Computer-aided diagnosis of carotid atherosclerosis based on ultrasound image statistics, laws' texture and neural networks

Quantitative characterisation of carotid atherosclerosis and classification into symptomatic or asymptomatic is crucial in planning optimal treatment of atheromatous plaque. The computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system described in this paper can analyse ultrasound (US) images of carotid artery and classify them into symptomatic or asymptomatic based on their echogenicity characteristics. The CAD system consists of three modules: a) the feature extraction module, where first-order statistical (FOS) features and Laws' texture energy can be estimated, b) the dimensionality reduction module, where the number of features can be reduced using analysis of variance (ANOVA), and c) the classifier module consisting of a neural network (NN) trained by a novel hybrid method based on genetic algorithms (GAs) along with the back propagation algorithm. The hybrid method is able to select the most robust features, to adjust automatically the NN architecture and to optimise the classification performance. The performance is measured by the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and the area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The CAD design and development is based on images from 54 symptomatic and 54 asymptomatic plaques. This study demonstrates the ability of a CAD system based on US image analysis and a hybrid trained NN to identify atheromatous plaques at high risk of stroke.

Die Erziehung zu einer aktiven Bürgerschaft

Trying to give a definition of Citizenship Education is a challenging operation: it is characterized by a variety of meanings flowing from Civic Education (related to knowledge and practice about the system of laws, rules, conventions referring to a particular civil community) to Socio-political education (related to the awareness of being part of the system of cultural elements, values, traditions historically produced by the community itself). It would be not be correct identifying Citizenship Education only with elements of Civic Education, as it would restrict its range to formal level of rules and laws, rights and duties. Otherwise, limiting its understanding only on elements of Sociopolitical Education, would offer the risk of investing in cultural similarities, common roots, values homogeneity, that are strong in giving hold on identity, membership, participation, but so exposed to acts of fanaticism, exclusion of diversity, hostility towards minorities. Therefore, it is necessary to assume that Citizenship Education has to be established on problematic integration of the two presented perspectives, thus founding knowledge and practice about the rules of civil society on the system of values and cultural aspects that every single micro-community (and every single individual) recognizes to be source of the rules: a complex system of various elements made of homogeneity and inhomogeneity, similarities and differences in constant modification an dynamic intercommunication.

Stig Strömholm, Copyright and the Conflict of Laws: A Comparative Survey

Heymanns Verlag 2010, 88 p., ISBN 978-3-452-27300-0

Natural history of optical coherence tomography-detected non-flow-limiting edge dissections following drug-eluting stent implantation

Aims: Angiographic evidence of edge dissections has been associated with a risk of early stent thrombosis. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a high-resolution technology detecting a greater number of edge dissections -particularly non-flow-limiting- compared to angiography. Their natural history and clinical implications remain unclear. The objectives of the present study were to assess the morphology, healing response, and clinical outcomes of OCT-detected edge dissections using serial OCT imaging at baseline and at one year following drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation. Methods and results: Edge dissections were defined as disruptions of the luminal surface in the 5 mm segments proximal and distal to the stent, and categorised as flaps, cavities, double-lumen dissections or fissures. Qualitative and quantitative OCT analyses were performed every 0.5 mm at baseline and one year, and clinical outcomes were assessed. Sixty-three lesions (57 patients) were studied with OCT at baseline and one-year follow-up. Twenty-two non-flow-limiting edge dissections in 21 lesions (20 patients) were identified by OCT; only two (9%) were angiographically visible. Flaps were found in 96% of cases. The median longitudinal dissection length was 2.9 mm (interquartile range [IQR] 1.6-4.2 mm), whereas the circumferential and axial extensions amounted to 1.2 mm (IQR: 0.9-1.7 mm) and 0.6 mm (IQR: 0.4-0.7 mm), respectively. Dissections extended into the media and adventitia in seven (33%) and four (20%) cases, respectively. Eighteen (82%) OCT-detected edge dissections were also evaluated with intravascular ultrasound which identified nine (50%) of these OCT-detected dissections. No stent thrombosis or target lesion revascularisation occurred up to one year. At follow-up, 20 (90%) edge dissections were completely healed on OCT. The two cases exhibiting persistent dissection had the longest flaps (2.81 mm and 2.42 mm) at baseline. Conclusions: OCT-detected edge dissections which are angiographically silent in the majority of cases are not associated with acute stent thrombosis or restenosis up to one-year follow-up.

The Social Life of Anti-Terrorism Laws. The War on Terror and the Classifications of the "Dangerous Other"

This book addresses two developments in the conceptualisation of citizenship that arise from the 'war on terror', namely the re-culturalisation of membership in a polity and the re-moralisationof access to rights. Taking an anthropological perspective, it traces the ways in which the trans-nationalisation of the 'war on terror' has affected notions of 'the dangerous other' in different political and social contexts, asking what changes in the ideas of the state and of the nation have been promoted by the emerging culture of security, and how these changes affect practices of citizenship and societal group relations.