Search Results (3,226)

Introduction: Early detection and timely treatment (Tx) initiation are critical to improving lung cancer (LC) outcomes. This study assessed the natural language processing (NLP)-assisted incidental pulmonary nodule (IPN) evaluation program, which employs chest computer tomography (CT) report analysis as an LC diagnostic screening (LCS) tool to identify suspicious lung findings (SLF) necessitating further investigation, and evaluated its impact on prognosis and diagnostic work-up and Tx timelines for patients with LC. Materials and Methods: Consecutive LC patients (n = 200) diagnosed at Assuta Medical Centers (AMC) between January 2019 and December 2022 were retrieved from the AMC electronic database using the MDClone big data platform, and divided into two groups: group A (NLP-assisted IPN evaluation, n = 100) and group B (traditional referral for evaluation of SLF by the community physician, n = 100). Stage at diagnosis, different diagnostic work-up and Tx timelines, and overall survival (OS) were assessed. Results: The NLP-assisted IPN evaluation program led to a significant stage shift (stage I disease: 48% vs. 27% in groups A and B, respectively, p = 0.013). Although the time from imaging to Tx initiation was similar (2.1 ± 5.3 months vs. 2.6 ± 5.9 months in groups A and B, respectively, p = 0.654), the time to systemic Tx (p = 0.035) and the time to radiotherapy (p = 0.044) were significantly shorter in group A. Conclusions: Implementing an NLP-assisted IPN evaluation program may enable earlier LC detection, driving a stage shift towards earlier diagnosis, improved diagnostic efficiency, and expedited time-critical interventions. Full article

Silicon has long been recognized as a beneficial element in plant biology. Recent advances in nanosilicon technology have revealed its transformative potential in legume-rhizobia symbiosis. This review synthesizes current knowledge on how silicon and SiO₂ nanoparticles (Si-NPs) influence nodulation, microbial metabolism, and soil–plant interactions. We highlight emerging evidence that Si-NPs enhance symbiotic signaling, strengthen infection pathways, and mitigate oxidative stress, thereby supporting nitrogen fixation efficiency. Beyond the rhizosphere, nanosilicon improves soil structure, microbial diversity, and plant resilience under abiotic stress, offering a multifaceted approach to sustainable agriculture. The novelty of this review lies in its integrative perspective, connecting molecular mechanisms with ecological impacts and climate-smart applications. By examining Si-NPs across three domains—soils, rhizosphere metabolites, and plants—we provide a framework for understanding their role in enhancing productivity while reducing environmental costs. Importantly, we identify critical research gaps, including the need for standardized application protocols, large-scale field validation, sustainable nanosilicon production, and robust regulatory frameworks. These insights position nanosilicon as a promising tool for advancing legume productivity, reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers, and contributing to global food security. This review underscores silicon’s potential not only as a plant nutrient but also as a strategic agent in climate-resilient agriculture. Full article

Eisenia fetida is one of the soil invertebrates most used in ecotoxicological and ecopathological studies. To date, the potential contribution of naturally occurring parasites to the variability of ecotoxicological endpoints has been poorly investigated. In this study, we provide a detailed histological description of the male reproductive system of E. fetida and report the occurrence and histological alterations associated with Monocystis sp. infection in laboratory-reared individuals. Uninfected individuals exhibited complete spermatogenesis, with all developmental stages from spermatogonia to mature spermatozoa and normal sperm storage within the spermathecae. Meanwhile, infected earthworms displayed marked reproductive alterations, including reduced sperm production and diminished sperm retention within spermathecae. Multilayered encapsulations, inflammatory nodules and melanization were detected within the seminal vesicles, in contrast with the immunological evasion observed in Lumbricus terrestris. These findings suggest species-specific differences in immune response and indicate that Monocystis sp. infection can induce reproductive impairment and activate energy-consuming immune responses. Because these parasite-induced changes closely resemble pollutant-driven ecotoxicological effects, Monocystis infections may act as a potential bias in ecotoxicological studies. We therefore recommend implementing parasitological screening of laboratory cultures to ensure the reliability of studies employing E. fetida as a bioindicator. Full article

Background: Navigational bronchoscopy (NB) enables precise sampling of peripheral and central pulmonary nodules using shape-sensing or electromagnetic guidance. A major challenge is anesthesia-induced atelectasis, which alters lung anatomy, reduces registration accuracy, and is known to lower diagnostic accuracy. To counteract this, ventilatory protocols such as the Ventilatory Strategy to Prevent Atelectasis (VESPA) and the Lung Navigation Ventilation Protocol (LNVP) have been recommended. Their adoption and clinical impact, however, remain uncertain. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 224 consecutive NB procedures performed under general anesthesia at a single academic medical center (January 2020–August 2024). Demographic, anesthetic, and ventilatory data were extracted from electronic records. Outcomes included navigational success (ability to reach the lesion) and diagnostic accuracy (concordance between bronchoscopic diagnosis and final clinical diagnosis after follow-up). Ventilatory practices were compared with published VESPA and LNVP recommendations. Results: Navigational success, defined as successful advancement of the bronchoscope to the target lesion with tissue acquisition, was achieved in 89.2% of cases. Overall diagnostic accuracy, defined as concordance between bronchoscopic diagnosis and final clinical diagnosis after follow-up, was 81.7%. Ventilatory management consistently diverged from recommended protocols. Most patients were ventilated with FiO₂ > 0.6, PEEP in the range of 7–10 cm H₂O, and tidal volumes of 300–500 mL. The only recommended maneuver systematically applied was recruitment immediately after intubation. Despite widespread deviation from both VESPA and LNVP, diagnostic performance remained favorable relative to published benchmarks. No major anesthesia-related complications occurred. Conclusions: In this retrospective series, navigational success comparable to published studies that adapted strict ventilation protocols was achieved with also comparable diagnostic accuracy without strict adherence to predefined ventilatory strategies. Recruitment maneuvers may represent the most influential component of current protocols, but institutional factors such as procedural expertise and case volume likely contributed to outcomes. Prospective studies are warranted to determine whether standardized ventilatory protocols are necessary for optimizing NB performance. Full article

Background and Objectives: Classification of thyroid nodules (TN) in ultrasound remains challenging due to limited labelled data and the limited capacity of conventional feature representations to capture complex, multi-directional textures. This work aims to improve data-efficient TN classification by integrating a geometry-adaptive Bandelet Transform (BT) with transfer learning (TL) to enhance feature representation and generalisation. Methods: The proposed pipeline first applies BT to strengthen directional and structural encoding in ultrasound images via quadtree-driven geometric adaptation. It then mitigates class imbalance using SMOTE and increases data diversity through targeted data augmentation. The resulting representations are classified using multiple ImageNet-pretrained architectures, where VGG19 yields the most consistent performance. Results: Experiments on the publicly available DDTI dataset show that BT-based preprocessing consistently improves performance over classical wavelet representations across multiple quadtree thresholds, with the best results obtained at $T=30$. Under this setting, the proposed BT+TL (VGG19) model achieves 98.91% accuracy, 98.11% sensitivity, 97.31% specificity, and a 98.89% F1-score, outperforming comparable approaches reported in the literature. Conclusions: Coupling geometry-adaptive transforms with modern TL backbones provides a robust and data-efficient strategy for ultrasound TN classification, particularly under limited annotation and challenging texture variability. The complete project is publicly available. Full article

Pancreatic lesions in wildlife are rarely diagnosed antemortem and are often misinterpreted as neoplastic due to limited diagnostic information. This report describes two clinically linked cases of pancreatic infection caused by Tetragomphius spp. in rescued Asian badgers (Meles leucurus) from Gangwon State, Republic of Korea, between 2020 and 2025, and the diagnostic advantages of advanced imaging techniques. The first case involved a badger rescued from a trap with severe traumatic injuries that was subsequently euthanized. Postmortem examination revealed nematodes identified as Tetragomphius sp. within the pancreatic duct, alongside tumor-like nodular lesions in the pancreatic tail. These findings were critical for the second case, where a rescued badger with no overt clinical signs underwent computed tomography (CT) that revealed a pancreatic tail nodule and splenomegaly. Drawing on findings from the initial necropsy case, a parasitic etiology was tentatively diagnosed in a second live badger presenting with a similar pancreatic nodule. Follow-up CT indicated a significant reduction (approximately 75%) in lesion size, supporting a diagnosis of parasitic infection. To our knowledge, this represents the first report of a CT-based therapeutic diagnosis of pancreatic Tetragomphius infection in a live Asian badger. These cases demonstrate that pancreatic nodules in Asian badgers may result from parasitic infection rather than neoplasia and emphasize the integration of pathological precedent, advanced imaging, and therapeutic response in wildlife medicine. Full article

Chest X-ray (CXR) imaging is one of the most widely used techniques for screening and diagnosing pulmonary diseases. However, discerning subtle structural changes, such as small nodules, disordered pulmonary textures, tiny cavities, pleural thickening, or spiculation, is difficult using low-resolution images. Acquiring high-resolution CXRs typically requires higher radiation doses, posing a risk to patients. We propose a chest X-ray image super-resolution algorithm based on generative adversarial networks (GAN). Through adversarial training, our approach generates high-resolution CXRs with enhanced details and improved realism. We further incorporate a CSA hybrid attention module into the network, strengthening its ability to capture fine structures and improve texture fidelity. Moreover, we remove the pooling layer from the channel attention module to overcome limitations in super-resolution, thereby preserving spatial information more effectively. Experiments demonstrate our method’s superior performance and robustness, achieving a PSNR of 37.91 and SSIM of 0.9108 on the internal test set while consistently outperforming other methods on previously unseen external clinical datasets. After adversarial training, the method attains optimal visual performance, with LPIPS reduced to 0.0915, and the visual effect improved by 36.4% compared to low-resolution images. Ablation studies further verify the contribution of the proposed method to enhancing super-resolution capability. Overall, results indicate that the proposed method can obtain high-quality chest X-rays images from simulated low-quality inputs. Full article

Laser-cladding directed energy deposition enables both the repair and fabrication of complex metallic components with curved surfaces. However, during multi-axis deposition on curved substrates, sharp transient feed-rate fluctuations at corner segments—together with an approximately constant powder feed rate—readily cause local over-deposition and geometric defects (e.g., nodules and humps). These defects compromise surface-profile fidelity, thereby creating a major barrier to practical deployment. To overcome this limitation, we propose a corner-oriented path-optimization strategy based on geometric code parsing. By operating directly on the toolpath without modifying the Computer-Aided Design model or slicing workflow, the proposed method suppresses corner overbuild and associated morphological distortion in curved-surface directed energy deposition, substantially improving dimensional consistency and surface quality. Overall, this strategy provides a scalable and broadly applicable route toward high-precision, high-reliability, industrial-scale curved-surface additive manufacturing. Full article

Ureides; allantoate, allantoin, and amides; asparagine, and glutamine are the N₂ fixation products in soybean root nodules, and they are transported through xylem vessels. We estimated the transport rates of xylem constituents by multiplying nutrient concentrations by the water flow rate. Nodulated soybean plants were grown with an N-free solution under either 28 °C day/18 °C night or 28 °C day/28 °C night conditions, and diurnal changes in nutrient concentrations in xylem sap and transpiration rate were determined every 2 h. Under both conditions, xylem sap exudation rate and transpiration rate were high in light, and low, but not zero, in darkness. The sum of the xylem sap exudation rate and transpiration rate from detached shoots was almost the same as the water flow rate of intact plants at any time. All the N compounds exhibited a similar pattern: concentrations were high, but transport rates were lower at night. The proportions of N constituents were constant throughout the day and night. The composition and transport rate of xylem sap were not affected by night temperatures, except for cations. The results confirmed that the water flow rate and transport rate of xylem constituents can be estimated using detached roots and detached shoots. Full article

Background and Clinical Significance: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is a highly aggressive malignancy that may arise through dedifferentiation from pre-existing differentiated thyroid carcinomas. The tall cell subtype of papillary thyroid carcinoma (TC-PTC) represents an aggressive variant that has been involved in this tumor progression pathway. Case Presentation: We report on a rare case of ATC developed in association with a high-grade TC-PTC. A 67-year-old man presented with an enlarging anterior cervical mass. Imaging identified a suspicious nodule in the right thyroid lobe, and total thyroidectomy was performed. Histologic examination revealed a biphasic tumor composed of a nodular TC-PTC with high-grade features, contiguous with an infiltrative anaplastic carcinoma component. The anaplastic component showed marked pleomorphism, loss of thyroid differentiation markers, and an increased ki67 proliferation index. Multinucleated giant cells exhibited aberrant CD68 expression, without proliferative activity. Conclusions: This case illustrates the morphologic association between tall cell papillary thyroid carcinoma with high-grade features and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, emphasizing diagnostic considerations within the framework of the WHO 5th edition classification. Full article

Rhizobia are a polyphyletic group of Proteobacteria comprising approximately 700 different species. Despite significant advancements in their taxonomy, evolutionary history, and ecological importance, substantial knowledge gaps remain regarding a detailed understanding of rhizobial biodiversity in a geographical context and the interest in studying and valorizing native rhizobial strains. This bibliometric study used data from the last four decades (1985–2025) to review the taxonomic and functional diversity of the documented novel taxa of rhizobia described from African ecosystems, as well as their valorization status as biofertilizers. It aims to discuss the interest in knowing, preserving, and valorizing native rhizobial resources in the global context of climate change and biodiversity erosion. The study revealed that the first African indigenous novel species of rhizobia was published in 1988, although research on rhizobia dates back to the 1950s in Africa. To date, ~63 species (approximately 9% of the total in the world) and two genera of rhizobia have been described using native isolates from 11 African countries, with substantial discoveries from the Succulent Karoo hotspot of biodiversity in South Africa. Approximately 51% of species are affiliated with Bradyrhizobium and Mesorhizobium, with Vachellia karroo and Senegalia spp. (formerly Acacia spp.) as their primary hosts. Most species-type strains (~89%) were found to be infective on legumes and are good candidates for biofertilizer development. However, there is a limited level of commercial valorization of indigenous isolates as inoculants, mainly because the production of biological intrants is still at the experimental stage in Africa. Interestingly, important breaking point discoveries have been made using native rhizobial strains from Africa, including the pioneering demonstration in 2001 that Burkholderia (beta-rhizobia) is a symbiotic genus with legumes. It also includes the discovery of stem-nodulating rhizobia and Nod factor-independent symbiotic processes in some rhizobia. Together, this review highlights the importance of native African rhizobial strains. This underscores the need to accelerate their agronomic valorization to better support the transition to more resilient and sustainable legume-based farming systems in African countries. Full article

The early detection of pulmonary nodules in chest CT scans is critical for improving lung cancer outcomes. While existing computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems have shown promise, most treat detection and segmentation as separate tasks, leading to fragmented pipelines and limited representation sharing. This study proposes a 2.5D multi-task learning (MTL) framework that integrates both tasks within a unified Mask R-CNN architecture. The framework incorporates a tailored preprocessing pipeline—including Hounsfield Unit (HU) normalisation, CLAHE enhancement, and lung parenchyma masking—to improve input consistency and task-relevant contrast characteristics. To enhance sensitivity for small or ambiguous nodules, an auxiliary RoI classifier is introduced. Additionally, a nodule-level evaluation strategy aggregates slice-wise predictions across the z-axis, supporting a clinically meaningful assessment that approximates 3D diagnostic workflows. Experiments on the LUNA16 dataset demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves a favourable trade-off between detection and segmentation performance under a unified 2.5D multi-task setting. These results highlight the potential of integrated MTL approaches to advance CAD systems for early lung cancer screening. Full article

Background and aims: Liver transplantation is effective against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but recurrence remains a challenge. Traditional criteria based on tumor size, nodule number, and AFP levels have had limited success in predicting aggressiveness. [18F]FDG PET/CT has shown promise in identifying high-risk tumor features, including microvascular invasion (MVI), which is a key predictor of recurrence. Methods: In this retrospective, single-center study, all consecutive patients who underwent LT for HCC between 2010 and 2019 were included. Prior to listing, the patients underwent [18F]FDG PET/CT, and explant pathology was analyzed for MVI and other histological features. The primary objective was to identify the predictors of early HCC recurrence (within 24 months after LT). Secondary objectives included identifying predictors of high-risk histological features of the explant, describing recurrence patterns, and assessing post-recurrence survival. Results: The study included 143 patients (median age 59 years [IQR 54–64], 85% males, median MELD 10 [IQR 8–14], median AFP value 8.5 [IQR 4–39] ng/mL) and 40 (28%) with intra-hepatic [18F]FDG PET/CT positivity. HCC recurred post-LT in 25 patients (17%) (median post-LT follow-up 49 months [IQR 28.5–77]) and within 24 months in 12 patients (48%). MVI at the explant stage was independently associated with early recurrence (HR: 7.20, 95% CI 1.82–28.45, p = 0.005), while intra-hepatic [18F]FDG PET/CT positivity before LT independently predicted MVI in explants (OR 3.90, 95% CI 1.30–11.71, p = 0.01). Conclusions: [18F]FDG PET/CT may offer a valuable tool for pre-transplant risk assessment by identifying MVI, which is an independent predictor of early cancer recurrence. Its incorporation into the selection criteria for LT may enhance patient stratification and post-transplant outcomes. Full article

Dercum’s disease (DD) is a rare condition characterized by intense, asymmetrical, chronic burning pain localized in adipose tissue, often accompanied by subcutaneous fat nodules, leading to a significant reduction in quality of life. It typically affects overweight or obese adults between 35 and 50 years of age, with a marked female predominance. Despite numerous hypotheses proposed over time, the pathophysiology of DD remains poorly understood. Diagnosis is particularly challenging, as it relies solely on clinical evaluation. Given the overlapping features with other conditions, including symptoms, clinical course and inheritance pattern, a differential, accurate, and timely diagnosis is essential for the effective management of DD. Current treatment strategies focus primarily on pain relief, reflecting the still uncomplete understanding of DD etiopathogenesis. This review provides an updated overview of the current knowledge on DD, with particular emphasis on recent advances in pharmacological treatment strategies. Full article

Background: Ledderhose Disease, or plantar fibromatosis, is a fibroproliferative disorder affecting the plantar fascia with limited effective treatment options. Although hyaluronidase has a long history of clinical use, it has not been previously used for Ledderhose Disease. This study explores the use of combined hyaluronidase and triamcinolone acetonide enzymatic injections as a novel and promising technique for managing Ledderhose Disease. Methods: This paper investigates the use of combination therapy with hyaluronidase, triamcinolone acetonide, and lidocaine injections in three patients with Ledderhose Disease. Injection protocols, dosage, frequency, and patient outcomes are all discussed. Additionally, this study explores the underlying mechanisms of hyaluronidase action in Ledderhose Disease, shedding light on its potential to modulate fibrotic tissue and alleviate symptoms. Results: All three patients treated with a series of hyaluronidase, triamcinolone acetonide, and lidocaine anesthetic injections experienced either a significant reduction in or elimination of nodules and associated pain within 6 weeks after initial injection. Patients were asymptomatic at two years follow-up after injections. Conclusions: The combination of hyaluronidase and triamcinolone acetonide injections significantly decreased pain and softened fibromas faster than triamcinolone acetonide injection alone, as explored in previous studies. Large prospective studies are needed to further compare enzymatic injection therapies in the management of Ledderhose Disease. Full article