University of Lincoln

About: University of Lincoln is a education organization based out in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Higher education. The organization has 2341 authors who have published 7025 publications receiving 124797 citations.

Deep neural architectures for prediction in healthcare

Abstract: This paper presents a novel class of systems assisting diagnosis and personalised assessment of diseases in healthcare. The targeted systems are end-to-end deep neural architectures that are designed (trained and tested) and subsequently used as whole systems, accepting raw input data and producing the desired outputs. Such architectures are state-of-the-art in image analysis and computer vision, speech recognition and language processing. Their application in healthcare for prediction and diagnosis purposes can produce high accuracy results and can be combined with medical knowledge to improve effectiveness, adaptation and transparency of decision making. The paper focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Parkinson’s, as the development model, by creating a new database and using it for training, evaluating and validating the proposed systems. Experimental results are presented which illustrate the ability of the systems to detect and predict Parkinson’s based on medical imaging information.

Turkish Tombul hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.). 2. Lipid characteristics and oxidative stability.

Abstract: The quality of crude hazelnut oil extracted from Tombul (Round) hazelnut, grown in the Giresun province of Turkey, was determined by measuring lipid classes, fatty acids, and fat soluble bioactives (tocopherols and phytosterols). Oxygen uptake, peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, and α-tocopherol levels of stripped and crude hazelnut oils in bulk and oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion systems were also evaluated as indices of lipid oxidation over a 21 day storage period at 60 °C in the dark. The total lipid content of Tombul hazelnut was 61.2%, of which 98.8% were nonpolar and 1.2% polar constituents. Triacylglycerols were the major nonpolar lipid class and contributed nearly 100% to the total amount. Phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylinositol were the most abundant polar lipids, respectively. Sixteen fatty acids were identified, among which oleic acid contributed 82.7% to the total, followed by linoleic, palmitic, and stearic acids. Unsaturated fatty acids accou...

Discrimination of human and dog faces and inversion responses in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris).

Abstract: Although domestic dogs can respond to many facial cues displayed by other dogs and humans, it remains unclear whether they can differentiate individual dogs or humans based on facial cues alone and, if so, whether they would demonstrate the face inversion effect, a behavioural hallmark commonly used in primates to differentiate face processing from object processing. In this study, we first established the applicability of the visual paired comparison (VPC or preferential looking) procedure for dogs using a simple object discrimination task with 2D pictures. The animals demonstrated a clear looking preference for novel objects when simultaneously presented with prior-exposed familiar objects. We then adopted this VPC procedure to assess their face discrimination and inversion responses. Dogs showed a deviation from random behaviour, indicating discrimination capability when inspecting upright dog faces, human faces and object images; but the pattern of viewing preference was dependent upon image category. They directed longer viewing time at novel (vs. familiar) human faces and objects, but not at dog faces, instead, a longer viewing time at familiar (vs. novel) dog faces was observed. No significant looking preference was detected for inverted images regardless of image category. Our results indicate that domestic dogs can use facial cues alone to differentiate individual dogs and humans and that they exhibit a non-specific inversion response. In addition, the discrimination response by dogs of human and dog faces appears to differ with the type of face involved.

Prevalence, duration and risk factors for appendicular osteoarthritis in a UK dog population under primary veterinary care.

Abstract: Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease diagnosed in veterinary medicine and poses considerable challenges to canine welfare. This study aimed to investigate prevalence, duration and risk factors of appendicular osteoarthritis in dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK. The VetCompassTM programme collects clinical data on dogs attending UK primary-care veterinary practices. The study included all VetCompassTM dogs under veterinary care during 2013. Candidate osteoarthritis cases were identified using multiple search strategies. A random subset was manually evaluated against a case definition. Of 455,557 study dogs, 16,437 candidate osteoarthritis cases were identified; 6104 (37%) were manually checked and 4196 (69% of sample) were confirmed as cases. Additional data on demography, clinical signs, duration and management were extracted for confirmed cases. Estimated annual period prevalence (accounting for subsampling) of appendicular osteoarthritis was 2.5% (CI95: 2.4-2.5%) equating to around 200,000 UK affected dogs annually. Risk factors associated with osteoarthritis diagnosis included breed (e.g. Labrador, Golden Retriever), being insured, being neutered, of higher bodyweight and being older than eight years. Duration calculation trials suggest osteoarthritis affects 11.4% of affected individuals' lifespan, providing further evidence for substantial impact of osteoarthritis on canine welfare at the individual and population level.