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“Robust and fast 3D tracking of deformable objects, such as heart, is a challenging task because of the relatively low image contrast and speed requirement. Many existing 2D algorithms might not be directly applied on the 3D tracking problem. The 3D tracking performance is limited due to dramatically increased data size, landmarks ambiguity, signal drop-out or complex nonrigid deformation. In this paper, we present a robust, fast, and accurate 3D tracking algorithm: prediction based collaborative trackers (PCT). A novel

one-step forward prediction is introduced to generate Mocetinostat the motion prior using motion manifold learning. Collaborative trackers are introduced to achieve both temporal consistency and failure recovery. Compared with tracking by detection and 3D optical flow, PCT provides the best results. The new tracking algorithm is completely automatic and computationally efficient. It requires less than 1.5 s to process a 3D volume which contains millions of voxels. In order to demonstrate the generality of PCT, the tracker is fully tested on three large clinical datasets for three 3D heart tracking problems with two different imaging modalities: endocardium tracking of the left ventricle (67 sequences,

1134 3D volumetric echocardiography data), dense tracking in the myocardial regions between the epicardium and endocardium of the left ventricle (503 sequences, MEK inhibitor roughly 9000 3D volumetric echocardiography data), and whole heart four chambers tracking (20 sequences, 200 cardiac 3D volumetric OICR-9429 concentration CT data). Our datasets are much larger than most studies reported in the literature and we achieve very accurate tracking results compared with human experts’ annotations and recent literature.”
“Objective.

To assess and compare management preferences of physicians for moderate and severe acute asthma based on case scenarios and to determine the factors influencing their decisions. Methods. A questionnaire based on the Global Initiative on Asthma (GINA) guideline and comprising eight questions on management of acute asthma was delivered to participants of two national pediatric congresses. Management of moderate and severe acute asthma cases was evaluated by two clinical case scenarios for estimation of acute attack severity, initial treatment, treatment after 1h, and discharge recommendations. A uniform answer box comprising the possible choices was provided just below the questions, and respondents were requested to tick the answers they thought was appropriate. Results. Four-hundred and eighteen questionnaires were analyzed. All questions regarding moderate and severe acute asthma case scenarios were answered accurately by 15.8% and 17.0% of physicians, respectively. The initial treatment of moderate and severe cases was known by 100.0% and 78.2% of physicians, respectively.