| 1. |
- Landgren, Matilda, et al.
(författare)
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An Automated System for the Detection and Diagnosis of Kidney Lesions in Children from Scintigraphy Images
- 2011
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Ingår i: Lecture Notes in Computer Science. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - 0302-9743 .- 1611-3349. - 9783642212277 - 9783642212260 ; 6688, s. 489-500
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Designing a system for computer aided diagnosis is a complex procedure requiring an understanding of the biology of the disease, insight into hospital workflow and awareness of available technical solutions. This paper aims to show that a valuable system can be designed for diagnosing kidney lesions in children and adolescents from 99m Tc-DMSA scintigraphy images. We present the chain of analysis and provide a discussion of its performance. On a per-lesion basis, the classification reached an ROC-curve area of 0.96 (sensitivity/specificity e.g. 97%/85%) measured using an independent test group consisting of 56 patients with 730 candidate lesions. We conclude that the presented system for diagnostic support has the potential of increasing the quality of care regarding this type of examination.
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| 2. |
- Ståhl, Daniel, et al.
(författare)
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Automatic Compartment Modelling and Segmentation for Dynamical Renal Scintigraphies
- 2011
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Ingår i: Lecture Notes in Computer Science. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - 1611-3349 .- 0302-9743. - 9783642212260 - 9783642212277 ; 6688, s. 557-568
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Time-resolved medical data has important applications in a large variety of medical applications. In this paper we study automatic analysis of dynamical renal scintigraphies. The traditional analysis pipeline for dynamical renal scintigraphies is to use manual or semiautomatic methods for segmentation of pixels into physical compartments, extract their corresponding time-activity curves and then compute the parameters that are relevant for medical assessment. In this paper we present a fully automatic system that incorporates spatial smoothing constraints, compartment modelling and positivity constraints to produce an interpretation of the full time-resolved data. The method has been tested on renal dynamical scintigraphies with promising results. It is shown that the method indeed produces more compact representations, while keeping the residual of fit low. The parameters of the time activity curve, such as peak-time and time for half activity from peak, are compared between the previous semiautomatic method and the method presented in this paper. It is also shown how to obtain new and clinically relevant features using our novel system.
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| 3. |
- Blomström, Anne-Lie, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic characterisation of a porcine bocavirus detected in domestic pigs in Uganda
- 2013
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Ingår i: Virus Genes. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0920-8569 .- 1572-994X. ; 47, s. 370-373
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Porcine bocaviruses (PoBoVs) are small linear ssDNA viruses belonging to the genus bocavirus in the family Parvoviridae. The genome encodes four proteins-the non-structural protein 1 (NS1), the NP1 protein (unknown function) and the two structural proteins VP1 and VP2. In recent years, a number of different highly divergent PoBoV species have been discovered. PoBoVs have been shown to be present in pig populations in Europe, Asia and in the United States of America. In this study, we present the first data of the presence of PoBoV in Africa, specifically in Uganda. A PCR targeting a PoBoV species that have previously been detected in both Sweden and China was used to screen 95 serum samples from domestic pigs in Uganda. Two pigs were found to be positive for this specific PoBoV and the complete coding region was amplified from one of these samples. The amino acid sequence comparison of all these proteins showed a high identity (98-99 %) to the published Chinese sequences (strains: H18 and SX) belonging to the same PoBoV species. The same was true for the Swedish sequences from the same species. To the other PoBoV species the divergence was higher and only a 28-43 % protein sequence identity was seen comparing the different proteins.
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| 4. |
- Blomström, Anne-Lie, et al.
(författare)
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Viral metagenomic analysis of bushpigs (Potamochoerus larvatus) in Uganda identifies novel variants of Porcine parvovirus 4 and Torque teno sus virus 1 and 2
- 2012
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Ingår i: Virology Journal. - 1743-422X. ; 9, s. 1-7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: As a result of rapidly growing human populations, intensification of livestock production and increasing exploitation of wildlife habitats for animal agriculture, the interface between wildlife, livestock and humans is expanding, with potential impacts on both domestic animal and human health. Wild animals serve as reservoirs for many viruses, which may occasionally result in novel infections of domestic animals and/or the human population. Given this background, we used metagenomics to investigate the presence of viral pathogens in sera collected from bushpigs (Potamochoerus larvatus), a nocturnal species of wild Suid known to move between national parks and farmland, in Uganda. Results: Application of 454 pyrosequencing demonstrated the presence of Torque teno sus virus (TTSuV), porcine parvovirus 4 (PPV4), porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), a GB Hepatitis C-like virus, and a Sclerotinia hypovirulence-associated-like virus in sera from the bushpigs. PCR assays for each specific virus combined with Sanger sequencing revealed two TTSuV-1 variants, one TTSuV-2 variant as well as PPV4 in the serum samples and thereby confirming the findings from the 454 sequencing. Conclusions: Using a viral metagenomic approach we have made an initial analysis of viruses present in bushpig sera and demonstrated for the first time the presence of PPV4 in a wild African Suid. In addition we identified novel variants of TTSuV-1 and 2 in bushpigs.
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| 5. |
- Bobjer, Johannes, et al.
(författare)
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Location of retroperitoneal lymph node metastases in upper tract urothelial carcinoma : results from a prospective lymph node mapping study
- 2023
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Ingår i: European Urology Open Science. - : Elsevier. - 2666-1691 .- 2666-1683. ; 57, s. 37-44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: There is limited information on the distribution of retroperitoneal lymph node metastases (LNMs) in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).Objective: To investigate the location of LNMs in UTUC of the renal pelvis or proximal ureter and short-term complications after radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) with lymph node dissection (LND).Design, setting, and participants: This was a prospective Nordic multicenter study (four university hospitals, two county hospitals). Patients with clinically suspected locally advanced UTUC (stage >T1) and/or clinical lymph node–positive (cN+) disease were invited to participate. Participants underwent RNU and fractionated retroperitoneal LND using predefined side-specific templates.Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: The location of LNMs in the LND specimen and retroperitoneal lymph node recurrences during follow-up was recorded. Postoperative complications within 90 d of surgery were ascertained from patient charts. Descriptive statistics were used.Results and limitations: LNMs were present in the LND specimen in 23/100 patients, and nine of 100 patients experienced a retroperitoneal recurrence. Distribution per side revealed LNMs in the LND specimen in 11/38 (29%) patients with right-sided tumors, for whom the anatomically larger, right-sided template was used, in comparison to 12/62 (19%) patients with left-sided tumors, for whom a more limited template was used. High-grade complications (Clavien grade ≥3) within 90 d of surgery were registered for 13/100 patients. The study is limited in size and not powered to assess survival estimates.Conclusions: The suggested templates that we prospectively applied for right-sided and left-sided LND in patients with advanced UTUC included the majority of LNMs. High-grade complications directly related to the LND part of the surgery were limited.Patient summary: This study describes the location of lymph node metastases in patients with cancer in the upper urinary tract who underwent surgery to remove the affected kidney and ureter. The results show that most metastases occur within the template maps for lymph node surgery that we investigated, and that this surgery can be performed with few severe complications.
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| 6. |
- Bullock, Adrian, et al.
(författare)
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Designing interactive collaborative environments
- 2001. - 2
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Ingår i: Collaborative Virtual Environments: Digital Places and Spaces for Interaction. - : Springer. - 1852332441
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We describe our experiences of creating and using a wide variety of techniques and applications to support collaboration in virtual environments for different activities and user groups. Our aim is to offer plentiful and rich possibilities for interaction across and between both real and virtual environments.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Chenais, Erika, et al.
(författare)
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African swine fever in Uganda: qualitative evaluation of three surveillance methods with implications for other resource-poor settings
- 2015
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Veterinary Science. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2297-1769. ; 2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Animal diseases impact negatively on households and on national economies. In low-income countries, this pertains especially to socio-economic effects on household level. To control animal diseases and mitigate their impact, it is necessary to understand the epidemiology of the disease in its local context. Such understanding, gained through disease surveillance, is often lacking in resource-poor settings. Alternative surveillance methods have been developed to overcome some of the hurdles obstructing surveillance. The objective of this study was to evaluate and qualitatively compare three methods for surveillance of acute infectious diseases using African swine fever in northern Uganda as an example. Report-driven outbreak investigations, participatory rural appraisals (PRAs), and a household survey using a smartphone application were evaluated. All three methods had good disease-detecting capacity, and each of them detected many more outbreaks compared to those reported to the World Organization for Animal Health during the same time period. Apparent mortality rates were similar for the three methods although highest for the report-driven outbreak investigations, followed by the PRAs, and then the household survey. The three methods have different characteristics and the method of choice will depend on the surveillance objective. The optimal situation might be achieved by a combination of the methods: outbreak detection via smartphone-based real-time surveillance, outbreak investigation for collection of biological samples, and a PRA for a better understanding of the epidemiology of the specific outbreak. All three methods require initial investments and continuous efforts. The sustainability of the surveillance system should, therefore, be carefully evaluated before making such investments.
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| 10. |
- Chenais, Erika, et al.
(författare)
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African swine fever outbreak on a medium-sized farm in Uganda: biosecurity breaches and within-farm virus contamination.
- 2017
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Ingår i: Tropical Animal Health and Production. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0049-4747 .- 1573-7438. ; 49, s. 337-346
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Uganda, a low-income country in east Africa, African swine fever (ASF) is endemic with yearly outbreaks. In the prevailing smallholder subsistence farming systems, farm biosecurity is largely non-existent. Outbreaks of ASF, particularly in smallholder farms, often go unreported, creating significant epidemiological knowledge gaps. The continuous circulation of ASF in smallholder settings also creates biosecurity challenges for larger farms. In this study, an on-going outbreak of ASF in an endemic area was investigated on farm level, including analyses of on-farm environmental virus contamination. The study was carried out on a medium-sized pig farm with 35 adult pigs and 103 piglets or growers at the onset of the outbreak. Within 3 months, all pigs had died or were slaughtered. The study included interviews with farm representatives as well as biological and environmental sampling. ASF was confirmed by the presence of ASF virus (ASFV) genomic material in biological (blood, serum) and environmental (soil, water, feed, manure) samples by real-time PCR. The ASFV-positive biological samples confirmed the clinical assessment and were consistent with known virus characteristics. Most environmental samples were found to be positive. Assessment of farm biosecurity, interviews, and the results from the biological and environmental samples revealed that breaches and non-compliance with biosecurity protocols most likely led to the introduction and within-farm spread of the virus. The information derived from this study provides valuable insight regarding the implementation of biosecurity measures, particularly in endemic areas.
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