Differences in Chromatin Texture and Nuclear Fractal Dimension Between Hashimoto's and Lymphocytic Thyroiditis Lymphocytes

AbstractPrevious evidence suggested that lymphocytic thyroiditis (LT) was a variant of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), thus the aim of the current study is to quantify structural changes in histological specimens taken from HT and LT patients. A total of 600 images containing a single lymphocyte nucleus (300 nuclei per group) were obtained from 20 patients with HT and LT. In order to quantify changes in the nuclear architecture of investigated lymphocytes, the fractal dimension (FD) and some gray-level co-occurrence matrix texture parameters (angular second moment, inverse difference moment, contrast, entropy, and correlation) were calculated for each nucleus. A statistically significant difference in the FD of the “binary-outlined” nucleus and that of the corresponding “black-and-white” nucleus was detected between HT and LT lymphocyte nuclei. In addition, there was also a statistically significant difference in contrast and correlation between HT and LT lymphocyte nuclei. In conclusion, the results of this study suggested that there was a difference in structural complexity between investigated lymphocyte nuclei; additionally, LT lymphocytes possessed probably more complex texture and larger variations as well as more asymmetrical nuclei compared with HT lymphocytes. Accordingly, these findings indicate that LT is probably not a variant of HT; however, more complex studies are necessary to estimate differences between these types of thyroiditis.

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Effects of Ghrelin on the Structural Complexity of Exocrine Pancreas Tissue Architecture

Microscopy and Microanalysis ◽

10.1017/s1431927613000524 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 553-558 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Igor Pantic ◽

Dejan Nesic ◽

Darko Stevanovic ◽

Vesna Starcevic ◽

Senka Pantic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fractal Dimension ◽

Exocrine Pancreas ◽

Structural Complexity ◽

Exocrine Secretion ◽

Pancreatic Tissue ◽

Morphological Properties ◽

Tissue Architecture ◽

Tissue Sections ◽

Male Wistar Rats ◽

Occurrence Matrix

AbstractRecent studies have shown that ghrelin increases pancreatic exocrine secretion. However, the potential effects of ghrelin on the morphology of exocrine pancreas (EP) remain unknown. In this work, using fractal analysis, we demonstrate that centrally administered ghrelin increases structural complexity and tissue disorder in rat EP. The study was carried out on a total of 40 male Wistar rats divided into four groups (n = 10): ghrelin-treated animals (average age, 1.5 months), ghrelin-treated animals (8.5 months), and controls (1.5 and 8.5 months). The pancreas tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin/eosin and visualized by light microscopy. For each animal, the average values of tissue fractal dimension, lacunarity, as well as parameters of co-occurrence matrix texture, were determined using tissue digital micrographs. The results indicate that ghrelin administration increases EP fractal dimension and textural entropy, and decreases lacunarity, regardless of the age. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the effects of ghrelin on the morphological properties of pancreatic tissue, and also the first to apply fractal and textural analysis methods in quantification of EP tissue architecture.

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SIGNAL CHARACTERIZATION USING FRACTAL DIMENSION

Fractals ◽

10.1142/s0218348x10004968 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 18 (03) ◽

pp. 287-292 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

B. S. RAGHAVENDRA ◽

D. NARAYANA DUTT

Keyword(s):

Signal Processing ◽

Fractal Dimension ◽

Biomedical Applications ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Structural Complexity ◽

Fractal Dimensions ◽

Noise Power ◽

Complexity Measures ◽

Signal Characterization ◽

Proper Interpretation

Fractal Dimensions (FD) are one of the popular measures used for characterizing signals. They have been used as complexity measures of signals in various fields including speech and biomedical applications. However, proper interpretation of such analyses has not been thoroughly addressed. In this paper, we study the effect of various signal properties on FD and interpret results in terms of classical signal processing concepts such as amplitude, frequency, number of harmonics, noise power and signal bandwidth. We have used Higuchi's method for estimating FDs. This study may help in gaining a better understanding of the FD complexity measure itself, and for interpreting changing structural complexity of signals in terms of FD. Our results indicate that FD is a useful measure in quantifying structural changes in signal properties.

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Genetic Deletion of Interleukin-15 Is Not Associated with Major Structural Changes Following Experimental Post-Traumatic Knee Osteoarthritis in Rats

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11157118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (15) ◽

pp. 7118

Author(s):

Ermina Hadzic ◽

Garth Blackler ◽

Holly Dupuis ◽

Stephen James Renaud ◽

Christopher Thomas Appleton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Articular Cartilage ◽

Subchondral Bone ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Cartilage Damage ◽

Wild Type ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Post Traumatic ◽

Interleukin 15 ◽

Joint Trauma ◽

Surgically Induced

Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) is a degenerative joint disease, leading to articular cartilage breakdown, osteophyte formation, and synovitis, caused by an initial joint trauma. Pro-inflammatory cytokines increase catabolic activity and may perpetuate inflammation following joint trauma. Interleukin-15 (IL-15), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, is increased in OA patients, although its roles in PTOA pathophysiology are not well characterized. Here, we utilized Il15 deficient rats to examine the role of IL-15 in PTOA pathogenesis in an injury-induced model. OA was surgically induced in Il15 deficient Holtzman Sprague-Dawley rats and control wild-type rats to compare PTOA progression. Semi-quantitative scoring of the articular cartilage, subchondral bone, osteophyte size, and synovium was performed by two blinded observers. There was no significant difference between Il15 deficient rats and wild-type rats following PTOA-induction across articular cartilage damage, subchondral bone damage, and osteophyte scoring. Similarly, synovitis scoring across six parameters found no significant difference between genetic variants. Overall, IL-15 does not appear to play a key role in the development of structural changes in this surgically-induced rat model of PTOA.

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Racial Disparity in Immediate Breast Reconstruction; a Gap That is not Closing

Plastic Surgery ◽

10.1177/22925503211055525 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 229255032110555

Author(s):

Mahdi Malekpour ◽

Sean Devitt ◽

Joseph DeSantis ◽

Christian Kauffman

Keyword(s):

Propensity Score ◽

Breast Reconstruction ◽

Racial Disparity ◽

Standard Of Care ◽

Immediate Breast Reconstruction ◽

P Value ◽

National Cancer Database ◽

Black Females ◽

Black And White ◽

Significant Difference

Background: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is offered as part of the standard-of-care to females undergoing mastectomy. Racial disparity in IBR has been previously reported with a longstanding call for its elimination, though unknown if this goal is achieved. The aim of this study was to examine the current association between race and IBR and to investigate whether racial disparity is diminishing. Methods: Data was extracted from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) from 2004 to 2016. All variables in the database were controlled so that the comparison would be made solely between Black and White females. We also analyzed the trend in racial disparity to see if there has been a change from 2004 to 2016 after several calls for healthcare equality. Results: After propensity score matching, 69,084 White females were compared to 69,084 Black females. There was a statistically significant difference between the rate of IBR and race (23,386 [33.9%] in White females vs 20,850 [30.2%] in Black females, P-value < .001). Despite a twofold increase in the rate of IBR in both White and Black females, a persistent gap of about 4% was observed over the study period, which translates to more than 2,500 Black females not receiving IBR. Conclusions: Using the NCDB database, a racial disparity was identified for IBR between White and Black females from 2004 and 2016. Unfortunately, the gap between the groups remained constant over this 13-year period.

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Hematological condition of breeding bulls after a long winter period of operation in the conditions of the Udmurt Republic

Genetika i razvedenie zhivotnyh ◽

10.31043/2410-2733-2021-4-67-73 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 67-73

Author(s):

A. Abilov ◽

A. Azhmyakov ◽

I. Novgorodova ◽

N. Bogolyubova

Keyword(s):

Red Blood Cells ◽

Reference Values ◽

Blood Cells ◽

Hematological Parameters ◽

White Blood Cells ◽

Winter Period ◽

Black And White ◽

Significant Difference ◽

White Breed ◽

Udmurt Republic

Purpose: to study hematological parameters of blood in bulls-producers of dairy breeds on the day of semen collection in the Udmurt Republic after a long winter period of operation, depending on the breeds, age and place of selection.Materials and methods. The work was performed at the Federal Research Center for Animal Husbandry named after Academy Member L. K. Ernst on the basis of AO "Udmurtplem" of the Udmurt Republic in the period from 2020 to 2021 on dairy bulls (n=20) aged 15-69 months, including a purebred Holstein breed of domestic selection (n=6), a Holstein black-and-white breed of European selection (the Netherlands, n=6), a black-and-white breed with blood transfusion on Holsteins on at the level of 94-98% (n=8). The content of white blood cells, red blood cells, hemoglobin and hematocrit, depending on age and breed, was studied on the ABC VET hematological analyzer on the day of taking the seed.Results. It was found that on average, in 20 bulls aged 15-69 months, the level of white blood cells was at the level of reference values of 8.8±0.25 x 109/l, red blood cells 10.3 x 1012/l, which is 50% more than the reference values. The concentration of hemoglobin is 128.0±2.92 g/l, hematocrit is on average 54.3%, with a norm of 24-46%. Breeding bulls at a reliable level, differing in age, showed that some animals had high indicators for red blood cells of 10.3±0.26 x 102, for hematocrit of 54.3% against 24-46% of reference values. Also, according to hematological indicators, there was a tendency to increase the concentration of hemoglobin and hematocrit in European-bred bulls.Conclusion. The study of the variability in hematological parameters depending on the selection showed that there is no significant difference in leukocytes and all indicators are at the level of reference values, and in erythrocytes more than 50% than the highest indicators. The highest hemoglobin values were at the level of 141-156 g/l instead of 128 g/l according to the highest reference values. Hematocrit also showed high max values in all groups in comparison with the reference values of 59-66% versus 46% in the norm. It is necessary when analyzing hematological blood parameters in addition to the average statistical indicators (M+m) also, monitor the variability (min-max) in order to obtain more objective information.

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Morpho-textural changes of the patellar tendon in professional volleyball players: a six month longitudinal study

Revista Fisioterapia Invasiva ◽

10.1055/s-0039-3402505 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 02 (02) ◽

pp. 126-126

Author(s):

de Groot Ferrando A.

Keyword(s):

Patellar Tendon ◽

Effect Size ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Patellar Tendinopathy ◽

Average Effect ◽

Average Effect Size ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Volleyball Players ◽

Textural Changes

Abstract Introduction Tendinopathy is a term used to describe a clinical presentation of pain and dysfunction, which, at times, is accompanied by pathologic structural changes in the tendon matrix. Jumper's knee has been studied for some time, however the etiology is still unknown. The deep fibers of the proximal region are the most affected area in tendinopathies affecting the patellar tendon. Ultrasound (US) scanning may have the greatest sensitivity for confirming clinically diagnosed patellar tendinopathy compared with other imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance. Some studies have found that a minimum of six months is required to observe significant structural changes, although other studies reveal that structural changes can be visible in a shorter period of time. Thus, sonography has been used to evaluate quantitative variables such as thickness, echogenicity, texture measures and the internal tendon matrix. Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sonographic behavior of morpho-textural changes of the patellar tendon in professional male volleyball players over a one year season. Material and Methods This is an observational, longitudinal and analytical study. A sample of 66 patellar tendons from 33 volleyball players of the Spanish super league was recruited, with an average of: 28 years, 86kg and 192cm. An ultrasound scan was performed using the Sonosite Titan ultrasound system, L38, 5–10 MHz, with a cross section of 5mm from the lower pole of the patella. Two depths were analyzed: a.39mm: echogenicity, echogenicity variation, circularity, width and thickness. b.24mm: entropy and contrast. Statistical analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed for repeated measures and, in addition, the effect size was calculated with Cohen's d. The confidence interval was 95%. SPSS Statistics software was used. Results For textural variables: contrast increased significantly with an average effect size, and entropy showed no significant difference. Circularity was significantly lower. Width was shown to be significantly greater, with an average effect size, while thickness was reduced significantly. Regarding echogenicity, no significant changes were detected and variation in echogenicity did not show significant changes. Conclusions Imaging analysis could be a potential tool to detect changes in the pattern of patellar tendons. Some morpho-textural changes were found in male volleyball players: the textural contrast variable increases significantly throughout the annual season, meaning that the tendon becomes slightly flatter and loses circularity in its transverse section. The entropy and echogenic parameters obtained from the gray-scale histogram did not reveal any significant changes.

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Milk productivity of ﬁrst-calf cows depending on the intensity of their breeding

Siberian Herald of Agricultural Science ◽

10.26898/0370-8799-2021-6-9 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 51 (6) ◽

pp. 77-83

Author(s):

L. L. Petrukhina

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Milk Production ◽

Live Weight ◽

Milk Productivity ◽

Statistical Research ◽

Black And White ◽

Irkutsk Region ◽

Significant Difference ◽

On Farm ◽

Analytical Variation

The paper presents the results of studies of milk productivity of black-and-white cows depending on the age of the ﬁrst insemination and live weight at the ﬁrst calving in the conditions of the Irkutsk region. The dynamics of heifer rearing by year, milk productivity of cows in the 1st and 3rd lactations depending on the intensity of their development has been studied. The experiment was conducted on farm materials from the Irkutsk Region using generally accepted zootechnical, analytical, variation and statistical research methods from 2016 to 2020. Live weight of heifers at all ages met the requirements of the elite and elite-record classes. Analysis of the data showed that the growth rate of the animals increased during 5 years (6.0%, 6.8, 2.3 and 4.8% respectively with a signiﬁcant diﬀerence p ≥ 0.90). With the increased intensity of heifer rearing, an increase in milk yield over 305 days of the ﬁrst lactation was observed. The highest milk production was noted in the 1st (5309-5476 kg) and 3rd (5418-5817 kg) lactations in cows with the ﬁrst fruitful insemination at 13-14 months. The lowest 1st and 3rd lactation yields are obtained from cows inseminated at 20 months of age or older. Higher milk production in the ﬁrst and third lactations was obtained from cows with a live weight at ﬁrst calving of 541-550 kg, 551 kg and higher (5197-5164, 5436-5545 kg respectively). Less milk production was obtained from cows with a live weight at ﬁrst calving of up to 500 kg (4567-5122, 4943-5009 kg). The results obtained make it possible to reveal the inﬂuence of the intensity of rearing heifers on the productive qualities of cows.

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NIMG-56. USING RADIOMIC FEATURES FROM DAILY MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING TO PREDICT RESPONSE TO RADIATION THERAPY IN GLIOBLASTOMA PATIENTS: A PILOT STUDY

Neuro-Oncology ◽

10.1093/neuonc/noab196.554 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (Supplement_6) ◽

pp. vi142-vi142

Author(s):

Kaylie Cullison ◽

Garrett Simpson ◽

Danilo Maziero ◽

Kolton Jones ◽

Radka Stoyanova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Radiation Therapy ◽

Tumor Growth ◽

Texture Feature ◽

Texture Features ◽

Gray Level ◽

Difference Matrix ◽

Patient Response ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Occurrence Matrix ◽

Surrounding Areas

Abstract A dilemma in treating glioblastoma is that MRI after chemotherapy and radiation therapy (chemoRT) shows areas of presumed tumor growth in up to 50% of patients. These areas can represent true progression (TP), tumor growth with tumors non-responsive to treatment, or pseudoprogression (PP), edema and tumor necrosis with favorable treatment response. On imaging, TP and PP are usually not discernable. Patients in this study undergo six weeks of chemoRT on a combination MRI/RT device, receiving daily MRIs. The goal of this study is to explore the correlation of radiomics features with progression. The tumor lesion and surrounding areas of growth/edema were manually outlined as regions of interest (ROIs) for each daily T2-weighted MRI scan. The ROIs were used to calculate texture features: statistical features based on the gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), the gray-level zone size matrix (GLZSM), the gray-level run length matrix (GLRLM), and the neighborhood gray-tone difference matrix (NGTDM). Each of these matrix classes describe the probability of spatial relationships of gray levels occurring within the ROI. Daily texture features were averaged per week of treatment for each patient. Patient response was retrospectively defined as no progression (NP), TP, or PP. A Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to identify texture features that correlated most strongly with patient response. Forty texture features were calculated for 12 patients (19 treated, 7 excluded due to no T2 lesion or progression status unknown, 6 NP, 3 TP, 3 PP). There was a trend of more texture features correlating significantly with response in weeks 4-6 of treatment, compared to weeks 1-3. A particular texture feature, GLSZM Small Zone Low Gray-Level Emphasis, showed increasing difference between PP and TP over time, with significant difference during week 6 of treatment (p=0.0495). Future directions include correlating early outcomes with greater numbers of patients and daily multiparametric MRI.

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Trends in stress among pregnant and postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.30422 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Serwaa Omowale ◽

Andrea Casas ◽

Yu-Hsuan Lai ◽

Sarah Sanders ◽

Ashley Hill ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Racial Differences ◽

The United States ◽

Mean Stress ◽

Postpartum Health ◽

Black And White ◽

Pregnancy And Postpartum ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Stress Levels ◽

Change In Mean ◽

At Home

BACKGROUND Stress has been associated with adverse birth and postpartum health outcomes. Few studies have explored racial differences in maternal stress in a birthing population longitudinally in the United States (U.S.) during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to: (1) assess changes in reported stress before, during, and after initial emergency declarations (e.g., stay-at-home orders) were in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) assess Black-White differences in reported stress in a pregnant and postpartum population from Southwestern Pennsylvania. METHODS We leveraged data from the ongoing Postpartum Mothers Mobile Study (PMOMS) which surveys participants in real-time throughout the pregnancy and postpartum periods via ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and smartphone technology. We analyzed data from a subset of PMOMS participants (n=85) who were either Black or White, and who submitted EMA responses regarding stress between November 1, 2019 and August 31, 2020, the timeframe of this study. Data were divided into four phases based on significant events during the COVID-19 pandemic: a pre-phase (baseline), early-phase (first case of COVID-19 reported in U.S.), during-phase (stay-at-home orders), and post-phase (stay-at-home orders eased). We assessed mean stress levels at each phase using mixed-effects models and post-hoc contrasts based on the models. RESULTS Overall mean stress (min: 0, max: 4 as measured by a modified Cohen Perceived Stress Scale) during the pre-phase was 0.8 for Black and White participants [range for Black participants: 0-3.9, range for White participants: 0-2.8]. There was an increase of 0.26 points (t=5.19, d.f.=5649, p<.0001) in the during-phase as compared with the pre-phase, and an increase of 0.19 points (t=3.09, d.f.=5649, p=0.002) in the post-phase compared with the pre-phase (n=85). No difference was found between Black and White participants in the change in mean stress from the pre-phase to the during-phase (δ ̂= -0.016, p=0.867). There was a significant difference between Black and White participants in the change in mean stress from the during-phase to the post-phase (δ ̂ = -0.39, p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS There was an overall increase in mean stress levels in this subset of pregnant and postpartum participants during the same time as the emergency declarations/stay-at-home orders in the US. Compared to baseline, mean stress levels remained elevated when stay-at-home orders eased. We found no significant difference in the mean stress levels by race. Given that stress is associated with adverse birth outcomes and postpartum health, stress induced by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may have adverse implications for birthing populations in the U.S. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-10.2196/13569

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Image Processing Applications Based on Texture and Fractal Analysis

Applied Signal and Image Processing ◽

10.4018/978-1-60960-477-6.ch014 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 226-250 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Radu Dobrescu ◽

Dan Popescu

Keyword(s):

Fractal Dimension ◽

Texture Classification ◽

Malignant Tumour ◽

Classification Performance ◽

Textured Surfaces ◽

Box Counting ◽

Image Partition ◽

Fractal Analyses ◽

Occurrence Matrix

Texture analysis research attempts to solve two important kinds of problems: texture segmentation and texture classification. In some applications, textured image segmentation can be solved by classification of small regions obtained from image partition. Two classes of features are proposed in the decision theoretic recognition problem for textured image classification. The first class derives from the mean co-occurrence matrices: contrast, energy, entropy, homogeneity, and variance. The second class is based on fractal dimension and is derived from a box-counting algorithm. For the purpose of increasing texture classification performance, the notions “mean co-occurrence matrix” and “effective fractal dimension” are introduced and utilized. Some applications of the texture and fractal analyses are presented: road analysis for moving objective, defect detection in textured surfaces, malignant tumour detection, remote land classification, and content based image retrieval. The results confirm the efficiency of the proposed methods and algorithms.

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