with meniscal insufficiency without negative influence on global clinical outcomes.

Classification of Blood Cells with Convolutional Neural Network Model

Among the blood cells, white blood cells (WBC), which play a crucial role in forming our body's defense system, are essential components. Originating in the bone marrow, these cells serve as the fundamental components of the immune system, shouldering the responsibility of safeguarding the body against foreign microbes and diseases. Insufficient WBC counts may compromise the body's skill to resist infections, a status known as leukopenia. White blood cell counting is a specialty procedure that is usually carried out by qualified physicians and radiologists. Thanks to recent advances, image processing techniques are frequently used in biological systems to identify a wide spectrum of illnesses. In this work, image processing techniques were applied to enhance the white blood cell deep learning models' classification accuracy. To expedite the classification process, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models were combined with Ridge feature selection and Maximal Information Coefficient techniques. These tactics successfully determined the most important characteristics. The selected feature set was then applied to the classification procedure. ResNet-50, VGG19, and our suggested model were used as feature extractors in this study. The categorizing of white blood cells was completed with an amazing 98.27% success rate. Results from the experiments demonstrated a considerable improvement in classification accuracy using the proposed CNN model.

Angle Robustness Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Navigation in GNSS-Denied Scenarios

Due to the inability to receive signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in extreme conditions, achieving accurate and robust navigation for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is a challenging task. Recently emerged, vision-based navigation has been a promising and feasible alternative to GNSS-based navigation. However, existing vision-based techniques are inadequate in addressing flight deviation caused by environmental disturbances and inaccurate position predictions in practical settings. In this paper, we present a novel angle robustness navigation paradigm to deal with flight deviation in point-to-point navigation tasks. Additionally, we propose a model that includes the Adaptive Feature Enhance Module, Cross-knowledge Attention-guided Module and Robust Task-oriented Head Module to accurately predict direction angles for high-precision navigation. To evaluate the vision-based navigation methods, we collect a new dataset termed as UAV_AR368. Furthermore, we design the Simulation Flight Testing Instrument (SFTI) using Google Earth to simulate different flight environments, thereby reducing the expenses associated with real flight testing. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art by achieving improvements of 26.0% and 45.6% in the success rate of arrival under ideal and disturbed circumstances, respectively.

Abstract 2755: Characterizing breast cancer cells following immune pruning in mice

Abstract In cancer patients, metastasis is the leading cause of death. Indeed, primary tumors which are diagnosed early and treated in a timely manner have the highest rate of success. In contrast, metastatic disease and late diagnosis of tumors portend poor outcomes. Thus, understanding the underlying biology and developing novel therapeutic approaches for metastatic cancers is pivotal. Most cancer-based mutational characteristics are tissue-dependent, and cancers with higher mutational load are generally more susceptible to immunotherapy. We observed that poorly metastatic, murine breast cancer cells established a clear phenotypic difference in lung metastasis formation assays. Upon injection of these cells into immune-proficient mice, few, large metastases developed, whereas in immuno-deficient mice, many small metastases grew instead. To determine the molecular features which enable escape under immune editing, we designed the following workflow. We intravenously injected immune-proficient and immune-deficient mice with our poorly metastatic, murine breast cancer cells. As expected, cells readily engrafted in the lungs, causing a significant reduction in survival of immune-deficient mice. Furthermore, liver metastases were observed only in immune-deficient mice. Upon euthanasia, we resected and dissociated both organs. To isolate the tumor cells from these samples, we flow-sorted and subjected them to next-generation sequencing. To elucidate the epigenomic, genomic, and transcriptomic differences between metastases of each background, we performed ATAC, WGS, and RNAseq, respectively. By dissecting the evolutionary mechanisms which allow cancer cells to evade immune detection in metastasis, we can develop targeted immunotherapy strategies to diminish the spread (and lethality) of metastatic cancers. In the future, we plan to examine the descriptive discrepancies between the tissues reared with and without immune pruning in order to put forward innovative therapeutic strategies. Citation Format: Sarina McElduff, Daniel Bronder, Mercedes Duran, Samuel Bakhoum. Characterizing breast cancer cells following immune pruning in mice [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 2755.

Abstract 1514: A novel workflow to assess the T-cell and patient-derived organoid interaction

Abstract Immunotherapy is increasingly popular as a type of cancer treatment. These therapies include the use of Chimeric Antigen Receptor-engineered T-cells (CAR T-cells), tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), and other genetically modified T-cells to specifically target the cancer cells. Although much success has been achieved with immunotherapy for treatment of blood cancers, its efficacy remains limited in solid tumors. One of the reasons for the low success rate is attributed to the solid tumor microenvironment (TME) where suppressive cytokines limit the tumor killing ability of T-cells. Thus, understanding the role the TME plays in T-cell responses is essential for the development of effective cancer therapies. The benefits of using 3-dimensional (3D) PDOs lie in the physical and chemical cues present within the TME that cannot be mimicked in traditional 2D monolayer cultures. Studies show that PDOs show similar responses to drugs as original tumors, suggesting the value of using PDOs to improve therapeutic outcomes. Thus, PDOs can provide more relevant physiological and pathological cancer models that recapitulate the basic features of primary tumors and is more suited for assessing the effectiveness of T-cell killing than 2D cell models. Despite the benefits associated with the use of PDOs, there are significant barriers to widespread adoption of PDOs in drug discovery. Organoid production is a costly and highly labor-intensive process. Moreover, organoid culture is a skilled manual process, and thus there can be significant variability between operators. To address the challenges associated with the use of PDOs in large scale applications, a semi-automated bioprocess has been developed for the large-scale expansion of assay ready organoids. Here, we developed a method to assess the effectiveness of T-cell invasion in solid tumors using patient derive organoids (PDOs). Using bioreactor expanded patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids (CRCs), activated PBMCs (human peripheral blood mononuclear cells) stained with CellTracker were added to CRCs (stained with MitoTracker) in a 96well microtiter plate and monitored on every 4 hours for 3 days using high content imager. To quantify T-cell invasion, we developed an image analysis method to measure the distance of each T-cell to the nearest organoid (interaction distance). We find that stimulated T-cell resulted in smaller interaction distance than non-stimulated T-cells. The results demonstrate the utility of the bioreactor-expanded organoids in large scale T-cell based screens. Citation Format: Zhisong Tong, Angeline Lim, Oksana Sirenko. A novel workflow to assess the T-cell and patient-derived organoid interaction [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 1514.

Design of air-ground cooperative landing platform and autonomous landing strategy

This paper studies innovative design for landing platform design and autonomous landing strategies for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). First, a self-leveling landing platform on a mobile unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is designed, which can be maintained even when the UGV moves on uneven terrain. Then, with the cooperation of the UAV and the UGV, they are controlled to reach the same velocity in the horizontal direction, which helps avoid the UAV’s rollover caused by horizontal velocity difference. Meanwhile, a buffering strategy is designed to reduce the vertical velocity difference, which helps avoid a hard landing. Finally, a combined landing code is designed to improve the accuracy and success rate of UAV landing. Experiments are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design of a self-leveling platform and autonomous landing strategies.

Abstract 3761: A modified SELEX enables the efficient identification of DNA aptamers with potential for specific cancer targeting

Abstract Background: Aptamers have sparked significant interest in cell recognition due to their superior binding specificity and biocompatibility. Cell recognition can be mediated by targeting the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) that presents short peptides derived from intracellular antigens. Although numerous antibodies have demonstrated a specific affinity for the peptide-MHC complex, the number of aptamers that exhibit comparable characteristics is limited. However, the success rate of aptamer identification is low. This is possibly due to the presence of complementary sequences or sequences rich in quinine and cytosine that are less accessible for primers. Here, we use ovalbumin model antigen to explore whether aptamers with specificity for binding to a defined peptide-MHC complex can be identified. We developed DNA aptamers with modified SELEX by employing systemic consecutive selections with minimal PCR amplification. Furthermore, the other tumour antigen, claudin-6, was also used as a target to determine whether our modification for SELEX can be used with any selection technology. Methods: To determine whether our modified SELEX has potential for selecting aptamer capable of cancer-specific targeting, we used ovalbumin presented by H-2Kb (to represent the specific antigen presented by MHC) and claudin-6 (a cancer-associated adhesion molecule) as a target for the selection of aptamers. This modified SELEX consisted of consecutive positive and negative selections with minimal PCR amplification. Meanwhile, the selection of candidate aptamers is based on their appearance in multiple rounds rather than enrichment, and is facilitated by several computational tools. The specificity and affinity of the candidate aptamer are validated by flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence analysis with cells with or without these molecules. Results: After high-throughput sequencing, a total of 211 candidate aptamers were selected for further analysis. The quadruplex forming G-rich sequences (QGRS) mapper, mFold modeling, and NUPACK web servers were used to predict the potential of G-quadruplex formation, resulting in only four potential aptamers. Using MTCQ1-OVA cells with FITC-conjugated aptamers, two aptamers showed selective binding to MTCQ1-OVA cells and had no binding specificity to MTCQ1-WT cells. The binding specificity was further validated by immunohistochemistry in tumour derived from mice inoculated with MTCQ1-WT or MTCQ1-OVA cells. In the pull-down assay, the binding affinity of these two candidate aptamers was 136.2 nM and 155.1 nM affinity. Conclusions: This preliminary study demonstrated that our modification for SELEX is effective in the selection of aptamers with promising potential for specific cancer targeting. The identification of aptamers may facilitate further application in diverse biomedical fields. Citation Format: Yang Lin, Cho-Yi Chen, Zhi-Qian Lin, Bing-Hong Chen, Yi-Chen Sun, Kai-Feng Hung. A modified SELEX enables the efficient identification of DNA aptamers with potential for specific cancer targeting [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 3761.

A comparative study assessing the efficacy and safety of radiofrequency ablation versus surgical treatment for osteoid osteoma: retrospective analysis in a single institution

ObjectiveWe aim to evaluate the efficacy of CT-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and surgical treatment in osteoid osteoma (OO) treated at the Medical University of Graz.Materials and methodsIn a single-institution study, we analysed data from January 2005 to January 2021 of patients with histological/radiological diagnosis of OO. CT and MRI scans were reviewed for typical findings. Means (with SD) and medians (with IQR) were reported for normally and non-normally distributed variables. Differences between groups were assessed using chi-squared tests and t-tests.ResultsOne hundred nineteen patients (mean age: 21.6 ± 10.9 years; 63.9% males) with confirmed OO were retrospectively evaluated. 73 and 43 patients underwent RFA and surgery, respectively. In three cases, RFA combined with surgery was performed. Pre-intervention, 103 patients (88.8%) had undergone CT, and 101 had an MRI (87.1%). The nidus was confirmed in 82.5% of cases with CTs (85/103) and 63.4% with MRIs (64/101). The majority of nidi were located cortically (n = 96; 82.8%), most frequently in the femur (38 patients, 33.3%) with a median size of 8.0 mm (IQR: 5.0–12.0 mm). Median symptom duration before treatment was 6.0 (IQR: 4.0–13.0) months. The complication rate was 12.1% (14/116; 15.1% RFA vs. 7.0% surgery; p = 0.196). In total, 11.2% of patients had persistent symptoms after one week with clinical success rates of RFA and surgery, 86.3% and 90.7% (p = 0.647), respectively.ConclusionCompared to surgical treatment, CT-guided percutaneous RFA is a safe, minimally invasive, reliable, and efficient treatment option for OO.Critical relevance statementThis article critically assesses the diagnosis and treatment of osteoid osteoma, emphasising accurate imaging, and detailing a non-invasive option for effective management.Key points• This study analyses 116 cases of OO at one institution, focusing on symptom persistence, recurrence in short-term follow-up, and complications in two study groups.• Surgery showed higher, though not statistically significant, success despite comparable symptom persistence; CT displayed typical OO features more than MRI, regardless of the intramedullary, cortical and subperiosteal location as well as the site of the affected bone.• CT-guided RFA is an effective therapeutic alternative for OO compared to surgical intervention. In case of atypical OO appearance, RFA is not the first-line treatment.Graphical

Abstract 6900: Patient-derived xenografts from circulating cancer stem cells and their potential utility in personalized medicine of pancreatic cancer

Abstract Background: Pancreatic cancer carries a poor prognosis in the majority of patients, with an overall 5-year survival rate of less than 10%. Therefore, the development of new therapies and preclinical models is crucial and urgently needed. Circulating cancer stem cells (cCSCs) are a subset of circulating cancer cells that have stem cell-like properties and play a significant role in tumor progression, metastasis, and treatment resistance. Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) reflect the genotypic and phenotypic landscape of patients' cancers and are useful for drug screening, biomarker development, and preclinical evaluation of personalized medicine strategies. In this study, we describe a fast, simple, and cost effective method to generate PDX on Chorioallantoic Membrane (CAM) from circulating cancer stem cells. Methods: In this study, primary cultures from circulating cancer stem cells were established using sphere-forming assays from 30 patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer. Subsequently, tumorspheres were transplanted onto the CAM membrane of fertilized chicken eggs to form patient- derived xenografts. Results: For the identification of cCSCs from peripheral blood of pancreatic cancer patients, an innovative in vitro sphere-forming assay was established. The number of tumorspheres was correlated with clinicopathological parameters like tumor size, lymph node involvement and grading status of the primary tumor. Implantation of tumorspheres onto the CAM was successful in ~90 % of the applied samples. The histological analysis suggests that the PDX tumors were morphologically and pathologically identical to primary tumor tissue. Conclusions: The number of tumorspheres was associated with clinicopathological parameters. Further follow-up is needed to evaluate the prognostic significance of tumorsphere detection in pancreatic cancer. Generation of PDX from cCSCs on CAM has a high success rate and may become an integral part of the drug development arena, including drug screening and biomarker development. Citation Format: Monika Pizon, Dorothea Schott, Andreas Ettner-Sittner, Benedikt J. Wagner, Katharina Pachmann, Thiha Aung, Christina Hackl, Silke Haerteis. Patient-derived xenografts from circulating cancer stem cells and their potential utility in personalized medicine of pancreatic cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 6900.

Abstract 4233: Rapid and robust generation of ex vivo tumoroid samples from fresh patient samples in a serum-free, conditioned medium-free system

Abstract Functional precision oncology describes a method in which an individual patient’s cancer cells are tested for response to various treatments ex vivo to aid in therapy selection. In many cases, these cultures take the form of tumoroids, which are 3D, patient-derived “mini tumors” that retain phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the patient cancer. While interest in functional precision oncology is increasing due to strong correlation between patient responses and those experimentally observed using matched tumoroid models in the literature, a lack of standardization has precluded its widespread translation to clinical settings. To study the ability to generate short-term tumoroid cultures using a commercially available, serum-free, and conditioned medium-free system, we processed fresh tumor resection samples and performed culture in Gibco™ OncoPro™ Tumoroid Culture Medium. Tumor resection samples spanning a variety of indications were stored in supplemented Hibernate™-A Medium (including antibiotics) and shipped overnight on gel packs to a central tissue processing site. Samples were minced, enzymatically dissociated, and counted. Average yields of ~2000-12,000 cells per mg of tumor resection tissue were observed, with lower yields in lung, head and neck, and breast cancer samples and higher yields in endometrial and colorectal cancer samples. Donor-to-donor variability generated a wide range of yields within a given indication. Similarly, cell viability following dissociation ranged widely, reaching as low as 20% for some samples and exceeding 90% for others. Though yields and initial viability varied, dissociated cells that were plated in OncoPro Tumoroid Culture Medium formed tumoroids in &amp;gt;85% of samples within 7 days of tissue receipt. Both mutational profiles and gene expression patterns were highly conserved (&amp;gt;90%) between initial tumor samples and cells cultured in OncoPro for 7 days. Computational approaches designed to identify cell-type specific signatures from bulk RNA sequencing data indicated that immune cell population signatures were present after one week in OncoPro medium. Additionally, we have developed methods to analyze tumoroid response to compounds and candidate cell therapies by both plate reader- and imaging-based analyses using ~1.2e6 initial tumor cells per 96-well plate. Due to the high success rate of tumoroid formation from fresh tumor samples and retention of donor-specific characteristics in OncoPro Tumoroid Culture Medium, we believe that it will be a valuable tool for functional precision oncology of solid tumor samples. Citation Format: Colin Paul, Amber Bullock, Anthony Chatman, Brittany Balhouse, Chris Yankaskas, Pradip Shahi Thakuri, Matt Dallas, David Kuninger. Rapid and robust generation of ex vivo tumoroid samples from fresh patient samples in a serum-free, conditioned medium-free system [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 4233.

Genitourinary Fistula: 5 Years' Experience of Five Referral Centers in Iran.

Genitourinary fistula is a devastating ailment that has an impact on women's physical health, mental health, emotional health, and financial security. The management of genitourinary fistula depends on the type, size, and duration of fistula formation. The purpose of this study is to report the features of genitourinary fistula in Iranian women and our experience in the management of fistula. Retrospective chart reviews of 283 patients were performed to determine the cause of the fistula, prior repairs, tissue interposition, and the success rate. The operation was considered successful if the patient did not have any urine leakage during the observation time. The mean (SD) age of women was 49.51 (19.39; range: 21-70) years, Of these, 137 (52.9%) had a history of previous genitourinary fistula surgery. The average fistula was 1.53 (0.041) cm in size. The median (interquartile range) operation lasted 70 (15) min. The success rate after fistula repair was 91.5%. The typical follow-up period lasted 13.26 (range: 1-88) months. Forty-three (15.2%) patients had a big fistula (>2.5cm) and 4 patients (1.4%) had a history of pelvic radiation therapy, among other reasons for failure. After a second repair, all patients' initial failures were resolved. There were no significant complications, as classified by Clavien-Dindo class 2 or greater. Additionally, there were no bowel, ureteral, or nerve injuries. Our patients with genitourinary fistula had a successful outcome following repair techniques, without any significant morbidity or mortality.

Constraining the giant radio galaxy population with machine learning and Bayesian inference

Large-scale sky surveys at low frequencies, such as the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS), allow for the detection and characterisation of unprecedented numbers of giant radio galaxies (GRGs, or `giants', of at least $l_ p,GRG Mpc $ long). This, in turn, enables us to study giants in a cosmological context. A tantalising prospect of such studies is a measurement of the contribution of giants to cosmic magnetogenesis. However, this measurement requires en masse radio--optical association for well-resolved radio galaxies and a statistical framework to infer GRG population properties. By automating the creation of radio--optical catalogues, we aim to significantly expand the census of known giants. With the resulting sample and a forward model that takes into account selection effects, we aim to constrain their intrinsic length distribution, number density, and lobe volume-filling fraction (VFF) in the Cosmic Web. We combined five existing codes into a single machine learning (ML)--driven pipeline that automates radio source component association and optical host identification for well-resolved radio sources. We created a radio--optical catalogue for the entire LoTSS Data Release 2 (DR2) footprint and subsequently selected all sources that qualify as possible giants. We combined the list of ML pipeline GRG candidates with an existing list of LoTSS DR2 crowd-sourced GRG candidates and visually confirmed or rejected all members of the merged sample. To infer intrinsic GRG properties from GRG observations, we developed further a population-based forward model and constrained its parameters using Bayesian inference. Roughly half of all GRG candidates that our ML pipeline identifies indeed turn out to be giants upon visual inspection, whereas the success rate is 1 in 11 for the previous best giant-finding ML technique in the literature. We confirm $5,647$ previously unknown giants from the crowd-sourced LoTSS DR2 catalogue and $2,597$ previously unknown giants from the ML pipeline. Our confirmations and discoveries bring the total number of known giants to at least $11,585$. Our intrinsic GRG population forward model provides a good fit to the data. The posterior indicates that the projected lengths of giants are consistent with a curved power law probability density function whose initial tail index $ p,GRG changes by $ 0.3$ over the interval up to $l_ p Mpc $. We predict a comoving GRG number density $n_ GRG Mpc $, close to a recent estimate of the number density of luminous non-giant radio galaxies. With the projected length distribution, number density, and additional assumptions, we derive a present-day GRG lobe VFF $ V GRG-CW (z=0) = 1.4 $ in clusters and filaments of the Cosmic Web. We present a state-of-the-art ML-accelerated pipeline for finding giants, whose complex morphologies, arcminute extents, and radio-emitting surroundings pose challenges. Our data analysis suggests that giants are more common than previously thought. More work is needed to make GRG lobe VFF estimates reliable, but tentative results imply that it is possible that magnetic fields once contained in giants pervade a significant ($ gtrsim 10&lt;!PCT!&gt;$) fraction of today's Cosmic Web.

Object-Centric Scene Representations Using Active Inference.

Representing a scene and its constituent objects from raw sensory data is a core ability for enabling robots to interact with their environment. In this letter, we propose a novel approach for scene understanding, leveraging an object-centric generative model that enables an agent to infer object category and pose in an allocentric reference frame using active inference, a neuro-inspired framework for action and perception. For evaluating the behavior of an active vision agent, we also propose a new benchmark where, given a target viewpoint of a particular object, the agent needs to find the best matching viewpoint given a workspace with randomly positioned objects in 3D. We demonstrate that our active inference agent is able to balance epistemic foraging and goal-driven behavior, and quantitatively outperforms both supervised and reinforcement learning baselines by more than a factor of two in terms of success rate.