SI-SHY: Dysregulated Fear in Toddlerhood Predicts Kindergarten Social Withdrawal through Protective Parenting.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiel, Elizabeth J; Buss, Kristin A

2014-05-01

Two recent advances in the study of fearful temperament (behavioral inhibition) include the validation of dysregulated fear as a temperamental construct that more specifically predicts later social withdrawal and anxiety, and the use of conceptual and statistical models that place parenting as a mechanism of development from temperament to these outcomes. The current study further advances these areas by examining whether protective parenting mediated the relation between dysregulated fear in toddlerhood and social withdrawal in kindergarten. Participants included 93 toddlers and their mothers, who engaged in laboratory tasks assessing traditional fearful temperament, dysregulated fear, and protective parenting. When children reached kindergarten, they returned to the laboratory for a multimethod assessment of social withdrawal. Results confirmed the hypothesis that dysregulated fear predicted social withdrawal through protective parenting, and this occurred above and beyond the effect of traditional fearful temperament. These findings bolster support for the use of dysregulated fear as a temperamental construct related to, but perhaps more discerning of risk than traditionally measured fearful temperament/behavioral inhibition and highlight the importance of transactional influences between the individual and the caregiving environment in the development of social withdrawal.

SI-SHY: Dysregulated Fear in Toddlerhood Predicts Kindergarten Social Withdrawal through Protective Parenting

Science.gov (United States)

Kiel, Elizabeth J.; Buss, Kristin A.

2014-01-01

Two recent advances in the study of fearful temperament (behavioral inhibition) include the validation of dysregulated fear as a temperamental construct that more specifically predicts later social withdrawal and anxiety, and the use of conceptual and statistical models that place parenting as a mechanism of development from temperament to these outcomes. The current study further advances these areas by examining whether protective parenting mediated the relation between dysregulated fear in toddlerhood and social withdrawal in kindergarten. Participants included 93 toddlers and their mothers, who engaged in laboratory tasks assessing traditional fearful temperament, dysregulated fear, and protective parenting. When children reached kindergarten, they returned to the laboratory for a multimethod assessment of social withdrawal. Results confirmed the hypothesis that dysregulated fear predicted social withdrawal through protective parenting, and this occurred above and beyond the effect of traditional fearful temperament. These findings bolster support for the use of dysregulated fear as a temperamental construct related to, but perhaps more discerning of risk than traditionally measured fearful temperament/behavioral inhibition and highlight the importance of transactional influences between the individual and the caregiving environment in the development of social withdrawal. PMID:25242893

Memory colour segmentation and classification using class-specific eigenregions

OpenAIRE

Fredembach, Clement; Estrada, Francisco; Süsstrunk, Sabine

2009-01-01

Memory colours refer to the colour of specific image regions that have the essential attribute of being perceived in a consistent manner by human observers. In colour correction-or rendering-tasks, this consistency implies that they have to be faithfully reproduced; their importance, in that respect, is greater than for other regions in an image. There are various schemes and attributes to detect memory colours, but the preferred method remains to segment the images into meaningful regions, a...

Emotion dysregulation mediates the relationship between child maltreatment and psychopathology: A structural equation model.

Science.gov (United States)

Jennissen, Simone; Holl, Julia; Mai, Hannah; Wolff, Sebastian; Barnow, Sven

2016-12-01

The present study investigated the mediating effects of emotion dysregulation on the relationship between child maltreatment and psychopathology. An adult sample (N=701) from diverse backgrounds of psychopathology completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the negative affect subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) in a cross-sectional online survey. Correlational analyses showed that all types of child maltreatment were uniformly associated with emotion dysregulation, and dimensions of emotion dysregulation were strongly related to psychopathology. Limited access to strategies for emotion regulation emerged as the most powerful predictor. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that emotion dysregulation partially mediated the relationship between child maltreatment and psychopathology, even after controlling for shared variance with negative affect. These findings emphasize the importance of emotion dysregulation as a possible mediating mechanism in the association between child maltreatment and later psychopathology. Additionally, interventions targeting specific emotion regulation strategies may be effective to reduce psychopathology in victims of child maltreatment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On the importance of FIB-SEM specific segmentation algorithms for porous media

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salzer, Martin, E-mail: martin.salzer@uni-ulm.de [Institute of Stochastics, Faculty of Mathematics and Economics, Ulm University, D-89069 Ulm (Germany); Thiele, Simon, E-mail: simon.thiele@imtek.uni-freiburg.de [Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK, Department of Microsystems Engineering, University of Freiburg, D-79110 Freiburg (Germany); Zengerle, Roland, E-mail: zengerle@imtek.uni-freiburg.de [Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK, Department of Microsystems Engineering, University of Freiburg, D-79110 Freiburg (Germany); Schmidt, Volker, E-mail: volker.schmidt@uni-ulm.de [Institute of Stochastics, Faculty of Mathematics and Economics, Ulm University, D-89069 Ulm (Germany)

2014-09-15

A new algorithmic approach to segmentation of highly porous three dimensional image data gained by focused ion beam tomography is described which extends the key-principle of local threshold backpropagation described in Salzer et al. (2012). The technique of focused ion beam tomography has shown to be capable of imaging the microstructure of functional materials. In order to perform a quantitative analysis on the corresponding microstructure a segmentation task needs to be performed. However, algorithmic segmentation of images obtained with focused ion beam tomography is a challenging problem for highly porous materials if filling the pore phase, e.g. with epoxy resin, is difficult. The gray intensities of individual voxels are not sufficient to determine the phase represented by them and usual thresholding methods are not applicable. We thus propose a new approach to segmentation that pays respect to the specifics of the imaging process of focused ion beam tomography. As an application of our approach, the segmentation of three dimensional images for a cathode material used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells is discussed. We show that our approach preserves significantly more of the original nanostructure than a thresholding approach. - Highlights: • We describe a new approach to the segmentation of FIB-SEM images of porous media. • The first and last occurrences of structures are detected by analysing the z-profiles. • The algorithm is validated by comparing it to a manual segmentation. • The new approach shows significantly less artifacts than a thresholding approach. • A structural analysis also shows improved results for the obtained microstructure.

Modelling of subject specific based segmental dynamics of knee joint

Science.gov (United States)

Nasir, N. H. M.; Ibrahim, B. S. K. K.; Huq, M. S.; Ahmad, M. K. I.

2017-09-01

This study determines segmental dynamics parameters based on subject specific method. Five hemiplegic patients participated in the study, two men and three women. Their ages ranged from 50 to 60 years, weights from 60 to 70 kg and heights from 145 to 170 cm. Sample group included patients with different side of stroke. The parameters of the segmental dynamics resembling the knee joint functions measured via measurement of Winter and its model generated via the employment Kane's equation of motion. Inertial parameters in the form of the anthropometry can be identified and measured by employing Standard Human Dimension on the subjects who are in hemiplegia condition. The inertial parameters are the location of centre of mass (COM) at the length of the limb segment, inertia moment around the COM and masses of shank and foot to generate accurate motion equations. This investigation has also managed to dig out a few advantages of employing the table of anthropometry in movement biomechanics of Winter's and Kane's equation of motion. A general procedure is presented to yield accurate measurement of estimation for the inertial parameters for the joint of the knee of certain subjects with stroke history.

Dysregulated pH in Tumor Microenvironment Checkmates Cancer Therapy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaleh Barar

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The dysregulation of pH by cancerous cells of solid tumors is able to create a unique milieu that is in favor of progression, invasion and metastasis as well as chemo-/immuno-resistance traits of solid tumors. Bioelements involved in pH dysregulation provide new set of oncotargets, inhibition of which may result in better clinical outcome. Methods: To study the impacts of pH dysregulation, we investigated the tumor development and progression in relation with Warburg effect, glycolysis and formation of aberrant tumor microenvironment. Results: The upregulation of glucose transporter GLUT-1 and several enzymes involve in glycolysis exacerbates this phenomenon. The accumulation of lactic acids in cancer cells provokes upregulation of several transport machineries (MCT-1, NHE-1, CA IX and H+ pump V-ATPase resulting in reinforced efflux of proton into extracellular fluid. This deviant event makes pH to be settled at 7.4 and 6.6 respectively in cancer cells cytoplasm and extracellular fluid within the tumor microenvironment, which in return triggers secretion of lysosomal components (various enzymes in acidic milieu with pH 5 into cytoplasm. All these anomalous phenomena make tumor microenvironment (TME to be exposed to cocktail of various enzymes with acidic pH, upon which extracellular matrix (ECM can be remodeled and even deformed, resulting in emergence of a complex viscose TME with high interstitial fluid pressure. Conclusion: It seems that pH dysregulation is able to remodel various physiologic functions and make solid tumors to become much more invasive and metastatic. It also can cause undesired resistance to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Hence, cancer therapy needs to be reinforced using specific inhibitors of bioelements involved in pH dysregulation of TME in solid tumors.

Automatic prostate MR image segmentation with sparse label propagation and domain-specific manifold regularization.

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Shu; Gao, Yaozong; Shi, Yinghuan; Yousuf, Ambereen; Karademir, Ibrahim; Oto, Aytekin; Shen, Dinggang

2013-01-01

Automatic prostate segmentation in MR images plays an important role in prostate cancer diagnosis. However, there are two main challenges: (1) Large inter-subject prostate shape variations; (2) Inhomogeneous prostate appearance. To address these challenges, we propose a new hierarchical prostate MR segmentation method, with the main contributions lying in the following aspects: First, the most salient features are learnt from atlases based on a subclass discriminant analysis (SDA) method, which aims to find a discriminant feature subspace by simultaneously maximizing the inter-class distance and minimizing the intra-class variations. The projected features, instead of only voxel-wise intensity, will be served as anatomical signature of each voxel. Second, based on the projected features, a new multi-atlases sparse label fusion framework is proposed to estimate the prostate likelihood of each voxel in the target image from the coarse level. Third, a domain-specific semi-supervised manifold regularization method is proposed to incorporate the most reliable patient-specific information identified by the prostate likelihood map to refine the segmentation result from the fine level. Our method is evaluated on a T2 weighted prostate MR image dataset consisting of 66 patients and compared with two state-of-the-art segmentation methods. Experimental results show that our method consistently achieves the highest segmentation accuracies than other methods under comparison.

Subject-Specific Sparse Dictionary Learning for Atlas-Based Brain MRI Segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Snehashis; He, Qing; Sweeney, Elizabeth; Carass, Aaron; Reich, Daniel S; Prince, Jerry L; Pham, Dzung L

2015-09-01

Quantitative measurements from segmentations of human brain magnetic resonance (MR) images provide important biomarkers for normal aging and disease progression. In this paper, we propose a patch-based tissue classification method from MR images that uses a sparse dictionary learning approach and atlas priors. Training data for the method consists of an atlas MR image, prior information maps depicting where different tissues are expected to be located, and a hard segmentation. Unlike most atlas-based classification methods that require deformable registration of the atlas priors to the subject, only affine registration is required between the subject and training atlas. A subject-specific patch dictionary is created by learning relevant patches from the atlas. Then the subject patches are modeled as sparse combinations of learned atlas patches leading to tissue memberships at each voxel. The combination of prior information in an example-based framework enables us to distinguish tissues having similar intensities but different spatial locations. We demonstrate the efficacy of the approach on the application of whole-brain tissue segmentation in subjects with healthy anatomy and normal pressure hydrocephalus, as well as lesion segmentation in multiple sclerosis patients. For each application, quantitative comparisons are made against publicly available state-of-the art approaches.

Spatially adapted augmentation of age-specific atlas-based segmentation using patch-based priors

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Mengyuan; Seshamani, Sharmishtaa; Harrylock, Lisa; Kitsch, Averi; Miller, Steven; Chau, Van; Poskitt, Kenneth; Rousseau, Francois; Studholme, Colin

2014-03-01

One of the most common approaches to MRI brain tissue segmentation is to employ an atlas prior to initialize an Expectation- Maximization (EM) image labeling scheme using a statistical model of MRI intensities. This prior is commonly derived from a set of manually segmented training data from the population of interest. However, in cases where subject anatomy varies significantly from the prior anatomical average model (for example in the case where extreme developmental abnormalities or brain injuries occur), the prior tissue map does not provide adequate information about the observed MRI intensities to ensure the EM algorithm converges to an anatomically accurate labeling of the MRI. In this paper, we present a novel approach for automatic segmentation of such cases. This approach augments the atlas-based EM segmentation by exploring methods to build a hybrid tissue segmentation scheme that seeks to learn where an atlas prior fails (due to inadequate representation of anatomical variation in the statistical atlas) and utilize an alternative prior derived from a patch driven search of the atlas data. We describe a framework for incorporating this patch-based augmentation of EM (PBAEM) into a 4D age-specific atlas-based segmentation of developing brain anatomy. The proposed approach was evaluated on a set of MRI brain scans of premature neonates with ages ranging from 27.29 to 46.43 gestational weeks (GWs). Results indicated superior performance compared to the conventional atlas-based segmentation method, providing improved segmentation accuracy for gray matter, white matter, ventricles and sulcal CSF regions.

GeoSegmenter: A statistically learned Chinese word segmenter for the geoscience domain

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Lan; Du, Youfu; Chen, Gongyang

2015-03-01

Unlike English, the Chinese language has no space between words. Segmenting texts into words, known as the Chinese word segmentation (CWS) problem, thus becomes a fundamental issue for processing Chinese documents and the first step in many text mining applications, including information retrieval, machine translation and knowledge acquisition. However, for the geoscience subject domain, the CWS problem remains unsolved. Although a generic segmenter can be applied to process geoscience documents, they lack the domain specific knowledge and consequently their segmentation accuracy drops dramatically. This motivated us to develop a segmenter specifically for the geoscience subject domain: the GeoSegmenter. We first proposed a generic two-step framework for domain specific CWS. Following this framework, we built GeoSegmenter using conditional random fields, a principled statistical framework for sequence learning. Specifically, GeoSegmenter first identifies general terms by using a generic baseline segmenter. Then it recognises geoscience terms by learning and applying a model that can transform the initial segmentation into the goal segmentation. Empirical experimental results on geoscience documents and benchmark datasets showed that GeoSegmenter could effectively recognise both geoscience terms and general terms.

Childhood trauma and eating psychopathology: a mediating role for dissociation and emotion dysregulation?

Science.gov (United States)

Moulton, Stuart J; Newman, Emily; Power, Kevin; Swanson, Vivien; Day, Kenny

2015-01-01

The present study examined the relationship between different forms of childhood trauma and eating psychopathology using a multiple mediation model that included emotion dysregulation and dissociation as hypothesised mediators. 142 female undergraduate psychology students studying at two British Universities participated in this cross-sectional study. Participants completed measures of childhood trauma (emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect and physical neglect), eating psychopathology, dissociation and emotion dysregulation. Multiple mediation analysis was conducted to investigate the study's proposed model. Results revealed that the multiple mediation model significantly predicted eating psychopathology. Additionally, both emotion dysregulation and dissociation were found to be significant mediators between childhood trauma and eating psychopathology. A specific indirect effect was observed between childhood emotional abuse and eating psychopathology through emotion dysregulation. Findings support previous research linking childhood trauma to eating psychopathology. They indicate that multiple forms of childhood trauma should be assessed for individuals with eating disorders. The possible maintaining role of emotion regulation processes should also be considered in the treatment of eating disorders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Timing of birth: Parsimony favors strategic over dysregulated parturition.

Science.gov (United States)

Catalano, Ralph; Goodman, Julia; Margerison-Zilko, Claire; Falconi, April; Gemmill, Alison; Karasek, Deborah; Anderson, Elizabeth

2016-01-01

The "dysregulated parturition" narrative posits that the human stress response includes a cascade of hormones that "dysregulates" and accelerates parturition but provides questionable utility as a guide to understand or prevent preterm birth. We offer and test a "strategic parturition" narrative that not only predicts the excess preterm births that dysregulated parturition predicts but also makes testable, sex-specific predictions of the effect of stressful environments on the timing of birth among term pregnancies. We use interrupted time-series modeling of cohorts conceived over 101 months to test for lengthening of early term male gestations in stressed population. We use an event widely reported to have stressed Americans and to have increased the incidence of low birth weight and fetal death across the country-the terrorist attacks of September 2001. We tested the hypothesis that the odds of male infants conceived in December 2000 (i.e., at term in September 2001) being born early as opposed to full term fell below the value expected from those conceived in the 50 prior and 50 following months. We found that term male gestations exposed to the terrorist attacks exhibited 4% lower likelihood of early, as opposed to full or late, term birth. Strategic parturition explains observed data for which the dysregulated parturition narrative offers no prediction-the timing of birth among gestations stressed at term. Our narrative may help explain why findings from studies examining associations between population- and/or individual-level stressors and preterm birth are generally mixed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Segmenting CT prostate images using population and patient-specific statistics for radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feng, Qianjin; Foskey, Mark; Chen Wufan; Shen Dinggang

2010-01-01

Purpose: In the segmentation of sequential treatment-time CT prostate images acquired in image-guided radiotherapy, accurately capturing the intrapatient variation of the patient under therapy is more important than capturing interpatient variation. However, using the traditional deformable-model-based segmentation methods, it is difficult to capture intrapatient variation when the number of samples from the same patient is limited. This article presents a new deformable model, designed specifically for segmenting sequential CT images of the prostate, which leverages both population and patient-specific statistics to accurately capture the intrapatient variation of the patient under therapy. Methods: The novelty of the proposed method is twofold: First, a weighted combination of gradient and probability distribution function (PDF) features is used to build the appearance model to guide model deformation. The strengths of each feature type are emphasized by dynamically adjusting the weight between the profile-based gradient features and the local-region-based PDF features during the optimization process. An additional novel aspect of the gradient-based features is that, to alleviate the effect of feature inconsistency in the regions of gas and bone adjacent to the prostate, the optimal profile length at each landmark is calculated by statistically investigating the intensity profile in the training set. The resulting gradient-PDF combined feature produces more accurate and robust segmentations than general gradient features. Second, an online learning mechanism is used to build shape and appearance statistics for accurately capturing intrapatient variation. Results: The performance of the proposed method was evaluated on 306 images of the 24 patients. Compared to traditional gradient features, the proposed gradient-PDF combination features brought 5.2% increment in the success ratio of segmentation (from 94.1% to 99.3%). To evaluate the effectiveness of online

Segmenting CT prostate images using population and patient-specific statistics for radiotherapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feng, Qianjin; Foskey, Mark; Chen Wufan; Shen Dinggang [Biomedical Engineering College, South Medical University, Guangzhou (China) and Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27510 (United States); Department of Radiation Oncology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599 (United States); Biomedical Engineering College, South Medical University, Guangzhou 510510 (China); Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27510 (United States)

2010-08-15

Purpose: In the segmentation of sequential treatment-time CT prostate images acquired in image-guided radiotherapy, accurately capturing the intrapatient variation of the patient under therapy is more important than capturing interpatient variation. However, using the traditional deformable-model-based segmentation methods, it is difficult to capture intrapatient variation when the number of samples from the same patient is limited. This article presents a new deformable model, designed specifically for segmenting sequential CT images of the prostate, which leverages both population and patient-specific statistics to accurately capture the intrapatient variation of the patient under therapy. Methods: The novelty of the proposed method is twofold: First, a weighted combination of gradient and probability distribution function (PDF) features is used to build the appearance model to guide model deformation. The strengths of each feature type are emphasized by dynamically adjusting the weight between the profile-based gradient features and the local-region-based PDF features during the optimization process. An additional novel aspect of the gradient-based features is that, to alleviate the effect of feature inconsistency in the regions of gas and bone adjacent to the prostate, the optimal profile length at each landmark is calculated by statistically investigating the intensity profile in the training set. The resulting gradient-PDF combined feature produces more accurate and robust segmentations than general gradient features. Second, an online learning mechanism is used to build shape and appearance statistics for accurately capturing intrapatient variation. Results: The performance of the proposed method was evaluated on 306 images of the 24 patients. Compared to traditional gradient features, the proposed gradient-PDF combination features brought 5.2% increment in the success ratio of segmentation (from 94.1% to 99.3%). To evaluate the effectiveness of online

Dysregulated sexuality and high sexual desire: distinct constructs?

Science.gov (United States)

Winters, Jason; Christoff, Kalina; Gorzalka, Boris B

2010-10-01

The literature on dysregulated sexuality, whether theoretical, clinical or empirical, has failed to differentiate the construct from high sexual desire. In this study, we tested three hypotheses which addressed this issue. A sample of 6458 men and 7938 women, some of whom had sought treatment for sexual compulsivity, addiction or impulsivity, completed an online survey comprised of various sexuality measures. Men and women who reported having sought treatment scored significantly higher on measures of dysregulated sexuality and sexual desire. For men, women, and those who had sought treatment, dysregulated sexuality was associated with increased sexual desire. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a one-factor model, indicating that, in both male and female participants, dysregulated sexuality and sexual desire variables loaded onto a single underlying factor. The results of this study suggest that dysregulated sexuality, as currently conceptualized, labelled, and measured, may simply be a marker of high sexual desire and the distress associated with managing a high degree of sexual thoughts, feelings, and needs.

Sport-Specific Training Targeting the Proximal Segments and Throwing Velocity in Collegiate Throwing Athletes

Science.gov (United States)

Palmer, Thomas; Uhl, Timothy L.; Howell, Dana; Hewett, Timothy E.; Viele, Kert; Mattacola, Carl G.

2015-01-01

Context The ability to generate, absorb, and transmit forces through the proximal segments of the pelvis, spine, and trunk has been proposed to influence sport performance, yet traditional training techniques targeting the proximal segments have had limited success improving sport-specific performance. Objective To investigate the effects of a traditional endurance-training program and a sport-specific power-training program targeting the muscles that support the proximal segments and throwing velocity. Design Randomized controlled clinical trial. Setting University research laboratory and gymnasium. Patients or Other Participants A total of 46 (age = 20 ± 1.3 years, height = 175.7 ± 8.7 cm) healthy National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III female softball (n = 17) and male baseball (n = 29) players. Intervention(s) Blocked stratification for sex and position was used to randomly assign participants to 1 of 2 training groups for 7 weeks: a traditional endurance-training group (ET group; n = 21) or a power-stability–training group (PS group; n = 25). Mean Outcome Measure(s) The change score in peak throwing velocity (km/h) normalized for body weight (BW; kilograms) and change score in tests that challenge the muscles of the proximal segments normalized for BW (kilograms). We used 2-tailed independent-samples t tests to compare differences between the change scores. Results The peak throwing velocity (ET group = 0.01 ± 0.1 km/h/kg of BW, PS group = 0.08 ± 0.03 km/h/kg of BW; P < .001) and muscle power outputs for the chop (ET group = 0.22 ± 0.91 W/kg of BW, PS group = 1.3 ± 0.91 W/kg of BW; P < .001) and lift (ET group = 0.59 ± 0.67 W/kg of BW, PS group = 1.4 ± 0.87 W/kg of BW; P < .001) tests were higher at postintervention in the PT than in the ET group. Conclusions An improvement in throwing velocity occurred simultaneously with measures of muscular endurance and power after a sport-specific training regimen targeting the proximal segments

Segmentation: Identification of consumer segments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Høg, Esben

2005-01-01

It is very common to categorise people, especially in the advertising business. Also traditional marketing theory has taken in consumer segments as a favorite topic. Segmentation is closely related to the broader concept of classification. From a historical point of view, classification has its...... origin in other sciences as for example biology, anthropology etc. From an economic point of view, it is called segmentation when specific scientific techniques are used to classify consumers to different characteristic groupings. What is the purpose of segmentation? For example, to be able to obtain...... a basic understanding of grouping people. Advertising agencies may use segmentation totarget advertisements, while food companies may usesegmentation to develop products to various groups of consumers. MAPP has for example investigated the positioning of fish in relation to other food products...

DEGAS: de novo discovery of dysregulated pathways in human diseases.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor Ulitsky

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Molecular studies of the human disease transcriptome typically involve a search for genes whose expression is significantly dysregulated in sick individuals compared to healthy controls. Recent studies have found that only a small number of the genes in human disease-related pathways show consistent dysregulation in sick individuals. However, those studies found that some pathway genes are affected in most sick individuals, but genes can differ among individuals. While a pathway is usually defined as a set of genes known to share a specific function, pathway boundaries are frequently difficult to assign, and methods that rely on such definition cannot discover novel pathways. Protein interaction networks can potentially be used to overcome these problems. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We present DEGAS (DysrEgulated Gene set Analysis via Subnetworks, a method for identifying connected gene subnetworks significantly enriched for genes that are dysregulated in specimens of a disease. We applied DEGAS to seven human diseases and obtained statistically significant results that appear to home in on compact pathways enriched with hallmarks of the diseases. In Parkinson's disease, we provide novel evidence for involvement of mRNA splicing, cell proliferation, and the 14-3-3 complex in the disease progression. DEGAS is available as part of the MATISSE software package (http://acgt.cs.tau.ac.il/matisse. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The subnetworks identified by DEGAS can provide a signature of the disease potentially useful for diagnosis, pinpoint possible pathways affected by the disease, and suggest targets for drug intervention.

The Relationship between Childhood Maltreatment and Emotional Dysregulation in Self Mutilation: An Investigation among Substance Dependent Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Karagöz, Başak; Dağ, İhsan

2015-03-01

The present study aims to examine the role of emotion dysregulation and childhood maltreatment in self mutilation (SM) of substance dependent patients. Specifically, the present study examined whether emotion dysregulation and its dimensions, and childhood maltreatment and its dimensions were associated with SM. The relationship between emotion dysregulation and childhood maltreatment was also investigated. The sample of study consisted of 55 alcohol dependent and 24 opiate dependent patients (n=79). Substance dependence was diagnosed by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR (SCID-I), Turkish version. Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) were used. Findings indicated that substance dependents with SM and without SM were differentiated in terms of overall emotion dysregulation. Results also suggest the relevance of three specific dimensions of emotion dysregulation to SM: Difficulties engaging in goal-directed behaviors when experiencing negative emotions, difficulties controlling impulsive behaviors when experiencing negative emotions, and limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies. These dimensions were predicted from childhood emotional maltreatment and neglect. It is also revealed that substance dependents with SM had higher points than those without SM on emotional childhood maltreatment and neglect, physical childhood maltreatment. Results were supported by the literature suggested that self-mutilation functions as a emotional regulation strategy. Findings also suggested that self- mutilation is related to early relationships take place in family environment in which individuals grow up.

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: current insights

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baweja R

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Raman Baweja, Susan D Mayes, Usman Hameed, James G Waxmonsky Department of Psychiatry, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA Abstract: Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD was introduced as a new diagnostic entity under the category of depressive disorders in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5. It was included in DSM-5 primarily to address concerns about the misdiagnosis and consequent overtreatment of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. DMDD does provide a home for a large percentage of referred children with severe persistent irritability that did not fit well into any DSM, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV diagnostic category. However, it has been a controversial addition to the DSM-5 due to lack of published validity studies, leading to questions about its validity as a distinct disorder. In this article, the authors discuss the diagnostic criteria, assessment, epidemiology, criticism of the diagnosis, and pathophysiology, as well as treatment and future directions for DMDD. They also review the literature on severe mood dysregulation, as described by the National Institute of Mental Health, as the scientific support for DMDD is based primarily on studies of severe mood dysregulation. Keywords: disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, persistent irritability, temper outbursts 

Dysregulated Fear in Toddlerhood Predicts Kindergarten Social Withdrawal through Protective Parenting

Science.gov (United States)

Kiel, Elizabeth J.; Buss, Kristin A.

2014-01-01

Two recent advances in the study of fearful temperament (behavioural inhibition) include the validation of dysregulated fear as a temperamental construct that more specifically predicts later social withdrawal and anxiety, and the use of conceptual and statistical models that place parenting as a mechanism of development from temperament to these…

MicroRNA function and dysregulation in bone tumors: the evidence to date

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nugent, Mary

2014-01-01

Micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA segments that have a role in the regulation of normal cellular development and proliferation including normal osteogenesis. They exert their effects through inhibition of specific target genes at the post-transcriptional level. Many miRNAs have altered expression levels in cancer (either increased or decreased depending on the specific miRNA). Altered miRNA expression profiles have been identified in several malignancies including primary bone tumors such as osteosarcoma and Ewing’s sarcoma. It is thought that they may function as tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes and hence when dysregulated contribute to the initiation and progression of malignancy. miRNAs are also thought to have a role in the development of bone metastases in other malignancies. In addition, evidence increasingly suggests that miRNAs may play a part in determining the response to chemotherapy in the treatment of osteosarcoma. These molecules are readily detectable in tissues, both fresh and formalin fixed paraffin embedded and, more recently, in blood. Although there are fewer published studies regarding circulating miRNA profiles, they appear to reflect changes in tissue expression. Thus miRNAs may serve as potential indicators of disease presence but more importantly, may have a role in disease characterization or as potential therapeutic targets. This review gives a brief overview of miRNA biochemistry and explores the evidence to date implicating these small molecules in the pathogenesis of bone tumors

MicroRNA function and dysregulation in bone tumors: the evidence to date.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Nugent, Mary

2014-01-01

Micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA segments that have a role in the regulation of normal cellular development and proliferation including normal osteogenesis. They exert their effects through inhibition of specific target genes at the post-transcriptional level. Many miRNAs have altered expression levels in cancer (either increased or decreased depending on the specific miRNA). Altered miRNA expression profiles have been identified in several malignancies including primary bone tumors such as osteosarcoma and Ewing\\'s sarcoma. It is thought that they may function as tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes and hence when dysregulated contribute to the initiation and progression of malignancy. miRNAs are also thought to have a role in the development of bone metastases in other malignancies. In addition, evidence increasingly suggests that miRNAs may play a part in determining the response to chemotherapy in the treatment of osteosarcoma. These molecules are readily detectable in tissues, both fresh and formalin fixed paraffin embedded and, more recently, in blood. Although there are fewer published studies regarding circulating miRNA profiles, they appear to reflect changes in tissue expression. Thus miRNAs may serve as potential indicators of disease presence but more importantly, may have a role in disease characterization or as potential therapeutic targets. This review gives a brief overview of miRNA biochemistry and explores the evidence to date implicating these small molecules in the pathogenesis of bone tumors.

Generic method for automatic bladder segmentation on cone beam CT using a patient-specific bladder shape model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schoot, A. J. A. J. van de; Schooneveldt, G.; Wognum, S.; Stalpers, L. J. A.; Rasch, C. R. N.; Bel, A.; Hoogeman, M. S.; Chai, X.

2014-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study is to develop and validate a generic method for automatic bladder segmentation on cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), independent of gender and treatment position (prone or supine), using only pretreatment imaging data. Methods: Data of 20 patients, treated for tumors in the pelvic region with the entire bladder visible on CT and CBCT, were divided into four equally sized groups based on gender and treatment position. The full and empty bladder contour, that can be acquired with pretreatment CT imaging, were used to generate a patient-specific bladder shape model. This model was used to guide the segmentation process on CBCT. To obtain the bladder segmentation, the reference bladder contour was deformed iteratively by maximizing the cross-correlation between directional grey value gradients over the reference and CBCT bladder edge. To overcome incorrect segmentations caused by CBCT image artifacts, automatic adaptations were implemented. Moreover, locally incorrect segmentations could be adapted manually. After each adapted segmentation, the bladder shape model was expanded and new shape patterns were calculated for following segmentations. All available CBCTs were used to validate the segmentation algorithm. The bladder segmentations were validated by comparison with the manual delineations and the segmentation performance was quantified using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), surface distance error (SDE) and SD of contour-to-contour distances. Also, bladder volumes obtained by manual delineations and segmentations were compared using a Bland-Altman error analysis. Results: The mean DSC, mean SDE, and mean SD of contour-to-contour distances between segmentations and manual delineations were 0.87, 0.27 cm and 0.22 cm (female, prone), 0.85, 0.28 cm and 0.22 cm (female, supine), 0.89, 0.21 cm and 0.17 cm (male, supine) and 0.88, 0.23 cm and 0.17 cm (male, prone), respectively. Manual local adaptations improved the segmentation

Status of the segment interconnect, cable segment ancillary logic, and the cable segment hybrid driver projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swoboda, C.; Barsotti, E.; Chappa, S.; Downing, R.; Goeransson, G.; Lensy, D.; Moore, G.; Rotolo, C.; Urish, J.

1985-01-01

The FASTBUS Segment Interconnect (SI) provides a communication path between two otherwise independent, asynchronous bus segments. In particular, the Segment Interconnect links a backplane crate segment to a cable segment. All standard FASTBUS address and data transactions can be passed through the SI or any number of SIs and segments in a path. Thus systems of arbitrary connection complexity can be formed, allowing simultaneous independent processing, yet still permitting devices associated with one segment to be accessed from others. The model S1 Segment Interconnect and the Cable Segment Ancillary Logic covered in this report comply with all the mandatory features stated in the FASTBUS specification document DOE/ER-0189. A block diagram of the SI is shown

An Emerging Role for Long Non-Coding RNA Dysregulation in Neurological Disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elio Scarpini

2013-10-01

Full Text Available A novel class of transcripts, long non coding RNAs (lncRNAs, has recently emerged as key players in several biological processes, including dosage compensation, genomic imprinting, chromatin regulation, embryonic development and segmentation, stem cell pluripotency, cell fate determination and potentially many other biological processes, which still are to be elucidated. LncRNAs are pervasively transcribed in the genome and several lines of evidence correlate dysregulation of different lncRNAs to human diseases including neurological disorders. Although their mechanisms of action are yet to be fully elucidated, evidence suggests lncRNA contributions to the pathogenesis of a number of diseases. In this review, the current state of knowledge linking lncRNAs to different neurological disorders is discussed and potential future directions are considered.

An Emerging Role for Long Non-Coding RNA Dysregulation in Neurological Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Fenoglio, Chiara; Ridolfi, Elisa; Galimberti, Daniela; Scarpini, Elio

2013-01-01

A novel class of transcripts, long non coding RNAs (lncRNAs), has recently emerged as key players in several biological processes, including dosage compensation, genomic imprinting, chromatin regulation, embryonic development and segmentation, stem cell pluripotency, cell fate determination and potentially many other biological processes, which still are to be elucidated. LncRNAs are pervasively transcribed in the genome and several lines of evidence correlate dysregulation of different lncRNAs to human diseases including neurological disorders. Although their mechanisms of action are yet to be fully elucidated, evidence suggests lncRNA contributions to the pathogenesis of a number of diseases. In this review, the current state of knowledge linking lncRNAs to different neurological disorders is discussed and potential future directions are considered. PMID:24129177

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Disordered Gambling: Assessing the Mediating Role of Emotion Dysregulation.

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Poole, Julia C; Kim, Hyoun S; Dobson, Keith S; Hodgins, David C

2017-12-01

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as sexual and physical abuse, have been established as risk factors for the development of disordered gambling. The underlying mechanism by which ACEs influence disordered gambling, however, remains unknown. The aims of the present research were to comprehensively investigate ten types of childhood adversity and their relationships to disordered gambling in adulthood, and to test whether emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between ACEs and disordered gambling. A sample of community gamblers (N = 414) completed self-report measures of ACEs, emotion dysregulation, and gambling severity. Results revealed a significant association between all but one type (physical abuse) of ACEs and disordered gambling. Further, the results highlighted the cumulative impact of ACEs on gambling. Specifically, individuals who experienced three or more types of ACEs were more than three times as likely to report disordered gambling as compared to individuals with no history of childhood adversity. Importantly, as hypothesized, emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between ACEs and disordered gambling. Findings from this research describe the association between ACEs and gambling and indicate a causal link between childhood adversity and disordered gambling. Results suggest that treatment initiatives may do well to address both ACEs and emotion dysregulation in the treatment of problem gambling.

The impact of childhood abuse on inpatient substance users: specific links with risky sex, aggression, and emotion dysregulation.

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Banducci, Anne N; Hoffman, Elana M; Lejuez, C W; Koenen, Karestan C

2014-05-01

Adults with substance use disorders (SUDs) report a high prevalence of childhood abuse. Research in the general population suggests specific types of abuse lead to particular negative outcomes; it is not known whether this pattern holds for adults with SUDs. We hypothesized that specific types of abuse would be associated with particular behavioral and emotional outcomes among substance users. That is, childhood sexual abuse would be associated with risky sex behaviors, childhood physical abuse with aggression, and childhood emotional abuse with emotion dysregulation. 280 inpatients (M age=43.3; 69.7% male; 88.4% African American) in substance use treatment completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), HIV Risk-Taking Behavior Scale, Addiction Severity Index, Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), and Affect Intensity and Dimensions of Affiliation Motivation (AIM). Consistent with our hypotheses, the CTQ sexual abuse subscale uniquely predicted exchanging sex for cocaine and heroin, number of arrests for prostitution, engaging in unprotected sex with a casual partner during the prior year, and experiencing low sexual arousal when sober. The physical abuse subscale uniquely predicted number of arrests for assault and weapons offenses. The emotional abuse subscale uniquely predicted the DERS total score, AIM score, and DTS score. Among substance users, different types of abuse are uniquely associated with specific negative effects. Assessment of specific abuse types among substance users may be informative in treatment planning and relapse prevention. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cytosine methylation dysregulation in neonates following intrauterine growth restriction.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francine Einstein

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Perturbations of the intrauterine environment can affect fetal development during critical periods of plasticity, and can increase susceptibility to a number of age-related diseases (e.g., type 2 diabetes mellitus; T2DM, manifesting as late as decades later. We hypothesized that this biological memory is mediated by permanent alterations of the epigenome in stem cell populations, and focused our studies specifically on DNA methylation in CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from cord blood from neonates with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR and control subjects.Our epigenomic assays utilized a two-stage design involving genome-wide discovery followed by quantitative, single-locus validation. We found that changes in cytosine methylation occur in response to IUGR of moderate degree and involving a restricted number of loci. We also identify specific loci that are targeted for dysregulation of DNA methylation, in particular the hepatocyte nuclear factor 4alpha (HNF4A gene, a well-known diabetes candidate gene not previously associated with growth restriction in utero, and other loci encoding HNF4A-interacting proteins.Our results give insights into the potential contribution of epigenomic dysregulation in mediating the long-term consequences of IUGR, and demonstrate the value of this approach to studies of the fetal origin of adult disease.

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder

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... Application Process Managing Grants Clinical Research Training Small Business Research Labs at NIMH Labs at NIMH Home Research ... Chat on Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (Archived Transcript) Research and ... Journal Articles: References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National ...

Dynamic Parameter Identification of Subject-Specific Body Segment Parameters Using Robotics Formalism: Case Study Head Complex.

Science.gov (United States)

Díaz-Rodríguez, Miguel; Valera, Angel; Page, Alvaro; Besa, Antonio; Mata, Vicente

2016-05-01

Accurate knowledge of body segment inertia parameters (BSIP) improves the assessment of dynamic analysis based on biomechanical models, which is of paramount importance in fields such as sport activities or impact crash test. Early approaches for BSIP identification rely on the experiments conducted on cadavers or through imaging techniques conducted on living subjects. Recent approaches for BSIP identification rely on inverse dynamic modeling. However, most of the approaches are focused on the entire body, and verification of BSIP for dynamic analysis for distal segment or chain of segments, which has proven to be of significant importance in impact test studies, is rarely established. Previous studies have suggested that BSIP should be obtained by using subject-specific identification techniques. To this end, our paper develops a novel approach for estimating subject-specific BSIP based on static and dynamics identification models (SIM, DIM). We test the validity of SIM and DIM by comparing the results using parameters obtained from a regression model proposed by De Leva (1996, "Adjustments to Zatsiorsky-Seluyanov's Segment Inertia Parameters," J. Biomech., 29(9), pp. 1223-1230). Both SIM and DIM are developed considering robotics formalism. First, the static model allows the mass and center of gravity (COG) to be estimated. Second, the results from the static model are included in the dynamics equation allowing us to estimate the moment of inertia (MOI). As a case study, we applied the approach to evaluate the dynamics modeling of the head complex. Findings provide some insight into the validity not only of the proposed method but also of the application proposed by De Leva (1996, "Adjustments to Zatsiorsky-Seluyanov's Segment Inertia Parameters," J. Biomech., 29(9), pp. 1223-1230) for dynamic modeling of body segments.

Cytosine Methylation Dysregulation in Neonates Following Intrauterine Growth Restriction

Science.gov (United States)

Bhagat, Tushar D.; Fazzari, Melissa J.; Verma, Amit; Barzilai, Nir; Greally, John M.

2010-01-01

Background Perturbations of the intrauterine environment can affect fetal development during critical periods of plasticity, and can increase susceptibility to a number of age-related diseases (e.g., type 2 diabetes mellitus; T2DM), manifesting as late as decades later. We hypothesized that this biological memory is mediated by permanent alterations of the epigenome in stem cell populations, and focused our studies specifically on DNA methylation in CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from cord blood from neonates with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and control subjects. Methods and Findings Our epigenomic assays utilized a two-stage design involving genome-wide discovery followed by quantitative, single-locus validation. We found that changes in cytosine methylation occur in response to IUGR of moderate degree and involving a restricted number of loci. We also identify specific loci that are targeted for dysregulation of DNA methylation, in particular the hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4A) gene, a well-known diabetes candidate gene not previously associated with growth restriction in utero, and other loci encoding HNF4A-interacting proteins. Conclusions Our results give insights into the potential contribution of epigenomic dysregulation in mediating the long-term consequences of IUGR, and demonstrate the value of this approach to studies of the fetal origin of adult disease. PMID:20126273

Automatic segmentation of thoracic and pelvic CT images for radiotherapy planning using implicit anatomic knowledge and organ-specific segmentation strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haas, B; Coradi, T; Scholz, M; Kunz, P; Huber, M; Oppitz, U; Andre, L; Lengkeek, V; Huyskens, D; Esch, A van; Reddick, R

2008-01-01

structures on the scale 1-excellent (no corrections necessary, maximum time saving), 2-good (corrections necessary for up to 1/3 of slices), 3-acceptable (major corrections necessary, but still time saving), 4-not acceptable (manual redrawing more efficient, no time saving). A rating ≤ 3 indicates a time saving in the treatment planning process and was given for pelvis segmentation in 70% (I) and 68% (II) of the cases, with average ratings 2.9 (I) and 2.6 (II). For the thorax, a rating ≤ 3 was given in 94% and 91% of the cases, with average ratings 2.1 and 1.9, respectively. For quantitative validation, automatically generated structures were compared geometrically in 2D and 3D to manually drawn structures created by experts on seven randomly selected cases. The quantitative validation was limited to pelvis structures. The results indicate that the accuracy of the algorithms is within the bandwidth of manual segmentation by experts, except for specific erroneous situations. Even though manual review and corrections of automatically segmented structures are still mandatory, it can be expected that due to the speed of the presented software and the quality of its results, its introduction in the radiotherapy treatment planning process will lead to a considerable amount of time being saved

Automatic bladder segmentation on CBCT for multiple plan ART of bladder cancer using a patient-specific bladder model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xiangfei, Chai; Hulshof, Maarten; Bel, Arjan [Department of Radiotherapy, Academic medical Center, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Van Herk, Marcel; Betgen, Anja [Department of Radiotherapy, The Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, 1066 CX, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2012-06-21

In multiple plan adaptive radiotherapy (ART) strategies of bladder cancer, a library of plans corresponding to different bladder volumes is created based on images acquired in early treatment sessions. Subsequently, the plan for the smallest PTV safely covering the bladder on cone-beam CT (CBCT) is selected as the plan of the day. The aim of this study is to develop an automatic bladder segmentation approach suitable for CBCT scans and test its ability to select the appropriate plan from the library of plans for such an ART procedure. Twenty-three bladder cancer patients with a planning CT and on average 11.6 CBCT scans were included in our study. For each patient, all CBCT scans were matched to the planning CT on bony anatomy. Bladder contours were manually delineated for each planning CT (for model building) and CBCT (for model building and validation). The automatic segmentation method consisted of two steps. A patient-specific bladder deformation model was built from the training data set of each patient (the planning CT and the first five CBCT scans). Then, the model was applied to automatically segment bladders in the validation data of the same patient (the remaining CBCT scans). Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the training data to model patient-specific bladder deformation patterns. The number of PCA modes for each patient was chosen such that the bladder shapes in the training set could be represented by such number of PCA modes with less than 0.1 cm mean residual error. The automatic segmentation started from the bladder shape of a reference CBCT, which was adjusted by changing the weight of each PCA mode. As a result, the segmentation contour was deformed consistently with the training set to fit the bladder in the validation image. A cost function was defined by the absolute difference between the directional gradient field of reference CBCT sampled on the corresponding bladder contour and the directional gradient field of validation

Automatic bladder segmentation on CBCT for multiple plan ART of bladder cancer using a patient-specific bladder model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chai Xiangfei; Hulshof, Maarten; Bel, Arjan; Van Herk, Marcel; Betgen, Anja

2012-01-01

In multiple plan adaptive radiotherapy (ART) strategies of bladder cancer, a library of plans corresponding to different bladder volumes is created based on images acquired in early treatment sessions. Subsequently, the plan for the smallest PTV safely covering the bladder on cone-beam CT (CBCT) is selected as the plan of the day. The aim of this study is to develop an automatic bladder segmentation approach suitable for CBCT scans and test its ability to select the appropriate plan from the library of plans for such an ART procedure. Twenty-three bladder cancer patients with a planning CT and on average 11.6 CBCT scans were included in our study. For each patient, all CBCT scans were matched to the planning CT on bony anatomy. Bladder contours were manually delineated for each planning CT (for model building) and CBCT (for model building and validation). The automatic segmentation method consisted of two steps. A patient-specific bladder deformation model was built from the training data set of each patient (the planning CT and the first five CBCT scans). Then, the model was applied to automatically segment bladders in the validation data of the same patient (the remaining CBCT scans). Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the training data to model patient-specific bladder deformation patterns. The number of PCA modes for each patient was chosen such that the bladder shapes in the training set could be represented by such number of PCA modes with less than 0.1 cm mean residual error. The automatic segmentation started from the bladder shape of a reference CBCT, which was adjusted by changing the weight of each PCA mode. As a result, the segmentation contour was deformed consistently with the training set to fit the bladder in the validation image. A cost function was defined by the absolute difference between the directional gradient field of reference CBCT sampled on the corresponding bladder contour and the directional gradient field of validation

What are Segments in Google Analytics

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Segments find all sessions that meet a specific condition. You can then apply this segment to any report in Google Analytics (GA). Segments are a way of identifying sessions and users while filters identify specific events, like pageviews.

Anxiety among adults with a history of childhood adversity: Psychological resilience moderates the indirect effect of emotion dysregulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Poole, Julia C; Dobson, Keith S; Pusch, Dennis

2017-08-01

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been widely identified as risk factors for increased symptoms of anxiety across the lifespan. Little is known, however, about the processes by which ACEs set the stage for increased symptoms of anxiety in adulthood. The current study evaluated whether emotion dysregulation and psychological resilience influence the association between ACEs and symptoms of anxiety. A sample of adult primary care patients (N=4006) completed self-report measures related to ACEs, symptoms of anxiety, emotion dysregulation, and psychological resilience. A moderated mediation analysis showed that emotion dysregulation mediated the association between ACEs and anxiety symptoms, and that the strength of this effect varied as a function of psychological resilience. Specifically, the influence of ACEs on emotional dysregulation was stronger among individuals with low levels of psychological resilience than among those with high levels of psychological resilience. These findings remained significant when controlling for a range of sociodemographic variables in the model. Cross-sectional designs preclude inferences about causality and self-report data may be susceptible to reporting biases. Other psychological variables that may be relevant to the current results, such as protective factors in childhood, were not assessed. These results have implications for the conceptualization of ACEs, emotion dysregulation, and psychological resilience in etiological models of anxiety. They also highlight the relevance of ACEs, emotion dysregulation, and psychological resilience to the detection, treatment, and prevention of anxiety disorders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computed tomography landmark-based semi-automated mesh morphing and mapping techniques: generation of patient specific models of the human pelvis without segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Salo, Zoryana; Beek, Maarten; Wright, David; Whyne, Cari Marisa

2015-04-13

Current methods for the development of pelvic finite element (FE) models generally are based upon specimen specific computed tomography (CT) data. This approach has traditionally required segmentation of CT data sets, which is time consuming and necessitates high levels of user intervention due to the complex pelvic anatomy. The purpose of this research was to develop and assess CT landmark-based semi-automated mesh morphing and mapping techniques to aid the generation and mechanical analysis of specimen-specific FE models of the pelvis without the need for segmentation. A specimen-specific pelvic FE model (source) was created using traditional segmentation methods and morphed onto a CT scan of a different (target) pelvis using a landmark-based method. The morphed model was then refined through mesh mapping by moving the nodes to the bone boundary. A second target model was created using traditional segmentation techniques. CT intensity based material properties were assigned to the morphed/mapped model and to the traditionally segmented target models. Models were analyzed to evaluate their geometric concurrency and strain patterns. Strains generated in a double-leg stance configuration were compared to experimental strain gauge data generated from the same target cadaver pelvis. CT landmark-based morphing and mapping techniques were efficiently applied to create a geometrically multifaceted specimen-specific pelvic FE model, which was similar to the traditionally segmented target model and better replicated the experimental strain results (R(2)=0.873). This study has shown that mesh morphing and mapping represents an efficient validated approach for pelvic FE model generation without the need for segmentation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dimensions of Emotion Dysregulation in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa: A Conceptual Review of the Empirical Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Lavender, Jason M.; Wonderlich, Stephen A.; Engel, Scott G.; Gordon, Kathryn H.; Kaye, Walter H.; Mitchell, James E.

2015-01-01

Several existing conceptual models and psychological interventions address or emphasize the role of emotion dysregulation in eating disorders. The current article uses Gratz and Roemer’s (2004) multidimensional model of emotion regulation and dysregulation as a clinically relevant framework to review the extant literature on emotion dysregulation in anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Specifically, the dimensions reviewed include: (1) the flexible use of adaptive and situationally appropriate strategies to modulate the duration and/or intensity of emotional responses, (2) the ability to successfully inhibit impulsive behavior and maintain goal-directed behavior in the context of emotional distress, (3) awareness, clarity, and acceptance of emotional states, and (4) the willingness to experience emotional distress in the pursuit of meaningful activities. The current review suggests that both AN and BN are characterized by broad emotion regulation deficits, with difficulties in emotion regulation across the four dimensions found to characterize both AN and BN, although a small number of more specific difficulties may distinguish the two disorders. The review concludes with a discussion of the clinical implications of the findings, as well as a summary of limitations of the existing empirical literature and suggestions for future research. PMID:26112760

MicroRNA regulation and dysregulation in epilepsy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danyella Barbosa Dogini

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Epilepsy, one of the most frequent neurological disorders, represents a group of diseases that have in common the clinical occurrence of seizures. The pathogenesis of different types of epilepsy involves many important biological pathways; some of which have been shown to be regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs. In this paper, we will critically review relevant studies regarding the role of miRNAs in epilepsy. Overall, the most common type of epilepsy in the adult population is temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE, and the form associated with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS, called mesial TLE, is particularly relevant due to the high frequency of resistance to clinical treatment. There are several target studies, as well few genome-wide miRNA expression profiling studies reporting abnormal miRNA expression in tissue with MTS, both in patients and in animal models. Overall, these studies show a fine correlation between miRNA regulation/dysregulation and inflammation, seizure-induced neuronal death and other relevant biological pathways. Furthermore, expression of many miRNAs is dynamically regulated during neurogenesis and its dysregulation may play a role in the process of cerebral corticogenesis leading to malformations of cortical development (MCD, which represent one of the major causes of drug-resistant epilepsy. In addition, there are reports of miRNAs involved in cell proliferation, fate specification and neuronal maturation and these processes are tightly linked to the pathogenesis of MCD. Large-scale analyzes of miRNA expression in animal models with induced status epilepticus have demonstrated changes in a selected group of miRNAs thought to be involved in the regulation of cell death, synaptic reorganization, neuroinflammation and neural excitability. In addition, knocking-down specific miRNAs in these animals have demonstrated that this may consist in a promising therapeutic intervention.

Emotion dysregulation and social competence: stability, change and predictive power.

Science.gov (United States)

Berkovits, L D; Baker, B L

2014-08-01

Social difficulties are closely linked to emotion dysregulation among children with typical development (TD). Children with developmental delays (DD) are at risk for poor social outcomes, but the relationship between social and emotional development within this population is not well understood. The current study examines the extent to which emotion dysregulation is related to social problems across middle childhood among children with TD or DD. Children with TD (IQ ≥ 85, n = 113) and children with DD (IQ ≤ 75, n = 61) participated in a longitudinal study. Annual assessments were completed at ages 7, 8 and 9 years. At each assessment, mothers reported on children's emotion dysregulation, and both mothers and teachers reported on children's social difficulties. Children with DD had higher levels of emotion dysregulation and social problems at each age than those with TD. Emotion dysregulation and social problems were significantly positively correlated within both TD and DD groups using mother report of social problems, and within the TD group using teacher report of social problems. Among children with TD, emotion dysregulation consistently predicted change in social problems from one year to the next. However, among children with DD, emotion dysregulation offered no unique prediction value above and beyond current social problems. Results suggested that the influence of emotion regulation abilities on social development may be a less salient pathway for children with DD. These children may have more influences, beyond emotion regulation, on their social behaviour, highlighting the importance of directly targeting social skill deficits among children with DD in order to ameliorate their social difficulties. © 2013 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Staphylococcal enterotoxins stimulate lymphoma-associated immune dysregulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krejsgaard, Thorbjørn Frej; Willerslev-Olsen, Andreas; Lindahl, Lise Maria

2014-01-01

a cascade of events involving cell-cell and asymmetric cytokine interactions between malignant and benign T cells, which stimulated the malignant T cells to express high levels of IL-10. Much evidence supports that malignant activation of the Stat3/IL-10 axis plays a key role in driving the immune...... dysregulation and severe immunodeficiency that characteristically develops in CTCL patients. The present findings thereby establish a novel link between SEs and immune dysregulation in CTCL strengthening the rationale for antibiotic treatment of colonized patients with severe or progressive disease....

Host-Specific and Segment-Specific Evolutionary Dynamics of Avian and Human Influenza A Viruses: A Systematic Review

KAUST Repository

Kim, Kiyeon

2016-01-13

Understanding the evolutionary dynamics of influenza viruses is essential to control both avian and human influenza. Here, we analyze host-specific and segment-specific Tajima’s D trends of influenza A virus through a systematic review using viral sequences registered in the National Center for Biotechnology Information. To avoid bias from viral population subdivision, viral sequences were stratified according to their sampling locations and sampling years. As a result, we obtained a total of 580 datasets each of which consists of nucleotide sequences of influenza A viruses isolated from a single population of hosts at a single sampling site within a single year. By analyzing nucleotide sequences in the datasets, we found that Tajima’s D values of viral sequences were different depending on hosts and gene segments. Tajima’s D values of viruses isolated from chicken and human samples showed negative, suggesting purifying selection or a rapid population growth of the viruses. The negative Tajima’s D values in rapidly growing viral population were also observed in computer simulations. Tajima’s D values of PB2, PB1, PA, NP, and M genes of the viruses circulating in wild mallards were close to zero, suggesting that these genes have undergone neutral selection in constant-sized population. On the other hand, Tajima’s D values of HA and NA genes of these viruses were positive, indicating HA and NA have undergone balancing selection in wild mallards. Taken together, these results indicated the existence of unknown factors that maintain viral subtypes in wild mallards.

Host-Specific and Segment-Specific Evolutionary Dynamics of Avian and Human Influenza A Viruses: A Systematic Review

KAUST Repository

Kim, Kiyeon; Omori, Ryosuke; Ueno, Keisuke; Iida, Sayaka; Ito, Kimihito

2016-01-01

Understanding the evolutionary dynamics of influenza viruses is essential to control both avian and human influenza. Here, we analyze host-specific and segment-specific Tajima’s D trends of influenza A virus through a systematic review using viral sequences registered in the National Center for Biotechnology Information. To avoid bias from viral population subdivision, viral sequences were stratified according to their sampling locations and sampling years. As a result, we obtained a total of 580 datasets each of which consists of nucleotide sequences of influenza A viruses isolated from a single population of hosts at a single sampling site within a single year. By analyzing nucleotide sequences in the datasets, we found that Tajima’s D values of viral sequences were different depending on hosts and gene segments. Tajima’s D values of viruses isolated from chicken and human samples showed negative, suggesting purifying selection or a rapid population growth of the viruses. The negative Tajima’s D values in rapidly growing viral population were also observed in computer simulations. Tajima’s D values of PB2, PB1, PA, NP, and M genes of the viruses circulating in wild mallards were close to zero, suggesting that these genes have undergone neutral selection in constant-sized population. On the other hand, Tajima’s D values of HA and NA genes of these viruses were positive, indicating HA and NA have undergone balancing selection in wild mallards. Taken together, these results indicated the existence of unknown factors that maintain viral subtypes in wild mallards.

Segment-specific responses of intestinal epithelium transcriptome to in-feed antibiotics in pigs.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Kaifan; Mu, Chunlong; Yang, Yuxiang; Su, Yong; Zhu, Weiyun

2017-10-01

Despite widespread use of antibiotics for treatment of human diseases and promotion of growth of agricultural animals, our understanding of their effects on the host is still very limited. We used a model in which pigs were fed with or without a cocktail of antibiotics and found, based on the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) patterns, that the fecal bacteria from the treatment and control animals were distinct. Furthermore, the total bacterial population in the feces tended to be decreased by the antibiotic treatment ( P = 0.07), and the counts of Lactobacillus and Clostridium XIVa were significantly reduced ( P epithelium, we assessed gene expression profiles of the jejunum and ileum and their response to antibiotic administration. The results indicate that in-feed antibiotics increased expression of genes involved in immune functions in both the jejunum and ileum, some of which were clustered in the coexpression network. Gene ontology terms of metabolic processes were altered predominantly in the jejunum but not in the ileum. Notably, antibiotics diminished intestinal segment-specific transcriptional changes, especially for genes associated with metabolic functions. This study reveals segment-specific responses of host intestinal epithelium to in-feed antibiotics, which can be a valuable resource for deciphering antibiotic-microbiota-host interactions. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Dissecting microRNA dysregulation in age-related macular degeneration: new targets for eye gene therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Askou, Anne Louise; Alsing, Sidsel; Holmgaard, Andreas; Bek, Toke; Corydon, Thomas J

2018-02-01

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key regulators of gene expression in humans. Overexpression or depletion of individual miRNAs is associated with human disease. Current knowledge suggests that the retina is influenced by miRNAs and that dysregulation of miRNAs as well as alterations in components of the miRNA biogenesis machinery are involved in retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Furthermore, recent studies have indicated that the vitreous has a specific panel of circulating miRNAs and that this panel varies according to the specific pathological stress experienced by the retinal cells. MicroRNA (miRNA) profiling indicates subtype-specific miRNA profiles for late-stage AMD highlighting the importance of proper miRNA regulation in AMD. This review will describe the function of important miRNAs involved in inflammation, oxidative stress and pathological neovascularization, the key molecular mechanisms leading to AMD, and focus on dysregulated miRNAs as potential therapeutic targets in AMD. © 2017 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PTSD Symptoms, Emotion Dysregulation, and Alcohol-Related Consequences Among College Students With a Trauma History.

Science.gov (United States)

Tripp, Jessica C; McDevitt-Murphy, Meghan E; Avery, Megan L; Bracken, Katherine L

2015-01-01

gender, impulse control difficulties remained a mediator for men and difficulties engaging in goal directed behavior for women. These analyses shed light on processes that may underlie "self-medication" of PTSD symptoms. Gender-specific interventions targeting emotion dysregulation may be effective in reducing alcohol-related consequences in individuals with PTSD. Women may possibly benefit from interventions that focus on difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, while men may benefit from interventions that target impulse control difficulties when upset.

Endocrine Dysregulation in Anorexia Nervosa Update

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Context: Anorexia nervosa is a primary psychiatric disorder with serious endocrine consequences, including dysregulation of the gonadal, adrenal, and GH axes, and severe bone loss. This Update reviews recent advances in the understanding of the endocrine dysregulation observed in this state of chronic starvation, as well as the mechanisms underlying the disease itself. Evidence Acquisition: Findings of this update are based on a PubMed search and the author's knowledge of this field. Evidence Synthesis: Recent studies have provided insights into the mechanisms underlying endocrine dysregulation in states of chronic starvation as well as the etiology of anorexia nervosa itself. This includes a more complex understanding of the pathophysiologic bases of hypogonadism, hypercortisolemia, GH resistance, appetite regulation, and bone loss. Nevertheless, the etiology of the disease remains largely unknown, and effective therapies for the endocrine complications and for the disease itself are lacking. Conclusions: Despite significant progress in the field, further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the development of anorexia nervosa and its endocrine complications. Such investigations promise to yield important advances in the therapeutic approach to this disease as well as to the understanding of the regulation of endocrine function, skeletal biology, and appetite regulation. PMID:21976742

Infant and toddler crying, sleeping and feeding problems and trajectories of dysregulated behavior across childhood.

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Winsper, Catherine; Wolke, Dieter

2014-01-01

Infant and toddler regulatory problems (RPs) including crying, sleeping and feeding, are a frequent concern for parents and have been associated with negative behavioral outcomes in early and middle childhood. Uncertain is whether infant and toddler RPs predict stable, trait-like dysregulated behavior across childhood. We addressed this gap in the literature using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). RPs at 6, 15-18, & 24-30 months and childhood dysregulated behavior at 4, 7, 8, & 9.5 years were assessed using mother report. Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA) indicated that trajectories of childhood dysregulated behavior were stable over time. All single RPs (i.e., crying, sleeping & feeding problems) were significantly associated with childhood dysregulated behavior. For example, crying problems at 6 months after controlling for confounders (Odds Ratios; 95% Confidence Intervals): Moderate dysregulated behavior: OR = 1.50, 95% CI [1.09 to 2.06], high dysregulated behavior: OR = 2.13, 95% CI [1.49 to 3.05] and very high dysregulated behavior: OR = 2.85, 95% CI [1.64 to 4.94]. Multiple RPs were especially strongly associated with dysregulated behavior. For example, the RP composite at 15-18 months: 1 RP, very high dysregulated behavior: OR = 2.79, 95% CI [2.17 to 3.57], 2 RPs, very high dysregulated behavior: OR = 3.46, 95% CI [2.38 to 5.01], 3 RPs, very high dysregulated behavior: OR = 12.57, 95% CI [6.38 to 24.74]. These findings suggest that RPs in infants and toddlers predict stable dysregulated behavior trajectories across childhood. Interventions for early RPs could help prevent the development of chronic, highly dysregulated behavior.

Pancreas segmentation from 3D abdominal CT images using patient-specific weighted subspatial probabilistic atlases

Science.gov (United States)

Karasawa, Kenichi; Oda, Masahiro; Hayashi, Yuichiro; Nimura, Yukitaka; Kitasaka, Takayuki; Misawa, Kazunari; Fujiwara, Michitaka; Rueckert, Daniel; Mori, Kensaku

2015-03-01

Abdominal organ segmentations from CT volumes are now widely used in the computer-aided diagnosis and surgery assistance systems. Among abdominal organs, the pancreas is especially difficult to segment because of its large individual differences of the shape and position. In this paper, we propose a new pancreas segmentation method from 3D abdominal CT volumes using patient-specific weighted-subspatial probabilistic atlases. First of all, we perform normalization of organ shapes in training volumes and an input volume. We extract the Volume Of Interest (VOI) of the pancreas from the training volumes and an input volume. We divide each training VOI and input VOI into some cubic regions. We use a nonrigid registration method to register these cubic regions of the training VOI to corresponding regions of the input VOI. Based on the registration results, we calculate similarities between each cubic region of the training VOI and corresponding region of the input VOI. We select cubic regions of training volumes having the top N similarities in each cubic region. We subspatially construct probabilistic atlases weighted by the similarities in each cubic region. After integrating these probabilistic atlases in cubic regions into one, we perform a rough-to-precise segmentation of the pancreas using the atlas. The results of the experiments showed that utilization of the training volumes having the top N similarities in each cubic region led good results of the pancreas segmentation. The Jaccard Index and the average surface distance of the result were 58.9% and 2.04mm on average, respectively.

Emotion Dysregulation Mediates the Relation between Mindfulness and Rejection Sensitivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Velotti, Patrizia; Garofalo, Carlo; Bizzi, Fabiola

2015-09-01

The role of rejection sensitivity (RS; the tendency to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to implied or overt interpersonal rejection) in psychopathology has mainly been studied with regard to borderline personality disorder (BPD). In the present study, we first sought to extend previous evidence of heightened RS in a clinical group with psychiatric disorders other than BPD, when compared with a community sample. Then, we tested whether emotion dysregulation and mindfulness were associated with RS in both sample, further hypothesizing that emotion dysregulation would mediate the relation between mindfulness deficits and RS. We adopted a cross-sectional design involving 191 psychiatric patients and 277 community participants (total N=468). All participants completed the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Our hypotheses were supported, with psychiatric patients reporting greater levels of rejection sensitivity and emotion dysregulation, and lower level of mindfulness. Mindfulness deficits and emotion dysregulation explained a significant amount of variance in RS, in both samples. Finally, bootstrap analyses revealed that mindfulness deficits played an indirect effect on RS through the mediating role of emotion dysregulation. In particular, two different patterns emerged. Among psychiatric patients, an impairment in the ability to assume a non-judgmental stance towards own thoughts and feelings was related to RS through the mediation of limited access to emotion regulation strategies. Conversely, in the community sample, overall emotion dysregulation mediated the effect of lack of attention and awareness for present activities and experience on RS. Longitudinal studies could help in delineating etiological models of RS, and the joint role of deficits in mindfulness and emotion regulation should inform treatment programs.

Deformable meshes for medical image segmentation accurate automatic segmentation of anatomical structures

CERN Document Server

Kainmueller, Dagmar

2014-01-01

? Segmentation of anatomical structures in medical image data is an essential task in clinical practice. Dagmar Kainmueller introduces methods for accurate fully automatic segmentation of anatomical structures in 3D medical image data. The author's core methodological contribution is a novel deformation model that overcomes limitations of state-of-the-art Deformable Surface approaches, hence allowing for accurate segmentation of tip- and ridge-shaped features of anatomical structures. As for practical contributions, she proposes application-specific segmentation pipelines for a range of anatom

No miR quirk: dysregulation of microRNAs in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheung, Philip Y; Szafranska-Schwarzbach, Anna E; Schlageter, Annette M; Andruss, Bernard F; Weiss, Glen J

2012-01-01

MicroRNAs are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression with tissue-specific expression profiles. Dysregulation of microRNAs has been shown to play a role in carcinogenesis. Although progress has been made in the diagnosis and treatment of many cancers, pancreatic cancer remains an intractable public health problem, causing 6.58% of cancer deaths despite making up less than 3% of cancer diagnoses in the United States. No screening, diagnostic or imaging techniques exist with the sensitivity to detect pancreatic cancer in its early, operable stages. Risk factors include numerous inherited syndromes, diabetes mellitus, and hepatitis C virus infection. Here we review the literature regarding dysregulation of microRNA expression in native pancreas, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (the dominant form of pancreatic cancer), and its risk factors to illuminate the biology and progression of this disease. We explore promising evidence for the use of microRNAs as prognostic and diagnostic tools, and discuss emerging reports on microRNA therapeutics.

Dysregulation in level of goal and action identification across psychological disorders

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Watkins, Edward

2011-01-01

Goals, events, and actions can be mentally represented within a hierarchical framework that ranges from more abstract to more concrete levels of identification. A more abstract level of identification involves general, superordinate, and decontextualized mental representations that convey the meaning of goals, events, and actions, “why” an action is performed, and its purpose, ends, and consequences. A more concrete level of identification involves specific and subordinate mental representations that include contextual details of goals, events, and actions, and the specific “how” details of an action. This review considers three lines of evidence for considering that dysregulation of level of goal/action identification may be a transdiagnostic process. First, there is evidence that different levels of identification have distinct functional consequences and that in non-clinical samples level of goal/action identification appears to be regulated in a flexible and adaptive way to match the level of goal/action identification to circumstances. Second, there is evidence that level of goal/action identification causally influences symptoms and processes involved in psychological disorders, including emotional response, repetitive thought, impulsivity, problem solving and procrastination. Third, there is evidence that the level of goal/action identification is biased and/or dysregulated in certain psychological disorders, with a bias towards more abstract identification for negative events in depression, GAD, PTSD, and social anxiety. PMID:20579789

Mosaic epigenetic dysregulation of ectodermal cells in autism spectrum disorder.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esther R Berko

Full Text Available DNA mutational events are increasingly being identified in autism spectrum disorder (ASD, but the potential additional role of dysregulation of the epigenome in the pathogenesis of the condition remains unclear. The epigenome is of interest as a possible mediator of environmental effects during development, encoding a cellular memory reflected by altered function of progeny cells. Advanced maternal age (AMA is associated with an increased risk of having a child with ASD for reasons that are not understood. To explore whether AMA involves covert aneuploidy or epigenetic dysregulation leading to ASD in the offspring, we tested a homogeneous ectodermal cell type from 47 individuals with ASD compared with 48 typically developing (TD controls born to mothers of ≥35 years, using a quantitative genome-wide DNA methylation assay. We show that DNA methylation patterns are dysregulated in ectodermal cells in these individuals, having accounted for confounding effects due to subject age, sex and ancestral haplotype. We did not find mosaic aneuploidy or copy number variability to occur at differentially-methylated regions in these subjects. Of note, the loci with distinctive DNA methylation were found at genes expressed in the brain and encoding protein products significantly enriched for interactions with those produced by known ASD-causing genes, representing a perturbation by epigenomic dysregulation of the same networks compromised by DNA mutational mechanisms. The results indicate the presence of a mosaic subpopulation of epigenetically-dysregulated, ectodermally-derived cells in subjects with ASD. The epigenetic dysregulation observed in these ASD subjects born to older mothers may be associated with aging parental gametes, environmental influences during embryogenesis or could be the consequence of mutations of the chromatin regulatory genes increasingly implicated in ASD. The results indicate that epigenetic dysregulatory mechanisms may complement

Nephron segment specific microRNA biomarkers of pre-clinical drug-induced renal toxicity: Opportunities and challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nassirpour, Rounak, E-mail: Rounak.nassirpour@pfizer.com [Drug Safety, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, 1 Burtt Rd, Andover, MA 01810 (United States); Ramaiah, Shashi K. [Drug Safety, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Whiteley, Laurence O. [Drug Safety, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, 1 Burtt Rd, Andover, MA 01810 (United States)

2016-12-01

Drug-induced nephrotoxicity is a common drug development complication for pharmaceutical companies. Sensitive, specific, translatable and non-invasive biomarkers of renal toxicity are urgently needed to diagnose nephron segment specific injury. The currently available gold standard biomarkers for nephrotoxicity are not kidney-specific, lack sensitivity for early detection, and are not suitable for renal damage localization (glomerular vs tubulointerstitial injury). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are increasingly gaining momentum as promising biomarkers of various organ toxicities, including drug induced renal injury. This is mostly due to their stability in easily accessible biofluids, ease of developing nucleic acids detection compared to protein detection assays, as well as their interspecies translatability. Increasing concordance of miRNA findings by standardizing methodology most suitable for their detection and quantitation, as well as characterization of their expression pattern in a cell type specific manner, will accelerate progress toward validation of these miRNAs as biomarkers in pre-clinical, and clinical settings. This review aims to highlight the current pre-clinical findings surrounding miRNAs as biomarkers in two important segments of the nephron, the glomerulus and tubules. - Highlights: • miRNAs are promising biomarkers of drug-induced kidney injury. • Summarized pre-clinical miRNA biomarkers of drug-induced nephrotoxicity. • Described the strengths and challenges associated with miRNAs as biomarkers.

Automated segmentation and reconstruction of patient-specific cardiac anatomy and pathology from in vivo MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ringenberg, Jordan; Deo, Makarand; Devabhaktuni, Vijay; Filgueiras-Rama, David; Pizarro, Gonzalo; Ibañez, Borja; Berenfeld, Omer; Boyers, Pamela; Gold, Jeffrey

2012-01-01

This paper presents an automated method to segment left ventricle (LV) tissues from functional and delayed-enhancement (DE) cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans using a sequential multi-step approach. First, a region of interest (ROI) is computed to create a subvolume around the LV using morphological operations and image arithmetic. From the subvolume, the myocardial contours are automatically delineated using difference of Gaussians (DoG) filters and GSV snakes. These contours are used as a mask to identify pathological tissues, such as fibrosis or scar, within the DE-MRI. The presented automated technique is able to accurately delineate the myocardium and identify the pathological tissue in patient sets. The results were validated by two expert cardiologists, and in one set the automated results are quantitatively and qualitatively compared with expert manual delineation. Furthermore, the method is patient-specific, performed on an entire patient MRI series. Thus, in addition to providing a quick analysis of individual MRI scans, the fully automated segmentation method is used for effectively tagging regions in order to reconstruct computerized patient-specific 3D cardiac models. These models can then be used in electrophysiological studies and surgical strategy planning. (paper)

Microglial Dysregulation in OCD, Tourette Syndrome, and PANDAS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciana Frick

2016-01-01

Full Text Available There is accumulating evidence that immune dysregulation contributes to the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD, Tourette syndrome, and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS. The mechanistic details of this pathophysiology, however, remain unclear. Here we focus on one particular component of the immune system: microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells. The role of microglia in neurodegenerative diseases has been understood in terms of classic, inflammatory activation, which may be both a consequence and a cause of neuronal damage. In OCD and Tourette syndrome, which are not characterized by frank neural degeneration, the potential role of microglial dysregulation is much less clear. Here we review the evidence for a neuroinflammatory etiology and microglial dysregulation in OCD, Tourette syndrome, and PANDAS. We also explore new hypotheses as to the potential contributions of microglial abnormalities to pathophysiology, beyond neuroinflammation, including failures in neuroprotection, lack of support for neuronal survival, and abnormalities in synaptic pruning. Recent advances in neuroimaging and animal model work are creating new opportunities to elucidate these issues.

Microglial Dysregulation in OCD, Tourette Syndrome, and PANDAS

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

There is accumulating evidence that immune dysregulation contributes to the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Tourette syndrome, and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS). The mechanistic details of this pathophysiology, however, remain unclear. Here we focus on one particular component of the immune system: microglia, the brain's resident immune cells. The role of microglia in neurodegenerative diseases has been understood in terms of classic, inflammatory activation, which may be both a consequence and a cause of neuronal damage. In OCD and Tourette syndrome, which are not characterized by frank neural degeneration, the potential role of microglial dysregulation is much less clear. Here we review the evidence for a neuroinflammatory etiology and microglial dysregulation in OCD, Tourette syndrome, and PANDAS. We also explore new hypotheses as to the potential contributions of microglial abnormalities to pathophysiology, beyond neuroinflammation, including failures in neuroprotection, lack of support for neuronal survival, and abnormalities in synaptic pruning. Recent advances in neuroimaging and animal model work are creating new opportunities to elucidate these issues. PMID:28053994

Dysregulated behaviors in bulimia nervosa: a case-control study

OpenAIRE

Gonçalves, Sónia; Machado, Bárbara Freire Brito César; Martins, C.; Brandão, Isabel; Torres, António Roma; Machado, Paulo P. P.

2014-01-01

Background: Bulimia nervosa (BN) is often related to self-control difficulties and to dysregulated behaviours. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of self-injurious behaviour, suicide attempts, and other dysregulated behaviours in BN, using two control groups (a healthy group and a general psychiatric group), and also to examine the association between these behaviours and alleged sexual abuse in BN.Method: Women (N = 233) aged between 13 and 38 years old were evaluated using a semi-st...

Active Segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, Ajay; Aloimonos, Yiannis

2009-01-01

The human visual system observes and understands a scene/image by making a series of fixations. Every fixation point lies inside a particular region of arbitrary shape and size in the scene which can either be an object or just a part of it. We define as a basic segmentation problem the task of segmenting that region containing the fixation point. Segmenting the region containing the fixation is equivalent to finding the enclosing contour- a connected set of boundary edge fragments in the edge map of the scene - around the fixation. This enclosing contour should be a depth boundary.We present here a novel algorithm that finds this bounding contour and achieves the segmentation of one object, given the fixation. The proposed segmentation framework combines monocular cues (color/intensity/texture) with stereo and/or motion, in a cue independent manner. The semantic robots of the immediate future will be able to use this algorithm to automatically find objects in any environment. The capability of automatically segmenting objects in their visual field can bring the visual processing to the next level. Our approach is different from current approaches. While existing work attempts to segment the whole scene at once into many areas, we segment only one image region, specifically the one containing the fixation point. Experiments with real imagery collected by our active robot and from the known databases 1 demonstrate the promise of the approach.

Identifying microRNA/mRNA dysregulations in ovarian cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, Gregory D; Seiler, Michael; Rodriguez, Lorna; Rajagopal, Gunaretnam; Bhanot, Gyan

2012-03-27

MicroRNAs are a class of noncoding RNA molecules that co-regulate the expression of multiple genes via mRNA transcript degradation or translation inhibition. Since they often target entire pathways, they may be better drug targets than genes or proteins. MicroRNAs are known to be dysregulated in many tumours and associated with aggressive or poor prognosis phenotypes. Since they regulate mRNA in a tissue specific manner, their functional mRNA targets are poorly understood. In previous work, we developed a method to identify direct mRNA targets of microRNA using patient matched microRNA/mRNA expression data using an anti-correlation signature. This method, applied to clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC), revealed many new regulatory pathways compromised in ccRCC. In the present paper, we apply this method to identify dysregulated microRNA/mRNA mechanisms in ovarian cancer using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). TCGA Microarray data was normalized and samples whose class labels (tumour or normal) were ambiguous with respect to consensus ensemble K-Means clustering were removed. Significantly anti-correlated and correlated genes/microRNA differentially expressed between tumour and normal samples were identified. TargetScan was used to identify gene targets of microRNA. We identified novel microRNA/mRNA mechanisms in ovarian cancer. For example, the expression level of RAD51AP1 was found to be strongly anti-correlated with the expression of hsa-miR-140-3p, which was significantly down-regulated in the tumour samples. The anti-correlation signature was present separately in the tumour and normal samples, suggesting a direct causal dysregulation of RAD51AP1 by hsa-miR-140-3p in the ovary. Other pairs of potentially biological relevance include: hsa-miR-145/E2F3, hsa-miR-139-5p/TOP2A, and hsa-miR-133a/GCLC. We also identified sets of positively correlated microRNA/mRNA pairs that are most likely result from indirect regulatory mechanisms. Our findings identify

Negative reinforcement eating expectancies, emotion dysregulation, and symptoms of bulimia nervosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayaki, Jumi

2009-09-01

Research suggests that emotion dysregulation or difficulties in the modulation of emotional experience constitute risk for eating disorders. Recent work has also highlighted the role of certain eating-related cognitions, specifically expectations of negative emotional reinforcement from eating, in the development of disturbed eating patterns. However, it is unclear whether these expectancies are merely a dimension of a general inability to regulate emotions effectively or rather a unique cognitive-affective risk factor for the development of an eating disorder. This study examines the unique contribution of eating expectancies to symptoms of bulimia nervosa (BN) after controlling for two dimensions of emotion dysregulation (alexithymia and experiential avoidance) previously implicated in the phenomenology of eating disorders. Participants were 115 undergraduate women who self-reported demographics, alexithymia, experiential avoidance, eating expectancies, and symptoms of BN. Eating expectancies uniquely contributed 12.4% of the variance in symptoms of BN, F(2, 108) = 11.74, p symptoms of BN. These results suggest that individuals who expect eating to provide emotional relief may be especially susceptible to disordered eating. Findings are discussed in terms of emotional risk models and clinical interventions for BN.

Behavioral evidence of emotion dysregulation in binge eaters.

Science.gov (United States)

Eichen, Dawn M; Chen, Eunice; Boutelle, Kerri N; McCloskey, Michael S

2017-04-01

Binge eating is the most common disordered eating symptom and can lead to the development of obesity. Previous self-report research has supported the hypothesis that individuals who binge eat report greater levels of general emotion dysregulation, which may facilitate binge-eating behavior. However, to date, no study has experimentally tested the relation between binge eating history and in-vivo emotion dysregulation. To do this, a sample of female college students who either endorsed binge eating (n = 40) or denied the presence of any eating pathology (n = 47) completed the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and a behavioral distress tolerance task (the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task-Computer: PASAT-C) known to induce negative affect and distress. The binge eating group was 2.96 times more likely to quit the PASAT-C early (χ 2  = 5.04, p = 0.025) and reported greater irritability (F(1,84) = 7.09 p = 0.009) and frustration (F(1,84) = 5.00, p = 0.028) after completing the PASAT-C than controls, controlling for initial levels of these emotions. Furthermore, across the entire sample, quitting early was associated with greater emotion dysregulation on the DERS (r pb  = 0.342, p < 0.01). This study is the first to demonstrate that individuals who binge eat show in-vivo emotional dysregulation on a laboratory task. Future studies should examine the PASAT-C to determine its potential clinical utility for individuals with or at risk of developing binge eating. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Family enmeshment, adolescent emotional dysregulation, and the moderating role of gender.

Science.gov (United States)

Kivisto, Katherine Little; Welsh, Deborah P; Darling, Nancy; Culpepper, Christi L

2015-08-01

Enmeshment plays a key role in many families' dysfunctional interactions and may be especially detrimental for adolescents. Sixty-four adolescents completed ratings of family enmeshment, perceived distress tolerance, an interpersonal challenge task, and mood ratings before and immediately after the task. Before and during the challenge task, adolescents' respiratory sinus arrhythmia (an indicator of cardiac vagal tone) was recorded. Associations were tested between adolescents' perceptions of family enmeshment and 3 aspects of adolescent emotional dysregulation. Adolescents who perceived higher family enmeshment also demonstrated greater emotional dysregulation in several domains: negative global appraisals of distress tolerance, stronger increase in subjective negative mood from baseline to postchallenge, lower baseline vagal tone, and vagal augmentation during the challenge task. Gender differences also emerged, such that girls reported more negative distress appraisals overall and enmeshed boys showed greater emotional dysregulation across analyses. Findings are discussed in terms of how clinicians may dynamically assess and treat enmeshment and emotional dysregulation in families with male and female adolescents. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Dysregulated RNA-Induced Silencing Complex (RISC) Assembly within CNS Corresponds with Abnormal miRNA Expression during Autoimmune Demyelination.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewkowicz, Przemysław; Cwiklińska, Hanna; Mycko, Marcin P; Cichalewska, Maria; Domowicz, Małgorzata; Lewkowicz, Natalia; Jurewicz, Anna; Selmaj, Krzysztof W

2015-05-13

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) associate with Argonaute (Ago), GW182, and FXR1 proteins to form RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs). RISCs represent a critical checkpoint in the regulation and bioavailability of miRNAs. Recent studies have revealed dysregulation of miRNAs in multiple sclerosis (MS) and its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE); however, the function of RISCs in EAE and MS is largely unknown. Here, we examined the expression of Ago, GW182, and FXR1 in CNS tissue, oligodendrocytes (OLs), brain-infiltrating T lymphocytes, and CD3(+)splenocytes (SCs) of EAE mic, and found that global RISC protein levels were significantly dysregulated. Specifically, Ago2 and FXR1 levels were decreased in OLs and brain-infiltrating T cells in EAE mice. Accordingly, assembly of Ago2/GW182/FXR1 complexes in EAE brain tissues was disrupted, as confirmed by immunoprecipitation experiments. In parallel with alterations in RISC complex content in OLs, we found downregulation of miRNAs essential for differentiation and survival of OLs and myelin synthesis. In brain-infiltrating T lymphocytes, aberrant RISC formation contributed to miRNA-dependent proinflammatory helper T-cell polarization. In CD3(+) SCs, we found increased expression of both Ago2 and FXR1 in EAE compared with nonimmunized mice. Therefore, our results demonstrate a gradient in expression of miRNA between primary activated T cells in the periphery and polarized CNS-infiltrating T cells. These results suggest that, in polarized autoreactive effector T cells, miRNA synthesis is inhibited in response to dysregulated RISC assembly, allowing these cells to maintain a highly specific proinflammatory program. Therefore, our findings may provide a mechanism that leads to miRNA dysregulation in EAE/MS. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/357521-17$15.00/0.

Self-Concept Clarity and Emotion Dysregulation in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury.

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Lear, Mary K; Pepper, Carolyn M

2016-12-01

Recent research has linked identity instability with engagement in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI; Claes, Luyckx, & Bijttebier, 2014; Claes et al., 2015). This study examined the relationship between self-concept clarity (SCC), an index of identity stability, and NSSI in a sample of 147 college students, using a cross-sectional survey design. The relationship between SCC and emotion dysregulation in NSSI severity was also examined. SCC was significantly negatively associated with NSSI engagement, as well as NSSI frequency and versatility, above negative affect or age. SCC fully accounted for the variance originally explained by emotion dysregulation in NSSI versatility. NSSI frequency was not significantly predicted by emotion regulation, but self-concept clarity reached marginal significance. These findings provide preliminary support for identity instability as a contributing factor to a relationship between emotion dysregulation and NSSI severity. Possible explanations and future research directions are discussed.

The impact of attachment security and emotion dysregulation on anxiety in children and adolescents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bender, Patrick K.; Sømhovd, Mikael; Pons, Francisco

2015-01-01

Theoretical views and empirical findings suggest interrelations among attachment security, emotion dysregulation and anxiety in childhood and adolescence. However, the associations among the three constructs have rarely been investigated in children, and no study has yet addressed...... to anxiety and that emotion dysregulation would help explain the association between attachment security and anxiety. Results showed that more securely attached youths reported less emotion dysregulation and that youths who had fewer emotion regulation difficulties experienced less anxiety. The association...... between attachment security and anxiety was mediated by emotion dysregulation. The model was confirmed for both children and adolescents. Findings are discussed with respect to theoretical implications, as well as future directions....

Pancreatic Islet Protein Complexes and Their Dysregulation in Type 2 Diabetes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Helle Krogh; Gudmundsdottir, Valborg; Brunak, Søren

2017-01-01

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a complex disease that involves multiple genes. Numerous risk loci have already been associated with T2D, although many susceptibility genes remain to be identified given heritability estimates. Systems biology approaches hold potential for discovering novel T2D genes...... by considering their biological context, such as tissue-specific protein interaction partners. Pancreatic islets are a key T2D tissue and many of the known genetic risk variants lead to impaired islet function, hence a better understanding of the islet-specific dysregulation in the disease-state is essential...... to unveil the full potential of person-specific profiles. Here we identify 3,692 overlapping pancreatic islet protein complexes (containing 10,805 genes) by integrating islet gene and protein expression data with protein interactions. We found 24 of these complexes to be significantly enriched for genes...

Differential risk for late adolescent conduct problems and mood dysregulation among children with early externalizing behavior problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Okado, Yuko; Bierman, Karen L

2015-05-01

To investigate the differential emergence of antisocial behaviors and mood dysregulation among children with externalizing problems, the present study prospectively followed 317 high-risk children with early externalizing problems from school entry (ages 5-7) to late adolescence (ages 17-19). Latent class analysis conducted on their conduct and mood symptoms in late adolescence revealed three distinct patterns of symptoms, characterized by: 1) criminal offenses, conduct disorder symptoms, and elevated anger ("conduct problems"), 2) elevated anger, dysphoric mood, and suicidal ideation ("mood dysregulation"), and 3) low levels of severe conduct and mood symptoms. A diathesis-stress model predicting the first two outcomes was tested. Elevated overt aggression at school entry uniquely predicted conduct problems in late adolescence, whereas elevated emotion dysregulation at school entry uniquely predicted mood dysregulation in late adolescence. Experiences of low parental warmth and peer rejection in middle childhood moderated the link between early emotion dysregulation and later mood dysregulation but did not moderate the link between early overt aggression and later conduct problems. Thus, among children with early externalizing behavior problems, increased risk for later antisocial behavior or mood dysfunction may be identifiable in early childhood based on levels of overt aggression and emotion dysregulation. For children with early emotion dysregulation, however, increased risk for mood dysregulation characterized by anger, dysphoric mood, and suicidality--possibly indicative of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder--emerges only in the presence of low parental warmth and/or peer rejection during middle childhood.

Autoimmune dysregulation and purine metabolism in adenosine deaminase (ADA-deficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aisha Vanessa Sauer

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Genetic defects in the adenosine deaminase (ADA gene are among the most common causes for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID. ADA-SCID patients suffer from lymphopenia, severely impaired cellular and humoral immunity, failure to thrive and recurrent infections. Currently available therapeutic options for this otherwise fatal disorder include bone marrow transplantation (BMT, enzyme replacement therapy with bovine ADA (PEG-ADA or hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy (HSC-GT. Although varying degrees of immune reconstitution can be achieved by these treatments, breakdown of tolerance is a major concern in ADA-SCID. Immune dysregulation such as autoimmune hypothyroidism, diabetes mellitus, hemolytic anemia, and immune thrombocytopenia are frequently observed in milder forms of the disease. However, several reports document similar complications also in patients on long-term PEG-ADA and after BMT or GT treatment.A skewed repertoire and decreased immune functions have been implicated in autoimmunity observed in certain B-cell and/or T-cell immunodeficiencies, but it remains unclear to what extent specific mechanisms of tolerance are affected in ADA deficiency. Herein we provide an overview about ADA-SCID and the autoimmune manifestations reported in these patients before and after treatment. We also assess the value of the ADA-deficient mouse model as a useful tool to study both immune and metabolic disease mechanisms. With focus on regulatory T and B cells we discuss the lymphocyte subpopulations particularly prone to contribute to the loss of self-tolerance and onset of autoimmunity in ADA deficiency. Moreover we address which aspects of immune dysregulation are specifically related to alterations in purine metabolism caused by the lack of ADA and the subsequent accumulation of metabolites with immunomodulatory properties.

Does Emotion Dysregulation Mediate the Association Between Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and College Students' Social Impairment?

Science.gov (United States)

Flannery, Andrew J; Becker, Stephen P; Luebbe, Aaron M

2016-09-01

Studies demonstrate an association between sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and social impairment, although no studies have tested possible mechanisms of this association. This study aimed to (a) examine SCT in relation to college students' social functioning; (b) test if SCT is significantly associated with emotion dysregulation beyond depressive, anxious, and ADHD symptoms; and (c) test if emotion dysregulation mediates the association between SCT symptoms and social impairment. College students (N = 158) completed measures of psychopathology symptoms, emotion dysregulation, and social functioning. Participants with elevated SCT (12%) had higher ADHD, depressive, and anxious symptoms in addition to poorer emotion regulation and social adjustment than participants without elevated SCT. Above and beyond other psychopathologies, SCT was significantly associated with social impairment but not general interpersonal functioning. SCT was also associated with emotion dysregulation, even after accounting for the expectedly strong association between depression and emotion dysregulation. Further analyses supported emotion dysregulation as a mediator of the association between SCT and social impairment. These findings are important for theoretical models of SCT and underscore the need for additional, longitudinal research. © The Author(s) 2014.

Automated medical image segmentation techniques

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Sharma Neeraj

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Accurate segmentation of medical images is a key step in contouring during radiotherapy planning. Computed topography (CT and Magnetic resonance (MR imaging are the most widely used radiographic techniques in diagnosis, clinical studies and treatment planning. This review provides details of automated segmentation methods, specifically discussed in the context of CT and MR images. The motive is to discuss the problems encountered in segmentation of CT and MR images, and the relative merits and limitations of methods currently available for segmentation of medical images.

Emotional dysregulation and anxiety control in the psychopathological mechanism underlying drive for thinness

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Francesca eFiore

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Emotional dysregulation is a process which consists in mitigating, intensifying or maintaining a given emotion and is the trigger for some psychological disorders. Research has shown that a anxiety control plays an important role in emotional expression and regulation and, in addition, for anorexia nervosa and, more in general, in drive for thinness. Scientific literature suggests that in anorexia nervosa there is a core of emotional dysregulation and anxiety control. The aim of this study is to explore the roles of emotional dysregulation and anxiety control as independent or third variables in a mediational regression model related to drive for thinness. 154 clinical individuals with anorexia participated in the study and all completed a set of self-report questionnaires: eating disorders inventory version 3 (EDI-3, DERS, and the anxiety control questionnaire (ACQ. The data confirmed a mediational model in which the relation between emotional dysregulation and drive for thinness is mediated by anxiety control. The current study partially supports a clinical model in which emotional dysregulation is a distal factor in eating disorders while the mediator variable anxiety control is a proximal factor in the psychopathological process underlying it.

PTSD, emotion dysregulation, and dissociative symptoms in a highly traumatized sample

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Powers, Abigail; Cross, Dorthie; Fani, Negar; Bradley, Bekh

2015-01-01

Exposure to multiple traumas has been shown to result in many negative mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dissociation, which involves disruptions in memory, identity, and perceptions, may be a component of PTSD, particularly among individuals who have experienced childhood trauma. Emotion regulation difficulties are also strongly associated with childhood trauma and emotion dysregulation may be a particularly important factor to consider in the development and maintenance of dissociative symptoms. The goal of the present study was to determine whether emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between PTSD symptoms and dissociation in a sample of 154 (80% female, 97% African-American) adults recruited from a public, urban hospital. PTSD was measured using the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale, emotion dysregulation was measured using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and dissociation was measured using the Multiscale Dissociation Inventory. A linear regression analysis showed that both PTSD and emotion dysregulation were statistically significant predictors of dissociation even after controlling for trauma exposure. Alexithymia and an inability to use emotion regulation strategies in particular were predictive of dissociation above and beyond other predictor variables. Using bootstrapping techniques, we found that overall emotion dyregulation partially mediated the effect of PTSD symptoms on dissociative symptoms. Our results suggest that emotion dysregulation may be important in understanding the relation between PTSD and dissociative symptoms. Treatment approaches may consider a focus on training in emotional understanding and the development of adaptive regulation strategies as a way to address dissociative symptoms in PTSD patients. PMID:25573648

Benchmarking pathway interaction network for colorectal cancer to identify dysregulated pathways

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Q. Wang

Full Text Available Different pathways act synergistically to participate in many biological processes. Thus, the purpose of our study was to extract dysregulated pathways to investigate the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC based on the functional dependency among pathways. Protein-protein interaction (PPI information and pathway data were retrieved from STRING and Reactome databases, respectively. After genes were aligned to the pathways, each pathway activity was calculated using the principal component analysis (PCA method, and the seed pathway was discovered. Subsequently, we constructed the pathway interaction network (PIN, where each node represented a biological pathway based on gene expression profile, PPI data, as well as pathways. Dysregulated pathways were then selected from the PIN according to classification performance and seed pathway. A PIN including 11,960 interactions was constructed to identify dysregulated pathways. Interestingly, the interaction of mRNA splicing and mRNA splicing-major pathway had the highest score of 719.8167. Maximum change of the activity score between CRC and normal samples appeared in the pathway of DNA replication, which was selected as the seed pathway. Starting with this seed pathway, a pathway set containing 30 dysregulated pathways was obtained with an area under the curve score of 0.8598. The pathway of mRNA splicing, mRNA splicing-major pathway, and RNA polymerase I had the maximum genes of 107. Moreover, we found that these 30 pathways had crosstalks with each other. The results suggest that these dysregulated pathways might be used as biomarkers to diagnose CRC.

The dysregulated cluster in personality profiling research: Longitudinal stability and associations with bulimic behaviors and correlates

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Slane, Jennifer D.; Klump, Kelly L.; Donnellan, M. Brent; McGue, Matthew; Iacono, William G.

2013-01-01

Among cluster analytic studies of the personality profiles associated with bulimia nervosa, a group of individuals characterized by emotional lability and behavioral dysregulation (i.e., a dysregulated cluster) has emerged most consistently. However, previous studies have all been cross-sectional and mostly used clinical samples. This study aimed to replicate associations between the dysregulated personality cluster and bulimic symptoms and related characteristics using a longitudinal, population-based sample. Participants were females assessed at ages 17 and 25 from the Minnesota Twin Family Study, clustered based on their personality traits. The Dysregulated cluster was successfully identified at both time points and was more stable across time than either the Resilient or Sensation Seeking clusters. Rates of bulimic symptoms and related behaviors (e.g., alcohol use problems) were also highest in the dysregulated group. Findings suggest that the dysregulated cluster is a relatively stable and robust profile that is associated with bulimic symptoms. PMID:23398096

Emotion dysregulation and dyadic conflict in depressed and typical adolescents: Evaluating concordance across psychophysiological and observational measures

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Crowell, Sheila E.; Baucom, Brian R.; Yaptangco, Mona; Bride, Daniel; Hsiao, Ray; McCauley, Elizabeth; Beauchaine, Theodore P.

2014-01-01

Many depressed adolescents experience difficulty regulating their emotions. These emotion regulation difficulties appear to emerge in part from socialization processes within families and then generalize to other contexts. However, emotion dysregulation is typically assessed within the individual, rather than in the social relationships that shape and maintain dysregulation. In this study, we evaluated concordance of physiological and observational measures of emotion dysregulation during interpersonal conflict, using a multilevel actor-partner interdependence model (APIM). Participants were 75 mother-daughter dyads, including 50 depressed adolescents with or without a history of self-injury, and 25 typically developing controls. Behavior dysregulation was operationalized as observed aversiveness during a conflict discussion, and physiological dysregulation was indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Results revealed different patterns of concordance for control versus depressed participants. Controls evidenced a concordant partner (between-person) effect, and showed increased physiological regulation during minutes when their partner was more aversive. In contrast, clinical dyad members displayed a concordant actor (within-person) effect, becoming simultaneously physiologically and behaviorally dysregulated. Results inform current understanding of emotion dysregulation across multiple levels of analysis. PMID:24607894

Optimal Dynamic Advertising Strategy Under Age-Specific Market Segmentation

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Krastev, Vladimir

2011-12-01

We consider the model proposed by Faggian and Grosset for determining the advertising efforts and goodwill in the long run of a company under age segmentation of consumers. Reducing this model to optimal control sub problems we find the optimal advertising strategy and goodwill.

The cost of empathy: Parent-adolescent conflict predicts emotion dysregulation for highly empathic youth.

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Van Lissa, Caspar J; Hawk, Skyler T; Koot, Hans M; Branje, Susan; Meeus, Wim H J

2017-09-01

Empathy plays a key role in maintaining close relationships and promoting prosocial conflict resolution. However, research has not addressed the potential emotional cost of adolescents' high empathy, particularly when relationships are characterized by more frequent conflict. The present 6-year longitudinal study (N = 467) investigated whether conflict with parents predicted emotion dysregulation more strongly for high-empathy adolescents than for lower-empathy adolescents. Emotion dysregulation was operationalized at both the experiential level, using mood diary data collected for 3 weeks each year, and at the dispositional level, using annual self-report measures. In line with predictions, we found that more frequent adolescent-parent conflict predicted greater day-to-day mood variability and dispositional difficulties in emotion regulation for high-empathy adolescents, but not for average- and low-empathy adolescents. Mood variability and difficulties in emotion regulation, in turn, also predicted increased conflict with parents. These links were not moderated by empathy. Moreover, our research allowed for a novel investigation of the interplay between experiential and dispositional emotion dysregulation. Day-to-day mood variability predicted increasing dispositional difficulties in emotion regulation over time, which suggests that experiential dysregulation becomes consolidated into dispositional difficulties in emotion regulation. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that, for high-empathy adolescents, conflict was a driver of this dysregulation consolidation process. Finally, emotion dysregulation played a role in overtime conflict maintenance for high-empathy adolescents. This suggests that, through emotion dysregulation, high empathy may paradoxically also contribute to maintaining negative adolescent-parent interactions. Our research indicates that high empathy comes at a cost when adolescent-parent relationships are characterized by greater negativity

Aldosterone dysregulation with aging predicts renal vascular function and cardiovascular risk.

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Brown, Jenifer M; Underwood, Patricia C; Ferri, Claudio; Hopkins, Paul N; Williams, Gordon H; Adler, Gail K; Vaidya, Anand

2014-06-01

Aging and abnormal aldosterone regulation are both associated with vascular disease. We hypothesized that aldosterone dysregulation influences the age-related risk of renal vascular and cardiovascular disease. We conducted an analysis of 562 subjects who underwent detailed investigations under conditions of liberal and restricted dietary sodium intake (1124 visits) in the General Clinical Research Center. Aldosterone regulation was characterized by the ratio of maximal suppression to stimulation (supine serum aldosterone on a liberal sodium diet divided by the same measure on a restricted sodium diet). We previously demonstrated that higher levels of this Sodium-modulated Aldosterone Suppression-Stimulation Index (SASSI) indicate greater aldosterone dysregulation. Renal plasma flow (RPF) was determined via p-aminohippurate clearance to assess basal renal hemodynamics and the renal vascular responses to dietary sodium manipulation and angiotensin II infusion. Cardiovascular risk was calculated using the Framingham Risk Score. In univariate linear regression, older age (β=-4.60; Page and SASSI, where the inverse relationship between SASSI and RPF was most apparent with older age (Page may interact to mediate renal vascular disease. Our findings suggest that the combination of aldosterone dysregulation and renal vascular dysfunction could additively increase the risk of future cardiovascular outcomes; therefore, aldosterone dysregulation may represent a modifiable mechanism of age-related vascular disease.

Depressive Symptoms, Emotion Dysregulation, and Bulimic Symptoms in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes

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Young-Hyman, Deborah L.; Peterson, Claire M.; Fischer, Sarah; Markowitz, Jessica T.; Muir, Andrew B.; Laffel, Lori M.

2016-01-01

This study evaluated the associations between depressive symptoms, emotion dysregulation and bulimic symptoms in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the context of the diagnosis and treatment of T1D. Study participants were 103 youth in 2 distinct groups: newly diagnosed (New) or transitioning to pump therapy (continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion [CSII]; “Pump”), who completed questionnaires regarding symptoms of depression, emotion dysregulation, and bulimia. Glycemic control (A1c), height, weight, and questionnaires were evaluated within 10 days of diagnosis (n = 58) or at education/clinic visit before starting insulin utilizing CSII (n = 45). In the newly diagnosed group, only depression accounted for significant variance in bulimia scores (β = .47, P symptoms and emotion dysregulation were associated with greater bulimic symptoms. Depressive symptoms and emotion dysregulation, an indicator of poor coping/behavioral control, could help explain adoption of disordered eating behaviors in youth with T1D who are transitioning to pump therapy. PMID:27137457

The Mediating Role of Cognitive Flexibility, Shame and Emotion Dysregulation Between Neuroticism and Depression

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Majid Zarei

2018-03-01

Discussion: These findings suggest that for student depression, emotion dysregulation might be important and future intervention works can examine the effects of targeting emotion dysregulation among university students with high levels of neuroticism and/or depression.

Emotion dysregulation and dyadic conflict in depressed and typical adolescents: evaluating concordance across psychophysiological and observational measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Crowell, Sheila E; Baucom, Brian R; Yaptangco, Mona; Bride, Daniel; Hsiao, Ray; McCauley, Elizabeth; Beauchaine, Theodore P

2014-04-01

Many depressed adolescents experience difficulty in regulating their emotions. These emotion regulation difficulties appear to emerge in part from socialization processes within families and then generalize to other contexts. However, emotion dysregulation is typically assessed within the individual, rather than in the social relationships that shape and maintain dysregulation. In this study, we evaluated concordance of physiological and observational measures of emotion dysregulation during interpersonal conflict, using a multilevel actor-partner interdependence model (APIM). Participants were 75 mother-daughter dyads, including 50 depressed adolescents with or without a history of self-injury, and 25 typically developing controls. Behavior dysregulation was operationalized as observed aversiveness during a conflict discussion, and physiological dysregulation was indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Results revealed different patterns of concordance for control versus depressed participants. Controls evidenced a concordant partner (between-person) effect, and showed increased physiological regulation during minutes when their partner was more aversive. In contrast, clinical dyad members displayed a concordant actor (within-person) effect, becoming simultaneously physiologically and behaviorally dysregulated. Results inform current understanding of emotion dysregulation across multiple levels of analysis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigating multiple dysregulated pathways in rheumatoid arthritis ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Xian-Dong Song

2018-03-09

Mar 9, 2018 ... 5Department of Kidney Internal Medicine, Hongqi Hospital of ... on the gene expression profile, pathway data, and PPI information. ... controls. These 10 dysregulated pathways might be potential ... a significant burden on the healthcare systems (Yamada ... The risk of adverse effects and expensive treat-.

Pediatric emotional dysregulation and behavioral disruptiveness treated with hypnosis: a time-series design.

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Iglesias, Alex; Iglesias, Adam

2014-01-01

A case of pediatric oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) with concomitant emotional dysregulation and secondary behavioral disruptiveness was treated with hypnosis by means of the hypnotic hold, a method adapted by the authors. An A-B-A-B time-series design with multiple replications was employed to measure the relationship of the hypnotic treatment to the dependent measure: episodes of emotional dysregulation with accompanying behavioral disruptiveness. The findings indicated a statistically significant relationship between the degree of change from phase to phase and the treatment. Follow-up at 6 months indicated a significant reduction of the frequency of targeted episodes of emotional dysregulation and behavioral disruptiveness at home.

Meta-Analysis of Multiple Sclerosis Microarray Data Reveals Dysregulation in RNA Splicing Regulatory Genes

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Elvezia Maria Paraboschi

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Abnormalities in RNA metabolism and alternative splicing (AS are emerging as important players in complex disease phenotypes. In particular, accumulating evidence suggests the existence of pathogenic links between multiple sclerosis (MS and altered AS, including functional studies showing that an imbalance in alternatively-spliced isoforms may contribute to disease etiology. Here, we tested whether the altered expression of AS-related genes represents a MS-specific signature. A comprehensive comparative analysis of gene expression profiles of publicly-available microarray datasets (190 MS cases, 182 controls, followed by gene-ontology enrichment analysis, highlighted a significant enrichment for differentially-expressed genes involved in RNA metabolism/AS. In detail, a total of 17 genes were found to be differentially expressed in MS in multiple datasets, with CELF1 being dysregulated in five out of seven studies. We confirmed CELF1 downregulation in MS (p = 0.0015 by real-time RT-PCRs on RNA extracted from blood cells of 30 cases and 30 controls. As a proof of concept, we experimentally verified the unbalance in alternatively-spliced isoforms in MS of the NFAT5 gene, a putative CELF1 target. In conclusion, for the first time we provide evidence of a consistent dysregulation of splicing-related genes in MS and we discuss its possible implications in modulating specific AS events in MS susceptibility genes.

Multi-criteria media mix decision model for advertising multiple product with segment specific and mass media

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Sugandha Aggarwal

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Judicious media planning decisions are crucial for successful advertising of products. Media planners extensively use mathematical models supplemented with market research and expert opinion to devise the media plans. Media planning models discussed in the literature largely focus on single products with limited studies related to the multi-product media planning. In this paper we propose a media planning model to allocate limited advertising budget among multiple products advertised in a segmented market and determine the number of advertisements to be given in different media. The proposed model is formulated considering both segment specific and mass media vehicles to maximize the total advertising reach for each product. The model also incorporates the cross product effect of advertising of one product on the other. The proposed formulation is a multi-objective linear integer programming model and interactive linear integer goal programming is discussed to solve the model. A real life case study is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed model.

The primary vascular dysregulation syndrome: implications for eye diseases

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2013-01-01

Vascular dysregulation refers to the regulation of blood flow that is not adapted to the needs of the respective tissue. We distinguish primary vascular dysregulation (PVD, formerly called vasospastic syndrome) and secondary vascular dysregulation (SVD). Subjects with PVD tend to have cold extremities, low blood pressure, reduced feeling of thirst, altered drug sensitivity, increased pain sensitivity, prolonged sleep onset time, altered gene expression in the lymphocytes, signs of oxidative stress, slightly increased endothelin-1 plasma level, low body mass index and often diffuse and fluctuating visual field defects. Coldness, emotional or mechanical stress and starving can provoke symptoms. Virtually all organs, particularly the eye, can be involved. In subjects with PVD, retinal vessels are stiffer and more irregular, and both neurovascular coupling and autoregulation capacity are reduced while retinal venous pressure is often increased. Subjects with PVD have increased risk for normal-tension glaucoma, optic nerve compartment syndrome, central serous choroidopathy, Susac syndrome, retinal artery and vein occlusions and anterior ischaemic neuropathy without atherosclerosis. Further characteristics are their weaker blood–brain and blood-retinal barriers and the higher prevalence of optic disc haemorrhages and activated astrocytes. Subjects with PVD tend to suffer more often from tinnitus, muscle cramps, migraine with aura and silent myocardial ischaemic and are at greater risk for altitude sickness. While the main cause of vascular dysregulation is vascular endotheliopathy, dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system is also involved. In contrast, SVD occurs in the context of other diseases such as multiple sclerosis, retrobulbar neuritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and giant cell arteritis. Taking into consideration the high prevalence of PVD in the population and potentially linked pathologies, in the current article, the authors provide

Metric Learning for Hyperspectral Image Segmentation

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Bue, Brian D.; Thompson, David R.; Gilmore, Martha S.; Castano, Rebecca

2011-01-01

We present a metric learning approach to improve the performance of unsupervised hyperspectral image segmentation. Unsupervised spatial segmentation can assist both user visualization and automatic recognition of surface features. Analysts can use spatially-continuous segments to decrease noise levels and/or localize feature boundaries. However, existing segmentation methods use tasks-agnostic measures of similarity. Here we learn task-specific similarity measures from training data, improving segment fidelity to classes of interest. Multiclass Linear Discriminate Analysis produces a linear transform that optimally separates a labeled set of training classes. The defines a distance metric that generalized to a new scenes, enabling graph-based segmentation that emphasizes key spectral features. We describe tests based on data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) in which learned metrics improve segment homogeneity with respect to mineralogical classes.

Rapid-onset obesity with hypothalamic dysregulation, hypoventilation, and autonomic dysregulation (ROHHAD syndrome): A case report and literature review.

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Ibáñez-Micó, S; Marcos Oltra, A M; de Murcia Lemauviel, S; Ruiz Pruneda, R; Martínez Ferrández, C; Domingo Jiménez, R

ROHHAD syndrome (rapid-onset obesity with hypothalamic dysregulation, hypoventilation, and autonomic dysregulation) is a rare and complex disease, presenting in previously healthy children at the age of 2-4 years. Up to 40% of cases are associated with neural crest tumours. We present the case of a 2-year-old girl with symptoms of rapidly progressing obesity, who a few months later developed hypothalamic dysfunction with severe electrolyte imbalance, behaviour disorder, hypoventilation, and severe autonomic dysregulation, among other symptoms. Although the pathophysiology of this syndrome remains unclear, an autoimmune hypothesis has been proposed for ROHHAD. Therefore, after obtaining a limited response to intravenous immunoglobulins, we decided to test the response to a high dose cyclophosphamide (low dose was not effective either). Unfortunately our patient experienced many severe complications (among them central pontine myelinolysis, from which the patient recovered, and failure to wean from the ventilator requiring tracheostomy and long term ventilation) that required a prolonged ICU stay. Although her behaviour improved, our patient unfortunately died suddenly at home at the age of 5 due to respiratory pathology. ROHHAD syndrome is a rare and little-known disease which requires a multidisciplinary approach because it involves complex symptoms and multiple organ system involvement. Alveolar hypoventilation should be identified early and appropriate treatment should be started promptly for the best possible outcome. Immunomodulatory treatment with immunoglobulins, cyclophosphamide, or rituximab has previously resulted in symptom improvement in some cases. Because of the low incidence of the syndrome, multi-centre studies must be carried out in order to gather more accurate information about ROHHAD pathophysiology and design an appropriate therapeutic approach. Copyright © 2016 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All

Smart markers for watershed-based cell segmentation.

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Can Fahrettin Koyuncu

Full Text Available Automated cell imaging systems facilitate fast and reliable analysis of biological events at the cellular level. In these systems, the first step is usually cell segmentation that greatly affects the success of the subsequent system steps. On the other hand, similar to other image segmentation problems, cell segmentation is an ill-posed problem that typically necessitates the use of domain-specific knowledge to obtain successful segmentations even by human subjects. The approaches that can incorporate this knowledge into their segmentation algorithms have potential to greatly improve segmentation results. In this work, we propose a new approach for the effective segmentation of live cells from phase contrast microscopy. This approach introduces a new set of "smart markers" for a marker-controlled watershed algorithm, for which the identification of its markers is critical. The proposed approach relies on using domain-specific knowledge, in the form of visual characteristics of the cells, to define the markers. We evaluate our approach on a total of 1,954 cells. The experimental results demonstrate that this approach, which uses the proposed definition of smart markers, is quite effective in identifying better markers compared to its counterparts. This will, in turn, be effective in improving the segmentation performance of a marker-controlled watershed algorithm.

Smart markers for watershed-based cell segmentation.

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Koyuncu, Can Fahrettin; Arslan, Salim; Durmaz, Irem; Cetin-Atalay, Rengul; Gunduz-Demir, Cigdem

2012-01-01

Automated cell imaging systems facilitate fast and reliable analysis of biological events at the cellular level. In these systems, the first step is usually cell segmentation that greatly affects the success of the subsequent system steps. On the other hand, similar to other image segmentation problems, cell segmentation is an ill-posed problem that typically necessitates the use of domain-specific knowledge to obtain successful segmentations even by human subjects. The approaches that can incorporate this knowledge into their segmentation algorithms have potential to greatly improve segmentation results. In this work, we propose a new approach for the effective segmentation of live cells from phase contrast microscopy. This approach introduces a new set of "smart markers" for a marker-controlled watershed algorithm, for which the identification of its markers is critical. The proposed approach relies on using domain-specific knowledge, in the form of visual characteristics of the cells, to define the markers. We evaluate our approach on a total of 1,954 cells. The experimental results demonstrate that this approach, which uses the proposed definition of smart markers, is quite effective in identifying better markers compared to its counterparts. This will, in turn, be effective in improving the segmentation performance of a marker-controlled watershed algorithm.

A systematic review of image segmentation methodology, used in the additive manufacture of patient-specific 3D printed models of the cardiovascular system

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N Byrne

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Background Shortcomings in existing methods of image segmentation preclude the widespread adoption of patient-specific 3D printing as a routine decision-making tool in the care of those with congenital heart disease. We sought to determine the range of cardiovascular segmentation methods and how long each of these methods takes. Methods A systematic review of literature was undertaken. Medical imaging modality, segmentation methods, segmentation time, segmentation descriptive quality (SDQ and segmentation software were recorded. Results Totally 136 studies met the inclusion criteria (1 clinical trial; 80 journal articles; 55 conference, technical and case reports. The most frequently used image segmentation methods were brightness thresholding, region growing and manual editing, as supported by the most popular piece of proprietary software: Mimics (Materialise NV, Leuven, Belgium, 1992–2015. The use of bespoke software developed by individual authors was not uncommon. SDQ indicated that reporting of image segmentation methods was generally poor with only one in three accounts providing sufficient detail for their procedure to be reproduced. Conclusions and implication of key findings Predominantly anecdotal and case reporting precluded rigorous assessment of risk of bias and strength of evidence. This review finds a reliance on manual and semi-automated segmentation methods which demand a high level of expertise and a significant time commitment on the part of the operator. In light of the findings, we have made recommendations regarding reporting of 3D printing studies. We anticipate that these findings will encourage the development of advanced image segmentation methods.

Multiple mechanisms of MYCN dysregulation in Wilms tumour

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Williams, Richard D.; Chagtai, Tasnim; Alcaide-German, Marisa; Apps, John; Wegert, Jenny; Popov, Sergey; Vujanic, Gordan; van Tinteren, Harm; van den Heuvel-Eibrink, Marry M.; Kool, Marcel; de Kraker, Jan; Gisselsson, David; Graf, Norbert; Gessler, Manfred; Pritchard-Jones, Kathy

2015-01-01

Genomic gain of the proto-oncogene transcription factor gene MYCN is associated with poor prognosis in several childhood cancers. Here we present a comprehensive copy number analysis of MYCN in Wilms tumour (WT), demonstrating that gain of this gene is associated with anaplasia and with poorer relapse-free and overall survival, independent of histology. Using whole exome and gene-specific sequencing, together with methylation and expression profiling, we show that MYCN is targeted by other mechanisms, including a recurrent somatic mutation, P44L, and specific DNA hypomethylation events associated with MYCN overexpression in tumours with high risk histologies. We describe parallel evolution of genomic copy number gain and point mutation of MYCN in the contralateral tumours of a remarkable bilateral case in which independent contralateral mutations of TP53 also evolve over time. We report a second bilateral case in which MYCN gain is a germline aberration. Our results suggest a significant role for MYCN dysregulation in the molecular biology of Wilms tumour. We conclude that MYCN gain is prognostically significant, and suggest that the novel P44L somatic variant is likely to be an activating mutation. PMID:25749049

Bayesian longitudinal segmentation of hippocampal substructures in brain MRI using subject-specific atlases.

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Iglesias, Juan Eugenio; Van Leemput, Koen; Augustinack, Jean; Insausti, Ricardo; Fischl, Bruce; Reuter, Martin

2016-11-01

The hippocampal formation is a complex, heterogeneous structure that consists of a number of distinct, interacting subregions. Atrophy of these subregions is implied in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, most prominently in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thanks to the increasing resolution of MR images and computational atlases, automatic segmentation of hippocampal subregions is becoming feasible in MRI scans. Here we introduce a generative model for dedicated longitudinal segmentation that relies on subject-specific atlases. The segmentations of the scans at the different time points are jointly computed using Bayesian inference. All time points are treated the same to avoid processing bias. We evaluate this approach using over 4700 scans from two publicly available datasets (ADNI and MIRIAD). In test-retest reliability experiments, the proposed method yielded significantly lower volume differences and significantly higher Dice overlaps than the cross-sectional approach for nearly every subregion (average across subregions: 4.5% vs. 6.5%, Dice overlap: 81.8% vs. 75.4%). The longitudinal algorithm also demonstrated increased sensitivity to group differences: in MIRIAD (69 subjects: 46 with AD and 23 controls), it found differences in atrophy rates between AD and controls that the cross sectional method could not detect in a number of subregions: right parasubiculum, left and right presubiculum, right subiculum, left dentate gyrus, left CA4, left HATA and right tail. In ADNI (836 subjects: 369 with AD, 215 with early cognitive impairment - eMCI - and 252 controls), all methods found significant differences between AD and controls, but the proposed longitudinal algorithm detected differences between controls and eMCI and differences between eMCI and AD that the cross sectional method could not find: left presubiculum, right subiculum, left and right parasubiculum, left and right HATA. Moreover, many of the differences that the cross-sectional method already found

Environmental pollutants and dysregulation of male puberty--a comparison among species.

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Magnusson, Ulf; Ljungvall, Karl

2014-04-01

The scientific literature on altered onset of puberty predominantly involves studies on females. This paper reviews current knowledge on the role of environmental pollutants in dysregulation of male puberty in humans, laboratory rodents and farm animals. The methods used to determine the onset of puberty are well developed in humans and farm animals, and standardized across studies in humans. In laboratory rodents standardized external morphological endpoints are used. There is an increasing weight of evidence from epidemiological studies in humans, as well as from experiments in animals, indicating that environmental pollutants dysregulate puberty in males. Most data are from studies on "classical" persistent environmental pollutants. Assessing the effect of multichemical environmental pollution on dysregulation of puberty in humans is more challenging; further solid epidemiological data would likely contribute most to our understanding, especially if combined with systematically collected field-data from selected wildlife. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lamotrigine use in patients with binge eating and purging, significant affect dysregulation, and poor impulse control.

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Trunko, Mary Ellen; Schwartz, Terry A; Marzola, Enrica; Klein, Angela S; Kaye, Walter H

2014-04-01

Some patients with symptoms of binge eating and purging are successfully treated with specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), but others experience only partial or no benefit. Significant affect dysregulation and poor impulse control may be characteristics that limit responsiveness. We report on the treatment of five patients with bulimia nervosa (BN), anorexia nervosa-binge/purge type (AN-B/P) or eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS), using the anticonvulsant lamotrigine after inadequate response to SSRIs. Following addition of lamotrigine to an antidepressant in four cases, and switch from an antidepressant to lamotrigine in one case, patients experienced substantial improvement in mood reactivity and instability, impulsive drives and behaviors, and eating-disordered symptoms. These findings raise the possibility that lamotrigine, either as monotherapy or as an augmenting agent to antidepressants, may be useful in patients who binge eat and purge, and have significant affect dysregulation with poor impulse control. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Developmental delay and emotion dysregulation: Predicting parent-child conflict across early to middle childhood

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Marquis, Willa A.; Noroña, Amanda N.; Baker, Bruce L.

2016-01-01

Cumulative risk research has increased understanding of how multiple risk factors impact various socioemotional and interpersonal outcomes across the life span. However, little is known about risk factors for parent-child conflict early in development, where identifying predictors of change could be highly salient for intervention. Given their established association with parent-child conflict, child developmental delay (DD) and emotion dysregulation were examined as predictors of change in conflict across early to middle childhood (ages 3 to 7 years). Participants (n=211) were part of a longitudinal study examining the development of psychopathology in children with or without DD. Level of parent-child conflict was derived from naturalistic home observations, while child dysregulation was measured using an adapted CBCL-Emotion Dysregulation Index. PROCESS was used to examine the conditional interactive effects of delay status (typically developing, DD) and dysregulation on change in conflict from child ages 3 to 5 and 5 to 7 years. Across both of these timeframes, parent-child conflict increased only for families of children with both DD and high dysregulation, providing support for an interactive risk model of parent-child conflict. Findings are considered in the context of developmental transitions, and implications for intervention are discussed. PMID:28054804

Developmental delay and emotion dysregulation: Predicting parent-child conflict across early to middle childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Marquis, Willa A; Noroña, Amanda N; Baker, Bruce L

2017-04-01

Cumulative risk research has increased understanding of how multiple risk factors impact various socioemotional and interpersonal outcomes across the life span. However, little is known about risk factors for parent-child conflict early in development, where identifying predictors of change could be highly salient for intervention. Given their established association with parent-child conflict, child developmental delay (DD) and emotion dysregulation were examined as predictors of change in conflict across early to middle childhood (ages 3 to 7 years). Participants (n = 211) were part of a longitudinal study examining the development of psychopathology in children with or without DD. Level of parent-child conflict was derived from naturalistic home observations, whereas child dysregulation was measured using an adapted CBCL-Emotion Dysregulation Index. PROCESS was used to examine the conditional interactive effects of delay status (typically developing, DD) and dysregulation on change in conflict from child ages 3 to 5 and 5 to 7 years. Across both of these timeframes, parent-child conflict increased only for families of children with both DD and high dysregulation, providing support for an interactive risk model of parent-child conflict. Findings are considered in the context of developmental transitions, and implications for intervention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Lifetime Sexual Victimization and Poor Risk Perception: Does Emotion Dysregulation Account for the Links?

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Kate; DiLillo, David; Messman-Moore, Terri L.

2012-01-01

The present study examined whether and which facets of emotion dysregulation serve an intervening role in the association between prior victimization and risk perception in an analogue sexual assault vignette. Participants were 714 university women who completed self-report measures of sexual victimization, emotion dysregulation, and a…

Negative parental attribution and emotional dysregulation in Chinese early adolescents: Harsh fathering and harsh mothering as potential mediators.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Mingzhong; Wang, Jing

2018-04-21

The current study examined the potential mediating roles of harsh fathering and harsh mothering in the association between negative parental attribution and emotional dysregulation in Chinese adolescents and explored the moderating role of child gender on this indirect association. 864 students (367 girls, mean age = 13.55 years) with their parents were recruited as participants from two middle schools in Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. The results demonstrated that both harsh fathering and harsh mothering could partially mediate the association between negative maternal attribution and child emotional dysregulation, whereas only harsh fathering could partially mediate the association between negative paternal attribution and child emotional dysregulation. Moreover, we found the moderating role of child gender only for the association between harsh fathering and child emotional dysregulation, in that harsh fathering could be associated with higher levels of emotional dysregulation in girls. These results shed light on efforts to prevent harsh parenting and child emotional dysregulation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Noise destroys feedback enhanced figure-ground segmentation but not feedforward figure-ground segmentation

Science.gov (United States)

Romeo, August; Arall, Marina; Supèr, Hans

2012-01-01

Figure-ground (FG) segmentation is the separation of visual information into background and foreground objects. In the visual cortex, FG responses are observed in the late stimulus response period, when neurons fire in tonic mode, and are accompanied by a switch in cortical state. When such a switch does not occur, FG segmentation fails. Currently, it is not known what happens in the brain on such occasions. A biologically plausible feedforward spiking neuron model was previously devised that performed FG segmentation successfully. After incorporating feedback the FG signal was enhanced, which was accompanied by a change in spiking regime. In a feedforward model neurons respond in a bursting mode whereas in the feedback model neurons fired in tonic mode. It is known that bursts can overcome noise, while tonic firing appears to be much more sensitive to noise. In the present study, we try to elucidate how the presence of noise can impair FG segmentation, and to what extent the feedforward and feedback pathways can overcome noise. We show that noise specifically destroys the feedback enhanced FG segmentation and leaves the feedforward FG segmentation largely intact. Our results predict that noise produces failure in FG perception. PMID:22934028

FAS/FASL are dysregulated in chordoma and their loss-of-function impairs zebrafish notochord formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrari, Luca; Pistocchi, Anna; Libera, Laura; Boari, Nicola; Mortini, Pietro; Bellipanni, Gianfranco; Giordano, Antonio; Cotelli, Franco; Riva, Paola

2014-07-30

Chordoma is a rare malignant tumor that recapitulates the notochord phenotype and is thought to derive from notochord remnants not correctly regressed during development. Apoptosis is necessary for the proper notochord development in vertebrates, and the apoptotic pathway mediated by Fas and Fasl has been demonstrated to be involved in notochord cells regression. This study was conducted to investigate the expression of FAS/FASL pathway in a cohort of skull base chordomas and to analyze the role of fas/fasl homologs in zebrafish notochord formation. FAS/FASL expression was found to be dysregulated in chordoma leading to inactivation of the downstream Caspases in the samples analyzed. Both fas and fasl were specifically expressed in zebrafish notochord sorted cells. fas and fasl loss-of-function mainly resulted in larvae with notochord multi-cell-layer jumps organization, larger vacuolated notochord cells, defects in the peri-notochordal sheath structure and in vertebral mineralization. Interestingly, we observed the persistent expression of ntla and col2a1a, the zebrafish homologs of the human T gene and COL2A1 respectively, which are specifically up-regulated in chordoma. These results demonstrate for the first time the dysregulation of FAS/FASL in chordoma and their role in notochord formation in the zebrafish model, suggesting their possible implication in chordoma onset.

The role of social support on emotion dysregulation and Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents: A structural equation model.

Science.gov (United States)

Mo, Phoenix K H; Chan, Virginia W Y; Chan, Samuel W; Lau, Joseph T F

2018-07-01

Internet addiction is prevalent among adolescents and is associated with various negative outcomes. Relatively few studies examined the role of emotion dysregulation and social support on Internet addiction in this population. The present examined the association between emotion dysregulation, social support, and Internet addiction among junior secondary school students in Hong Kong. The mediating role of emotion dysregulation and Internet use on the relationship between social support and Internet addiction and the gender difference in such association were also tested. A total of 862 junior secondary school students (grade 7 to 8) from 4 schools completed a cross-sectional survey. 10.9% scored above the cut-off for Internet addiction based on the Chen Internet Addiction Scale. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that social support was negatively related to emotion dysregulation and Internet usage, which in turn, were positively related to Internet addiction. Results from multi-group analysis by gender showed that the relationship between social support and emotion dysregulation, Internet usage, and Internet addiction, and those between emotion dysregulation and Internet addiction and between Internet usage and Internet addiction were stronger among female participants. Emotion dysregulation is a potential risk factor while social support is a potential protective factor for Internet addiction. The role of social support on emotion dysregulation and Internet addiction were stronger among female students. Gender-sensitive interventions on Internet Addiction for adolescents are warranted, such interventions should increase social support and improve emotion regulation. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Dysregulation of gene expression within the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor pathway in morbidly obese patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Hindle, A Katharine; Koury, Jadd; McCaffrey, Tim; Fu, Sidney W; Brody, Fred

2009-06-01

The causes of obesity are multifactorial but may include dysregulation of a family of related genes, such as the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma). When activated, the PPARgamma pathway promotes lipid metabolism. This study used microarray technology to evaluate differential gene expression profiles in obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery. The study enrolled six morbidly obese patients with a body mass index (BMI) exceeding 35 and four nonobese individuals. Blood samples were stabilized in PaxGene tubes (PreAnalytiX), and total RNA was extracted. Next, 100 ng of total RNA was amplified and labeled using the Ovation RNA Amplification System V2 with the Ovation whole-blood reagent (NuGen) before it was hybridized to an Affymetrix (Santa Clara, CA) focus array containing more than 8,500 verified genes. The data were analyzed using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) (p < 0.05) in the GeneSpring program, and potential pathways were identified with the Ingenuity program. Real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was used to validate the array data. A total of 97 upregulated genes and 125 downregulated genes were identified. More than a 1.5-fold change was identified between the morbidly obese patients and the control subjects for a cluster of dysregulated genes involving pathways regulating cell metabolism and lipid formation. Specifically, the PPARgamma pathway showed a plethora of dysregulated genes including tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha). In morbidly obese patients, TNFalpha expression was increased (upregulated) 1.6-fold. These findings were confirmed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction with a 2.8-fold change. Microarrays are a powerful tool for identifying biomarkers indicating morbid obesity by analyzing differential gene expression profiles. This study confirms the association of PPARgamma with morbid obesity. Also, these findings in blood support previous work documented in tissue

Expression of Aleutian mink disease parvovirus capsid proteins in defined segments: localization of immunoreactive sites and neutralizing epitopes to specific regions.

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Bloom, M E; Martin, D A; Oie, K L; Huhtanen, M E; Costello, F; Wolfinbarger, J B; Hayes, S F; Agbandje-McKenna, M

1997-01-01

The capsid proteins of the ADV-G isolate of Aleutian mink disease parvovirus (ADV) were expressed in 10 nonoverlapping segments as fusions with maltose-binding protein in pMAL-C2 (pVP1, pVP2a through pVP2i). The constructs were designed to capture the VP1 unique sequence and the portions analogous to the four variable surface loops of canine parvovirus (CPV) in individual fragments (pVP2b, pVP2d, pVP2e, and pVP2g, respectively). The panel of fusion proteins was immunoblotted with sera from mink infected with ADV. Seropositive mink infected with either ADV-TR, ADV-Utah, or ADV-Pullman reacted preferentially against certain segments, regardless of mink genotype or virus inoculum. The most consistently immunoreactive regions were pVP2g, pVP2e, and pVP2f, the segments that encompassed the analogs of CPV surface loops 3 and 4. The VP1 unique region was also consistently immunoreactive. These findings indicated that infected mink recognize linear epitopes that localized to certain regions of the capsid protein sequence. The segment containing the hypervariable region (pVP2d), corresponding to CPV loop 2, was also expressed from ADV-Utah. An anti-ADV-G monoclonal antibody and a rabbit anti-ADV-G capsid antibody reacted exclusively with the ADV-G pVP2d segment but not with the corresponding segment from ADV-Utah. Mink infected with ADV-TR or ADV-Utah also preferentially reacted with the pVP2d sequence characteristic of that virus. These results suggested that the loop 2 region may contain a type-specific linear epitope and that the epitope may also be specifically recognized by infected mink. Heterologous antisera were prepared against the VP1 unique region and the four segments capturing the variable surface loops of CPV. The antisera against the proteins containing loop 3 or loop 4, as well as the anticapsid antibody, neutralized ADV-G infectivity in vitro and bound to capsids in immune electron microscopy. These results suggested that regions of the ADV capsid proteins

Understanding the connection between self-esteem and aggression: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Garofalo, Carlo; Holden, Christopher J; Zeigler-Hill, Virgil; Velotti, Patrizia

2016-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to extend previous knowledge concerning the link between self-esteem and aggression by examining the mediating role of emotion dysregulation among offenders and community participants. A sample of 153 incarcerated violent offenders and a community sample of 197 individuals completed self-report measures of self-esteem level, emotion dysregulation, and trait aggression. Offenders reported lower levels of self-esteem than community participants, as well as greater levels of emotional nonacceptance and hostility. Bootstrapping analyses were performed to test whether emotion dysregulation mediated the association between self-esteem level and aggression. In the offender sample, mediation models were significant for three of the four aspects of trait aggression that were considered. Emotion dysregulation fully mediated the links that low self-esteem had with physical aggression, anger, and hostility. The same pattern (with the addition of full mediation for verbal aggression) was confirmed in the community sample. Our findings suggest that emotion dysregulation may play an important role in the connection between low self-esteem and aggression. Alternative models of the associations among these variables were tested and discussed. As a whole, the present results are consistent with those of other studies and suggest that it may be beneficial to include emotion regulation modules as part of prevention and treatment programs for violent offenders. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Site-specific deletions of chromosomally located DNA segments with the multimer resolution system of broad-host-range plasmid RP4

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sternberg, Claus; Eberl, Leo; Sanchezromero, Juan M.

1995-01-01

The multimer resolution system (mrs) of the broad-host-range plasmid RP4 has been exploited to develop a general method that permits the precise excision of chromosomal segments in a variety of gram-negative bacteria. The procedure is based on the site-specific recombination between two directly ...

Specific expression of the vacuolar iron transporter, TgVit, causes iron accumulation in blue-colored inner bottom segments of various tulip petals.

Science.gov (United States)

Momonoi, Kazumi; Tsuji, Toshiaki; Kazuma, Kohei; Yoshida, Kumi

2012-01-01

Several flowers of Tulipa gesneriana exhibit a blue color in the bottom segments of the inner perianth. We have previously reported the inner-bottom tissue-specific iron accumulation and expression of the vacuolar iron transporter, TgVit1, in tulip cv. Murasakizuisho. To clarify whether the TgVit1-dependent iron accumulation and blue-color development in tulip petals are universal, we analyzed anthocyanin, its co-pigment components, iron contents and the expression of TgVit1 mRNA in 13 cultivars which show a blue color in the bottom segments of the inner perianth accompanying yellow- and white-colored inner-bottom petals. All of the blue bottom segments contained the same anthocyanin component, delphinidin 3-rutinoside. The flavonol composition varied with cultivar and tissue part. The major flavonol in the bottom segments of the inner perianth was rutin. The iron content in the upper part was less than that in the bottom segments of the inner perianth. The iron content in the yellow and white petals was higher in the bottom segment of the inner perianth than in the upper tissues. TgVit1 mRNA expression was apparent in all of the bottom tissues of the inner perianth. The result of a reproduction experiment by mixing the constituents suggests that the blue coloration in tulip petals is generally caused by iron complexation to delphinidin 3-rutinoside and that the iron complex is solubilized and stabilized by flavonol glycosides. TgVit1-dependent iron accumulation in the bottom segments of the inner perianth might be controlled by an unknown system that differentiated the upper parts and bottom segments of the inner perianth.

Can Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation in Youth Be Decoded from Functional Neuroimaging?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liana C L Portugal

Full Text Available High comorbidity among pediatric disorders characterized by behavioral and emotional dysregulation poses problems for diagnosis and treatment, and suggests that these disorders may be better conceptualized as dimensions of abnormal behaviors. Furthermore, identifying neuroimaging biomarkers related to dimensional measures of behavior may provide targets to guide individualized treatment. We aimed to use functional neuroimaging and pattern regression techniques to determine whether patterns of brain activity could accurately decode individual-level severity on a dimensional scale measuring behavioural and emotional dysregulation at two different time points.A sample of fifty-seven youth (mean age: 14.5 years; 32 males was selected from a multi-site study of youth with parent-reported behavioral and emotional dysregulation. Participants performed a block-design reward paradigm during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI. Pattern regression analyses consisted of Relevance Vector Regression (RVR and two cross-validation strategies implemented in the Pattern Recognition for Neuroimaging toolbox (PRoNTo. Medication was treated as a binary confounding variable. Decoded and actual clinical scores were compared using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r and mean squared error (MSE to evaluate the models. Permutation test was applied to estimate significance levels.Relevance Vector Regression identified patterns of neural activity associated with symptoms of behavioral and emotional dysregulation at the initial study screen and close to the fMRI scanning session. The correlation and the mean squared error between actual and decoded symptoms were significant at the initial study screen and close to the fMRI scanning session. However, after controlling for potential medication effects, results remained significant only for decoding symptoms at the initial study screen. Neural regions with the highest contribution to the pattern regression model

Dysregulation of coronary microvascular reactivity in asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Momose, Mitsuru; Neverve, Jodi; Nekolla, Stephan G.; Schwaiger, Markus; Bengel, Frank M. [Nuklearmedizinische Klinik und Poliklinik der Technischen Universitaet Muenchen, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Ismaninger Strasse 22, 81675 Munich (Germany); Abletshauser, Claudia [Department of Medicine, Novartis Pharma GmbH, Nuernberg (Germany); Schnell, Oliver; Standl, Eberhard [Institut fuer Diabetesforschung, Munich (Germany)

2002-12-01

In diabetic patients, a number of studies have suggested an impairment of vascular reactivity in response to vasodilatory stimuli. The pattern of dysregulation at the coronary microcirculatory level, however, has not been clearly defined. Thus, it was the aim of this study to characterise coronary microvascular function non-invasively in a homogeneous group of asymptomatic type 2 diabetic patients. In 46 patients with type 2 diabetes, myocardial blood flow (MBF) was quantified at baseline, in response to cold pressor test (CPT) and during adenosine-mediated vasodilation using positron emission tomography and nitrogen-13 ammonia. None of the patients had been treated with insulin, and none had symptoms of cardiac disease. Decreased MBF during CPT, indicating microvascular dysregulation, was observed in 16 patients (CPT-), while 30 patients demonstrated increased MBF during CPT (CPT+). Response to CPT was mildly, but significantly correlated with response to adenosine (r=0.44, P=0.0035). There was no difference in HbA1c, serum lipid levels or serum endothelial markers between the groups. Microvascular dysregulation in the CPT- group was associated with elevated baseline MBF (P<0.0001), reduced baseline vascular resistance (P=0.0026) and an abnormal increase in resistance during CPT (P=0.0002). In conclusion, coronary microvascular dysregulation is present in approximately one-third of asymptomatic, non-insulin-treated type 2 diabetic patients. Elevated baseline blood flow and reduced microvascular resistance at rest are characteristics of this dysregulation. These data suggest a state of activation of endothelial-dependent vasodilation at baseline which appears to limit the flow response to stress conditions. (orig.)

International EUREKA: Initialization Segment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-02-01

The Initialization Segment creates the starting description of the uranium market. The starting description includes the international boundaries of trade, the geologic provinces, resources, reserves, production, uranium demand forecasts, and existing market transactions. The Initialization Segment is designed to accept information of various degrees of detail, depending on what is known about each region. It must transform this information into a specific data structure required by the Market Segment of the model, filling in gaps in the information through a predetermined sequence of defaults and built in assumptions. A principal function of the Initialization Segment is to create diagnostic messages indicating any inconsistencies in data and explaining which assumptions were used to organize the data base. This permits the user to manipulate the data base until such time the user is satisfied that all the assumptions used are reasonable and that any inconsistencies are resolved in a satisfactory manner

Identifying mRNA targets of microRNA dysregulated in cancer: with application to clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liou Louis S

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background MicroRNA regulate mRNA levels in a tissue specific way, either by inducing degradation of the transcript or by inhibiting translation or transcription. Putative mRNA targets of microRNA identified from seed sequence matches are available in many databases. However, such matches have a high false positive rate and cannot identify tissue specificity of regulation. Results We describe a simple method to identify direct mRNA targets of microRNA dysregulated in cancers from expression level measurements in patient matched tumor/normal samples. The word "direct" is used here in a strict sense to: a represent mRNA which have an exact seed sequence match to the microRNA in their 3'UTR, b the seed sequence match is strictly conserved across mouse, human, rat and dog genomes, c the mRNA and microRNA expression levels can distinguish tumor from normal with high significance and d the microRNA/mRNA expression levels are strongly and significantly anti-correlated in tumor and/or normal samples. We apply and validate the method using clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC and matched normal kidney samples, limiting our analysis to mRNA targets which undergo degradation of the mRNA transcript because of a perfect seed sequence match. Dysregulated microRNA and mRNA are first identified by comparing their expression levels in tumor vs normal samples. Putative dysregulated microRNA/mRNA pairs are identified from these using seed sequence matches, requiring that the seed sequence be conserved in human/dog/rat/mouse genomes. These are further pruned by requiring a strong anti-correlation signature in tumor and/or normal samples. The method revealed many new regulations in ccRCC. For instance, loss of miR-149, miR-200c and mir-141 causes gain of function of oncogenes (KCNMA1, LOX, VEGFA and SEMA6A respectively and increased levels of miR-142-3p, miR-185, mir-34a, miR-224, miR-21 cause loss of function of tumor suppressors LRRC2, PTPN13, SFRP1

The Relationship Between Emotion Dysregulation and Impulsive Aggression in Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, Shannon R; Menefee, Deleene S; Wanner, Jill; Teten Tharp, Andra; Kent, Thomas A

2016-06-01

While Veterans in general are no more dangerous than the civilian population, Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have stronger associations with anger and hostility and certain forms of aggression, such as intimate partner violence, than civilians with PTSD. This is alarming because up to 21% of Veterans seeking Veterans Affairs (VA) health care are diagnosed with PTSD. Emotion regulation difficulties (emotion dysregulation) are also related to increased PTSD symptom severity and may play a role in aggressive behavior. Because the predominant form of aggression in PTSD appears to be the impulsive subtype, the authors sought to clarify the relationship between PTSD, emotion dysregulation, and impulsive aggression. We examined how emotion dysregulation influenced impulsive aggression in a Veteran sample (N = 479) seeking treatment for trauma sequelae. All Veterans completed measures that assessed demographic information, emotion dysregulation, aggression frequency and subtype, and PTSD symptoms. Men generally reported more aggression than women. The emotion dysregulation, aggression, and PTSD measures were significantly correlated. Two cross-sectional mediation models showed emotion dysregulation fully accounted for the relationship between PTSD and impulsive aggression (indirect path for men: b = .07, SE = .026, bias-correct and accelerated confidence interval [BCa CI] = [0.02, 0.13]; indirect path for women: b = .08, SE = .022, BCa CI = [0.05, 0.13]). PTSD can increase negative emotions yet does not always lead to aggressive behaviors. The ability to regulate emotions may be pivotal to inhibiting aggression in those with PTSD. PTSD interventions may benefit from augmentation with emotion regulation skills training. © The Author(s) 2015.

Micro-segmental hair analysis for proving drug-facilitated crimes: Evidence that a victim ingested a sleeping aid, diphenhydramine, on a specific day.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuwayama, Kenji; Nariai, Maika; Miyaguchi, Hajime; Iwata, Yuko T; Kanamori, Tatsuyuki; Tsujikawa, Kenji; Yamamuro, Tadashi; Segawa, Hiroki; Abe, Hiroko; Iwase, Hirotaro; Inoue, Hiroyuki

2018-07-01

Sleeping aids are often abused in the commission of drug-facilitated crimes. Generally, there is little evidence that a victim ingested a spiked drink unknowingly because the unconscious victim cannot report the situation to the police immediately after the crime occurred. Although conventional segmental hair analysis can estimate the number of months since a targeted drug was ingested, this analysis cannot determine the specific day of ingestion. We recently developed a method of micro-segmental hair analysis using internal temporal markers (ITMs) to estimate the day of drug ingestion. This method was based on volunteer ingestion of ITMs to determine a timescale within individual hair strands, by segmenting a single hair strand at 0.4-mm intervals, corresponding to daily hair growth. This study assessed the ability of this method to estimate the day of ingestion of an over-the-counter sleeping aid, diphenhydramine, which can be easily abused. To model ingestion of a diphenhydramine-spiked drink unknowingly, each subject ingested a dose of diphenhydramine, followed by ingestion of two doses of the ITM, chlorpheniramine, 14days apart. Several hair strands were collected from each subject's scalp several weeks after the second ITM ingestion. Diphenhydramine and ITM were detected at specific regions within individual hair strands. The day of diphenhydramine ingestion was estimated from the distances between the regions and the days of ITM ingestion. The error between estimated and actual ingestion day ranged from -0.1 to 1.9days regardless of subjects and hair collection times. The total time required for micro-segmental analysis of 96 hair segments (hair length: 3.84cm) was approximately 2days and the cost was almost the same as in general drug analysis. This procedure may be applicable to the investigation of crimes facilitated by various drugs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Algorithm to Automate Yeast Segmentation and Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Doncic, Andreas; Eser, Umut; Atay, Oguzhan; Skotheim, Jan M.

2013-01-01

Our understanding of dynamic cellular processes has been greatly enhanced by rapid advances in quantitative fluorescence microscopy. Imaging single cells has emphasized the prevalence of phenomena that can be difficult to infer from population measurements, such as all-or-none cellular decisions, cell-to-cell variability, and oscillations. Examination of these phenomena requires segmenting and tracking individual cells over long periods of time. However, accurate segmentation and tracking of cells is difficult and is often the rate-limiting step in an experimental pipeline. Here, we present an algorithm that accomplishes fully automated segmentation and tracking of budding yeast cells within growing colonies. The algorithm incorporates prior information of yeast-specific traits, such as immobility and growth rate, to segment an image using a set of threshold values rather than one specific optimized threshold. Results from the entire set of thresholds are then used to perform a robust final segmentation. PMID:23520484

Balancing the fit and logistics costs of market segmentations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Turkensteen, M.; Sierksma, G.; Wieringa, J.E.

2011-01-01

Segments are typically formed to serve distinct groups of consumers with differentiated marketing mixes, that better fit their specific needs and wants. However, buyers in a segment are not necessarily geographically closely located. Serving a geographically dispersed segment with one marketing mix

Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Evokes Unique Segment-Specific Vasoconstriction of the Renal Microvasculature

Science.gov (United States)

Singletary, Sean T.; Cook, Anthony K.; Hobbs, Janet L.; Pollock, Jennifer S.; Inscho, Edward W.

2014-01-01

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a bioactive sphingolipid metabolite, has been implicated in regulating vascular tone and participating in chronic and acute kidney injury. However, little is known about the role of S1P in the renal microcirculation. Here, we directly assessed the vasoresponsiveness of preglomerular and postglomerular microvascular segments to exogenous S1P using the in vitro blood-perfused juxtamedullary nephron preparation. Superfusion of S1P (0.001–10 μM) evoked concentration-dependent vasoconstriction in preglomerular microvessels, predominantly afferent arterioles. After administration of 10 μM S1P, the diameter of afferent arterioles decreased to 35%±5% of the control diameter, whereas the diameters of interlobular and arcuate arteries declined to 50%±12% and 68%±6% of the control diameter, respectively. Notably, efferent arterioles did not respond to S1P. The S1P receptor agonists FTY720 and FTY720-phosphate and the specific S1P1 receptor agonist SEW2871 each evoked modest afferent arteriolar vasoconstriction. Conversely, S1P2 receptor inhibition with JTE-013 significantly attenuated S1P-mediated afferent arteriolar vasoconstriction. Moreover, blockade of L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels with diltiazem or nifedipine attenuated S1P-mediated vasoconstriction. Intravenous injection of S1P in anesthetized rats reduced renal blood flow dose dependently. Western blotting and immunofluorescence revealed S1P1 and S1P2 receptor expression in isolated preglomerular microvessels and microvascular smooth muscle cells. These data demonstrate that S1P evokes segmentally distinct preglomerular vasoconstriction via activation of S1P1 and/or S1P2 receptors, partially via L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels. Accordingly, S1P may have a novel function in regulating afferent arteriolar resistance under physiologic conditions. PMID:24578134

A novel statistical approach shows evidence for multi-system physiological dysregulation during aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Alan A; Milot, Emmanuel; Yong, Jian; Seplaki, Christopher L; Fülöp, Tamàs; Bandeen-Roche, Karen; Fried, Linda P

2013-03-01

Previous studies have identified many biomarkers that are associated with aging and related outcomes, but the relevance of these markers for underlying processes and their relationship to hypothesized systemic dysregulation is not clear. We address this gap by presenting a novel method for measuring dysregulation via the joint distribution of multiple biomarkers and assessing associations of dysregulation with age and mortality. Using longitudinal data from the Women's Health and Aging Study, we selected a 14-marker subset from 63 blood measures: those that diverged from the baseline population mean with age. For the 14 markers and all combinatorial sub-subsets we calculated a multivariate distance called the Mahalanobis distance (MHBD) for all observations, indicating how "strange" each individual's biomarker profile was relative to the baseline population mean. In most models, MHBD correlated positively with age, MHBD increased within individuals over time, and higher MHBD predicted higher risk of subsequent mortality. Predictive power increased as more variables were incorporated into the calculation of MHBD. Biomarkers from multiple systems were implicated. These results support hypotheses of simultaneous dysregulation in multiple systems and confirm the need for longitudinal, multivariate approaches to understanding biomarkers in aging. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pediatric Obesity-Related Asthma: The Role of Metabolic Dysregulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Vijayakanthi, Nandini; Greally, John M; Rastogi, Deepa

2016-05-01

The burden of obesity-related asthma among children, particularly among ethnic minorities, necessitates an improved understanding of the underlying disease mechanisms. Although obesity is an independent risk factor for asthma, not all obese children develop asthma. Several recent studies have elucidated mechanisms, including the role of diet, sedentary lifestyle, mechanical fat load, and adiposity-mediated inflammation that may underlie the obese asthma pathophysiology. Here, we review these recent studies and emerging scientific evidence that suggest metabolic dysregulation may play a role in pediatric obesity-related asthma. We also review the genetic and epigenetic factors that may underlie susceptibility to metabolic dysregulation and associated pulmonary morbidity among children. Lastly, we identify knowledge gaps that need further exploration to better define pathways that will allow development of primary preventive strategies for obesity-related asthma in children. Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dialectical behavior therapy skills use and emotion dysregulation in personality disorders and psychopathy: a community self-report study.

Science.gov (United States)

Neacsiu, Andrada D; Tkachuck, Mathew A

2016-01-01

Emotion dysregulation is a critical transdiagnostic mental health problem that needs to be further examined in personality disorders (PDs). The current study examined dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills use, emotion dysregulation, and dysfunctional coping among adults who endorsed symptoms of cluster B PDs and psychopathy. We hypothesized that skills taught in DBT and emotion dysregulation are useful for adults with PDs other than borderline personality disorder (BPD). Using a self-report questionnaire, we examined these constructs in three groups of community adults: those who reported symptoms consistent with borderline personality disorder (BPD; N = 29), those who reported symptoms consistent with any other cluster B PD (N = 22), and those with no reported cluster B PD symptoms (N = 77) as measured by the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 + . Both PD groups reported higher emotion dysregulation and dysfunctional coping when compared to the no PD group. Only the BPD group had significantly lower DBT skills use. DBT skills use was found to be a significant predictor of cluster B psychopathology but only before accounting for emotion dysregulation. When added to the regression model, emotion dysregulation was found to be a significant predictor of cluster B psychopathology but DBT skills use no longer had a significant effect. Across all groups, DBT skills use deficits and maladaptive coping, but not emotion dysregulation, predicted different facets of psychopathy. Emotion dysregulation and use of maladaptive coping are problems in cluster B PDs, outside of BPD, but not in psychopathy. Inability to use DBT skills may be unique to BPD. Because this study relied exclusively on self-report, this data is preliminary and warrants further investigation.

Emotion dysregulation and interpersonal problems : The role of defensiveness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Garofalo, C.; Velotti, Patrizia; Zavattini, Giulio Cesare; Kosson, D.S.

2017-01-01

Despite evidence that individual differences in defensiveness (typically measured with social desirability scales) may affect associations among self-report measures, little is known about the impact of defensiveness in the well-established relations between self-report emotion dysregulation and

An algorithm to automate yeast segmentation and tracking.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas Doncic

Full Text Available Our understanding of dynamic cellular processes has been greatly enhanced by rapid advances in quantitative fluorescence microscopy. Imaging single cells has emphasized the prevalence of phenomena that can be difficult to infer from population measurements, such as all-or-none cellular decisions, cell-to-cell variability, and oscillations. Examination of these phenomena requires segmenting and tracking individual cells over long periods of time. However, accurate segmentation and tracking of cells is difficult and is often the rate-limiting step in an experimental pipeline. Here, we present an algorithm that accomplishes fully automated segmentation and tracking of budding yeast cells within growing colonies. The algorithm incorporates prior information of yeast-specific traits, such as immobility and growth rate, to segment an image using a set of threshold values rather than one specific optimized threshold. Results from the entire set of thresholds are then used to perform a robust final segmentation.

Sexual victimization, fear of sexual powerlessness, and cognitive emotion dysregulation as barriers to sexual assertiveness in college women.

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Zerubavel, Noga; Messman-Moore, Terri L

2013-12-01

The current study examined sexual victimization and two barriers to young women's sexual assertiveness: fear of sexual powerlessness and cognitive emotion dysregulation. College women (N = 499) responded to surveys and indicated that fear of sexual powerlessness and, to a lesser extent, cognitive emotion dysregulation were barriers to sexual assertiveness. Compared with nonvictims, sexually victimized women had greater problems with sexual assertiveness, fear of sexual powerlessness, and cognitive emotion dysregulation. Among victims, fear of sexual powerlessness and emotion dysregulation interacted to impede sexual assertiveness. Findings support targeting identified barriers in interventions to improve sexual assertiveness and reduce risk for unwanted sexual experiences and sexual victimization.

Dysregulated Pathway Identification of Alzheimer's Disease Based on Internal Correlation Analysis of Genes and Pathways.

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Kong, Wei; Mou, Xiaoyang; Di, Benteng; Deng, Jin; Zhong, Ruxing; Wang, Shuaiqun

2017-11-20

Dysregulated pathway identification is an important task which can gain insight into the underlying biological processes of disease. Current pathway-identification methods focus on a set of co-expression genes and single pathways and ignore the correlation between genes and pathways. The method proposed in this study, takes into account the internal correlations not only between genes but also pathways to identifying dysregulated pathways related to Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. In order to find the significantly differential genes for AD, mutual information (MI) is used to measure interdependencies between genes other than expression valves. Then, by integrating the topology information from KEGG, the significant pathways involved in the feature genes are identified. Next, the distance correlation (DC) is applied to measure the pairwise pathway crosstalks since DC has the advantage of detecting nonlinear correlations when compared to Pearson correlation. Finally, the pathway pairs with significantly different correlations between normal and AD samples are known as dysregulated pathways. The molecular biology analysis demonstrated that many dysregulated pathways related to AD pathogenesis have been discovered successfully by the internal correlation detection. Furthermore, the insights of the dysregulated pathways in the development and deterioration of AD will help to find new effective target genes and provide important theoretical guidance for drug design. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Dysregulated miR-183 inhibits migration in breast cancer cells.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Lowery, Aoife J

2010-01-01

The involvement of miRNAs in the regulation of fundamental cellular functions has placed them at the fore of ongoing investigations into the processes underlying carcinogenesis. MiRNA expression patterns have been shown to be dysregulated in numerous human malignancies, including breast cancer, suggesting their probable involvement as novel classes of oncogenes or tumour suppressor genes. The identification of differentially expressed miRNAs and elucidation of their functional roles may provide insight into the complex and diverse molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis. MiR-183 is located on chromosome 7q32 and is part of a miRNA family which are dysregulated in numerous cancers. The aims of this study were to further examine the expression and functional role of miR-183 in breast cancer.

Connecting textual segments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brügger, Niels

2017-01-01

history than just the years of the emergence of the web, the chapter traces the history of how segments of text have deliberately been connected to each other by the use of specific textual and media features, from clay tablets, manuscripts on parchment, and print, among others, to hyperlinks on stand......In “Connecting textual segments: A brief history of the web hyperlink” Niels Brügger investigates the history of one of the most fundamental features of the web: the hyperlink. Based on the argument that the web hyperlink is best understood if it is seen as another step in a much longer and broader...

Immune System Dysregulation and Herpesvirus Reactivation Persist During Long-Duration Spaceflight

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Crucian, B. E.; Mehta, S.; Stowe, R. P.; Uchakin, P.; Quiriarte, H.; Pierson, D.; Sams, C. F.

2011-01-01

This poster presentation reviews a study that is designed to address immune system dysregulation and the risk to crewmembers in long duration exploration class missions. This study will address these objectives: (1) Determine the status of adaptive immunity physiological stress, viral immunity, latent herpesvirus reactivation in astronauts during 6 month missions to the International Space Station; (2) determine the clinical risk related to immune dysregulation for exploration class spaceflight; and (3) determine an appropriate monitoring strategy for spaceflight-associated immune dysfunction that could be used for the evaluation of countermeasures. The study anticipates 17 subjects, and for this presentation, (midpoint study data) 10 subjects are reviewed.

Integrating Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy: A Couples Skills Group for Emotion Dysregulation

Science.gov (United States)

Kirby, Jennifer S.; Baucom, Donald H.

2007-01-01

Given the reciprocal influences of emotion dysregulation and relationship functioning, it is important to target such emotional difficulties within an interpersonal context. Treating emotion dysregulation within intimate relationships can offer valuable opportunities for both emotional and relationship difficulties to be addressed. This paper…

New developments in segment ancillary logic for FASTBUS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walz, H.V.; Bertolucci, B.

1983-01-01

Segment Ancillary Logic hardware for FASTBUS systems provides logical functions required in common by all devices attached to a segment. It controls the execution of arbitration cycles, and geographical address cycles, and generates the system handshake responses for broadcast operations. The mandatory requirements for Segment Ancillary Logic in the FASTBUS specifications are reviewed. A detailed implementation based on ECL logic is described, and the hardware to be used on an ECL cable segment for an experimental FASTBUS system at SLAC is shown

Adult attachment, emotion dysregulation, and symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Marganska, Anna; Gallagher, Michelle; Miranda, Regina

2013-01-01

Differences in attachment style have been linked to both emotion regulation and psychological functioning, but the emotion regulatory mechanism through which attachment style might impact symptoms of depression and anxiety is unclear. The present study examined the explanatory role of emotion dysregulation in the relation between adult attachment style and symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in a sample of 284 adults. Secure attachment was associated with lower depression and GAD symptoms and lower emotion dysregulation, whereas insecure attachment styles were generally associated with higher depression and GAD scores and higher emotion dysregulation. Perceived inability to generate effective emotion regulation strategies mediated the relation between insecure attachment and both depression and GAD symptoms. Nonacceptance of negative emotions and inability to control impulsive behaviors emerged as additional mediators of the relation between insecure attachment styles and GAD symptoms. The differential contribution of attachment style and emotion regulation to the prediction of depression and GAD symptoms may reflect differences in vulnerability to depression and GAD. © 2013 American Orthopsychiatric Association.

Systematic identification of core transcription factors mediating dysregulated links bridging inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer.

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Yun Xiao

Full Text Available Accumulating evidence shows a tight link between inflammation and cancer. However, comprehensive identification of pivotal transcription factors (i.e., core TFs mediating the dysregulated links remains challenging, mainly due to a lack of samples that can effectively reflect the connections between inflammation and tumorigenesis. Here, we constructed a series of TF-mediated regulatory networks from a large compendium of expression profiling of normal colonic tissues, inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs and colorectal cancer (CRC, which contains 1201 samples in total, and then proposed a network-based approach to characterize potential links bridging inflammation and cancer. For this purpose, we computed significantly dysregulated relationships between inflammation and their linked cancer networks, and then 24 core TFs with their dysregulated genes were identified. Collectively, our approach provides us with quite important insight into inflammation-associated tumorigenesis in colorectal cancer, which could also be applied to identify functionally dysregulated relationships mediating the links between other different disease phenotypes.

Investigating multiple dysregulated pathways in rheumatoid arthritis based on pathway interaction network.

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Song, Xian-Dong; Song, Xian-Xu; Liu, Gui-Bo; Ren, Chun-Hui; Sun, Yuan-Bo; Liu, Ke-Xin; Liu, Bo; Liang, Shuang; Zhu, Zhu

2018-03-01

The traditional methods of identifying biomarkers in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have focussed on the differentially expressed pathways or individual pathways, which however, neglect the interactions between pathways. To better understand the pathogenesis of RA, we aimed to identify dysregulated pathway sets using a pathway interaction network (PIN), which considered interactions among pathways. Firstly, RA-related gene expression profile data, protein-protein interactions (PPI) data and pathway data were taken up from the corresponding databases. Secondly, principal component analysis method was used to calculate the pathway activity of each of the pathway, and then a seed pathway was identified using data gleaned from the pathway activity. A PIN was then constructed based on the gene expression profile, pathway data, and PPI information. Finally, the dysregulated pathways were extracted from the PIN based on the seed pathway using the method of support vector machines and an area under the curve (AUC) index. The PIN comprised of a total of 854 pathways and 1064 pathway interactions. The greatest change in the activity score between RA and control samples was observed in the pathway of epigenetic regulation of gene expression, which was extracted and regarded as the seed pathway. Starting with this seed pathway, one maximum pathway set containing 10 dysregulated pathways was extracted from the PIN, having an AUC of 0.8249, and the result indicated that this pathway set could distinguish RA from the controls. These 10 dysregulated pathways might be potential biomarkers for RA diagnosis and treatment in the future.

Social exposure and emotion dysregulation: Main effects in relation to nonsuicidal self-injury.

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Zelkowitz, Rachel L; Porter, Andrew C; Heiman, Ellen R; Cole, David A

2017-10-01

We examined the relation of interpersonal and media exposure to nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) among 340 university students in the southeastern United States (73.5% female, M age = 19.38 years, SD = 1.15). We also assessed interactions and main effects of each exposure and emotion dysregulation in relation to NSSI, testing the social learning hypothesis of NSSI. Most participants endorsed medium to high levels of exposure to NSSI via media sources. More than one-third of participants were somewhat or very familiar with someone who engaged in NSSI. Almost half reported occasional or frequent conversations about NSSI. Both exposure forms were significantly related to NSSI history. However, hurdle regression analyses revealed that interpersonal exposure and emotion dysregulation, but not media exposure, were significantly associated with NSSI history and frequency. We did not find evidence for an emotion dysregulation-by-interpersonal-exposure interaction. We discuss implications for theoretical models of NSSI, limitations, and future directions. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Deformable segmentation via sparse shape representation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shaoting; Zhan, Yiqiang; Dewan, Maneesh; Huang, Junzhou; Metaxas, Dimitris N; Zhou, Xiang Sean

2011-01-01

Appearance and shape are two key elements exploited in medical image segmentation. However, in some medical image analysis tasks, appearance cues are weak/misleading due to disease/artifacts and often lead to erroneous segmentation. In this paper, a novel deformable model is proposed for robust segmentation in the presence of weak/misleading appearance cues. Owing to the less trustable appearance information, this method focuses on the effective shape modeling with two contributions. First, a shape composition method is designed to incorporate shape prior on-the-fly. Based on two sparsity observations, this method is robust to false appearance information and adaptive to statistically insignificant shape modes. Second, shape priors are modeled and used in a hierarchical fashion. More specifically, by using affinity propagation method, our deformable surface is divided into multiple partitions, on which local shape models are built independently. This scheme facilitates a more compact shape prior modeling and hence a more robust and efficient segmentation. Our deformable model is applied on two very diverse segmentation problems, liver segmentation in PET-CT images and rodent brain segmentation in MR images. Compared to state-of-art methods, our method achieves better performance in both studies.

The Pathogenesis and Treatment of Emotion Dysregulation in Borderline Personality Disorder

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Andreas Laddis

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Uncontrollable emotional lability and impulsivity are a paramount phenomenon of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD. This paper aims to review theories that entertain emotion dysregulation as the core deficit of BPD and a key factor in the etiology of BPD, in order, then, to propose the author’s own theory, which arguably transcends certain limitations of the earlier ones. The author asserts that his psychodynamic theory explains the symptoms of BPD more thoroughly and it inspires a more parsimonious interpretation of brain imaging findings. In closing, the author draws implications of the proposed theory for clinical practice. He reports an efficacy study for treatment of emotion dysregulation based on that theory.

Maternal control and early child dysregulation: Moderating roles of ethnicity and child delay status.

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Caplan, B; Baker, B L

2017-02-01

Maternal controlling behaviour has been found to influence child development, particularly in behavioural and emotional regulation. Given the higher rates of interfering parent control found in mothers of children with developmental delays (DD) and Latina mothers, their children could be at increased risk for behavioural and emotional dysregulation. While studies generally support this increased risk for children with DD, findings for Latino children are mixed and often attributed to cultural models of child rearing. The present study sought to determine the moderating roles of child DD and mother ethnicity in determining the relationships between two types of parent control (supportive directiveness and interference) and child dysregulation over time. The present study, involving 178 3-year old children with DD (n = 80) or typical development (n = 98), examined observed parent control (directive versus interfering) of Latina and Anglo mothers as it relates to change in preschool child dysregulation over 2 years. Interfering parent control was greater for children with DD and also for Latino mothers. Supportive directive parenting generally related to relatively greater decline in child behaviour and emotion dysregulation over time, while interfering parenting generally related to less decline in child behaviour dysregulation over time. In Anglo but not Latino families, these relationships tended to vary as a function of child disability. Parent directives that support, rather than deter, ongoing child activity may promote positive regulatory development. These results particularly hold for children with DD and Latino families, and have implications for parenting practices and intervention. © 2016 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Pathway Interaction Network Analysis Identifies Dysregulated Pathways in Human Monocytes Infected by Listeria monocytogenes

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Wufeng Fan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In our study, we aimed to extract dysregulated pathways in human monocytes infected by Listeria monocytogenes (LM based on pathway interaction network (PIN which presented the functional dependency between pathways. After genes were aligned to the pathways, principal component analysis (PCA was used to calculate the pathway activity for each pathway, followed by detecting seed pathway. A PIN was constructed based on gene expression profile, protein-protein interactions (PPIs, and cellular pathways. Identifying dysregulated pathways from the PIN was performed relying on seed pathway and classification accuracy. To evaluate whether the PIN method was feasible or not, we compared the introduced method with standard network centrality measures. The pathway of RNA polymerase II pretranscription events was selected as the seed pathway. Taking this seed pathway as start, one pathway set (9 dysregulated pathways with AUC score of 1.00 was identified. Among the 5 hub pathways obtained using standard network centrality measures, 4 pathways were the common ones between the two methods. RNA polymerase II transcription and DNA replication owned a higher number of pathway genes and DEGs. These dysregulated pathways work together to influence the progression of LM infection, and they will be available as biomarkers to diagnose LM infection.

Process Segmentation Typology in Czech Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tucek David

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This article describes process segmentation typology during business process management implementation in Czech companies. Process typology is important for a manager’s overview of process orientation as well as for a manager’s general understanding of business process management. This article provides insight into a process-oriented organizational structure. The first part analyzes process segmentation typology itself as well as some original results of quantitative research evaluating process segmentation typology in the specific context of Czech company strategies. Widespread data collection was carried out in 2006 and 2013. The analysis of this data showed that managers have more options regarding process segmentation and its selection. In terms of practicality and ease of use, the most frequently used method of process segmentation (managerial, main, and supportive stems directly from the requirements of ISO 9001. Because of ISO 9001:2015, managers must now apply risk planning in relation to the selection of processes that are subjected to process management activities. It is for this fundamental reason that this article focuses on process segmentation typology.

Attention Biases Towards and Away from Threat Mark the Relation between Early Dysregulated Fear and the Later Emergence of Social Withdrawal.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Santiago; Pérez-Edgar, Koraly E; Buss, Kristin A

2015-08-01

Fearful temperament, mostly studied as behavioral inhibition (BI), has been extensively associated with social withdrawal in childhood and the later emergence of anxiety disorders, especially social anxiety disorder (SAD). Recent studies have characterized a distinct type of fearful temperament marked by high levels of fear in low threat situations - labeled dysregulated fear. Dysregulated fear has been related to SAD over and above risks associated with BI. However, the mechanism by which dysregulated fear is related to SAD has not been studied. Cognitive mechanisms, such as attentional bias towards threat, may be a possible conduit. We examined differences in attentional bias towards threat in six-year-olds who displayed a pattern of dysregulated fear at age two (N = 23) compared with children who did not display dysregulated fear (N = 33). Moreover, we examined the concurrent relation between attentional bias and social withdrawal. Results indicated that children characterized by dysregulated fear showed a significant bias away from threat, and that this bias was significantly different from the children without dysregulated fear, who showed no significant bias. Moreover, attentional bias towards threat was positively related to social withdrawal only for the dysregulated fear group. These results are discussed in consideration of the existing knowledge of attentional bias to threat in the developmental and pediatric anxiety literatures, as well as recent studies that find important heterogeneity in attentional bias.

[Stress and autonomic dysregulation in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome].

Science.gov (United States)

Friederich, H-C; Schellberg, D; Mueller, K; Bieber, C; Zipfel, S; Eich, W

2005-06-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate to what extent the orthostatic dysregulation of FMS patients can be attributed primarily to reduced baroreceptor-mediated activation of the sympathetic nervous system and whether a hyporeactive sympathetic nervous system can also be confirmed for mental stress. A total of 28 patients with primary FMS were examined and compared with 15 healthy subjects. Diagnostic investigations of the autonomic nervous system were based on measuring HRV in frequency range and assessing spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity (sBRS) under mental stress and passive orthostatism. Both under orthostatic and mental stress FMS patients exhibited reduced activation of the sympathetic nervous system as measured by the spectral power of HRV in the low-frequency range and the mean arterial blood pressure or heart rate. The present study provided no indications for dysregulation of sBRS. The results obtained confirm the hypothesis of a hyporeactive stress system in FMS patients for both peripherally and centrally mediated stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system.

Relations between segmental and motor variability in prosodically complex nonword sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Goffman, Lisa; Gerken, Louann; Lucchesi, Julie

2007-04-01

To assess how prosodic prominence and hierarchical foot structure influence segmental and articulatory aspects of speech production, specifically segmental accuracy and variability, and oral movement trajectory variability. Thirty individuals participated: 10 young adults, 10 children who are normally developing, and 10 children diagnosed with specific language impairment. Segmental error and segmental variability and movement trajectory variability were compared in low and high prosodic prominence conditions (i.e., strong and weak syllables) and in different prosodic foot structures. Between-participants findings were that both groups of children showed more segmental error and segmental variability and more movement trajectory variability than did adults. A similar within-participant pattern of results was observed for all 3 groups. Prosodic prominence influenced both segmental and motor levels of analysis, with weak syllables produced less accurately and with more lip and jaw movement trajectory variability than strong syllables. However, hierarchical foot structure affected segmental but not motor measures of speech production accuracy and variability. Motor and segmental variables were not consistently aligned. This pattern of results has clinical implications because inferences about motor variability may not directly follow from observations of segmental variability.

Multi-atlas segmentation for abdominal organs with Gaussian mixture models

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Ryan P.; Xu, Zhoubing; Lee, Christopher P.; Baucom, Rebeccah B.; Poulose, Benjamin K.; Abramson, Richard G.; Landman, Bennett A.

2015-03-01

Abdominal organ segmentation with clinically acquired computed tomography (CT) is drawing increasing interest in the medical imaging community. Gaussian mixture models (GMM) have been extensively used through medical segmentation, most notably in the brain for cerebrospinal fluid / gray matter / white matter differentiation. Because abdominal CT exhibit strong localized intensity characteristics, GMM have recently been incorporated in multi-stage abdominal segmentation algorithms. In the context of variable abdominal anatomy and rich algorithms, it is difficult to assess the marginal contribution of GMM. Herein, we characterize the efficacy of an a posteriori framework that integrates GMM of organ-wise intensity likelihood with spatial priors from multiple target-specific registered labels. In our study, we first manually labeled 100 CT images. Then, we assigned 40 images to use as training data for constructing target-specific spatial priors and intensity likelihoods. The remaining 60 images were evaluated as test targets for segmenting 12 abdominal organs. The overlap between the true and the automatic segmentations was measured by Dice similarity coefficient (DSC). A median improvement of 145% was achieved by integrating the GMM intensity likelihood against the specific spatial prior. The proposed framework opens the opportunities for abdominal organ segmentation by efficiently using both the spatial and appearance information from the atlases, and creates a benchmark for large-scale automatic abdominal segmentation.

Genetic variation of the Borrelia burgdorferi gene vlsE involves cassette-specific, segmental gene conversion.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, J R; Norris, S J

1998-08-01

The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi possesses 15 silent vls cassettes and a vls expression site (vlsE) encoding a surface-exposed lipoprotein. Segments of the silent vls cassettes have been shown to recombine with the vlsE cassette region in the mammalian host, resulting in combinatorial antigenic variation. Despite promiscuous recombination within the vlsE cassette region, the 5' and 3' coding sequences of vlsE that flank the cassette region are not subject to sequence variation during these recombination events. The segments of the silent vls cassettes recombine in the vlsE cassette region through a unidirectional process such that the sequence and organization of the silent vls loci are not affected. As a result of recombination, the previously expressed segments are replaced by incoming segments and apparently degraded. These results provide evidence for a gene conversion mechanism in VlsE antigenic variation.

Pancreatic Islet Protein Complexes and Their Dysregulation in Type 2 Diabetes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Helle Krogh; Gudmundsdottir, Valborg; Brunak, Søren

2017-01-01

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a complex disease that involves multiple genes. Numerous risk loci have already been associated with T2D, although many susceptibility genes remain to be identified given heritability estimates. Systems biology approaches hold potential for discovering novel T2D genes by ...... starting point when evaluating an individual's alterations at the genome, transcriptome, or proteome level in relation to T2D in clinical settings.......Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a complex disease that involves multiple genes. Numerous risk loci have already been associated with T2D, although many susceptibility genes remain to be identified given heritability estimates. Systems biology approaches hold potential for discovering novel T2D genes...... by considering their biological context, such as tissue-specific protein interaction partners. Pancreatic islets are a key T2D tissue and many of the known genetic risk variants lead to impaired islet function, hence a better understanding of the islet-specific dysregulation in the disease-state is essential...

Metacognitions or distress intolerance: The mediating role in the relationship between emotional dysregulation and problematic internet use.

Science.gov (United States)

Akbari, Mehdi

2017-12-01

Given the relevance of problematic Internet use (PIU) to everyday life, its relationship to emotional dysregulation and the importance of metacognitions and distress intolerance in process and intermediaries research, this study examined which of metacognitions and distress intolerance acts as an intermediary between emotional dysregulation and PIU. In the current study, 413 undergraduate students from the University of Tehran, Iran (202 females; mean age = 20.13) voluntarily completed a questionnaire package which included the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 (MCQ-30(, and Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS). The data were then analyzed using structural equation modeling by LISREL software. Significant correlations were found between PIU and emotional dysregulation and both distress intolerance and metacognitions ( P  intolerance. Also, these findings emphasize that distress intolerance has a more significant mediating role than metacognition in the relationship between emotional dysregulation and PIU.

The Impact of Alexithymia on Emotion Dysregulation in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa over Time.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Tiffany A; Avery, Jade C; Jones, Michelle D; Anderson, Leslie K; Wierenga, Christina E; Kaye, Walter H

2018-03-01

Research supports that anorexia nervosa-restricting subtype (AN-R) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are associated with emotion regulation difficulties and alexithymia. However, the impact of diagnosis on the relationship between these constructs is less well understood. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether eating disorder diagnosis moderated the association between admission alexithymia and emotion regulation through discharge. Adult patients with AN-R (n = 54) and BN (n = 60) completed assessments at treatment admission and discharge from a partial hospital program. Eating disorder diagnosis moderated the association between admission alexithymia levels and change in global emotion dysregulation, impulse control difficulties and access to emotion regulation strategies. At higher levels of admission alexithymia, there were no differences between AN-R and BN on emotion dysregulation, whereas at lower levels of alexithymia, AN-R patients demonstrated lower levels of emotion dysregulation. Results imply that difficulties with alexithymia appear to have a greater impact on emotion dysregulation for AN-R patients. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Mindfulness and Modification Therapy for Behavioral Dysregulation: A Comparison Trial Focused on Substance Use and Aggression.

Science.gov (United States)

Wupperman, Peggilee; Cohen, Mia Gintoft; Haller, Deborah L; Flom, Peter; Litt, Lisa C; Rounsaville, Bruce J

2015-10-01

Disorders of behavioral dysregulation often involve more than one dsyregulated behavior (e.g., drug abuse and aggression, alcohol abuse and gambling). The high co-occurrence suggests the need of a transdiagnostic treatment that can be customized to target multiple specific behaviors. The current pilot study compared a 20-week, individual transdiagnostic therapy (mindfulness and modification therapy [MMT]) versus treatment as usual (TAU) in targeting alcohol problems, drug use, physical aggression, and verbal aggression in self-referred women. Assessments were administered at baseline, post-intervention, and 2-month follow-up. Wilcoxon signed-ranked tests and multilevel modeling showed that MMT (n = 13) displayed (a) significant and large decreases in alcohol/drug use, physical aggression, and verbal aggression; (b) significantly greater decreases in alcohol/drug use and physical aggression than did TAU (n = 8); and (c) minimal-to-no deterioration of effects at follow-up. Both conditions showed significant decreases in verbal aggression, with no statistically significant difference between conditions. MMT also displayed greater improvements in mindfulness. Preliminary findings support the feasibility and efficacy of MMT in decreasing multiple dysregulated behaviors. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Automated bone segmentation from dental CBCT images using patch-based sparse representation and convex optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Li; Gao, Yaozong; Shi, Feng; Liao, Shu; Li, Gang [Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599 (United States); Chen, Ken Chung [Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, Texas 77030 and Department of Stomatology, National Cheng Kung University Medical College and Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan 70403 (China); Shen, Steve G. F.; Yan, Jin [Department of Oral and Craniomaxillofacial Surgery and Science, Shanghai Ninth People' s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University College of Medicine, Shanghai, China 200011 (China); Lee, Philip K. M.; Chow, Ben [Hong Kong Dental Implant and Maxillofacial Centre, Hong Kong, China 999077 (China); Liu, Nancy X. [Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, Texas 77030 and Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing, China 100050 (China); Xia, James J. [Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, Texas 77030 (United States); Department of Surgery (Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery), Weill Medical College, Cornell University, New York, New York 10065 (United States); Department of Oral and Craniomaxillofacial Surgery and Science, Shanghai Ninth People' s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University College of Medicine, Shanghai, China 200011 (China); Shen, Dinggang, E-mail: dgshen@med.unc.edu [Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599 and Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 136701 (Korea, Republic of)

2014-04-15

Purpose: Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is an increasingly utilized imaging modality for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with craniomaxillofacial (CMF) deformities. Accurate segmentation of CBCT image is an essential step to generate three-dimensional (3D) models for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with CMF deformities. However, due to the poor image quality, including very low signal-to-noise ratio and the widespread image artifacts such as noise, beam hardening, and inhomogeneity, it is challenging to segment the CBCT images. In this paper, the authors present a new automatic segmentation method to address these problems. Methods: To segment CBCT images, the authors propose a new method for fully automated CBCT segmentation by using patch-based sparse representation to (1) segment bony structures from the soft tissues and (2) further separate the mandible from the maxilla. Specifically, a region-specific registration strategy is first proposed to warp all the atlases to the current testing subject and then a sparse-based label propagation strategy is employed to estimate a patient-specific atlas from all aligned atlases. Finally, the patient-specific atlas is integrated into amaximum a posteriori probability-based convex segmentation framework for accurate segmentation. Results: The proposed method has been evaluated on a dataset with 15 CBCT images. The effectiveness of the proposed region-specific registration strategy and patient-specific atlas has been validated by comparing with the traditional registration strategy and population-based atlas. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves the best segmentation accuracy by comparison with other state-of-the-art segmentation methods. Conclusions: The authors have proposed a new CBCT segmentation method by using patch-based sparse representation and convex optimization, which can achieve considerably accurate segmentation results in CBCT

Automated bone segmentation from dental CBCT images using patch-based sparse representation and convex optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Li; Gao, Yaozong; Shi, Feng; Liao, Shu; Li, Gang; Chen, Ken Chung; Shen, Steve G. F.; Yan, Jin; Lee, Philip K. M.; Chow, Ben; Liu, Nancy X.; Xia, James J.; Shen, Dinggang

2014-01-01

Purpose: Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is an increasingly utilized imaging modality for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with craniomaxillofacial (CMF) deformities. Accurate segmentation of CBCT image is an essential step to generate three-dimensional (3D) models for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with CMF deformities. However, due to the poor image quality, including very low signal-to-noise ratio and the widespread image artifacts such as noise, beam hardening, and inhomogeneity, it is challenging to segment the CBCT images. In this paper, the authors present a new automatic segmentation method to address these problems. Methods: To segment CBCT images, the authors propose a new method for fully automated CBCT segmentation by using patch-based sparse representation to (1) segment bony structures from the soft tissues and (2) further separate the mandible from the maxilla. Specifically, a region-specific registration strategy is first proposed to warp all the atlases to the current testing subject and then a sparse-based label propagation strategy is employed to estimate a patient-specific atlas from all aligned atlases. Finally, the patient-specific atlas is integrated into amaximum a posteriori probability-based convex segmentation framework for accurate segmentation. Results: The proposed method has been evaluated on a dataset with 15 CBCT images. The effectiveness of the proposed region-specific registration strategy and patient-specific atlas has been validated by comparing with the traditional registration strategy and population-based atlas. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves the best segmentation accuracy by comparison with other state-of-the-art segmentation methods. Conclusions: The authors have proposed a new CBCT segmentation method by using patch-based sparse representation and convex optimization, which can achieve considerably accurate segmentation results in CBCT

Dysregulation of angiopoietins is associated with placental malaria and low birth weight.

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Karlee L Silver

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Placental malaria (PM is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes including low birth weight (LBW. However, the precise mechanisms by which PM induces LBW are poorly defined. Based on the essential role of angiopoietin (ANG-1 and -2 in normal placental vascular development, we hypothesized that PM may result in the dysregulation of angiopoietins and thereby contribute to LBW outcomes. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In a mouse model of PM, we show that Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection of pregnant mice resulted in dysregulated angiopoietin levels and fetal growth restriction. PM lead to decreased ANG-1, increased ANG-2, and an elevated ratio of ANG-2/ANG-1 in the placenta and the serum. These observations were extended to malaria-exposed pregnant women: In a study of primigravid women prospectively followed over the course of pregnancy, Plasmodium falciparum infection was associated with a decrease in maternal plasma ANG-1 levels (P = 0.031 and an increase in the ANG-2:ANG-1 ratio (P = 0.048. ANG-1 levels recovered with successful treatment of peripheral parasitemia (P = 0.010. In a cross-sectional study of primigravidae at delivery, angiopoietin dysregulation was associated with PM (P = 0.002 and LBW (P = 0.041. Women with PM who delivered LBW infants had increased ANG-2:ANG-1 ratios (P = 0.002 compared to uninfected women delivering normal birth weight infants. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the hypothesis that dysregulation of angiopoietins is associated with PM and LBW outcomes, and suggest that ANG-1 and ANG-2 levels may be clinically informative biomarkers to identify P. falciparum-infected mothers at risk of LBW deliveries.

An unsupervised strategy for biomedical image segmentation

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Roberto Rodríguez

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Roberto Rodríguez1, Rubén Hernández21Digital Signal Processing Group, Institute of Cybernetics, Mathematics, and Physics, Havana, Cuba; 2Interdisciplinary Professional Unit of Engineering and Advanced Technology, IPN, MexicoAbstract: Many segmentation techniques have been published, and some of them have been widely used in different application problems. Most of these segmentation techniques have been motivated by specific application purposes. Unsupervised methods, which do not assume any prior scene knowledge can be learned to help the segmentation process, and are obviously more challenging than the supervised ones. In this paper, we present an unsupervised strategy for biomedical image segmentation using an algorithm based on recursively applying mean shift filtering, where entropy is used as a stopping criterion. This strategy is proven with many real images, and a comparison is carried out with manual segmentation. With the proposed strategy, errors less than 20% for false positives and 0% for false negatives are obtained.Keywords: segmentation, mean shift, unsupervised segmentation, entropy

Emotion Dysregulation Mediates Between Childhood Emotional Abuse and Motives for Substance Use.

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Barahmand, Usha; Khazaee, Ali; Hashjin, Goudarz Sadeghi

2016-12-01

The purpose of this study is to assess the relative mediating effects of impulsivity and emotion dysregulation in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and motives for opiate use. Seventy four adolescent users of Tramadol, a synthetic opiate, were recruited from a boot camp for de-addiction and rehabilitation services for the study. Data were collected between May, 2014 and November, 2014. Participants completed assessments of childhood abuse history, difficulties regulating emotions, impulsiveness and motives for substance use as well as a socio-demographic information sheet. The results of the current study indicate that types of abuse may be associated with particular outcomes and can inform treatment planning for substance users. Findings from bootstrap mediator analyses indicated that emotion dysregulation, but not impulsiveness, mediated the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and expansion and enhancement motives for substance use. The current study provides preliminary evidence that difficulties regulating emotions may function as a mechanism linking prior childhood experiences of emotional abuse to subsequent motives for substance use. Clinical implications of these findings suggest that targeting emotion dysregulation problems may be an effective adjunct in the treatment of childhood emotional abuse adolescent victims at risk for substance use. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Weight-Related Correlates of Psychological Dysregulation in Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Females with Severe Obesity

Science.gov (United States)

Gowey, Marissa A.; Reiter-Purtill, Jennifer; Becnel, Jennifer; Peugh, James; Mitchell, James E.; Zeller, Meg H.

2016-01-01

Objective Severe obesity is the fastest growing pediatric subgroup of excess weight levels. Psychological dysregulation (i.e., impairments in regulating cognitive, emotional, and/or behavioral processes) has been associated with obesity and poorer weight loss outcomes. The present study explored associations of dysregulation with weight-related variables among adolescent and young adult (AYA) females with severe obesity. Methods Fifty-four AYA females with severe obesity (MBMI=48.71 kg/m2; Mage=18.29, R=15–21 years; 59.3% White) completed self-report measures of psychological dysregulation and weight-related constructs including meal patterns, problematic eating behaviors, and body and weight dissatisfaction, as non-surgical comparison participants in a multi-site study of adolescent bariatric surgery outcomes. Pearson and bivariate correlations were conducted and stratified by age group to analyze associations between dysregulation subscales (affective, behavioral, cognitive) and weight-related variables. Results Breakfast was the most frequently skipped meal (consumed 3–4 times/week). Eating out was common (4–5 times/week) and mostly occurred at fast-food restaurants. Evening hyperphagia (61.11%) and eating in the absence of hunger (37.04%) were commonly endorsed, while unplanned eating (29.63%), a sense of loss of control over eating (22.22%), eating beyond satiety (22.22%), night eating (12.96%), and binge eating (11.11%) were less common. Almost half of the sample endorsed extreme weight dissatisfaction. Dysregulation was associated with most weight-related attitudes and behaviors of interest in young adults but select patterns emerged for adolescents. Conclusions Higher levels of psychological dysregulation are associated with greater BMI, problematic eating patterns and behaviors, and body dissatisfaction in AYA females with severe obesity. These findings have implications for developing novel intervention strategies for severe obesity in AYAs that may

Immune System Dysregulation, Viral Reactivation and Stress During Short-Duration Space Flight

Science.gov (United States)

Crucian, Brian; Mehta, Satish; Stowe, Raymond; Uchakin, Peter; Quiriarte, Heather; Pierson, Duane; Sams, Clarence

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews a study that was conducted to ascertain if the immune system dysregulation, viral reactivation and stress from short duration space flight were a result of the stress of landing and readjustment to gravity. The objectives of the study were to replace several recent immune studies with one comprehensive study that will include in-flight sampling; address lack of in-flight data: (i.e., determine the in-flight status of immunity, physiological stress, viral immunity/reactivation); determine the clinical risk related to immune dysregulation for exploration class spaceflight; and determine the appropriate monitoring strategy for spaceflight-associated immune dysfunction, that could be used for the evaluation of countermeasures.

Widespread dysregulation of MiRNAs by MYCN amplification and chromosomal imbalances in neuroblastoma: association of miRNA expression with survival.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Bray, Isabella

2009-01-01

MiRNAs regulate gene expression at a post-transcriptional level and their dysregulation can play major roles in the pathogenesis of many different forms of cancer, including neuroblastoma, an often fatal paediatric cancer originating from precursor cells of the sympathetic nervous system. We have analyzed a set of neuroblastoma (n = 145) that is broadly representative of the genetic subtypes of this disease for miRNA expression (430 loci by stem-loop RT qPCR) and for DNA copy number alterations (array CGH) to assess miRNA involvement in disease pathogenesis. The tumors were stratified and then randomly split into a training set (n = 96) and a validation set (n = 49) for data analysis. Thirty-seven miRNAs were significantly over- or under-expressed in MYCN amplified tumors relative to MYCN single copy tumors, indicating a potential role for the MYCN transcription factor in either the direct or indirect dysregulation of these loci. In addition, we also determined that there was a highly significant correlation between miRNA expression levels and DNA copy number, indicating a role for large-scale genomic imbalances in the dysregulation of miRNA expression. In order to directly assess whether miRNA expression was predictive of clinical outcome, we used the Random Forest classifier to identify miRNAs that were most significantly associated with poor overall patient survival and developed a 15 miRNA signature that was predictive of overall survival with 72.7% sensitivity and 86.5% specificity in the validation set of tumors. We conclude that there is widespread dysregulation of miRNA expression in neuroblastoma tumors caused by both over-expression of the MYCN transcription factor and by large-scale chromosomal imbalances. MiRNA expression patterns are also predicative of clinical outcome, highlighting the potential for miRNA mediated diagnostics and therapeutics.

Gender moderates the relationship between attachment insecurities and emotion dysregulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Velotti, P.; D’Aguanno, M.; de Campora, G.; di Francescantonio, S.; Garofalo, C.; Giromini, L.; Petrocchi, C.; Terrasi, M.; Zavattini, G.C.

2016-01-01

The relation between attachment styles and emotion regulation is well documented, and emotion dysregulation is considered characteristic of individuals with insecure attachment styles. Although gender differences in emotion regulation have often been reported, it is not clear whether the association

Aetiological pathways to Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms in early adolescence: childhood dysregulated behaviour, maladaptive parenting and bully victimisation.

Science.gov (United States)

Winsper, Catherine; Hall, James; Strauss, Vicky Y; Wolke, Dieter

2017-01-01

Developmental theories for the aetiology of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) suggest that both individual features (e.g., childhood dysregulated behaviour) and negative environmental experiences (e.g., maladaptive parenting, peer victimisation) may lead to the development of BPD symptoms during adolescence. Few prospective studies have examined potential aetiological pathways involving these two factors. We addressed this gap in the literature using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). We assessed mother-reported childhood dysregulated behaviour at 4, 7 and 8 years using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ); maladaptive parenting (maternal hitting, punishment, and hostility) at 8 to 9 years; and bully victimisation (child and mother report) at 8, 9 and 10 years. BPD symptoms were assessed at 11 years using the UK Childhood Interview for DSM-IV BPD. Control variables included adolescent depression (assessed with the Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire-SMFQ) and psychotic symptoms (assessed with the Psychosis-Like Symptoms Interview-PLIKS) at 11 to 14 years, and mother's exposure to family adversity during pregnancy (assessed with the Family Adversity Scale-FAI). In unadjusted logistic regression analyses, childhood dysregulated behaviour and all environmental risk factors (i.e., family adversity, maladaptive parenting, and bully victimisation) were significantly associated with BPD symptoms at 11 years. Within structural equation modelling controlling for all associations simultaneously, family adversity and male sex significantly predicted dysregulated behaviour across childhood, while bully victimisation significantly predicted BPD, depression, and psychotic symptoms. Children displaying dysregulated behaviour across childhood were significantly more likely to experience maladaptive parenting (β = 0.075, p  bullying (β = 0.097, p  < 0.001). While significant indirect associations

Segmentation of radiologic images with self-organizing maps: the segmentation problem transformed into a classification task

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Pelikan, Erich; Vogelsang, Frank; Tolxdorff, Thomas

1996-04-01

The texture-based segmentation of x-ray images of focal bone lesions using topological maps is introduced. Texture characteristics are described by image-point correlation of feature images to feature vectors. For the segmentation, the topological map is labeled using an improved labeling strategy. Results of the technique are demonstrated on original and synthetic x-ray images and quantified with the aid of quality measures. In addition, a classifier-specific contribution analysis is applied for assessing the feature space.

GEP analysis validates high risk MDS and acute myeloid leukemia post MDS mice models and highlights novel dysregulated pathways.

Science.gov (United States)

Guerenne, Laura; Beurlet, Stéphanie; Said, Mohamed; Gorombei, Petra; Le Pogam, Carole; Guidez, Fabien; de la Grange, Pierre; Omidvar, Nader; Vanneaux, Valérie; Mills, Ken; Mufti, Ghulam J; Sarda-Mantel, Laure; Noguera, Maria Elena; Pla, Marika; Fenaux, Pierre; Padua, Rose Ann; Chomienne, Christine; Krief, Patricia

2016-01-27

In spite of the recent discovery of genetic mutations in most myelodysplasic (MDS) patients, the pathophysiology of these disorders still remains poorly understood, and only few in vivo models are available to help unravel the disease. We performed global specific gene expression profiling and functional pathway analysis in purified Sca1+ cells of two MDS transgenic mouse models that mimic human high-risk MDS (HR-MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) post MDS, with NRASD12 and BCL2 transgenes under the control of different promoters MRP8NRASD12/tethBCL-2 or MRP8[NRASD12/hBCL-2], respectively. Analysis of dysregulated genes that were unique to the diseased HR-MDS and AML post MDS mice and not their founder mice pointed first to pathways that had previously been reported in MDS patients, including DNA replication/damage/repair, cell cycle, apoptosis, immune responses, and canonical Wnt pathways, further validating these models at the gene expression level. Interestingly, pathways not previously reported in MDS were discovered. These included dysregulated genes of noncanonical Wnt pathways and energy and lipid metabolisms. These dysregulated genes were not only confirmed in a different independent set of BM and spleen Sca1+ cells from the MDS mice but also in MDS CD34+ BM patient samples. These two MDS models may thus provide useful preclinical models to target pathways previously identified in MDS patients and to unravel novel pathways highlighted by this study.

COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT SEGMENTATION ALGORITHMS FOR DERMOSCOPIC IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.A. Haseena Thasneem

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper compares different algorithms for the segmentation of skin lesions in dermoscopic images. The basic segmentation algorithms compared are Thresholding techniques (Global and Adaptive, Region based techniques (K-means, Fuzzy C means, Expectation Maximization and Statistical Region Merging, Contour models (Active Contour Model and Chan - Vese Model and Spectral Clustering. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, Border error, Hammoude distance, Hausdorff distance, MSE, PSNR and elapsed time metrices were used to evaluate various segmentation techniques.

NASA 14 Day Undersea Missions: A Short-Duration Spaceflight Analog for Immune System Dysregulation?

Science.gov (United States)

Crucian, B. E.; Stowe, R. P.; Mehta, S. K.; Chouker, A.; Feuerecker, M.; Quiriarte, H.; Pierson, D. L.; Sams, C. F.

2011-01-01

This poster paper reviews the use of 14 day undersea missions as a possible analog for short duration spaceflight for the study of immune system dysregulation. Sixteen subjects from the the NASA Extreme Enviro nment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 12, 13 and 14 missions were studied for immune system dysregulation. The assays that are presented in this poster are the Virleukocyte subsets, the T Cell functions, and the intracellular/secreted cytokine profiles. Other assays were performed, but are not included in this presntation.

Segmentation of medical images using explicit anatomical knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Laurie S.; Brown, Stephen; Brown, Matthew S.; Young, Jeanne; Li, Rongxin; Luo, Suhuai; Brandt, Lee

1999-07-01

Knowledge-based image segmentation is defined in terms of the separation of image analysis procedures and representation of knowledge. Such architecture is particularly suitable for medical image segmentation, because of the large amount of structured domain knowledge. A general methodology for the application of knowledge-based methods to medical image segmentation is described. This includes frames for knowledge representation, fuzzy logic for anatomical variations, and a strategy for determining the order of segmentation from the modal specification. This method has been applied to three separate problems, 3D thoracic CT, chest X-rays and CT angiography. The application of the same methodology to such a range of applications suggests a major role in medical imaging for segmentation methods incorporating representation of anatomical knowledge.

Transcriptional dysregulation in NIPBL and cohesin mutant human cells.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinglan Liu

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Cohesin regulates sister chromatid cohesion during the mitotic cell cycle with Nipped-B-Like (NIPBL facilitating its loading and unloading. In addition to this canonical role, cohesin has also been demonstrated to play a critical role in regulation of gene expression in nondividing cells. Heterozygous mutations in the cohesin regulator NIPBL or cohesin structural components SMC1A and SMC3 result in the multisystem developmental disorder Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS. Genome-wide assessment of transcription in 16 mutant cell lines from severely affected CdLS probands has identified a unique profile of dysregulated gene expression that was validated in an additional 101 samples and correlates with phenotypic severity. This profile could serve as a diagnostic and classification tool. Cohesin binding analysis demonstrates a preference for intergenic regions suggesting a cis-regulatory function mimicking that of a boundary/insulator interacting protein. However, the binding sites are enriched within the promoter regions of the dysregulated genes and are significantly decreased in CdLS proband, indicating an alternative role of cohesin as a transcription factor.

Spinal cord grey matter segmentation challenge.

Science.gov (United States)

Prados, Ferran; Ashburner, John; Blaiotta, Claudia; Brosch, Tom; Carballido-Gamio, Julio; Cardoso, Manuel Jorge; Conrad, Benjamin N; Datta, Esha; Dávid, Gergely; Leener, Benjamin De; Dupont, Sara M; Freund, Patrick; Wheeler-Kingshott, Claudia A M Gandini; Grussu, Francesco; Henry, Roland; Landman, Bennett A; Ljungberg, Emil; Lyttle, Bailey; Ourselin, Sebastien; Papinutto, Nico; Saporito, Salvatore; Schlaeger, Regina; Smith, Seth A; Summers, Paul; Tam, Roger; Yiannakas, Marios C; Zhu, Alyssa; Cohen-Adad, Julien

2017-05-15

An important image processing step in spinal cord magnetic resonance imaging is the ability to reliably and accurately segment grey and white matter for tissue specific analysis. There are several semi- or fully-automated segmentation methods for cervical cord cross-sectional area measurement with an excellent performance close or equal to the manual segmentation. However, grey matter segmentation is still challenging due to small cross-sectional size and shape, and active research is being conducted by several groups around the world in this field. Therefore a grey matter spinal cord segmentation challenge was organised to test different capabilities of various methods using the same multi-centre and multi-vendor dataset acquired with distinct 3D gradient-echo sequences. This challenge aimed to characterize the state-of-the-art in the field as well as identifying new opportunities for future improvements. Six different spinal cord grey matter segmentation methods developed independently by various research groups across the world and their performance were compared to manual segmentation outcomes, the present gold-standard. All algorithms provided good overall results for detecting the grey matter butterfly, albeit with variable performance in certain quality-of-segmentation metrics. The data have been made publicly available and the challenge web site remains open to new submissions. No modifications were introduced to any of the presented methods as a result of this challenge for the purposes of this publication. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The role of central noradrenergic dysregulation in anxiety disorders: evidence from clinical studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalk, N J; Nutt, D J; Lingford-Hughes, A R

2011-01-01

The nature of the noradrenergic dysregulation in clinical anxiety disorders remains unclear. In panic disorder, the predominant view has been that central noradrenergic neuronal networks and/or the sympathetic nervous system was normal in patients at rest, but hyper-reactive to specific stimuli, for example carbon dioxide. These ideas have been extended to other anxiety disorders, which share with panic disorder characteristic subjective anxiety and physiological symptoms of excess sympathetic activity. For example, Generalized Anxiety Disorder is characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety, muscle tension, palpitation and insomnia. It has been proposed that there is chronic central hypersecretion of noradrenaline in Generalized Anxiety Disorder, with consequent hyporesponsiveness of central post-synaptic receptors. With regards to other disorders, it has been suggested that there is noradrenergic involvement or derangement, but a more specific hypothesis has not been enunciated. This paper reviews the evidence for noradrenergic dysfunction in anxiety disorders, derived from indirect measures of noradrenergic function in clinical populations.

Dysregulation of RNA Mediated Gene Expression in Motor Neuron Diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonçalves, Inês do Carmo G; Rehorst, Wiebke A; Kye, Min Jeong

2016-01-01

Recent findings indicate an important role for RNA-mediated gene expression in motor neuron diseases, including ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and SMA (spinal muscular atrophy). ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is an adult-onset progressive neurodegenerative disorder, whereby SMA or "children's Lou Gehrig's disease" is considered a pediatric neurodevelopmental disorder. Despite the difference in genetic causes, both ALS and SMA share common phenotypes; dysfunction/loss of motor neurons that eventually leads to muscle weakness and atrophy. With advanced techniques in molecular genetics and cell biology, current data suggest that these two distinct motor neuron diseases share more than phenotypes; ALS and SMA have similar cellular pathological mechanisms including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and dysregulation in RNA-mediated gene expression. Here, we will discuss the current findings on these two diseases with specific focus on RNA-mediated gene regulation including miRNA expression, pre-mRNA processing and RNA binding proteins.

Potential Therapeutic Effects of Meditation for Treating Affective Dysregulation

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Natalie T. Y. Leung

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Affective dysregulation is at the root of many psychopathologies, including stress induced disorders, anxiety disorders, and depression. The root of these disorders appears to be an attenuated, top-down cognitive control from the prefrontal cortices over the maladaptive subcortical emotional processing. A form of mental training, long-term meditation practice can trigger meditation-specific neuroplastic changes in the brain regions underlying cognitive control and affective regulation, suggesting that meditation can act as a kind of mental exercise to foster affective regulation and possibly a cost-effective intervention in mood disorders. Increasing research has suggested that the cultivation of awareness and acceptance along with a nonjudgmental attitude via meditation promotes adaptive affective regulation. This review examined the concepts of affective regulation and meditation and discussed behavioral and neural evidence of the potential clinical application of meditation. Lately, there has been a growing trend toward incorporating the “mindfulness” component into existing psychotherapeutic treatment. Promising results have been observed thus far. Future studies may consider exploring the possibility of integrating the element of “compassion” into current psychotherapeutic approaches.

Exposure to Violence, Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, and Borderline Personality Pathology Among Adolescents in Residential Psychiatric Treatment: The Influence of Emotion Dysregulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckholdt, Kelly E; Weiss, Nicole H; Young, John; Gratz, Kim L

2015-12-01

Exposure to violence during adolescence is a highly prevalent phenomenon associated with a range of deleterious outcomes. Theoretical literature suggests that emotion dysregulation is one consequence of exposure to violence associated with the manifestation of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and borderline personality (BP) pathology. Thus, the goal of the present study was to examine the mediating role of emotion dysregulation in the relation between exposure to violence and both PTSS and BP pathology in a sample of 144 adolescents (age 10- to 17-years; 51% male; 55% African American) admitted to a psychiatric residential treatment center. Exposure to violence was associated with greater emotion dysregulation, which, in turn, was associated with greater PTSS and BP pathology. Furthermore, emotion dysregulation mediated the associations between exposure to violence and both PTSS and BP pathology. Findings suggest the importance of assessing and treating emotion dysregulation among violence-exposed adolescents in psychiatric residential treatment.

Weight-related correlates of psychological dysregulation in adolescent and young adult (AYA) females with severe obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Gowey, Marissa A; Reiter-Purtill, Jennifer; Becnel, Jennifer; Peugh, James; Mitchell, James E; Zeller, Meg H

2016-04-01

Severe obesity is the fastest growing pediatric subgroup of excess weight levels. Psychological dysregulation (i.e., impairments in regulating cognitive, emotional, and/or behavioral processes) has been associated with obesity and poorer weight loss outcomes. The present study explored associations of dysregulation with weight-related variables among adolescent and young adult (AYA) females with severe obesity. Fifty-four AYA females with severe obesity (MBMI = 48.71 kg/m(2); Mage = 18.29, R = 15-21 years; 59.3% White) completed self-report measures of psychological dysregulation and weight-related constructs including meal patterns, problematic eating behaviors, and body and weight dissatisfaction, as non-surgical comparison participants in a multi-site study of adolescent bariatric surgery outcomes. Pearson and bivariate correlations were conducted and stratified by age group to analyze associations between dysregulation subscales (affective, behavioral, cognitive) and weight-related variables. Breakfast was the most frequently skipped meal (consumed 3-4 times/week). Eating out was common (4-5 times/week) and mostly occurred at fast-food restaurants. Evening hyperphagia (61.11%) and eating in the absence of hunger (37.04%) were commonly endorsed, while unplanned eating (29.63%), a sense of loss of control over eating (22.22%), eating beyond satiety (22.22%), night eating (12.96%), and binge eating (11.11%) were less common. Almost half of the sample endorsed extreme weight dissatisfaction. Dysregulation was associated with most weight-related attitudes and behaviors of interest in young adults but select patterns emerged for adolescents. Higher levels of psychological dysregulation are associated with greater BMI, problematic eating patterns and behaviors, and body dissatisfaction in AYA females with severe obesity. These findings have implications for developing novel intervention strategies for severe obesity in AYAs that may have a multidimensional

Transcriptional Dysregulation of MYC Reveals Common Enhancer-Docking Mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jurian Schuijers

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Summary: Transcriptional dysregulation of the MYC oncogene is among the most frequent events in aggressive tumor cells, and this is generally accomplished by acquisition of a super-enhancer somewhere within the 2.8 Mb TAD where MYC resides. We find that these diverse cancer-specific super-enhancers, differing in size and location, interact with the MYC gene through a common and conserved CTCF binding site located 2 kb upstream of the MYC promoter. Genetic perturbation of this enhancer-docking site in tumor cells reduces CTCF binding, super-enhancer interaction, MYC gene expression, and cell proliferation. CTCF binding is highly sensitive to DNA methylation, and this enhancer-docking site, which is hypomethylated in diverse cancers, can be inactivated through epigenetic editing with dCas9-DNMT. Similar enhancer-docking sites occur at other genes, including genes with prominent roles in multiple cancers, suggesting a mechanism by which tumor cell oncogenes can generally hijack enhancers. These results provide insights into mechanisms that allow a single target gene to be regulated by diverse enhancer elements in different cell types. : Schuijers et al. show that a conserved CTCF site at the promoter of the MYC oncogene plays an important role in enhancer-promoter looping with tumor-specific super-enhancers. Perturbation of this site provides a potential therapeutic vulnerability. Keywords: gene regulation, super-enhancers, chromosome structure, enhancer docking

Segmented block copolymers with monodisperse aramide end-segments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Araichimani, A.; Gaymans, R.J.

2008-01-01

Segmented block copolymers were synthesized using monodisperse diaramide (TT) as hard segments and PTMO with a molecular weight of 2 900 g · mol-1 as soft segments. The aramide: PTMO segment ratio was increased from 1:1 to 2:1 thereby changing the structure from a high molecular weight multi-block

Dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system and its association with the presence and intensity of chronic widespread pain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Barakat, A.; Vogelzangs, N.; Licht, C.M.M.; Geenen, R.; Macfarlane, G.J.; de Geus, E.J.C.; Smit, J.H.; Penninx, B.W.J.H.; Dekker, J.

2012-01-01

Objective To test the hypotheses that dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is associated with the presence of chronic widespread pain (CWP), and that dysregulation of the ANS is associated with higher pain intensity in CWP. Methods Cross-sectional data were obtained from 1,574

Dysregulation of the Autonomic Nervous System and Its Association With the Presence and Intensity of Chronic Widespread Pain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Barakat, Ansam; Vogelzangs, Nicole; Licht, Carmilla M. M.; Geenen, Rinie; Macfarlane, Gary J.; de Geus, Eco J. C.; Smit, Johannes H.; Penninx, Brenda W. J. H.; Dekker, Joost

Objective. To test the hypotheses that dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is associated with the presence of chronic widespread pain (CWP), and that dysregulation of the ANS is associated with higher pain intensity in CWP. Methods. Cross-sectional data were obtained from 1,574

Segmentation of consumer's markets and evaluation of market's segments

OpenAIRE

ŠVECOVÁ, Iveta

2013-01-01

The goal of this bachelor thesis was to explain a possibly segmentation of consumer´s markets for a chosen company, and to present a suitable goods offer, so it would be suitable to the needs of selected segments. The work is divided into theoretical and practical part. First part describes marketing, segmentation, segmentation of consumer's markets, consumer's market, market's segments a other terms. Second part describes an evaluation of questionnaire survey, discovering of market's segment...

Emotion dysregulation mediates the relationship between trauma exposure, post-migration living difficulties and psychological outcomes in traumatized refugees.

Science.gov (United States)

Nickerson, Angela; Bryant, Richard A; Schnyder, Ulrich; Schick, Matthis; Mueller, Julia; Morina, Naser

2015-03-01

While emotion dysregulation represents an important mechanism underpinning psychological responses to trauma, little research has investigated this in refugees. In the current study, we examined the mediating role of emotion dysregulation in the relationship between refugee experiences (trauma and living difficulties) and psychological outcomes. Participants were 134 traumatized treatment-seeking refugees who completed measures indexing trauma exposure, post-migration living difficulties, difficulties in emotion regulation, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and explosive anger. Findings revealed distinctive patterns of emotion dysregulation associated with each of these psychological disorders. Results also indicated that emotion regulation difficulties mediated the association between both trauma and psychological symptoms, and living difficulties and psychological symptoms. Limitations include a cross-sectional design and the use of measures that had not been validated across all cultural groups in this study. These findings underscore the key role of emotion dysregulation in psychological responses of refugees, and highlight potential directions for treatment interventions for traumatized refugees. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Segmentation of British Sign Language (BSL): Mind the gap!

OpenAIRE

Orfanidou, E.; McQueen, J.; Adam, R.; Morgan, G.

2015-01-01

This study asks how users of British Sign Language (BSL) recognize individual signs in connected sign sequences. We examined whether this is achieved through modality-specific or modality-general segmentation procedures. A modality-specific feature of signed languages is that, during continuous signing, there are salient transitions between sign locations. We used the sign-spotting task to ask if and how BSL signers use these transitions in segmentation. A total of 96 real BSL signs were prec...

Cell cycle pathway dysregulation in human keratinocytes during chronic exposure to low arsenite.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Eryani, Laila; Waigel, Sabine; Jala, Venkatakrishna; Jenkins, Samantha F; States, J Christopher

2017-09-15

Arsenic is naturally prevalent in the earth's crust and widely distributed in air and water. Chronic low arsenic exposure is associated with several cancers in vivo, including skin cancer, and with transformation in vitro of cell lines including immortalized human keratinocytes (HaCaT). Arsenic also is associated with cell cycle dysregulation at different exposure levels in multiple cell lines. In this work, we analyzed gene expression in HaCaT cells to gain an understanding of gene expression changes contributing to transformation at an early time point. HaCaT cells were exposed to 0 or 100nM NaAsO 2 for 7weeks. Total RNA was purified and analyzed by microarray hybridization. Differential expression with fold change≥|1.5| and p-value≤0.05 was determined using Partek Genomic Suite™ and pathway and network analyses using MetaCore™ software (FDR≤0.05). Cell cycle analysis was performed using flow cytometry. 644 mRNAs were differentially expressed. Cell cycle/cell cycle regulation pathways predominated in the list of dysregulated pathways. Genes involved in replication origin licensing were enriched in the network. Cell cycle assay analysis showed an increase in G2/M compartment in arsenite-exposed cells. Arsenite exposure induced differential gene expression indicating dysregulation of cell cycle control, which was confirmed by cell cycle analysis. The results suggest that cell cycle dysregulation is an early event in transformation manifested in cells unable to transit G2/M efficiently. Further study at later time points will reveal additional changes in gene expression related to transformation processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Posttraumatic stress and emotion dysregulation: Relationships with smoking to reduce negative affect and barriers to smoking cessation.

Science.gov (United States)

Short, Nicole A; Oglesby, Mary E; Raines, Amanda M; Zvolensky, Michael J; Schmidt, Norman B

2015-08-01

Many cigarette smokers have experienced a traumatic event, and elevated posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are associated with increased smoking levels. Previous research has found that elevated PTSS are associated with smoking to cope with negative affect, and it has been posited that perceptions of being unable to cope with the consequences of smoking cessation interfere with smoking cessation in this population. However, the mechanism of the relationship between PTSS and these smoking maintenance factors (i.e., smoking to reduce negative affect and barriers to cessation) has not been established. Emotion dysregulation is one potential mechanism as it is associated with PTSS as well as addictive behavior aimed at avoiding and reducing negative emotional states. We cross-sectionally tested the hypotheses that 1) PTSS and emotion dysregulation would be incrementally associated with smoking to reduce negative affect and barriers to cessation, and 2) that emotion dysregulation would mediate the relationships between PTSS, smoking to reduce negative affect, and barriers to cessation among a community sample of trauma-exposed individuals presenting for smoking cessation treatment (N=315). Results demonstrated that elevated PTSS were associated with increased smoking to reduce negative affect and barriers to cessation, and that emotion dysregulation mediated these relationships. These findings provide evidence of a mechanism between PTSS and psychological smoking maintenance factors, and suggest that emotion dysregulation may be a useful target for smoking cessation interventions among trauma-exposed individuals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interactive segmentation for geographic atrophy in retinal fundus images.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Noah; Smith, R Theodore; Laine, Andrew F

2008-10-01

Fundus auto-fluorescence (FAF) imaging is a non-invasive technique for in vivo ophthalmoscopic inspection of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness in developed countries. Geographic atrophy (GA) is an advanced form of AMD and accounts for 12-21% of severe visual loss in this disorder [3]. Automatic quantification of GA is important for determining disease progression and facilitating clinical diagnosis of AMD. The problem of automatic segmentation of pathological images still remains an unsolved problem. In this paper we leverage the watershed transform and generalized non-linear gradient operators for interactive segmentation and present an intuitive and simple approach for geographic atrophy segmentation. We compare our approach with the state of the art random walker [5] algorithm for interactive segmentation using ROC statistics. Quantitative evaluation experiments on 100 FAF images show a mean sensitivity/specificity of 98.3/97.7% for our approach and a mean sensitivity/specificity of 88.2/96.6% for the random walker algorithm.

Transcriptome-wide mega-analyses reveal joint dysregulation of immunologic genes and transcription regulators in brain and blood in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hess, Jonathan L; Tylee, Daniel S; Barve, Rahul; de Jong, Simone; Ophoff, Roel A; Kumarasinghe, Nishantha; Tooney, Paul; Schall, Ulrich; Gardiner, Erin; Beveridge, Natalie Jane; Scott, Rodney J; Yasawardene, Surangi; Perera, Antionette; Mendis, Jayan; Carr, Vaughan; Kelly, Brian; Cairns, Murray; Tsuang, Ming T; Glatt, Stephen J

2016-10-01

The application of microarray technology in schizophrenia research was heralded as paradigm-shifting, as it allowed for high-throughput assessment of cell and tissue function. This technology was widely adopted, initially in studies of postmortem brain tissue, and later in studies of peripheral blood. The collective body of schizophrenia microarray literature contains apparent inconsistencies between studies, with failures to replicate top hits, in part due to small sample sizes, cohort-specific effects, differences in array types, and other confounders. In an attempt to summarize existing studies of schizophrenia cases and non-related comparison subjects, we performed two mega-analyses of a combined set of microarray data from postmortem prefrontal cortices (n=315) and from ex-vivo blood tissues (n=578). We adjusted regression models per gene to remove non-significant covariates, providing best-estimates of transcripts dysregulated in schizophrenia. We also examined dysregulation of functionally related gene sets and gene co-expression modules, and assessed enrichment of cell types and genetic risk factors. The identities of the most significantly dysregulated genes were largely distinct for each tissue, but the findings indicated common emergent biological functions (e.g. immunity) and regulatory factors (e.g., predicted targets of transcription factors and miRNA species across tissues). Our network-based analyses converged upon similar patterns of heightened innate immune gene expression in both brain and blood in schizophrenia. We also constructed generalizable machine-learning classifiers using the blood-based microarray data. Our study provides an informative atlas for future pathophysiologic and biomarker studies of schizophrenia. Published by Elsevier B.V.

GEP analysis validates high risk MDS and acute myeloid leukemia post MDS mice models and highlights novel dysregulated pathways

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Guerenne

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In spite of the recent discovery of genetic mutations in most myelodysplasic (MDS patients, the pathophysiology of these disorders still remains poorly understood, and only few in vivo models are available to help unravel the disease. Methods We performed global specific gene expression profiling and functional pathway analysis in purified Sca1+ cells of two MDS transgenic mouse models that mimic human high-risk MDS (HR-MDS and acute myeloid leukemia (AML post MDS, with NRASD12 and BCL2 transgenes under the control of different promoters MRP8NRASD12/tethBCL-2 or MRP8[NRASD12/hBCL-2], respectively. Results Analysis of dysregulated genes that were unique to the diseased HR-MDS and AML post MDS mice and not their founder mice pointed first to pathways that had previously been reported in MDS patients, including DNA replication/damage/repair, cell cycle, apoptosis, immune responses, and canonical Wnt pathways, further validating these models at the gene expression level. Interestingly, pathways not previously reported in MDS were discovered. These included dysregulated genes of noncanonical Wnt pathways and energy and lipid metabolisms. These dysregulated genes were not only confirmed in a different independent set of BM and spleen Sca1+ cells from the MDS mice but also in MDS CD34+ BM patient samples. Conclusions These two MDS models may thus provide useful preclinical models to target pathways previously identified in MDS patients and to unravel novel pathways highlighted by this study.

Stochastic Modelling as a Tool for Seismic Signals Segmentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Kucharczyk

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In order to model nonstationary real-world processes one can find appropriate theoretical model with properties following the analyzed data. However in this case many trajectories of the analyzed process are required. Alternatively, one can extract parts of the signal that have homogenous structure via segmentation. The proper segmentation can lead to extraction of important features of analyzed phenomena that cannot be described without the segmentation. There is no one universal method that can be applied for all of the phenomena; thus novel methods should be invented for specific cases. They might address specific character of the signal in different domains (time, frequency, time-frequency, etc.. In this paper we propose two novel segmentation methods that take under consideration the stochastic properties of the analyzed signals in time domain. Our research is motivated by the analysis of vibration signals acquired in an underground mine. In such signals we observe seismic events which appear after the mining activity, like blasting, provoked relaxation of rock, and some unexpected events, like natural rock burst. The proposed segmentation procedures allow for extraction of such parts of the analyzed signals which are related to mentioned events.

Cochlea Segmentation using Iterated Random Walks with Shape Prior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruiz Pujadas, Esmeralda; Kjer, Hans Martin; Vera, Sergio

2016-01-01

Cochlear implants can restore hearing to deaf or partially deaf patients. In order to plan the intervention, a model from high resolution μCT images is to be built from accurate cochlea segmentations and then, adapted to a patient-specific model. Thus, a precise segmentation is required to build...

Longitudinal pathways from early maternal depression to children's dysregulated representations: a moderated mediation analysis of harsh parenting and gender.

Science.gov (United States)

Martoccio, Tiffany L; Brophy-Herb, Holly E; Maupin, Angela N; Robinson, Joann L

2016-01-01

There is some evidence linking maternal depression, harsh parenting, and children's internal representations of attachment, yet, longitudinal examinations of these relationships and differences in the developmental pathways between boys and girls are lacking. Moderated mediation growth curves were employed to examine harsh parenting as a mechanism underlying the link between maternal depression and children's dysregulated representations using a nationally-representative, economically-vulnerable sample of mothers and their children (n = 575; 49% boys, 51% girls). Dysregulation representations were measured using the MacArthur Story Stem Battery at five years of age (M = 5.14, SD = 0.29). Harsh parenting mediated the association between early maternal depression and dysregulated representations for girls. Though initial harsh parenting was a significant mediator for boys, a stronger direct effect of maternal depression to dysregulated representations emerged over time. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for intervention efforts aimed at promoting early supportive parenting.

Exercise Training Attenuates the Dysregulated Expression of Adipokines and Oxidative Stress in White Adipose Tissue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takuya Sakurai

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Obesity-induced inflammatory changes in white adipose tissue (WAT, which caused dysregulated expression of inflammation-related adipokines involving tumor necrosis factor-α and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, contribute to the development of insulin resistance. Moreover, current literature reports state that WAT generates reactive oxygen species (ROS, and the enhanced production of ROS in obese WAT has been closely associated with the dysregulated expression of adipokines in WAT. Therefore, the reduction in excess WAT and oxidative stress that results from obesity is thought to be one of the important strategies in preventing and improving lifestyle-related diseases. Exercise training (TR not only brings about a decrease in WAT mass but also attenuates obesity-induced dysregulated expression of the adipokines in WAT. Furthermore, some reports indicate that TR affects the generation of oxidative stress in WAT. This review outlines the impact of TR on the expression of inflammation-related adipokines and oxidative stress in WAT.

Figure-ground segmentation based on class-independent shape priors

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yang; Liu, Yang; Liu, Guojun; Guo, Maozu

2018-01-01

We propose a method to generate figure-ground segmentation by incorporating shape priors into the graph-cuts algorithm. Given an image, we first obtain a linear representation of an image and then apply directional chamfer matching to generate class-independent, nonparametric shape priors, which provide shape clues for the graph-cuts algorithm. We then enforce shape priors in a graph-cuts energy function to produce object segmentation. In contrast to previous segmentation methods, the proposed method shares shape knowledge for different semantic classes and does not require class-specific model training. Therefore, the approach obtains high-quality segmentation for objects. We experimentally validate that the proposed method outperforms previous approaches using the challenging PASCAL VOC 2010/2012 and Berkeley (BSD300) segmentation datasets.

Functional Dysregulation of CDC42 Causes Diverse Developmental Phenotypes.

Science.gov (United States)

Martinelli, Simone; Krumbach, Oliver H F; Pantaleoni, Francesca; Coppola, Simona; Amin, Ehsan; Pannone, Luca; Nouri, Kazem; Farina, Luciapia; Dvorsky, Radovan; Lepri, Francesca; Buchholzer, Marcel; Konopatzki, Raphael; Walsh, Laurence; Payne, Katelyn; Pierpont, Mary Ella; Vergano, Samantha Schrier; Langley, Katherine G; Larsen, Douglas; Farwell, Kelly D; Tang, Sha; Mroske, Cameron; Gallotta, Ivan; Di Schiavi, Elia; Della Monica, Matteo; Lugli, Licia; Rossi, Cesare; Seri, Marco; Cocchi, Guido; Henderson, Lindsay; Baskin, Berivan; Alders, Mariëlle; Mendoza-Londono, Roberto; Dupuis, Lucie; Nickerson, Deborah A; Chong, Jessica X; Meeks, Naomi; Brown, Kathleen; Causey, Tahnee; Cho, Megan T; Demuth, Stephanie; Digilio, Maria Cristina; Gelb, Bruce D; Bamshad, Michael J; Zenker, Martin; Ahmadian, Mohammad Reza; Hennekam, Raoul C; Tartaglia, Marco; Mirzaa, Ghayda M

2018-01-17

Exome sequencing has markedly enhanced the discovery of genes implicated in Mendelian disorders, particularly for individuals in whom a known clinical entity could not be assigned. This has led to the recognition that phenotypic heterogeneity resulting from allelic mutations occurs more commonly than previously appreciated. Here, we report that missense variants in CDC42, a gene encoding a small GTPase functioning as an intracellular signaling node, underlie a clinically heterogeneous group of phenotypes characterized by variable growth dysregulation, facial dysmorphism, and neurodevelopmental, immunological, and hematological anomalies, including a phenotype resembling Noonan syndrome, a developmental disorder caused by dysregulated RAS signaling. In silico, in vitro, and in vivo analyses demonstrate that mutations variably perturb CDC42 function by altering the switch between the active and inactive states of the GTPase and/or affecting CDC42 interaction with effectors, and differentially disturb cellular and developmental processes. These findings reveal the remarkably variable impact that dominantly acting CDC42 mutations have on cell function and development, creating challenges in syndrome definition, and exemplify the importance of functional profiling for syndrome recognition and delineation. Copyright © 2017 American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Targeting emotion dysregulation in the treatment of self-injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Gratz, Kim L

2007-11-01

Clinically useful definitions of emotion regulation with respect to deliberate self-harm (referred to here as self-injury) focus on adaptive ways of responding to emotional distress rather than on the control of emotions or dampening of emotional arousal. According to one such definition, emotion regulation is a multifaceted construct involving a) the awareness, understanding, and acceptance of emotions; b) ability to engage in goal-directed behaviors, and inhibit impulsive behaviors, when experiencing negative emotions; c) the flexible use of situationally appropriate strategies to modulate the intensity and/or duration of emotional responses rather than to eliminate emotions entirely; and d) willingness to experience negative emotions as part of pursuing meaningful activities in life (Gratz & Roemer, 2004). This article addresses the role of emotion dysregulation in self-injury and discusses two treatments for self-injury that explicitly focus on increasing emotion regulation. These treatments are based on the premise that the reduction of emotion dysregulation will decrease the need for maladaptive behaviors that function to regulate emotions, such as self-injury. A case illustration describing how one of these treatments (an acceptance-based, emotion regulation group therapy) is used to treat self-injury is provided.

BCAA Metabolism and Insulin Sensitivity - Dysregulated by Metabolic Status?

Science.gov (United States)

Gannon, Nicholas P; Schnuck, Jamie K; Vaughan, Roger A

2018-03-01

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) appear to influence several synthetic and catabolic cellular signaling cascades leading to altered phenotypes in mammals. BCAAs are most notably known to increase protein synthesis through modulating protein translation, explaining their appeal to resistance and endurance athletes for muscle hypertrophy, expedited recovery, and preservation of lean body mass. In addition to anabolic effects, BCAAs may increase mitochondrial content in skeletal muscle and adipocytes, possibly enhancing oxidative capacity. However, elevated circulating BCAA levels have been correlated with severity of insulin resistance. It is hypothesized that elevated circulating BCAAs observed in insulin resistance may result from dysregulated BCAA degradation. This review summarizes original reports that investigated the ability of BCAAs to alter glucose uptake in consequential cell types and experimental models. The review also discusses the interplay of BCAAs with other metabolic factors, and the role of excess lipid (and possibly energy excess) in the dysregulation of BCAA catabolism. Lastly, this article provides a working hypothesis of the mechanism(s) by which lipids may contribute to altered BCAA catabolism, which often accompanies metabolic disease. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Differentiating Bipolar Disorder--Not Otherwise Specified and Severe Mood Dysregulation

Science.gov (United States)

Towbin, Kenneth; Axelson, David; Leibenluft, Ellen; Birmaher, Boris

2013-01-01

Objective: Bipolar disorder--not otherwise specified (BP-NOS) and severe mood dysregulation (SMD) are severe mood disorders that were defined to address questions about the diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD) in youth. SMD and BP-NOS are distinct phenotypes that differ in clinical presentation and longitudinal course. The purpose of this review is…

Fuzzy clustering-based segmented attenuation correction in whole-body PET

CERN Document Server

Zaidi, H; Boudraa, A; Slosman, DO

2001-01-01

Segmented-based attenuation correction is now a widely accepted technique to reduce noise contribution of measured attenuation correction. In this paper, we present a new method for segmenting transmission images in positron emission tomography. This reduces the noise on the correction maps while still correcting for differing attenuation coefficients of specific tissues. Based on the Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithm, the method segments the PET transmission images into a given number of clusters to extract specific areas of differing attenuation such as air, the lungs and soft tissue, preceded by a median filtering procedure. The reconstructed transmission image voxels are therefore segmented into populations of uniform attenuation based on the human anatomy. The clustering procedure starts with an over-specified number of clusters followed by a merging process to group clusters with similar properties and remove some undesired substructures using anatomical knowledge. The method is unsupervised, adaptive and a...

Emotional dysregulation in borderline personality disorder and its influence on communication behavior and feelings in romantic relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Miano, Annemarie; Grosselli, Luna; Roepke, Stefan; Dziobek, Isabel

2017-08-01

Dysfunction in romantic relationships constitutes one of the most burdensome symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD). The aim of this study was to ascertain how emotional dysregulation affects behavior and relationship related feelings of women with BPD in threatening conversations with their own romantic partner. Thirty couples in which the women were diagnosed with BPD and 34 healthy control (HC) couples were videotaped while discussing personally threatening (i.e., personal failure) and relationship-threatening (i.e., separation) themes. Third party raters evaluated stress and communication behaviors during the conversations. Relationship related feelings, i.e., closeness and relationship insecurity, were assessed by self-report. Overall, women with BPD were rated as more stressed in threatening situations than HC women and their partners, but not more stressed in relationship-threatening than personally threatening situations. A heightened stress response of women with BPD predicted more negative and less positive communication behaviors and a stronger decline in self-rated closeness to the partner compared to HC. Stress-induced increases in relationship insecurity were specific to women with BPD. Our results highlight the central role of emotional dysregulation in interpersonal dysfunctions of persons with BPD and the need to address individual emotion regulation strategies more explicitly in dyadic contexts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abnormalities of thymic stroma may contribute to immune dysregulation in murine models of leaky severe combined immunodeficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesca eRucci

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Lymphostromal cross-talk in the thymus is essential to allow generation of a diversified repertoire of T lymphocytes and to prevent autoimmunity by self-reactive T cells. Hypomorphic mutations in genes that control T cell development have been associated with immunodeficiency and immune dysregulation both in humans and in mice. We have studied T cell development and thymic stroma architecture and maturation in two mouse models of leaky SCID, carrying hypomorphic mutations in Rag1 and Lig4 genes. Defective T cell development was associated with abnormalities of thymic architecture that predominantly affect the thymic medulla, with reduction of the pool of mature medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs. While the ability of mTECs to express Aire is preserved in mutant mice, the frequency of mature mTECs expressing Aire and tissue-specific antigens (TSAs is severely reduced. Similarly, the ability of CD4+ T cells to differentiate into Foxp3+ natural regulatory T cells is preserved in Rag1 and Lig4 mutant mice, but their number is greatly reduced. These data indicate that hypomorphic defects in T cell development may cause defective lymphostromal cross-talk and impinge on thymic stromal cells maturation, and thus favor immune dysregulation.

Dysregulation of the mitosis-meiosis switch in testicular carcinoma in situ

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Anne; Nielsen, John E; Almstrup, Kristian

2013-01-01

, except in spermatocytic seminoma (not derived from CIS). In conclusion, this study indicates that meiosis signalling is dysregulated in CIS cells and that a key regulator of the mitosis-meiosis switch, DMRT1, is expressed in 'early-stage' CIS cells but is down-regulated with further invasive...

Adult Outcomes of Childhood Dysregulation: A 14-Year Follow-up Study

Science.gov (United States)

Althoff, Robert R.; Verhulst, Frank C.; Rettew, David C.; Hudziak, James J.; van der Ende, Jan

2010-01-01

Objective: Using a general population sample, the adult outcomes of children who presented with severe problems with self-regulation defined as being concurrently rated highly on attention problems, aggressive behavior, and anxious-depression on the Child Behavior Checklist-Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP) were examined. Method: Two thousand…

Genome-Wide Association Study of the Child Behavior Checklist Dysregulation Profile

Science.gov (United States)

Mick, Eric; McGough, James; Loo, Sandra; Doyle, Alysa E.; Wozniak, Janet; Wilens, Timothy E.; Smalley, Susan; McCracken, James; Biederman, Joseph; Faraone, Stephen V.

2011-01-01

Objective: A potentially useful tool for understanding the distribution and determinants of emotional dysregulation in children is a Child Behavior Checklist profile, comprising the Attention Problems, Anxious/Depressed, and Aggressive Behavior clinical subscales (CBCL-DP). The CBCL-DP indexes a heritable trait that increases susceptibility for…

Transcriptional Dysregulation of MYC Reveals Common Enhancer-Docking Mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Schuijers, Jurian; Manteiga, John Colonnese; Weintraub, Abraham Selby; Day, Daniel Sindt; Zamudio, Alicia Viridiana; Hnisz, Denes; Lee, Tong Ihn; Young, Richard Allen

2018-04-10

Transcriptional dysregulation of the MYC oncogene is among the most frequent events in aggressive tumor cells, and this is generally accomplished by acquisition of a super-enhancer somewhere within the 2.8 Mb TAD where MYC resides. We find that these diverse cancer-specific super-enhancers, differing in size and location, interact with the MYC gene through a common and conserved CTCF binding site located 2 kb upstream of the MYC promoter. Genetic perturbation of this enhancer-docking site in tumor cells reduces CTCF binding, super-enhancer interaction, MYC gene expression, and cell proliferation. CTCF binding is highly sensitive to DNA methylation, and this enhancer-docking site, which is hypomethylated in diverse cancers, can be inactivated through epigenetic editing with dCas9-DNMT. Similar enhancer-docking sites occur at other genes, including genes with prominent roles in multiple cancers, suggesting a mechanism by which tumor cell oncogenes can generally hijack enhancers. These results provide insights into mechanisms that allow a single target gene to be regulated by diverse enhancer elements in different cell types. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Specificity of Facial Expression Labeling Deficits in Childhood Psychopathology

Science.gov (United States)

Guyer, Amanda E.; McClure, Erin B.; Adler, Abby D.; Brotman, Melissa A.; Rich, Brendan A.; Kimes, Alane S.; Pine, Daniel S.; Ernst, Monique; Leibenluft, Ellen

2007-01-01

Background: We examined whether face-emotion labeling deficits are illness-specific or an epiphenomenon of generalized impairment in pediatric psychiatric disorders involving mood and behavioral dysregulation. Method: Two hundred fifty-two youths (7-18 years old) completed child and adult facial expression recognition subtests from the Diagnostic…

Impaired Epstein-Barr Virus-Specific Neutralizing Antibody Response during Acute Infectious Mononucleosis Is Coincident with Global B-Cell Dysfunction.

Science.gov (United States)

Panikkar, Archana; Smith, Corey; Hislop, Andrew; Tellam, Nick; Dasari, Vijayendra; Hogquist, Kristin A; Wykes, Michelle; Moss, Denis J; Rickinson, Alan; Balfour, Henry H; Khanna, Rajiv

2015-09-01

Here we present evidence for previously unappreciated B-cell immune dysregulation during acute Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated infectious mononucleosis (IM). Longitudinal analyses revealed that patients with acute IM have undetectable EBV-specific neutralizing antibodies and gp350-specific B-cell responses, which were associated with a significant reduction in memory B cells and no evidence of circulating antibody-secreting cells. These observations correlate with dysregulation of tumor necrosis factor family members BAFF and APRIL and increased expression of FAS on circulating B cells. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Trajectories of depressive symptoms in foster youth transitioning into adulthood: the roles of emotion dysregulation and PTSD.

Science.gov (United States)

Valdez, Christine E; Bailey, Brenda E; Santuzzi, Alecia M; Lilly, Michelle M

2014-01-01

Foster youth often experience considerable adversity both in and out of foster care, including histories of abuse and/or neglect, and further stressors within the foster system. These adverse experiences often occur at key developmental periods that can compromise emotional functioning and lead to posttraumatic symptomatology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and emotion dysregulation. In the face of difficult histories and ongoing mental health challenges, youth transitioning into adulthood may be particularly vulnerable to increases in depressive symptoms. We explored the trajectory of depressive symptoms in foster youth from age 17 to 19 using a piecewise linear growth model, examining the effects of PTSD and emotion dysregulation on youth's depressive symptoms over time. Results revealed depressive symptoms decreased from age 17 to 18 but increased from 18 to 19. PTSD and emotion dysregulation predicted greater baseline depressive symptoms and decreases in symptoms from age 17 to 18, whereas only PTSD predicted increases in depressive symptoms from 18 to 19. Females reported higher levels of depressive symptoms compared to males. Additionally, emotion dysregulation was a stronger predictor of depressive symptoms for females than males. Implications for service delivery for foster youth transitioning into adulthood are discussed. © The Author(s) 2014.

Chronic complex dissociative disorders and borderline personality disorder: disorders of emotion dysregulation?

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Bethany L; Lanius, Ruth A

2014-01-01

Emotion dysregulation is a core feature of chronic complex dissociative disorders (DD), as it is for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Chronic complex DD include dissociative identity disorder (DID) and the most common form of dissociative disorder not otherwise specified (DDNOS, type 1), now known as Other Specified Dissociative Disorders (OSDD, type 1). BPD is a common comorbid disorder with DD, although preliminary research indicates the disorders have some distinguishing features as well as considerable overlap. This article focuses on the epidemiology, clinical presentation, psychological profile, treatment, and neurobiology of chronic complex DD with emphasis placed on the role of emotion dysregulation in each of these areas. Trauma experts conceptualize borderline symptoms as often being trauma based, as are chronic complex DD. We review the preliminary research that compares DD to BPD in the hopes that this will stimulate additional comparative research.

The child behavior checklist dysregulation profile predicts adolescent DSM-5 pathological personality traits 4 years later.

Science.gov (United States)

De Caluwé, Elien; Decuyper, Mieke; De Clercq, Barbara

2013-07-01

Emotional dysregulation in childhood has been associated with various forms of later psychopathology, although no studies have investigated the personality related adolescent outcomes associated with early emotional dysregulation. The present study uses a typological approach to examine how the child behavior checklist-dysregulation profile (CBCL-DP) predicts DSM-5 pathological personality traits (as measured with the personality inventory for the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders 5 or PID-5 by Krueger et al. (Psychol Med 2012)) across a time span of 4 years in a sample of 243 children aged 8-14 years (57.2 % girls). The results showed that children assigned to the CBCL-DP class are at risk for elevated scores on a wide range of DSM-5 personality pathology features, including higher scores on hostility, risk taking, deceitfulness, callousness, grandiosity, irresponsibility, impulsivity and manipulativeness. These results are discussed in the context of identifying early manifestations of persistent regulation problems, because of their enduring impact on a child's personality development.

Segmentation of electric energy customers by specific niches; Segmentacao de clientes de energia eletrica por nichos especiais

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Ana Lucia Rodrigues da; Jannuzzi, Gilberto de Martino [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), SP (Brazil)], E-mail: jannuzzi@fen.unicamp.br

2009-04-15

The article presents the classic segmentation used in electric energy industry for large customers. The paper argues the limitations of this classification, as well as, the potentialities to classify customers for specific niches, the example of that already occurs in other competitive sectors of the economy. Twelve potential forms for classifying large customers in electricity industry are presented: geographic localization; value of the invoice; sector of productive activity; types of share holding composition and enterprise management; forms and characteristics of the use of the electric energy in the final units; degree of technological sophistication; client relation cost benefit; common factors in energy process of purchase; brand associated with the customer; extraordinary factors, such as, urgency, application and volume of energy; personal characteristics of the purchaser in charge of the operation; former-customers who moved from the captive market to the free market and vice versa. The article concludes proposing a new methodology to identify the specific niches of customers in the electric sector, as well as the inductive and restrictive factors of this methodology. (author)

Design of segmented thermoelectric generator based on cost-effective and light-weight thermoelectric alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hee Seok; Kikuchi, Keiko; Itoh, Takashi; Iida, Tsutomu; Taya, Minoru

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Segmented thermoelectric (TE) module operating at 500 °C for combustion engine system. • Si based light-weight TE generator increases the specific power density [W/kg]. • Study of contact resistance at the bonding interfaces maximizing output power. • Accurate agreement of the theoretical predictions with experimental results. - Abstract: A segmented thermoelectric (TE) generator was designed with higher temperature segments composed of n-type Mg 2 Si and p-type higher manganese silicide (HMS) and lower temperature segments composed of n- and p-type Bi–Te based compounds. Since magnesium and silicon based TE alloys have low densities, they produce a TE module with a high specific power density that is suitable for airborne applications. A two-pair segmented π-shaped TE generator was assembled with low contact resistance materials across bonding interfaces. The peak specific power density of this generator was measured at 42.9 W/kg under a 498 °C temperature difference, which has a good agreement with analytical predictions

EFFECTS OF PARENT ARTERY SEGMENTATION AND ANEURISMALWALL ELASTICITY ON PATIENT-SPECIFIC HEMODYNAMIC SIMULATIONS

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

CHEN Jia-liang; DING Guang-hong; YANG Xin-jian; LI Hai-yun

2011-01-01

It is well known that hemodynamics and wall tension play an important role in the formation,growth and rupture of aneurysms.In the present study,the authors investigated the influence of parent artery segmentation and aneurismal-wall elasticity on patient-specific hemodynamic simulations with two patient-specific eases of cerebral aneurysms.Realistic models of the aneurysms were constructed from 3-D angiography images and blood flow dynamics was studied under physiologically representative waveform of inflow.For each aneurysm three computational models were constructed:Model 1 with more extensive upstream parent artery with the rigid arterial and aneurismal wall,Model 2 with the partial upstream parent artery with the elastic arterial and aneurismal wall,Model 3 with more extensive upstream parent artery with the rigid wall for arterial wall far from the aneurysm and the elastic wall for arterial wall near the aneurysm.The results show that Model 1 could predict complex intra-aneurismal flow patterns and wall shear stress distribution in the aneurysm,but is unable to give aneurismal wall deformation and tension,Model 2 demonstrates aneurismal wall deformation and tension,but fails to properly model inflow pattern contributed by the upstream parent artery,resulting in local misunderstanding Wall Shear Stress (WSS) distribution,Model 3 can overcome limitations of the former two models,and give an overall and accurate analysis on intra-aneurismal flow patterns,wall shear stress distribution,aneurismal-wall deformation and tension.Therefore we suggest that the proper length of extensive upstream parent artery and aneuri-smal-wall elasticity should be considered carefully in establishing computational model to predict the intra-aneurismal hemodynamic and wall tension.

In Search of HPA Axis Dysregulation in Child and Adolescent Depression

Science.gov (United States)

Guerry, John D.; Hastings, Paul D.

2011-01-01

Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in adults with major depressive disorder is among the most consistent and robust biological findings in psychiatry. Given the importance of the adolescent transition to the development and recurrence of depressive phenomena over the lifespan, it is important to have an integrative…

Investigating the role of dimensions of UPPS-P model of impulsivity and age increasing in men’s emotion dysregulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hashem Jebraeili

2018-04-01

Results: The findings showed that there were significant coloration between all dimensions of impulsivity, with the exception of sensation seeking, and age with emotion dysregulation. Results of regression analysis showed that dimensions of impulsivity and age have significant role in prediction of emotion dysregulation and explain 47 percent of total variance of it (F=40.67, P

Language-universal constraints on speech segmentation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Norris, D.; McQueen, J.M.; Cutler, A.; Butterfield, S.; Kearns, R.K.

2001-01-01

Two word-spotting experiments are reported that examine whether the Possible-Word Constraint (PWC; Norris, McQueen, Cutler & Butterfield, 1997) is a language-specific or language-universal strategy for the segmentation of continuous speech. The PWC disfavors parses which leave an impossible residue

Supply chain segmentation in the sporting goods industry

OpenAIRE

Roscoe, S.; Baker, P.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence supply chain segmentation when selling to consumers through retail chains. The initial research is based on a review of supply chain segmentation literature and the application of relevant parameters to a specific case study, comprising two major brands in the sporting goods industry. The empirical research itself comprises semi-structured interviews, covering demand planning, sales, marketing and supply chain managers, suppor...

MARKET SEGMENTATION PRACTICES OF RETAIL CROP INPUT FIRMS

OpenAIRE

Jay Akridge; Mike Boehlje; Allan Gray; Aaron Reimer

2007-01-01

While market segmentation and the associated idea of target marketing are not new, there are questions about how the strategy of market segmentation and target marketing is being used in retail agribusiness firms. Previous research has demonstrated that distinct groups of farmers/customers exist (Alexander). However, retail crop input firms tend to be of modest size and are geographically bound. Both lack of resources and confinement to a specific geographic market present challenges for succ...

Metabolic dysregulation and interventions in type 2 diabetes mellitus and HIV-lipodystrophy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wijk, J.P.H. van

2005-01-01

The focus of this thesis is on two aspects of metabolic dysregulation, type 2 diabetes mellitus and HIV-lipodystrophy, and the effects of insulin-sensitizing agents. Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) have received increasing attenttion for the treatment of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes. Currently,

Purchase decision involvement: Event management segments and related event behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Rodney B. Warnick; David C. Bojanic

2012-01-01

The goal of this research was to examine the relationships between different levels of event purchase decision involvement (PDI) segments and their respective event behaviors (e.g., expenditures, travel behavior, event consumption and satisfaction). The specific purpose was to answer two major research questions: 1) Can PDI identify different levels or segments of...

Brookhaven segment interconnect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morse, W.M.; Benenson, G.; Leipuner, L.B.

1983-01-01

We have performed a high energy physics experiment using a multisegment Brookhaven FASTBUS system. The system was composed of three crate segments and two cable segments. We discuss the segment interconnect module which permits communication between the various segments

Dysregulation of chemo-cytokine production in schizophrenic patients versus healthy controls

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Di Giannantonio Massimo

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The exact cause of schizophrenia is not known, although several aetiological theories have been proposed for the disease, including developmental or neurodegenerative processes, neurotransmitter abnormalities, viral infection and immune dysfunction or autoimmune mechanisms. Growing evidence suggests that specific cytokines and chemokines play a role in signalling the brain to produce neurochemical, neuroendocrine, neuroimmune and behavioural changes. A relationship between inflammation and schizophrenia was supported by abnormal cytokines production, abnormal concentrations of cytokines and cytokine receptors in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid in schizophrenia. Since the neuropathology of schizophrenia has recently been reported to be closely associated with microglial activation we aimed to determined whether spontaneous or LPS-induced peripheral blood mononuclear cell chemokines and cytokines production is dysregulated in schizophrenic patients compared to healthy subjects. We enrolled 51 untreated first-episode schizophrenics (SC and 40 healthy subjects (HC and the levels of MCP-1, MIP-1α, IL-8, IL-18, IFN-γ and RANTES were determined by Elisa method in cell-free supernatants of PBMC cultures. Results In the simultaneous quantification we found significantly higher levels of constitutively and LPS-induced MCP-1, MIP-1α, IL-8 and IL-18, and lower RANTES and IFNγ levels released by PBMC of SC patients compared with HC. In ten SC patients receiving therapy with risperidone, olanzapine or clozapine basal and LPS-induced production of RANTES and IL-18 was increased, while both basal and LPS-induced MCP-1 production was decreased. No statistically significant differences were detected in serum levels after therapy. Conclusion The observation that in schizophrenic patients the PBMC production of selected chemo-cytokines is dysregulated reinforces the hypothesis that the peripheral cyto-chemokine network is involved in the

Fluid region segmentation in OCT images based on convolution neural network

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dong; Liu, Xiaoming; Fu, Tianyu; Yang, Zhou

2017-07-01

In the retinal image, characteristics of fluid have great significance for diagnosis in eye disease. In the clinical, the segmentation of fluid is usually conducted manually, but is time-consuming and the accuracy is highly depend on the expert's experience. In this paper, we proposed a segmentation method based on convolution neural network (CNN) for segmenting the fluid from fundus image. The B-scans of OCT are segmented into layers, and patches from specific region with annotation are used for training. After the data set being divided into training set and test set, network training is performed and a good segmentation result is obtained, which has a significant advantage over traditional methods such as threshold method.

Side chain requirements for affinity and specificity in D5, an HIV-1 antibody derived from the VH1-69 germline segment.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Alex; Harrison, Joseph S; Regula, Lauren K; Lai, Jonathan R

2013-04-08

Analysis of factors contributing to high affinity antibody-protein interactions provides insight into natural antibody evolution, and guides the design of antibodies with new or enhanced function. We previously studied the interaction between antibody D5 and its target, a designed protein based on HIV-1 gp41 known as 5-Helix, as a model system [Da Silva, G. F.; Harrison, J. S.; Lai, J. R., Biochemistry, 2010, 49, 5464-5472]. Antibody D5 represents an interesting case study because it is derived from the VH1-69 germline segment; this germline segment is characterized by a hydrophobic second heavy chain complementarity determining region (HCDR2) that constitutes the major functional paratope in D5 and several antibodies derived from the same progenitor. Here we explore side chain requirements for affinity and specificity in D5 using phage display. Two D5-based libraries were prepared that contained diversity in all three light chain complementarity determining regions (LCDRs 1-3), and in the third HCDR (HCDR3). The first library allowed residues to vary among a restricted set of six amino acids (Tyr/Ala/Asp/Ser/His/Pro; D5-Lib-I). The second library was designed based on a survey of existing VH1-69 antibody structures (D5-Lib-II). Both libraries were subjected to multiple rounds of selection against 5-Helix, and individual clones characterized. We found that selectants from D5-Lib-I generally had moderate affinity and specificity, while many clones from D5-Lib-II exhibited D5-like properties. Additional analysis of the D5-Lib-II functional population revealed position-specific biases for particular amino acids, many that differed from the identity of those side chains in D5. Together these results suggest that there is some permissiveness for alternative side chains in the LCDRs and HCDR3 of D5, but that replacement with a minimal set of residues is not tolerated in this scaffold for 5-Helix recognition. This work provides novel information about this high

Strategies for regular segmented reductions on GPU

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Rasmus Wriedt; Henriksen, Troels

2017-01-01

We present and evaluate an implementation technique for regular segmented reductions on GPUs. Existing techniques tend to be either consistent in performance but relatively inefficient in absolute terms, or optimised for specific workloads and thereby exhibiting bad performance for certain input...... is in the context of the Futhark compiler, the implementation technique is applicable to any library or language that has a need for segmented reductions. We evaluate the technique on four microbenchmarks, two of which we also compare to implementations in the CUB library for GPU programming, as well as on two...

Classifier Directed Data Hybridization for Geographic Sample Supervised Segment Generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoff Fourie

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Quality segment generation is a well-known challenge and research objective within Geographic Object-based Image Analysis (GEOBIA. Although methodological avenues within GEOBIA are diverse, segmentation commonly plays a central role in most approaches, influencing and being influenced by surrounding processes. A general approach using supervised quality measures, specifically user provided reference segments, suggest casting the parameters of a given segmentation algorithm as a multidimensional search problem. In such a sample supervised segment generation approach, spatial metrics observing the user provided reference segments may drive the search process. The search is commonly performed by metaheuristics. A novel sample supervised segment generation approach is presented in this work, where the spectral content of provided reference segments is queried. A one-class classification process using spectral information from inside the provided reference segments is used to generate a probability image, which in turn is employed to direct a hybridization of the original input imagery. Segmentation is performed on such a hybrid image. These processes are adjustable, interdependent and form a part of the search problem. Results are presented detailing the performances of four method variants compared to the generic sample supervised segment generation approach, under various conditions in terms of resultant segment quality, required computing time and search process characteristics. Multiple metrics, metaheuristics and segmentation algorithms are tested with this approach. Using the spectral data contained within user provided reference segments to tailor the output generally improves the results in the investigated problem contexts, but at the expense of additional required computing time.

Tissues segmentation based on multi spectral medical images

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ya; Wang, Ying

2017-11-01

Each band image contains the most obvious tissue feature according to the optical characteristics of different tissues in different specific bands for multispectral medical images. In this paper, the tissues were segmented by their spectral information at each multispectral medical images. Four Local Binary Patter descriptors were constructed to extract blood vessels based on the gray difference between the blood vessels and their neighbors. The segmented tissue in each band image was merged to a clear image.

A novel dysregulated pathway-identification analysis based on global influence of within-pathway effects and crosstalk between pathways

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Junwei; Li, Chunquan; Yang, Haixiu; Xu, Yanjun; Zhang, Chunlong; Ma, Jiquan; Shi, Xinrui; Liu, Wei; Shang, Desi; Yao, Qianlan; Zhang, Yunpeng; Su, Fei; Feng, Li; Li, Xia

2015-01-01

Identifying dysregulated pathways from high-throughput experimental data in order to infer underlying biological insights is an important task. Current pathway-identification methods focus on single pathways in isolation; however, consideration of crosstalk between pathways could improve our understanding of alterations in biological states. We propose a novel method of pathway analysis based on global influence (PAGI) to identify dysregulated pathways, by considering both within-pathway effects and crosstalk between pathways. We constructed a global gene–gene network based on the relationships among genes extracted from a pathway database. We then evaluated the extent of differential expression for each gene, and mapped them to the global network. The random walk with restart algorithm was used to calculate the extent of genes affected by global influence. Finally, we used cumulative distribution functions to determine the significance values of the dysregulated pathways. We applied the PAGI method to five cancer microarray datasets, and compared our results with gene set enrichment analysis and five other methods. Based on these analyses, we demonstrated that PAGI can effectively identify dysregulated pathways associated with cancer, with strong reproducibility and robustness. We implemented PAGI using the freely available R-based and Web-based tools (http://bioinfo.hrbmu.edu.cn/PAGI). PMID:25551156

Single-segment and double-segment INTACS for post-LASIK ectasia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hassan Hashemi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The objective of the present study was to compare single segment and double segment INTACS rings in the treatment of post-LASIK ectasia. In this interventional study, 26 eyes with post-LASIK ectasia were assessed. Ectasia was defined as progressive myopia regardless of astigmatism, along with topographic evidence of inferior steepening of the cornea after LASIK. We excluded those with a history of intraocular surgery, certain eye conditions, and immune disorders, as well as monocular, pregnant and lactating patients. A total of 11 eyes had double ring and 15 eyes had single ring implantation. Visual and refractive outcomes were compared with preoperative values based on the number of implanted INTACS rings. Pre and postoperative spherical equivalent were -3.92 and -2.29 diopter (P=0.007. The spherical equivalent decreased by 1 ± 3.2 diopter in the single-segment group and 2.56 ± 1.58 diopter in the double-segment group (P=0.165. Mean preoperative astigmatism was 2.38 ± 1.93 diopter which decreased to 2.14 ± 1.1 diopter after surgery (P=0.508; 0.87 ± 1.98 diopter decrease in the single-segment group and 0.67 ± 1.2 diopter increase in the double-segment group (P=0.025. Nineteen patients (75% gained one or two lines, and only three, who were all in the double-segment group, lost one or two lines of best corrected visual acuity. The spherical equivalent and vision significantly decreased in all patients. In these post-LASIK ectasia patients, the spherical equivalent was corrected better with two segments compared to single segment implantation; nonetheless, the level of astigmatism in the single-segment group was significantly better than that in the double-segment group.

A Novel Group Therapy for Children with ADHD and Severe Mood Dysregulation

Science.gov (United States)

Waxmonsky, James G.; Wymbs, Fran A.; Pariseau, Meaghan E.; Belin, Peter J.; Waschbusch, Daniel A.; Babocsai, Lysett; Fabiano, Gregory A.; Akinnusi, Opeolowa O.; Haak, Jenifer L.; Pelham, William E.

2013-01-01

Objective: No psychosocial treatments have been developed for children with ADHD and severe mood dysregulation (SMD) despite the significant prevalence and morbidity of this combination. Therefore, the authors developed a novel treatment program for children with ADHD and SMD. Method: The novel therapy program integrates components of…

The Dysregulation Profile in middle childhood and adolescence across reporters: factor structure, measurement invariance, and links with self-harm and suicidal ideation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.H.F. Deutz (Marike); S.B. Geeraert (Sanne Barbara); A.L. Van Baar (Anneloes); M. Deković (Maja); P.J. Prinzie (Peter)

2016-01-01

textabstractRecently, a phenotype of severe dysregulation, the Dysregulation Profile (DP), has been identified. DP consists of elevated scores on the Anxious/Depressed (AD), Aggressive Behavior (AGG) and Attention Problems (AP) scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher Report Form

HealthStyles: a new psychographic segmentation system for health care marketers.

Science.gov (United States)

Endresen, K W; Wintz, J C

1988-01-01

HealthStyles is a new psychographic segmentation system specifically designed for the health care industry. This segmentation system goes beyond traditional geographic and demographic analysis and examines health-related consumer attitudes and behaviors. Four statistically distinct "styles" of consumer health care preferences have been identified. The profiles of the four groups have substantial marketing implications in terms of design and promotion of products and services. Each segment of consumers also has differing expectations of physician behavior.

miR2Pathway: A Novel Analytical Method to Discover MicroRNA-mediated Dysregulated Pathways Involved in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Chaoxing; Dinu, Valentin

2018-03-22

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression at a post-transcriptional level. Recent studies have shown miRNAs as key regulators of a variety of biological processes, such as proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, metabolism, etc. Aberrantly expressed miRNAs influence individual gene expression level, but rewired miRNA-mRNA connections can influence the activity of biological pathways. Here, we define rewired miRNA-mRNA connections as the differential (rewiring) effects on the activity of biological pathways between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and normal phenotypes. Our work presented here uses a PageRank-based approach to measure the degree of miRNA-mediated dysregulation of biological pathways between HCC and normal samples based on rewired miRNA-mRNA connections. In our study, we regard the degree of miRNA-mediated dysregulation of biological pathways as disease risk of biological pathways. Therefore, we propose a new method, miR2Pathway, to measure and rank the degree of miRNA-mediated dysregulation of biological pathways by measuring the total differential influence of miRNAs on the activity of pathways between HCC and normal states. miR2Pathway proposed here systematically shows the first evidence for a mechanism of biological pathways being dysregulated by rewired miRNA-mRNA connections, and provides new insight into exploring mechanisms behind HCC. Thus, miR2Pathway is a novel method to identify and rank miRNA-dysregulated pathways in HCC. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Mild KCC2 hypofunction causes inconspicuous chloride dysregulation that degrades neural coding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicolas eDoyon

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Disinhibition caused by Cl- dysregulation is implicated in several neurological disorders. This form of disinhibition, which stems primarily from impaired Cl- extrusion through the co-transporter KCC2, is typically identified by a depolarizing shift in GABA reversal potential (EGABA. Here we show, using computer simulations, that intracellular [Cl-] exhibits exaggerated fluctuations during transient Cl- loads and recovers more slowly to baseline when KCC2 level is even modestly reduced. Using information theory and signal detection theory, we show that increased Cl- lability and settling time degrade neural coding. Importantly, these deleterious effects manifest after less KCC2 reduction than needed to produce the gross changes in EGABA required for detection by most experiments, which assess KCC2 function under weak Cl- load conditions. By demonstrating the existence and functional consequences of occult Cl- dysregulation, these results suggest that modest KCC2 hypofunction plays a greater role in neurological disorders than previously believed.

Automatic liver volume segmentation and fibrosis classification

Science.gov (United States)

Bal, Evgeny; Klang, Eyal; Amitai, Michal; Greenspan, Hayit

2018-02-01

In this work, we present an automatic method for liver segmentation and fibrosis classification in liver computed-tomography (CT) portal phase scans. The input is a full abdomen CT scan with an unknown number of slices, and the output is a liver volume segmentation mask and a fibrosis grade. A multi-stage analysis scheme is applied to each scan, including: volume segmentation, texture features extraction and SVM based classification. Data contains portal phase CT examinations from 80 patients, taken with different scanners. Each examination has a matching Fibroscan grade. The dataset was subdivided into two groups: first group contains healthy cases and mild fibrosis, second group contains moderate fibrosis, severe fibrosis and cirrhosis. Using our automated algorithm, we achieved an average dice index of 0.93 ± 0.05 for segmentation and a sensitivity of 0.92 and specificity of 0.81for classification. To the best of our knowledge, this is a first end to end automatic framework for liver fibrosis classification; an approach that, once validated, can have a great potential value in the clinic.

Segmentation of British Sign Language (BSL): Mind the gap!

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Orfanidou, E.; McQueen, J.M.; Adam, R.; Morgan, G.

2015-01-01

This study asks how users of British Sign Language (BSL) recognize individual signs in connected sign sequences. We examined whether this is achieved through modality-specific or modality-general segmentation procedures. A modality-specific feature of signed languages is that, during continuous

Multi-atlas Based Segmentation Editing with Interaction-Guided Constraints

OpenAIRE

Park, Sang Hyun; Gao, Yaozong; Shen, Dinggang

2015-01-01

We propose a novel multi-atlas based segmentation method to address the editing scenario, when given an incomplete segmentation along with a set of training label images. Unlike previous multi-atlas based methods, which depend solely on appearance features, we incorporate interaction-guided constraints to find appropriate training labels and derive their voting weights. Specifically, we divide user interactions, provided on erroneous parts, into multiple local interaction combinations, and th...

The Dysregulation Profile in middle childhood and adolescence across reporters: factor structure, measurement invariance, and links with self-harm and suicidal ideation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Deutz, Marike; Geeraerts, Sanne; van Baar, Anneloes; Dekovic, Maja; Prinzie, Peter

2016-01-01

Recently, a phenotype of severe dysregulation, the Dysregulation Profile (DP), has been identified. DP consists of elevated scores on the Anxious/Depressed (AD), Aggressive Behavior (AGG) and Attention Problems (AP) scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher Report Form (TRF), or Youth

Serum proteomics reveals systemic dysregulation of innate immunity in type 1 diabetes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Qibin; Fillmore, Thomas L.; Schepmoes, Athena A.; Clauss, Therese RW; Gritsenko, Marina A.; Mueller, Patricia W.; Rewers, Marian; Atkinson, Mark A.; Smith, Richard D.; Metz, Thomas O.

2013-01-14

Using global liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based proteomics analyses, we identified 24 serum proteins significantly variant between those with type 1 diabetes and healthy controls. Functionally, these proteins represent innate immune responses, the activation cascade of complement, inflammatory responses and blood coagulation. Targeted verification analyses were performed on 52 surrogate peptides representing these proteins with serum samples from an antibody standardization program cohort of 100 healthy control and 50 type 1 diabetic subjects, and 16 peptides were verified having very good discriminating power, with areas under the receiver operator characteristic curve ≥ 0.8. Further validation with blinded serum samples from an independent cohort (10 healthy control and 10 type 1 diabetic) demonstrated that peptides from platelet basic protein and C1 inhibitor achieved both 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for classification of samples. The disease specificity of these proteins was assessed using serum from 50 age matched type 2 diabetic individuals, and a subset of proteins, particularly C1 inhibitor were exceptionally good discriminators between these two forms of diabetes. The panel of biomarkers distinguishing those with type 1 diabetes from healthy control and type 2 diabetes suggests dysregulated innate immune responses may be associated with the development of this disorder.

Dysregulation of chemokine receptor expression and function in leukocytes from ALS patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Perner, Caroline; Perner, Florian; Stubendorff, Beatrice; Förster, Martin; Witte, Otto W; Heidel, Florian H; Prell, Tino; Grosskreutz, Julian

2018-03-28

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is rapidly progressive adult-onset motor neuron disease characterized by the neurodegeneration of both upper and lower motor neurons in the cortex and the spinal cord; the majority of patients succumb to respiratory failure. Although the etiology is not yet fully understood, there is compelling evidence that ALS is a multi-systemic disorder, with peripheral inflammation critically contributing to the disease process. However, the full extent and nature of this immunological dysregulation remains to be established, particularly within circulating blood cells. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify dysregulated inflammatory molecules in peripheral blood cells of ALS patients and analyze for functional consequences of the observed findings. To this end, we employed flow cytometry-based screening to quantify the surface expression of major chemokine receptors and integrins. A significantly increased expression of CXCR3, CXCR4, CCL2, and CCL5 was observed on T cells in ALS patients compared to healthy controls. Intriguingly, the expression was even more pronounced in patients with a slow progressive phenotype. To further investigate the functional consequences of this altered surface expression, we used a modified Boyden chamber assay to measure chemotaxis in ALS patient-derived lymphocytes. Interestingly, chemoattraction with the CXCR3-Ligand IP10 led to upregulated migratory behavior of ALS lymphocytes compared to healthy controls. Taken together, our data provides evidence for a functional dysregulation of IP10-directed chemotaxis in peripheral blood cells in ALS patients. However, whether the chemokine itself or its receptor CXCR3, or both, could serve as potential therapeutic targets in ALS requires further investigations.

SAAS-CNV: A Joint Segmentation Approach on Aggregated and Allele Specific Signals for the Identification of Somatic Copy Number Alterations with Next-Generation Sequencing Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhongyang; Hao, Ke

2015-11-01

Cancer genomes exhibit profound somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs). Studying tumor SCNAs using massively parallel sequencing provides unprecedented resolution and meanwhile gives rise to new challenges in data analysis, complicated by tumor aneuploidy and heterogeneity as well as normal cell contamination. While the majority of read depth based methods utilize total sequencing depth alone for SCNA inference, the allele specific signals are undervalued. We proposed a joint segmentation and inference approach using both signals to meet some of the challenges. Our method consists of four major steps: 1) extracting read depth supporting reference and alternative alleles at each SNP/Indel locus and comparing the total read depth and alternative allele proportion between tumor and matched normal sample; 2) performing joint segmentation on the two signal dimensions; 3) correcting the copy number baseline from which the SCNA state is determined; 4) calling SCNA state for each segment based on both signal dimensions. The method is applicable to whole exome/genome sequencing (WES/WGS) as well as SNP array data in a tumor-control study. We applied the method to a dataset containing no SCNAs to test the specificity, created by pairing sequencing replicates of a single HapMap sample as normal/tumor pairs, as well as a large-scale WGS dataset consisting of 88 liver tumors along with adjacent normal tissues. Compared with representative methods, our method demonstrated improved accuracy, scalability to large cancer studies, capability in handling both sequencing and SNP array data, and the potential to improve the estimation of tumor ploidy and purity.

Cross-population validation of statistical distance as a measure of physiological dysregulation during aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Alan A; Milot, Emmanuel; Li, Qing; Legault, Véronique; Fried, Linda P; Ferrucci, Luigi

2014-09-01

Measuring physiological dysregulation during aging could be a key tool both to understand underlying aging mechanisms and to predict clinical outcomes in patients. However, most existing indices are either circular or hard to interpret biologically. Recently, we showed that statistical distance of 14 common blood biomarkers (a measure of how strange an individual's biomarker profile is) was associated with age and mortality in the WHAS II data set, validating its use as a measure of physiological dysregulation. Here, we extend the analyses to other data sets (WHAS I and InCHIANTI) to assess the stability of the measure across populations. We found that the statistical criteria used to determine the original 14 biomarkers produced diverging results across populations; in other words, had we started with a different data set, we would have chosen a different set of markers. Nonetheless, the same 14 markers (or the subset of 12 available for InCHIANTI) produced highly similar predictions of age and mortality. We include analyses of all combinatorial subsets of the markers and show that results do not depend much on biomarker choice or data set, but that more markers produce a stronger signal. We conclude that statistical distance as a measure of physiological dysregulation is stable across populations in Europe and North America. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cardiac mTORC1 Dysregulation Impacts Stress Adaptation and Survival in Huntington’s Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel D. Child

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Summary: Huntington’s disease (HD is a dominantly inherited neurological disorder caused by CAG-repeat expansion in exon 1 of Huntingtin (HTT. But in addition to the neurological disease, mutant HTT (mHTT, which is ubiquitously expressed, impairs other organ systems. Indeed, epidemiological and animal model studies suggest higher incidence of and mortality from heart disease in HD. Here, we show that the protein complex mTORC1 is dysregulated in two HD mouse models through a mechanism that requires intrinsic mHTT expression. Moreover, restoring cardiac mTORC1 activity with constitutively active Rheb prevents mortality and relieves the mHTT-induced block to hypertrophic adaptation to cardiac stress. Finally, we show that chronic mTORC1 dysregulation is due in part to mislocalization of endogenous Rheb. These data provide insight into the increased cardiac-related mortality of HD patients, with cardiac mHTT expression inhibiting mTORC1 activity, limiting heart growth, and decreasing the heart’s ability to compensate to chronic stress. : Child et al. demonstrate that mTORC1 dysregulation is a key molecular mechanism in the Huntington’s disease (HD heart phenotype. Impaired cardiac mTORC1 activity in HD mouse models requires intrinsic mHTT expression and explains the limited adaptation to cardiac stress. Keywords: Huntington’s disease, heart, mTOR, Rheb

Cyanide sulphur transferase from the gut and body segments of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Our results show total rhodanese activities of 1434.50 RU and 2274.28 RU and specific activities of 108.01 RUmg-1 and 83.1901 RUmg-1 in the gut and body segments of H. africanus respectively. The optimum temperature of 25 °C and optimum pH of 10.5 were obtained for both the gut and body segments enzymes.

TOURISM SEGMENTATION BASED ON TOURISTS PREFERENCES: A MULTIVARIATE APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sérgio Dominique Ferreira

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Over the last decades, tourism became one of the most important sectors of the international economy. Specifically in Portugal and Brazil, its contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP and job creation is quite relevant. In this sense, to follow a strong marketing approach on the management of tourism resources of a country comes to be paramount. Such an approach should be based on innovations which help unveil the preferences of tourists with accuracy, turning it into a competitive advantage. In this context, the main objective of the present study is to illustrate the importance and benefits associated with the use of multivariate methodologies for market segmentation. Another objective of this work is to illustrate on the importance of a post hoc segmentation. In this work, the authors applied a Cluster Analysis, with a hierarchical method followed by an  optimization method. The main results of this study allow the identification of five clusters that are distinguished by assigning special importance to certain tourism attributes at the moment of choosing a specific destination. Thus, the authors present the advantages of post hoc segmentation based on tourists’ preferences, in opposition to an a priori segmentation based on socio-demographic characteristics.

biomvRhsmm: Genomic Segmentation with Hidden Semi-Markov Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Du

2014-01-01

Full Text Available High-throughput technologies like tiling array and next-generation sequencing (NGS generate continuous homogeneous segments or signal peaks in the genome that represent transcripts and transcript variants (transcript mapping and quantification, regions of deletion and amplification (copy number variation, or regions characterized by particular common features like chromatin state or DNA methylation ratio (epigenetic modifications. However, the volume and output of data produced by these technologies present challenges in analysis. Here, a hidden semi-Markov model (HSMM is implemented and tailored to handle multiple genomic profile, to better facilitate genome annotation by assisting in the detection of transcripts, regulatory regions, and copy number variation by holistic microarray or NGS. With support for various data distributions, instead of limiting itself to one specific application, the proposed hidden semi-Markov model is designed to allow modeling options to accommodate different types of genomic data and to serve as a general segmentation engine. By incorporating genomic positions into the sojourn distribution of HSMM, with optional prior learning using annotation or previous studies, the modeling output is more biologically sensible. The proposed model has been compared with several other state-of-the-art segmentation models through simulation benchmarking, which shows that our efficient implementation achieves comparable or better sensitivity and specificity in genomic segmentation.

Technical Safety Requirements for the B695 Segment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Laycak, D

2008-09-11

This document contains Technical Safety Requirements (TSRs) for the Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Management (RHWM) Division's B695 Segment of the Decontamination and Waste Treatment Facility (DWTF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The TSRs constitute requirements regarding the safe operation of the B695 Segment. The TSRs are derived from the Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) for the B695 Segment (LLNL 2007). The analysis presented there determined that the B695 Segment is a low-chemical hazard, Hazard Category 3, nonreactor nuclear facility. The TSRs consist primarily of inventory limits as well as controls to preserve the underlying assumptions in the hazard analyses. Furthermore, appropriate commitments to safety programs are presented in the administrative controls section of the TSRs. The B695 Segment (B695 and the west portion of B696) is a waste treatment and storage facility located in the northeast quadrant of the LLNL main site. The approximate area and boundary of the B695 Segment are shown in the B695 Segment DSA. Activities typically conducted in the B695 Segment include container storage, lab-packing, repacking, overpacking, bulking, sampling, waste transfer, and waste treatment. B695 is used to store and treat radioactive, mixed, and hazardous waste, and it also contains equipment used in conjunction with waste processing operations to treat various liquid and solid wastes. The portion of the building called Building 696 Solid Waste Processing Area (SWPA), also referred to as B696S in this report, is used primarily to manage solid radioactive, mixed, and hazardous waste. Operations specific to the SWPA include sorting and segregating waste, lab-packing, sampling, and crushing empty drums that previously contained waste. Furthermore, a Waste Packaging Unit will be permitted to treat hazardous and mixed waste. RHWM generally processes LLW with no, or extremely low, concentrations of transuranics (i.e., much less than 100 n

Technical Safety Requirements for the B695 Segment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laycak, D.

2008-01-01

This document contains Technical Safety Requirements (TSRs) for the Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Management (RHWM) Division's B695 Segment of the Decontamination and Waste Treatment Facility (DWTF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The TSRs constitute requirements regarding the safe operation of the B695 Segment. The TSRs are derived from the Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) for the B695 Segment (LLNL 2007). The analysis presented there determined that the B695 Segment is a low-chemical hazard, Hazard Category 3, nonreactor nuclear facility. The TSRs consist primarily of inventory limits as well as controls to preserve the underlying assumptions in the hazard analyses. Furthermore, appropriate commitments to safety programs are presented in the administrative controls section of the TSRs. The B695 Segment (B695 and the west portion of B696) is a waste treatment and storage facility located in the northeast quadrant of the LLNL main site. The approximate area and boundary of the B695 Segment are shown in the B695 Segment DSA. Activities typically conducted in the B695 Segment include container storage, lab-packing, repacking, overpacking, bulking, sampling, waste transfer, and waste treatment. B695 is used to store and treat radioactive, mixed, and hazardous waste, and it also contains equipment used in conjunction with waste processing operations to treat various liquid and solid wastes. The portion of the building called Building 696 Solid Waste Processing Area (SWPA), also referred to as B696S in this report, is used primarily to manage solid radioactive, mixed, and hazardous waste. Operations specific to the SWPA include sorting and segregating waste, lab-packing, sampling, and crushing empty drums that previously contained waste. Furthermore, a Waste Packaging Unit will be permitted to treat hazardous and mixed waste. RHWM generally processes LLW with no, or extremely low, concentrations of transuranics (i.e., much less than 100 n

Rapid-onset obesity, hypoventilation, hypothalamic dysfunction, autonomic dysregulation and neuroendocrine tumor syndrome with a homogenous enlargement of the pituitary gland: a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Aljabban, Lama; Kassab, Lina; Bakoura, Nour Alhuda; Alsalka, Mohammad Fayez; Maksoud, Ismaeil

2016-11-22

Rapid-onset obesity with hypoventilation, hypothalamic dysfunction, and autonomic dysregulation syndrome is a rare pediatric disorder with a variable sequence of clinical presentations, undefined etiology, and high risk of mortality. Our patient presented an unusual course of the disease accompanied by a homogenous mild enlargement of her pituitary gland with an intact pituitary-endocrine axis which, to the best of our knowledge, represents a new finding in rapid-onset obesity with hypoventilation, hypothalamic dysfunction, and autonomic dysregulation syndrome. We present a documented case of a 4 years and 8-month-old Syrian Arabic girl with a distinctive course of signs and symptoms of rapid-onset obesity with hypoventilation, hypothalamic dysfunction, and autonomic dysregulation syndrome accompanied by mature ganglioneuroma in her chest, a homogenous mild enlargement of her pituitary gland, generalized cortical brain atrophy, and seizures. Three months after her first marked symptoms were noted she had a sudden progression of severe respiratory distress that ended with her death. The findings of this case could increase our understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms of rapid-onset obesity with hypoventilation, hypothalamic dysfunction, and autonomic dysregulation, and place more emphases on pediatricians to consider rapid-onset obesity with hypoventilation, hypothalamic dysfunction, and autonomic dysregulation syndrome whenever early rapid onset of obesity, associated with any malfunction, is observed in children. This knowledge could be lifesaving for children with rapid-onset obesity with hypoventilation, hypothalamic dysfunction, and autonomic dysregulation syndrome.

Accounting for segment correlations in segmented gamma-ray scans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheppard, G.A.; Prettyman, T.H.; Piquette, E.C.

1994-01-01

In a typical segmented gamma-ray scanner (SGS), the detector's field of view is collimated so that a complete horizontal slice or segment of the desired thickness is visible. Ordinarily, the collimator is not deep enough to exclude gamma rays emitted from sample volumes above and below the segment aligned with the collimator. This can lead to assay biases, particularly for certain radioactive-material distributions. Another consequence of the collimator's low aspect ratio is that segment assays at the top and bottom of the sample are biased low because the detector's field of view is not filled. This effect is ordinarily countered by placing the sample on a low-Z pedestal and scanning one or more segment thicknesses below and above the sample. This takes extra time, however, We have investigated a number of techniques that both account for correlated segments and correct for end effects in SGS assays. Also, we have developed an algorithm that facilitates estimates of assay precision. Six calculation methods have been compared by evaluating the results of thousands of simulated, assays for three types of gamma-ray source distribution and ten masses. We will report on these computational studies and their experimental verification

Just Breathe: The Effects of Emotional Dysregulation and Test Anxiety on GPA

Science.gov (United States)

Hartman, Samantha D.; Wasieleski, David T.; Whatley, Mark A.

2017-01-01

College is considered to be one of the most evaluative and stressful times during a student's academic career. A student's inability to regulate emotions may be correlated with an increased level of test anxiety. Previous research has indicated significant relationships between emotional dysregulation and generalized anxiety disorders (e.g.,…

Segmentation Scheme for Safety Enhancement of Engineered Safety Features Component Control System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sangseok; Sohn, Kwangyoung; Lee, Junku; Park, Geunok

2013-01-01

Common Caused Failure (CCF) or undetectable failure would adversely impact safety functions of ESF-CCS in the existing nuclear power plants. We propose the segmentation scheme to solve these problems. Main function assignment to segments in the proposed segmentation scheme is based on functional dependency and critical function success path by using the dependency depth matrix. The segment has functional independence and physical isolation. The segmentation structure is that prohibit failure propagation to others from undetectable failures. Therefore, the segmentation system structure has robustness to undetectable failures. The segmentation system structure has functional diversity. The specific function in the segment defected by CCF, the specific function could be maintained by diverse control function that assigned to other segments. Device level control signals and system level control signals are separated and also control signal and status signals are separated due to signal transmission paths are allocated independently based on signal type. In this kind of design, single device failure or failures on signal path in the channel couldn't result in the loss of all segmented functions simultaneously. Thus the proposed segmentation function is the design scheme that improves availability of safety functions. In conventional ESF-CCS, the single controller generates the signal to control the multiple safety functions, and the reliability is achieved by multiplication within the channel. This design has a drawback causing the loss of multiple functions due to the CCF (Common Cause Failure) and single failure Heterogeneous controller guarantees the diversity ensuring the execution of safety functions against the CCF and single failure, but requiring a lot of resources like manpower and cost. The segmentation technology based on the compartmentalization and functional diversification decreases the CCF and single failure nonetheless the identical types of controllers

Segmentation Scheme for Safety Enhancement of Engineered Safety Features Component Control System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Sangseok; Sohn, Kwangyoung [Korea Reliability Technology and System, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Junku; Park, Geunok [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-05-15

Common Caused Failure (CCF) or undetectable failure would adversely impact safety functions of ESF-CCS in the existing nuclear power plants. We propose the segmentation scheme to solve these problems. Main function assignment to segments in the proposed segmentation scheme is based on functional dependency and critical function success path by using the dependency depth matrix. The segment has functional independence and physical isolation. The segmentation structure is that prohibit failure propagation to others from undetectable failures. Therefore, the segmentation system structure has robustness to undetectable failures. The segmentation system structure has functional diversity. The specific function in the segment defected by CCF, the specific function could be maintained by diverse control function that assigned to other segments. Device level control signals and system level control signals are separated and also control signal and status signals are separated due to signal transmission paths are allocated independently based on signal type. In this kind of design, single device failure or failures on signal path in the channel couldn't result in the loss of all segmented functions simultaneously. Thus the proposed segmentation function is the design scheme that improves availability of safety functions. In conventional ESF-CCS, the single controller generates the signal to control the multiple safety functions, and the reliability is achieved by multiplication within the channel. This design has a drawback causing the loss of multiple functions due to the CCF (Common Cause Failure) and single failure Heterogeneous controller guarantees the diversity ensuring the execution of safety functions against the CCF and single failure, but requiring a lot of resources like manpower and cost. The segmentation technology based on the compartmentalization and functional diversification decreases the CCF and single failure nonetheless the identical types of

Segmenting Chinese Tourists by the Expected Experience at Theme Parks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shan Chen

2013-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose an experiential approach to tourist segmentation aimed at overcoming the limits of both socio-demographic and context-specific approaches widely adopted in the literature and in practice. In this study, segmentation is carried out based upon the expected experiences of Chinese tourists at the Shanghai World Exposition. The segmentation reveals four tourist clusters with different interests in relation to their experiences in visiting the World Exposition. The clusters showed insignificant differences in the demographics but proved to be powerfully discriminant in determining tourists’ satisfaction and loyalty, which affirms the potential of the tourist experience being a segmenting variable. Moreover, thanks to the analysis, an evaluation of the Shanghai World Exposition’s success in terms of visitors’ satisfaction is provided.

Immune System Dysregulation and Latent Herpesvirus Reactivation During Winterover at Concordia Station, Dome C, Antarctica

Science.gov (United States)

Crucian, B. E.; Feuerecker, M.; Salam, A. P.; Rybka, A.; Stowe, R. P.; Morrels, M.; Meta, S. K.; Quiriarte, H.; Quintens, Roel; Thieme, U.;

Segmentation of British Sign Language (BSL): mind the gap!

Science.gov (United States)

Orfanidou, Eleni; McQueen, James M; Adam, Robert; Morgan, Gary

2015-01-01

This study asks how users of British Sign Language (BSL) recognize individual signs in connected sign sequences. We examined whether this is achieved through modality-specific or modality-general segmentation procedures. A modality-specific feature of signed languages is that, during continuous signing, there are salient transitions between sign locations. We used the sign-spotting task to ask if and how BSL signers use these transitions in segmentation. A total of 96 real BSL signs were preceded by nonsense signs which were produced in either the target location or another location (with a small or large transition). Half of the transitions were within the same major body area (e.g., head) and half were across body areas (e.g., chest to hand). Deaf adult BSL users (a group of natives and early learners, and a group of late learners) spotted target signs best when there was a minimal transition and worst when there was a large transition. When location changes were present, both groups performed better when transitions were to a different body area than when they were within the same area. These findings suggest that transitions do not provide explicit sign-boundary cues in a modality-specific fashion. Instead, we argue that smaller transitions help recognition in a modality-general way by limiting lexical search to signs within location neighbourhoods, and that transitions across body areas also aid segmentation in a modality-general way, by providing a phonotactic cue to a sign boundary. We propose that sign segmentation is based on modality-general procedures which are core language-processing mechanisms.

A web-based procedure for liver segmentation in CT images

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Rong; Luo, Ming; Wang, Luyao; Xie, Qingguo

2015-03-01

Liver segmentation in CT images has been acknowledged as a basic and indispensable part in systems of computer aided liver surgery for operation design and risk evaluation. In this paper, we will introduce and implement a web-based procedure for liver segmentation to help radiologists and surgeons get an accurate result efficiently and expediently. Several clinical datasets are used to evaluate the accessibility and the accuracy. This procedure seems a promising approach for extraction of liver volumetry of various shapes. Moreover, it is possible for user to access the segmentation wherever the Internet is available without any specific machine.

Proposal of a segmentation procedure for skid resistance data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tejeda, S. V.; Tampier, Hernan de Solominihac; Navarro, T.E.

2008-01-01

Skin resistance of pavements presents a high spatial variability along a road. This pavement characteristic is directly related to wet weather accidents; therefore, it is important to identify and characterize the skid resistance of homogeneous segments along a road in order to implement proper road safety management. Several data segmentation methods have been applied to other pavement characteristics (e.g. roughness). However, no application to skin resistance data was found during the literature review for this study. Typical segmentation methods are rather too general or too specific to ensure a detailed segmentation of skid resistance data, which can be used for managing pavement performance. The main objective of this paper is to propose a procedure for segmenting skid resistance data, based on existing data segmentation methods. The procedure needs to be efficient and to fulfill road management requirements. The proposed procedure considers the Leverage method to identify outlier data, the CUSUM method to accomplish initial data segmentation and a statistical method to group consecutive segments that are statistically similar. The statistical method applies the Student's t-test of mean equities, along with analysis of variance and the Tuckey test for the multiple comparison of means. The proposed procedure was applied to a sample of skid resistance data measured with SCRIM (Side Force Coefficient Routine Investigatory Machine) on a 4.2 km section of Chilean road and was compared to conventional segmentation methods. Results showed that the proposed procedure is more efficient than the conventional segmentation procedures, achieving the minimum weighted sum of square errors (SSEp) with all the identified segments statistically different. Due to its mathematical basis, proposed procedure can be easily adapted and programmed for use in road safety management. (author)

Dysregulated left inferior parietal activity in schizophrenia and depression: functional connectivity and characterization

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Veronika I. Müller

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The inferior parietal cortex (IPC is a heterogeneous region that is known to be involved in a multitude of diverse different tasks and processes, though its contribution to these often-complex functions is yet poorly understood. In a previous study we demonstrated that patients with depression failed to deactivate the left IPC during processing of congruent audiovisual information. We now found the same dysregulation (same region and condition in schizophrenia. By using task-independent (resting state and task-dependent (MACM analyses we aimed at characterizing this particular region with regard to its connectivity and function. Across both approaches, results revealed functional connectivity of the left inferior parietal seed region with bilateral IPC, precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex (PrC/PCC, medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC, left middle frontal (MFG as well as inferior frontal (IFG gyrus. Network-level functional characterization further revealed that on the one hand, all interconnected regions are part of a network involved in memory processes. On the other hand, sub-networks are formed when emotion, language, social cognition and reasoning processes are required. Thus, the IPC-region that is dysregulated in both depression and schizophrenia is functionally connected to a network of regions which, depending on task demands may form sub-networks. These results therefore indicate that dysregulation of left IPC in depression and schizophrenia might not only be connected to deficits in audiovisual integration, but is possibly also associated to impaired memory and deficits in emotion processing in these patient groups.

Segmentation of nodules on chest computed tomography for growth assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mullally, William; Betke, Margrit; Wang Jingbin; Ko, Jane P.

2004-01-01

Several segmentation methods to evaluate growth of small isolated pulmonary nodules on chest computed tomography (CT) are presented. The segmentation methods are based on adaptively thresholding attenuation levels and use measures of nodule shape. The segmentation methods were first tested on a realistic chest phantom to evaluate their performance with respect to specific nodule characteristics. The segmentation methods were also tested on sequential CT scans of patients. The methods' estimation of nodule growth were compared to the volume change calculated by a chest radiologist. The best method segmented nodules on average 43% smaller or larger than the actual nodule when errors were computed across all nodule variations on the phantom. Some methods achieved smaller errors when examined with respect to certain nodule properties. In particular, on the phantom individual methods segmented solid nodules to within 23% of their actual size and nodules with 60.7 mm3 volumes to within 14%. On the clinical data, none of the methods examined showed a statistically significant difference in growth estimation from the radiologist

Hydrophilic segmented block copolymers based on poly(ethylene oxide) and monodisperse amide segments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Husken, D.; Feijen, Jan; Gaymans, R.J.

2007-01-01

Segmented block copolymers based on poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) flexible segments and monodisperse crystallizable bisester tetra-amide segments were made via a polycondensation reaction. The molecular weight of the PEO segments varied from 600 to 4600 g/mol and a bisester tetra-amide segment (T6T6T)

Segmentation and packaging reactor vessels internals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boucau, Joseph

2014-01-01

Document available in abstract form only, full text follows: With more than 25 years of experience in the development of reactor vessel internals and reactor vessel segmentation and packaging technology, Westinghouse has accumulated significant know-how in the reactor dismantling market. The primary challenges of a segmentation and packaging project are to separate the highly activated materials from the less-activated materials and package them into appropriate containers for disposal. Since disposal cost is a key factor, it is important to plan and optimize waste segmentation and packaging. The choice of the optimum cutting technology is also important for a successful project implementation and depends on some specific constraints. Detailed 3-D modeling is the basis for tooling design and provides invaluable support in determining the optimum strategy for component cutting and disposal in waste containers, taking account of the radiological and packaging constraints. The usual method is to start at the end of the process, by evaluating handling of the containers, the waste disposal requirements, what type and size of containers are available for the different disposal options, and working backwards to select a cutting method and finally the cut geometry required. The 3-D models can include intelligent data such as weight, center of gravity, curie content, etc, for each segmented piece, which is very useful when comparing various cutting, handling and packaging options. The detailed 3-D analyses and thorough characterization assessment can draw the attention to material potentially subject to clearance, either directly or after certain period of decay, to allow recycling and further disposal cost reduction. Westinghouse has developed a variety of special cutting and handling tools, support fixtures, service bridges, water filtration systems, video-monitoring systems and customized rigging, all of which are required for a successful reactor vessel internals

Neural Correlates of Reversal Learning in Severe Mood Dysregulation and Pediatric Bipolar Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Adleman, Nancy E.; Kayser, Reilly; Dickstein, Daniel; Blair, R. James R.; Pine, Daniel; Leibenluft, Ellen

2011-01-01

Objective: Outcome and family history data differentiate children with severe mood dysregulation (SMD), a syndrome characterized by chronic irritability, from children with "classic" episodic bipolar disorder (BD). Nevertheless, the presence of cognitive inflexibility in SMD and BD highlights the need to delineate neurophysiologic similarities and…

Spinal segmental dysgenesis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N Mahomed

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Spinal segmental dysgenesis is a rare congenital spinal abnormality , seen in neonates and infants in which a segment of the spine and spinal cord fails to develop normally . The condition is segmental with normal vertebrae above and below the malformation. This condition is commonly associated with various abnormalities that affect the heart, genitourinary, gastrointestinal tract and skeletal system. We report two cases of spinal segmental dysgenesis and the associated abnormalities.

Segmentation of dance movement: Effects of expertise, visual familiarity, motor experience and music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bettina E. Bläsing

2015-01-01

Full Text Available According to event segmentation theory, action perception depends on sensory cues and prior knowledge, and the segmentation of observed actions is crucial for understanding and memorizing these actions. While most activities in everyday life are characterized by external goals and interaction with objects or persons, this does not necessarily apply to dance-like actions. We investigated to what extent visual familiarity of the observed movement and accompanying music influence the segmentation of a dance phrase in dancers of different skill level and non-dancers. In Experiment 1, dancers and non-dancers repeatedly watched a video clip showing a dancer performing a choreographed dance phrase and indicated segment boundaries by key press. Dancers generally defined less segment boundaries than non-dancers, specifically in the first trials in which visual familiarity with the phrase was low. Music increased the number of segment boundaries in the non-dancers and decreased it in the dancers. The results suggest that dance expertise reduces the number of perceived segment boundaries in an observed dance phrase, and that the ways visual familiarity and music affect movement segmentation are modulated by dance expertise. In a second experiment, motor experience was added as factor, based on empirical evidence suggesting that action perception is modified by visual and motor expertise in different ways. In Experiment 2, the same task as in Experiment 1 was performed by dance amateurs, and was repeated by the same participants after they had learned to dance the presented dance phrase. Less segment boundaries were defined in the middle trials after participants had learned to dance the phrase, and music reduced the number of segment boundaries before learning. The results suggest that specific motor experience of the observed movement influences its perception and anticipation and makes segmentation broader, but not to the same degree as dance expertise

Superiority Of Graph-Based Visual Saliency GVS Over Other Image Segmentation Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Umu Lamboi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Although inherently tedious the segmentation of images and the evaluation of segmented images are critical in computer vision processes. One of the main challenges in image segmentation evaluation arises from the basic conflict between generality and objectivity. For general segmentation purposes the lack of well-defined ground-truth and segmentation accuracy limits the evaluation of specific applications. Subjectivity is the most common method of evaluation of segmentation quality where segmented images are visually compared. This is daunting task however limits the scope of segmentation evaluation to a few predetermined sets of images. As an alternative supervised evaluation compares segmented images against manually-segmented or pre-processed benchmark images. Not only good evaluation methods allow for different comparisons but also for integration with target recognition systems for adaptive selection of appropriate segmentation granularity with improved recognition accuracy. Most of the current segmentation methods still lack satisfactory measures of effectiveness. Thus this study proposed a supervised framework which uses visual saliency detection to quantitatively evaluate image segmentation quality. The new benchmark evaluator uses Graph-based Visual Saliency GVS to compare boundary outputs for manually segmented images. Using the Berkeley Segmentation Database the proposed algorithm was tested against 4 other quantitative evaluation methods Probabilistic Rand Index PRI Variation of Information VOI Global Consistency Error GSE and Boundary Detection Error BDE. Based on the results the GVS approach outperformed any of the other 4 independent standard methods in terms of visual saliency detection of images.

NASA 14 Day Undersea Missions: A Short-Duration Spaceflight Analog for Immune System Dysregulation

Science.gov (United States)

Crucian, B. E.; Stowe, R. P.; Mehta, S. K.; Quiriarte, H.; Pierson, D. L.; Sams, C. F.

2010-01-01

BACKGROUND Spaceflight-associated immune dysregulation (SAID) occurs during spaceflight and may represent specific clinical risks for exploration-class missions. An appropriate ground analog for spaceflight-associated immune dysregulation would offer a platform for ground-evaluation of various potential countermeasures. This study evaluated the NASA Undersea Mission Operations ( NEEMO ), consisting of 14 day undersea deployment at the Aquarius station, as an analog for SAID. Sixteen Aquanauts from missions NEEMO-12, 13 and 14 participated in the study. RESULTS Mid-mission alterations leukocyte distribution occurred, including granulocytosis and elevations in central-memory CD8+ T-cells. General T cell function was reduced during NEEMO missions in roughly 50% of subjects. Secreted cytokines profiles were evaluated following whole blood stimulation with CD3/CD28 (T cells) or LPS (monocytes). T cell production of IFNg, IL-5, IL-10, IL-2, TNFa and IL-6 were all reduced before and during the mission. Conversely, monocyte production of TNFa, IL-10, IL-6, IL-1b and IL-8 were elevated during mission, moreso at the MD-14 timepoint. Antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral capsid antigen and early antigen were increased in approximately 40% of the subjects. Changes in EBV tetramer-positive CD8+ T-cells exhibited a variable pattern. Antibodies against Cytomegalovirus (CMV) were marginally increased during the mission. Herpesvirus reactivation was determined by PCR. EBV viral load was generally elevated at L-6. Higher levels of salivary EBV were found during the NEEMO mission than before and after as well as than the healthy controls. No VZV or CMV was found in any pre, during and after NEEMO mission or control samples. Plasma cortisol was elevated at L-6. CONCLUSION Unfortunately, L-6 may be too near to mission start to be an appropriate baseline measurement. The general immune changes in leukocyte distribution, T cell function, cytokine production, virus specific

Evaluation of segmental left ventricular wall motion by equilibrium gated radionuclide ventriculography.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Nostrand, D; Janowitz, W R; Holmes, D R; Cohen, H A

1979-01-01

The ability of equilibrium gated radionuclide ventriculography to detect segmental left ventricular (LV) wall motion abnormalities was determined in 26 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. Multiple gated studies obtained in 30 degrees right anterior oblique and 45 degrees left anterior oblique projections, played back in a movie format, were compared to the corresponding LV ventriculograms. The LV wall in the two projections was divided into eight segments. Each segment was graded as normal, hypokinetic, akinetic, dyskinetic, or indeterminate. Thirteen percent of the segments in the gated images were indeterminate; 24 out of 27 of these were proximal or distal inferior wall segments. There was exact agreement in 86% of the remaining segments. The sensitivity of the radionuclide technique for detecting normal versus any abnormal wall motion was 71%, with a specificity of 99%. Equilibrium gated ventriculography is an excellent noninvasive technique for evaluating segmental LV wall motion. It is least reliable in assessing the proximal inferior wall and interventricular septum.

Novel techniques for enhancement and segmentation of acne vulgaris lesions.

Science.gov (United States)

Malik, A S; Humayun, J; Kamel, N; Yap, F B-B

2014-08-01

More than 99% acne patients suffer from acne vulgaris. While diagnosing the severity of acne vulgaris lesions, dermatologists have observed inter-rater and intra-rater variability in diagnosis results. This is because during assessment, identifying lesion types and their counting is a tedious job for dermatologists. To make the assessment job objective and easier for dermatologists, an automated system based on image processing methods is proposed in this study. There are two main objectives: (i) to develop an algorithm for the enhancement of various acne vulgaris lesions; and (ii) to develop a method for the segmentation of enhanced acne vulgaris lesions. For the first objective, an algorithm is developed based on the theory of high dynamic range (HDR) images. The proposed algorithm uses local rank transform to generate the HDR images from a single acne image followed by the log transformation. Then, segmentation is performed by clustering the pixels based on Mahalanobis distance of each pixel from spectral models of acne vulgaris lesions. Two metrics are used to evaluate the enhancement of acne vulgaris lesions, i.e., contrast improvement factor (CIF) and image contrast normalization (ICN). The proposed algorithm is compared with two other methods. The proposed enhancement algorithm shows better result than both the other methods based on CIF and ICN. In addition, sensitivity and specificity are calculated for the segmentation results. The proposed segmentation method shows higher sensitivity and specificity than other methods. This article specifically discusses the contrast enhancement and segmentation for automated diagnosis system of acne vulgaris lesions. The results are promising that can be used for further classification of acne vulgaris lesions for final grading of the lesions. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Automatic Melody Segmentation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodríguez López, Marcelo

2016-01-01

The work presented in this dissertation investigates music segmentation. In the field of Musicology, segmentation refers to a score analysis technique, whereby notated pieces or passages of these pieces are divided into “units” referred to as sections, periods, phrases, and so on. Segmentation

Using machine learning and surface reconstruction to accurately differentiate different trajectories of mood and energy dysregulation in youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Versace, Amelia; Sharma, Vinod; Bertocci, Michele A; Bebko, Genna; Iyengar, Satish; Dwojak, Amanda; Bonar, Lisa; Perlman, Susan B; Schirda, Claudiu; Travis, Michael; Gill, Mary Kay; Diwadkar, Vaibhav A; Sunshine, Jeffrey L; Holland, Scott K; Kowatch, Robert A; Birmaher, Boris; Axelson, David; Frazier, Thomas W; Arnold, L Eugene; Fristad, Mary A; Youngstrom, Eric A; Horwitz, Sarah M; Findling, Robert L; Phillips, Mary L

2017-01-01

Difficulty regulating positive mood and energy is a feature that cuts across different pediatric psychiatric disorders. Yet, little is known regarding the neural mechanisms underlying different developmental trajectories of positive mood and energy regulation in youth. Recent studies indicate that machine learning techniques can help elucidate the role of neuroimaging measures in classifying individual subjects by specific symptom trajectory. Cortical thickness measures were extracted in sixty-eight anatomical regions covering the entire brain in 115 participants from the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) study and 31 healthy comparison youth (12.5 y/o;-Male/Female = 15/16;-IQ = 104;-Right/Left handedness = 24/5). Using a combination of trajectories analyses, surface reconstruction, and machine learning techniques, the present study aims to identify the extent to which measures of cortical thickness can accurately distinguish youth with higher (n = 18) from those with lower (n = 34) trajectories of manic-like behaviors in a large sample of LAMS youth (n = 115; 13.6 y/o; M/F = 68/47, IQ = 100.1, R/L = 108/7). Machine learning analyses revealed that widespread cortical thickening in portions of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right inferior and middle temporal gyrus, bilateral precuneus, and bilateral paracentral gyri and cortical thinning in portions of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and right parahippocampal gyrus accurately differentiate (Area Under Curve = 0.89;p = 0.03) youth with different (higher vs lower) trajectories of positive mood and energy dysregulation over a period up to 5years, as measured by the Parent General Behavior Inventory-10 Item Mania Scale. Our findings suggest that specific patterns of cortical thickness may reflect transdiagnostic neural mechanisms associated with different temporal trajectories of positive mood and energy dysregulation in youth. This approach has

Using machine learning and surface reconstruction to accurately differentiate different trajectories of mood and energy dysregulation in youth.

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Amelia Versace

Full Text Available Difficulty regulating positive mood and energy is a feature that cuts across different pediatric psychiatric disorders. Yet, little is known regarding the neural mechanisms underlying different developmental trajectories of positive mood and energy regulation in youth. Recent studies indicate that machine learning techniques can help elucidate the role of neuroimaging measures in classifying individual subjects by specific symptom trajectory. Cortical thickness measures were extracted in sixty-eight anatomical regions covering the entire brain in 115 participants from the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS study and 31 healthy comparison youth (12.5 y/o;-Male/Female = 15/16;-IQ = 104;-Right/Left handedness = 24/5. Using a combination of trajectories analyses, surface reconstruction, and machine learning techniques, the present study aims to identify the extent to which measures of cortical thickness can accurately distinguish youth with higher (n = 18 from those with lower (n = 34 trajectories of manic-like behaviors in a large sample of LAMS youth (n = 115; 13.6 y/o; M/F = 68/47, IQ = 100.1, R/L = 108/7. Machine learning analyses revealed that widespread cortical thickening in portions of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right inferior and middle temporal gyrus, bilateral precuneus, and bilateral paracentral gyri and cortical thinning in portions of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and right parahippocampal gyrus accurately differentiate (Area Under Curve = 0.89;p = 0.03 youth with different (higher vs lower trajectories of positive mood and energy dysregulation over a period up to 5years, as measured by the Parent General Behavior Inventory-10 Item Mania Scale. Our findings suggest that specific patterns of cortical thickness may reflect transdiagnostic neural mechanisms associated with different temporal trajectories of positive mood and energy dysregulation in youth. This

Segmentation of fluorescence microscopy cell images using unsupervised mining.

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Du, Xian; Dua, Sumeet

2010-05-28

The accurate measurement of cell and nuclei contours are critical for the sensitive and specific detection of changes in normal cells in several medical informatics disciplines. Within microscopy, this task is facilitated using fluorescence cell stains, and segmentation is often the first step in such approaches. Due to the complex nature of cell issues and problems inherent to microscopy, unsupervised mining approaches of clustering can be incorporated in the segmentation of cells. In this study, we have developed and evaluated the performance of multiple unsupervised data mining techniques in cell image segmentation. We adapt four distinctive, yet complementary, methods for unsupervised learning, including those based on k-means clustering, EM, Otsu's threshold, and GMAC. Validation measures are defined, and the performance of the techniques is evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively using synthetic and recently published real data. Experimental results demonstrate that k-means, Otsu's threshold, and GMAC perform similarly, and have more precise segmentation results than EM. We report that EM has higher recall values and lower precision results from under-segmentation due to its Gaussian model assumption. We also demonstrate that these methods need spatial information to segment complex real cell images with a high degree of efficacy, as expected in many medical informatics applications.

OASIS is Automated Statistical Inference for Segmentation, with applications to multiple sclerosis lesion segmentation in MRI.

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Sweeney, Elizabeth M; Shinohara, Russell T; Shiee, Navid; Mateen, Farrah J; Chudgar, Avni A; Cuzzocreo, Jennifer L; Calabresi, Peter A; Pham, Dzung L; Reich, Daniel S; Crainiceanu, Ciprian M

2013-01-01

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to detect lesions in the brains of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and is essential for diagnosing the disease and monitoring its progression. In practice, lesion load is often quantified by either manual or semi-automated segmentation of MRI, which is time-consuming, costly, and associated with large inter- and intra-observer variability. We propose OASIS is Automated Statistical Inference for Segmentation (OASIS), an automated statistical method for segmenting MS lesions in MRI studies. We use logistic regression models incorporating multiple MRI modalities to estimate voxel-level probabilities of lesion presence. Intensity-normalized T1-weighted, T2-weighted, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery and proton density volumes from 131 MRI studies (98 MS subjects, 33 healthy subjects) with manual lesion segmentations were used to train and validate our model. Within this set, OASIS detected lesions with a partial area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for clinically relevant false positive rates of 1% and below of 0.59% (95% CI; [0.50%, 0.67%]) at the voxel level. An experienced MS neuroradiologist compared these segmentations to those produced by LesionTOADS, an image segmentation software that provides segmentation of both lesions and normal brain structures. For lesions, OASIS out-performed LesionTOADS in 74% (95% CI: [65%, 82%]) of cases for the 98 MS subjects. To further validate the method, we applied OASIS to 169 MRI studies acquired at a separate center. The neuroradiologist again compared the OASIS segmentations to those from LesionTOADS. For lesions, OASIS ranked higher than LesionTOADS in 77% (95% CI: [71%, 83%]) of cases. For a randomly selected subset of 50 of these studies, one additional radiologist and one neurologist also scored the images. Within this set, the neuroradiologist ranked OASIS higher than LesionTOADS in 76% (95% CI: [64%, 88%]) of cases, the neurologist 66% (95% CI: [52%, 78

Segmented trapped vortex cavity

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Grammel, Jr., Leonard Paul (Inventor); Pennekamp, David Lance (Inventor); Winslow, Jr., Ralph Henry (Inventor)

2010-01-01

An annular trapped vortex cavity assembly segment comprising includes a cavity forward wall, a cavity aft wall, and a cavity radially outer wall there between defining a cavity segment therein. A cavity opening extends between the forward and aft walls at a radially inner end of the assembly segment. Radially spaced apart pluralities of air injection first and second holes extend through the forward and aft walls respectively. The segment may include first and second expansion joint features at distal first and second ends respectively of the segment. The segment may include a forward subcomponent including the cavity forward wall attached to an aft subcomponent including the cavity aft wall. The forward and aft subcomponents include forward and aft portions of the cavity radially outer wall respectively. A ring of the segments may be circumferentially disposed about an axis to form an annular segmented vortex cavity assembly.

Performance Analysis of Segmentation of Hyperspectral Images Based on Color Image Segmentation

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Praveen Agarwal

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Image segmentation is a fundamental approach in the field of image processing and based on user’s application .This paper propose an original and simple segmentation strategy based on the EM approach that resolves many informatics problems about hyperspectral images which are observed by airborne sensors. In a first step, to simplify the input color textured image into a color image without texture. The final segmentation is simply achieved by a spatially color segmentation using feature vector with the set of color values contained around the pixel to be classified with some mathematical equations. The spatial constraint allows taking into account the inherent spatial relationships of any image and its color. This approach provides effective PSNR for the segmented image. These results have the better performance as the segmented images are compared with Watershed & Region Growing Algorithm and provide effective segmentation for the Spectral Images & Medical Images.

Prediction of Smoking, Alcohol, Drugs, and Psychoactive Drugs Abuse Based on Emotional Dysregulation and Child Abuse Experience in People with Borderline Personality Traits

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M GannadiFarnood

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Objective: This research was an attempt to predict the tendency of people having borderline personality traits to smoking, drinking alcohol, and taking psychoactive drugs based on emotional dysregulation and child abuse. Method: This study employed a correlation method which is categorized in descriptive category. A sample including 600 male and female bachelor students of Tabriz University was selected by cluster sampling. Then, high risk behaviors scale, Emotional dysregulation Scale, Child abuse scale, and borderline personality scale (STB were distributed among this group. Findings: Stepwise multiple regression analysis suggested that emotional dysregulation and child abuse significantly predicted varying degrees of smoking, drug, and alcohol usage. Conclusion: The research findings suggest the basic role of initial biological vulnerability in terms of emotional regulation (dysregulation and invalidating family environment (child abuse in the prediction of catching the disorder of borderline personality traits and producing high riskbehaviorssuch as alcohol drink and drug usage.

Deletion of Fanca or Fancd2 dysregulates Treg in mice

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Du, Wei; Erden, Ozlem; Wilson, Andrew; Sipple, Jared M.; Schick, Jonathan; Mehta, Parinda; Myers, Kasiani C.; Steinbrecher, Kris A.; Davies, Stella M.

2014-01-01

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a genetic disorder associated with bone marrow (BM) failure and leukemia. Recent studies demonstrate variable immune defects in FA. However, the cause for FA immunodeficiency is unknown. Here we report that deletion of Fanca or Fancd2 dysregulates the suppressive activity of regulatory T cells (Tregs), shown functionally as exacerbation of graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) in mice. Recipient mice of Fanca−/− or Fancd2−/− BM chimeras exhibited severe acute GVHD after allogeneic BM transplantation (BMT). T cells from Fanca−/− or Fancd2−/− mice induced higher GVHD lethality than those from wild-type (WT) littermates. FA Tregs possessed lower proliferative suppression potential compared with WT Tregs, as demonstrated by in vitro proliferation assay and BMT. Analysis of CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs indicated that loss of Fanca or Fancd2 dysregulated Foxp3 target gene expression. Additionally, CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs of Fanca−/− or Fancd2−/− mice were less efficient in suppressing the production of GVHD-associated inflammatory cytokines. Consistently, aberrant NF-κB activity was observed in infiltrated T cells from FA GVHD mice. Conditional deletion of p65 in FA Tregs decreased GVHD mortality. Our study uncovers an essential role for FA proteins in maintaining Treg homeostasis, possibly explaining, at least in part, the immune deficiency reported in some FA patients. PMID:24501220

Deletion of Fanca or Fancd2 dysregulates Treg in mice.

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Du, Wei; Erden, Ozlem; Wilson, Andrew; Sipple, Jared M; Schick, Jonathan; Mehta, Parinda; Myers, Kasiani C; Steinbrecher, Kris A; Davies, Stella M; Pang, Qishen

2014-03-20

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a genetic disorder associated with bone marrow (BM) failure and leukemia. Recent studies demonstrate variable immune defects in FA. However, the cause for FA immunodeficiency is unknown. Here we report that deletion of Fanca or Fancd2 dysregulates the suppressive activity of regulatory T cells (Tregs), shown functionally as exacerbation of graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) in mice. Recipient mice of Fanca(-/-) or Fancd2(-/-) BM chimeras exhibited severe acute GVHD after allogeneic BM transplantation (BMT). T cells from Fanca(-/-) or Fancd2(-/-) mice induced higher GVHD lethality than those from wild-type (WT) littermates. FA Tregs possessed lower proliferative suppression potential compared with WT Tregs, as demonstrated by in vitro proliferation assay and BMT. Analysis of CD25(+)Foxp3(+) Tregs indicated that loss of Fanca or Fancd2 dysregulated Foxp3 target gene expression. Additionally, CD25(+)Foxp3(+) Tregs of Fanca(-/-) or Fancd2(-/-) mice were less efficient in suppressing the production of GVHD-associated inflammatory cytokines. Consistently, aberrant NF-κB activity was observed in infiltrated T cells from FA GVHD mice. Conditional deletion of p65 in FA Tregs decreased GVHD mortality. Our study uncovers an essential role for FA proteins in maintaining Treg homeostasis, possibly explaining, at least in part, the immune deficiency reported in some FA patients.

A distance measurement between specific sites on the cytoplasmic surface of bovine rhodopsin in rod outer segment disk membranes.

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Albert, A D; Watts, A; Spooner, P; Groebner, G; Young, J; Yeagle, P L

1997-08-14

Structural information on mammalian integral membrane proteins is scarce. As part of work on an alternative approach to the structure of bovine rhodopsin, a method was devised to obtain an intramolecular distance between two specific sites on rhodopsin while in the rod outer segment disk membrane. In this report, the distance between the rhodopsin kinase phosphorylation site(s) on the carboxyl terminal and the top of the third transmembrane helix was measured on native rhodopsin. Rhodopsin was labeled with a nuclear spin label (31P) by limited phosphorylation with rhodopsin kinase. Major phosphorylation occurs at serines 343 and 338 on the carboxyl terminal. The phosphorylated rhodopsin was then specifically labeled on cysteine 140 with an electron spin label. Magic angle spinning 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance revealed the resonance arising from the phosphorylated protein. The enhancement of the transverse relaxation of this resonance by the paramagnetic spin label was observed. The strength of this perturbation was used to determine the through-space distance between the phosphorylation site(s) and the spin label position. A distance of 18 +/- 3 A was obtained.

Severe Affective and Behavioural Dysregulation Is Associated with Significant Psychosocial Adversity and Impairment

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Jucksch, Viola; Salbach-Andrae, Harriet; Lenz, Klaus; Goth, Kirstin; Dopfner, Manfred; Poustka, Fritz; Freitag, Christine M.; Lehmkuhl, Gerd; Lehmkuhl, Ulrike; Holtmann, Martin

2011-01-01

Background: Recently, a highly heritable behavioral phenotype of simultaneous deviance on the Anxious/Depressed, Attention Problems, and Aggressive Behavior syndrome scales has been identified on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL-Dysregulation Profile, CBCL-DP). This study aims to investigate psychosocial adversity and impairment of the CBCL-DP.…

Segmental Vitiligo.

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van Geel, Nanja; Speeckaert, Reinhart

2017-04-01

Segmental vitiligo is characterized by its early onset, rapid stabilization, and unilateral distribution. Recent evidence suggests that segmental and nonsegmental vitiligo could represent variants of the same disease spectrum. Observational studies with respect to its distribution pattern point to a possible role of cutaneous mosaicism, whereas the original stated dermatomal distribution seems to be a misnomer. Although the exact pathogenic mechanism behind the melanocyte destruction is still unknown, increasing evidence has been published on the autoimmune/inflammatory theory of segmental vitiligo. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Segmental vitiligo with segmental morphea: An autoimmune link?

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Pravesh Yadav

2014-01-01

Full Text Available An 18-year old girl with segmental vitiligo involving the left side of the trunk and left upper limb with segmental morphea involving the right side of trunk and right upper limb without any deeper involvement is illustrated. There was no history of preceding drug intake, vaccination, trauma, radiation therapy, infection, or hormonal therapy. Family history of stable vitiligo in her brother and a history of type II diabetes mellitus in the father were elicited. Screening for autoimmune diseases and antithyroid antibody was negative. An autoimmune link explaining the co-occurrence has been proposed. Cutaneous mosiacism could explain the presence of both the pathologies in a segmental distribution.

Autoimmunity and autoinflammation: A systems view on signaling pathway dysregulation profiles.

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Arsen Arakelyan

Full Text Available Autoinflammatory and autoimmune disorders are characterized by aberrant changes in innate and adaptive immunity that may lead from an initial inflammatory state to an organ specific damage. These disorders possess heterogeneity in terms of affected organs and clinical phenotypes. However, despite the differences in etiology and phenotypic variations, they share genetic associations, treatment responses and clinical manifestations. The mechanisms involved in their initiation and development remain poorly understood, however the existence of some clear similarities between autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders indicates variable degrees of interaction between immune-related mechanisms.Our study aims at contributing to a holistic, pathway-centered view on the inflammatory condition of autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. We have evaluated similarities and specificities of pathway activity changes in twelve autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders by performing meta-analysis of publicly available gene expression datasets generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, using a bioinformatics pipeline that integrates Self Organizing Maps and Pathway Signal Flow algorithms along with KEGG pathway topologies.The results reveal that clinically divergent disease groups share common pathway perturbation profiles. We identified pathways, similarly perturbed in all the studied diseases, such as PI3K-Akt, Toll-like receptor, and NF-kappa B signaling, that serve as integrators of signals guiding immune cell polarization, migration, growth, survival and differentiation. Further, two clusters of diseases were identified based on specifically dysregulated pathways: one gathering mostly autoimmune and the other mainly autoinflammatory diseases. Cluster separation was driven not only by apparent involvement of pathways implicated in adaptive immunity in one case, and inflammation in the other, but also by processes not explicitly related to immune

Market Segmentation in Business Technology Base: The Case of Segmentation of Sparkling

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Valéria Riscarolli

2014-08-01

Full Text Available A common market segmentation premise for products and services rules consumer behavior as the segmentation center piece. Would this be the logic for segmentation used by small technology based companies? In this article we target at determining the principles of market segmentation used by a vitiwinery company, as research object. This company is recognized by its products excellence, either in domestic as well as in the foreign market, among 13 distinct countries. The research method used is a case study, through information from the company’s CEOs and crossed by primary information from observation and formal registries and documents of the company. In this research we look at sparkling wines market segmentation. Main results indicate that the winery studied considers only technological elements as the basis to build a market segment. One may conclude that a market segmentation for this company is based upon technological dominion of sparkling wines production, aligned with a premium-price policy. In the company, directorship believes that as sparkling wines market is still incipient in the country, sparkling wine market segments will form and consolidate after the evolution of consumers tasting preferences, depending on technologies that boost sparkling wines quality. 

The emotion dysregulation inventory: Psychometric properties and item response theory calibration in an autism spectrum disorder sample.

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Mazefsky, Carla A; Yu, Lan; White, Susan W; Siegel, Matthew; Pilkonis, Paul A

2018-04-06

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with prominent emotion dysregulation that requires treatment but can be difficult to measure. The Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI) was created using methods developed by the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS ® ) to capture observable indicators of poor emotion regulation. Caregivers of 1,755 youth with ASD completed 66 candidate EDI items, and the final 30 items were selected based on classical test theory and item response theory (IRT) analyses. The analyses identified two factors: (a) Reactivity, characterized by intense, rapidly escalating, sustained, and poorly regulated negative emotional reactions, and (b) Dysphoria, characterized by anhedonia, sadness, and nervousness. The final items did not show differential item functioning (DIF) based on gender, age, intellectual ability, or verbal ability. Because the final items were calibrated using IRT, even a small number of items offers high precision, minimizing respondent burden. IRT co-calibration of the EDI with related measures demonstrated its superiority in assessing the severity of emotion dysregulation with as few as seven items. Validity of the EDI was supported by expert review, its association with related constructs (e.g., anxiety and depression symptoms, aggression), higher scores in psychiatric inpatients with ASD compared to a community ASD sample, and demonstration of test-retest stability and sensitivity to change. In sum, the EDI provides an efficient and sensitive method to measure emotion dysregulation for clinical assessment, monitoring, and research in youth with ASD of any level of cognitive or verbal ability. Autism Res 2018. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This paper describes a new measure of poor emotional control called the Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI). Caregivers of 1,755 youth with ASD completed candidate items, and advanced statistical

Fluence map segmentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosenwald, J.-C.

2008-01-01

The lecture addressed the following topics: 'Interpreting' the fluence map; The sequencer; Reasons for difference between desired and actual fluence map; Principle of 'Step and Shoot' segmentation; Large number of solutions for given fluence map; Optimizing 'step and shoot' segmentation; The interdigitation constraint; Main algorithms; Conclusions on segmentation algorithms (static mode); Optimizing intensity levels and monitor units; Sliding window sequencing; Synchronization to avoid the tongue-and-groove effect; Accounting for physical characteristics of MLC; Importance of corrections for leaf transmission and offset; Accounting for MLC mechanical constraints; The 'complexity' factor; Incorporating the sequencing into optimization algorithm; Data transfer to the treatment machine; Interface between R and V and accelerator; and Conclusions on fluence map segmentation (Segmentation is part of the overall inverse planning procedure; 'Step and Shoot' and 'Dynamic' options are available for most TPS (depending on accelerator model; The segmentation phase tends to come into the optimization loop; The physical characteristics of the MLC have a large influence on final dose distribution; The IMRT plans (MU and relative dose distribution) must be carefully validated). (P.A.)

Strategic market segmentation

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Maričić Branko R.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Strategic planning of marketing activities is the basis of business success in modern business environment. Customers are not homogenous in their preferences and expectations. Formulating an adequate marketing strategy, focused on realization of company's strategic objectives, requires segmented approach to the market that appreciates differences in expectations and preferences of customers. One of significant activities in strategic planning of marketing activities is market segmentation. Strategic planning imposes a need to plan marketing activities according to strategically important segments on the long term basis. At the same time, there is a need to revise and adapt marketing activities on the short term basis. There are number of criteria based on which market segmentation is performed. The paper will consider effectiveness and efficiency of different market segmentation criteria based on empirical research of customer expectations and preferences. The analysis will include traditional criteria and criteria based on behavioral model. The research implications will be analyzed from the perspective of selection of the most adequate market segmentation criteria in strategic planning of marketing activities.

Why segmentation matters: Experience-driven segmentation errors impair "morpheme" learning.

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Finn, Amy S; Hudson Kam, Carla L

2015-09-01

We ask whether an adult learner's knowledge of their native language impedes statistical learning in a new language beyond just word segmentation (as previously shown). In particular, we examine the impact of native-language word-form phonotactics on learners' ability to segment words into their component morphemes and learn phonologically triggered variation of morphemes. We find that learning is impaired when words and component morphemes are structured to conflict with a learner's native-language phonotactic system, but not when native-language phonotactics do not conflict with morpheme boundaries in the artificial language. A learner's native-language knowledge can therefore have a cascading impact affecting word segmentation and the morphological variation that relies upon proper segmentation. These results show that getting word segmentation right early in learning is deeply important for learning other aspects of language, even those (morphology) that are known to pose a great difficulty for adult language learners. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Interactive-cut: Real-time feedback segmentation for translational research.

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Egger, Jan; Lüddemann, Tobias; Schwarzenberg, Robert; Freisleben, Bernd; Nimsky, Christopher

2014-06-01

In this contribution, a scale-invariant image segmentation algorithm is introduced that "wraps" the algorithm's parameters for the user by its interactive behavior, avoiding the definition of "arbitrary" numbers that the user cannot really understand. Therefore, we designed a specific graph-based segmentation method that only requires a single seed-point inside the target-structure from the user and is thus particularly suitable for immediate processing and interactive, real-time adjustments by the user. In addition, color or gray value information that is needed for the approach can be automatically extracted around the user-defined seed point. Furthermore, the graph is constructed in such a way, so that a polynomial-time mincut computation can provide the segmentation result within a second on an up-to-date computer. The algorithm presented here has been evaluated with fixed seed points on 2D and 3D medical image data, such as brain tumors, cerebral aneurysms and vertebral bodies. Direct comparison of the obtained automatic segmentation results with costlier, manual slice-by-slice segmentations performed by trained physicians, suggest a strong medical relevance of this interactive approach. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Polarization image segmentation of radiofrequency ablated porcine myocardial tissue.

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Iftikhar Ahmad

Full Text Available Optical polarimetry has previously imaged the spatial extent of a typical radiofrequency ablated (RFA lesion in myocardial tissue, exhibiting significantly lower total depolarization at the necrotic core compared to healthy tissue, and intermediate values at the RFA rim region. Here, total depolarization in ablated myocardium was used to segment the total depolarization image into three (core, rim and healthy zones. A local fuzzy thresholding algorithm was used for this multi-region segmentation, and then compared with a ground truth segmentation obtained from manual demarcation of RFA core and rim regions on the histopathology image. Quantitative comparison of the algorithm segmentation results was performed with evaluation metrics such as dice similarity coefficient (DSC = 0.78 ± 0.02 and 0.80 ± 0.02, sensitivity (Sn = 0.83 ± 0.10 and 0.91 ± 0.08, specificity (Sp = 0.76 ± 0.17 and 0.72 ± 0.17 and accuracy (Acc = 0.81 ± 0.09 and 0.71 ± 0.10 for RFA core and rim regions, respectively. This automatic segmentation of parametric depolarization images suggests a novel application of optical polarimetry, namely its use in objective RFA image quantification.

CONSUMER SEGMENTATION OF REFILLED DRINKING WATER IN PADANG

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Awisal Fasyni

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The purposes of this study were to analyze consumer segmentation of refilled drinking water based on their behavior and to recommend strategies for increased sales of Salju depot. The study was conducted using a survey of family and non-family consumers in Nanggalo, North Padang, West and East Padang. The respondent selection technique is using a convenience sampling, which is based on the availability of elements and easiness of obtaining these samples. The analysis used for segmentation is cluster analysis and CHAID. The results showed that there were five segments in family consumer and four segments in non-family consumer. Each family segment was different in terms of usage and consumption level, while non-family segments differ in terms of consumption duration and consumption level. Salju depot could aim market segments that provide benefits, specifically segments with high consumption levels both in family and nonfamily consumers, maintain the price and quality of the product and show the best performance in serving customers, set the open hours and optimize the messaging services.Keywords: refilled drinking water, segmentation, Padang, CHAIDABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan menganalisis segmentasi konsumen air minum isi ulang berdasarkan perilakunya dan merekomendasikan strategi peningkatan penjualan bagi depot Salju. Penelitian dilakukan dengan metode survei terhadap konsumen keluarga dan konsumen nonkeluarga di Kecamatan Nanggalo, Kecamatan Padang Utara, Kecamatan Padang Barat dan Kecamatan Padang Timur Kota Padang. Teknik pemilihan responden menggunakan convenience sampling, yaitu berdasarkan ketersediaan elemen dan kemudahan mendapatkan sampel tersebut. Analisis yang digunakan untuk segmentasi adalah analisis cluster dan CHAID Hasil penelitian menunjukkan terdapat lima segmen konsumen keluarga dan empat segmen konsumen nonkeluarga. Masing-masing segmen keluarga berbeda dalam hal penggunaan dan tingkat konsumsi, sedangkan segmen

Human cytomegalovirus infection dysregulates the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

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Magdalena Angelova

Full Text Available Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV is a ubiquitous herpesvirus that currently infects a large percentage of the world population. Although usually asymptomatic in healthy individuals, HCMV infection during pregnancy may cause spontaneous abortions, premature delivery, or permanent neurological disabilities in infants infected in utero. During infection, the virus exerts control over a multitude of host signaling pathways. Wnt/β-catenin signaling, an essential pathway involved in cell cycle control, differentiation, embryonic development, placentation and metastasis, is frequently dysregulated by viruses. How HCMV infection affects this critical pathway is not currently known. In this study, we demonstrate that HCMV dysregulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling in dermal fibroblasts and human placental extravillous trophoblasts. Infection inhibits Wnt-induced transcriptional activity of β-catenin and expression of β-catenin target genes in these cells. HCMV infection leads to β-catenin protein accumulation in a discrete juxtanuclear region. Levels of β-catenin in membrane-associated and cytosolic pools, as well as nuclear β-catenin, are reduced after infection; while transcription of the β-catenin gene is unchanged, suggesting enhanced degradation. Given the critical role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in cellular processes, these findings represent a novel and important mechanism whereby HCMV disrupts normal cellular function.

Soft-tissue segmentation and three-dimensional display with MR imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koenig, H.A.; Laub, G.

1987-01-01

The purpose of this study is to design a method capable of segmenting different soft-tissue types. The investigated cases were measured using fast three-dimensional (3D) sequences (FISP of fast low-angle shot) with isotropic voxel resolution of nearly 1 mm. The segmentation is based on the assumption that different tissue types are discernible by their morphologic and/or physical features. Surface reconstructions are then used to display specific tissue types from different viewing directions. This automatic procedure is applied to different head cases to represent specific tissues in 3D format. With 3D techniques, rotation of classified objects in cine format is performed for better topologic correlation and therapeutic planning

Diagnostic usefulness of segmental and linear enhancement in dynamic breast MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morakkabati-Spitz, N.; Leutner, C.; Schild, H.; Traeber, F.; Kuhl, C.

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was the evaluation of the diagnostic usefulness of ductal or segmental enhancement in dynamic breast MRI. Segmental and ductal enhancement have been established as the breast MRI hallmarks of intraductal breast cancer (DCIS); however, the positive predictive value of this imaging finding is still unknown. In our study, we analysed the overall prevalence of a segmental or a linear enhancement pattern on breast MRI for an unselected cohort of patients. The aim was to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of segmental or linear enhancement. Second, we asked whether biopsy was necessary also in the absence of mammographic findings suggestive of DCIS. Prospective, consecutive evaluation of 1,003 patients undergoing bilateral dynamic breast MRI. Studies were interpreted by two experienced breast radiologists. A diagnostic or screening two-view mammogram was available for all patients. Biopsy or short-term breast MRI follow-up was recommended for patients showing a segmental or a linear enhancement pattern on breast MRI. The patients' final diagnoses were established by imaging guided excisional or core biopsy or by clinical plus conventional imaging follow-up for a period of 2 years. The prevalence of segmental or linear enhancement was determined for patients with a final diagnosis of benign breast disease compared with those with a diagnosis of breast cancer. One hundred twenty patients had invasive breast cancer, 24 patients had DCIS and 859 patients had unsuspicious breast MRI or benign breast disease. A segmental or a linear enhancement pattern was found for 50/1,003 (5%) patients (17 DCIS, 33 benign breast diseases). Accordingly, the positive predictive value of segmental and linear enhancement is 34% (17/50); the specificity of this criterion is 96% (826/859). For 4/24 (17%) patients, DCIS was visible as segmental or linear enhancement on dynamic breast MRI, whereas no abnormalities were visible on the corresponding mammogram. The overall

Understanding the market for geographic information: A market segmentation and characteristics analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Piper, William S.; Mick, Mark W.

1994-01-01

Findings and results from a marketing research study are presented. The report identifies market segments and the product types to satisfy demand in each. An estimate of market size is based on the specific industries in each segment. A sample of ten industries was used in the study. The scientific study covered U.S. firms only.

Understanding the connection between self-esteem and aggression : The mediating role of emotion dysregulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Garofalo, C.; Holden, C.J.; Zeigler-Hill, V.; Velotti, P.

2016-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to extend previous knowledge concerning the link between self-esteem and aggression by examining the mediating role of emotion dysregulation among offenders and community participants. A sample of 153 incarcerated violent offenders and a community sample of 197

Emotion regulation and aggression : The incremental contribution of alexithymia, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation facets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Garofalo, C.; Velotti, Patrizia; Zavattini, Giulio Cesare

2018-01-01

Objective: Prior research has long emphasized the role of alexithymia and impulsivity to explain aggressive tendencies. Recently, a growing body of research seems to support the relevance of the broader construct of emotion dysregulation to understand aggression. The present study was the first to

Depressive Symptoms, Emotion Dysregulation, and Bulimic Symptoms in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes: Varying Interactions at Diagnosis and During Transition to Insulin Pump Therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Young-Hyman, Deborah L; Peterson, Claire M; Fischer, Sarah; Markowitz, Jessica T; Muir, Andrew B; Laffel, Lori M

2016-07-01

This study evaluated the associations between depressive symptoms, emotion dysregulation and bulimic symptoms in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the context of the diagnosis and treatment of T1D. Study participants were 103 youth in 2 distinct groups: newly diagnosed (New) or transitioning to pump therapy (continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion [CSII]; "Pump"), who completed questionnaires regarding symptoms of depression, emotion dysregulation, and bulimia. Glycemic control (A1c), height, weight, and questionnaires were evaluated within 10 days of diagnosis (n = 58) or at education/clinic visit before starting insulin utilizing CSII (n = 45). In the newly diagnosed group, only depression accounted for significant variance in bulimia scores (β = .47, P symptoms and emotion dysregulation were associated with greater bulimic symptoms. Depressive symptoms and emotion dysregulation, an indicator of poor coping/behavioral control, could help explain adoption of disordered eating behaviors in youth with T1D who are transitioning to pump therapy. © 2016 Diabetes Technology Society.

Identification of the two rotavirus genes determining neutralization specificities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Offit, P.A.; Blavat, G.

1986-01-01

Bovine rotavirus NCDV and simian rotavirus SA-11 represent two distinct rotavirus serotypes. A genetic approach was used to determine which viral gene segments segregated with serotype-specific viral neutralization. There were 16 reassortant rotarviruses derived by coinfection of MA-104 cells in vitro with the SA-11 and NCDV strains. The parental origin of reassortant rotavirus double-stranded RNA segments was determined by gene segment mobility in polyacrylamide gels and by hybridization with radioactively labeled parental viral transcripts. The authors found that two rotavirus gene segments found previously to code for outer capsid proteins vp3 and vp7 cosegreated with virus neutralization specificities

Identification of the two rotavirus genes determining neutralization specificities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Offit, P.A.; Blavat, G.

1986-01-01

Bovine rotavirus NCDV and simian rotavirus SA-11 represent two distinct rotavirus serotypes. A genetic approach was used to determine which viral gene segments segregated with serotype-specific viral neutralization. There were 16 reassortant rotarviruses derived by coinfection of MA-104 cells in vitro with the SA-11 and NCDV strains. The parental origin of reassortant rotavirus double-stranded RNA segments was determined by gene segment mobility in polyacrylamide gels and by hybridization with radioactively labeled parental viral transcripts. The authors found that two rotavirus gene segments found previously to code for outer capsid proteins vp3 and vp7 cosegreated with virus neutralization specificities.

A general system for automatic biomedical image segmentation using intensity neighborhoods.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Cheng; Ozolek, John A; Wang, Wei; Rohde, Gustavo K

2011-01-01

Image segmentation is important with applications to several problems in biology and medicine. While extensively researched, generally, current segmentation methods perform adequately in the applications for which they were designed, but often require extensive modifications or calibrations before being used in a different application. We describe an approach that, with few modifications, can be used in a variety of image segmentation problems. The approach is based on a supervised learning strategy that utilizes intensity neighborhoods to assign each pixel in a test image its correct class based on training data. We describe methods for modeling rotations and variations in scales as well as a subset selection for training the classifiers. We show that the performance of our approach in tissue segmentation tasks in magnetic resonance and histopathology microscopy images, as well as nuclei segmentation from fluorescence microscopy images, is similar to or better than several algorithms specifically designed for each of these applications.

A General System for Automatic Biomedical Image Segmentation Using Intensity Neighborhoods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Chen

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Image segmentation is important with applications to several problems in biology and medicine. While extensively researched, generally, current segmentation methods perform adequately in the applications for which they were designed, but often require extensive modifications or calibrations before being used in a different application. We describe an approach that, with few modifications, can be used in a variety of image segmentation problems. The approach is based on a supervised learning strategy that utilizes intensity neighborhoods to assign each pixel in a test image its correct class based on training data. We describe methods for modeling rotations and variations in scales as well as a subset selection for training the classifiers. We show that the performance of our approach in tissue segmentation tasks in magnetic resonance and histopathology microscopy images, as well as nuclei segmentation from fluorescence microscopy images, is similar to or better than several algorithms specifically designed for each of these applications.

The benefits of segmentation: Evidence from a South African bank and other studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Douw G. Breed

2017-09-01

Full Text Available We applied different modelling techniques to six data sets from different disciplines in the industry, on which predictive models can be developed, to demonstrate the benefit of segmentation in linear predictive modelling. We compared the model performance achieved on the data sets to the performance of popular non-linear modelling techniques, by first segmenting the data (using unsupervised, semi-supervised, as well as supervised methods and then fitting a linear modelling technique. A total of eight modelling techniques was compared. We show that there is no one single modelling technique that always outperforms on the data sets. Specifically considering the direct marketing data set from a local South African bank, it is observed that gradient boosting performed the best. Depending on the characteristics of the data set, one technique may outperform another. We also show that segmenting the data benefits the performance of the linear modelling technique in the predictive modelling context on all data sets considered. Specifically, of the three segmentation methods considered, the semi-supervised segmentation appears the most promising. Significance: The use of non-linear modelling techniques may not necessarily increase model performance when data sets are first segmented. No single modelling technique always performed the best. Applications of predictive modelling are unlimited; some examples of areas of application include database marketing applications; financial risk management models; fraud detection methods; medical and environmental predictive models.

Word segmentation with universal prosodic cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Endress, Ansgar D; Hauser, Marc D

2010-09-01

When listening to speech from one's native language, words seem to be well separated from one another, like beads on a string. When listening to a foreign language, in contrast, words seem almost impossible to extract, as if there was only one bead on the same string. This contrast reveals that there are language-specific cues to segmentation. The puzzle, however, is that infants must be endowed with a language-independent mechanism for segmentation, as they ultimately solve the segmentation problem for any native language. Here, we approach the acquisition problem by asking whether there are language-independent cues to segmentation that might be available to even adult learners who have already acquired a native language. We show that adult learners recognize words in connected speech when only prosodic cues to word-boundaries are given from languages unfamiliar to the participants. In both artificial and natural speech, adult English speakers, with no prior exposure to the test languages, readily recognized words in natural languages with critically different prosodic patterns, including French, Turkish and Hungarian. We suggest that, even though languages differ in their sound structures, they carry universal prosodic characteristics. Further, these language-invariant prosodic cues provide a universally accessible mechanism for finding words in connected speech. These cues may enable infants to start acquiring words in any language even before they are fine-tuned to the sound structure of their native language. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Main and interactive effects of emotion dysregulation and HIV symptom severity on quality of life among persons living with HIV/AIDS.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandt, Charles P; Jardin, Charles; Sharp, Carla; Lemaire, Chad; Zvolensky, Michael J

2017-04-01

HIV symptoms are associated with a poorer quality of life (QOL) among persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Yet, there is little understanding of emotional factors that impact the relation between HIV symptom severity and QOL. The present study examined the main and interactive effects of emotion dysregulation and HIV symptom severity on multiple indices of QOL, including physical (impact of physical problems related to HIV), psychological (frequency of negative feelings), independence (necessity of medical treatment to function in daily life), social (feelings of acceptance), environmental (satisfaction with living conditions and medical care), and spiritual (fear of the future and death) among a sample of 74 PLWHA. Participants (72.9% male; mean age = 48.24, SD = 7.85) were recruited from AIDS Service Organizations in the United States. Results indicated that higher HIV symptom severity is significantly associated with lower physical and independence QOL, whereas higher emotion dysregulation is significantly associated with lower scores on all measured aspects of QOL. Additionally, results indicated that the interaction of emotion dysregulation and HIV symptom severity was significantly associated with both physical and environmental QOL. The form of the observed significant interactions indicated that HIV symptom severity was related to poorer QOL among those with lower (versus higher) emotion dysregulation. The present findings indicate that emotion dysregulation is related to QOL among PLWHA and may interact with HIV symptom severity to negatively impact certain aspects of QOL. Given the profound impact that HIV has on QOL, this finding is important in understanding these relations mechanistically, and may be important in the development of novel psychological treatment strategies.

Antireward, compulsivity, and addiction: seminal contributions of Dr. Athina Markou to motivational dysregulation in addiction.

Science.gov (United States)

Koob, George F

2017-05-01

Addiction is defined as a chronically relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking that is hypothesized to derive from multiple sources of motivational dysregulation. Dr. Athina Markou made seminal contributions to our understanding of the neurobiology of addiction with her studies on the dysregulation of reward function using animal models with construct validity. Repeated overstimulation of the reward systems with drugs of abuse decreases reward function, characterized by brain stimulation reward and presumbably reflecting dysphoria-like states. The construct of negative reinforcement, defined as drug taking that alleviates a negative emotional state that is created by drug abstinence, is particularly relevant as a driving force in both the withdrawal/negative affect and preoccupation/anticipation stages of the addiction cycle. The negative emotional state that drives such negative reinforcement is hypothesized to derive from the dysregulation of key neurochemical circuits that drive incentive-salience/reward systems (dopamine, opioid peptides) in the ventral striatum and from the recruitment of brain stress systems (corticotropin-releasing factor, dynorphin) within the extended amygdala. As drug taking becomes compulsive-like, the factors that motivate behavior are hypothesized to shift to drug-seeking behavior that is driven not only by positive reinforcement but also by negative reinforcement. This shift in motivation is hypothesized to reflect the allostatic misregulation of hedonic tone such that drug taking makes the hedonic negative emotional state worse during the process of seeking temporary relief with compulsive drug taking.

Repeated verum but not placebo acupuncture normalizes connectivity in brain regions dysregulated in chronic pain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalia Egorova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Acupuncture, an ancient East Asian therapy, is aimed at rectifying the imbalance within the body caused by disease. Studies evaluating the efficacy of acupuncture with neuroimaging tend to concentrate on brain regions within the pain matrix, associated with acute pain. We, however, focused on the effect of repeated acupuncture treatment specifically on brain regions known to support functions dysregulated in chronic pain disorders. Transition to chronic pain is associated with increased attention to pain, emotional rumination, nociceptive memory and avoidance learning, resulting in brain connectivity changes, specifically affecting the periaqueductal gray (PAG, medial frontal cortex (MFC and bilateral hippocampus (Hpc. We demonstrate that the PAG–MFC and PAG–Hpc connectivity in patients with chronic pain due to knee osteoarthritis indeed correlates with clinical severity scores and further show that verum acupuncture-induced improvement in pain scores (compared to sham is related to the modulation of PAG–MFC and PAG–Hpc connectivity in the predicted direction. This study shows that repeated verum acupuncture might act by restoring the balance in the connectivity of the key pain brain regions, altering pain-related attention and memory.

Correlation of Leukocyte Count and Percentage of Segmented Neutrophils with Pathohistological Findings of Appendix in Children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marko Baskovic

2018-01-01

Full Text Available BackgroundAppendicitis is the most common indication for an emergency operation in children's age. Although none of the laboratory values has not high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of appendicitis, leukocyte count and the percentage of segmented neutrophils are most commonly used. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a statistically significant correlation between leukocyte count and the percentage of segmented neutrophils compared to the pathohistological finding of appendix in children. Materials and MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the data in the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016. The analysis was made on 211 patients. Spearman's correlation coefficient (rs was calculated. We determined the specificity and sensitivity of leukocyte count and the percentage of segmented neutrophils used in the calculation of Alvorado and Pediatric Appendicitis score.ResultsThe results of the research have shown that the correlation between leukocyte count and the pathohistological findings is weak (rs = 0.29, p = 3.61*10-8, while there is no correlation between the percentage of segmented neutrophils and pathohistological findings (rs = 0.18, p = 7.08 *10-5. The sensitivity of leukocyte count is 93% and the specificity is 30%, while the sensitivity to the percentage of segmented neutrophils is 71% and the specificity is 50%. ROC analysis for leukocytes shows area under the curve of 0.648, while for segmented neutrophils of 0.574.ConclusionGiven the correlation results obtained, the clinical experience of physicians will still have one of the leading roles in diagnosing acute appendicitis in children.

Simultaneous Whole-Brain Segmentation and White Matter Lesion Detection Using Contrast-Adaptive Probabilistic Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Puonti, Oula; Van Leemput, Koen

2016-01-01

In this paper we propose a new generative model for simultaneous brain parcellation and white matter lesion segmentation from multi-contrast magnetic resonance images. The method combines an existing whole-brain segmentation technique with a novel spatial lesion model based on a convolutional...... restricted Boltzmann machine. Unlike current state-of-the-art lesion detection techniques based on discriminative modeling, the proposed method is not tuned to one specific scanner or imaging protocol, and simultaneously segments dozens of neuroanatomical structures. Experiments on a public benchmark dataset...... in multiple sclerosis indicate that the method’s lesion segmentation accuracy compares well to that of the current state-of-the-art in the field, while additionally providing robust whole-brain segmentations....

Efficacy of CTA portography for preoperatively determining the segmental location of focal hepatic lesions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, R.C.; Chemzmar, J.L.; Sugarbaker, P.H.; Bernardino, M.E.

1989-01-01

Using cross-sectional images to localize tumors to specific hepatic segments before resection might be difficult because the transverse scissura, an important segmental landmark, is approximately parallel to the axial plane. Since this plane is parallel to the main right and left portal pedicles, the authors postulated that they could localize lesions above this plane to segments 2,4A,7, or 8, and below this plane to segments 3, 4B,5, or 6. The authors have retrospectively evaluated, in a blinded fashion, 24 hepatic masses in 13 patients who underwent CTA-portography and subsequent tumor resection. Using this scheme, they have accurately predicted the primary segmental location in 22 (92%) of 24 surgically confirmed lesions

Holistic segmentation of the lung in cine MRI.

Science.gov (United States)

Kovacs, William; Hsieh, Nathan; Roth, Holger; Nnamdi-Emeratom, Chioma; Bandettini, W Patricia; Arai, Andrew; Mankodi, Ami; Summers, Ronald M; Yao, Jianhua

2017-10-01

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a childhood-onset neuromuscular disease that results in the degeneration of muscle, starting in the extremities, before progressing to more vital areas, such as the lungs. Respiratory failure and pneumonia due to respiratory muscle weakness lead to hospitalization and early mortality. However, tracking the disease in this region can be difficult, as current methods are based on breathing tests and are incapable of distinguishing between muscle involvements. Cine MRI scans give insight into respiratory muscle movements, but the images suffer due to low spatial resolution and poor signal-to-noise ratio. Thus, a robust lung segmentation method is required for accurate analysis of the lung and respiratory muscle movement. We deployed a deep learning approach that utilizes sequence-specific prior information to assist the segmentation of lung in cine MRI. More specifically, we adopt a holistically nested network to conduct image-to-image holistic training and prediction. One frame of the cine MRI is used in the training and applied to the remainder of the sequence ([Formula: see text] frames). We applied this method to cine MRIs of the lung in the axial, sagittal, and coronal planes. Characteristic lung motion patterns during the breathing cycle were then derived from the segmentations and used for diagnosis. Our data set consisted of 31 young boys, age [Formula: see text] years, 15 of whom suffered from DMD. The remaining 16 subjects were age-matched healthy volunteers. For validation, slices from inspiratory and expiratory cycles were manually segmented and compared with results obtained from our method. The Dice similarity coefficient for the deep learning-based method was [Formula: see text] for the sagittal view, [Formula: see text] for the axial view, and [Formula: see text] for the coronal view. The holistic neural network approach was compared with an approach using Demon's registration and showed superior performance. These

SU-E-J-142: Performance Study of Automatic Image-Segmentation Algorithms in Motion Tracking Via MR-IGRT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feng, Y; Olsen, J.; Parikh, P.; Noel, C; Wooten, H; Du, D; Mutic, S; Hu, Y; Kawrakow, I; Dempsey, J

2014-01-01

Purpose: Evaluate commonly used segmentation algorithms on a commercially available real-time MR image guided radiotherapy (MR-IGRT) system (ViewRay), compare the strengths and weaknesses of each method, with the purpose of improving motion tracking for more accurate radiotherapy. Methods: MR motion images of bladder, kidney, duodenum, and liver tumor were acquired for three patients using a commercial on-board MR imaging system and an imaging protocol used during MR-IGRT. A series of 40 frames were selected for each case to cover at least 3 respiratory cycles. Thresholding, Canny edge detection, fuzzy k-means (FKM), k-harmonic means (KHM), and reaction-diffusion level set evolution (RD-LSE), along with the ViewRay treatment planning and delivery system (TPDS) were included in the comparisons. To evaluate the segmentation results, an expert manual contouring of the organs or tumor from a physician was used as a ground-truth. Metrics value of sensitivity, specificity, Jaccard similarity, and Dice coefficient were computed for comparison. Results: In the segmentation of single image frame, all methods successfully segmented the bladder and kidney, but only FKM, KHM and TPDS were able to segment the liver tumor and the duodenum. For segmenting motion image series, the TPDS method had the highest sensitivity, Jarccard, and Dice coefficients in segmenting bladder and kidney, while FKM and KHM had a slightly higher specificity. A similar pattern was observed when segmenting the liver tumor and the duodenum. The Canny method is not suitable for consistently segmenting motion frames in an automated process, while thresholding and RD-LSE cannot consistently segment a liver tumor and the duodenum. Conclusion: The study compared six different segmentation methods and showed the effectiveness of the ViewRay TPDS algorithm in segmenting motion images during MR-IGRT. Future studies include a selection of conformal segmentation methods based on image/organ-specific information

SU-E-J-142: Performance Study of Automatic Image-Segmentation Algorithms in Motion Tracking Via MR-IGRT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feng, Y; Olsen, J.; Parikh, P.; Noel, C; Wooten, H; Du, D; Mutic, S; Hu, Y [Washington University, St. Louis, MO (United States); Kawrakow, I; Dempsey, J [Washington University, St. Louis, MO (United States); ViewRay Co., Oakwood Village, OH (United States)

2014-06-01

Purpose: Evaluate commonly used segmentation algorithms on a commercially available real-time MR image guided radiotherapy (MR-IGRT) system (ViewRay), compare the strengths and weaknesses of each method, with the purpose of improving motion tracking for more accurate radiotherapy. Methods: MR motion images of bladder, kidney, duodenum, and liver tumor were acquired for three patients using a commercial on-board MR imaging system and an imaging protocol used during MR-IGRT. A series of 40 frames were selected for each case to cover at least 3 respiratory cycles. Thresholding, Canny edge detection, fuzzy k-means (FKM), k-harmonic means (KHM), and reaction-diffusion level set evolution (RD-LSE), along with the ViewRay treatment planning and delivery system (TPDS) were included in the comparisons. To evaluate the segmentation results, an expert manual contouring of the organs or tumor from a physician was used as a ground-truth. Metrics value of sensitivity, specificity, Jaccard similarity, and Dice coefficient were computed for comparison. Results: In the segmentation of single image frame, all methods successfully segmented the bladder and kidney, but only FKM, KHM and TPDS were able to segment the liver tumor and the duodenum. For segmenting motion image series, the TPDS method had the highest sensitivity, Jarccard, and Dice coefficients in segmenting bladder and kidney, while FKM and KHM had a slightly higher specificity. A similar pattern was observed when segmenting the liver tumor and the duodenum. The Canny method is not suitable for consistently segmenting motion frames in an automated process, while thresholding and RD-LSE cannot consistently segment a liver tumor and the duodenum. Conclusion: The study compared six different segmentation methods and showed the effectiveness of the ViewRay TPDS algorithm in segmenting motion images during MR-IGRT. Future studies include a selection of conformal segmentation methods based on image/organ-specific information

Latent segmentation based count models: Analysis of bicycle safety in Montreal and Toronto.

Science.gov (United States)

Yasmin, Shamsunnahar; Eluru, Naveen

2016-10-01

The study contributes to literature on bicycle safety by building on the traditional count regression models to investigate factors affecting bicycle crashes at the Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ) level. TAZ is a traffic related geographic entity which is most frequently used as spatial unit for macroscopic crash risk analysis. In conventional count models, the impact of exogenous factors is restricted to be the same across the entire region. However, it is possible that the influence of exogenous factors might vary across different TAZs. To accommodate for the potential variation in the impact of exogenous factors we formulate latent segmentation based count models. Specifically, we formulate and estimate latent segmentation based Poisson (LP) and latent segmentation based Negative Binomial (LNB) models to study bicycle crash counts. In our latent segmentation approach, we allow for more than two segments and also consider a large set of variables in segmentation and segment specific models. The formulated models are estimated using bicycle-motor vehicle crash data from the Island of Montreal and City of Toronto for the years 2006 through 2010. The TAZ level variables considered in our analysis include accessibility measures, exposure measures, sociodemographic characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, road network characteristics and built environment. A policy analysis is also conducted to illustrate the applicability of the proposed model for planning purposes. This macro-level research would assist decision makers, transportation officials and community planners to make informed decisions to proactively improve bicycle safety - a prerequisite to promoting a culture of active transportation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Speaker segmentation and clustering

OpenAIRE

Kotti, M; Moschou, V; Kotropoulos, C

2008-01-01

07.08.13 KB. Ok to add the accepted version to Spiral, Elsevier says ok whlile mandate not enforced. This survey focuses on two challenging speech processing topics, namely: speaker segmentation and speaker clustering. Speaker segmentation aims at finding speaker change points in an audio stream, whereas speaker clustering aims at grouping speech segments based on speaker characteristics. Model-based, metric-based, and hybrid speaker segmentation algorithms are reviewed. Concerning speaker...

PTBS segmentation scheme for synthetic aperture radar

Science.gov (United States)

Friedland, Noah S.; Rothwell, Brian J.

1995-07-01

The Image Understanding Group at Martin Marietta Technologies in Denver, Colorado has developed a model-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automatic target recognition (ATR) system using an integrated resource architecture (IRA). IRA, an adaptive Markov random field (MRF) environment, utilizes information from image, model, and neighborhood resources to create a discrete, 2D feature-based world description (FBWD). The IRA FBWD features are peak, target, background and shadow (PTBS). These features have been shown to be very useful for target discrimination. The FBWD is used to accrue evidence over a model hypothesis set. This paper presents the PTBS segmentation process utilizing two IRA resources. The image resource (IR) provides generic (the physics of image formation) and specific (the given image input) information. The neighborhood resource (NR) provides domain knowledge of localized FBWD site behaviors. A simulated annealing optimization algorithm is used to construct a `most likely' PTBS state. Results on simulated imagery illustrate the power of this technique to correctly segment PTBS features, even when vehicle signatures are immersed in heavy background clutter. These segmentations also suppress sidelobe effects and delineate shadows.

Dynamic multi-segmental postural control in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain compared to pain-free controls: A cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

McCaskey, Michael A; Wirth, Brigitte; Schuster-Amft, Corina; de Bruin, Eling D

2018-01-01

Reduced postural control is thought to contribute to the development and persistence of chronic non-specific low back pain (CNLBP). It is therefore frequently assessed in affected patients and commonly reported as the average amount of postural sway while standing upright under a variety of sensory conditions. These averaged linear outcomes, such as mean centre of pressure (CP) displacement or mean CP surface areas, may not reflect the true postural status. Adding nonlinear outcomes and multi-segmental kinematic analysis has been reported to better reflect the complexity of postural control and may detect subtler postural differences. In this cross-sectional study, a combination of linear and nonlinear postural parameters were assessed in patients with CNLBP (n = 24, 24-75 years, 9 females) and compared to symptom-free controls (CG, n = 34, 22-67 years, 11 females). Primary outcome was postural control measured by variance of joint configurations (uncontrolled manifold index, UI), confidence ellipse surface areas (CEA) and approximate entropy (ApEn) of CP dispersion during the response phase of a perturbed postural control task on a swaying platform. Secondary outcomes were segment excursions and clinical outcome correlates for pain and function. Non-parametric tests for group comparison with P-adjustment for multiple comparisons were conducted. Principal component analysis was applied to identify patterns of segmental contribution in both groups. CNLBP and CG performed similarly with respect to the primary outcomes. Comparison of joint kinematics revealed significant differences of hip (P postural differences in CNLBP patients with low to moderate pain status.

Selecting salient frames for spatiotemporal video modeling and segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Xiaomu; Fan, Guoliang

2007-12-01

We propose a new statistical generative model for spatiotemporal video segmentation. The objective is to partition a video sequence into homogeneous segments that can be used as "building blocks" for semantic video segmentation. The baseline framework is a Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based video modeling approach that involves a six-dimensional spatiotemporal feature space. Specifically, we introduce the concept of frame saliency to quantify the relevancy of a video frame to the GMM-based spatiotemporal video modeling. This helps us use a small set of salient frames to facilitate the model training by reducing data redundancy and irrelevance. A modified expectation maximization algorithm is developed for simultaneous GMM training and frame saliency estimation, and the frames with the highest saliency values are extracted to refine the GMM estimation for video segmentation. Moreover, it is interesting to find that frame saliency can imply some object behaviors. This makes the proposed method also applicable to other frame-related video analysis tasks, such as key-frame extraction, video skimming, etc. Experiments on real videos demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method.

Validation of a model of left ventricular segmentation for interpretation of SPET myocardial perfusion images

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aepfelbacher, F.C.; Johnson, R.B.; Schwartz, J.G.; Danias, P.G. [Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States); Chen, L.; Parker, R.A. [Biometrics Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States); Parker, A.J. [Nuclear Medicine Division, Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States)

2001-11-01

Several models of left ventricular segmentation have been developed that assume a standard coronary artery distribution, and are currently used for interpretation of single-photon emission tomography (SPET) myocardial perfusion imaging. This approach has the potential for incorrect assignment of myocardial segments to vascular territories, possibly over- or underestimating the number of vessels with significant coronary artery disease (CAD). We therefore sought to validate a 17-segment model of myocardial perfusion by comparing the predefined coronary territory assignment with the actual angiographically derived coronary distribution. We examined 135 patients who underwent both coronary angiography and stress SPET imaging within 30 days. Individualized coronary distribution was determined by review of the coronary angiograms and used to identify the coronary artery supplying each of the 17 myocardial segments of the model. The actual coronary distribution was used to assess the accuracy of the assumed coronary distribution of the model. The sensitivities and specificities of stress SPET for detection of CAD in individual coronary arteries and the classification regarding perceived number of diseased coronary arteries were also compared between the two coronary distributions (actual and assumed). The assumed coronary distribution corresponded to the actual coronary anatomy in all but one segment (3). The majority of patients (80%) had 14 or more concordant segments. Sensitivities and specificities of stress SPET for detection of CAD in the coronary territories were similar, with the exception of the RCA territory, for which specificity for detection of CAD was better for the angiographically derived coronary artery distribution than for the model. There was 95% agreement between assumed and angiographically derived coronary distributions in classification to single- versus multi-vessel CAD. Reassignment of a single segment (segment 3) from the LCX to the LAD

Validation of a model of left ventricular segmentation for interpretation of SPET myocardial perfusion images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aepfelbacher, F.C.; Johnson, R.B.; Schwartz, J.G.; Danias, P.G.; Chen, L.; Parker, R.A.; Parker, A.J.

2001-01-01

Several models of left ventricular segmentation have been developed that assume a standard coronary artery distribution, and are currently used for interpretation of single-photon emission tomography (SPET) myocardial perfusion imaging. This approach has the potential for incorrect assignment of myocardial segments to vascular territories, possibly over- or underestimating the number of vessels with significant coronary artery disease (CAD). We therefore sought to validate a 17-segment model of myocardial perfusion by comparing the predefined coronary territory assignment with the actual angiographically derived coronary distribution. We examined 135 patients who underwent both coronary angiography and stress SPET imaging within 30 days. Individualized coronary distribution was determined by review of the coronary angiograms and used to identify the coronary artery supplying each of the 17 myocardial segments of the model. The actual coronary distribution was used to assess the accuracy of the assumed coronary distribution of the model. The sensitivities and specificities of stress SPET for detection of CAD in individual coronary arteries and the classification regarding perceived number of diseased coronary arteries were also compared between the two coronary distributions (actual and assumed). The assumed coronary distribution corresponded to the actual coronary anatomy in all but one segment (3). The majority of patients (80%) had 14 or more concordant segments. Sensitivities and specificities of stress SPET for detection of CAD in the coronary territories were similar, with the exception of the RCA territory, for which specificity for detection of CAD was better for the angiographically derived coronary artery distribution than for the model. There was 95% agreement between assumed and angiographically derived coronary distributions in classification to single- versus multi-vessel CAD. Reassignment of a single segment (segment 3) from the LCX to the LAD

Influenza virus induces apoptosis via BAD-mediated mitochondrial dysregulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Anh T; Cortens, John P; Du, Qiujiang; Wilkins, John A; Coombs, Kevin M

2013-01-01

Influenza virus infection results in host cell death and major tissue damage. Specific components of the apoptotic pathway, a signaling cascade that ultimately leads to cell death, are implicated in promoting influenza virus replication. BAD is a cell death regulator that constitutes a critical control point in the intrinsic apoptosis pathway, which occurs through the dysregulation of mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization and the subsequent activation of downstream apoptogenic factors. Here we report a novel proviral role for the proapoptotic protein BAD in influenza virus replication. We show that influenza virus-induced cytopathology and cell death are considerably inhibited in BAD knockdown cells and that both virus replication and viral protein production are dramatically reduced, which suggests that virus-induced apoptosis is BAD dependent. Our data showed that influenza viruses induced phosphorylation of BAD at residues S112 and S136 in a temporal manner. Viral infection also induced BAD cleavage, late in the viral life cycle, to a truncated form that is reportedly a more potent inducer of apoptosis. We further demonstrate that knockdown of BAD resulted in reduced cytochrome c release and suppression of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway during influenza virus replication, as seen by an inhibition of caspases-3, caspase-7, and procyclic acidic repetitive protein (PARP) cleavage. Our data indicate that influenza viruses carefully modulate the activation of the apoptotic pathway that is dependent on the regulatory function of BAD and that failure of apoptosis activation resulted in unproductive viral replication.

Segmentation of the Infant Food Market

OpenAIRE

Hrůzová, Daniela

2015-01-01

The theoretical part covers general market segmentation, namely the marketing importance of differences among consumers, the essence of market segmentation, its main conditions and the process of segmentation, which consists of four consecutive phases - defining the market, determining important criteria, uncovering segments and developing segment profiles. The segmentation criteria, segmentation approaches, methods and techniques for the process of market segmentation are also described in t...

Neurobiology of dysregulated motivational systems in drug addiction

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Scott; Koob, George F

2010-01-01

The progression from recreational drug use to drug addiction impacts multiple neurobiological processes and can be conceptualized as a transition from positive to negative reinforcement mechanisms driving both drug-taking and drug-seeking behaviors. Neurobiological mechanisms for negative reinforcement, defined as drug taking that alleviates a negative emotional state, involve changes in the brain reward system and recruitment of brain stress (or antireward) systems within forebrain structures, including the extended amygdala. These systems are hypothesized to be dysregulated by excessive drug intake and to contribute to allostatic changes in reinforcement mechanisms associated with addiction. Points of intersection between positive and negative motivational circuitry may further drive the compulsivity of drug addiction but also provide a rich neurobiological substrate for therapeutic intervention. PMID:20563312

Pancreas and cyst segmentation

Science.gov (United States)

Dmitriev, Konstantin; Gutenko, Ievgeniia; Nadeem, Saad; Kaufman, Arie

2016-03-01

Accurate segmentation of abdominal organs from medical images is an essential part of surgical planning and computer-aided disease diagnosis. Many existing algorithms are specialized for the segmentation of healthy organs. Cystic pancreas segmentation is especially challenging due to its low contrast boundaries, variability in shape, location and the stage of the pancreatic cancer. We present a semi-automatic segmentation algorithm for pancreata with cysts. In contrast to existing automatic segmentation approaches for healthy pancreas segmentation which are amenable to atlas/statistical shape approaches, a pancreas with cysts can have even higher variability with respect to the shape of the pancreas due to the size and shape of the cyst(s). Hence, fine results are better attained with semi-automatic steerable approaches. We use a novel combination of random walker and region growing approaches to delineate the boundaries of the pancreas and cysts with respective best Dice coefficients of 85.1% and 86.7%, and respective best volumetric overlap errors of 26.0% and 23.5%. Results show that the proposed algorithm for pancreas and pancreatic cyst segmentation is accurate and stable.

Pediatric Bipolar Disorder versus Severe Mood Dysregulation: Risk for Manic Episodes on Follow-Up

Science.gov (United States)

Stringaris, Argyris; Baroni, Argelinda; Haimm, Caroline; Brotman, Melissa; Lowe, Catherine H.; Myers, Frances; Rustgi, Eileen; Wheeler, Wanda; Kayser, Reilly; Towbin, Kenneth; Leibenluft, Ellen

2010-01-01

Objective: An important question in pediatric bipolar research is whether marked nonepisodic irritability is a manifestation of bipolar disorder in youth. This study tests the hypothesis that youth with severe mood dysregulation (SMD), a category created for the purpose of studying children presenting with severe nonepisodic irritability, will be…

The Impact of Attachment Security and Emotion Dysregulation on Anxiety in Children and Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Bender, Patrick K.; Sømhovd, Mikael; Pons, Francisco; Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie L.; Esbjørn, Barbara H.

2015-01-01

Theoretical views and empirical findings suggest interrelations among attachment security, emotion dysregulation and anxiety in childhood and adolescence. However, the associations among the three constructs have rarely been investigated in children, and no study has yet addressed these associations in adolescence. The aim of the present study was…

Phasing multi-segment undulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chavanne, J.; Elleaume, P.; Vaerenbergh, P. Van

1996-01-01

An important issue in the manufacture of multi-segment undulators as a source of synchrotron radiation or as a free-electron laser (FEL) is the phasing between successive segments. The state of the art is briefly reviewed, after which a novel pure permanent magnet phasing section that is passive and does not require any current is presented. The phasing section allows the introduction of a 6 mm longitudinal gap between each segment, resulting in complete mechanical independence and reduced magnetic interaction between segments. The tolerance of the longitudinal positioning of one segment with respect to the next is found to be 2.8 times lower than that of conventional phasing. The spectrum at all gaps and useful harmonics is almost unchanged when compared with a single-segment undulator of the same total length. (au) 3 refs

Elephant: Sequence Labeling for Word and Sentence Segmentation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evang, Kilian; Basile, Valerio; Chrupala, Grzegorz; Bos, Johan

2013-01-01

Tokenization is widely regarded as a solved problem due to the high accuracy that rule-based tokenizers achieve. But rule-based tokenizers are hard to maintain and their rules language specific. We show that high-accuracy word and sentence segmentation can be achieved by using supervised sequence

FRAMEWORK FOR COMPARING SEGMENTATION ALGORITHMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Sithole

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The notion of a ‘Best’ segmentation does not exist. A segmentation algorithm is chosen based on the features it yields, the properties of the segments (point sets it generates, and the complexity of its algorithm. The segmentation is then assessed based on a variety of metrics such as homogeneity, heterogeneity, fragmentation, etc. Even after an algorithm is chosen its performance is still uncertain because the landscape/scenarios represented in a point cloud have a strong influence on the eventual segmentation. Thus selecting an appropriate segmentation algorithm is a process of trial and error. Automating the selection of segmentation algorithms and their parameters first requires methods to evaluate segmentations. Three common approaches for evaluating segmentation algorithms are ‘goodness methods’, ‘discrepancy methods’ and ‘benchmarks’. Benchmarks are considered the most comprehensive method of evaluation. This paper shortcomings in current benchmark methods are identified and a framework is proposed that permits both a visual and numerical evaluation of segmentations for different algorithms, algorithm parameters and evaluation metrics. The concept of the framework is demonstrated on a real point cloud. Current results are promising and suggest that it can be used to predict the performance of segmentation algorithms.

3D knee segmentation based on three MRI sequences from different planes.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, L; Chav, R; Cresson, T; Chartrand, G; de Guise, J

2016-08-01

In clinical practice, knee MRI sequences with 3.5~5 mm slice distance in sagittal, coronal, and axial planes are often requested for the knee examination since its acquisition is faster than high-resolution MRI sequence in a single plane, thereby reducing the probability of motion artifact. In order to take advantage of the three sequences from different planes, a 3D segmentation method based on the combination of three knee models obtained from the three sequences is proposed in this paper. In the method, the sub-segmentation is respectively performed with sagittal, coronal, and axial MRI sequence in the image coordinate system. With each sequence, an initial knee model is hierarchically deformed, and then the three deformed models are mapped to reference coordinate system defined by the DICOM standard and combined to obtain a patient-specific model. The experimental results verified that the three sub-segmentation results can complement each other, and their integration can compensate for the insufficiency of boundary information caused by 3.5~5 mm gap between consecutive slices. Therefore, the obtained patient-specific model is substantially more accurate than each sub-segmentation results.

Why segmentation matters: experience-driven segmentation errors impair “morpheme” learning

Science.gov (United States)

Finn, Amy S.; Hudson Kam, Carla L.

2015-01-01

We ask whether an adult learner’s knowledge of their native language impedes statistical learning in a new language beyond just word segmentation (as previously shown). In particular, we examine the impact of native-language word-form phonotactics on learners’ ability to segment words into their component morphemes and learn phonologically triggered variation of morphemes. We find that learning is impaired when words and component morphemes are structured to conflict with a learner’s native-language phonotactic system, but not when native-language phonotactics do not conflict with morpheme boundaries in the artificial language. A learner’s native-language knowledge can therefore have a cascading impact affecting word segmentation and the morphological variation that relies upon proper segmentation. These results show that getting word segmentation right early in learning is deeply important for learning other aspects of language, even those (morphology) that are known to pose a great difficulty for adult language learners. PMID:25730305

3D segmentation of liver, kidneys and spleen from CT images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bekes, G.; Fidrich, M.; Nyul, L.G.; Mate, E.; Kuba, A.

2007-01-01

The clinicians often need to segment the abdominal organs for radiotherapy planning. Manual segmentation of these organs is very time-consuming, therefore automated methods are desired. We developed a semi-automatic segmentation method to outline liver, spleen and kidneys. It works on CT images without contrast intake that are acquired with a routine clinical protocol. From an initial surface around a user defined seed point, the segmentation of the organ is obtained by an active surface algorithm. Pre- and post-processing steps are used to adapt the general method for specific organs. The evaluation results show that the accuracy of our method is about 90%, which can be further improved with little manual editing, and that the precision is slightly higher than that of manual contouring. Our method is accurate, precise and fast enough to use in the clinical practice. (orig.)

Is STAPLE algorithm confident to assess segmentation methods in PET imaging?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dewalle-Vignion, Anne-Sophie; Betrouni, Nacim; Vermandel, Maximilien; Baillet, Clio

2015-01-01

Accurate tumor segmentation in [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography is crucial for tumor response assessment and target volume definition in radiation therapy. Evaluation of segmentation methods from clinical data without ground truth is usually based on physicians’ manual delineations. In this context, the simultaneous truth and performance level estimation (STAPLE) algorithm could be useful to manage the multi-observers variability. In this paper, we evaluated how this algorithm could accurately estimate the ground truth in PET imaging.Complete evaluation study using different criteria was performed on simulated data. The STAPLE algorithm was applied to manual and automatic segmentation results. A specific configuration of the implementation provided by the Computational Radiology Laboratory was used.Consensus obtained by the STAPLE algorithm from manual delineations appeared to be more accurate than manual delineations themselves (80% of overlap). An improvement of the accuracy was also observed when applying the STAPLE algorithm to automatic segmentations results.The STAPLE algorithm, with the configuration used in this paper, is more appropriate than manual delineations alone or automatic segmentations results alone to estimate the ground truth in PET imaging. Therefore, it might be preferred to assess the accuracy of tumor segmentation methods in PET imaging. (paper)

Is STAPLE algorithm confident to assess segmentation methods in PET imaging?

Science.gov (United States)

Dewalle-Vignion, Anne-Sophie; Betrouni, Nacim; Baillet, Clio; Vermandel, Maximilien

2015-12-01

Accurate tumor segmentation in [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography is crucial for tumor response assessment and target volume definition in radiation therapy. Evaluation of segmentation methods from clinical data without ground truth is usually based on physicians’ manual delineations. In this context, the simultaneous truth and performance level estimation (STAPLE) algorithm could be useful to manage the multi-observers variability. In this paper, we evaluated how this algorithm could accurately estimate the ground truth in PET imaging. Complete evaluation study using different criteria was performed on simulated data. The STAPLE algorithm was applied to manual and automatic segmentation results. A specific configuration of the implementation provided by the Computational Radiology Laboratory was used. Consensus obtained by the STAPLE algorithm from manual delineations appeared to be more accurate than manual delineations themselves (80% of overlap). An improvement of the accuracy was also observed when applying the STAPLE algorithm to automatic segmentations results. The STAPLE algorithm, with the configuration used in this paper, is more appropriate than manual delineations alone or automatic segmentations results alone to estimate the ground truth in PET imaging. Therefore, it might be preferred to assess the accuracy of tumor segmentation methods in PET imaging.

Final hazard classification and auditable safety analysis for the N basin segment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kloster, G.; Smith, R.I.; Larson, A.R.; Duncan, G.M.

1996-12-01

The purpose of this report is to provide the following: To serve as the auditable safety analysis (ASA) for the N Basin Segment, including both the quiescent state and planned intrusive activities. The ASA is developed through the realistic evaluation of potential hazards that envelope the threat to personnel. The ASA also includes the specification of the programmatic, baseline, and activity- specific controls that are necessary for the protection of workers. To determine and document the final hazard classification (FHC) for the N Basin Segment. The FHC is developed through the use of bounding accident analyses that envelope the potential exposures to personnel. The FHC also includes the specification of the special controls that are necessary to remain within the envelope of those accident analyses

Automatic segmentation of mandible in panoramic x-ray.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdi, Amir Hossein; Kasaei, Shohreh; Mehdizadeh, Mojdeh

2015-10-01

As the panoramic x-ray is the most common extraoral radiography in dentistry, segmentation of its anatomical structures facilitates diagnosis and registration of dental records. This study presents a fast and accurate method for automatic segmentation of mandible in panoramic x-rays. In the proposed four-step algorithm, a superior border is extracted through horizontal integral projections. A modified Canny edge detector accompanied by morphological operators extracts the inferior border of the mandible body. The exterior borders of ramuses are extracted through a contour tracing method based on the average model of mandible. The best-matched template is fetched from the atlas of mandibles to complete the contour of left and right processes. The algorithm was tested on a set of 95 panoramic x-rays. Evaluating the results against manual segmentations of three expert dentists showed that the method is robust. It achieved an average performance of [Formula: see text] in Dice similarity, specificity, and sensitivity.

Weakly supervised semantic segmentation using fore-background priors

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Zheng; Xiao, Zhitao; Yu, Mingjun

2017-07-01

Weakly-supervised semantic segmentation is a challenge in the field of computer vision. Most previous works utilize the labels of the whole training set and thereby need the construction of a relationship graph about image labels, thus result in expensive computation. In this study, we tackle this problem from a different perspective. We proposed a novel semantic segmentation algorithm based on background priors, which avoids the construction of a huge graph in whole training dataset. Specifically, a random forest classifier is obtained using weakly supervised training data .Then semantic texton forest (STF) feature is extracted from image superpixels. Finally, a CRF based optimization algorithm is proposed. The unary potential of CRF derived from the outputting probability of random forest classifier and the robust saliency map as background prior. Experiments on the MSRC21 dataset show that the new algorithm outperforms some previous influential weakly-supervised segmentation algorithms. Furthermore, the use of efficient decision forests classifier and parallel computing of saliency map significantly accelerates the implementation.

Segment-Tube: Spatio-Temporal Action Localization in Untrimmed Videos with Per-Frame Segmentation

OpenAIRE

Le Wang; Xuhuan Duan; Qilin Zhang; Zhenxing Niu; Gang Hua; Nanning Zheng

2018-01-01

Inspired by the recent spatio-temporal action localization efforts with tubelets (sequences of bounding boxes), we present a new spatio-temporal action localization detector Segment-tube, which consists of sequences of per-frame segmentation masks. The proposed Segment-tube detector can temporally pinpoint the starting/ending frame of each action category in the presence of preceding/subsequent interference actions in untrimmed videos. Simultaneously, the Segment-tube detector produces per-fr...

Unsupervised motion-based object segmentation refined by color

Science.gov (United States)

Piek, Matthijs C.; Braspenning, Ralph; Varekamp, Chris

2003-06-01

. The presented method has no problems with bifurcations. For the pixel resolution segmentation itself we reclassify pixels such that we optimize an error norm which favour similarly coloured regions and straight edges. SEGMENTATION MEASURE To assist in the evaluation of the proposed algorithm we developed a quality metric. Because the problem does not have an exact specification, we decided to define a ground truth output which we find desirable for a given input. We define the measure for the segmentation quality as being how different the segmentation is from the ground truth. Our measure enables us to evaluate oversegmentation and undersegmentation seperately. Also, it allows us to evaluate which parts of a frame suffer from oversegmentation or undersegmentation. The proposed algorithm has been tested on several typical sequences. CONCLUSIONS In this abstract we presented a new video segmentation method which performs well in the segmentation of multiple independently moving foreground objects from each other and the background. It combines the strong points of both colour and motion segmentation in the way we expected. One of the weak points is that the segmentation method suffers from undersegmentation when adjacent objects display similar motion. In sequences with detailed backgrounds the segmentation will sometimes display noisy edges. Apart from these results, we think that some of the techniques, and in particular the K-regions technique, may be useful for other two-dimensional data segmentation problems.

Automated epidermis segmentation in histopathological images of human skin stained with hematoxylin and eosin

Science.gov (United States)

Kłeczek, Paweł; Dyduch, Grzegorz; Jaworek-Korjakowska, Joanna; Tadeusiewicz, Ryszard

2017-03-01

Background: Epidermis area is an important observation area for the diagnosis of inflammatory skin diseases and skin cancers. Therefore, in order to develop a computer-aided diagnosis system, segmentation of the epidermis area is usually an essential, initial step. This study presents an automated and robust method for epidermis segmentation in whole slide histopathological images of human skin, stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Methods: The proposed method performs epidermis segmentation based on the information about shape and distribution of transparent regions in a slide image and information about distribution and concentration of hematoxylin and eosin stains. It utilizes domain-specific knowledge of morphometric and biochemical properties of skin tissue elements to segment the relevant histopathological structures in human skin. Results: Experimental results on 88 skin histopathological images from three different sources show that the proposed method segments the epidermis with a mean sensitivity of 87 %, a mean specificity of 95% and a mean precision of 57%. It is robust to inter- and intra-image variations in both staining and illumination, and makes no assumptions about the type of skin disorder. The proposed method provides a superior performance compared to the existing techniques.

Does school mobility place elementary school children at risk for lower math achievement? The mediating role of cognitive dysregulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Friedman-Krauss, Allison H; Raver, C Cybele

2015-12-01

Children growing up in poverty have a higher likelihood of exposure to multiple forms of adversity that jeopardize their chances of academic success. The current paper identifies school mobility, or changing schools, as 1 such poverty-related risk. Using a sample of low-income, predominantly ethnic-minority children (n = 381) in Chicago, this study tests the hypothesis that repeatedly changing schools during the 5-year period between Head Start (preschool) and third grade is a potent predictor of children's math achievement in fourth grade and that children's cognitive dysregulation serves as a mechanism through which school mobility may negatively affect children's math achievement. Hierarchical linear models controlling for baseline child and family characteristics (including children's early math and dysregulation measured during Head Start) revealed an inverse relation between the number of times low-income children changed schools between preschool and third grade and children's math achievement on state standardized tests in fourth grade. Furthermore, frequently changing schools (3 or 4 school changes over the same time period) was positively associated with teacher-reported cognitive dysregulation in third grade and negatively associated with children's math achievement in fourth grade. Evidence for the role of children's cognitive dysregulation as a partial statistical mediator was found for the relation between frequently changing schools and math achievement, even after accounting for baseline risk. Results are discussed in terms of school policies, practices, and intervention strategies to prevent the disruptive and potentially stressful experiences of school mobility for young, low-income children. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Does School Mobility Place Elementary School Children at Risk for Lower Math Achievement? The Mediating Role of Cognitive Dysregulation

Science.gov (United States)

Friedman-Krauss, Allison H.; Raver, C. Cybele

2015-01-01

Children growing up in poverty have a higher likelihood of exposure to multiple forms of adversity that jeopardize their chances of academic success. The current paper identifies school mobility, or changing schools, as 1 such poverty-related risk. Using a sample of low-income, predominantly ethnic-minority children (n = 381) in Chicago, this study tests the hypothesis that repeatedly changing schools during the 5-year period between Head Start (preschool) and third grade is a potent predictor of children’s math achievement in fourth grade and that children’s cognitive dysregulation serves as a mechanism through which school mobility may negatively affect children’s math achievement. Hierarchical linear models controlling for baseline child and family characteristics (including children’s early math and dysregulation measured during Head Start) revealed an inverse relation between the number of times low-income children changed schools between preschool and third grade and children’s math achievement on state standardized tests in fourth grade. Furthermore, frequently changing schools (3 or 4 school changes over the same time period) was positively associated with teacher-reported cognitive dysregulation in third grade and negatively associated with children’s math achievement in fourth grade. Evidence for the role of children’s cognitive dysregulation as a partial statistical mediator was found for the relation between frequently changing schools and math achievement, even after accounting for baseline risk. Results are discussed in terms of school policies, practices, and intervention strategies to prevent the disruptive and potentially stressful experiences of school mobility for young, low-income children. PMID:26436870

Emotion Dysregulation and Anxiety in Adults with ASD: Does Social Motivation Play a Role?

Science.gov (United States)

Swain, Deanna; Scarpa, Angela; White, Susan; Laugeson, Elizabeth

2015-01-01

Young adults with ASD and no intellectual impairment are more likely to exhibit clinical levels of anxiety than typically developing peers (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This study tests a mechanistic model in which anxiety culminates via emotion dysregulation and social motivation. Adults with ASD (49 males, 20 females)…

Predictive market segmentation model: An application of logistic regression model and CHAID procedure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soldić-Aleksić Jasna

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Market segmentation presents one of the key concepts of the modern marketing. The main goal of market segmentation is focused on creating groups (segments of customers that have similar characteristics, needs, wishes and/or similar behavior regarding the purchase of concrete product/service. Companies can create specific marketing plan for each of these segments and therefore gain short or long term competitive advantage on the market. Depending on the concrete marketing goal, different segmentation schemes and techniques may be applied. This paper presents a predictive market segmentation model based on the application of logistic regression model and CHAID analysis. The logistic regression model was used for the purpose of variables selection (from the initial pool of eleven variables which are statistically significant for explaining the dependent variable. Selected variables were afterwards included in the CHAID procedure that generated the predictive market segmentation model. The model results are presented on the concrete empirical example in the following form: summary model results, CHAID tree, Gain chart, Index chart, risk and classification tables.

How Parkinsonian Toxins Dysregulate the Autophagy Machinery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruben K. Dagda

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Since their discovery, Parkinsonian toxins (6-hydroxydopamine, MPP+, paraquat, and rotenone have been widely employed as in vivo and in vitro chemical models of Parkinson’s disease (PD. Alterations in mitochondrial homeostasis, protein quality control pathways, and more recently, autophagy/mitophagy have been implicated in neurotoxin models of PD. Here, we highlight the molecular mechanisms by which different PD toxins dysregulate autophagy/mitophagy and how alterations of these pathways play beneficial or detrimental roles in dopamine neurons. The convergent and divergent effects of PD toxins on mitochondrial function and autophagy/mitophagy are also discussed in this review. Furthermore, we propose new diagnostic tools and discuss how pharmacological modulators of autophagy/mitophagy can be developed as disease-modifying treatments for PD. Finally, we discuss the critical need to identify endogenous and synthetic forms of PD toxins and develop efficient health preventive programs to mitigate the risk of developing PD.

Benchmark for license plate character segmentation

Science.gov (United States)

Gonçalves, Gabriel Resende; da Silva, Sirlene Pio Gomes; Menotti, David; Shwartz, William Robson

2016-09-01

Automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) has been the focus of many researches in the past years. In general, ALPR is divided into the following problems: detection of on-track vehicles, license plate detection, segmentation of license plate characters, and optical character recognition (OCR). Even though commercial solutions are available for controlled acquisition conditions, e.g., the entrance of a parking lot, ALPR is still an open problem when dealing with data acquired from uncontrolled environments, such as roads and highways when relying only on imaging sensors. Due to the multiple orientations and scales of the license plates captured by the camera, a very challenging task of the ALPR is the license plate character segmentation (LPCS) step, because its effectiveness is required to be (near) optimal to achieve a high recognition rate by the OCR. To tackle the LPCS problem, this work proposes a benchmark composed of a dataset designed to focus specifically on the character segmentation step of the ALPR within an evaluation protocol. Furthermore, we propose the Jaccard-centroid coefficient, an evaluation measure more suitable than the Jaccard coefficient regarding the location of the bounding box within the ground-truth annotation. The dataset is composed of 2000 Brazilian license plates consisting of 14000 alphanumeric symbols and their corresponding bounding box annotations. We also present a straightforward approach to perform LPCS efficiently. Finally, we provide an experimental evaluation for the dataset based on five LPCS approaches and demonstrate the importance of character segmentation for achieving an accurate OCR.

Arizona TeleMedicine Network: System Procurement Specifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Atlantic Research Corp., Alexandria, VA.

Providing general specifications and system descriptions for segments within the Arizona TeleMedicine Project (a telecommunication system designed to deliver health services to rurally isolated American Indians in Arizona), this document, when used with the appropriate route segment document, will completely describe the project's required…

PREPAID TELECOM CUSTOMERS SEGMENTATION USING THE K-MEAN ALGORITHM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marar Liviu Ioan

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The scope of relationship marketing is to retain customers and win their loyalty. This can be achieved if the companies’ products and services are developed and sold considering customers’ demands. Fulfilling customers’ demands, taken as the starting point of relationship marketing, can be obtained by acknowledging that the customers’ needs and wishes are heterogeneous. The segmentation of the customers’ base allows operators to overcome this because it illustrates the whole heterogeneous market as the sum of smaller homogeneous markets. The concept of segmentation relies on the high probability of persons grouped into segments based on common demands and behaviours to have a similar response to marketing strategies. This article focuses on the segmentation of a telecom customer base according to specific and noticeable criteria of a certain service. Although the segmentation concept is widely approached in professional literature, articles on the segmentation of a telecom customer base are very scarce, due to the strategic nature of this information. Market segmentation is carried out based on how customers spent their money on credit recharging, on making calls, on sending SMS and on Internet navigation. The method used for customer segmentation is the K-mean cluster analysis. To assess the internal cohesion of the clusters we employed the average sum of squares error indicator, and to determine the differences among the clusters we used the ANOVA and the post-hoc Tukey tests. The analyses revealed seven customer segments with different features and behaviours. The results enable the telecom company to conceive marketing strategies and planning which lead to better understanding of its customers’ needs and ultimately to a more efficient relationship with the subscribers and enhanced customer satisfaction. At the same time, the results enable the description and characterization of expenditure patterns

Topology and robustness in the Drosophila segment polarity network.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicholas T Ingolia

2004-06-01

Full Text Available A complex hierarchy of genetic interactions converts a single-celled Drosophila melanogaster egg into a multicellular embryo with 14 segments. Previously, von Dassow et al. reported that a mathematical model of the genetic interactions that defined the polarity of segments (the segment polarity network was robust (von Dassow et al. 2000. As quantitative information about the system was unavailable, parameters were sampled randomly. A surprisingly large fraction of these parameter sets allowed the model to maintain and elaborate on the segment polarity pattern. This robustness is due to the positive feedback of gene products on their own expression, which induces individual cells in a model segment to adopt different stable expression states (bistability corresponding to different cell types in the segment polarity pattern. A positive feedback loop will only yield multiple stable states when the parameters that describe it satisfy a particular inequality. By testing which random parameter sets satisfy these inequalities, I show that bistability is necessary to form the segment polarity pattern and serves as a strong predictor of which parameter sets will succeed in forming the pattern. Although the original model was robust to parameter variation, it could not reproduce the observed effects of cell division on the pattern of gene expression. I present a modified version that incorporates recent experimental evidence and does successfully mimic the consequences of cell division. The behavior of this modified model can also be understood in terms of bistability in positive feedback of gene expression. I discuss how this topological property of networks provides robust pattern formation and how large changes in parameters can change the specific pattern produced by a network.

Automated seeding-based nuclei segmentation in nonlinear optical microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Medyukhina, Anna; Meyer, Tobias; Heuke, Sandro; Vogler, Nadine; Dietzek, Benjamin; Popp, Jürgen

2013-10-01

Nonlinear optical (NLO) microscopy based, e.g., on coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) or two-photon-excited fluorescence (TPEF) is a fast label-free imaging technique, with a great potential for biomedical applications. However, NLO microscopy as a diagnostic tool is still in its infancy; there is a lack of robust and durable nuclei segmentation methods capable of accurate image processing in cases of variable image contrast, nuclear density, and type of investigated tissue. Nonetheless, such algorithms specifically adapted to NLO microscopy present one prerequisite for the technology to be routinely used, e.g., in pathology or intraoperatively for surgical guidance. In this paper, we compare the applicability of different seeding and boundary detection methods to NLO microscopic images in order to develop an optimal seeding-based approach capable of accurate segmentation of both TPEF and CARS images. Among different methods, the Laplacian of Gaussian filter showed the best accuracy for the seeding of the image, while a modified seeded watershed segmentation was the most accurate in the task of boundary detection. The resulting combination of these methods followed by the verification of the detected nuclei performs high average sensitivity and specificity when applied to various types of NLO microscopy images.

Indoxyl Sulfate as a Mediator Involved in Dysregulation of Pulmonary Aquaporin-5 in Acute Lung Injury Caused by Acute Kidney Injury

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nozomi Yabuuchi

2016-12-01

Full Text Available High mortality of acute kidney injury (AKI is associated with acute lung injury (ALI, which is a typical complication of AKI. Although it is suggested that dysregulation of lung salt and water channels following AKI plays a pivotal role in ALI, the mechanism of its dysregulation has not been elucidated. Here, we examined the involvement of a typical oxidative stress-inducing uremic toxin, indoxyl sulfate (IS, in the dysregulation of the pulmonary predominant water channel, aquaporin 5 (AQP-5, in bilateral nephrectomy (BNx-induced AKI model rats. BNx evoked AKI with the increases in serum creatinine (SCr, blood urea nitrogen (BUN and serum IS levels and exhibited thickening of interstitial tissue in the lung. Administration of AST-120, clinically-used oral spherical adsorptive carbon beads, resulted in a significant decrease in serum IS level and thickening of interstitial tissue, which was accompanied with the decreases in IS accumulation in various tissues, especially lung. Interestingly, a significant decrease in AQP-5 expression of lung was observed in BNx rats. Moreover, the BNx-induced decrease in pulmonary AQP-5 protein expression was markedly restored by oral administration of AST-120. These results suggest that BNx-induced AKI causes dysregulation of pulmonary AQP-5 expression, in which IS could play a toxico-physiological role as a mediator involved in renopulmonary crosstalk.

Research on segmentation based on multi-atlas in brain MR image

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Yuejing

2018-03-01

Accurate segmentation of specific tissues in brain MR image can be effectively achieved with the multi-atlas-based segmentation method, and the accuracy mainly depends on the image registration accuracy and fusion scheme. This paper proposes an automatic segmentation method based on the multi-atlas for brain MR image. Firstly, to improve the registration accuracy in the area to be segmented, we employ a target-oriented image registration method for the refinement. Then In the label fusion, we proposed a new algorithm to detect the abnormal sparse patch and simultaneously abandon the corresponding abnormal sparse coefficients, this method is made based on the remaining sparse coefficients combined with the multipoint label estimator strategy. The performance of the proposed method was compared with those of the nonlocal patch-based label fusion method (Nonlocal-PBM), the sparse patch-based label fusion method (Sparse-PBM) and majority voting method (MV). Based on our experimental results, the proposed method is efficient in the brain MR images segmentation compared with MV, Nonlocal-PBM, and Sparse-PBM methods.

Neonatal Brain Tissue Classification with Morphological Adaptation and Unified Segmentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard eBeare

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Measuring the distribution of brain tissue types (tissue classification in neonates is necessary for studying typical and atypical brain development, such as that associated with preterm birth, and may provide biomarkers for neurodevelopmental outcomes. Compared with magnetic resonance images of adults, neonatal images present specific challenges that require the development of specialized, population-specific methods. This paper introduces MANTiS (Morphologically Adaptive Neonatal Tissue Segmentation, which extends the unified segmentation approach to tissue classification implemented in Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM software to neonates. MANTiS utilizes a combination of unified segmentation, template adaptation via morphological segmentation tools and topological filtering, to segment the neonatal brain into eight tissue classes: cortical gray matter, white matter, deep nuclear gray matter, cerebellum, brainstem, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF, hippocampus and amygdala. We evaluated the performance of MANTiS using two independent datasets. The first dataset, provided by the NeoBrainS12 challenge, consisted of coronal T2-weighted images of preterm infants (born ≤30 weeks’ gestation acquired at 30 weeks’ corrected gestational age (n= 5, coronal T2-weighted images of preterm infants acquired at 40 weeks’ corrected gestational age (n= 5 and axial T2-weighted images of preterm infants acquired at 40 weeks’ corrected gestational age (n= 5. The second dataset, provided by the Washington University NeuroDevelopmental Research (WUNDeR group, consisted of T2-weighted images of preterm infants (born <30 weeks’ gestation acquired shortly after birth (n= 12, preterm infants acquired at term-equivalent age (n= 12, and healthy term-born infants (born ≥38 weeks’ gestation acquired within the first nine days of life (n= 12. For the NeoBrainS12 dataset, mean Dice scores comparing MANTiS with manual segmentations were all above 0.7, except for

Automated image alignment and segmentation to follow progression of geographic atrophy in age-related macular degeneration.

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Ramsey, David J; Sunness, Janet S; Malviya, Poorva; Applegate, Carol; Hager, Gregory D; Handa, James T

2014-07-01

To develop a computer-based image segmentation method for standardizing the quantification of geographic atrophy (GA). The authors present an automated image segmentation method based on the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm for the detection of GA lesions. The method is evaluated by comparing computerized segmentation against outlines of GA drawn by an expert grader for a longitudinal series of fundus autofluorescence images with paired 30° color fundus photographs for 10 patients. The automated segmentation method showed excellent agreement with an expert grader for fundus autofluorescence images, achieving a performance level of 94 ± 5% sensitivity and 98 ± 2% specificity on a per-pixel basis for the detection of GA area, but performed less well on color fundus photographs with a sensitivity of 47 ± 26% and specificity of 98 ± 2%. The segmentation algorithm identified 75 ± 16% of the GA border correctly in fundus autofluorescence images compared with just 42 ± 25% for color fundus photographs. The results of this study demonstrate a promising computerized segmentation method that may enhance the reproducibility of GA measurement and provide an objective strategy to assist an expert in the grading of images.

Getting too sweet: galectin-1 dysregulation in gestational diabetes mellitus.

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Blois, Sandra M; Gueuvoghlanian-Silva, Barbara Y; Tirado-González, Irene; Torloni, Maria R; Freitag, Nancy; Mattar, Rosiane; Conrad, Melanie L; Unverdorben, Laura; Barrientos, Gabriela; Knabl, Julia; Toldi, Gergely; Molvarec, Attila; Rose, Matthias; Markert, Udo R; Jeschke, Udo; Daher, Silvia

2014-07-01

Galectin-1 (gal-1) is a prototype carbohydrate-binding protein, whose dysregulation is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes such as spontaneous abortion and pre-eclampsia. Furthermore, it is known that faulty gal-1 protein production or gene regulation can be caused by single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the LGALS1 gene. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is also an adverse pregnancy outcome and the most common metabolic disorder during gestation. However, gal-1 expression patterns during GDM remain largely unknown. Our aims were to define local and peripheral gal-1 expression patterns during pregnancy, and to investigate LGALS1 gene polymorphisms in GDM patients. Circulating gal-1 levels were determined by ELISA in GDM patients and normal pregnant controls, and LGALS1 gene polymorphisms were assessed for association with GDM. Placental tissues were collected from control and GDM term pregnancies to evaluate local gal-1 expression by immunofluorescence. Our results show that GDM is associated with a failure to increase circulating gal-1 levels during the second and third trimester, as well as overexpression of gal-1 in placental tissue. Additionally, the LGALS1 polymorphism rs4820294 was associated with the development of GDM. In pregnancies complicated by GDM, we observed gal-1 dysregulation both locally in the placenta and peripherally in the circulation. Furthermore, the association between the LGALS1 polymorphism and GDM may indicate a genetic contribution to this adverse pregnancy outcome. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

CT image segmentation methods for bone used in medical additive manufacturing.

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van Eijnatten, Maureen; van Dijk, Roelof; Dobbe, Johannes; Streekstra, Geert; Koivisto, Juha; Wolff, Jan

2018-01-01

The accuracy of additive manufactured medical constructs is limited by errors introduced during image segmentation. The aim of this study was to review the existing literature on different image segmentation methods used in medical additive manufacturing. Thirty-two publications that reported on the accuracy of bone segmentation based on computed tomography images were identified using PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The advantages and disadvantages of the different segmentation methods used in these studies were evaluated and reported accuracies were compared. The spread between the reported accuracies was large (0.04 mm - 1.9 mm). Global thresholding was the most commonly used segmentation method with accuracies under 0.6 mm. The disadvantage of this method is the extensive manual post-processing required. Advanced thresholding methods could improve the accuracy to under 0.38 mm. However, such methods are currently not included in commercial software packages. Statistical shape model methods resulted in accuracies from 0.25 mm to 1.9 mm but are only suitable for anatomical structures with moderate anatomical variations. Thresholding remains the most widely used segmentation method in medical additive manufacturing. To improve the accuracy and reduce the costs of patient-specific additive manufactured constructs, more advanced segmentation methods are required. Copyright © 2017 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Efficient Parallel Multi-Scale Segmentation Method for Remote Sensing Imagery

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Haiyan Gu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Remote sensing (RS image segmentation is an essential step in geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA to ultimately derive “meaningful objects”. While many segmentation methods exist, most of them are not efficient for large data sets. Thus, the goal of this research is to develop an efficient parallel multi-scale segmentation method for RS imagery by combining graph theory and the fractal net evolution approach (FNEA. Specifically, a minimum spanning tree (MST algorithm in graph theory is proposed to be combined with a minimum heterogeneity rule (MHR algorithm that is used in FNEA. The MST algorithm is used for the initial segmentation while the MHR algorithm is used for object merging. An efficient implementation of the segmentation strategy is presented using data partition and the “reverse searching-forward processing” chain based on message passing interface (MPI parallel technology. Segmentation results of the proposed method using images from multiple sensors (airborne, SPECIM AISA EAGLE II, WorldView-2, RADARSAT-2 and different selected landscapes (residential/industrial, residential/agriculture covering four test sites indicated its efficiency in accuracy and speed. We conclude that the proposed method is applicable and efficient for the segmentation of a variety of RS imagery (airborne optical, satellite optical, SAR, high-spectral, while the accuracy is comparable with that of the FNEA method.

Automatic segmentation of closed-contour features in ophthalmic images using graph theory and dynamic programming

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Chiu, Stephanie J.; Toth, Cynthia A.; Bowes Rickman, Catherine; Izatt, Joseph A.; Farsiu, Sina

2012-01-01

This paper presents a generalized framework for segmenting closed-contour anatomical and pathological features using graph theory and dynamic programming (GTDP). More specifically, the GTDP method previously developed for quantifying retinal and corneal layer thicknesses is extended to segment objects such as cells and cysts. The presented technique relies on a transform that maps closed-contour features in the Cartesian domain into lines in the quasi-polar domain. The features of interest are then segmented as layers via GTDP. Application of this method to segment closed-contour features in several ophthalmic image types is shown. Quantitative validation experiments for retinal pigmented epithelium cell segmentation in confocal fluorescence microscopy images attests to the accuracy of the presented technique. PMID:22567602

Joint shape segmentation with linear programming

KAUST Repository

Huang, Qixing

2011-01-01

We present an approach to segmenting shapes in a heterogenous shape database. Our approach segments the shapes jointly, utilizing features from multiple shapes to improve the segmentation of each. The approach is entirely unsupervised and is based on an integer quadratic programming formulation of the joint segmentation problem. The program optimizes over possible segmentations of individual shapes as well as over possible correspondences between segments from multiple shapes. The integer quadratic program is solved via a linear programming relaxation, using a block coordinate descent procedure that makes the optimization feasible for large databases. We evaluate the presented approach on the Princeton segmentation benchmark and show that joint shape segmentation significantly outperforms single-shape segmentation techniques. © 2011 ACM.

Segmentation-DrivenTomographic Reconstruction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kongskov, Rasmus Dalgas

such that the segmentation subsequently can be carried out by use of a simple segmentation method, for instance just a thresholding method. We tested the advantages of going from a two-stage reconstruction method to a one stage segmentation-driven reconstruction method for the phase contrast tomography reconstruction......The tomographic reconstruction problem is concerned with creating a model of the interior of an object from some measured data, typically projections of the object. After reconstructing an object it is often desired to segment it, either automatically or manually. For computed tomography (CT...

Lumbar segmental instability: a criterion-related validity study of manual therapy assessment

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Chapple Cathy

2005-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Musculoskeletal physiotherapists routinely assess lumbar segmental motion during the clinical examination of a patient with low back pain. The validity of manual assessment of segmental motion has not, however, been adequately investigated. Methods In this prospective, multi-centre, pragmatic, diagnostic validity study, 138 consecutive patients with recurrent or chronic low back pain (R/CLBP were recruited. Physiotherapists with post-graduate training in manual therapy performed passive accessory intervertebral motion tests (PAIVMs and passive physiological intervertebral motion tests (PPIVMs. Consenting patients were referred for flexion-extension radiographs. Sagittal angular rotation and sagittal translation of each lumbar spinal motion segment was measured from these radiographs, and compared to a reference range derived from a study of 30 asymptomatic volunteers. Motion beyond two standard deviations from the reference mean was considered diagnostic of rotational lumbar segmental instability (LSI and translational LSI. Accuracy and validity of the clinical assessments were expressed using sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratio statistics with 95% confidence intervals (CI. Results Only translation LSI was found to be significantly associated with R/CLBP (p Conclusion This study provides the first evidence reporting the concurrent validity of manual tests for the detection of abnormal sagittal planar motion. PAIVMs and PPIVMs are highly specific, but not sensitive, for the detection of translation LSI. Likelihood ratios resulting from positive test results were only moderate. This research indicates that manual clinical examination procedures have moderate validity for detecting segmental motion abnormality.

Vasopressin-induced constriction of the isolated rat occipital artery is segment dependent.

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Chelko, Stephen P; Schmiedt, Chad W; Lewis, Tristan H; Lewis, Stephen J; Robertson, Tom P

2013-01-01

Circulating factors delivered to the nodose ganglion (NG) by the occipital artery (OA) have been shown to affect vagal afferent activity, and thus the contractile state of the OA may influence blood flow to the NG. OA were isolated and bisected into proximal and distal segments relative to the external carotid artery. Bisection highlighted stark differences between maximal contractile responses and OA sensitivity. Specifically, maximum responses to vasopressin and the V1 receptor agonist were significantly higher in distal than proximal segments. Distal segments were significantly more sensitive to 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and the 5-HT2 receptor agonist than proximal segments. Angiotensin II (AT)2, V2 and 5-HT(1B/1D) receptor agonists did not elicit vascular responses. Additionally, AT1 receptor agonists elicited mild, yet not significantly different maximal responses between segments. The results of this study are consistent with contractile properties of rat OA being mediated via AT1, V1 and 5-HT2 receptors and dependent upon the OA segment. Furthermore, vasopressin-induced constriction of the OA, regardless of a bolus dose or a first and second concentration-response curve, retained this unique segmental difference. We hypothesize that these segmental differences may be important in the regulation of blood flow through the OA in health and disease. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Rediscovering market segmentation.

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Yankelovich, Daniel; Meer, David

2006-02-01

In 1964, Daniel Yankelovich introduced in the pages of HBR the concept of nondemographic segmentation, by which he meant the classification of consumers according to criteria other than age, residence, income, and such. The predictive power of marketing studies based on demographics was no longer strong enough to serve as a basis for marketing strategy, he argued. Buying patterns had become far better guides to consumers' future purchases. In addition, properly constructed nondemographic segmentations could help companies determine which products to develop, which distribution channels to sell them in, how much to charge for them, and how to advertise them. But more than 40 years later, nondemographic segmentation has become just as unenlightening as demographic segmentation had been. Today, the technique is used almost exclusively to fulfill the needs of advertising, which it serves mainly by populating commercials with characters that viewers can identify with. It is true that psychographic types like "High-Tech Harry" and "Joe Six-Pack" may capture some truth about real people's lifestyles, attitudes, self-image, and aspirations. But they are no better than demographics at predicting purchase behavior. Thus they give corporate decision makers very little idea of how to keep customers or capture new ones. Now, Daniel Yankelovich returns to these pages, with consultant David Meer, to argue the case for a broad view of nondemographic segmentation. They describe the elements of a smart segmentation strategy, explaining how segmentations meant to strengthen brand identity differ from those capable of telling a company which markets it should enter and what goods to make. And they introduce their "gravity of decision spectrum", a tool that focuses on the form of consumer behavior that should be of the greatest interest to marketers--the importance that consumers place on a product or product category.

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder Symptoms by Age in Autism, ADHD, and General Population Samples

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Mayes, Susan Dickerson; Kokotovich, Cari; Mathiowetz, Christine; Baweja, Raman; Calhoun, Susan L.; Waxmonsky, James

2017-01-01

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) is a controversial "DSM-5" diagnosis. It is not known how DMDD symptoms vary by age and if differences are similar for autism, ADHD, and general population samples. Our study analyzed the two DMDD symptoms (irritable-angry mood and temper outbursts) in 1,827 children with autism or ADHD (with…

Automated vessel segmentation using cross-correlation and pooled covariance matrix analysis.

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Du, Jiang; Karimi, Afshin; Wu, Yijing; Korosec, Frank R; Grist, Thomas M; Mistretta, Charles A

2011-04-01

Time-resolved contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) provides contrast dynamics in the vasculature and allows vessel segmentation based on temporal correlation analysis. Here we present an automated vessel segmentation algorithm including automated generation of regions of interest (ROIs), cross-correlation and pooled sample covariance matrix analysis. The dynamic images are divided into multiple equal-sized regions. In each region, ROIs for artery, vein and background are generated using an iterative thresholding algorithm based on the contrast arrival time map and contrast enhancement map. Region-specific multi-feature cross-correlation analysis and pooled covariance matrix analysis are performed to calculate the Mahalanobis distances (MDs), which are used to automatically separate arteries from veins. This segmentation algorithm is applied to a dual-phase dynamic imaging acquisition scheme where low-resolution time-resolved images are acquired during the dynamic phase followed by high-frequency data acquisition at the steady-state phase. The segmented low-resolution arterial and venous images are then combined with the high-frequency data in k-space and inverse Fourier transformed to form the final segmented arterial and venous images. Results from volunteer and patient studies demonstrate the advantages of this automated vessel segmentation and dual phase data acquisition technique. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Intradomain phase transitions in flexible block copolymers with self-aligning segments

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Burke, Christopher J.; Grason, Gregory M.

2018-05-01

We study a model of flexible block copolymers (BCPs) in which there is an enlthalpic preference for orientational order, or local alignment, among like-block segments. We describe a generalization of the self-consistent field theory of flexible BCPs to include inter-segment orientational interactions via a Landau-de Gennes free energy associated with a polar or nematic order parameter for segments of one component of a diblock copolymer. We study the equilibrium states of this model numerically, using a pseudo-spectral approach to solve for chain conformation statistics in the presence of a self-consistent torque generated by inter-segment alignment forces. Applying this theory to the structure of lamellar domains composed of symmetric diblocks possessing a single block of "self-aligning" polar segments, we show the emergence of spatially complex segment order parameters (segment director fields) within a given lamellar domain. Because BCP phase separation gives rise to spatially inhomogeneous orientation order of segments even in the absence of explicit intra-segment aligning forces, the director fields of BCPs, as well as thermodynamics of lamellar domain formation, exhibit a highly non-linear dependence on both the inter-block segregation (χN) and the enthalpy of alignment (ɛ). Specifically, we predict the stability of new phases of lamellar order in which distinct regions of alignment coexist within the single mesodomain and spontaneously break the symmetries of the lamella (or smectic) pattern of composition in the melt via in-plane tilt of the director in the centers of the like-composition domains. We further show that, in analogy to Freedericksz transition confined nematics, the elastic costs to reorient segments within the domain, as described by the Frank elasticity of the director, increase the threshold value ɛ needed to induce this intra-domain phase transition.

Vasopressin-induced constriction of the isolated rat occipital artery is segment-dependent

Science.gov (United States)

Chelko, Stephen P.; Schmiedt, Chad W.; Lewis, Tristan H.; Lewis, Stephen J.; Robertson, Tom P.

2014-01-01

Background Circulating factors delivered to the nodose ganglion (NG) by the occipital artery (OA) have shown to affect vagal afferent activity, and thus the contractile state of the OA may influence blood flow to the NG. Methods OA were isolated and bisected into proximal and distal segments, relative to the external carotid artery. Results Bisection, highlighted stark differences between maximal contractile responses and OA sensitivity. Specifically, maximum responses to vasopressin and the V1 receptor agonist, were significantly higher in distal than proximal segments. Distal segments were significantly more sensitive to 5-HT and the 5-HT2 receptor agonist than proximal segments. AT2, V2 and 5-HT1B/1D receptor agonists did not elicit vascular responses. Additionally, AT1 receptor agonists elicited mild, yet not significantly different maximal responses between segments. Conclusion The results of this study are consistent with contractile properties of rat OA being mediated via AT1, V1 and 5-HT2 receptors, and are dependent upon the OA segment. Furthermore, vasopressin-induced constriction of the OA, regardless of a bolus dose or a first and second concentration response curve retained this unique segmental difference and therefore we hypothesize this may be a pathophysiological response in the regulation of blood flow through the OA. PMID:24192548

A systematic review of definitions and classification systems of adjacent segment pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kraemer, Paul; Fehlings, Michael G; Hashimoto, Robin; Lee, Michael J; Anderson, Paul A; Chapman, Jens R; Raich, Annie; Norvell, Daniel C

2012-10-15

Systematic review. To undertake a systematic review to determine how "adjacent segment degeneration," "adjacent segment disease," or clinical pathological processes that serve as surrogates for adjacent segment pathology are classified and defined in the peer-reviewed literature. Adjacent segment degeneration and adjacent segment disease are terms referring to degenerative changes known to occur after reconstructive spine surgery, most commonly at an immediately adjacent functional spinal unit. These can include disc degeneration, instability, spinal stenosis, facet degeneration, and deformity. The true incidence and clinical impact of degenerative changes at the adjacent segment is unclear because there is lack of a universally accepted classification system that rigorously addresses clinical and radiological issues. A systematic review of the English language literature was undertaken and articles were classified using the Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria. RESULTS.: Seven classification systems of spinal degeneration, including degeneration at the adjacent segment, were identified. None have been evaluated for reliability or validity specific to patients with degeneration at the adjacent segment. The ways in which terms related to adjacent segment "degeneration" or "disease" are defined in the peer-reviewed literature are highly variable. On the basis of the systematic review presented in this article, no formal classification system for either cervical or thoracolumbar adjacent segment disorders currently exists. No recommendations regarding the use of current classification of degeneration at any segments can be made based on the available literature. A new comprehensive definition for adjacent segment pathology (ASP, the now preferred terminology) has been proposed in this Focus Issue, which reflects the diverse pathology observed at functional spinal units adjacent to previous spinal reconstruction and balances

Targeting Political Communications: A Problem in Market Segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Markwart, Richard I.

Political campaigns are major, high-budget marketing efforts, but because they are usually managed by people with little training in either marketing or communications, they fail to persuade voters to vote in the desired way. Political targeting can be treated as a segmentation problem, one of identifying and responding to the specific qualities…

Reflection symmetry-integrated image segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yu; Bhanu, Bir

2012-09-01

This paper presents a new symmetry-integrated region-based image segmentation method. The method is developed to obtain improved image segmentation by exploiting image symmetry. It is realized by constructing a symmetry token that can be flexibly embedded into segmentation cues. Interesting points are initially extracted from an image by the SIFT operator and they are further refined for detecting the global bilateral symmetry. A symmetry affinity matrix is then computed using the symmetry axis and it is used explicitly as a constraint in a region growing algorithm in order to refine the symmetry of the segmented regions. A multi-objective genetic search finds the segmentation result with the highest performance for both segmentation and symmetry, which is close to the global optimum. The method has been investigated experimentally in challenging natural images and images containing man-made objects. It is shown that the proposed method outperforms current segmentation methods both with and without exploiting symmetry. A thorough experimental analysis indicates that symmetry plays an important role as a segmentation cue, in conjunction with other attributes like color and texture.

Fully convolutional neural networks improve abdominal organ segmentation

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Bobo, Meg F.; Bao, Shunxing; Huo, Yuankai; Yao, Yuang; Virostko, Jack; Plassard, Andrew J.; Lyu, Ilwoo; Assad, Albert; Abramson, Richard G.; Hilmes, Melissa A.; Landman, Bennett A.

2018-03-01

Abdominal image segmentation is a challenging, yet important clinical problem. Variations in body size, position, and relative organ positions greatly complicate the segmentation process. Historically, multi-atlas methods have achieved leading results across imaging modalities and anatomical targets. However, deep learning is rapidly overtaking classical approaches for image segmentation. Recently, Zhou et al. showed that fully convolutional networks produce excellent results in abdominal organ segmentation of computed tomography (CT) scans. Yet, deep learning approaches have not been applied to whole abdomen magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) segmentation. Herein, we evaluate the applicability of an existing fully convolutional neural network (FCNN) designed for CT imaging to segment abdominal organs on T2 weighted (T2w) MRI's with two examples. In the primary example, we compare a classical multi-atlas approach with FCNN on forty-five T2w MRI's acquired from splenomegaly patients with five organs labeled (liver, spleen, left kidney, right kidney, and stomach). Thirty-six images were used for training while nine were used for testing. The FCNN resulted in a Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 0.930 in spleens, 0.730 in left kidneys, 0.780 in right kidneys, 0.913 in livers, and 0.556 in stomachs. The performance measures for livers, spleens, right kidneys, and stomachs were significantly better than multi-atlas (p < 0.05, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). In a secondary example, we compare the multi-atlas approach with FCNN on 138 distinct T2w MRI's with manually labeled pancreases (one label). On the pancreas dataset, the FCNN resulted in a median DSC of 0.691 in pancreases versus 0.287 for multi-atlas. The results are highly promising given relatively limited training data and without specific training of the FCNN model and illustrate the potential of deep learning approaches to transcend imaging modalities. 1

Steroid dysregulation and stomatodynia (burning mouth syndrome).

Science.gov (United States)

Woda, Alain; Dao, Thuan; Gremeau-Richard, Christelle

2009-01-01

Stomatodynia ( burning mouth syndrome) is characterized by a spontaneous, continuous burning pain felt in the oral mucosa typically of anxiodepressive menopausal women. Because there is no obvious organic cause, it is considered a nonspecific pain. This Focus Article proposes a hypothesis based on the following pathophysiological cascade: chronic anxiety or post traumatic stress leads to a dysregulation of the adrenal production of steroids. One consequence is a decreased or modified production of some major precursors for the neuroactive steroid synthesis occurring in the skin, mucosa, and nervous system. At menopause, the drastic fall of the other main precursor supply , the gonadal steroids, leads to a brisk alteration of the production of neuroactive steroids. This results in neurodegenerative alterations of small nerves fibers of the oral mucosa and /or some brain areas involved in oral somatic sensations. These neuropathic changes become irreversible and precipitate the burning pain, dysgeusia, and xerostomia associated with stomatodynia, which all involve thin nerve fibers.

Genome Wide Expression Profiling of Cancer Cell Lines Cultured in Microgravity Reveals Significant Dysregulation of Cell Cycle and MicroRNA Gene Networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prasanna Vidyasekar

Full Text Available Zero gravity causes several changes in metabolic and functional aspects of the human body and experiments in space flight have demonstrated alterations in cancer growth and progression. This study reports the genome wide expression profiling of a colorectal cancer cell line-DLD-1, and a lymphoblast leukemic cell line-MOLT-4, under simulated microgravity in an effort to understand central processes and cellular functions that are dysregulated among both cell lines. Altered cell morphology, reduced cell viability and an aberrant cell cycle profile in comparison to their static controls were observed in both cell lines under microgravity. The process of cell cycle in DLD-1 cells was markedly affected with reduced viability, reduced colony forming ability, an apoptotic population and dysregulation of cell cycle genes, oncogenes, and cancer progression and prognostic markers. DNA microarray analysis revealed 1801 (upregulated and 2542 (downregulated genes (>2 fold in DLD-1 cultures under microgravity while MOLT-4 cultures differentially expressed 349 (upregulated and 444 (downregulated genes (>2 fold under microgravity. The loss in cell proliferative capacity was corroborated with the downregulation of the cell cycle process as demonstrated by functional clustering of DNA microarray data using gene ontology terms. The genome wide expression profile also showed significant dysregulation of post transcriptional gene silencing machinery and multiple microRNA host genes that are potential tumor suppressors and proto-oncogenes including MIR22HG, MIR17HG and MIR21HG. The MIR22HG, a tumor-suppressor gene was one of the highest upregulated genes in the microarray data showing a 4.4 log fold upregulation under microgravity. Real time PCR validated the dysregulation in the host gene by demonstrating a 4.18 log fold upregulation of the miR-22 microRNA. Microarray data also showed dysregulation of direct targets of miR-22, SP1, CDK6 and CCNA2.

A JOINT FRAMEWORK FOR 4D SEGMENTATION AND ESTIMATION OF SMOOTH TEMPORAL APPEARANCE CHANGES.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Yang; Prastawa, Marcel; Styner, Martin; Piven, Joseph; Gerig, Guido

2014-04-01

Medical imaging studies increasingly use longitudinal images of individual subjects in order to follow-up changes due to development, degeneration, disease progression or efficacy of therapeutic intervention. Repeated image data of individuals are highly correlated, and the strong causality of information over time lead to the development of procedures for joint segmentation of the series of scans, called 4D segmentation. A main aim was improved consistency of quantitative analysis, most often solved via patient-specific atlases. Challenging open problems are contrast changes and occurance of subclasses within tissue as observed in multimodal MRI of infant development, neurodegeneration and disease. This paper proposes a new 4D segmentation framework that enforces continuous dynamic changes of tissue contrast patterns over time as observed in such data. Moreover, our model includes the capability to segment different contrast patterns within a specific tissue class, for example as seen in myelinated and unmyelinated white matter regions in early brain development. Proof of concept is shown with validation on synthetic image data and with 4D segmentation of longitudinal, multimodal pediatric MRI taken at 6, 12 and 24 months of age, but the methodology is generic w.r.t. different application domains using serial imaging.

METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE SEGMENTATION OF HOUSEHOLD ENERGY CONSUMERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maxim Alexandru

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Over the last decade, the World has shown increased concern for climate change and energy security. The emergence of these issues has pushed many nations to pursue the development of clean domestic electricity production via renewable energy (RE technologies. However, RE also comes with a higher production and investment cost, compared to most conventional fossil fuel based technologies. In order to analyse exactly how Romanian electricity consumers feel about the advantages and the disadvantages of RE, we have decided to perform a comprehensive study, which will constitute the core of a doctoral thesis regarding the Romanian energy sector and household consumers’ willingness to pay for the positive attributes of RE. The current paper represents one step toward achieving the objectives of the above mentioned research, specifically dealing with the issue of segmenting household energy consumers given the context of the Romanian energy sector. It is an argumentative literature review, which seeks to critically assess the methodology used for customer segmentation in general and for household energy users in particular. Building on the experience of previous studies, the paper aims to determine the most adequate segmentation procedure given the context and the objectives of the overall doctoral research. After assessing the advantages and disadvantages of various methodologies, a psychographic segmentation of household consumers based on general life practices is chosen, mainly because it provides more insights into consumers compared to traditional socio-demographic segmentation by focusing on lifestyles and not external characteristics, but it is also realistically implementable compared to more complex procedures such as the standard AIO. However, the life practice scale developed by Axsen et al. (2012 will need to be properly adapted to the specific objectives of the study and to the context of the Romanian energy sector. All modifications

Lung segment geometry study: simulation of largest possible tumours that fit into bronchopulmonary segments.

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Welter, S; Stöcker, C; Dicken, V; Kühl, H; Krass, S; Stamatis, G

2012-03-01

Segmental resection in stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been well described and is considered to have similar survival rates as lobectomy but with increased rates of local tumour recurrence due to inadequate parenchymal margins. In consequence, today segmentectomy is only performed when the tumour is smaller than 2 cm. Three-dimensional reconstructions from 11 thin-slice CT scans of bronchopulmonary segments were generated, and virtual spherical tumours were placed over the segments, respecting all segmental borders. As a next step, virtual parenchymal safety margins of 2 cm and 3 cm were subtracted and the size of the remaining tumour calculated. The maximum tumour diameters with a 30-mm parenchymal safety margin ranged from 26.1 mm in right-sided segments 7 + 8 to 59.8 mm in the left apical segments 1-3. Using a three-dimensional reconstruction of lung CT scans, we demonstrated that segmentectomy or resection of segmental groups should be feasible with adequate margins, even for larger tumours in selected cases. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Morphometric Atlas Selection for Automatic Brachial Plexus Segmentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van de Velde, Joris; Wouters, Johan; Vercauteren, Tom; De Gersem, Werner; Duprez, Fréderic; De Neve, Wilfried; Van Hoof, Tom

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of atlas selection based on different morphometric parameters, on the accuracy of automatic brachial plexus (BP) segmentation for radiation therapy planning. The segmentation accuracy was measured by comparing all of the generated automatic segmentations with anatomically validated gold standard atlases developed using cadavers. Methods and Materials: Twelve cadaver computed tomography (CT) atlases (3 males, 9 females; mean age: 73 years) were included in the study. One atlas was selected to serve as a patient, and the other 11 atlases were registered separately onto this “patient” using deformable image registration. This procedure was repeated for every atlas as a patient. Next, the Dice and Jaccard similarity indices and inclusion index were calculated for every registered BP with the original gold standard BP. In parallel, differences in several morphometric parameters that may influence the BP segmentation accuracy were measured for the different atlases. Specific brachial plexus-related CT-visible bony points were used to define the morphometric parameters. Subsequently, correlations between the similarity indices and morphometric parameters were calculated. Results: A clear negative correlation between difference in protraction-retraction distance and the similarity indices was observed (mean Pearson correlation coefficient = −0.546). All of the other investigated Pearson correlation coefficients were weak. Conclusions: Differences in the shoulder protraction-retraction position between the atlas and the patient during planning CT influence the BP autosegmentation accuracy. A greater difference in the protraction-retraction distance between the atlas and the patient reduces the accuracy of the BP automatic segmentation result

Parental Interpersonal Sensitivity and Youth Social Problems: A Mediational Role for Child Emotion Dysregulation

Science.gov (United States)

Suveg, Cynthia; Jacob, Marni L.; Payne, Mary

2010-01-01

We examined the relations between parental interpersonal sensitivity and youth social problems and explored the mediational role of child emotion dysregulation. Mothers (N = 42; M age = 39.38) and fathers (N = 41; M age = 39.38) of youth aged 7-12 (N = 42; M age = 9.12) completed measures of their own interpersonal sensitivity and reported on…

Transmission of Neglect in Substance Abuse Families: The Role of Child Dysregulation and Parental SUD.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Marija G.; Mezzich, Ada; Janiszewski, Susan; Kirisci, Levent; Tarter, Ralph E.

2001-01-01

Paternal and maternal models of transmission of child neglect were tested separately in offspring of men with a substance use disorder (SUD). Child dysregulation was independently related to neglect severity. SUD in the mother directly correlated with severity of neglectful parenting. (Contains 51 references and 2 tables.) (GCP)

Sipunculans and segmentation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wanninger, Andreas; Kristof, Alen; Brinkmann, Nora

2009-01-01

mechanisms may act on the level of gene expression, cell proliferation, tissue differentiation and organ system formation in individual segments. Accordingly, in some polychaete annelids the first three pairs of segmental peripheral neurons arise synchronously, while the metameric commissures of the ventral...

Fragmented esophageal smooth muscle contraction segments on high resolution manometry: a marker of esophageal hypomotility.

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, R F; Kumar, N; Drapekin, J E; Gyawali, C P

2012-08-01

Esophageal peristalsis consists of a chain of contracting striated and smooth muscle segments on high resolution manometry (HRM). We compared smooth muscle contraction segments in symptomatic subjects with reflux disease to healthy controls. High resolution manometry Clouse plots were analyzed in 110 subjects with reflux disease (50 ± 1.4 years, 51.5% women) and 15 controls (27 ± 2.1 years, 60.0% women). Using the 30 mmHg isobaric contour tool, sequences were designated fragmented if either smooth muscle contraction segment was absent or if the two smooth muscle segments were separated by a pressure trough, and failed if both smooth muscle contraction segments were absent. The discriminative value of contraction segment analysis was assessed. A total of 1115 swallows were analyzed (reflux group: 965, controls: 150). Reflux subjects had lower peak and averaged contraction amplitudes compared with controls (P value to HRM analysis. Specifically, fragmented smooth muscle contraction segments may be a marker of esophageal hypomotility. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Segmentation of urinary bladder in CT Urography (CTU) using CLASS

Science.gov (United States)

Hadjiiski, Lubomir; Chan, Heang-Ping; Law, Yuen; Cohan, Richard H.; Caoili, Elaine M.; Cho, Hyun-Chong; Zhou, Chuan; Wei, Jun

2012-03-01

We are developing a computerized system for bladder segmentation on CTU, as a critical component for computer aided diagnosis of bladder cancer. A challenge for bladder segmentation is the presence of regions without contrast (NC) and filled with IV contrast (C). We are developing a Conjoint Level set Analysis and Segmentation System (CLASS) specifically for this application. CLASS performs a series of image processing tasks: preprocessing, initial segmentation, and 3D and 2D level set segmentation and post-processing, designed according to the characteristics of the bladder in CTU. The NC and the C regions of the bladder were segmented separately in CLASS. The final contour is obtained in the post-processing stage by the union of the NC and C contours. Seventy bladders (31 containing lesions, 24 containing wall thickening, and 15 normal) were segmented. The performance of CLASS was assessed by rating the quality of the contours on a 5-point scale (1= "very poor", 3= "fair", 5 = "excellent"). For the 53 partially contrast-filled bladders, the average quality ratings for the 53 NC and 53 C regions were 4.0+/-0.7 and 4.0+/-1.0, respectively. 46 NC and 41 C regions were given quality ratings of 4 or above. Only 2 NC and 5 C regions had ratings under 3. The average quality ratings for the remaining 12 completely no contrast (NC) and 5 completely contrast-filled (C) bladder contours were 3.3+/-1.0 and 3.4+/-0.5, respectively. After combining the NC and C contours for each of the 70 bladders, 46 had quality ratings of 4 or above. Only 4 had ratings under 3. The average quality rating was 3.8+/-0.7. The results demonstrate the potential of CLASS for automated segmentation of the bladder.

Using Predictability for Lexical Segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Çöltekin, Çağrı

2017-09-01

This study investigates a strategy based on predictability of consecutive sub-lexical units in learning to segment a continuous speech stream into lexical units using computational modeling and simulations. Lexical segmentation is one of the early challenges during language acquisition, and it has been studied extensively through psycholinguistic experiments as well as computational methods. However, despite strong empirical evidence, the explicit use of predictability of basic sub-lexical units in models of segmentation is underexplored. This paper presents an incremental computational model of lexical segmentation for exploring the usefulness of predictability for lexical segmentation. We show that the predictability cue is a strong cue for segmentation. Contrary to earlier reports in the literature, the strategy yields state-of-the-art segmentation performance with an incremental computational model that uses only this particular cue in a cognitively plausible setting. The paper also reports an in-depth analysis of the model, investigating the conditions affecting the usefulness of the strategy. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Efficient graph-cut tattoo segmentation

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Joonsoo; Parra, Albert; Li, He; Delp, Edward J.

2015-03-01

Law enforcement is interested in exploiting tattoos as an information source to identify, track and prevent gang-related crimes. Many tattoo image retrieval systems have been described. In a retrieval system tattoo segmentation is an important step for retrieval accuracy since segmentation removes background information in a tattoo image. Existing segmentation methods do not extract the tattoo very well when the background includes textures and color similar to skin tones. In this paper we describe a tattoo segmentation approach by determining skin pixels in regions near the tattoo. In these regions graph-cut segmentation using a skin color model and a visual saliency map is used to find skin pixels. After segmentation we determine which set of skin pixels are connected with each other that form a closed contour including a tattoo. The regions surrounded by the closed contours are considered tattoo regions. Our method segments tattoos well when the background includes textures and color similar to skin.

Novel Music Segmentation Interface and the Jazz Tune Collection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodríguez López, M.E.; Bountouridis, D.; Volk, A.

2015-01-01

In this paper we present MOSSA, an easy-to-use interface for mobile devices, developed to annotate the segment structure of music. Moreover, we present the jazz tune collection (JTC), a database of 125 Jazz melodies annotated using MOSSA, and developed specifically for benchmarking of computational

Image Segmentation Parameter Optimization Considering Within- and Between-Segment Heterogeneity at Multiple Scale Levels: Test Case for Mapping Residential Areas Using Landsat Imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brian A. Johnson

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Multi-scale/multi-level geographic object-based image analysis (MS-GEOBIA methods are becoming widely-used in remote sensing because single-scale/single-level (SS-GEOBIA methods are often unable to obtain an accurate segmentation and classification of all land use/land cover (LULC types in an image. However, there have been few comparisons between SS-GEOBIA and MS-GEOBIA approaches for the purpose of mapping a specific LULC type, so it is not well understood which is more appropriate for this task. In addition, there are few methods for automating the selection of segmentation parameters for MS-GEOBIA, while manual selection (i.e., trial-and-error approach of parameters can be quite challenging and time-consuming. In this study, we examined SS-GEOBIA and MS-GEOBIA approaches for extracting residential areas in Landsat 8 imagery, and compared naïve and parameter-optimized segmentation approaches to assess whether unsupervised segmentation parameter optimization (USPO could improve the extraction of residential areas. Our main findings were: (i the MS-GEOBIA approaches achieved higher classification accuracies than the SS-GEOBIA approach, and (ii USPO resulted in more accurate MS-GEOBIA classification results while reducing the number of segmentation levels and classification variables considerably.

Japanese migration in contemporary Japan: economic segmentation and interprefectural migration.

Science.gov (United States)

Fukurai, H

1991-01-01

This paper examines the economic segmentation model in explaining 1985-86 Japanese interregional migration. The analysis takes advantage of statistical graphic techniques to illustrate the following substantive issues of interregional migration: (1) to examine whether economic segmentation significantly influences Japanese regional migration and (2) to explain socioeconomic characteristics of prefectures for both in- and out-migration. Analytic techniques include a latent structural equation (LISREL) methodology and statistical residual mapping. The residual dispersion patterns, for instance, suggest the extent to which socioeconomic and geopolitical variables explain migration differences by showing unique clusters of unexplained residuals. The analysis further points out that extraneous factors such as high residential land values, significant commuting populations, and regional-specific cultures and traditions need to be incorporated in the economic segmentation model in order to assess the extent of the model's reliability in explaining the pattern of interprefectural migration.

Automated segmentation of dental CBCT image with prior-guided sequential random forests

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Li; Gao, Yaozong; Shi, Feng; Li, Gang [Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7513 (United States); Chen, Ken-Chung; Tang, Zhen [Surgical Planning Laboratory, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas 77030 (United States); Xia, James J., E-mail: dgshen@med.unc.edu, E-mail: JXia@HoustonMethodist.org [Surgical Planning Laboratory, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas 77030 (United States); Department of Surgery (Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery), Weill Medical College, Cornell University, New York, New York 10065 (United States); Department of Oral and Craniomaxillofacial Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai 200011 (China); Shen, Dinggang, E-mail: dgshen@med.unc.edu, E-mail: JXia@HoustonMethodist.org [Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7513 and Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841 (Korea, Republic of)

2016-01-15

Purpose: Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is an increasingly utilized imaging modality for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with craniomaxillofacial (CMF) deformities. Accurate segmentation of CBCT image is an essential step to generate 3D models for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with CMF deformities. However, due to the image artifacts caused by beam hardening, imaging noise, inhomogeneity, truncation, and maximal intercuspation, it is difficult to segment the CBCT. Methods: In this paper, the authors present a new automatic segmentation method to address these problems. Specifically, the authors first employ a majority voting method to estimate the initial segmentation probability maps of both mandible and maxilla based on multiple aligned expert-segmented CBCT images. These probability maps provide an important prior guidance for CBCT segmentation. The authors then extract both the appearance features from CBCTs and the context features from the initial probability maps to train the first-layer of random forest classifier that can select discriminative features for segmentation. Based on the first-layer of trained classifier, the probability maps are updated, which will be employed to further train the next layer of random forest classifier. By iteratively training the subsequent random forest classifier using both the original CBCT features and the updated segmentation probability maps, a sequence of classifiers can be derived for accurate segmentation of CBCT images. Results: Segmentation results on CBCTs of 30 subjects were both quantitatively and qualitatively validated based on manually labeled ground truth. The average Dice ratios of mandible and maxilla by the authors’ method were 0.94 and 0.91, respectively, which are significantly better than the state-of-the-art method based on sparse representation (p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: The authors have developed and validated a novel fully automated method

Automated segmentation of dental CBCT image with prior-guided sequential random forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Li; Gao, Yaozong; Shi, Feng; Li, Gang; Chen, Ken-Chung; Tang, Zhen; Xia, James J.; Shen, Dinggang

2016-01-01

Purpose: Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is an increasingly utilized imaging modality for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with craniomaxillofacial (CMF) deformities. Accurate segmentation of CBCT image is an essential step to generate 3D models for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the patients with CMF deformities. However, due to the image artifacts caused by beam hardening, imaging noise, inhomogeneity, truncation, and maximal intercuspation, it is difficult to segment the CBCT. Methods: In this paper, the authors present a new automatic segmentation method to address these problems. Specifically, the authors first employ a majority voting method to estimate the initial segmentation probability maps of both mandible and maxilla based on multiple aligned expert-segmented CBCT images. These probability maps provide an important prior guidance for CBCT segmentation. The authors then extract both the appearance features from CBCTs and the context features from the initial probability maps to train the first-layer of random forest classifier that can select discriminative features for segmentation. Based on the first-layer of trained classifier, the probability maps are updated, which will be employed to further train the next layer of random forest classifier. By iteratively training the subsequent random forest classifier using both the original CBCT features and the updated segmentation probability maps, a sequence of classifiers can be derived for accurate segmentation of CBCT images. Results: Segmentation results on CBCTs of 30 subjects were both quantitatively and qualitatively validated based on manually labeled ground truth. The average Dice ratios of mandible and maxilla by the authors’ method were 0.94 and 0.91, respectively, which are significantly better than the state-of-the-art method based on sparse representation (p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: The authors have developed and validated a novel fully automated method

Clonal expansion of T-cell receptor beta gene segment in the retrocochlear lesions of EAE mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, K C; Lee, K M; Yoo, T J

1998-01-01

It has been reported that the T cell receptor V beta 8.2 (TcrbV8.2) gene segment is predominantly expressed in encephalomyelitic T cells responding to myelin basic protein (MBP) in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice. We have demonstrated retrocochlear hearing loss in EAE mice in previous studies. Administration of a monoclonal antibody specific to the T cell receptor V beta 8 (TcrbV8) subfamily prevented both this type of hearing loss and the central nerve disease. In this study, we examined the role of the TcrbV8.2 gene segment in the retrocochlear lesions of EAE mice. A clonal expression of T cell receptor beta chain gene segment (TcrbV8.2-TcrbD2-TcrbJ2.7) was identified in the retrocochlear lesions. The TcrbV8.2 gene segment appears to recombine only with TcrbJ2.1 (32.1%) and TcrbJ2.7 (67.9%) gene segments. The TcrbJ2.7 gene segment has also been previously identified as the dominant TcrbJ gene in the lymph nodes of EAE mice. Only TcrbD2, with a length of 4 amino acids, was observed recombining with these TcrbV8.2 sequences. G and C nucleotides are predominantly expressed at the N regions between the V-D and D-J junctions. This dominant TcrbV gene segment (TcrbV8.2-TcrbD2-TcrbJ2.7) observed in the retrocochlear lesions has been identified in the MBP-specific T cells from the lymph nodes of EAE mice. These results suggest that a small subset of antigen-specific T cells migrate to, and expand at, the retrocochlear lesions, which leads to hearing loss.

From the Bottom-Up: Chemotherapy and Gut-Brain Axis Dysregulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bajic, Juliana E; Johnston, Ian N; Howarth, Gordon S; Hutchinson, Mark R

2018-01-01

The central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract form the primary targets of chemotherapy-induced toxicities. Symptoms associated with damage to these regions have been clinically termed chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment and mucositis. Whilst extensive literature outlines the complex etiology of each pathology, to date neither chemotherapy-induced side-effect has considered the potential impact of one on the pathogenesis of the other disorder. This is surprising considering the close bidirectional relationship shared between each organ; the gut-brain axis. There are complex multiple pathways linking the gut to the brain and vice versa in both normal physiological function and disease. For instance, psychological and social factors influence motility and digestive function, symptom perception, and behaviors associated with illness and pathological outcomes. On the other hand, visceral pain affects central nociception pathways, mood and behavior. Recent interest highlights the influence of functional gut disorders, such as inflammatory bowel diseases and irritable bowel syndrome in the development of central comorbidities. Gut-brain axis dysfunction and microbiota dysbiosis have served as key portals in understanding the potential mechanisms associated with these functional gut disorders and their effects on cognition. In this review we will present the role gut-brain axis dysregulation plays in the chemotherapy setting, highlighting peripheral-to-central immune signaling mechanisms and their contribution to neuroimmunological changes associated with chemotherapy exposure. Here, we hypothesize that dysregulation of the gut-brain axis plays a major role in the intestinal, psychological and neurological complications following chemotherapy. We pay particular attention to evidence surrounding microbiota dysbiosis, the role of intestinal permeability, damage to nerves of the enteric and peripheral nervous systems and vagal and humoral mediated changes.

Cortisol Predicts Behavioral Dysregulation and Length of Stay among Children Admitted for Psychiatric Inpatient Treatment

Science.gov (United States)

Luebbe, Aaron M.; Elledge, L. Christian; Kiel, Elizabeth J.; Stoppelbein, Laura

2012-01-01

Individual differences in behavioral regulation system (BRS) and stress response system (SRS) functioning may reflect greater biological sensitivity to context. The current study tested whether children's cortisol, a measure of the SRS, was related to observed dysregulated behavior, an indicator of the BRS, in a sample of children admitted for…

Automated segmentation of geographic atrophy using deep convolutional neural networks

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Zhihong; Wang, Ziyuan; Sadda, SriniVas R.

2018-02-01

Geographic atrophy (GA) is an end-stage manifestation of the advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness and visual impairment in developed nations. Techniques to rapidly and precisely detect and quantify GA would appear to be of critical importance in advancing the understanding of its pathogenesis. In this study, we develop an automated supervised classification system using deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for segmenting GA in fundus autofluorescene (FAF) images. More specifically, to enhance the contrast of GA relative to the background, we apply the contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization. Blood vessels may cause GA segmentation errors due to similar intensity level to GA. A tensor-voting technique is performed to identify the blood vessels and a vessel inpainting technique is applied to suppress the GA segmentation errors due to the blood vessels. To handle the large variation of GA lesion sizes, three deep CNNs with three varying sized input image patches are applied. Fifty randomly chosen FAF images are obtained from fifty subjects with GA. The algorithm-defined GA regions are compared with manual delineation by a certified grader. A two-fold cross-validation is applied to evaluate the algorithm performance. The mean segmentation accuracy, true positive rate (i.e. sensitivity), true negative rate (i.e. specificity), positive predictive value, false discovery rate, and overlap ratio, between the algorithm- and manually-defined GA regions are 0.97 +/- 0.02, 0.89 +/- 0.08, 0.98 +/- 0.02, 0.87 +/- 0.12, 0.13 +/- 0.12, and 0.79 +/- 0.12 respectively, demonstrating a high level of agreement.

Fold distributions at clover, crystal and segment levels for segmented clover detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kshetri, R; Bhattacharya, P

2014-01-01

Fold distributions at clover, crystal and segment levels have been extracted for an array of segmented clover detectors for various gamma energies. A simple analysis of the results based on a model independant approach has been presented. For the first time, the clover fold distribution of an array and associated array addback factor have been extracted. We have calculated the percentages of the number of crystals and segments that fire for a full energy peak event

Intercalary bone segment transport in treatment of segmental tibial defects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iqbal, A.; Amin, M.S.

2002-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the results and complications of intercalary bone segment transport in the treatment of segmental tibial defects. Design: This is a retrospective analysis of patients with segmental tibial defects who were treated with intercalary bone segment transport method. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi from September 1997 to April 2001. Subjects and methods: Thirteen patients were included in the study who had developed tibial defects either due to open fractures with bone loss or subsequent to bone debridement of infected non unions. The mean bone defect was 6.4 cms and there were eight associated soft tissue defects. Locally made unilateral 'Naseer-Awais' (NA) fixator was used for bone segment transport. The distraction was done at the rate of 1mm/day after 7-10 days of osteotomy. The patients were followed-up fortnightly during distraction and monthly thereafter. The mean follow-up duration was 18 months. Results: The mean time in external fixation was 9.4 months. The m ean healing index' was 1.47 months/cm. Satisfactory union was achieved in all cases. Six cases (46.2%) required bone grafting at target site and in one of them grafting was required at the level of regeneration as well. All the wounds healed well with no residual infection. There was no residual leg length discrepancy of more than 20 mm nd one angular deformity of more than 5 degrees. The commonest complication encountered was pin track infection seen in 38% of Shanz Screws applied. Loosening occurred in 6.8% of Shanz screws, requiring re-adjustment. Ankle joint contracture with equinus deformity and peroneal nerve paresis occurred in one case each. The functional results were graded as 'good' in seven, 'fair' in four, and 'poor' in two patients. Overall, thirteen patients had 31 (minor/major) complications with a ratio of 2.38 complications per patient. To treat the bone defects and associated complications, a mean of

Multivariate analysis for customer segmentation based on RFM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Álvaro Julio Cuadros López

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Context: To build a successful relationship management (CRM, companies must start with the identification of the true value of customers, as this provides basic information to implement more targeted and customized marketing strategies. The RFM methodology, a classic analysis tool that uses three evaluation parameters, allows companies to understand customer behavior, and to establish customer segments. The addition of a new parameter in the traditional technique is an opportunity to refine the possible outcomes of a customer segmentation since it not only provides a new element of evaluation to identify the most valuable customers, but it also makes it possible to differentiate and get to know customers even better. Method: The article presents a methodology that allows to establish customer segments using an extended RFM method with new variables, selected through multivariate analysis..  Results: The proposed implementation was applied in a company in which variables such as profit, profit percentage, and billing due date were tested. Therefore, it was possible to establish a more detailed customer segmentation than with the classic RFM. Conclusions: the RFM analysis is a method widely used in the industry for its easy understanding and applicability. However, it can be improved with the use of statistical procedures and new variables, which will allow companies to have deeper information about the behavior of the clients, and will facilitate the design of specific marketing strategies.

An evaluation of anxiety sensitivity, emotional dysregulation, and negative affectivity among daily cigarette smokers: relation to smoking motives and barriers to quitting.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez, Adam; Zvolensky, Michael J; Vujanovic, Anka A; Leyro, Teresa M; Marshall, Erin C

2008-12-01

The present investigation evaluated the relations between anxiety sensitivity and motivational bases of cigarette smoking, as well as barriers to quitting smoking, above and beyond concurrent substance use, negative affectivity, and emotional dysregulation among a community sample of 189 daily cigarette smokers (46% women; M(age)=24.97 years, SD=9.78). Results indicated that anxiety sensitivity was significantly related to coping, addictive, and habitual smoking motives, as well as greater perceived barriers to quitting. These effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by concurrent tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use and discernable from shared variance with negative affectivity and emotional dysregulation. Emotional dysregulation was significantly related to stimulation, habitual, and sensorimotor smoking motives and greater perceived barriers to quitting, whereas negative affectivity was only significantly related to smoking for relaxation. These findings uniquely add to a growing literature suggesting anxiety sensitivity is an important and unique cognitive factor for better understanding clinically-relevant psychological processes related to cigarette smoking.

4D segmentation of brain MR images with constrained cortical thickness variation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Wang

Full Text Available Segmentation of brain MR images plays an important role in longitudinal investigation of developmental, aging, disease progression changes in the cerebral cortex. However, most existing brain segmentation methods consider multiple time-point images individually and thus cannot achieve longitudinal consistency. For example, cortical thickness measured from the segmented image will contain unnecessary temporal variations, which will affect the time related change pattern and eventually reduce the statistical power of analysis. In this paper, we propose a 4D segmentation framework for the adult brain MR images with the constraint of cortical thickness variations. Specifically, we utilize local intensity information to address the intensity inhomogeneity, spatial cortical thickness constraint to maintain the cortical thickness being within a reasonable range, and temporal cortical thickness variation constraint in neighboring time-points to suppress the artificial variations. The proposed method has been tested on BLSA dataset and ADNI dataset with promising results. Both qualitative and quantitative experimental results demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method, in comparison to other state-of-the-art 4D segmentation methods.

Market segmentation in behavioral perspective.

OpenAIRE

Wells, V.K.; Chang, S.W.; Oliveira-Castro, J.M.; Pallister, J.

2010-01-01

A segmentation approach is presented using both traditional demographic segmentation bases (age, social class/occupation, and working status) and a segmentation by benefits sought. The benefits sought in this case are utilitarian and informational reinforcement, variables developed from the Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM). Using data from 1,847 consumers and from a total of 76,682 individual purchases, brand choice and price and reinforcement responsiveness were assessed for each segment a...

Redox Dysregulation in the Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kulak, Anita; Steullet, Pascal; Cabungcal, Jan-Harry

2013-01-01

Abstract Significance: Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are classified as two distinct diseases. However, accumulating evidence shows that both disorders share genetic, pathological, and epidemiological characteristics. Based on genetic and functional findings, redox dysregulation due...... abnormal prefrontal levels of glutathione (GSH), the major cellular redox regulator and antioxidant. Here we review experimental data from rodent models demonstrating that permanent as well as transient GSH deficit results in behavioral, morphological, electrophysiological, and neurochemical alterations...... hypofunction, elevated glutamate levels, impairment of parvalbumin GABA interneurons, abnormal neuronal synchronization, altered dopamine neurotransmission, and deficient myelination. Critical Issues: Treatment with the GSH precursor and antioxidant N-acetylcysteine normalizes some of those deficits in mice...

Soluble CD93 Is Involved in Metabolic Dysregulation but Does Not Influence Carotid Intima-Media Thickness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Strawbridge, Rona J.; Hilding, Agneta; Silveira, Angela; Osterholm, Cecilia; Sennblad, Bengt; McLeod, Olga; Tsikrika, Panagiota; Foroogh, Fariba; Tremoli, Elena; Baldassarre, Damiano; Veglia, Fabrizio; Rauramaa, Rainer; Smit, Andries J.; Giral, Phillipe; Kurl, Sudhir; Mannarino, Elmo; Grossi, Enzo; Syvanen, Ann-Christine; Humphries, Steve E.; de Faire, Ulf; Ostenson, Claes-Goran; Maegdefessel, Lars; Hamsten, Anders; Backlund, Alexandra

2016-01-01

Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are complex disorders involving metabolic and inflammatory mechanisms. Here we investigated whether sCD93, a group XIV c-type lectin of the endosialin family, plays a role in metabolic dysregulation or carotid intima-media thickness (IMT). Although no

Random walks with statistical shape prior for cochlea and inner ear segmentation in micro-CT images

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ruiz Pujadas, Esmeralda; Piella, Gemma; Kjer, Hans Martin

2017-01-01

A cochlear implant is an electronic device which can restore sound to completely or partially deaf patients. For surgical planning, a patient-specific model of the inner ear must be built using high-resolution images accurately segmented. We propose a new framework for segmentation of micro-CT...

Haematopoietic malignancies caused by dysregulation of a chromatin-binding PHD finger.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Gang G; Song, Jikui; Wang, Zhanxin; Dormann, Holger L; Casadio, Fabio; Li, Haitao; Luo, Jun-Li; Patel, Dinshaw J; Allis, C David

2009-06-11

Histone H3 lysine 4 methylation (H3K4me) has been proposed as a critical component in regulating gene expression, epigenetic states, and cellular identities1. The biological meaning of H3K4me is interpreted by conserved modules including plant homeodomain (PHD) fingers that recognize varied H3K4me states. The dysregulation of PHD fingers has been implicated in several human diseases, including cancers and immune or neurological disorders. Here we report that fusing an H3K4-trimethylation (H3K4me3)-binding PHD finger, such as the carboxy-terminal PHD finger of PHF23 or JARID1A (also known as KDM5A or RBBP2), to a common fusion partner nucleoporin-98 (NUP98) as identified in human leukaemias, generated potent oncoproteins that arrested haematopoietic differentiation and induced acute myeloid leukaemia in murine models. In these processes, a PHD finger that specifically recognizes H3K4me3/2 marks was essential for leukaemogenesis. Mutations in PHD fingers that abrogated H3K4me3 binding also abolished leukaemic transformation. NUP98-PHD fusion prevented the differentiation-associated removal of H3K4me3 at many loci encoding lineage-specific transcription factors (Hox(s), Gata3, Meis1, Eya1 and Pbx1), and enforced their active gene transcription in murine haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Mechanistically, NUP98-PHD fusions act as 'chromatin boundary factors', dominating over polycomb-mediated gene silencing to 'lock' developmentally critical loci into an active chromatin state (H3K4me3 with induced histone acetylation), a state that defined leukaemia stem cells. Collectively, our studies represent, to our knowledge, the first report that deregulation of the PHD finger, an 'effector' of specific histone modification, perturbs the epigenetic dynamics on developmentally critical loci, catastrophizes cellular fate decision-making, and even causes oncogenesis during mammalian development.

ADVANCED CLUSTER BASED IMAGE SEGMENTATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Kesavaraja

2011-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents efficient and portable implementations of a useful image segmentation technique which makes use of the faster and a variant of the conventional connected components algorithm which we call parallel Components. In the Modern world majority of the doctors are need image segmentation as the service for various purposes and also they expect this system is run faster and secure. Usually Image segmentation Algorithms are not working faster. In spite of several ongoing researches in Conventional Segmentation and its Algorithms might not be able to run faster. So we propose a cluster computing environment for parallel image Segmentation to provide faster result. This paper is the real time implementation of Distributed Image Segmentation in Clustering of Nodes. We demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of our method on a set of Medical CT Scan Images. Our general framework is a single address space, distributed memory programming model. We use efficient techniques for distributing and coalescing data as well as efficient combinations of task and data parallelism. The image segmentation algorithm makes use of an efficient cluster process which uses a novel approach for parallel merging. Our experimental results are consistent with the theoretical analysis and practical results. It provides the faster execution time for segmentation, when compared with Conventional method. Our test data is different CT scan images from the Medical database. More efficient implementations of Image Segmentation will likely result in even faster execution times.

Non-canonical ribosomal DNA segments in the human genome, and nucleoli functioning.

Science.gov (United States)

Kupriyanova, Natalia S; Netchvolodov, Kirill K; Sadova, Anastasia A; Cherepanova, Marina D; Ryskov, Alexei P

2015-11-10

Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) in the human genome is represented by tandem repeats of 43 kb nucleotide sequences that form nucleoli organizers (NORs) on each of five pairs of acrocentric chromosomes. RDNA-similar segments of different lengths are also present on (NOR)(-) chromosomes. Many of these segments contain nucleotide substitutions, supplementary microsatellite clusters, and extended deletions. Recently, it was shown that, in addition to ribosome biogenesis, nucleoli exhibit additional functions, such as cell-cycle regulation and response to stresses. In particular, several stress-inducible loci located in the ribosomal intergenic spacer (rIGS) produce stimuli-specific noncoding nucleolus RNAs. By mapping the 5'/3' ends of the rIGS segments scattered throughout (NOR)(-) chromosomes, we discovered that the bonds in the rIGS that were most often susceptible to disruption in the rIGS were adjacent to, or overlapped with stimuli-specific inducible loci. This suggests the interconnection of the two phenomena - nucleoli functioning and the scattering of rDNA-like sequences on (NOR)(-) chromosomes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Liver segmentation in contrast enhanced CT data using graph cuts and interactive 3D segmentation refinement methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beichel, Reinhard; Bornik, Alexander; Bauer, Christian; Sorantin, Erich [Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Internal Medicine, Iowa Institute for Biomedical Imaging, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 (United States); Institute for Computer Graphics and Vision, Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 16, A-8010 Graz (Austria); Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa Institute for Biomedical Imaging, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 (United States); Department of Radiology, Medical University Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 34, A-8010 Graz (Austria)

2012-03-15

Purpose: Liver segmentation is an important prerequisite for the assessment of liver cancer treatment options like tumor resection, image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), radiofrequency ablation, etc. The purpose of this work was to evaluate a new approach for liver segmentation. Methods: A graph cuts segmentation method was combined with a three-dimensional virtual reality based segmentation refinement approach. The developed interactive segmentation system allowed the user to manipulate volume chunks and/or surfaces instead of 2D contours in cross-sectional images (i.e, slice-by-slice). The method was evaluated on twenty routinely acquired portal-phase contrast enhanced multislice computed tomography (CT) data sets. An independent reference was generated by utilizing a currently clinically utilized slice-by-slice segmentation method. After 1 h of introduction to the developed segmentation system, three experts were asked to segment all twenty data sets with the proposed method. Results: Compared to the independent standard, the relative volumetric segmentation overlap error averaged over all three experts and all twenty data sets was 3.74%. Liver segmentation required on average 16 min of user interaction per case. The calculated relative volumetric overlap errors were not found to be significantly different [analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, p = 0.82] between experts who utilized the proposed 3D system. In contrast, the time required by each expert for segmentation was found to be significantly different (ANOVA test, p = 0.0009). Major differences between generated segmentations and independent references were observed in areas were vessels enter or leave the liver and no accepted criteria for defining liver boundaries exist. In comparison, slice-by-slice based generation of the independent standard utilizing a live wire tool took 70.1 min on average. A standard 2D segmentation refinement approach applied to all twenty data sets required on average 38.2 min of

Liver segmentation in contrast enhanced CT data using graph cuts and interactive 3D segmentation refinement methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beichel, Reinhard; Bornik, Alexander; Bauer, Christian; Sorantin, Erich

2012-01-01

Purpose: Liver segmentation is an important prerequisite for the assessment of liver cancer treatment options like tumor resection, image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), radiofrequency ablation, etc. The purpose of this work was to evaluate a new approach for liver segmentation. Methods: A graph cuts segmentation method was combined with a three-dimensional virtual reality based segmentation refinement approach. The developed interactive segmentation system allowed the user to manipulate volume chunks and/or surfaces instead of 2D contours in cross-sectional images (i.e, slice-by-slice). The method was evaluated on twenty routinely acquired portal-phase contrast enhanced multislice computed tomography (CT) data sets. An independent reference was generated by utilizing a currently clinically utilized slice-by-slice segmentation method. After 1 h of introduction to the developed segmentation system, three experts were asked to segment all twenty data sets with the proposed method. Results: Compared to the independent standard, the relative volumetric segmentation overlap error averaged over all three experts and all twenty data sets was 3.74%. Liver segmentation required on average 16 min of user interaction per case. The calculated relative volumetric overlap errors were not found to be significantly different [analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, p = 0.82] between experts who utilized the proposed 3D system. In contrast, the time required by each expert for segmentation was found to be significantly different (ANOVA test, p = 0.0009). Major differences between generated segmentations and independent references were observed in areas were vessels enter or leave the liver and no accepted criteria for defining liver boundaries exist. In comparison, slice-by-slice based generation of the independent standard utilizing a live wire tool took 70.1 min on average. A standard 2D segmentation refinement approach applied to all twenty data sets required on average 38.2 min of

Liver segmentation in contrast enhanced CT data using graph cuts and interactive 3D segmentation refinement methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Beichel, Reinhard; Bornik, Alexander; Bauer, Christian; Sorantin, Erich

2012-03-01

Liver segmentation is an important prerequisite for the assessment of liver cancer treatment options like tumor resection, image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), radiofrequency ablation, etc. The purpose of this work was to evaluate a new approach for liver segmentation. A graph cuts segmentation method was combined with a three-dimensional virtual reality based segmentation refinement approach. The developed interactive segmentation system allowed the user to manipulate volume chunks and∕or surfaces instead of 2D contours in cross-sectional images (i.e, slice-by-slice). The method was evaluated on twenty routinely acquired portal-phase contrast enhanced multislice computed tomography (CT) data sets. An independent reference was generated by utilizing a currently clinically utilized slice-by-slice segmentation method. After 1 h of introduction to the developed segmentation system, three experts were asked to segment all twenty data sets with the proposed method. Compared to the independent standard, the relative volumetric segmentation overlap error averaged over all three experts and all twenty data sets was 3.74%. Liver segmentation required on average 16 min of user interaction per case. The calculated relative volumetric overlap errors were not found to be significantly different [analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, p = 0.82] between experts who utilized the proposed 3D system. In contrast, the time required by each expert for segmentation was found to be significantly different (ANOVA test, p = 0.0009). Major differences between generated segmentations and independent references were observed in areas were vessels enter or leave the liver and no accepted criteria for defining liver boundaries exist. In comparison, slice-by-slice based generation of the independent standard utilizing a live wire tool took 70.1 min on average. A standard 2D segmentation refinement approach applied to all twenty data sets required on average 38.2 min of user interaction

Cluster Ensemble-Based Image Segmentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoru Wang

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Image segmentation is the foundation of computer vision applications. In this paper, we propose a new cluster ensemble-based image segmentation algorithm, which overcomes several problems of traditional methods. We make two main contributions in this paper. First, we introduce the cluster ensemble concept to fuse the segmentation results from different types of visual features effectively, which can deliver a better final result and achieve a much more stable performance for broad categories of images. Second, we exploit the PageRank idea from Internet applications and apply it to the image segmentation task. This can improve the final segmentation results by combining the spatial information of the image and the semantic similarity of regions. Our experiments on four public image databases validate the superiority of our algorithm over conventional single type of feature or multiple types of features-based algorithms, since our algorithm can fuse multiple types of features effectively for better segmentation results. Moreover, our method is also proved to be very competitive in comparison with other state-of-the-art segmentation algorithms.

Dysregulated DNA Methyltransferase 3A Upregulates IGFBP5 to Suppress Trophoblast Cell Migration and Invasion in Preeclampsia.

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Yuanhui; Li, Ting; Huang, Xiaojie; Xu, Xianghong; Zhou, Xinyao; Jia, Linyan; Zhu, Jingping; Xie, Dandan; Wang, Kai; Zhou, Qian; Jin, Liping; Zhang, Jiqin; Duan, Tao

2017-02-01

Preeclampsia is a unique multiple system disorder during human pregnancy, which affects ≈5% to 8% of pregnancies. Its risks and complications have become the major causes of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Although abnormal placentation to which DNA methylation dysregulation is always linked is speculated to be one of the reasons causing preeclampsia, the underlying mechanisms still remain elusive to date. Here we revealed that aberrant DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A) plays a critical role in preeclampsia. Our results show that the expression and localization of DNMT3A are dysregulated in preeclamptic placenta. Moreover, knockdown of DNMT3A obviously inhibits trophoblast cell migration and invasion. Mechanistically, IGFBP5 (insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 5), known as a suppressor, is upregulated by decreased DNMT3A because of promoter hypomethylation. Importantly, IGFBP5 downregulation can rescue the defects caused by DNMT3A knockdown, thereby, consolidating the significance of IGFBP5 in the downstream of DNMT3A in trophoblast. Furthermore, we detected low promoter methylation and high protein expression of IGFBP5 in the clinical samples of preeclamptic placenta. Collectively, our study suggests that dysregulation of DNMT3A and IGFBP5 is relevant to preeclampsia. Thus, we propose that DNMT3A and IGFBP5 can serve as potential markers and targets for the clinical diagnosis and therapy of preeclampsia. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Albedo estimation for scene segmentation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, C H; Rosenfeld, A

1983-03-01

Standard methods of image segmentation do not take into account the three-dimensional nature of the underlying scene. For example, histogram-based segmentation tacitly assumes that the image intensity is piecewise constant, and this is not true when the scene contains curved surfaces. This paper introduces a method of taking 3d information into account in the segmentation process. The image intensities are adjusted to compensate for the effects of estimated surface orientation; the adjusted intensities can be regarded as reflectivity estimates. When histogram-based segmentation is applied to these new values, the image is segmented into parts corresponding to surfaces of constant reflectivity in the scene. 7 references.

Impulsivity in borderline personality disorder: a matter of disturbed impulse control or a facet of emotional dysregulation?

Science.gov (United States)

Sebastian, Alexandra; Jacob, Gitta; Lieb, Klaus; Tüscher, Oliver

2013-02-01

Impulsivity is regarded as a clinical, diagnostic and pathophysiological hallmark of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Self-report measures of impulsivity consistently support the notion of higher impulsive traits in BPD patients as compared to healthy control subjects. Laboratory tests of impulsivity, i.e. neuropsychological tests of impulse control render weak and inconsistent results both across different cognitive components of impulse control and within the same cognitive component of impulse control. One important factor worsening impulsive behaviors and impulse control deficits in BPD is comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In addition, emotional dysregulation interacts with impulse control especially for BPD salient emotions. In sum, although basic mechanisms of impulse control seem not to be disturbed in BPD, clinically well observed impulsive behaviors may be explained by comorbid ADHD or may be the consequence of dysregulation of BPD salient emotions.

Segmenting the Adult Education Market.

Science.gov (United States)

Aurand, Tim

1994-01-01

Describes market segmentation and how the principles of segmentation can be applied to the adult education market. Indicates that applying segmentation techniques to adult education programs results in programs that are educationally and financially satisfying and serve an appropriate population. (JOW)

Dysregulation of the Bmi-1/p16Ink4a pathway provokes an aging-associated decline of submandibular gland function

Science.gov (United States)

Yamakoshi, Kimi; Katano, Satoshi; Iida, Mayu; Kimura, Hiromi; Okuma, Atsushi; Ikemoto-Uezumi, Madoka; Ohtani, Naoko; Hara, Eiji; Maruyama, Mitsuo

2015-01-01

Bmi-1 prevents stem cell aging, at least partly, by blocking expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16Ink4a. Therefore, dysregulation of the Bmi-1/p16Ink4a pathway is considered key to the loss of tissue homeostasis and development of associated degenerative diseases during aging. However, because Bmi-1 knockout (KO) mice die within 20 weeks after birth, it is difficult to determine exactly where and when dysregulation of the Bmi-1/p16Ink4a pathway occurs during aging in vivo. Using real-time in vivo imaging of p16Ink4a expression in Bmi-1-KO mice, we uncovered a novel function of the Bmi-1/p16Ink4a pathway in controlling homeostasis of the submandibular glands (SMGs), which secrete saliva into the oral cavity. This pathway is dysregulated during aging in vivo, leading to induction of p16Ink4a expression and subsequent declined SMG function. These findings will advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the aging-related decline of SMG function and associated salivary gland hypofunction, which is particularly problematic among the elderly. PMID:25832744

Dysregulation of heat shock protein 27 expression in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Anxun; Liu, Xiqiang; Sheng, Shihu; Ye, Hui; Peng, Tingsheng; Shi, Fei; Crowe, David L; Zhou, Xiaofeng

2009-01-01

Recent proteomic studies identified Hsp27 as a highly over-expressed protein in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Clinical studies that attempted to evaluate the prognostic values of Hsp27 yielded inconsistent results, which may be due to inclusion of OSCC cases from multiple anatomic sites. In this study, to determine the utility of Hsp27 for prognosis, we focused on oral tongue SCC (OTSCC), one of the most aggressive forms of OSCC. Archival clinical samples of 15 normal oral tongue mucosa, 31 dysplastic lesions, 80 primary OTSCC, and 32 lymph node metastases were examined for Hsp27 expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Statistical analyses were carried out to assess the prognostic value of Hsp27 expression for patients with this disease. Dysregulation of Hsp27 expression was observed in dysplastic lesions, primary OTSCC, and lymph node metastases, and appears to be associated with disease progression. Statistical analysis revealed that the reduced Hsp27 expression in primary tumor tissue was associated with poor differentiation. Furthermore, the higher expression of Hsp27 was correlated with better overall survival. Our study confirmed that the dysregulation of Hsp27 expression is a frequent event during the progression of OTSCC. The expression of Hsp27 appears to be an independent prognostic marker for patients with this disease

Gamifying Video Object Segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Spampinato, Concetto; Palazzo, Simone; Giordano, Daniela

2017-10-01

Video object segmentation can be considered as one of the most challenging computer vision problems. Indeed, so far, no existing solution is able to effectively deal with the peculiarities of real-world videos, especially in cases of articulated motion and object occlusions; limitations that appear more evident when we compare the performance of automated methods with the human one. However, manually segmenting objects in videos is largely impractical as it requires a lot of time and concentration. To address this problem, in this paper we propose an interactive video object segmentation method, which exploits, on one hand, the capability of humans to identify correctly objects in visual scenes, and on the other hand, the collective human brainpower to solve challenging and large-scale tasks. In particular, our method relies on a game with a purpose to collect human inputs on object locations, followed by an accurate segmentation phase achieved by optimizing an energy function encoding spatial and temporal constraints between object regions as well as human-provided location priors. Performance analysis carried out on complex video benchmarks, and exploiting data provided by over 60 users, demonstrated that our method shows a better trade-off between annotation times and segmentation accuracy than interactive video annotation and automated video object segmentation approaches.

Learning from Weak and Noisy Labels for Semantic Segmentation

KAUST Repository

Lu, Zhiwu

2016-04-08

A weakly supervised semantic segmentation (WSSS) method aims to learn a segmentation model from weak (image-level) as opposed to strong (pixel-level) labels. By avoiding the tedious pixel-level annotation process, it can exploit the unlimited supply of user-tagged images from media-sharing sites such as Flickr for large scale applications. However, these ‘free’ tags/labels are often noisy and few existing works address the problem of learning with both weak and noisy labels. In this work, we cast the WSSS problem into a label noise reduction problem. Specifically, after segmenting each image into a set of superpixels, the weak and potentially noisy image-level labels are propagated to the superpixel level resulting in highly noisy labels; the key to semantic segmentation is thus to identify and correct the superpixel noisy labels. To this end, a novel L1-optimisation based sparse learning model is formulated to directly and explicitly detect noisy labels. To solve the L1-optimisation problem, we further develop an efficient learning algorithm by introducing an intermediate labelling variable. Extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets show that our method yields state-of-the-art results given noise-free labels, whilst significantly outperforming the existing methods when the weak labels are also noisy.

Learning from Weak and Noisy Labels for Semantic Segmentation

KAUST Repository

Lu, Zhiwu; Fu, Zhenyong; Xiang, Tao; Han, Peng; Wang, Liwei; Gao, Xin

2016-01-01

A weakly supervised semantic segmentation (WSSS) method aims to learn a segmentation model from weak (image-level) as opposed to strong (pixel-level) labels. By avoiding the tedious pixel-level annotation process, it can exploit the unlimited supply of user-tagged images from media-sharing sites such as Flickr for large scale applications. However, these ‘free’ tags/labels are often noisy and few existing works address the problem of learning with both weak and noisy labels. In this work, we cast the WSSS problem into a label noise reduction problem. Specifically, after segmenting each image into a set of superpixels, the weak and potentially noisy image-level labels are propagated to the superpixel level resulting in highly noisy labels; the key to semantic segmentation is thus to identify and correct the superpixel noisy labels. To this end, a novel L1-optimisation based sparse learning model is formulated to directly and explicitly detect noisy labels. To solve the L1-optimisation problem, we further develop an efficient learning algorithm by introducing an intermediate labelling variable. Extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets show that our method yields state-of-the-art results given noise-free labels, whilst significantly outperforming the existing methods when the weak labels are also noisy.

The Effectiveness of the Unified Protocol on Emotional Dysregulation and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies in Patients with Psychosomatic Disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mina Mazaheri

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background: The unified treatment approach (UP is an emotion-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy in which the main object of treatment is emotional processes. The aim of the present research was to examine the effectiveness of The Unified Protocol (UP on emotional dysregulation and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in patients with psychosomatic disorders. Methods: Emotion-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (ECBT, a unified treatment, with 12 weekly group sessions of 2 hours, was presented to 14 patients with psychosomatic complaints at the Subspecialty Center of Psychiatry in Isfahan in 2013. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were done by means of the self-report tests of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ. Results: Significant reductions in post-test scores of total emotional dysregulation (P < 0.01 as well as the factors of non-acceptance (P < 0.05 and strategy (P < 0.01 were seen, while the other factors (goal, impulse, awareness, and clarity did not change. Moreover, a significant reduction was observed in the catastrophizing strategy score (P < 0.05, in comparison with other cognitive strategies. Conclusion: This pilot study including 14 patients with psychosomatic disorders indicates that the Unified treatment approach is an effective treatment in improvement of emotional dysregulation and in reduction of utilizing maladaptive cognitive strategies.

ReMixT: clone-specific genomic structure estimation in cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

McPherson, Andrew W; Roth, Andrew; Ha, Gavin; Chauve, Cedric; Steif, Adi; de Souza, Camila P E; Eirew, Peter; Bouchard-Côté, Alexandre; Aparicio, Sam; Sahinalp, S Cenk; Shah, Sohrab P

2017-07-27

Somatic evolution of malignant cells produces tumors composed of multiple clonal populations, distinguished in part by rearrangements and copy number changes affecting chromosomal segments. Whole genome sequencing mixes the signals of sampled populations, diluting the signals of clone-specific aberrations, and complicating estimation of clone-specific genotypes. We introduce ReMixT, a method to unmix tumor and contaminating normal signals and jointly predict mixture proportions, clone-specific segment copy number, and clone specificity of breakpoints. ReMixT is free, open-source software and is available at http://bitbucket.org/dranew/remixt .

Automatic segmentation of the glenohumeral cartilages from magnetic resonance images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neubert, A.; Yang, Z.; Engstrom, C.; Xia, Y.; Strudwick, M. W.; Chandra, S. S.; Crozier, S.; Fripp, J.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging plays a key role in investigating early degenerative disorders and traumatic injuries of the glenohumeral cartilages. Subtle morphometric and biochemical changes of potential relevance to clinical diagnosis, treatment planning, and evaluation can be assessed from measurements derived from in vivo MR segmentation of the cartilages. However, segmentation of the glenohumeral cartilages, using approaches spanning manual to automated methods, is technically challenging, due to their thin, curved structure and overlapping intensities of surrounding tissues. Automatic segmentation of the glenohumeral cartilages from MR imaging is not at the same level compared to the weight-bearing knee and hip joint cartilages despite the potential applications with respect to clinical investigation of shoulder disorders. In this work, the authors present a fully automated segmentation method for the glenohumeral cartilages using MR images of healthy shoulders. Methods: The method involves automated segmentation of the humerus and scapula bones using 3D active shape models, the extraction of the expected bone–cartilage interface, and cartilage segmentation using a graph-based method. The cartilage segmentation uses localization, patient specific tissue estimation, and a model of the cartilage thickness variation. The accuracy of this method was experimentally validated using a leave-one-out scheme on a database of MR images acquired from 44 asymptomatic subjects with a true fast imaging with steady state precession sequence on a 3 T scanner (Siemens Trio) using a dedicated shoulder coil. The automated results were compared to manual segmentations from two experts (an experienced radiographer and an experienced musculoskeletal anatomist) using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and mean absolute surface distance (MASD) metrics. Results: Accurate and precise bone segmentations were achieved with mean DSC of 0.98 and 0.93 for the humeral head

Automatic segmentation of the glenohumeral cartilages from magnetic resonance images

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neubert, A., E-mail: ales.neubert@csiro.au [School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia and The Australian E-Health Research Centre, CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Brisbane 4029 (Australia); Yang, Z. [School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia and Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Engstrom, C. [School of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072 (Australia); Xia, Y.; Strudwick, M. W.; Chandra, S. S.; Crozier, S. [School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072 (Australia); Fripp, J. [The Australian E-Health Research Centre, CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Brisbane, 4029 (Australia)

2016-10-15

Purpose: Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging plays a key role in investigating early degenerative disorders and traumatic injuries of the glenohumeral cartilages. Subtle morphometric and biochemical changes of potential relevance to clinical diagnosis, treatment planning, and evaluation can be assessed from measurements derived from in vivo MR segmentation of the cartilages. However, segmentation of the glenohumeral cartilages, using approaches spanning manual to automated methods, is technically challenging, due to their thin, curved structure and overlapping intensities of surrounding tissues. Automatic segmentation of the glenohumeral cartilages from MR imaging is not at the same level compared to the weight-bearing knee and hip joint cartilages despite the potential applications with respect to clinical investigation of shoulder disorders. In this work, the authors present a fully automated segmentation method for the glenohumeral cartilages using MR images of healthy shoulders. Methods: The method involves automated segmentation of the humerus and scapula bones using 3D active shape models, the extraction of the expected bone–cartilage interface, and cartilage segmentation using a graph-based method. The cartilage segmentation uses localization, patient specific tissue estimation, and a model of the cartilage thickness variation. The accuracy of this method was experimentally validated using a leave-one-out scheme on a database of MR images acquired from 44 asymptomatic subjects with a true fast imaging with steady state precession sequence on a 3 T scanner (Siemens Trio) using a dedicated shoulder coil. The automated results were compared to manual segmentations from two experts (an experienced radiographer and an experienced musculoskeletal anatomist) using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and mean absolute surface distance (MASD) metrics. Results: Accurate and precise bone segmentations were achieved with mean DSC of 0.98 and 0.93 for the humeral head

Image segmentation with a novel regularized composite shape prior based on surrogate study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhao, Tingting, E-mail: tingtingzhao@mednet.ucla.edu; Ruan, Dan, E-mail: druan@mednet.ucla.edu [The Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States)

2016-05-15

Purpose: Incorporating training into image segmentation is a good approach to achieve additional robustness. This work aims to develop an effective strategy to utilize shape prior knowledge, so that the segmentation label evolution can be driven toward the desired global optimum. Methods: In the variational image segmentation framework, a regularization for the composite shape prior is designed to incorporate the geometric relevance of individual training data to the target, which is inferred by an image-based surrogate relevance metric. Specifically, this regularization is imposed on the linear weights of composite shapes and serves as a hyperprior. The overall problem is formulated in a unified optimization setting and a variational block-descent algorithm is derived. Results: The performance of the proposed scheme is assessed in both corpus callosum segmentation from an MR image set and clavicle segmentation based on CT images. The resulted shape composition provides a proper preference for the geometrically relevant training data. A paired Wilcoxon signed rank test demonstrates statistically significant improvement of image segmentation accuracy, when compared to multiatlas label fusion method and three other benchmark active contour schemes. Conclusions: This work has developed a novel composite shape prior regularization, which achieves superior segmentation performance than typical benchmark schemes.

Image segmentation with a novel regularized composite shape prior based on surrogate study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Tingting; Ruan, Dan

2016-01-01

Purpose: Incorporating training into image segmentation is a good approach to achieve additional robustness. This work aims to develop an effective strategy to utilize shape prior knowledge, so that the segmentation label evolution can be driven toward the desired global optimum. Methods: In the variational image segmentation framework, a regularization for the composite shape prior is designed to incorporate the geometric relevance of individual training data to the target, which is inferred by an image-based surrogate relevance metric. Specifically, this regularization is imposed on the linear weights of composite shapes and serves as a hyperprior. The overall problem is formulated in a unified optimization setting and a variational block-descent algorithm is derived. Results: The performance of the proposed scheme is assessed in both corpus callosum segmentation from an MR image set and clavicle segmentation based on CT images. The resulted shape composition provides a proper preference for the geometrically relevant training data. A paired Wilcoxon signed rank test demonstrates statistically significant improvement of image segmentation accuracy, when compared to multiatlas label fusion method and three other benchmark active contour schemes. Conclusions: This work has developed a novel composite shape prior regularization, which achieves superior segmentation performance than typical benchmark schemes.

Segmentation of corpus callosum using diffusion tensor imaging: validation in patients with glioblastoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazem-Zadeh, Mohammad-Reza; Saksena, Sona; Babajani-Fermi, Abbas; Jiang, Quan; Soltanian-Zadeh, Hamid; Rosenblum, Mark; Mikkelsen, Tom; Jain, Rajan

2012-01-01

This paper presents a three-dimensional (3D) method for segmenting corpus callosum in normal subjects and brain cancer patients with glioblastoma. Nineteen patients with histologically confirmed treatment naïve glioblastoma and eleven normal control subjects underwent DTI on a 3T scanner. Based on the information inherent in diffusion tensors, a similarity measure was proposed and used in the proposed algorithm. In this algorithm, diffusion pattern of corpus callosum was used as prior information. Subsequently, corpus callosum was automatically divided into Witelson subdivisions. We simulated the potential rotation of corpus callosum under tumor pressure and studied the reproducibility of the proposed segmentation method in such cases. Dice coefficients, estimated to compare automatic and manual segmentation results for Witelson subdivisions, ranged from 94% to 98% for control subjects and from 81% to 95% for tumor patients, illustrating closeness of automatic and manual segmentations. Studying the effect of corpus callosum rotation by different Euler angles showed that although segmentation results were more sensitive to azimuth and elevation than skew, rotations caused by brain tumors do not have major effects on the segmentation results. The proposed method and similarity measure segment corpus callosum by propagating a hyper-surface inside the structure (resulting in high sensitivity), without penetrating into neighboring fiber bundles (resulting in high specificity)

H-Ransac a Hybrid Point Cloud Segmentation Combining 2d and 3d Data

Science.gov (United States)

Adam, A.; Chatzilari, E.; Nikolopoulos, S.; Kompatsiaris, I.

2018-05-01

In this paper, we present a novel 3D segmentation approach operating on point clouds generated from overlapping images. The aim of the proposed hybrid approach is to effectively segment co-planar objects, by leveraging the structural information originating from the 3D point cloud and the visual information from the 2D images, without resorting to learning based procedures. More specifically, the proposed hybrid approach, H-RANSAC, is an extension of the well-known RANSAC plane-fitting algorithm, incorporating an additional consistency criterion based on the results of 2D segmentation. Our expectation that the integration of 2D data into 3D segmentation will achieve more accurate results, is validated experimentally in the domain of 3D city models. Results show that HRANSAC can successfully delineate building components like main facades and windows, and provide more accurate segmentation results compared to the typical RANSAC plane-fitting algorithm.

Initial Development of a Measure of Emotional Dysregulation for Individuals with Cluster B Personality Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Newhill, Christina E.; Mulvey, Edward P.; Pilkonis, Paul A.

2004-01-01

Individuals with DSM-IV Cluster B personality disorders are at particular risk of violence toward self or others. Emotional dysregulation is likely to be a factor in such incidents and is a central issue addressed in therapies with personality-disordered individuals. This article reports findings from a study that developed an original 18-item…

Comparison of segmentation techniques to determine the geometric parameters of structured surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacAulay, Gavin D; Giusca, Claudiu L; Leach, Richard K; Senin, Nicola

2014-01-01

Structured surfaces, defined as surfaces characterized by topography features whose shape is defined by design specifications, are increasingly being used in industry for a variety of applications, including improving the tribological properties of surfaces. However, characterization of such surfaces still remains an issue. Techniques have been recently proposed, based on identifying and extracting the relevant features from a structured surface so they can be verified individually, using methods derived from those commonly applied to standard-sized parts. Such emerging approaches show promise but are generally complex and characterized by multiple data processing steps making performance difficult to assess. This paper focuses on the segmentation step, i.e. partitioning the topography so that the relevant features can be separated from the background. Segmentation is key for defining the geometric boundaries of the individual feature, which in turn affects any computation of feature size, shape and localization. This paper investigates the effect of varying the segmentation algorithm and its controlling parameters by considering a test case: a structured surface for bearing applications, the relevant features being micro-dimples designed for friction reduction. In particular, the mechanisms through which segmentation leads to identification of the dimple boundary and influences dimensional properties, such as dimple diameter and depth, are illustrated. It is shown that, by using different methods and control parameters, a significant range of measurement results can be achieved, which may not necessarily agree. Indications on how to investigate the influence of each specific choice are given; in particular, stability of the algorithms with respect to control parameters is analyzed as a means to investigate ease of calibration and flexibility to adapt to specific, application-dependent characterization requirements. (paper)

Blood Glucose and Insulin Concentrations after Octreotide Administration in Horses With Insulin Dysregulation

OpenAIRE

Frank, N.; Hermida, P.; Sanchez?Londo?o, A.; Singh, R.; Gradil, C.M.; Uricchio, C.K.

2017-01-01

Background Octreotide is a somatostatin analog that suppresses insulin secretion. Hypothesis We hypothesized that octreotide would suppress insulin concentrations in horses and that normal (N) horses and those with insulin dysregulation (ID) would differ significantly in their plasma glucose and insulin responses to administration of octreotide. Animals Twelve horses, N = 5, ID = 7. Methods Prospective study. An oral sugar test was performed to assign horses to N and ID groups. Octreotide (1....

Dopamine dysregulation hypothesis: the common basis for motivational anhedonia in major depressive disorder and schizophrenia?

Science.gov (United States)

Szczypiński, Jan Józef; Gola, Mateusz

2018-03-24

Abnormalities in reward processing are crucial symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SCH). Recent neuroscientific findings regarding MDD have led to conclusions about two different symptoms related to reward processing: motivational and consummatory anhedonia, corresponding, respectively, to impaired motivation to obtain rewards ('wanting'), and diminished satisfaction from consuming them ('liking'). One can ask: which of these is common for MDD and SCH. In our review of the latest neuroscientific studies, we show that MDD and SCH do not share consummatory anhedonia, as SCH patients usually have unaltered liking. Therefore, we investigated whether motivational anhedonia is the common symptom across MDD and SCH. With regard to the similarities and differences between the neural mechanisms of MDD and SCH, here we expand the current knowledge of motivation deficits and present the common underlying mechanism of motivational anhedonia - the dopamine dysregulation hypothesis - stating that any prolonged dysregulation in tonic dopamine signaling that exceeds the given equilibrium can lead to striatal dysfunction and motivational anhedonia. The implications for further research and treatment of MDD and SCH are also discussed.

U.S. Army Custom Segmentation System

Science.gov (United States)

2007-06-01

segmentation is individual or intergroup differences in response to marketing - mix variables. Presumptions about segments: •different demands in a...product or service category, •respond differently to changes in the marketing mix Criteria for segments: •The segments must exist in the environment

The use of atlas registration and graph cuts for prostate segmentation in magnetic resonance images

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Korsager, Anne Sofie, E-mail: asko@hst.aau.dk; Østergaard, Lasse Riis [Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg 9220 (Denmark); Fortunati, Valerio; Lijn, Fedde van der; Niessen, Wiro; Walsum, Theo van [Biomedical Imaging Group of Rotterdam, Department of Medical Informatics and Radiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam 3015 GE Rotterdam (Netherlands); Carl, Jesper [Department of Medical Physics, Oncology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg 9220 (Denmark)

2015-04-15

Purpose: An automatic method for 3D prostate segmentation in magnetic resonance (MR) images is presented for planning image-guided radiotherapy treatment of prostate cancer. Methods: A spatial prior based on intersubject atlas registration is combined with organ-specific intensity information in a graph cut segmentation framework. The segmentation is tested on 67 axial T{sub 2}-weighted MR images in a leave-one-out cross validation experiment and compared with both manual reference segmentations and with multiatlas-based segmentations using majority voting atlas fusion. The impact of atlas selection is investigated in both the traditional atlas-based segmentation and the new graph cut method that combines atlas and intensity information in order to improve the segmentation accuracy. Best results were achieved using the method that combines intensity information, shape information, and atlas selection in the graph cut framework. Results: A mean Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 0.88 and a mean surface distance (MSD) of 1.45 mm with respect to the manual delineation were achieved. Conclusions: This approaches the interobserver DSC of 0.90 and interobserver MSD 0f 1.15 mm and is comparable to other studies performing prostate segmentation in MR.

Linking gene regulation to cell behaviors in the posterior growth zone of sequentially segmenting arthropods.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Terri A; Nagy, Lisa M

2017-05-01

Virtually all arthropods all arthropods add their body segments sequentially, one by one in an anterior to posterior progression. That process requires not only segment specification but typically growth and elongation. Here we review the functions of some of the key genes that regulate segmentation: Wnt, caudal, Notch pathway, and pair-rule genes, and discuss what can be inferred about their evolution. We focus on how these regulatory factors are integrated with growth and elongation and discuss the importance and challenges of baseline measures of growth and elongation. We emphasize a perspective that integrates the genetic regulation of segment patterning with the cellular mechanisms of growth and elongation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks for Multi-Modality Isointense Infant Brain Image Segmentation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wenlu; Li, Rongjian; Deng, Houtao; Wang, Li; Lin, Weili; Ji, Shuiwang; Shen, Dinggang

2015-01-01

The segmentation of infant brain tissue images into white matter (WM), gray matter (GM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) plays an important role in studying early brain development in health and disease. In the isointense stage (approximately 6–8 months of age), WM and GM exhibit similar levels of intensity in both T1 and T2 MR images, making the tissue segmentation very challenging. Only a small number of existing methods have been designed for tissue segmentation in this isointense stage; however, they only used a single T1 or T2 images, or the combination of T1 and T2 images. In this paper, we propose to use deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for segmenting isointense stage brain tissues using multi-modality MR images. CNNs are a type of deep models in which trainable filters and local neighborhood pooling operations are applied alternatingly on the raw input images, resulting in a hierarchy of increasingly complex features. Specifically, we used multimodality information from T1, T2, and fractional anisotropy (FA) images as inputs and then generated the segmentation maps as outputs. The multiple intermediate layers applied convolution, pooling, normalization, and other operations to capture the highly nonlinear mappings between inputs and outputs. We compared the performance of our approach with that of the commonly used segmentation methods on a set of manually segmented isointense stage brain images. Results showed that our proposed model significantly outperformed prior methods on infant brain tissue segmentation. In addition, our results indicated that integration of multi-modality images led to significant performance improvement. PMID:25562829

Poly(ether amide) segmented block copolymers with adipicacid based tetra amide segments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Biemond, G.J.E.; Feijen, Jan; Gaymans, R.J.

2007-01-01

Poly(tetramethylene oxide)-based poly(ether ester amide)s with monodisperse tetraamide segments were synthesized. The tetraamide segment was based on adipic acid, terephthalic acid, and hexamethylenediamine. The synthesis method of the copolymers and the influence of the tetraamide concentration,

AN ADAPTIVE APPROACH FOR SEGMENTATION OF 3D LASER POINT CLOUD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Lari

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Automatic processing and object extraction from 3D laser point cloud is one of the major research topics in the field of photogrammetry. Segmentation is an essential step in the processing of laser point cloud, and the quality of extracted objects from laser data is highly dependent on the validity of the segmentation results. This paper presents a new approach for reliable and efficient segmentation of planar patches from a 3D laser point cloud. In this method, the neighbourhood of each point is firstly established using an adaptive cylinder while considering the local point density and surface trend. This neighbourhood definition has a major effect on the computational accuracy of the segmentation attributes. In order to efficiently cluster planar surfaces and prevent introducing ambiguities, the coordinates of the origin's projection on each point's best fitted plane are used as the clustering attributes. Then, an octree space partitioning method is utilized to detect and extract peaks from the attribute space. Each detected peak represents a specific cluster of points which are located on a distinct planar surface in the object space. Experimental results show the potential and feasibility of applying this method for segmentation of both airborne and terrestrial laser data.

Market Segmentation for Information Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Halperin, Michael

1981-01-01

Discusses the advantages and limitations of market segmentation as strategy for the marketing of information services made available by nonprofit organizations, particularly libraries. Market segmentation is defined, a market grid for libraries is described, and the segmentation of information services is outlined. A 16-item reference list is…

Probabilistic Segmentation of Folk Music Recordings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ciril Bohak

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a novel method for automatic segmentation of folk music field recordings. The method is based on a distance measure that uses dynamic time warping to cope with tempo variations and a dynamic programming approach to handle pitch drifting for finding similarities and estimating the length of repeating segment. A probabilistic framework based on HMM is used to find segment boundaries, searching for optimal match between the expected segment length, between-segment similarities, and likely locations of segment beginnings. Evaluation of several current state-of-the-art approaches for segmentation of commercial music is presented and their weaknesses when dealing with folk music are exposed, such as intolerance to pitch drift and variable tempo. The proposed method is evaluated and its performance analyzed on a collection of 206 folk songs of different ensemble types: solo, two- and three-voiced, choir, instrumental, and instrumental with singing. It outperforms current commercial music segmentation methods for noninstrumental music and is on a par with the best for instrumental recordings. The method is also comparable to a more specialized method for segmentation of solo singing folk music recordings.

Decomposing the Hounsfield unit: probabilistic segmentation of brain tissue in computed tomography.

Science.gov (United States)

Kemmling, A; Wersching, H; Berger, K; Knecht, S; Groden, C; Nölte, I

2012-03-01

The aim of this study was to present and evaluate a standardized technique for brain segmentation of cranial computed tomography (CT) using probabilistic partial volume tissue maps based on a database of high resolution T1 magnetic resonance images (MRI). Probabilistic tissue maps of white matter (WM), gray matter (GM) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were derived from 600 normal brain MRIs (3.0 Tesla, T1-3D-turbo-field-echo) of 2 large community-based population studies (BiDirect and SEARCH Health studies). After partial tissue segmentation (FAST 4.0), MR images were linearly registered to MNI-152 standard space (FLIRT 5.5) with non-linear refinement (FNIRT 1.0) to obtain non-binary probabilistic volume images for each tissue class which were subsequently used for CT segmentation. From 150 normal cerebral CT scans a customized reference image in standard space was constructed with iterative non-linear registration to MNI-152 space. The inverse warp of tissue-specific probability maps to CT space (MNI-152 to individual CT) was used to decompose a CT image into tissue specific components (GM, WM, CSF). Potential benefits and utility of this novel approach with regard to unsupervised quantification of CT images and possible visual enhancement are addressed. Illustrative examples of tissue segmentation in different pathological cases including perfusion CT are presented. Automated tissue segmentation of cranial CT images using highly refined tissue probability maps derived from high resolution MR images is feasible. Potential applications include automated quantification of WM in leukoaraiosis, CSF in hydrocephalic patients, GM in neurodegeneration and ischemia and perfusion maps with separate assessment of GM and WM.

Prognostic validation of a 17-segment score derived from a 20-segment score for myocardial perfusion SPECT interpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Berman, Daniel S; Abidov, Aiden; Kang, Xingping; Hayes, Sean W; Friedman, John D; Sciammarella, Maria G; Cohen, Ishac; Gerlach, James; Waechter, Parker B; Germano, Guido; Hachamovitch, Rory

2004-01-01

Recently, a 17-segment model of the left ventricle has been recommended as an optimally weighted approach for interpreting myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Methods to convert databases from previous 20- to new 17-segment data and criteria for abnormality for the 17-segment scores are needed. Initially, for derivation of the conversion algorithm, 65 patients were studied (algorithm population) (pilot group, n = 28; validation group, n = 37). Three conversion algorithms were derived: algorithm 1, which used mid, distal, and apical scores; algorithm 2, which used distal and apical scores alone; and algorithm 3, which used maximal scores of the distal septal, lateral, and apical segments in the 20-segment model for 3 corresponding segments of the 17-segment model. The prognosis population comprised 16,020 consecutive patients (mean age, 65 +/- 12 years; 41% women) who had exercise or vasodilator stress technetium 99m sestamibi myocardial perfusion SPECT and were followed up for 2.1 +/- 0.8 years. In this population, 17-segment scores were derived from 20-segment scores by use of algorithm 2, which demonstrated the best agreement with expert 17-segment reading in the algorithm population. The prognostic value of the 20- and 17-segment scores was compared by converting the respective summed scores into percent myocardium abnormal. Conversion algorithm 2 was found to be highly concordant with expert visual analysis by the 17-segment model (r = 0.982; kappa = 0.866) in the algorithm population. In the prognosis population, 456 cardiac deaths occurred during follow-up. When the conversion algorithm was applied, extent and severity of perfusion defects were nearly identical by 20- and derived 17-segment scores. The receiver operating characteristic curve areas by 20- and 17-segment perfusion scores were identical for predicting cardiac death (both 0.77 +/- 0.02, P = not significant). The optimal prognostic cutoff value for either 20

Segmentation of overweight Americans and opportunities for social marketing.

Science.gov (United States)

Kolodinsky, Jane; Reynolds, Travis

2009-03-08

The food industry uses market segmentation to target products toward specific groups of consumers with similar attitudinal, demographic, or lifestyle characteristics. Our aims were to identify distinguishable segments within the US overweight population to be targeted with messages and media aimed at moving Americans toward more healthy weights. Cluster analysis was used to identify segments of consumers based on both food and lifestyle behaviors related to unhealthy weights. Drawing from Social Learning Theory, the Health Belief Model, and existing market segmentation literature, the study identified five distinct, recognizable market segments based on knowledge and behavioral and environmental factors. Implications for social marketing campaigns designed to move Americans toward more healthy weights were explored. The five clusters identified were: Highest Risk (19%); At Risk (22%); Right Behavior/Wrong Results (33%); Getting Best Results (13%); and Doing OK (12%). Ninety-nine percent of those in the Highest Risk cluster were overweight; members watched the most television and exercised the least. Fifty-five percent of those in the At Risk cluster were overweight; members logged the most computer time and almost half rarely or never read food labels. Sixty-six percent of those in the Right Behavior/Wrong Results cluster were overweight; however, 95% of them were familiar with the food pyramid. Members reported eating a low percentage of fast food meals (8%) compared to other groups but a higher percentage of other restaurant meals (15%). Less than six percent of those in the Getting Best Results cluster were overweight; every member read food labels and 75% of members' meals were "made from scratch." Eighteen percent of those in the Doing OK cluster were overweight; members watched the least television and reported eating 78% of their meals "made from scratch." This study demonstrated that five distinct market segments can be identified for social marketing

Segmentation of overweight Americans and opportunities for social marketing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reynolds Travis

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The food industry uses market segmentation to target products toward specific groups of consumers with similar attitudinal, demographic, or lifestyle characteristics. Our aims were to identify distinguishable segments within the US overweight population to be targeted with messages and media aimed at moving Americans toward more healthy weights. Methods Cluster analysis was used to identify segments of consumers based on both food and lifestyle behaviors related to unhealthy weights. Drawing from Social Learning Theory, the Health Belief Model, and existing market segmentation literature, the study identified five distinct, recognizable market segments based on knowledge and behavioral and environmental factors. Implications for social marketing campaigns designed to move Americans toward more healthy weights were explored. Results The five clusters identified were: Highest Risk (19%; At Risk (22%; Right Behavior/Wrong Results (33%; Getting Best Results (13%; and Doing OK (12%. Ninety-nine percent of those in the Highest Risk cluster were overweight; members watched the most television and exercised the least. Fifty-five percent of those in the At Risk cluster were overweight; members logged the most computer time and almost half rarely or never read food labels. Sixty-six percent of those in the Right Behavior/Wrong Results cluster were overweight; however, 95% of them were familiar with the food pyramid. Members reported eating a low percentage of fast food meals (8% compared to other groups but a higher percentage of other restaurant meals (15%. Less than six percent of those in the Getting Best Results cluster were overweight; every member read food labels and 75% of members' meals were "made from scratch." Eighteen percent of those in the Doing OK cluster were overweight; members watched the least television and reported eating 78% of their meals "made from scratch." Conclusion This study demonstrated that five distinct

NUCLEAR SEGMENTATION IN MICROSCOPE CELL IMAGES: A HAND-SEGMENTED DATASET AND COMPARISON OF ALGORITHMS

OpenAIRE

Coelho, Luís Pedro; Shariff, Aabid; Murphy, Robert F.

2009-01-01

Image segmentation is an essential step in many image analysis pipelines and many algorithms have been proposed to solve this problem. However, they are often evaluated subjectively or based on a small number of examples. To fill this gap, we hand-segmented a set of 97 fluorescence microscopy images (a total of 4009 cells) and objectively evaluated some previously proposed segmentation algorithms.