Updated Version Research Articles

Dataset for reporting of thymic epithelial tumours: recommendations from the International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting (ICCR).

Thymic epithelial tumours (TET), including thymomas and thymic carcinomas and thymic neuroendocrine neoplasms, are malignant neoplasms that can be associated with morbidity and mortality. Recently, an updated version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Classification of Thoracic Tumours 5th Edition, 2021 has been released, which included various changes to the classification of these neoplasms. In addition, in 2017 the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) / American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) published the 8th Edition Staging Manual which, for the first time, includes a TNM staging that is applicable to thymomas, thymic carcinomas, and thymic neuroendocrine neoplasms. To standardize reporting of resected TET and thymic neuroendocrine neoplasms the accrediting bodies updated their reporting protocols. The International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting (ICCR), which represents a collaboration between various National Associations of Pathology, updated its 2017 histopathology reporting guide on TET and thymic neuroendocrine neoplasms accordingly. This report will highlight important changes in the reporting of TET and thymic neuroendocrine neoplasms based on the 2021 WHO, emphasize the 2017 TNM staging, and also comment on the rigour and various uncertainties for the pathologist when trying to follow that staging. The ICCR dataset provides a comprehensive, standardized template for reporting of resected TET and thymic neuroendocrine neoplasms.

Danish Prostate Registry (DanProst) – an Updated Version of the Danish Prostate Cancer Registry, Methodology, and Early Results

In 2016, we introduced the Danish Prostate Cancer Registry (DaPCaR) which was built on the National Pathology Register from 1995 to 2011. DaPCaR was laborious to use as most data had to be manually imputed with no regular updates. In here we present a new comprehensive centralized prostate registry called the Danish Prostate Registry (DanProst), which includes all men having undergone any histological evaluation of prostate tissue merged with laboratory-, treatment-, prescription data as well as vital status. Here the data included and the methodology of DanProst are described. DanProst is built upon all men with a histological assessment of the prostate from the Danish National Registry for Pathology. The primary histology and potential prostate cancer histological diagnosis for each unique individual is extracted and translated by newly made algorithms for topography, procedure, diagnostic conclusion, and pathological staging. Further information is added from DaPCaR, the CPR Registry, the Danish Cause of Death Registry, the Danish Cancer Registry, the National Patient Registry, the Danish Register of Laboratory Results for Research, and the Danish National Prescription Registry. The translation algorithms were validated based on the comparison with DaPCaR in the period 2010–2016. DanProst includes 190,422 men. A total of 95,152 (50%) men are diagnosed with prostate cancer until 2021. Median diagnostic PSA was 11 ng/ml, most men are diagnosed by ultrasound-guided biopsy (N = 63,751; 67%), and most frequently defined primary treatment was radical prostatectomy (N = 14,778; 19%). DanProst to DaPCaR coherency was > 99%, 95%, and 94% for the primary histological procedure, primary histological conclusion, and diagnostic histological conclusion, respectively. DanProst is a continuously updated, centrally kept, validated registry with automatic integration of data from other national registries, allowing for contemporary nationwide analysis in men with histological assessment of the prostate.

Pantheon+ tomography and Hubble tension

The recently released Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) sample, Pantheon+, is an updated version of Pantheon and has very important cosmological implications. To explore the origin of the enhanced constraining power and internal correlations of datasets in different redshifts, we perform a comprehensively tomographic analysis of the Pantheon+ sample without and with the Cepheid host distance calibration, respectively. Specifically, we take two binning methods to analyze the Pantheon+ sample, i.e., equal redshift interval and equal supernovae number for each bin. For the case of equal redshift interval, after dividing the sample to 10 bins, the first bin in the redshift range zin [0.00122, , 0.227235] dominates the constraining power of the whole sample. For the case of equal supernovae number, the first three low redshift bins prefer a large matter fraction Omega _m and only the sixth bin gives a relatively low cosmic expansion rate H_0. For both binning methods, we find no obvious evidence of evolution of H_0 and Omega _m at the 2,sigma confidence level. The inclusion of the SH0ES calibration can significantly compress the parameter space of background dynamics of the universe in each bin. When not considering the calibration, combining the Pantheon+ sample with cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillations, cosmic chronometers, galaxy clustering and weak lensing data, we give the strongest 1,sigma constraint H_0=67.88pm 0.42 km hbox {s}^{-1}hbox {Mpc}^{-1}. However, the addition of the calibration leads to a global shift of the parameter space from the combined constraint and H_0=68.66pm 0.42 km hbox {s}^{-1}hbox {Mpc}^{-1}, which is inconsistent with the Planck-2018 result at about 2,sigma confidence level.

O.1.2-1 ACTIVE-AGE@home: a home-based functional exercise program for community dwelling frail older adults: mixed method study

Abstract Purpose The world population is ageing rapidly because of longer life expectancy and shrinking fertility rates. Not all older adults age in a healthy way. Evidence-based estimates indicate that 35-40% of the older adults are in a frail or prefrail state. Multi-component physical activity (PA) programs have shown to be effective to tackle frailty. However, only a scarce amount of the older adults succeed to overcome barriers towards PA. This pilot study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a home-based, functional PA program, ACTIVE-AGE@home, in frail community dwelling older adults. Methods In a mixed method design, a single-blind pragmatic randomized trial with two intervention groups (light (n = 29) and intensive (n = 18) version of ACTIVE-AGE@home) and one control group (n = 23) was conducted. In addition, qualitative data was collected through in-depth interviews, pre-and post-intervention, to reveal the participant’s subjective experience regarding the program. Results The arm curl test (p = 0.03), balance and gate (p = 0.052) and also independence, participation and health related quality of life (borderline significant) showed positive effects in favor for the most intensive version of ACTIVE-AGE@home compared to the control group. Nearly all participants in both intervention groups experienced positive effects regarding: fitness (90%), stability (80%), agility (70%), confidence (63%), resilient (90%) and 63% had less fear of falling. The training program was considered acceptable (95%). Conclusion Literature showed clear impact of PA on the physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing of older adults. These findings were confirmed in this pilot study. ACTIVE-AGE@home shows great potential for further research. Therefore, starting 2023, the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the updated ACTIVE-AGE@home program will be tested on a bigger scale. Support/funding source The pilot study was developed by funding of the Flemish Government at Artevelde University of Applied Sciences. The updated version of ACTIVE-AGE@home (2022-2026) is funded by The Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) as a Applied Biomedical Research with a Primary Social finality.

O.2.2-11 Adapting national physical activity guidelines based on the global WHO guidelines: experiences and challenges from the case of Switzerland

Abstract Physical activity guidelines are recognized as an important element of a national approach to promote physical activity. This publication summarizes the approach and process taken to update the Swiss Guidelines, discusses experiences and identifies challenges. The multistage project involved to: 1) summarize the scientific evidence underpinning the 2020-edition of the WHO guidelines; 2) to systematically analyze the existing Swiss guidelines for different target groups and to develop proposals for updates 3) a participatory process to gain consensus with the main interested groups 4) to finalize the guidelines. Updated guidelines were adopted for infants, pre-school children, children and young people, adults, older adults and pregnant and postpartum women, in most cases adopting the WHO guidelines. Children, young people and adults living with disability and adults and older adults with chronic conditions are specifically addressed in each of the general guidelines, rather than adopting separate guidelines for each of these groups as done by the WHO. The systematic approach in identifying aspects to update, the participatory approach and a strong scientific consortium with different thematic backgrounds were key strengths in the process. Challenges included the large amount of feedback and finding scientifically sound compromises. The updated versions of the Swiss national guidelines for small children, young people, adults and women during and after pregnancy provide an excellent basis to further promote physical activity in Switzerland. A remaining key task is to develop a range of communication tools and materials for different target groups beyond the circle of experts and interested groups, considering available evidence on optimal messaging and best outlet tools and channels.

Further Progress Toward Automating Functional Analysis Interpretation.

It is considered best practice to conduct a functional analysis and visually inspect data collected to determine the function of problem behavior, which then informs the intervention approaches applied. Visual inspection has been described as a "subjective" process that may be affected by factors unrelated to the data. Structured decision-making guidelines have been established to address some of these shortcomings. The current paper is a follow-up to earlier work describing positive outcomes related to the viability of a decision support system based on structured criteria from Roane et al. Here, we demonstrate important improvements in a computer script's interpretation of functional analysis data, including improvement in agreement between the updated computer script version and experienced human raters (89%) compared to our original agreement outcomes (81%). This paper further supports the use of decision support systems for functional analysis interpretation.

P11.05.A EXTERNAL VALIDATION OF THE LUNG-MOLGPA TO PREDICT SURVIVAL AFTER STEREOTACTIC RADIOSURGERY FOR BRAIN METASTASES OF NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER

Abstract BACKGROUND Accurate prediction of survival in patients with brain metastases is important for shared decision making. An updated version of the Lung-molGPA prognostic index estimates survival in patients with brain metastases of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This version includes programmed death ligand 1 (PDL1) expression as a prognostic factor. As this version has not yet been externally validated, we investigated whether the Lung-molGPA accurately predicts survival in a cohort of patients treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain metastases. MATERIAL AND METHODS All patients (n = 140) treated with SRS for brain metastases of NSCLC (adenocarcinoma) between 2015 and 2020 were included in this retrospective study. GPA score was calculated for each patient based on: Karnofsky Performance Score (0 points for ≤70, 0.5 for 80, 1.0 for 90-100), age (0 points for ≥ 70 years, 0.5 for < 70), number of brain metastases (0 points for ≥ 5, 0.5 for < 5), extracranial metastases (0 points for present, 1.0 for absent), expression of either epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) (0 points for negative or unknown, 0.5 for positive in either), and lastly expression of PDL1 (0 points for < 1% or unknown, 0.5 for ≥ 1%). A higher GPA score predicts improved survival. Kaplan-Meier analysis evaluated overall survival and hazard ratios were estimated by a Cox regression model. Predictive performance was evaluated using discrimination (C-statistic or area under the curve) and calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow test). RESULTS Median age at diagnosis was 64 years (range 37-83) and median survival was 13 months. The cohort was divided into four prognostic groups, with a higher GPA score corresponding with favorable survival. The proportion of patients into each prognostic group was 12% (n = 17) with a GPA score of 0-1.0, 39% (n = 54) with a GPA score of 1.5-2.0, 43% (n = 59) with a GPA score of 2.5-3.0, and 5% (n = 8) with a GPA score of 3.5-4.0. Patients with a higher GPA score had better overall survival compared with lower GPA scores (p-values < 0.05 for all pairwise comparisons except for the most favorable prognostic group). Predicted and observed median survival were: 6 versus 7 months (GPA score 0-1.0), 15 versus 11 months (GPA score 1.5-2.0), 30 versus 30 months (GPA score 2.5-3.0), and 52 versus 24 months (GPA score 3.5-4.0). In the external validation, the GPA had a C-statistic of 0.70 (95% CI 0.59-0.82) and passed the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test (p-value = 0.55). CONCLUSION The Lung-molGPA was externally validated in our population. The Lung-molGPA accurately predicted survival in our cohort of patients treated with SRS for brain metastases of NSCLC (adenocarcinoma) except for the small proportion of patients in the most favorable prognostic group. This prognostic tool is useful for counseling of patients in clinical practice.

Effects of Exercise, Rehabilitation, and Nutritional Approaches on Body Composition and Bone Density in People with Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

People with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) are affected by a wide range of disabilities, including a decrease in bone mineral density (BMD) and a worsening of body composition (BC), which negatively impact their quality of life quality. This study aims to analyze the effects of nonpharmacological interventions-in particular, physical activity, nutritional approaches, and rehabilitation-on BC and BMD in pwMS. This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed following the updated version of the PRISMA guidelines. In July 2022, five databases (MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Web of Science) and gray literature were screened. Relevant articles published between 1 January 1990 and 1 September 2022 in any language were included. Outcomes of interest were anthropometric, BC measures, and BMD. The RoB 2.0 tool was used to assess the risk of bias. After duplicates elimination, 1120 records were screened, and 36 studies were included. A total of 25 articles were focused on physical activity and rehabilitation, 10 on nutrition, and 1 on multimodal intervention. One-third of the studies were judged to be at high risk of bias. The meta-analysis showed a high degree of heterogeneity due to the high variability in disease severity and intervention duration, intensity, frequency, and type. In general, no intervention showed consistent positive effects on BC. However, the most promising interventions seemed to be high-intensity training and ketogenic diets. Only a few studies considered BMD, and the results are inconsistent. Nevertheless, more studies are needed in order to confirm these results.

The Soybean Expression Atlas v2: A comprehensive database of over 5000 RNA-seq samples.

Soybean is a crucial crop worldwide, used as a source of food, feed, and industrial products due to its high protein and oil content. Previously, the rapid accumulation of soybean RNA-seq data in public databases and the computational challenges of processing raw RNA-seq data motivated us to develop the Soybean Expression Atlas, a gene expression database of over a thousand RNA-seq samples. Over the past few years, our database has allowed researchers to explore the expression profiles of important gene families, discover genes associated with agronomic traits, and understand the transcriptional dynamics of cellular processes. Here, we present the Soybean Expression Atlas v2, an updated version of our database with a fourfold increase in the number of samples, featuring transcript- and gene-level transcript abundance matrices for 5481 publicly available RNA-seq samples. New features in our database include the availability of transcript-level abundance estimates and equivalence classes to explore differential transcript usage, abundance estimates in bias-corrected counts to increase the accuracy of differential gene expression analyses, a new web interface with improved data visualization and user experience, and a reproducible and scalable pipeline available as an R package. The Soybean Expression Atlas v2 is available at https://soyatlas.venanciogroup.uenf.br/, and it will accelerate soybean research, empowering researchers with high-quality and easily accessible gene expression data.

Revisiting UV/optical continuum time lags in AGN

ABSTRACT In this paper, we present an updated version of our model (KYNXiltr) which considers thermal reverberation of a standard Novikov–Thorne accretion disc illuminated by an X-ray point-like source. Previously, the model considered only two cases of black hole spins, and assumed a colour correction factor fcol = 2.4. Now, we extend the model to any spin value and fcol. In addition, we consider two scenarios of powering the X-ray corona, either via accretion, or external to the accretion disc. We use KYNXiltr to fit the observed time lags obtained from intense monitoring of four local Seyfert galaxies (NGC 5548, NGC 4593, Mrk 817, and Fairall 9). We consider various combinations of black hole spin, colour correction, corona height, and fraction of accretion power transferred to the corona. The model fits well the overall time-lag spectrum in these sources (for a large parameter space). For NGC 4593 only, we detect a significant excess of delays in the U band. The contribution of the diffuse BLR emission in the time-lag spectrum of this source is significant. It is possible to reduce the large best-fitting parameter space by combining the results with additional information, such as the observed Eddington ratio and average X-ray luminosity. We also provide an update to the analytic expression provided by Kammoun et al., for an X-ray source that is not powered by the accretion process, which can be used for any value of fcol, and for two values of the black hole spin (0 and 0.998).

A comprehensive and version-controlled database of glacial lake outburst floods in High Mountain Asia

Abstract. Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) have been intensely investigated in High Mountain Asia (HMA) in recent years and are the most well-known hazard associated with the cryosphere. As glaciers recede and surrounding slopes become increasingly unstable, such events are expected to increase, although current evidence for an increase in events is ambiguous. Many studies have investigated individual events, and while several regional inventories exist, they either do not cover all types of GLOF or are geographically constrained. Further, downstream impacts are rarely discussed. Previous inventories have relied on academic sources and have not been combined with existing inventories of glaciers and lakes. In this study, we present the first comprehensive inventory of GLOFs in HMA, including details on the time of their occurrence, processes of lake formation and drainage involved, and downstream impacts. We document 697 individual GLOFs that occurred between 1833 and 2022. Of these, 23 % were recurring events from just three ephemeral ice-dammed lakes. In combination, the documented events resulted in 6906 fatalities of which 906 can be attributed to 24 individual GLOF events, which is 3 times higher than a previous assessment for the region. The integration of previous inventories of glaciers and lakes within this database will inform future assessments of potential drivers of GLOFs, allowing more robust projections to be developed. The database and future, updated versions are traceable and version-controlled and can be directly incorporated into further analysis. The database is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7271187 (Steiner and Shrestha, 2023), while the code including a development version is available on GitHub.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity, Oropharynx, and Larynx: A Scoping Review of Treatment Guidelines Worldwide.

Head and neck cancer (HNC) treatments have been based on single or multimodal therapies with surgery, radiotherapy (RT), chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. However, treatment recommendations among countries may differ due to technological/human resources and usual local practices. This scoping review aims to identify, compare, and map the clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for treating squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oral cavity, oropharynx, and larynx worldwide. A search strategy on global CPGs for HNC was performed by using five electronic databases and grey literature. CPGs were selected for inclusion using EndNote-20 and Rayyan online software. No language or publication date restrictions were applied. The results were analyzed descriptively considering the most updated CPG version. In total, 25 CPGs covering the head and neck region (10), the larynx (7), the oral cavity (5), and the oropharynx (3), were found in 13 geographical regions, and 19 were developed by medical societies from 1996 to 2023. Surgery and RT remain the main modalities for early-stage HNC, with surgery preferred in low-resource countries, and RT in selected cases, especially in the larynx/oropharynx aiming to achieve a cure with organ preservation. Human papillomavirus infection for oropharyngeal SCC is not tested in some Asian countries and there is still no consensus to treat p16-positive cases differently from p16-negative. Recommendations for larynx preservation vary according to facilities in each country, however, individualized choice is emphasized. Inequality across countries/continents is evident, with a similar pattern of recommendations among developed as well as developing ones. No CPGs were found in Latin America as well as Oceania countries, where the incidence of HNC is high and limitations of access to treatment may be encountered.

Assessing nurses' attitudes towards pressure ulcer prevention: an updated systematic review.

The aim of this systematic review was to critically appraise and synthesise the existing research literature pertaining to nurses' attitudes toward pressure ulcer (PU) prevention. The systematic review presented in our paper serves as an updated version of the definitive review conducted by Avsar et al. in 2019. Using systematic review methodology, we considered published quantitative studies focusing on nurses' attitudes toward PU prevention as measured using psychometric tests. The search was conducted in April 2022, using PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane and EMBASE databases, and returned 454 records, of which 35 met the inclusion criteria. Data were extracted using a pre-designed extraction tool and all included studies were quality appraised using the evidence-based librarianship (EBL) appraisal checklist. In most studies, distinct measurement instruments were used for measuring nurses' attitudes toward the prevention of PUs: the Moore and Price Attitude Scale and the Attitude towards Pressure Ulcer Prevention Instrument (APuP). In this first update, the mean attitude score was 69% (±14%, range: 33.6-89%). A separate analysis of the new studies alone included in this first update (n=14) indicated a mean attitude score of 62.25% (±17.9%; median: 14%), suggesting a 10.75% lower mean attitude score. In total, 46% (n=16) yielded a score ≥75%. Conversely, Avsar et al. in 2019, 86% (n=18) of studies yielded positive attitude results. Studies from the Middle East show the lowest mean attitude score (mean 55%; ±15%; median 53%; n=9), with studies from Europe displaying the highest mean attitude score (mean 79%; ±6%; median 79%; n=12). The findings suggest that, overall, nurses are relatively positively disposed toward PU prevention. However, there are differences across continents. It is important to highlight also that the nurses have difficulties reflecting this positive attitude into actual preventative strategies.

Systema Dipterorum

From its birth as the ‘Biosystematic Database of World Diptera’ in 1984, the ‘Systema Dipterorum’ (Evenhuis and Pape 2023) has grown into one of the largest databases currently maintained for the taxonomy and nomenclature of a single order of insects. Systema Dipterorum covers all two-winged insects (Diptera), and with almost a quarter of a million names representing more than 170,000 valid species distributed in some 13,000 valid genera, we cover about 10% of the described and named Animalia. About 1,000 new nominal species are described annually within Diptera. Data are entered in FileMaker Pro (database) and served through an online portal*1 with an updated version currently provided every two months. Names are harvested and reviewed through a four-tier quality assurance hierarchy with entries eventually reaching taxonomic and nomenclatural standards equivalent to being published online. The nomenclatural status of each name is shown using 50 different codes, and at this moment a published authority source is linked to more than 70% of the entries. Universal Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) are automatically generated for every record of names and the more than 35,000 references. Names are made available for the Catalogue of Life, and we envision a web portal for seamless harvesting of new names and literature as well as for updating of both nomenclature and taxonomy by making changes and correcting errors with explicit reference to published authority sources. We envision the future for Systema Dipterorum to be a one-stop website, where clicking on a name resulting from a search may call up links to, e.g., its nomenclatural registry in ZooBank, the original description through the Biodiversity Heritage Library, taxonomic treatments from Plazi, images from Morphbank, occurrence data through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), molecular sequence data from GenBank, Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) from Barcode of Life, and additional data from many other sources.

Gema released an updated version of its GemaConnect® E-App

Gema released an updated version of its GemaConnect® E-App

KairoSight-3.0: A validated optical mapping software to characterize cardiac electrophysiology, excitation-contraction coupling, and alternans.

Cardiac optical mapping is an imaging technique that measures fluorescent signals across a cardiac preparation. Dual optical imaging of voltage-sensitive and calcium-sensitive probes allows for simultaneous recordings of cardiac action potentials and intracellular calcium transients with high spatiotemporal resolution. The analysis of these complex optical datasets is both time intensive and technically challenging; as such, we have developed a software package for semi-automated image processing and analysis. Herein, we report an updated version of our software package (KairoSight-3.0) with features to enhance the characterization of cardiac parameters using optical signals. To test software validity and applicability, we used Langendorff-perfused heart preparations to record transmembrane voltage and intracellular calcium signals from the epicardial surface. Isolated hearts from guinea pigs and rats were loaded with a potentiometric dye (RH237) and/or calcium indicator dye (Rhod-2AM) and fluorescent signals were acquired. We used Python 3.8.5 programming language to develop the KairoSight-3.0 software. Cardiac maps were validated with a user-specified manual mapping approach. Manual maps of action potential duration (30 or 80 % repolarization), calcium transient duration (30 or 80 % reuptake), action potential and calcium transient alternans were constituted to validate the accuracy of software-generated maps. Manual and software maps had high accuracy, with >97 % of manual and software values falling within 10 ms of each other and >75 % within 5 ms for action potential duration and calcium transient duration measurements (n = 1000-2000 pixels). Further, our software package includes additional measurement tools to analyze signal-to-noise ratio, conduction velocity, action potential and calcium transient alternans, and action potential-calcium transient coupling time to produce physiologically meaningful optical maps. KairoSight-3.0 has enhanced capabilities to perform measurements of cardiac electrophysiology, calcium handling, alternans, and the excitation-contraction coupling with satisfactory accuracy.

Left Ventricular Myocardial Deformation Assessment by 4Dimensional XStrain Speckle Tracking Echocardiography: An Innovative Technology

Strain based imaging techniques, particularly speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) have been shown to have clinical utility in a variety of clinical settings. Currently, STE is being embraced and increasingly adopted in numerous echocardiographic laboratories worldwide. In context with contemporary non invasive cardiovascular procedures, 2Dimensional STE is most sought-after method to evaluate LV strain, rotation, twist and torsion. Two dimensional (2D), three dimensional (3D) and 4Dimensional (4D) deformation assessment by STE is inherently associated with certain limitations. For better appraisal of LV contractile properties recently introduced updated version of 4D XStrain STE has been employed to analyse the various complex multidimensional LV mechanics. This novel technology is a reliable, affordable and a simple tool for estimation of regional and global myocardial function. Furthermore, 4D XStrain STE can accurately quantify the 4D LV ejection-fraction, end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and sphericity index (SI). However, this distinctive technology has not been widely adopted and its assessment is still limited to research applications. Hence we aimed to familiarize this innovative technology by comprehensively addressing its technique, advantages and limitations, with the intent that it may serve a more meaningful purpose in the current volatile scenario of cardio-vascular disease. Keywords: 4Dimensional XStrain Echocardiography, LV strain, LV rotation, LVtwist, LV untwist, LV torsion.

Natural Language Processing of Radiology Reports: Predicting Metastatic Progression from Text Data

The project’s goal is to extract tumour measurement data from oncological radiology reports with equal, or improved accuracy of a human radiologist. The purpose is to streamline and improve the efficiency of cancer diagnosis, accomplishing this through methods in artificial intelligence. In this experiment, a collection of 85,218 colorectal, and lung radiology reports were used. After loading reports into a data frame, and a BioBERT (bidirectional encoder representations from transformers pre-trained on biomedical corpora) model into a virtual environment, a question is set to be answered by the model where the context of the question is each radiology report’s findings section of the specified organ. These inputs are tokenized and embedded into numerical values to map sentences to vectors of real numbers. Vectors are fed into the model, and an answer is output in natural language for human readability. Answers are stored in the data frame in their corresponding row from which they were derived. The model successfully answered questions about measurements of tumours written in free text in reports where tumours were present, and successfully ignored or did not report in cases where tumours were not present, or measurements were unchanged. In cases with multiple tumours, the model reported exclusively first listed measurements. In an updated version of this model, context will be run through sentence-wise to ensure equal attention to the context entirely. This project is evidence that using one question and selecting the findings portion of a radiology report for one organ as context in a question-answering model built using BioBERT is effective, and efficient in collecting measurements from radiology reports. This algorithm can be applied to other areas of medicine, or other fields entirely with a few model alterations. This project is a step forward in improving cancer diagnosis efficiency and improving medical AI.

Correlation between MOVA3D, a Monocular Movement Analysis System, and Qualisys Track Manager (QTM) during Lower Limb Movements in Healthy Adults: A Preliminary Study.

New technologies based on virtual reality and augmented reality offer promising perspectives in an attempt to increase the assessment of human kinematics. The aim of this work was to develop a markerless 3D motion analysis capture system (MOVA3D) and to test it versus Qualisys Track Manager (QTM). A digital camera was used to capture the data, and proprietary software capable of automatically inferring the joint centers in 3D and performing the angular kinematic calculations of interest was developed for such analysis. In the experiment, 10 subjects (22 to 50 years old), 5 men and 5 women, with a body mass index between 18.5 and 29.9 kg/m2, performed squatting, hip flexion, and abduction movements, and both systems measured the hip abduction/adduction angle and hip flexion/extension, simultaneously. The mean value of the difference between the QTM system and the MOVA3D system for all frames for each joint angle was analyzed with Pearson's correlation coefficient (r). The MOVA3D system reached good (above 0.75) or excellent (above 0.90) correlations in 6 out of 8 variables. The average error remained below 12° in only 20 out of 24 variables analyzed. The MOVA3D system is therefore promising for use in telerehabilitation or other applications where this level of error is acceptable. Future studies should continue to validate the MOVA3D as updated versions of their software are developed.

Technical note: Identifying a performance change in the Plantower PMS 5003 particulate matter sensor

Communities, researchers, and citizen scientists have increasingly been deploying low-cost particulate matter (PM) sensors to understand pollution levels and personal pollution exposure. Currently, tens of thousands of these low-cost sensors have been deployed throughout the world. One of the most commonly used sensors is the Plantower PMS 5003. In 2021, PurpleAir (one of the largest sensor networks) noted a change in the performance of their PM sensors that could be identified by the ratio of PM counts in two size bins (≥0.3 μm and ≥0.5 μm). This study confirmed that in June 2021, an updated version of the Plantower PMS 5003 (PMS-U) was deployed between approximately June 2021 and January 2022. Our laboratory study revealed that the PMS-Us PM2.5 concentrations were biased low for raw concentrations (CF = 1) below 16 μg/m3. Our field study also suggests that this bias translates into an approximately 3 μg/m3 lower PM2.5 concentrations (raw) over the long term, and between March to May 2023, more than 10% of outdoor sensors in the PurpleAir network are PMS-Us. This level of bias would not affect some uses of low-cost sensor networks, such as during wildfires. However, this bias could be important for health or environmental justice studies. This study also developed and evaluated a correction method for PMS-U sensors to reduce the observed bias in PMS-U sensors.