Clinical keratoconus (KCN) detection is a challenging and time-consuming task. In the diagnosis process, ophthalmologists must revise demographic and clinical ophthalmic examinations. The latter include slit-lamb, corneal topographic maps, and Pentacam indices (PI). We propose an Ensemble of Deep Transfer Learning (EDTL) based on corneal topographic maps. We consider four pretrained networks, SqueezeNet (SqN), AlexNet (AN), ShuffleNet (SfN), and MobileNet-v2 (MN), and fine-tune them on a dataset of KCN and normal cases, each including four topographic maps. We also consider a PI classifier. Then, our EDTL method combines the output probabilities of each of the five classifiers to obtain a decision based on the fusion of probabilities. Individually, the classifier based on PI achieved 93.1% accuracy, whereas the deep classifiers reached classification accuracies over 90% only in isolated cases. Overall, the average accuracy of the deep networks over the four corneal maps ranged from 86% (SfN) to 89.9% (AN). The classifier ensemble increased the accuracy of the deep classifiers based on corneal maps to values ranging (92.2% to 93.1%) for SqN and (93.1% to 94.8%) for AN. Including in the ensemble-specific combinations of corneal maps’ classifiers and PI increased the accuracy to 98.3%. Moreover, visualization of first learner filters in the networks and Grad-CAMs confirmed that the networks had learned relevant clinical features. This study shows the potential of creating ensembles of deep classifiers fine-tuned with a transfer learning strategy as it resulted in an improved accuracy while showing learnable filters and Grad-CAMs that agree with clinical knowledge. This is a step further towards the potential clinical deployment of an improved computer-assisted diagnosis system for KCN detection to help ophthalmologists to confirm the clinical decision and to perform fast and accurate KCN treatment.
The present study aims to detect CTX-M-type ESBL from Escherichia coli clinical isolates and to analyze their antibotic susceptibility patterns. One hundred of E. coli isolates were collected from different clinical samples from a tertiary hospital. ESBL positivity was determined by the disk diffusion method. PCR used for amplification of CTX-M-type ESBL produced by E. coli. Out of 100 E. coli isolates, twenty-four isolates (24%) were ESBL-producers. E. coli isolated from pus was the most frequent clinical specimen that produced ESBL (41.66%) followed by urine (34.21%), respiratory (22.23%), and blood (19.05%). After PCR amplification of these 24 isolates, 10 (41.66%) isolates were found to possess CTX-M genes. The CTX-M type ESBL
... Show MoreThe target of this study was to study the natural phytochemical components of the head (capsule) of Cynara scolymus cultivated in Iraq. The head (capsule) of plant was extracted by maceration in70% ethanol for 72 hours, and fractioned by hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate. Preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening was performed on the ethyl acetate fraction for capsule was revealed the presence of flavonoid and aromatic acids. These were examined by (high -performance liquid chromatography) (HPLC diodarray), (high- performance thin-layer chromatography)(HPTLC).
Flavonoids were isolated by preparative layer chromatography and aromatic acid was isolated by preparative high-
... Show MoreIn this work, the detection of zinc (Zn) ions that cause water pollution is studied using the CSNPs- Linker-alkaloids compound that was prepared by linking extracted alkaloids from Iraqi Catharanthus roseus plant with Chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs) using maleic anhydride. This compound is characterized by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) which shows that it has an orthorhombic structure with crystallite size in the nano dimension. Zeta Potential results show that the CSNPs-Linker-alkaloids carried a positive charge of 54.4 mV, which means it possesses high stability. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) shows a new distinct band at 1708.93 cm-1 due to C=O esterification. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image
... Show MoreThis study was conducted to detect C.sakazakii PIF and raw milk. Two hundred samples of PIF were taken from the infected hospital infants who used this type of milk and from the local markets in addition to 16 sample of raw milk were collected. The study is the first to report the isolation of C. sakazakii and Enterobacter spp. from raw milk in Iraq. The distribution of C.sakazakii and Enterobacter spp. among the presumptive isolates using Vitek-GN2 system gave 1/16(6.25%) isolates of C.sakazakii and 4/16 (25%) isolates of Enterobacter spp. Enterobacter spp. isolates include (E.cloacae ssp. cloacae and E.cloacae ssp. dissolvens, E.hormaechei, and E.ludwigii) that isolate from raw milk Differences in between percentages of each isolate perse
... Show MoreThe current study performed in order to detect and quantify epicatechin in two tea samples of Camellia sinensis (black and green tea) by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Extraction of epicatechin from black and green tea was done by using two different methods: maceration (cold extraction method) and decoction (hot extraction method). Qualitative and quantitative determinations of epicatechin in two tea samples were investigated. Epicatechin identification was made by utilizing preliminary chemical tests and TLC. This identification was also boosted by HPLC and then quantified epicatechin in all ethyl acetate fractions of two tea samples. This research revealed the existence of epica
... Show MoreThe present study was performed to evaluate the level of some risk factors (biochemical and immunological) in hypothyroid Iraqi patients considering the different thyroid functional states (hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism).The study includes 82 patients clinically diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Three study groups have been investigated: (47 clinical hypothyroid patients, 12 subclinical hypothyroid patients 23 healthy individuals) of different ages. This study, show that the proportion of females (83.3 %), (87.2%) in subclinical and clinical hypothyroidisim respectively higher than the proportion of males (16.7%),(12.8%) in subclinical and clinical hypothyrodism respectively of the total patients.The majority of subclinical hyp
... Show MoreBackground: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is caused of 85% of all lung cancers. Among the most important factors for lung tumor growth and proliferation are the tyrosine kinase receptors that coded by the epidermal growth factor recep-tor (EGFR) gene. Activation of EGFR ultimately leads to developing of lung cancer. The present study was undertaken with an objective to detect EGFR mutations in bronchial wash from Iraqi patients with NSCLC before treatment. Methods: DNA was extracted from bronchial wash samples collected from 50 patients with NSCLC by using a Qiamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). Then, EGFR mutations were determined by using real-time RCR combined with two technologies, Amplification Refractory Mutation System (
... Show MoreAbstract: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease with severe acute respiratory syndrome and first recognized in Wuhan, China, and it has since spread to the world, resulting in the coronavirus pandemic to 2020. The present study aimed to evaluate Molecular study of some types of vaginal fungi isolated from recovered women from Covid-19 in Baghdad governorate. The study was conducted on 213 samples collected between December 2021 and March 2022, where the number of positive samples reached 188 with percentage 88.26%, while the number of negative samples reached 25 with percentage 11.73% by taking vaginal swabs from various female patients in Al- Kadhimiya Teaching Hospital. Three of Candida spp. were isolated: Candida a
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