Medical X-Ray Image Enhancement Based on Kramer's PDE Model

The purpose of this study is to present an application of a novel enhancement technique for enhancing medical images generated from X-rays. The method presented in this study is based on a nonlinear partial differential equation （PDE） model, Kramer＇s PDE model. The usefulness of this method is investigated by experimental results. We apply this method to a medical X-ray image. For comparison, the X-ray image is also processed using classic Perona-Malik PDE model and Catte PDE model. Although the Perona-Malik model and Catte PDE model could also enhance the image, the quality of the enhanced images is considerably inferior compared with the enhanced image using Kramer＇s PDE model. The study suggests that the Kramer＇s PDE model is capable of enhancing medical X-ray images, which will make the X-ray images more reliable.

Stochastic Augmented-Based Dual-Teaching for Semi-Supervised Medical Image Segmentation

Existing semi-supervisedmedical image segmentation algorithms use copy-paste data augmentation to correct the labeled-unlabeled data distribution mismatch.However,current copy-paste methods have three limitations:(1)training the model solely with copy-paste mixed pictures from labeled and unlabeled input loses a lot of labeled information;(2)low-quality pseudo-labels can cause confirmation bias in pseudo-supervised learning on unlabeled data;(3)the segmentation performance in low-contrast and local regions is less than optimal.We design a Stochastic Augmentation-Based Dual-Teaching Auxiliary Training Strategy(SADT),which enhances feature diversity and learns high-quality features to overcome these problems.To be more precise,SADT trains the Student Network by using pseudo-label-based training from Teacher Network 1 and supervised learning with labeled data,which prevents the loss of rare labeled data.We introduce a bi-directional copy-pastemask with progressive high-entropy filtering to reduce data distribution disparities and mitigate confirmation bias in pseudo-supervision.For the mixed images,Deep-Shallow Spatial Contrastive Learning(DSSCL)is proposed in the feature spaces of Teacher Network 2 and the Student Network to improve the segmentation capabilities in low-contrast and local areas.In this procedure,the features retrieved by the Student Network are subjected to a random feature perturbation technique.On two openly available datasets,extensive trials show that our proposed SADT performs much better than the state-ofthe-art semi-supervised medical segmentation techniques.Using only 10%of the labeled data for training,SADT was able to acquire a Dice score of 90.10%on the ACDC(Automatic Cardiac Diagnosis Challenge)dataset.

Reconstruction of Knowledge and Medical Images in the Convergence of Chinese and Western Medicine:Taking “Sweet Meat” as an Example

The pancreas is neither part of the five Zang organs(五脏) nor the six Fu organs(六腑).Thus,it has received little attention in Chinese medical literature.In the late 19th century,medical missionaries in China started translating and introducing anatomical and physiological knowledge about the pancreas.As for the word pancreas,an early and influential translation was “sweet meat”(甜肉),proposed by Benjamin Hobson(合信).The translation “sweet meat” is not faithful to the original meaning of “pancreas”,but is a term coined by Hobson based on his personal habits,and the word “sweet” appeared by chance.However,in the decades since the term “sweet meat” became popular,Chinese medicine practitioners,such as Tang Zonghai(唐宗海),reinterpreted it by drawing new medical illustrations for “sweet meat” and giving new connotations to the word “sweet”.This discussion and interpretation of “sweet meat” in modern China,particularly among Chinese medicine professionals,is not only a dissemination and interpretation of the knowledge of “pancreas”,but also a construction of knowledge around the term “sweet meat”.

AI-Powered Image Security:Utilizing Autoencoders for Advanced Medical Image Encryption

With the rapid advancement in artificial intelligence(AI)and its application in the Internet of Things(IoT),intelligent technologies are being introduced in the medical field,giving rise to smart healthcare systems.The medical imaging data contains sensitive information,which can easily be stolen or tampered with,necessitating secure encryption schemes designed specifically to protect these images.This paper introduces an artificial intelligence-driven novel encryption scheme tailored for the secure transmission and storage of high-resolution medical images.The proposed scheme utilizes an artificial intelligence-based autoencoder to compress high-resolution medical images and to facilitate fast encryption and decryption.The proposed autoencoder retains important diagnostic information even after reducing the image dimensions.The low-resolution images then undergo a four-stage encryption process.The first two encryption stages involve permutation and the next two stages involve confusion.The first two stages ensure the disruption of the structure of the image,making it secure against statistical attacks.Whereas the two stages of confusion ensure the effective concealment of the pixel values making it difficult to decrypt without secret keys.This encrypted image is then safe for storage or transmission.The proposed scheme has been extensively evaluated against various attacks and statistical security parameters confirming its effectiveness in securing medical image data.

Marine Predators Algorithm with Deep Learning-Based Leukemia Cancer Classification on Medical Images

In blood or bone marrow,leukemia is a form of cancer.A person with leukemia has an expansion of white blood cells(WBCs).It primarily affects children and rarely affects adults.Treatment depends on the type of leukemia and the extent to which cancer has established throughout the body.Identifying leukemia in the initial stage is vital to providing timely patient care.Medical image-analysis-related approaches grant safer,quicker,and less costly solutions while ignoring the difficulties of these invasive processes.It can be simple to generalize Computer vision(CV)-based and image-processing techniques and eradicate human error.Many researchers have implemented computer-aided diagnosticmethods andmachine learning(ML)for laboratory image analysis,hopefully overcoming the limitations of late leukemia detection and determining its subgroups.This study establishes a Marine Predators Algorithm with Deep Learning Leukemia Cancer Classification(MPADL-LCC)algorithm onMedical Images.The projectedMPADL-LCC system uses a bilateral filtering(BF)technique to pre-process medical images.The MPADL-LCC system uses Faster SqueezeNet withMarine Predators Algorithm(MPA)as a hyperparameter optimizer for feature extraction.Lastly,the denoising autoencoder(DAE)methodology can be executed to accurately detect and classify leukemia cancer.The hyperparameter tuning process using MPA helps enhance leukemia cancer classification performance.Simulation results are compared with other recent approaches concerning various measurements and the MPADL-LCC algorithm exhibits the best results over other recent approaches.

Fractional-order heterogeneous memristive Rulkov neuronal network and its medical image watermarking application

This article proposes a novel fractional heterogeneous neural network by coupling a Rulkov neuron with a Hopfield neural network(FRHNN),utilizing memristors for emulating neural synapses.The study firstly demonstrates the coexistence of multiple firing patterns through phase diagrams,Lyapunov exponents(LEs),and bifurcation diagrams.Secondly,the parameter related firing behaviors are described through two-parameter bifurcation diagrams.Subsequently,local attraction basins reveal multi-stability phenomena related to initial values.Moreover,the proposed model is implemented on a microcomputer-based ARM platform,and the experimental results correspond to the numerical simulations.Finally,the article explores the application of digital watermarking for medical images,illustrating its features of excellent imperceptibility,extensive key space,and robustness against attacks including noise and cropping.

Robust zero-watermarking algorithm based on discrete wavelet transform and daisy descriptors for encrypted medical image

In the intricate network environment,the secure transmission of medical images faces challenges such as information leakage and malicious tampering,significantly impacting the accuracy of disease diagnoses by medical professionals.To address this problem,the authors propose a robust feature watermarking algorithm for encrypted medical images based on multi-stage discrete wavelet transform(DWT),Daisy descriptor,and discrete cosine transform(DCT).The algorithm initially encrypts the original medical image through DWT-DCT and Logistic mapping.Subsequently,a 3-stage DWT transformation is applied to the encrypted medical image,with the centre point of the LL3 sub-band within its low-frequency component serving as the sampling point.The Daisy descriptor matrix for this point is then computed.Finally,a DCT transformation is performed on the Daisy descriptor matrix,and the low-frequency portion is processed using the perceptual hashing algorithm to generate a 32-bit binary feature vector for the medical image.This scheme utilises cryptographic knowledge and zero-watermarking technique to embed watermarks without modifying medical images and can extract the watermark from test images without the original image,which meets the basic re-quirements of medical image watermarking.The embedding and extraction of water-marks are accomplished in a mere 0.160 and 0.411s,respectively,with minimal computational overhead.Simulation results demonstrate the robustness of the algorithm against both conventional attacks and geometric attacks,with a notable performance in resisting rotation attacks.

A novel medical image data protection scheme for smart healthcare system

The Internet of Multimedia Things(IoMT)refers to a network of interconnected multimedia devices that communicate with each other over the Internet.Recently,smart healthcare has emerged as a significant application of the IoMT,particularly in the context of knowledge‐based learning systems.Smart healthcare systems leverage knowledge‐based learning to become more context‐aware,adaptable,and auditable while maintain-ing the ability to learn from historical data.In smart healthcare systems,devices capture images,such as X‐rays,Magnetic Resonance Imaging.The security and integrity of these images are crucial for the databases used in knowledge‐based learning systems to foster structured decision‐making and enhance the learning abilities of AI.Moreover,in knowledge‐driven systems,the storage and transmission of HD medical images exert a burden on the limited bandwidth of the communication channel,leading to data trans-mission delays.To address the security and latency concerns,this paper presents a lightweight medical image encryption scheme utilising bit‐plane decomposition and chaos theory.The results of the experiment yield entropy,energy,and correlation values of 7.999,0.0156,and 0.0001,respectively.This validates the effectiveness of the encryption system proposed in this paper,which offers high‐quality encryption,a large key space,key sensitivity,and resistance to statistical attacks.

Research on Multi-Scale Feature Fusion Network Algorithm Based on Brain Tumor Medical Image Classification

Gliomas have the highest mortality rate of all brain tumors.Correctly classifying the glioma risk period can help doctors make reasonable treatment plans and improve patients’survival rates.This paper proposes a hierarchical multi-scale attention feature fusion medical image classification network(HMAC-Net),which effectively combines global features and local features.The network framework consists of three parallel layers:The global feature extraction layer,the local feature extraction layer,and the multi-scale feature fusion layer.A linear sparse attention mechanism is designed in the global feature extraction layer to reduce information redundancy.In the local feature extraction layer,a bilateral local attention mechanism is introduced to improve the extraction of relevant information between adjacent slices.In the multi-scale feature fusion layer,a channel fusion block combining convolutional attention mechanism and residual inverse multi-layer perceptron is proposed to prevent gradient disappearance and network degradation and improve feature representation capability.The double-branch iterative multi-scale classification block is used to improve the classification performance.On the brain glioma risk grading dataset,the results of the ablation experiment and comparison experiment show that the proposed HMAC-Net has the best performance in both qualitative analysis of heat maps and quantitative analysis of evaluation indicators.On the dataset of skin cancer classification,the generalization experiment results show that the proposed HMAC-Net has a good generalization effect.

Importance-aware 3D volume visualization for medical content-based image retrieval-a preliminary study

Background A medical content-based image retrieval(CBIR)system is designed to retrieve images from large imaging repositories that are visually similar to a user′s query image.CBIR is widely used in evidence-based diagnosis,teaching,and research.Although the retrieval accuracy has largely improved,there has been limited development toward visualizing important image features that indicate the similarity of retrieved images.Despite the prevalence of 3D volumetric data in medical imaging such as computed tomography(CT),current CBIR systems still rely on 2D cross-sectional views for the visualization of retrieved images.Such 2D visualization requires users to browse through the image stacks to confirm the similarity of the retrieved images and often involves mental reconstruction of 3D information,including the size,shape,and spatial relations of multiple structures.This process is time-consuming and reliant on users'experience.Methods In this study,we proposed an importance-aware 3D volume visualization method.The rendering parameters were automatically optimized to maximize the visibility of important structures that were detected and prioritized in the retrieval process.We then integrated the proposed visualization into a CBIR system,thereby complementing the 2D cross-sectional views for relevance feedback and further analyses.Results Our preliminary results demonstrate that 3D visualization can provide additional information using multimodal positron emission tomography and computed tomography(PETCT)images of a non-small cell lung cancer dataset.

A review of medical ocular image segmentation

Deep learning has been extensively applied to medical image segmentation,resulting in significant advancements in the field of deep neural networks for medical image segmentation since the notable success of U Net in 2015.However,the application of deep learning models to ocular medical image segmentation poses unique challenges,especially compared to other body parts,due to the complexity,small size,and blurriness of such images,coupled with the scarcity of data.This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of medical image segmentation from two perspectives:the development of deep network structures and the application of segmentation in ocular imaging.Initially,the article introduces an overview of medical imaging,data processing,and performance evaluation metrics.Subsequently,it analyzes recent developments in U-Net-based network structures.Finally,for the segmentation of ocular medical images,the application of deep learning is reviewed and categorized by the type of ocular tissue.

DCFNet:An Effective Dual-Branch Cross-Attention Fusion Network for Medical Image Segmentation

Automatic segmentation of medical images provides a reliable scientific basis for disease diagnosis and analysis.Notably,most existing methods that combine the strengths of convolutional neural networks(CNNs)and Transformers have made significant progress.However,there are some limitations in the current integration of CNN and Transformer technology in two key aspects.Firstly,most methods either overlook or fail to fully incorporate the complementary nature between local and global features.Secondly,the significance of integrating the multiscale encoder features from the dual-branch network to enhance the decoding features is often disregarded in methods that combine CNN and Transformer.To address this issue,we present a groundbreaking dual-branch cross-attention fusion network(DCFNet),which efficiently combines the power of Swin Transformer and CNN to generate complementary global and local features.We then designed the Feature Cross-Fusion(FCF)module to efficiently fuse local and global features.In the FCF,the utilization of the Channel-wise Cross-fusion Transformer(CCT)serves the purpose of aggregatingmulti-scale features,and the Feature FusionModule(FFM)is employed to effectively aggregate dual-branch prominent feature regions from the spatial perspective.Furthermore,within the decoding phase of the dual-branch network,our proposed Channel Attention Block(CAB)aims to emphasize the significance of the channel features between the up-sampled features and the features generated by the FCFmodule to enhance the details of the decoding.Experimental results demonstrate that DCFNet exhibits enhanced accuracy in segmentation performance.Compared to other state-of-the-art(SOTA)methods,our segmentation framework exhibits a superior level of competitiveness.DCFNet’s accurate segmentation of medical images can greatly assist medical professionals in making crucial diagnoses of lesion areas in advance.

ATFF: Advanced Transformer with Multiscale Contextual Fusion for Medical Image Segmentation

Deep convolutional neural network (CNN) greatly promotes the automatic segmentation of medical images. However, due to the inherent properties of convolution operations, CNN usually cannot establish long-distance interdependence, which limits the segmentation performance. Transformer has been successfully applied to various computer vision, using self-attention mechanism to simulate long-distance interaction, so as to capture global information. However, self-attention lacks spatial location and high-performance computing. In order to solve the above problems, we develop a new medical transformer, which has a multi-scale context fusion function and can be used for medical image segmentation. The proposed model combines convolution operation and attention mechanism to form a u-shaped framework, which can capture both local and global information. First, the traditional converter module is improved to an advanced converter module, which uses post-layer normalization to obtain mild activation values, and uses scaled cosine attention with a moving window to obtain accurate spatial information. Secondly, we also introduce a deep supervision strategy to guide the model to fuse multi-scale feature information. It further enables the proposed model to effectively propagate feature information across layers, Thanks to this, it can achieve better segmentation performance while being more robust and efficient. The proposed model is evaluated on multiple medical image segmentation datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model achieves better performance on a challenging dataset (ETIS) compared to existing methods that rely only on convolutional neural networks, transformers, or a combination of both. The mDice and mIou indicators increased by 2.74% and 3.3% respectively.

BeFOI: A Novel Method Based on Conditional Diffusion Model for Medical Image Denoising

The progress in medical imaging technology highlights the importance of image quality for effective diagnosis and treatment.Yet,noise during capture and transmission can compromise image accuracy and reliability,complicating clinical decisions.The rising interest in diffusion models has led to their exploration of denoising images.We present Be-FOI(Better Fluoro Images),a weakly supervised model that uses cine images to denoise fluoroscopic images,both DR types.Trained through precise noise estimation and simulation,BeFOI employs Markov chains to denoise using only the fluoroscopic image as guidance.Our tests show that BeFOI outperforms other methods,reducing noise and enhancing clar-ity and diagnostic utility,making it an effective post-processing tool for medical images.

The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)on the SMILE Mission

The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)is part of the scientific payload of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission.SMILE is a joint science mission between the European Space Agency(ESA)and the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)and is due for launch in 2025.SXI is a compact X-ray telescope with a wide field-of-view(FOV)capable of encompassing large portions of Earth’s magnetosphere from the vantage point of the SMILE orbit.SXI is sensitive to the soft X-rays produced by the Solar Wind Charge eXchange(SWCX)process produced when heavy ions of solar wind origin interact with neutral particles in Earth’s exosphere.SWCX provides a mechanism for boundary detection within the magnetosphere,such as the position of Earth’s magnetopause,because the solar wind heavy ions have a very low density in regions of closed magnetic field lines.The sensitivity of the SXI is such that it can potentially track movements of the magnetopause on timescales of a few minutes and the orbit of SMILE will enable such movements to be tracked for segments lasting many hours.SXI is led by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom(UK)with collaborating organisations on hardware,software and science support within the UK,Europe,China and the United States.

Using restored two-dimensional X-ray images to reconstruct the three-dimensional magnetopause

Astronomical imaging technologies are basic tools for the exploration of the universe,providing basic data for the research of astronomy and space physics.The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)carried by the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)aims to capture two-dimensional(2-D)images of the Earth’s magnetosheath by using soft X-ray imaging.However,the observed 2-D images are affected by many noise factors,destroying the contained information,which is not conducive to the subsequent reconstruction of the three-dimensional(3-D)structure of the magnetopause.The analysis of SXI-simulated observation images shows that such damage cannot be evaluated with traditional restoration models.This makes it difficult to establish the mapping relationship between SXIsimulated observation images and target images by using mathematical models.We propose an image restoration algorithm for SXIsimulated observation images that can recover large-scale structure information on the magnetosphere.The idea is to train a patch estimator by selecting noise–clean patch pairs with the same distribution through the Classification–Expectation Maximization algorithm to achieve the restoration estimation of the SXI-simulated observation image,whose mapping relationship with the target image is established by the patch estimator.The Classification–Expectation Maximization algorithm is used to select multiple patch clusters with the same distribution and then train different patch estimators so as to improve the accuracy of the estimator.Experimental results showed that our image restoration algorithm is superior to other classical image restoration algorithms in the SXI-simulated observation image restoration task,according to the peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity.The restoration results of SXI-simulated observation images are used in the tangent fitting approach and the computed tomography approach toward magnetospheric reconstruction techniques,significantly improving the reconstruction results.Hence,the proposed technology may be feasible for processing SXI-simulated observation images.

SMILE soft X-ray Imager flight model CCD370 pre-flight device characterisation

Throughout the SMILE mission the satellite will be bombarded by radiation which gradually damages the focal plane devices and degrades their performance.In order to understand the changes of the CCD370s within the soft X-ray Imager,an initial characterisation of the devices has been carried out to give a baseline performance level.Three CCDs have been characterised,the two flight devices and the flight spa re.This has been carried out at the Open University in a bespo ke cleanroom measure ment facility.The results show that there is a cluster of bright pixels in the flight spa re which increases in size with tempe rature.However at the nominal ope rating tempe rature(-120℃) it is within the procure ment specifications.Overall,the devices meet the specifications when ope rating at -120℃ in 6 × 6 binned frame transfer science mode.The se rial charge transfer inefficiency degrades with temperature in full frame mode.However any charge losses are recovered when binning/frame transfer is implemented.

Simulation of the SMILE Soft X-ray Imager response to a southward interplanetary magnetic field turning

The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)will shine a spotlight on magnetopause dynamics during magnetic reconnection.We simulate an event with a southward interplanetary magnetic field turning and produce SXI count maps with a 5-minute integration time.By making assumptions about the magnetopause shape,we find the magnetopause standoff distance from the count maps and compare it with the one obtained directly from the magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)simulation.The root mean square deviations between the reconstructed and MHD standoff distances do not exceed 0.2 RE(Earth radius)and the maximal difference equals 0.24 RE during the 25-minute interval around the southward turning.

A method based on mutual information and gradient information for medical image registration

Mutual information is widely used in medical image registration, because it does not require preprocessing the image. However, the local maximum problem in the registration is insurmountable. We combine mutual information and gradient information to solve this problem and apply it to the non-rigid deformation image registration. To improve the accuracy, we provide some implemental issues, for example, the Powell searching algorithm, gray interpolation and consideration of outlier points. The experimental results show the accuracy of the method and the feasibility in non-rigid medical image registration.

Automated Algorithms for Detecting and Classifying X-Ray Images of Spine Fractures

This paper emphasizes a faster digital processing time while presenting an accurate method for identifying spinefractures in X-ray pictures. The study focuses on efficiency by utilizing many methods that include picturesegmentation, feature reduction, and image classification. Two important elements are investigated to reducethe classification time: Using feature reduction software and leveraging the capabilities of sophisticated digitalprocessing hardware. The researchers use different algorithms for picture enhancement, including theWiener andKalman filters, and they look into two background correction techniques. The article presents a technique forextracting textural features and evaluates three picture segmentation algorithms and three fractured spine detectionalgorithms using transformdomain, PowerDensity Spectrum(PDS), andHigher-Order Statistics (HOS) for featureextraction.With an emphasis on reducing digital processing time, this all-encompassing method helps to create asimplified system for classifying fractured spine fractures. A feature reduction program code has been built toimprove the processing speed for picture classification. Overall, the proposed approach shows great potential forsignificantly reducing classification time in clinical settings where time is critical. In comparison to other transformdomains, the texture features’ discrete cosine transform (DCT) yielded an exceptional classification rate, and theprocess of extracting features from the transform domain took less time. More capable hardware can also result inquicker execution times for the feature extraction algorithms.