The UCS of the segments in the remission phase ranged from 3.0 to 9.0 (mean, 3.6 ± 0.9) whereas in the active phase from 3.0 to 20.0 (mean, 10.6 ± 4.0) (p less then 0.001). The cut-off value of UCS was 6. The associated area under ROC curve, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy were 0.980, 88.3%, 95.5%, 93.8%, 91.3%, and 92.3%, respectively. The correlation coefficient between UCS and SES was 0.90, which was higher than the correlation coefficient of 0.83 between BWT and SES. CONCLUSIONS The newly developed UCS with transabdominal US has a good performance and potentially provides an effective alternative for evaluating the activity of CD. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE UCS is an effective method to evaluate the activity of CD because it provides comprehensive information of the disease. Therefore, it could be employed as an alternative for diagnosis of CD.RATIONALE Diisocyanates are well-recognized causes of asthma. However, hypersensitive workers frequently lack diisocyanate-specific IgE, which complicates diagnosis and suggests the disease involves IgE-independent mechanisms. OBJECTIVES Utilize a mouse model of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) asthma to identify biological pathways that may contribute to asthma pathogenesis. METHODS MDI sensitization and respiratory tract exposure was performed in Balb/c, transgenic B-cell (e.g. IgE) deficient mice, and a genetic background (C57BL/6)-matched strain. Eosinophils in airway fluid were quantitated by flow cytometry. Lung tissue gene expression was assessed using whole genome mRNA microarrays. Informatic software was used to identify biological pathways affected by respiratory tract exposure and potential targets for disease intervention. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Airway eosinophilia and changes (>1.5-fold; p value 100-fold) in all exposed mouse lungs vs. controls, followed closely by SLC26A4, another transcript involved in Cl- conductance. Crofelemer, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Cl- channel inhibitor, reduced MDI exposure induction of airway eosinophilia, mucus, CLCA1 and other asthma-associated gene transcripts. CONCLUSIONS Expression changes in a core set of genes occurs independent of IgE in a mouse model of chemical-induced airway eosinophilia. In addition to chemokines and AAMs, the data suggest a crucial role for Cl- channels in diisocyanate asthma pathology and as a possible target for intervention.OBJECTIVES To investigate the diagnostic performance of deep learning (DL) based vascular extraction and stenosis detection technology in assessing coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS The diagnostic performance of DL technology was evaluated by retrospective analysis of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in 124 suspected CAD patients, using invasive coronary angiography (ICA) as reference standard. Lumen diameter stenosis ≥50% was considered obstructive, and the diagnostic performances were evaluated at per-patient, per-vessel and per-segment levels. The diagnostic performances between DL model and reader model were compared by the areas under the receiver operating characteristics curves (AUCs). RESULTS In patient-based analysis, AUC of 0.78 was obtained by DL model to detect obstructive CAD [sensitivity of 94%, specificity of 63%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 94%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 59%], While AUC by reader model was 0.74 (sensitivity of 97%, specificity of 50%, PPV of 93%, NPV of 73%). In vessel-based analysis, the AUCs of DL model and reader model were 0.87 and 0.89 respectively. In segment-based analysis, the AUCs of 0.84 and 0.89 were obtained by DL model and reader model respectively. It took 0.47 min to analyze all segments per patient by DL model, which is significantly less than reader model (29.65 min) (p less then 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The DL technology can accurately and effectively identify obstructive CAD, with less time-consuming, and it could be a reliable diagnostic tool to detect CAD. selleck kinase inhibitor ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE The DL technology has valuable prospect with the diagnostic ability to detect CAD.OBJECTIVE To study if pre-treatment CT texture features in locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of laryngo-pharynx can predict long-term local control and laryngectomy free survival (LFS). METHODS Image texture features of 60 patients treated with chemoradiation (CTRT) within an ethically approved study were studied on contrast-enhanced images using a texture analysis research software (TexRad, UK). A filtration-histogram technique was used where the filtration step extracted and enhanced features of different sizes and intensity variations corresponding to a particular spatial scale filter (SSF) SSF = 0 (without filtration), SSF = 2 mm (fine texture), SSF = 3-5 mm (medium texture) and SSF = 6 mm (coarse texture). Quantification by statistical and histogram technique comprised mean intensity, standard-deviation, entropy, mean positive pixels, skewness and kurtosis. The ability of texture analysis to predict LFS or local control was determined using Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate cox model. RESULTSryngo-pharyngeal cancer and this can complement clinico-radiological factors in predicting prognosticating these tumors. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE Texture features play an important role as a surrogate imaging biomarker for predicting local control and laryngectomy free survival in locally advanced laryngo-pharyngeal tumors treated with definitive chemoradiation.OBJECTIVE Percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty (PTA) is recommended as the first choice to treat stenosis of Brescia-Cimino arteriovenous fistulas (B-C AVFs). The ability to predict which B-C AVFs are at risk for recurrent stenosis post-PTA would allow closer monitoring of patients, and possibly result in surgical intervention rather than repeat PTA. The purpose of this study was to identify predictive factors of primary patency after PTA in B-C AVFs. METHODS Patients diagnosed with B-C AVF primary stenosis and treated by PTA between November 2013 and March 2018 were included in the study. Patient and stenotic lesion characteristics and PTA procedure factors were included in the analysis. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the primary patency rate. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was used to identify factors predictive of decreased primary patency. RESULTS 74 patients (35 males, 39 females) with a mean age of 61.68 ± 11.44 years (range, 36-84 years) were included in the study. The mean B-C AVF age was 16.