De-speckling of Optical Coherence Tomography Images Using Anscombe Transform and a Noisier2noise Model

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) image denoising is a fundamental problem as OCT images suffer from multiplicative speckle noise, resulting in poor visibility of retinal layers. The traditional denoising methods consider specific statistical properties of the noise, which are not always known. Furthermore, recent deep learning-based denoising methods require paired noisy and clean images, which are often difficult to obtain, especially medical images. Noise2Noise family architectures are generally proposed to overcome this issue by learning without noisy-clean image pairs. However, for that, multiple noisy observations from a single image are typically needed. Also, sometimes the experiments are demonstrated by simulating noises on clean synthetic images, which is not a realistic scenario. This work shows how a single real-world noisy observation of each image can be used to train a denoising network. Along with a theoretical understanding, our algorithm is experimentally validated using a publicly available OCT image dataset. Our approach incorporates Anscombe transform to convert the multiplicative noise model to additive Gaussian noise to make it suitable for OCT images. The quantitative results show that this method can outperform several other methods where a single noisy observation of an image is needed for denoising. The code and implementation of this paper will be available publicly upon acceptance of this paper.Comment: Accepted to MICCAI OMIA workshop 202

AN INVENTORY OF NECROPHAGOUS FLIES FROM INDIA

India has experienced an increase in violent murder cases in recent years. In 2021, there were over 29 thousand murders reported across India. Furthermore, more than 55 thousand attempted murder cases were filed in the country that year. A consistent increase in attempted murder cases was seen over the years till 2017. The reasons for death have been elucidated using necrophagous fly data in recent years. Forensic entomology focuses on the close bond between insects and corpses in addition to the use of insects in medicolegal investigations and as well as necrophagous flies play a crucial role in the decay of corpses. A checklist of necrophagous flies from India is hence provided. A total of 349 species belonging to 56 genera under 16 families are documented in this list along with their details of distribution. This is the first checklist of necrophagous flies from India which gives the complete scenario of the diversity of such flies from this megadiverse country. This checklist might serve as a new source of data on criminal cases and wildlife poaching in India

Aurora Kinase A inhibitor alisertib failed to exert its efficacy on TNBC cells due to consequential enrichment of polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs)

Abstract Background Kinases are emerging as promising targetable choices for Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients who suffer from lack of targeted therapy. Aurora kinase A (AURKA) inhibitor alisertib although showed promise but failed to impart any ultimate benefit in TNBCs. Considering initial preclinical success of alisertib, this study tried to explore the underlying mechanisms of its subsequent insensitivity in TNBCs. Methods Breast cancer kinome was screened for kinases with high clinical significance by clinical kinase indexing coupled with studying their differential expression pattern and prognostic impact using available datasets. Relevant kinase inhibitors were assessed for pharmacological/toxicological parameters in silico. Alisertib induced polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs) were observed microscopically and flow cytometrically. PGCC viability was assessed by single cell MTT and (BrdU) assay. Epithelial and mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stemness markers were examined by immunofluorescence. PGCC enrichment was additionally checked in stained tissue explant/histocultures. Alisertib insensitive cells were developed by repeated alisertib pulsing as confirmed by MTT assay. Alisertib insensitive mammospheres were targeted with mifepristone. Results Clinical Kinase Index (CKI) scoring and pan cancer expressional profiling coupled with analysis of prognostic effect revealed AURKA as a targetable prognostically relevant kinase. AURKA-targeting agent alisertib demonstrated acceptable pharmacological/toxicological properties but enriched PGCCs in in vitro and tumour histocultures. PGCCs maintained replicative potency producing viable progenies. They retained expression of EMT and stemness markers; demonstrating single cell clonogenicity. PGCC enrichment led to reduced alisertib sensitivity as evident from enrichment of insensitive mammospheres, targetable by mifepristone. Conclusion PGCCs contributed to alisertib insensitivity in TNBCs that may be targeted by mifepristone

The Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Infection on the Cognitive Functioning of Patients with Pre-Existing Dementia.

20.500.12530/87852Cognitive postscripts of COVID-19, codenamed as 'cognitive COVID' or 'brain fog,' characterized by multidomain cognitive impairments, are now being reckoned as the most devastating sequelae of COVID-19. However, the impact on the already demented brain has not been studied. We aimed to assess the cognitive functioning and neuroimaging following SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with pre-existing dementia. Fourteen COVID-19 survivors with pre-existing dementia (four with Alzheimer's disease, five with vascular dementia, three with Parkinson's disease dementia, and two with the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia) were recruited. All these patients had detailed cognitive and neuroimaging evaluations within three months before suffering from COVID-19 and one year later. Of the 14 patients, ten required hospitalization. All developed or increased white matter hyperintensities that mimicked multiple sclerosis and small vessel disease. There was a significant increase in fatigue (p = 0.001) and depression (p = 0.016) scores following COVID-19. The mean Frontal Assessment Battery (p  The rapid progression of dementia, the addition of further impairments/deterioration of cognitive abilities, and the increase or new appearance of white matter lesion burden suggest that previously compromised brains have little defense to withstand a new insult (i.e., 'second hit' like infection/dysregulated immune response, and inflammation). 'Brain fog' is an ambiguous terminology without specific attribution to the spectrum of post-COVID-19 cognitive sequelae. We propose a new codename, i.e. 'FADE-IN MEMORY' (i.e., Fatigue, decreased Fluency, Attention deficit, Depression, Executive dysfunction, slowed INformation processing speed, and subcortical MEMORY impairment)

The Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Infection on the Cognitive Functioning of Patients with Pre-Existing Dementia

Background: Cognitive postscripts of COVID-19, codenamed as ‘cognitive COVID’ or ‘brain fog,’ characterized by multidomain cognitive impairments, are now being reckoned as the most devastating sequelae of COVID-19. However, the impact on the already demented brain has not been studied. Objective: We aimed to assess the cognitive functioning and neuroimaging following SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with pre-existing dementia. Methods: Fourteen COVID-19 survivors with pre-existing dementia (four with Alzheimer’s disease, five with vascular dementia, three with Parkinson’s disease dementia, and two with the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia) were recruited. All these patients had detailed cognitive and neuroimaging evaluations within three months before suffering from COVID-19 and one year later. Results: Of the 14 patients, ten required hospitalization. All developed or increased white matter hyperintensities that mimicked multiple sclerosis and small vessel disease. There was a significant increase in fatigue (p = 0.001) and depression (p = 0.016) scores following COVID-19. The mean Frontal Assessment Battery (p &lt; 0.001) and Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (p = 0.001) scores also significantly worsened. Conclusion: The rapid progression of dementia, the addition of further impairments/deterioration of cognitive abilities, and the increase or new appearance of white matter lesion burden suggest that previously compromised brains have little defense to withstand a new insult (i.e., ‘second hit’ like infection/dysregulated immune response, and inflammation). ‘Brain fog’ is an ambiguous terminology without specific attribution to the spectrum of post-COVID-19 cognitive sequelae. We propose a new codename, i.e. ‘FADE-IN MEMORY’ (i.e., Fatigue, decreased Fluency, Attention deficit, Depression, Executive dysfunction, slowed INformation processing speed, and subcortical MEMORY impairment).</jats:p