Does histology influence outcome in childhood Hodgkin's disease? Results from the United Kingdom Children's Cancer Study Group

PURPOSE: Histology has been identified as an important prognostic factor in Hodgkin's disease (HD) in adults. Information regarding the impact of histology on outcome in childhood HD is scarce. This study determines the effect of histology on the overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS) in a national series of children treated in a standardized manner. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The results of treatment of 331 assessable patients, treated between January 1, 1982 and June 30, 1992, in the United Kingdom Children's Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG) Hodgkin's study I were reviewed to evaluate OS, PFS, and deaths according to stage and histology. Treatment was either involved-field radiation alone (stage IA) or chlorambucil, vinblastine, procarbazine, and prednisolone (ChlVPP) chemotherapy with or without mediastinal radiation. All were clinically staged at diagnosis. RESULTS: Nodular sclerosing (NS) HD was the most common histologic subtype (155 of 331 patients [47%]) and was uniformly distributed through all stages. Lymphocyte-depletion (LD) HD was extremely uncommon (< 1%). Mixed-cellularity (MC) HD had the highest relapse rate, but this was only significant (P < .05) in stage I patients who received local irradiation alone. There was no other statistically significant difference in OS and PFS between the various histologic subtypes. Multivariate analysis for PFS and OS confirmed that stage was the most important prognostic factor and that histology did not have an effect after stratification by stage. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that with effective multiagent chemotherapy, histologic subtype does not influence outcome. The high relapse rates in stage I MC subtype indicates that MC HD is biologically aggressive and systemic treatment with or without local irradiation may be indicated. The high relapse rate in stage IV patients appeared to be independent of histology.     

One-step oxidation of cyclohexane to adipic acid

Liquid-phase oxidation of cyclohexane with Co(III) catalyst and gaseous oxygen was found to be influenced by reaction temperature, catalyst concentration and the duration. Maximum adipic acid product selectivity (77%) with about 85% cyclohexane conversion was attained at 100°C using catalyst: cyclohexane molar ratio 0·08. Under these conditions more than 80% cyclohexane was converted in the first hour, although selectivity to adipic acid continued to increase for the next 5 h. Cyclohexyl acetate and cyclohexyl monoadipate were identified as important intermediates. This study supports the mechanism proposed by Schultz, J. G. D. and Opchenko, A., J. Org. Chem., 38 (21) (1973) 3729.     

Monitoring of the ballistocardiogram with the static chargesensitive bed

The static charge sensitive bed (SCSB) consists of a sensitive movement detector embedded in a mattress. When a subject rests on the bed, a single electrical signal, containing components reflective of cardiac, respiratory, and body movement related motion, is produced. This paper describes a digital signal processing technique to separate the BCG from the SCSB signal. An evaluation of this algorithm was conducted using recordings from normal volunteers. Comparisons with simultaneously recorded reference signals indicated that the algorithm performed satisfactorily in a laboratory environment.     

Experimental study of composite cold-formed steel C-section floor joists

Twelve large-scale slab specimens and twenty-two companion push-out specimens were tested to study the behavior and capacity of composite slab joists consisting of cold-formed steel C-sections and concrete. Four shear transfer mechanisms, including surface bond, pre-fabricated bent-up tabs, pre-drilled holes, and self-drilling screws, were employed on the surface of the flange embedded in the concrete to provide shear transfer capacity. Results indicated that specimens employed with shear transfer enhancements showed a marked increase in strength and reduced deflection compared with those relying only on a natural bond between steel and concrete to resist shear. Of the three shear transfer enhancements investigated, bent-up tabs provided the best performance at both the strength and serviceability limit states, followed by drilled holes in the embedded flanges. The use of self-drilling screws resulted in the lowest strength increase. The correlation of shear transfer capacity of push-out specimens with the ultimate capacity of large-scale specimens indicated that the average experimental flexural capacity of the slab specimens was approximately 1.16 times the average predicted value based on push-out test results.     

A quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of laparascopy and endoscopy virtual reality simulators

The increasing use of virtual reality (VR) simulators in surgical training makes it imperative that definitive studies be performed to assess their training effectiveness. Indeed in this paper we report the meta-analysis of the efficacy of virtual reality simulators in (1) the transference of skills from the simulator training environment to the operating room and (2) their ability to discriminate between the experience levels of its users. The task completion time and the error score were the two study outcomes collated and analyzed in this meta-analysis. Sixteen studies were identified from a computer-based literature search (1996-2004). The meta-analysis of the random-effects model (because of the heterogeneity of the data) revealed that training on virtual reality simulators did lessen the time taken to complete a given surgical task as also clearly differentiate between the experienced and the novice trainees. Meta-analytic studies such as the one reported here would be very helpful in the planning and setting up of surgical training programs and for the establishment of reference ‘learning curves’ for a specific simulator and surgical task. If any such programs already exist they can then indicate the improvements to be made in the simulator used such as providing for more variety in their case scenarios based on the state and/or rate of learning of the trainee.     

Prediction of the effects on dynamic response due to distributed structural modification with additional degrees of freedom

The aim of this study is to investigate means of efficiently assessing the effects of distributed structural modification on the dynamic properties of a complex structure. The dynamic properties of the modified structure can be determined by experimental testing or numerical simulation, both of which are complex, expensive and time-consuming. Assuming that the original dynamic characteristics are already established and that the modification is a relatively simple attachment, the modified dynamic properties may be determined numerically without solving the equations of motion of the full-modified structure. The frequency response functions (FRFs) of the modified structure can be computed by coupling the original FRFs and a delta dynamic stiffness matrix for the modification introduced. The validity of this approach is investigated by applying it to a cantilever beam to which a smaller beam is attached as modification. The original FRFs were obtained experimentally as well as numerically. The delta dynamic stiffness matrix was determined numerically by modeling the attachment and part of the original structure including the attachment points. The FRFs of the modified beam were then computed. Good agreement is obtained by comparing the results to the FRFs of the modified beam determined experimentally as well as by numerical modeling of the complete modified structure.     

An evolutionary lion optimization algorithm‐based image compression technique for biomedical applications

Recently, medical image compression becomes essential to effectively handle large amounts of medical data for storage and communication purposes. Vector quantization (VQ) is a popular image compression technique, and the commonly used VQ model is Linde–Buzo–Gray (LBG) that constructs a local optimal codebook to compress images. The codebook construction was considered as an optimization problem, and a bioinspired algorithm was employed to solve it. This article proposed a VQ codebook construction approach called the L2‐LBG method utilizing the Lion optimization algorithm (LOA) and Lempel Ziv Markov chain Algorithm (LZMA). Once LOA constructed the codebook, LZMA was applied to compress the index table and further increase the compression performance of the LOA. A set of experimentation has been carried out using the benchmark medical images, and a comparative analysis was conducted with Cuckoo Search‐based LBG (CS‐LBG), Firefly‐based LBG (FF‐LBG) and JPEG2000. The compression efficiency of the presented model was validated in terms of compression ratio (CR), compression factor (CF), bit rate, and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR). The proposed L2‐LBG method obtained a higher CR of 0.3425375 and PSNR value of 52.62459 compared to CS‐LBG, FA‐LBG, and JPEG2000 methods. The experimental values revealed that the L2‐LBG process yielded effective compression performance with a better‐quality reconstructed image.     

AHW-BGOA-DNN: a novel deep learning model for epileptic seizure detection

Neural Computing and Applications - “Brain–Computer Interface” (BCI)—a real-life support system provides a way for epileptic patients to improve their quality of life. In...     

IR and Raman studies and effect of γ radiation on crystallization of some lead borate glasses containing Al2O3

IR and Raman spectra of glass ceramics based on PbO-Cr₂O₃-B₂O₃glass composition system have been studied. The bands characteristic of BO₃. and BO₄ functional groups are present in all the samples. An incorporation of Al₂O₃(up to 5 mol%) in the initial glass composition considerably changes the glass network structure and relative concentrations of BO₃ and BO₄ groups. The composition 50 PbO-20 Cr₂O₃-25 B₂O₃-5 Al₂O₃(in mol%) reveals a maximum fraction of boron in the BO₄ group. A sample of this composition heat treated at 850° C for 25 h shows a maximum crystallization fraction with Pb₂O · CrO₄ as a prominent crystalline phase. The glasses irradiated with rays inhibit the crystallization into the Pb₂O · CrO₄ phase. They also show relatively smaller thermal conductivity.