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Ultrasonography is widely used in linguistic study, speech therapy, language training, and impaired speech production. Real-time visualization of the shape, contour, and motion of the tongue provides essential information about tongue articulation during speech. The study of tongue motion requires precise recording of the tongue contour. It is challenging to analyze the tongue contour using ultrasound sequences because of indiscreet noise, rapidly changing tongue surface, and time-consuming manual labeling, which often results in faulty data interpretation. Therefore, we propose a novel automatic tongue contour extraction approach from ultrasound image sequences with minimal manual annotation. This study discovers a lightweight encoder-decoder-based neural network architecture that removes the ultrasound image's noise and enhance the image. This enhanced image is run through a robust post-processing algorithm that involves anomaly removal, skeletonization, and fitting a deformable spline using an active contour model that finally delineates the tongue surface and outputs the contour for the tongue. Unlike other works in tongue contour detection, we train the neural network only to clean noise, which forms its base for multiple domain adaptation. Our proposed model has the least parameters and excellent performance with a mean squared distance of 0.93mm/3.152 pixels from expert annotated contours. Expert prosthodontists, after verifying the results of our approach, find it to be extremely useful in decision making and robust to subjective variability of hand labeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lichen planus is a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin and mucous membrane with higher predilection seen in the female population. Oral lichen planus (OLP) has been associated with various etiological factors, such as stress, hormonal imbalance, and immunological variation. The purpose of this study was to assess serum and salivary estrogen (E2) levels in OLP patients and correlate them with stress levels. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate serum and salivary estrogen levels in female patients with OLP, along with the assessment of stress and its correlation with estrogen levels. Methods: A total of 78 females, 39 clinically diagnosed with OLP and 39 healthy females, were included in the study as the case and control groups, respectively. 2 ml each of salivary and serum samples was obtained from each participant to measure the estrogen levels. Stress levels in the study group patients were assessed using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS‑21) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The nonparametric Mann–Whitney test was used for intergroup comparisons. Results: Significantly higher serum estrogen levels with higher DASS‑21 and PSS scores were noted in patients with OLP. Overall, significant positive correlations were observed between salivary E2 and serum E2 (r = 0.361, P = 0.001). There was a positive correlation between salivary and serum E2 and DASS score (r = 0.410, P < 0.001, and r = 0.768, P < 0.001, respectively), serum/salivary E2 and PSS score (r = 0.745, P < 0.001, and r = 0.410, P < 0.001, respectively), and DASS score and PSS score (r = 0.878, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Estrogen can be used as a useful biomarker for OLP in the future. Salivary samples can prove to be an accurate and feasible alternative to serum estrogen level determination. We also suggest that OLP patients must be given supportive psychological treatment for improved life quality and disease management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Precancer biomarkers help in early detection and management of oral potentially malignant disorders(OPMDs). Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), a biomarker, is known to be altered in oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) and oral leukoplakia (OL). Therefore, we evaluated and compared the serum and salivary IL-1β levels in patients with OSMF/oral leukoplakia and in gender- and age-matched healthy individuals. Materials and Methods: An in vivo, prospective, observational study was conducted on 40 subjects. Subjects were divided into two groups with 20 individuals in each group, that is, Group I: OSMF/oral leukoplakia and Group II: control group. Salivary and serum IL-1β levels were quantitatively estimated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The statistical tests used were unpaired t-test and Chi-square test. Results: The serum IL-1β levels were significantly (P 0.001) lesser in Group I in comparison to Group II. The salivary IL-1β levels remained insignificant between both the groups. However, in both the groups, the salivary IL-1β levels were significantly higher compared to the serum IL-1β levels. Conclusion: We found that the serum IL-1β level can be considered as a prospective biomarker for dysplasia, whereas salivary IL-1β alone needs more elaborated studies to account for its application as a potential biomarker in OPMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In forensics, age and gender determination are required for victim identification. Secondary dentine deposition occurs throughout life, resulting in decreased pulp volume and size. Evaluation of pulp volume using Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) is a non invasive method used to evaluate age and gender. Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of the pulp volume method in determining age and gender. Materials and Methods: An observational study was conducted in the Oral Medicine and Radiology Department of King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India from July 2019 to August 2020. Pulp volume measurements were obtained from CBCT data of randomly selected individuals (n=90) aged 18-70 years, focusing on maxillary Central Incisors (CI) and maxillary Canine (C). Statistical analyses, including Chi-square test, Pearson's correlation, linear regression, and logistic regression, were performed on the data. Results: The CBCT data from 90 individuals, aged 18-70 years, were evaluated for pulp volume of maxillary CI and C. The Pearson correlation coefficient indicated a decrease in pulp volume with age. The validation of the equations for sex determination revealed higher prediction accuracy for CI (56.70%) compared to C (53.30%). Conclusion: Pulp volume obtained from CBCT can serve as a reliable indicator for age estimation and gender prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free energies of crystals computed using a center of mass constraint require a finite-size correction, as shown in previous work by Polson et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 112, 5339–5342 (2000)]. Their reference system is an Einstein crystal with equal spring constants. In this paper, we extend the work of Polson et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 112, 5339–5342 (2000)] to the case of differing spring constants. The generalization is convenient for constraining the center of mass in crystals with atoms of differing masses, and it helps to optimize the free energy calculations. To test the theory, we compare the free energies of LiI and NaCl crystals from calculations with differing spring constants to those computed using equal spring constants. Using these center of mass finite size corrections, we compute the true free energies of these crystals for different system sizes to eliminate the intrinsic finite-size effects. These calculations help demonstrate the size of these finite-size corrections relative to other contributions to the absolute free energy of the crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid–fluid phase equilibria are difficult to predict in simulations because bound degrees of freedom in the crystal phase must be converted to free translations and rotations in the fluid phase. Here, we avoid the solid-to-fluid transformation step by starting with chemical potentials for two reference systems, one for the fluid phase and one for the solid phase. For the solid, we start from the Einstein crystal and transform to the fully interacting molecular crystal. For the fluid phase, we introduce a new reference system, the "centroid," and then transform to gas phase molecules. We illustrate the new calculations by predicting the sublimation vapor pressure of succinic acid in the temperature range of 300 K–350 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]