Deep learning

Application and progress of artificial intelligence technology in the segmentation of hyperreflective foci in OCT images for ophthalmic disease research

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

Int J Ophthalmol. 2024 Jun 18;17(6):1138-1143. doi: 10.18240/ijo.2024.06.20. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

With the advancement of retinal imaging, hyperreflective foci (HRF) on optical coherence tomography (OCT) images have gained significant attention as potential biological biomarkers for retinal neuroinflammation. However, these biomarkers, represented by HRF, present pose challenges in terms of localization, quantification, and require substantial time and resources. In recent years, the progress and utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) have provided powerful tools for the analysis of biological markers. AI technology enables use machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL) and other technologies to precise characterization of changes in biological biomarkers during disease progression and facilitates quantitative assessments. Based on ophthalmic images, AI has significant implications for early screening, diagnostic grading, treatment efficacy evaluation, treatment recommendations, and prognosis development in common ophthalmic diseases. Moreover, it will help reduce the reliance of the healthcare system on human labor, which has the potential to simplify and expedite clinical trials, enhance the reliability and professionalism of disease management, and improve the prediction of adverse events. This article offers a comprehensive review of the application of AI in combination with HRF on OCT images in ophthalmic diseases including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and other retinal diseases and presents prospects for their utilization.

PMID:38895690 | PMC:PMC11144766 | DOI:10.18240/ijo.2024.06.20

Categories: Literature Watch

Retinal vascular morphological characteristics in diabetic retinopathy: an artificial intelligence study using a transfer learning system to analyze ultra-wide field images

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

Int J Ophthalmol. 2024 Jun 18;17(6):1001-1006. doi: 10.18240/ijo.2024.06.03. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To investigate the morphological characteristics of retinal vessels in patients with different severity of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and in patients with or without diabetic macular edema (DME).

METHODS: The 239 eyes of DR patients and 100 eyes of healthy individuals were recruited for the study. The severity of DR patients was graded as mild, moderate and severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) according to the international clinical diabetic retinopathy (ICDR) disease severity scale classification, and retinal vascular morphology was quantitatively analyzed in ultra-wide field images using RU-net and transfer learning methods. The presence of DME was determined by optical coherence tomography (OCT), and differences in vascular morphological characteristics were compared between patients with and without DME.

RESULTS: Retinal vessel segmentation using RU-net and transfer learning system had an accuracy of 99% and a Dice metric of 0.76. Compared with the healthy group, the DR group had smaller vessel angles (33.68±3.01 vs 37.78±1.60), smaller fractal dimension (Df) values (1.33±0.05 vs 1.41±0.03), less vessel density (1.12±0.44 vs 2.09±0.36) and fewer vascular branches (206.1±88.8 vs 396.5±91.3), all P<0.001. As the severity of DR increased, Df values decreased, P=0.031. No significant difference between the DME and non-DME groups were observed in vascular morphological characteristics.

CONCLUSION: In this study, an artificial intelligence retinal vessel segmentation system is used with 99% accuracy, thus providing with relatively satisfactory performance in the evaluation of quantitative vascular morphology. DR patients have a tendency of vascular occlusion and dropout. The presence of DME does not compromise the integral retinal vascular pattern.

PMID:38895683 | PMC:PMC11144771 | DOI:10.18240/ijo.2024.06.03

Categories: Literature Watch

Thermal imaging can reveal variation in stay-green functionality of wheat canopies under temperate conditions

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

Front Plant Sci. 2024 Jun 4;15:1335037. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1335037. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

Canopy temperature (CT) is often interpreted as representing leaf activity traits such as photosynthetic rates, gas exchange rates, or stomatal conductance. This interpretation is based on the observation that leaf activity traits correlate with transpiration which affects leaf temperature. Accordingly, CT measurements may provide a basis for high throughput assessments of the productivity of wheat canopies during early grain filling, which would allow distinguishing functional from dysfunctional stay-green. However, whereas the usefulness of CT as a fast surrogate measure of sustained vigor under soil drying is well established, its potential to quantify leaf activity traits under high-yielding conditions is less clear. To better understand sensitivity limits of CT measurements under high yielding conditions, we generated within-genotype variability in stay-green functionality by means of differential short-term pre-anthesis canopy shading that modified the sink:source balance. We quantified the effects of these modifications on stay-green properties through a combination of gold standard physiological measurements of leaf activity and newly developed methods for organ-level senescence monitoring based on timeseries of high-resolution imagery and deep-learning-based semantic image segmentation. In parallel, we monitored CT by means of a pole-mounted thermal camera that delivered continuous, ultra-high temporal resolution CT data. Our results show that differences in stay-green functionality translate into measurable differences in CT in the absence of major confounding factors. Differences amounted to approximately 0.8°C and 1.5°C for a very high-yielding source-limited genotype, and a medium-yielding sink-limited genotype, respectively. The gradual nature of the effects of shading on CT during the stay-green phase underscore the importance of a high measurement frequency and a time-integrated analysis of CT, whilst modest effect sizes confirm the importance of restricting screenings to a limited range of morphological and phenological diversity.

PMID:38895615 | PMC:PMC11184164 | DOI:10.3389/fpls.2024.1335037

Categories: Literature Watch

Automated intracranial vessel segmentation of 4D flow MRI data in patients with atherosclerotic stenosis using a convolutional neural network

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

Front Radiol. 2024 Jun 4;4:1385424. doi: 10.3389/fradi.2024.1385424. eCollection 2024.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Intracranial 4D flow MRI enables quantitative assessment of hemodynamics in patients with intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD). However, quantitative assessments are still challenging due to the time-consuming vessel segmentation, especially in the presence of stenoses, which can often result in user variability. To improve the reproducibility and robustness as well as to accelerate data analysis, we developed an accurate, fully automated segmentation for stenosed intracranial vessels using deep learning.

METHODS: 154 dual-VENC 4D flow MRI scans (68 ICAD patients with stenosis, 86 healthy controls) were retrospectively selected. Manual segmentations were used as ground truth for training. For automated segmentation, deep learning was performed using a 3D U-Net. 20 randomly selected cases (10 controls, 10 patients) were separated and solely used for testing. Cross-sectional areas and flow parameters were determined in the Circle of Willis (CoW) and the sinuses. Furthermore, the flow conservation error was calculated. For statistical comparisons, Dice scores (DS), Hausdorff distance (HD), average symmetrical surface distance (ASSD), Bland-Altman analyses, and interclass correlations were computed using the manual segmentations from two independent observers as reference. Finally, three stenosis cases were analyzed in more detail by comparing the 4D flow-based segmentations with segmentations from black blood vessel wall imaging (VWI).

RESULTS: Training of the network took approximately 10 h and the average automated segmentation time was 2.2 ± 1.0 s. No significant differences in segmentation performance relative to two independent observers were observed. For the controls, mean DS was 0.85 ± 0.03 for the CoW and 0.86 ± 0.06 for the sinuses. Mean HD was 7.2 ± 1.5 mm (CoW) and 6.6 ± 3.7 mm (sinuses). Mean ASSD was 0.15 ± 0.04 mm (CoW) and 0.22 ± 0.17 mm (sinuses). For the patients, the mean DS was 0.85 ± 0.04 (CoW) and 0.82 ± 0.07 (sinuses), the HD was 8.4 ± 3.1 mm (CoW) and 5.7 ± 1.9 mm (sinuses) and the mean ASSD was 0.22 ± 0.10 mm (CoW) and 0.22 ± 0.11 mm (sinuses). Small bias and limits of agreement were observed in both cohorts for the flow parameters. The assessment of the cross-sectional lumen areas in stenosed vessels revealed very good agreement (ICC: 0.93) with the VWI segmentation but a consistent overestimation (bias ± LOA: 28.1 ± 13.9%).

DISCUSSION: Deep learning was successfully applied for fully automated segmentation of stenosed intracranial vasculatures using 4D flow MRI data. The statistical analysis of segmentation and flow metrics demonstrated very good agreement between the CNN and manual segmentation and good performance in stenosed vessels. To further improve the performance and generalization, more ICAD segmentations as well as other intracranial vascular pathologies will be considered in the future.

PMID:38895589 | PMC:PMC11183785 | DOI:10.3389/fradi.2024.1385424

Categories: Literature Watch

Cross-species modeling of plant genomes at single nucleotide resolution using a pre-trained DNA language model

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jun 10:2024.06.04.596709. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.04.596709.

ABSTRACT

Understanding the function and fitness effects of diverse plant genomes requires transferable models. Language models (LMs) pre-trained on large-scale biological sequences can learn evolutionary conservation, thus expected to offer better cross-species prediction through fine-tuning on limited labeled data compared to supervised deep learning models. We introduce PlantCaduceus, a plant DNA LM based on the Caduceus and Mamba architectures, pre-trained on a carefully curated dataset consisting of 16 diverse Angiosperm genomes. Fine-tuning PlantCaduceus on limited labeled Arabidopsis data for four tasks involving transcription and translation modeling demonstrated high transferability to maize that diverged 160 million years ago, outperforming the best baseline model by 1.45-fold to 7.23-fold. PlantCaduceus also enables genome-wide deleterious mutation identification without multiple sequence alignment (MSA). PlantCaduceus demonstrated a threefold enrichment of rare alleles in prioritized deleterious mutations compared to MSA-based methods and matched state-of-the-art protein LMs. PlantCaduceus is a versatile pre-trained DNA LM expected to accelerate plant genomics and crop breeding applications.

PMID:38895432 | PMC:PMC11185591 | DOI:10.1101/2024.06.04.596709

Categories: Literature Watch

Elucidating key determinants of engineered scFv antibody in MMP-9 binding using high throughput screening and machine learning

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jun 6:2024.06.04.597476. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.04.597476.

ABSTRACT

An imbalance in matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) regulation can lead to numerous diseases, including neurological disorders, cancer, and pre-term labor. Engineering single-chain antibody fragments (scFvs) Targeting MMP-9 to develop novel therapeutics for such diseases is desirable. We screened a synthetic scFv antibody library displayed on the yeast surface for binding improvement to MMP-9 using FACS (fluorescent-activated cell sorting). The scFv antibody clones isolated after FACS showed improvement in binding to MMP-9 compared to the endogenous inhibitor. To understand molecular determinants of binding between engineered scFv antibody variants and MMP-9, next-generation DNA sequencing, and computational protein structure analysis were used. Additionally, a deep-learning language model was trained on the synthetic library to predict the binding of scFv variants using their CDR-H3 sequences.

PMID:38895413 | PMC:PMC11185642 | DOI:10.1101/2024.06.04.597476

Categories: Literature Watch

Automated classification of cellular expression in multiplexed imaging data with Nimbus

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jun 3:2024.06.02.597062. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.02.597062.

ABSTRACT

Multiplexed imaging offers a powerful approach to characterize the spatial topography of tissues in both health and disease. To analyze such data, the specific combination of markers that are present in each cell must be enumerated to enable accurate phenotyping, a process that often relies on unsupervised clustering. We constructed the Pan-Multiplex (Pan-M) dataset containing 197 million distinct annotations of marker expression across 15 different cell types. We used Pan-M to create Nimbus, a deep learning model to predict marker positivity from multiplexed image data. Nimbus is a pre-trained model that uses the underlying images to classify marker expression across distinct cell types, from different tissues, acquired using different microscope platforms, without requiring any retraining. We demonstrate that Nimbus predictions capture the underlying staining patterns of the full diversity of markers present in Pan-M. We then show how Nimbus predictions can be integrated with downstream clustering algorithms to robustly identify cell subtypes in image data. We have open-sourced Nimbus and Pan-M to enable community use at https://github.com/angelolab/Nimbus-Inference .

PMID:38895405 | PMC:PMC11185540 | DOI:10.1101/2024.06.02.597062

Categories: Literature Watch

An updated compendium and reevaluation of the evidence for nuclear transcription factor occupancy over the mitochondrial genome

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jun 6:2024.06.04.597442. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.04.597442.

ABSTRACT

In most eukaryotes, mitochondrial organelles contain their own genome, usually circular, which is the remnant of the genome of the ancestral bacterial endosymbiont that gave rise to modern mitochondria. Mitochondrial genomes are dramatically reduced in their gene content due to the process of endosymbiotic gene transfer to the nucleus; as a result most mitochondrial proteins are encoded in the nucleus and imported into mitochondria. This includes the components of the dedicated mitochondrial transcription and replication systems and regulatory factors, which are entirely distinct from the information processing systems in the nucleus. However, since the 1990s several nuclear transcription factors have been reported to act in mitochondria, and previously we identified 8 human and 3 mouse transcription factors (TFs) with strong localized enrichment over the mitochondrial genome using ChIP-seq (Chromatin Immunoprecipitation) datasets from the second phase of the ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) Project Consortium. Here, we analyze the greatly expanded in the intervening decade ENCODE compendium of TF ChIP-seq datasets (a total of 6,153 ChIP experiments for 942 proteins, of which 763 are sequence-specific TFs) combined with interpretative deep learning models of TF occupancy to create a comprehensive compendium of nuclear TFs that show evidence of association with the mitochondrial genome. We find some evidence for chrM occupancy for 50 nuclear TFs and two other proteins, with bZIP TFs emerging as most likely to be playing a role in mitochondria. However, we also observe that in cases where the same TF has been assayed with multiple antibodies and ChIP protocols, evidence for its chrM occupancy is not always reproducible. In the light of these findings, we discuss the evidential criteria for establishing chrM occupancy and reevaluate the overall compendium of putative mitochondrial-acting nuclear TFs.

PMID:38895386 | PMC:PMC11185660 | DOI:10.1101/2024.06.04.597442

Categories: Literature Watch

Human motion data expansion from arbitrary sparse sensors with shallow recurrent decoders

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jun 3:2024.06.01.596487. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.01.596487.

ABSTRACT

Advances in deep learning and sparse sensing have emerged as powerful tools for monitoring human motion in natural environments. We develop a deep learning architecture, constructed from a shallow recurrent decoder network, that expands human motion data by mapping a limited (sparse) number of sensors to a comprehensive (dense) configuration, thereby inferring the motion of unmonitored body segments. Even with a single sensor, we reconstruct the comprehensive set of time series measurements, which are important for tracking and informing movement-related health and performance outcomes. Notably, this mapping leverages sensor time histories to inform the transformation from sparse to dense sensor configurations. We apply this mapping architecture to a variety of datasets, including controlled movement tasks, gait pattern exploration, and free-moving environments. Additionally, this mapping can be subject-specific (based on an individual's unique data for deployment at home and in the community) or group-based (where data from a large group are used to learn a general movement model and predict outcomes for unknown subjects). By expanding our datasets to unmeasured or unavailable quantities, this work can impact clinical trials, robotic/device control, and human performance by improving the accuracy and availability of digital biomarker estimates.

PMID:38895371 | PMC:PMC11185509 | DOI:10.1101/2024.06.01.596487

Categories: Literature Watch

Chemical signatures delineate heterogeneous amyloid plaque populations across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum

Wed, 2024-06-19 06:00

bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Jun 3:2024.06.03.596890. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.03.596890.

ABSTRACT

Amyloid plaque deposition is recognized as the primary pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease(AD) that precedes other pathological events and cognitive symptoms. Plaque pathology represents itself with an immense polymorphic variety comprising plaques with different stages of amyloid fibrillization ranging from diffuse to fibrillar, mature plaques. The association of polymorphic Aβ plaque pathology with AD pathogenesis, clinical symptoms and disease progression remains unclear. Advanced chemical imaging tools, such as functional amyloid microscopy combined with MALDI mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), are now enhanced by deep learning algorithms. This integration allows for precise delineation of polymorphic plaque structures and detailed identification of their associated Aβ compositions. We here set out to make use of these tools to interrogate heterogenic plaque types and their associated biochemical architecture. Our findings reveal distinct Aβ signatures that differentiate diffuse plaques from fibrilized ones, with the latter showing substantially higher levels of Aβx-40. Notably, within the fibrilized category, we identified a distinct subtype known as coarse-grain plaques. Both in sAD and fAD brain tissue, coarse grain plaques contained more Aβx-40 and less Aβx-42 compared with cored plaques. The coarse grain plaques in both sAD and fAD also showed higher levels of neuritic content including paired helical filaments (PHF-1)/phosphorylated phospho Tau-immunopositive neurites. Finally, the Aβ peptide content in coarse grain plaques resembled that of vascular Aβ deposits (CAA) though with relatively higher levels of Aβ1-42 and pyroglutamated Aβx-40 and Aβx-42 species in coarse grain plaques. This is the first of its kind study on spatial in situ biochemical characterization of different plaque morphotypes demonstrating the potential of the correlative imaging techniques used that further increase the understanding of heterogeneous AD pathology. Linking the biochemical characteristics of amyloid plaque polymorphisms with various AD etiologies and toxicity mechanisms is crucial. Understanding the connection between plaque structure and disease pathogenesis can enhance our insights. This knowledge is particularly valuable for developing and advancing novel, amyloid-targeting therapeutics.

PMID:38895368 | PMC:PMC11185524 | DOI:10.1101/2024.06.03.596890

Categories: Literature Watch

Deep Learning Based Reconstruction of 3D-T1-SPACE Vessel Wall Imaging Provides Improved Image Quality with Reduced Scan Times: A Preliminary Study

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2024 Jun 18:ajnr.A8382. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A8382. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Intra-cranial vessel wall imaging (IC-VWI) is technically challenging to implement, given the simultaneous requirements of high spatial resolution, excellent blood and CSF signal suppression and clinically acceptable gradient times. Herein, we present our preliminary findings on the evaluation of a deep learning optimized sequence using T1 weighted imaging.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical and optimized Deep learning-based image reconstruction (DLBIR) T1 SPACE sequences were evaluated, comparing non-contrast sequences in ten healthy controls and post-contrast sequences in five consecutive patients. Images were reviewed on a Likert-like scale by four fellowship-trained neuroradiologists. Scores (range 1-4) were separately assigned for eleven vessel segments in terms of vessel wall and lumen delineation. Additionally, images were evaluated in terms of overall background noise, image sharpness and homogenous CSF signal. Segment-wise scores were compared using paired samples t-tests.

RESULTS: The scan time for the clinical and DLBIR sequences were 7:26 minutes and 5:23 minutes respectively. DLBIR images showed consistently higher wall signal and lumen visualization scores, with the differences being statistically significant in the majority of vessel segments on both pre and post contrast images. DLBIR images had lower background noise, higher image sharpness and uniform CSF signal. Depiction of intracranial pathologies was better or similar on the DLBIR images.

CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary findings suggest that DLBIR optimized IC-VWI sequences may be helpful in achieving shorter gradient times with improved vessel wall visualization and overall image quality. These improvements may help with wider adoption of ICVWI in clinical practice and should be further validated on a larger cohort.

ABBREVIATIONS: DL deep learning; VWI = vessel wall imaging.

PMID:38889969 | DOI:10.3174/ajnr.A8382

Categories: Literature Watch

Tracing unknown tumor origins with a biological-pathway-based transformer model

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

Cell Rep Methods. 2024 Jun 17;4(6):100797. doi: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2024.100797.

ABSTRACT

Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) represents metastatic cancer where the primary site remains unidentified despite standard diagnostic procedures. To determine the tumor origin in such cases, we developed BPformer, a deep learning method integrating the transformer model with prior knowledge of biological pathways. Trained on transcriptomes from 10,410 primary tumors across 32 cancer types, BPformer achieved remarkable accuracy rates of 94%, 92%, and 89% in primary tumors and primary and metastatic sites of metastatic tumors, respectively, surpassing existing methods. Additionally, BPformer was validated in a retrospective study, demonstrating consistency with tumor sites diagnosed through immunohistochemistry and histopathology. Furthermore, BPformer was able to rank pathways based on their contribution to tumor origin identification, which helped to classify oncogenic signaling pathways into those that are highly conservative among different cancers versus those that are highly variable depending on their origins.

PMID:38889685 | DOI:10.1016/j.crmeth.2024.100797

Categories: Literature Watch

Motico: An attentional mechanism network model for smart aging disease risk prediction based on image data classification

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

Comput Biol Med. 2024 Jun 17;178:108763. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.108763. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The current disease risk prediction model with many parameters is complex to run smoothly on mobile terminals such as tablets and mobile phones in imaginative elderly care application scenarios. In order to further reduce the number of parameters in the model and enable the disease risk prediction model to run smoothly on mobile terminals, we designed a model called Motico (An Attention Mechanism Network Model for Image Data Classification). During the implementation of the Motico model, in order to protect image features, we designed an image data preprocessing method and an attention mechanism network model for image data classification. The Motico model parameter size is only 5.26 MB, and the memory only takes up 135.69 MB. In the experiment, the accuracy of disease risk prediction was 96 %, the precision rate was 97 %, the recall rate was 93 %, the specificity was 98 %, the F1 score was 95 %, and the AUC was 95 %. This experimental result shows that our Motico model can implement classification prediction based on the image data classification attention mechanism network on mobile terminals.

PMID:38889629 | DOI:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2024.108763

Categories: Literature Watch

Minimization of occurrence of retained surgical items using machine learning and deep learning techniques: a review

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

BioData Min. 2024 Jun 18;17(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s13040-024-00367-z.

ABSTRACT

Retained surgical items (RSIs) pose significant risks to patients and healthcare professionals, prompting extensive efforts to reduce their incidence. RSIs are objects inadvertently left within patients' bodies after surgery, which can lead to severe consequences such as infections and death. The repercussions highlight the critical need to address this issue. Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) have displayed considerable potential for enhancing the prevention of RSIs through heightened precision and decreased reliance on human involvement. ML techniques are finding an expanding number of applications in medicine, ranging from automated imaging analysis to diagnosis. DL has enabled substantial advances in the prediction capabilities of computers by combining the availability of massive volumes of data with extremely effective learning algorithms. This paper reviews and evaluates recently published articles on the application of ML and DL in RSIs prevention and diagnosis, stressing the need for a multi-layered approach that leverages each method's strengths to mitigate RSI risks. It highlights the key findings, advantages, and limitations of the different techniques used. Extensive datasets for training ML and DL models could enhance RSI detection systems. This paper also discusses the various datasets used by researchers for training the models. In addition, future directions for improving these technologies for RSI diagnosis and prevention are considered. By merging ML and DL with current procedures, it is conceivable to substantially minimize RSIs, enhance patient safety, and elevate surgical care standards.

PMID:38890729 | DOI:10.1186/s13040-024-00367-z

Categories: Literature Watch

Stereochemically-aware bioactivity descriptors for uncharacterized chemical compounds

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

J Cheminform. 2024 Jun 18;16(1):70. doi: 10.1186/s13321-024-00867-4.

ABSTRACT

Stereochemistry plays a fundamental role in pharmacology. Here, we systematically investigate the relationship between stereoisomerism and bioactivity on over 1 M compounds, finding that a very significant fraction (~ 40%) of spatial isomer pairs show, to some extent, distinct bioactivities. We then use the 3D representation of these molecules to train a collection of deep neural networks (Signaturizers3D) to generate bioactivity descriptors associated to small molecules, that capture their effects at increasing levels of biological complexity (i.e. from protein targets to clinical outcomes). Further, we assess the ability of the descriptors to distinguish between stereoisomers and to recapitulate their different target binding profiles. Overall, we show how these new stereochemically-aware descriptors provide an even more faithful description of complex small molecule bioactivity properties, capturing key differences in the activity of stereoisomers.Scientific contributionWe systematically assess the relationship between stereoisomerism and bioactivity on a large scale, focusing on compound-target binding events, and use our findings to train novel deep learning models to generate stereochemically-aware bioactivity signatures for any compound of interest.

PMID:38890727 | DOI:10.1186/s13321-024-00867-4

Categories: Literature Watch

DeepLeish: a deep learning based support system for the detection of Leishmaniasis parasite from Giemsa-stained microscope images

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

BMC Med Imaging. 2024 Jun 18;24(1):152. doi: 10.1186/s12880-024-01333-1.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Leishmaniasis is a vector-born neglected parasitic disease belonging to the genus Leishmania. Out of the 30 Leishmania species, 21 species cause human infection that affect the skin and the internal organs. Around, 700,000 to 1,000,000 of the newly infected cases and 26,000 to 65,000 deaths are reported worldwide annually. The disease exhibits three clinical presentations, namely, the cutaneous, muco-cutaneous and visceral Leishmaniasis which affects the skin, mucosal membrane and the internal organs, respectively. The relapsing behavior of the disease limits its diagnosis and treatment efficiency. The common diagnostic approaches follow subjective, error-prone, repetitive processes. Despite, an ever pressing need for an accurate detection of Leishmaniasis, the research conducted so far is scarce. In this regard, the main aim of the current research is to develop an artificial intelligence based detection tool for the Leishmaniasis from the Geimsa-stained microscopic images using deep learning method.

METHODS: Stained microscopic images were acquired locally and labeled by experts. The images were augmented using different methods to prevent overfitting and improve the generalizability of the system. Fine-tuned Faster RCNN, SSD, and YOLOV5 models were used for object detection. Mean average precision (MAP), precision, and Recall were calculated to evaluate and compare the performance of the models.

RESULTS: The fine-tuned YOLOV5 outperformed the other models such as Faster RCNN and SSD, with the MAP scores, of 73%, 54% and 57%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: The currently developed YOLOV5 model can be tested in the clinics to assist the laboratorists in diagnosing Leishmaniasis from the microscopic images. Particularly, in low-resourced healthcare facilities, with fewer qualified medical professionals or hematologists, our AI support system can assist in reducing the diagnosing time, workload, and misdiagnosis. Furthermore, the dataset collected by us will be shared with other researchers who seek to improve upon the detection system of the parasite. The current model detects the parasites even in the presence of the monocyte cells, but sometimes, the accuracy decreases due to the differences in the sizes of the parasite cells alongside the blood cells. The incorporation of cascaded networks in future and the quantification of the parasite load, shall overcome the limitations of the currently developed system.

PMID:38890604 | DOI:10.1186/s12880-024-01333-1

Categories: Literature Watch

EPI-Trans: an effective transformer-based deep learning model for enhancer promoter interaction prediction

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

BMC Bioinformatics. 2024 Jun 18;25(1):216. doi: 10.1186/s12859-024-05784-9.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Recognition of enhancer-promoter Interactions (EPIs) is crucial for human development. EPIs in the genome play a key role in regulating transcription. However, experimental approaches for classifying EPIs are too expensive in terms of effort, time, and resources. Therefore, more and more studies are being done on developing computational techniques, particularly using deep learning and other machine learning techniques, to address such problems. Unfortunately, the majority of current computational methods are based on convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, or a combination of them, which don't take into consideration contextual details and the long-range interactions between the enhancer and promoter sequences. A new transformer-based model called EPI-Trans is presented in this study to overcome the aforementioned limitations. The multi-head attention mechanism in the transformer model automatically learns features that represent the long interrelationships between enhancer and promoter sequences. Furthermore, a generic model is created with transferability that can be utilized as a pre-trained model for various cell lines. Moreover, the parameters of the generic model are fine-tuned using a particular cell line dataset to improve performance.

RESULTS: Based on the results obtained from six benchmark cell lines, the average AUROC for the specific, generic, and best models is 94.2%, 95%, and 95.7%, while the average AUPR is 80.5%, 66.1%, and 79.6% respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: This study proposed a transformer-based deep learning model for EPI prediction. The comparative results on certain cell lines show that EPI-Trans outperforms other cutting-edge techniques and can provide superior performance on the challenge of recognizing EPI.

PMID:38890584 | DOI:10.1186/s12859-024-05784-9

Categories: Literature Watch

Enhanced multi view 3D reconstruction with improved MVSNet

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

Sci Rep. 2024 Jun 19;14(1):14106. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-64805-y.

ABSTRACT

Although 3D reconstruction has been widely used in many fields as a key component of environment perception, existing technologies still have the potential for further improvement in 3D scene reconstruction. We propose an improved reconstruction algorithm based on the MVSNet network architecture. To glean richer pixel details from images, we suggest deploying a DE module integrated with a residual framework, which supplants the prevailing feature extraction mechanism. The DE module uses ECA-Net and dilated convolution to expand the receptive field range, performing feature splicing and fusion through the residual structure to retain the global information of the original image. Moreover, harnessing attention mechanisms refines the 3D cost volume's regularization process, bolstering the integration of information across multi-scale feature volumes, consequently enhancing depth estimation precision. When assessed our model using the DTU dataset, findings highlight the network's 3D reconstruction scoring a completeness (comp) of 0.411 mm and an overall quality of 0.418 mm. This performance is higher than that of traditional methods and other deep learning-based methods. Additionally, the visual representation of the point cloud model exhibits marked advancements. Trials on the Blended MVS dataset signify that our network exhibits commendable generalization prowess.

PMID:38890489 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-64805-y

Categories: Literature Watch

RELATIONAL DIMENSION VERSUS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

Am J Psychoanal. 2024 Jun 18. doi: 10.1057/s11231-024-09458-6. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Thirty years ago, we proposed the similarity between the functioning of artificial intelligence and the human psyche, suggesting multiple parallels between the Freudian model proposed in the "Project for Psychology for Neurologists" and the connectionist theories applied in the generation of parallel distributed processing systems (PDP), also known as connectionist models. These models have been and continue to be the foundation of general artificial intelligences like ChatGPT, evolving and gaining prominence in everyday life. From the earliest applications in psychiatry, recreating computationally simulated modes of illnesses, to the use of deep learning models, especially in the field of computer vision for tasks such as image recognition, segmentation, and classification. Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) are employed for tasks involving sequences of data, such as natural language processing, or models based on the Transformer architecture, like BERT and GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), which have revolutionized natural language processing. In this present work, we analyze the significance of the emergence and exponential growth of these types of tools in the field of healthcare, from medical diagnosis and patient care to psychological attention and psychotherapeutic treatment, exploring the changes and transformations in the forms of subjective expression that are arising. We also examine and argue for the importance and validity of the relational dimension proposed by our psychoanalytic approach in contrast to the potential use of these tools as treatment models.

PMID:38890449 | DOI:10.1057/s11231-024-09458-6

Categories: Literature Watch

NNICE: a deep quantile neural network algorithm for expression deconvolution

Tue, 2024-06-18 06:00

Sci Rep. 2024 Jun 18;14(1):14040. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-65053-w.

ABSTRACT

The composition of cell-type is a key indicator of health. Advancements in bulk gene expression data curation, single cell RNA-sequencing technologies, and computational deconvolution approaches offer a new perspective to learn about the composition of different cell types in a quick and affordable way. In this study, we developed a quantile regression and deep learning-based method called Neural Network Immune Contexture Estimator (NNICE) to estimate the cell type abundance and its uncertainty by automatically deconvolving bulk RNA-seq data. The proposed NNICE model was able to successfully recover ground-truth cell type fraction values given unseen bulk mixture gene expression profiles from the same dataset it was trained on. Compared with baseline methods, NNICE achieved better performance on deconvolve both pseudo-bulk gene expressions (Pearson correlation R = 0.9) and real bulk gene expression data (Pearson correlation R = 0.9) across all cell types. In conclusion, NNICE combines statistic inference with deep learning to provide accurate and interpretable cell type deconvolution from bulk gene expression.

PMID:38890415 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-65053-w

Categories: Literature Watch

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