Technology and Health Care - Volume 27, issue S1

Authors: Zhang, Shu | Wang, Ting | Peng, Yanjun | Dong, Junyu

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Face symmetrization has extensive applications in both medical and academic fields, such as facial disorder diagnosis. Human face possesses an important characteristic, which is as known as symmetry. However, in many scenarios, the perfect symmetry doesn’t exist in human faces, which yields a large number of studies around this topic. For example, facial palsy evaluation, facial beauty evaluation based on facial symmetry analysis, and many among others. Currently, there are still very limited researches dedicated for automatic facial symmetrization. Most of the existing studies only utilized their own implantations for facial symmetrization to assist their interdisciplinary academic researches. Limitations thus …can be noticed in their methods, such as the requirements for manual interventions. Furthermore, most existing methods utilize facial landmark detection algorithms for automatic facial symmetrization. Though accuracies of the landmark detection algorithms are promising, the uncontrolled conditions in the facial images can still negatively impact the performance of the symmetrical face production. To this end, this paper presents a joint-loss enhanced deep generative network model for automatic facial symmetrization, which is achieved by a full facial image analysis. The joint-loss consists of a pair of adversarial losses and an identity loss. The adversarial losses try to make the generated symmetrical face as realistic as possible, while the identity loss helps to constrain the output to have the same identity of the person in the original input as much as possible. Rather than an end-to-end learning strategy, the proposed model is constructed by a multi-stage training process, which avoids the demand for a large size of the symmetrical face as training data. Experiments are conducted with comparisons with several existing methods based on some of the most popular facial landmark detection algorithms. Competitive results of the proposed method are demonstrated. Show more

Keywords: Facial symmetry, facial palsy image, symmetrization, multi-stage training, Generative Adversarial Networks

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199021

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 217-227, 2019

Authors: Liu, Jianfeng | Wang, Junchen | Tao, Liyuan | Liu, Chenlu | Wang, Yongxiang | Wei, Baogang | Li, Pengfei | Bao, Huricha | Ma, Bingxian | Qi, Yansong | Xu, Yongsheng

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Previous studies showed that compared with single-bundle (SB) precedures, double-bundle (DB) anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction perform better. OBJECTIVE: To make assurance that distance of TT-TG may be altered along with ACL rupture and reconstruction. METHODS: Imaging study of 201 patients’s related cases by MRI and CT scans. RESULTS: Compared with the intact knee’s overall mean TT-TG value, the mean overall pre/postoperative TT-TG values showed a significant difference. For SB reconstruction, the mean pre/postoperative TT-TG values were 15.67± 2.46 mm and 14.72± 2.48 …mm, respectively. Postoperative and intact knee TT-TG values were significantly different (p < 0.001). For DB reconstruction, the pre/postoperative mean TT-TG values were 15.11± 1.99 mm and 13.11± 1.71 mm. Postoperative and intact knee TT-TG values were not significantly different (p = 0.141). CONCLUSIONS: The increased TT-TG value from a ruptured ACL was significantly restored after ACL reconstruction. The TT-TG value after SB reconstruction was still obviously larger than that of the intact knee. It showed no significant difference between the postoperative TT-TG of the DB group and intact knees. The original TT-TG values of the knees were much closer to restoration after DB reconstruction. Show more

Keywords: TT-TG, ACL reconstruction, single-bundle, double-bundle

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199022

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 229-238, 2019

Authors: Liu, Quan | Zheng, Chao | Zhao, Hui | Wang, Kan | Tao, Wei

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The incidence of cancers has increased year by year and the early diagnosis for cancer is important to prevent cancers. Due to abnormal metabolism of tumor cells, the acidification of extracellular environment is an important feature for cancer cells. To achieve efficient and accurate pH measurement, this paper proposes a new detection method based on the fluorescence characteristics of CdSe quantum dots detection, which uses CdSe QDs with unique optical properties as sensitive substances for pH detection. PBS buffer (0.2 mol/L) with different pH has been used to simulate cell metabolites at different pH values and use 365 nm laser source to …excite mixture liquid. The emitted light was detected by a fluorescence detection device. A mathematical model between fluorescence intensity and pH was finally obtained. The experimental results show the method show better effectiveness than other pH detection methods and has a high resolution of 0.037 within a pH range of 6.1–7.8 and a measurement resolution of 0.037 pH units. This method has high temperature stability and short testing time, which shows high potential for pH detection. This method has its superiority in all the testing methods. It exhibits a new way of generalizing to pH detection. Show more

Keywords: Tumor cells, CdSe quantum dots, pH value of cell metabolites, fluorescence characteristics

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199023

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 239-247, 2019

Authors: Yang, Dan | Liu, Hanming

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: The main obstacle encountered in microarray technology is how to mine the valuable information under the profiles and study the genes function. OBJECTIVE: Maximal information coefficient (MIC) is a novel, non-parametric statistic that has been successfully applied to genome-wide association studies and differentially gene and miRNA expression analysis. However, the data used in these applications are not gold standard but real data. METHODS: Therefore, this study attempts to test the feasibility of MIC for differentially expressed gene identification with simulation data. RESULTS: Our experiments indicate that, MIC perfermance is …better than Limma always, which is almost the same level of SAM, ROTS or DESeq2. However, the count of AUC < 0.5 of MIC is significantly smaller than the three methods, and MIC does not exhibit an abnormal phenomenon in which the AUC increases as the noise increases. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the existing methods, our experiments show that MIC is not only in the first tier in identifying differentially expressed genes and noise immunity, but also shows better robustness and stronger data/environment adaptability. Show more

Keywords: Maximal information coefficient, differentially expressed gene, identification, feasibility

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199024

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 249-262, 2019

Authors: Li, Hongbo | Wang, Ziyu | Zhang, Jia | Yuan, Chenyan | Zhang, Hao | Hou, Xinxin | Zhang, Dongsheng

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Traditional cancer treatments such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy destroy both cancer and normal cells, which limit their clinical application. It is difficult to achieve the best results for any liver cancer patients using any single treatment method. Gene therapy for HCC demands non-invasive, efficient, targeted and safe gene transfection strategies. OBJECTIVE: In this study, a nonviral shRNA gene delivery system utilizing a combination of PEI, US, and NBs was developed for targeting survivin in liver Cancer. METHODS AND RESULTS: The PEI-shRNA-NBs cumulated in the tumor tissue because of the EPR effect. By …exposure to the US, micelles shRNA may be released from PEI-shRNA-NBs in tumor tissues and the shRNA then transmitted efficiently to cancer cells. Considerably enhanced therapeutic outcome was obtained with the gene silencing effect enhanced. CONCLUSIONS: PEI-shRNA-NBs possess the potential to become promising tools intended for shRNA delivery. Show more

Keywords: Nanobubbles, transfection, shRNA, gene carrier, ultrasound

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199025

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 263-272, 2019

Authors: Xu, Jia | Li, Gen | Zhao, Shuanglin | Chen, Mingsheng | Chen, Jingbo | Xu, Lin | Wang, Feng | Bai, Zelin | Qin, Mingxin | Sun, Jian

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Cerebral edema is a common secondary disease after stroke. It is very important to realize real-time continuous monitoring of cerebral edema for stroke patients. OBJECTIVE: A non-contact magnetic induction phase shift (MIPS) detection system is used to monitor the change of global brain electrical conductivity during cerebral edema. METHODS: In order to verify the feasibility of this system monitoring, we carry out salt solution simulation experiments and healthy people breath holding experiments. As a comparison of later clinical experiments, 13 young healthy volunteers aged 22–35 are selected for this study to carry out a 10 …minute/time monitoring experiment. RESULTS: It is found that the MIPS values measured by the salt solution of edema and the salt solution of bleeding are significantly different. The results show that the MIPS value of healthy young people is in a stable state with an MIPS mean value of 1.106 (± 0.736) ∘ . Compare it with the monitoring results of a cerebral edema patient. The MIPS of patient fluctuates greatly, and the changes of MIPS and intracranial pressure show consistent trend at the peak of the edema period. CONCLUSIONS: We preliminarily verify that the system can be used for cerebral edema monitoring. Show more

Keywords: Magnetic induction phase shift, cerebral edema, healthy volunteer, intracranial pressure

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199026

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 273-285, 2019

Authors: Bai, Baodan | Li, Xiaoou | Yang, Cuiwei | Chen, Xinrong | Wang, Xuan | Wu, Zhong

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of persistent arrhythmia. Early diagnosis and intervention of AF is essential to avert the further fatality. The technique of noninvasive electrical mapping, especially the body surface potential mapping (BSPM), has a more practical application in the study of predicting AF, when compared with the invasive electrical mapping methods such as the epicardial mapping and interventional catheter mapping. However, the prediction of AF with noninvasive signals has been inadequately studied. Thus, the aim of this paper was to analyze the properties of atrial dynamic system based on the noninvasive BSPM signals …(BSPMs), using the recurrence complex network, and consequently to evaluate its role in predicting the recurrence of AF in clinical aspect. METHOD: Twelve patients with persistent AF were included in this study. Their preoperative and postoperative BSPMs were recorded. Initially, the preoperative BSPMs were transformed into the recurrence complex network to characterize the complexity property of the atria. Subsequently, the parameters of recurrence ratio (REC), determinism (DET), entropy of the diagonal structure distribution (ENTR), and laminarity (LAM) were calculated. Furthermore, the difference in the parameters in the four regions of the body and the difference obtained from the dominant frequency (DF) method were compared. Finally, the results obtained for the atrial dynamic system complexity from a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) from the BSPMs were discussed. RESULTS: Our study revealed that the patients whose REC is greater than an average threshold, and with a lower LAM presented a much higher possibility of AF recurrence, after the AF surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The recurrence complex network is a useful and convenient way to evaluate the nonlinear properties of the BSPMs in patients with AF. It has good immunity to the lead position and has a potential role in the understanding of predicting the recurrence of AF. Show more

Keywords: Atrial fibrillation (AF), body surface potential mapping (BSPM), complex network analysis, electrocardiogram (ECG)

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199027

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 287-300, 2019

Authors: Ma, Hong | Fu, Bo | Zhang, Xu | Wang, Liang | Li, Zhongqiu | Liu, Di

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: The human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell 117 (HSPC117) protein is involved in many important biological processes. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to identify the level of HSPC117 mRNA expression in 10 min pig tissue samples and HSPC117 subcellular localization in the PK15 cell line. METHODS: In this study, 10 tissue samples of min pigs were collected, and EGFP-HSPC117 vectors were constructed to express EGFP-HSPC117 fusion proteins in PK15 cells. RESULTS: HSPC117 mRNA was expressed in all of the tissue samples, although the levels of expression in fat and lung tissues were …significantly lower than in other tissues (P < 0.01). After generating and detecting the EGFP-HSPC117 fusion protein, fluorescence was found to be distributed throughout the cytoplasm and nucleus during interphase; however, the fluorescence was concentrated in the nuclear area in mitotic cells. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the HSPC117 gene is expressed in many min pig tissues. The HSPC117 protein was distributed throughout the cells during interphase, but was concentrated in the nuclear area in mitotic cells. Show more

Keywords: HSPC117, tissue expression, subcellular localization

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199028

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 301-306, 2019

Authors: Long, Junrong | Liu, Maojun | Liu, Shengquan | Tang, Feng | Tan, Wenting | Xiao, Ting | Chu, Chun | Yang, Jun

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE To investigate the roles and underlying mechanism of exogenous H 2 S (hydrogen sulfide) in attenuating the myocardial fibrosis in diabetic rats. METHODS: A total of 40 SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control group, STZ group, STZ + H 2 S group and H 2 S group. To build the DM rat model , the rats in the STZ group and STZ + H 2 S group were injected streptozotocin (STZ) intraperitoneally, While the rats …in the STZ + H 2 S group and the H 2 S group received sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), which provides exogenous H 2 S. Eight weeks later, the myocardial tissues of rats were used to detecting the collagen deposition through Masson staining, as well as some protein expressions related to myocardial fibrosis and signaling pathway by western blotting. RESULTS: Comparing to control group, the collagen deposition of myocardial matrix remarkably increased in the STZ group, and almost all the proteins that are relative to myocardial fibrosis, inflammatory and signaling pathway show an overexpression, except for PPARG and NF-κ Bp65. When Compared with the STZ group, the collagen deposition was obviously attenuated in STZ + H 2 S group, as well as the protein expressions above-mentioned, While PPARG was up-regulated. CONCLUSION: The myocardial fibrosis in DM rats can be attenuated effectively by exogenous H 2 S, and the underlying mechanism is likely to regulating PKC-ERK1/2MAPK signaling pathway, improving the MMPs/TIMPs expression dysregulation and inhibiting inflammatory reaction. Show more

Keywords: Exogenous hydrogen sulfide, DM rats, myocardial fibrosis, inflammatory reaction, protein kinase C, ERK1/ 2mitogen-activated protein kinase, MMPs/TIMPs expression dysregulation

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199029

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 307-316, 2019

Authors: Shao, Zeguo | Chen, Chen | Li, Wei | Ren, Haoran | Chen, Wei

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Stroke is a leading cause of mortality and disability, which can be affected by people’s daily living habits. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of main daily living habits (smoking, drinking, diet, vegetable and fruits consumption, and exercise) on stroke risk in patients and provide the scientific basis for the assessment of the risk factors, a novel risk analysis model of the stroke is proposed. METHODS: A data mining method using decision trees which adopted the optimized C4.5 algorithm is presented. It is able to deal with the unbalanced data problem of the classification. Meanwhile, …the proposed method has been verified on a clinical dataset of 23,682 patients with 21 risk factors. RESULTS: The overall accuracy and kappa coefficient for stroke risk classification has reached 84.88% and 0.7763, respectively. Through the generated knowledge rules, it demonstrates that the behavioral habits in daily life have an indirect effect on the risk of stroke. While, it has an obvious effect on stroke when hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and BMI risk factors exist. In addition, it was observed that the aforementioned five daily living habits have a decreased impact on the stroke. CONCLUSIONS: It is anticipated that the proposed system could help in reducing the risk, mortality, and disability of stroke, and provide clinical decision support for the treatment of stroke. Show more

Keywords: Stroke, decision tree, risk factor

DOI: 10.3233/THC-199030

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 317-329, 2019