Automatic breast tumor detection in ABVS images based on convolutional neural network and superpixel patterns

Breast cancer is one of the most common female malignancies, as well as the second leading cause of mortality for women. Early detection and treatment can dramatically decrease the mortality rate. Recently, automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) has become one of the most frequently used diagnose methods for breast tumor screening because of its operator-independent and reproducible advantages. However, it is a challenging job to obtain the tumors’ accurate locations and shapes by reviewing hundreds of ABVS slices. In this paper, a novel computer-aided detection (CADe) system is developed to reduce clinicians’ reading time and improve the efficiency. The CADe system mainly contains three parts: tumor candidate acquisition, false-positive reduction and tumor segmentation. Firstly, a local phase-based approach is built to obtain breast tumor candidates for further recognition. Subsequently, a convolutional neural network (CNN) is applied to reduce false positives (FPs). The introduction of CNN can help to avoid complicated feature extraction as well as elevate the accuracy and efficiency. Finally, superpixel-based segmentation is used to outline the breast tumor. Here, superpixel-based local binary pattern (SLBP) is proposed to assist the segmentation, which improves the performance. The methods were evaluated on a clinical ABVS dataset whose abnormal cases were manually labeled by an experienced radiologist. The experiment results were mainly composed of two parts. At the FP reduction stage, the proposed CNN achieved 100% and 78.12% sensitivity with FPs/case of 2.16 and 0. At the segmentation stage, our SLBP obtained 82.34% true positive, 15.79% false positive and 83.59% Dice similarity. In summary, the proposed CADe system demonstrated promising potential to detect and outline breast tumors in ABVS images.

     

Microenvironment and related genes predict outcomes of patients with cervical cancer: evidence from TCGA and bioinformatic analysis

Cervical cancer (CESC) is one of the most common cancers and affects the female genital tract. Consistent HPV infection status has been determined to be a vital cause of tumorigenesis. HPV infection may induce changes to the immune system and limit the host’s immune response. Immunotherapy is therefore essential to improving the overall survival of both locally advanced and recurrent CESC patients. Using 304 relevant samples from TCGA, we assessed immune cell function in CESC patients to better understand the status of both tumor micro-environment cells and immune cells in CESC. Functional enrichment analysis, pathway enrichment analysis, and PPI network construction were performed to explore the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The analysis identified 425 DEGs, which included 295 up-regulated genes and 130 down-regulated genes. We established that upregulation of CCL5 was correlated with significantly better survival, meaning that CCL5 expression could serve as a novel prognostic biomarker for CESC patients. We further focused on CCL5 as a hub gene in CESC, as it had significant correlations with increased numbers of several types of immune cells. Cell-type fractions of M1 macrophages were significantly higher in the high-immune-scores group, which was associated with better overall survival. Finally, we concluded that CCL5 is a promising prognostic biomarker for CESC, as well as a novel chemotherapeutic target.     

高精度多环片自动装配控制技术

为了实现对微小环片零件的自动化装配,搭建了自动装配系统.通过4根直线导向轴与4个直线轴承来提高系统的导向精度和刚度.采用直线导轨进行各装配作业模块之间的切换,保证了微小环片零件的自动装配与取出.在环片的装配方向上,螺旋升降机和光栅尺实现环片的位置精度控制.在Lab VIEW编程环境中,采用分层软件架构和模块化控制思想,避免了不必要的数据循环检测与丢失,能够达到环片组件的装配精度要求.控制系统分为系统初始化模块、参数设置模块、装配模块和取出模块,自动装配系统通过各个模块间的相互交流配合完成装配任务.采用本文中自动装配系统装配环片的实验结果表明,环片零件装配的最大位置误差为26μm,垂直度误差为17μm,平均装配时间为75 s/片,可满足环片组件所需的精度要求.     

Autolysis and the endogenous proteinases characterised in beardless barb (Anematichthys apogon) muscle

Beardless barb is a common fish species used in fermentation of fish paste Ka-pi-plaa. Autolytic profile of beardless barb muscle showed the maximum autolysis was at 50 °C, at both acidic and alkaline pH values. With augmentation concentration of NaCl, autolytic activity slightly decreased. Endogenous proteinases isolated from fish muscle in crude extract forms were also characterised. The acidic proteinases had optimum activity at pH 3.0 and 50°C, and they showed higher proteolytic activity than the alkaline proteinases which were optimally active at pH 9.0 and 50 °C. Proteinases in peak at pH 3.0 were inhibited by pepstatin A, but those in peak at pH 9.0 were highly inhibited by PMSF, TLCK and soybean trypsin inhibitor, suggesting that both aspartic and serine proteinases were existed in beardless barb muscle. The proteinases were stable in pH range of 2.0-5.0 but unstable at the temperatures higher than 40 °C. NaCl suppressed the proteolytic activity, ATP activated the proteinase activity, while CaCl₂, MgCl₂ and CoCl₂ exhibited no influence on the activity. The results implied that cathepsin D is the predominant proteinase responsible for autolysis in beardless barb. The findings were useful to improve the processing and qualities of Ka-pi-plaa product using beardless barb as raw material.     

A first-principles investigation on mechanical and metallic properties of titanium carbides under pressure

The titanium carbides are potential candidates to achieve both high hardness and refractory property. We carried out a structural search for titanium carbides at three pressures of 0 GPa, 30 GPa and 50 GPa. A phase diagram of the Ti-C system at 0 K was obtained by elucidating formation enthalpies as a function of compositions, and their mechanical and metallic properties of titanium carbides were investigated systematically. We also discussed the relation of titanium concentration to the both mechanical and metallic properties of titanium carbides. It has been found that the average valence electron density and tractility improved at higher concentrations of titanium, while the degree of covalent bonding directionality decreased. To this effect, the hardness of titanium carbide decreases as the content of titanium increases. Our results indicated that the titanium content significantly affected the metallic properties of the Ti-C system.     

溪洛渡水电站导流洞布置设计

溪洛渡水电站施工期采用左、右岸各布置3条导流洞的施工导流方案,无论是导流洞规模、单洞泄流量还是导流洞断面尺寸均居国内已建和在建导流洞的前列,特别是6条大断面尺寸的导流洞布置规模,在世界上位居首位。本文简要介绍了溪洛渡导流洞布置设计情况。     

简体接管边缘应力区局部减薄处应力特征

参考《压力容器定期检验规则》第40条,采用有限元方法计算了筒体接管边缘应力区局部减薄处的应力分布,得到了局部减薄处凹坑的尺寸与位置对应力的影响趋势,讨论了应力集中系数随尺寸变化的规律,为筒体接管边缘应力区局部减薄处的强度评定提供了一定的计算依据。     

铝合金热轧板锭熔铸技术及设备

本文概述了近年来铝合金热轧板锭的熔铸设备和熔铸技术的发展和最新成就，重点介绍晶粒细化、熔体净化、检测及铸造新技术，为国内铝板带企业跟踪国际铝合金板锭熔铸技术、开展技术攻关和进行技术创新提供有益的参考。     

现场总线在冶炼烟气制酸系统中的应用实践

分析了冶炼烟气制酸工艺的特点，介绍了由PROFIBUS-DP现场总线构建的冶炼厂烟气制酸监控系统，详细介绍了其硬件配置及相应的软件设计。