Evolution of Big Data in Medical Imaging Modalities to Extract Features Using Region Growing Segmentation, GLCM, and Discrete Wavelet Transform

Big data refers to the massive amount of data from sundry sources (gregarious media, healthcare, different sensor, etc.) with very high velocity. Due to expeditious growth, the multimedia or image data has rapidly incremented due to the expansion of convivial networking, surveillance cameras, satellite images, and medical images. Healthcare is the most promising area where big data can be applied to make a vicissitude in human life. The process for analyzing the intricate data is mundanely concerned with the disclosing of hidden patterns. In healthcare fields capturing the visual context of any medical images, extraction is a well introduced word in digital image processing. The motive of this research is to present a detailed overview of big data in healthcare and processing of non-invasive medical images with the avail of feature extraction techniques such as region growing segmentation, GLCM, and discrete wavelet transform.

Il-2 in combination with immune checkpoints inhibitors as a promising approach for cancer immunotherapy: A literature review

Relevance: Interleukin-2 (IL-2) alone has been shown to induce tumor regression and approved to treat metastatic renal cancer and melanoma. Checkpoint inhibitors realize their therapeutic effect through stimulation of immune system effectors; one of such mechanisms is the enhancement of IL-2 production by T-helpers. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of IL-2 administration as a component of combined immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors and to suggest the mechanisms by which IL-2 can reduce the frequency and severity of side effects during checkpoint inhibitor therapy without reducing their effectiveness. Methods: The literature search was performed in the PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science databases by the keywords in article titles: “immunotherapy,” “checkpoint inhibitors,” “interleukin-2,” and “combination therapy” for the period 2011-2021. A total of 248 relevant articles were found. The review’s inclusion criteria were: clinical cases; data of clinical research methods; data on humans/body fluids from humans; literature reviews and meta-analyses. The selected 24 articles met the search criteria and were included in the review. Results: The combined action of IL-2 and сheckpoint inhibitors increases the proliferative and killer activity of the antitumor immunity effectors compared to the action of the same drugs in mono-mode at a level exceeding the summation effect. Conclusion: The combination of IL-2 and сheckpoint inhibitors can increase the effectiveness of anticancer treatment and is a promising area of immunotherapy

Strategies to Optimize Adherence in Patients with Mycosis Fungoides

Patient adherence to medications for common skin conditions has been extensively studied over the past two decades, and suboptimal adherence is a primary contributor to treatment failure. The impact of sub-par adherence in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) patients has been largely unexplored, and promoting adherence in this patient population may represent a promising area of consideration for improving treatment outcomes. We apply patient adherence strategies that have been studied in dermatology to CTCL and provide concrete examples of how these strategies can be used to improve adherence in the CTCL setting. Through the implementation of small changes in how we present and counsel about therapeutic options to our patients, we can maximize patient adherence, which has the potential to optimize therapy regimens and reduce treatment failure.

The antidepressants effects on microbiota: unobvious possibilities Research article

Despite the emergence of new antidepressants with different mechanisms of action, a large number of problems in antidepressant therapy remain. Considering the known antimicrobial activity of antidepressants, the role of the microbiota in the thymoanaleptic activity of these drugs is of high interest. In recent years, important data have been obtained on the role of the gut microbiota in the regulation of behavior and the pathophysiology of a number of mental disorders, including depression. Of particular interest is the assessment of the normal intestinal microbiota role in the course of the therapeutic process. The emerging bi-directional interactions between drugs and microorganisms may be critical for personalized drug selection and future drug development. However, at the present time, this problem remains poorly understood. The proposed manuscript articulates the main directions that are of clinical importance and can become an object for further study in this area.The research results indicate that the effect of antidepressants on the microbiota is a promising area, the study of which could provide many important findings for clinical practice. This type of therapeutic manipulation can provide an opportunity for intervention in order to potentiate the activity of antidepressants or to minimize side effects. The problem with this method of intervention is enormous complexity, when manipulations can have both positive and negative effects simultaneously, depending on different strains of microorganisms influencing different therapeutic effects. More research is needed to understand what changes occur in the microbiome with acute and chronic administration of specific antidepressants. Perhaps this will contribute to the development of microbiomodulatory tactics for individualized interventions.

Comprehensive study of dental orthopedic morbidity in elderly people and the ways to eliminate it

Relevance. The social profile of senile people has some differences from other age categories of patients. People of the older age group dream of finding harmony with the outside world, preserving the love of the nearest and dearest and relatives and the opportunity to communicate with the opposite sex. Dental health and the resulting quality of life contributes to this in many ways. A smile, laughter, the ability to talk without feeling embarrassed by splashing saliva, bad breath or visible absence of teeth, taking your favorite food together with the nearest and dearest are the main indicators of their life quality dependent on dental health, without which it is impossible to imagine a modern person High prevalence of dental diseases among senile people cause a high need for making various dental prosthetic structures. Studying dental health of this category of citizens can become a promising area of practical healthcare, a comprehensive study of this issue has determined the relevance and purpose of this publication.Materials and methods. The object of the study was senile people, 75-89 years old, who sought dental orthopedic care in municipal healthcare institutions of Cheboksary, the Chuvash Republic. The sample size was 481 people.Results. It was found that the maximum number of patients in the age group of 75-88 years - 188 persons (39.1%) - had complete absence of teeth, the total number of patients with the first, second, third and fourth classes according to the Kennedy classification of dentition defects was 56 persons (11.6%), 143 persons (29.7%), 79 persons (16.4%), 15 persons (3.2%), respectively. The total number of patients with the first Kennedy subclasses (class 1-3) was 135 persons (33.1%), with the second subclasses – 69 persons (16.9%), with the third subclasses - 53 persons (13.0%). The analysis of dental prosthetic structures mounted in elderly patients showed that the total number of orthopedic structures amounted to 4,615 units, among which there were pin structures - 1,328 units (28.8%); the total number of artificial dental crowns was 1,662 units (36.0%); the total number of prosthetic bridges – 620 units (13.4%); removable laminar dentures in partial loss of teeth – 445 units (9.6%); clasp prostheses – 184 units (4.1%); removable laminar dentures in complete loss of teeth – 376 units (8.1%).Conclusions. All types of dental orthopedic diseases are commonly found in patients of senile age, they had all kinds of dental prosthetic structures made. The choice of the dental prosthetic design used in orthopedic dental rehabilitation was determined by the type of dentition defect and met the principles of rational prosthetics.

Leadership and Creativity in Organizational Behavior

Because leadership and creativity represent two of the most popular topics in the fields of management and organizational behavior, it should not be surprising that a large body of literature has emerged in which the two are jointly examined. Leadership is a commonly studied independent variable, whereas creativity is an outcome of paramount importance for organizations, and the two are also theoretically connected in several ways, suggesting that leadership could precipitate followers’ creative outcomes. This relationship pattern, called “creative leadership,” is the most common way leadership and creativity interact in the extant scholarship. Most of the existing work has focused on “facilitating” creative leadership, in which followers (but not leaders) generate creative outputs, often as a result of leadership behaviors and styles, relationships, or the characteristics of their leader. This work generally finds that positive leadership precipitates positive creative outcomes, although some findings have emerged suggesting that considerable nuance may exist in these relationships, a promising area for future research. Much less scholarship has examined how leaders might direct others to implement their own creative visions, or how leaders might integrate their own creative efforts with those of their followers to enhance overall creativity. Research on these forms of creative leadership is often limited to specific creativity-relevant industries, such the culinary field and the arts, but there is opportunity to examine how they might operate in more general organizational fields. Other phenomena linking leadership and creativity are plausible but less understood. For instance, leaders may assemble creative contexts, engage in unconventional behavior, or emerge as leaders regardless of their hierarchical positions. Least explored of all is the idea of an opposite causal order—that of creativity affecting leadership, such that creative acts or experiences by an organizational member might drive or alter leadership emerging from themselves, their managers, or their followers. After review of the extant literature in these areas, potential topics for future scholarship are identified within and among the different research streams.

A Novel Antimicrobial Peptide Sparanegtin Identified in Scylla paramamosain Showing Antimicrobial Activity and Immunoprotective Role In Vitro and Vivo

The abuse of antibiotics in aquaculture and livestock no doubt has exacerbated the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which imposes serious threats to animal and human health. The exploration of substitutes for antibiotics from marine animals has become a promising area of research, and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are worth investigating and considering as potential alternatives to antibiotics. In the study, we identified a novel AMP gene from the mud crab Scylla paramamosain and named it Sparanegtin. Sparanegtin transcripts were most abundant in the testis of male crabs and significantly expressed with the challenge of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or Vibrio alginolyticus. The recombinant Sparanegtin (rSparanegtin) was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. rSparanegtin exhibited activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and had potent binding affinity with several polysaccharides. In addition, rSparanegtin exerted damaging activity on the cell walls and surfaces of P. aeruginosa with rougher and fragmented appearance. Interestingly, although rSparanegtin did not show activity against V. alginolyticus in vitro, it played an immunoprotective role in S. paramamosain and exerted an immunomodulatory effect by modulating several immune-related genes against V. alginolyticus infection through significantly reducing the bacterial load in the gills and hepatopancreas and increasing the survival rate of crabs.

THEORETICAL SUBSTANTIATION OF THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM OF ULTRASONIC CAVITATION DESTRUCTION OF MACROMOLECULES

Многообещающее направление исследований, которое потенциально может служить базой для создания эффективной технологии управления свойствами полимеров – воздействие механическими колебательными возмущениями на высокомолекулярную среду. В реальных неотверждённых полимерах механические колебательные возмущения, как правило, представляют собой кавитационно-акустическое воздействие, т.е. линейные синусоидальные колебания, создаваемые в среде, инициируют вторичное явление – кавитационные пузырьки. Пузырьки при кавитационно-акустическом воздействии периодически расширяются и схлопываются, формируя микроударные волны. Таким образом, механические колебательные возмущения имеют две составляющие – линейная синусоидальная и нелинейная ударно-волновая. Основное воздействие на структуру полимеров оказывает ударно-волновая составляющая. Для реализации данного процесса с максимальной энергетической эффективностью необходимо выявить оптимальные режимы воздействия. Для выявления оптимальных режимов воздействия в статье теоретически обоснован физический механизм разрушения макромолекул, основанный на их соударении со скоростью, превышающей критическую за счёт формирования экстремальных условий по температуре и давлению в окрестности схлопывающегося кавитационного пузырька. A promising area of research that can potentially serve as a basis for creating an effective technology for controlling the properties of polymers is the effect of mechanical oscillatory disturbances on a high–molecular medium. In real uncured polymers, mechanical oscillatory disturbances, as a rule, represent a cavitation-acoustic effect, i.e. linear sinusoidal vibrations created in the medium initiate a secondary phenomenon - cavitation bubbles. Bubbles under cavitation-acoustic action periodically expand and collapse, forming micro-shock waves. Thus, mechanical oscillatory disturbances have two components – linear sinusoidal and nonlinear shock wave. The main effect on the structure of polymers has a shock-wave component. To implement this process with maximum energy efficiency, it is necessary to identify optimal exposure modes. In order to identify optimal exposure modes, the article theoretically substantiates the physical mechanism of destruction of macromolecules based on their collision with a velocity exceeding the critical one due to the formation of extreme conditions for temperature and pressure in the vicinity of a collapsing cavitation bubble.

Prognostic assessment of constitutional indicators influence on the indicators of personality traits of practically healthy women with different somatotypes

It is known that both genetic factors and environmental influences affect the development of the human body. This statement also applies to a person’s personality, ie the big five – the main features that make it up. The study of the relationship between physique and personality traits among a healthy population is very relevant and is a promising area for anthropology and psychology. The purpose of the work is to conduct a prognostic assessment of the influence of anthropo-somatotypological indicators on the personality indicators in practically healthy Ukrainian women without and taking into account the somatotype. Primary anthropo-somatotypological (anthropometry according to Bunak’s scheme, Heath-Carter somatotype determination, Matiegka and American Institute of Nutrition weight composition) and personality indicators (determination of leading typological characteristics of temperament according to Eysenck, psychodynamic features of personality according to Spielberger and features of accentuated personality traits according to Shmishek, components of internality according to Rotter) of practically healthy Ukrainian women of the first mature age are selected from the data bank of materials of the research center of National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya. Factor analysis was performed in the license package "Statistica 6.1". The main factors that indicate the association of personality traits of practically healthy Ukrainian women of different somatotypes with some anthropo-somatotypological indicators: mesomorphs – "the size of the girth and fat size of the body" and "the size of the longitudinal size of the body"; in ectomorphs – "the size of the girth of the body" and "the size of the fat size of the body"; in endo-mesomorphs - "the magnitude of the circumferential size of the body" and "the magnitude of the width of the mandible"; in representatives of the middle intermediate somatotype – "the magnitude of the longitudinal and circumferential dimensions of the body" and "the magnitude of SFT on the posterior surface of the shoulder." In the general group of women, it is impossible to single out the second factor that has a significant load. Analysis of the obtained relationships of interdependence of personality traits, which have the greatest prognostic value in terms of formation of human personality with anthropo-somatotypological indicators showed that women of different somatotypes identified interdependencies have certain features. Thus, the application of factor analysis made it possible to determine the most significant relationships of personality indicators with the constitutional parameters of the body in practically healthy Ukrainian women of different somatotypes.

FEATURES OF THE STRAIN-STRESS STATE OF BEAMS WITH A CORRUGATED WALL OF VARIABLE RIGIDITY

Corrugated steel beams represent a promising area of research in the fi eld of structural engineering today. The article studies the behavior of a metal beam with a corrugated wall of an I-profi le under bending conditions. Beam considered span of 12 m. A fi nite element model of the calculated structure was built in the LIRA-SAPR software package. The analysis of the stress-strain state of a corrugated beam of variable stiff ness, which has a fl at fragment in the central part of the wall, is carried out. The beam thus obtained has a number of advantages over beams with only a fl at or fully corrugated wall. The conclusions based on the results of the analysis of the calculation are presented.