Rotational Angiography for 3D Roadmapping of Catheter Interventions in Congenital Heart Disease: Comparison of a Diagnostic and a Low Dose Program

Objectives: To compare the image quality, accuracy and effective dose of the default diagnostic pro-gram with the low dose program. Methods: The diagnostic and low dose programs of three-dimen-sional rotational angiography were compared considering their signal to noise ratio, their carrier to noise ratio and their actual radiation dose in μGy⋅m2/kg. An anthropomorphic phantom underwent both types of scans to evaluate the effective dose. Comparative measurements of vessel diameters were taken in the diagnostic and the low dose program and compared to the angiography as exact basis. The image quality of the scans using the different programs was rated by a specialist physician. Results: The low dose scan does use significantly less radiation and still provides images, which are adequate for 3D navigation of catheter-based interventions. Conclusion: Three-dimensional rotational angiography can be applied with the low dose program and is sufficient for 3D navigation.

Hologamous integrating strategies for incipient fault diagnosis of transformer

This paper studied an integrative fault diagnostic system on the power transformer. On-line monitor items were grounded current of iron core, internal partial discharge and oil dissolved gas. Diagnostic techniques were simple rule-based judgment, fuzzy logistic reasoning and neural network distinguishing. Considering that much faults information was interactional, intellectualized diagnosis was implemented based on integrating the neural network with the expert system. Hologamous integrating strategies were materialized by information-based integrating monitor devices, shared information database on several levels and fusion diagnosis software along thought patterns. The expert system practiced logic thought by logistic reasoning. The neural network realized image thought by model matching. Creative conclusion was educed by their integrating. The diagnosis example showed that the integrative diagnostic system was reasonable and practical.

Colorectal cancer screening in the COVID-19 era

Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the third most diagnosed form of cancer and second most deadly cancer worldwide.Introduction of better screening has improved both incidence and mortality.However,as the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic began,healthcare resources were shunted away from cancer screening services resulting in a sharp decrease in CRC screening and a backlog of patients awaiting screening tests.This may have significant effects on CRC cancer mortality,as delayed screening may lead to advanced cancer at diagnosis.Strategies to overcome COVID-19 related disruption include utilizing stool-based cancer tests,developing screening protocols based on individual risk factors,expanding telehealth,and increasing open access colonoscopies.In this review,we will summarize the effects of COVID-19 on CRC screening,the potential longoutcomes,and ways to adapt CRC screening during this global pandemic.

Local Influence on the Error-Correction Variable in a Cointegrated System

The concept of cointegration describes an equilibrium relationship among a set of time-varying variables, and the cointegrated relationship can be represented through an error-correction model (ECM). The error-correction variable, which represents the short-run discrepancy from the equilibrium state in a cointegrated system, plays an important role in the ECM. It is natural to ask how the error-correction mechanism works, or equivalently, how the short-run discrepancy affects the development of the cointegrated system? This paper examines the effect or local influence on the error-correction variable in an error-correction model. Following the argument of the second-order approach to local influence suggested by reference [5], we develop a diagnostic statistic to examine the local influence on the estimation of the parameter associated with the error-correction variable in an ECM. An empirical example is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed diagnostic. We find that the short-run discre pancy may have strong influence on the estimation of the parameter associated with the error-correction model. It is the error-correction variable that the short-run discrepancies can be incorporated through the error-correction mechanism.