Search Results (6,685)

Background: Primary malignant bone tumors of the pelvis account for 10–15% of all primary bone sarcomas, most commonly chondrosarcoma, osteosarcoma, and Ewing’s sarcoma. Although advances have shifted treatment toward internal hemipelvectomy, pelvic resections remain challenging due to the complex anatomy. The need for pelvic reconstruction is controversial, balancing potential stability against higher complication rates. This review evaluates the role of pelvic ring reconstruction, focusing on techniques, outcomes, and complications. Methods: A systematic literature review was performed in June 2025 using PubMed, MEDLINE and Cochrane Library as the primary databases, with the following search string: (hemipelvectomy) AND (orthopedic), acknowledging that this search strategy may be limited in scope. Studies published within the last five years were considered. After performing a full-text assessment of 80 studies, 14 studies were included in this review. Data regarding patients, methods, and outcomes were extracted and summarized. Results: Among the 14 included studies, seven investigated patient-specific three-dimensional (3D) printed pelvic reconstructions, four reported biological reconstruction techniques, two studies focused on non-reconstructive management and one study evaluated alternative stabilization using segmental spinal instrumentation. 3D printed and other reconstructive techniques were associated with improvements in the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society score, reduced pain, and demonstrated osseointegration with few mechanical failures. Although individual case series demonstrated good ambulation and stable fixation, complication rates, particularly wound and infection-related events, remained frequent. Type III reconstructions and personalized implants showed the highest functional gains but occasionally revealed asymptomatic fretting wear. In contrast, the only Level I evidence indicated significantly higher complication and infection rates in reconstructed patients and better functional outcomes in those managed without reconstruction when spinopelvic stability was preserved. Non-reconstructive strategies, including spinal instrumentation, supported early ambulation with low mechanical failure, while pediatric patients treated without reconstruction experienced a high complication rate but acceptable long-term oncologic outcomes. Conclusions: Current evidence suggests that routine pelvic ring reconstruction after internal hemipelvectomy may not be justified based on the currently available evidence. Patient-specific 3D-printed implants appear to provide consistent improvements in function, pain reduction, and mechanical stability, but are associated with a relevant risk of wound-related and infectious complications. In patients with preserved spinopelvic stability, non-reconstructive strategies may achieve comparable functional outcomes with lower morbidity. Therefore, pelvic reconstruction should be performed selectively, and further prospective multicenter studies are needed to better define appropriate patient selection and optimize reconstructive strategies. Full article

Recently, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have shown impressive performance in the compressive hyperspectral imaging (CHI) reconstruction task, but the high energy consumption limits their deployment on energy-constrained devices. This paper develops a novel spiking neural network (SNN), termed spiking spectral-weighting reconstruction network (SSWR-Net), to significantly improve the energy–efficiency ratio in CHI reconstruction. Firstly, a spiking spectral-weighting convolution block is proposed to adaptively modulate the spiking signals, enabling the SNN to fit continuous spectral correlation curves. Secondly, a residual feature reuse module with more direct connections is designed to achieve efficient and lightweight spatial–spectral feature extraction. Thirdly, customized feature scaling architectures are introduced to resolve the dimensional mismatch issue and enhance information flow. Finally, we propose a novel temporal-wise progressive training method to optimize the multi-timestep SSWR-Net, which can significantly improve both training efficiency and reconstruction quality. Both simulation and real experiments demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method in both CHI reconstruction performance and energy efficiency. Specifically, SSWR-Net outperforms its ANN-based counterpart by 0.87 dB at a 19.74% energy cost. Full article

Coronary artery fistulae (CAF) are uncommon congenital or acquired coronary anomalies. A CAF occurs when a coronary artery bypasses the myocardial capillary bed to directly communicate with a cardiac chamber, a great vessel, or another vascular structure. Many CAFs are found by chance. If haemodynamically significant, a CAF may cause a variety of phenomena e.g., myocardial ischaemia, arrhythmias, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, infective endocarditis/endarteritis, aneurysm formation, and late thrombotic complication. Management is anatomy-driven and dependent on the precise definition of the CAF’s origin, course, termination, multiplicity, associated coronary remodeling, and complications, together with an assessment of physiological relevance. Invasive coronary angiography is indispensable for real-time haemodynamics and transcatheter therapy, yet the two-dimensional projection nature can incompletely characterize complex CAF anatomy. Gated computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) produces high-resolution volumetric imaging with robust three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and is central to contemporary diagnosis, quantitative risk stratification, procedural planning, and follow-up. This review examines the role of CTCA for the diagnosis and management of CAF and aims to provide a comprehensive overview for physicians managing this esoteric group of patients. Full article

Civil infrastructure plays a critical role in ensuring societal safety and economic development. However, structural damages such as cracks inevitably occur during long-term service. Traditional manual inspection methods are insufficient to meet the demands of large-scale and routine monitoring. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) remote sensing has become an important approach for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), owing to its high spatial resolution imaging capability and superior operational flexibility. Nevertheless, existing studies focus on optimizing individual algorithms, lacking a systematic analysis oriented toward multi-scenario engineering applications. Therefore, we present a comprehensive review of UAV-based crack detection techniques for infrastructure using remote sensing imagery. First, publicly available datasets, UAV platforms, and evaluation metrics are systematically summarized. Then a multi-level visual analysis framework for UAV inspection is established. The framework categorizes existing methodologies into five levels: image-level classification, object-level detection, pixel-level segmentation, geometric quantification, and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction, followed by a systematic evaluation of representative methods. Furthermore, the applicability of different methods across diverse scenarios, including bridges, pavements, dams, building facades and wind turbine blades, is systematically explored. Finally, the key challenges and future research directions are discussed. This review aims to provide a systematic theoretical foundation and methodological reference for advancing UAV-based infrastructure crack inspection from algorithm development toward practical multi-scenario engineering applications. Full article

Shoes are increasingly being bought online without being put on in person as internet shopping gains popularity. As a result, returns have increased significantly, which has had negative effects on the economy and the environment. Numerous technologies are available to measure foot size precisely at home or in-store in order to address this problem. People can identify their perfect shoe size and avoid needless returns by taking accurate foot measurements. A single image should be enough to measure the foot in order to make the system as easy as feasible for the user. This is accomplished by using point clouds from one side of the foot, which are produced by capturing a depth image. In order to optimise the reconstruction of partial data, this study investigates the impact of the acquisition position of a single partial foot scan on reconstruction quality and measurement accuracy when a state-of-the-art network is employed for completion. To this end, task-specific partial foot datasets were created with varying camera positions and foot orientations to determine the optimal conditions for depth map acquisition. Utilising the foot dataset that has been introduced for the purposes of training and evaluation, the network was able to generate accurate reconstructions. These reconstructions allowed for the estimation of shoe size in accordance with the European sizing system. The method is accurate enough in all tested positions to reconstruct a foot with sufficient precision. However, we also identified position 5 in our multi-view setup, which is viewed from a lower angle, as the position that leads to the best reconstruction results. Additionally, advantages were found with input data that show more of the forefoot than the heel area. Therefore, the forefoot provides more information on the overall geometry and should be the focus of single-shot procedures. Full article

This study developed a high-iron-phase steel slag-based silicate cement system through high-temperature reconstruction and multi-source solid waste synergistic modification. The effects of reconstruction temperature and Ca/Si ratio on burnability, mineral evolution, microstructure, and hydration performance were investigated. Results showed that carbide slag and bauxite significantly improved the sintering behavior of steel slag. At 1275 °C, the f-CaO content in reconstructed steel slag decreased sharply from 1.45% to 0.11%, while overburning and liquid-phase coating occurred at 1300 °C, hindering further reaction of residual f-CaO. Reconstruction promoted the conversion of low-reactivity γ-C₂S to active α-C₂S and the formation of well-crystallized C₄AF. The decomposition of the RO phase enabled Mg²⁺ and Mn²⁺ to solid-solve into spinel phases, thus improving volume stability. The Ca/Si ratio regulated intermediate phases: higher ratios favored C₄AF, whereas lower ratios promoted spinel or olivine phases. The optimal sample (1275 °C, 65% steel slag + 25% carbide slag + 10% bauxite) achieved a 28 d compressive strength of 107.56 MPa, 18.26% higher than the reference cement, owing to synergistic hydration of α-C₂S and C₄AF. The F4 sample showed the lowest residual CH content (11.31%) and the highest hydration efficiency. Full article

Lung organogenesis is orchestrated by dynamic epithelial–mesenchymal interactions during embryogenesis, yet the gene regulatory programs and signaling dynamics governing these processes in the pseudoglandular stage remain incompletely understood. In this study, we integrated spatial and single-cell transcriptomic data across embryonic developmental stages to systematically characterize epithelial and mesenchymal dynamics during lung development. To achieve more refined cell types at single-cell resolution in spatial transcriptomic data, we developed a bin-based deconvolution strategy that enabled high-precision cell-type assignment. We subsequently constructed a 3D spatiotemporal landscape of lung development and elucidated the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying epithelial–mesenchymal maturation during lung morphogenesis. In addition, we analyzed transcription factor module activity, intercellular communication signaling, and predicted downstream target genes, while integrating public GWAS metadata to link developmental programs with lung cancer-related features. We observed pronounced stage-specific functional heterogeneity between the pseudoglandular and late embryonic stages. Notably, E13.5 emerged as a critical transition window, during which progenitor states shifted toward more mature cellular phenotypes. We reconstructed epithelial–mesenchymal interactions and uncovered coordinated rewiring of ligand–receptor signaling and transcriptional networks across developmental stages. Regulatory network analysis further identified temporally coordinated transcription factor modules centered on Tbx3, Tbx5, Gli1, Gata4/5, Foxa1/2, and Cebpa, which collectively orchestrated branching morphogenesis, epithelial patterning, and tissue stabilization. Integration with lung cancer genome-wide association data demonstrated that embryonic lung progenitor states exhibit strong associations with lung cancer-related transcriptional programs, particularly involving epithelial–mesenchymal plasticity and RNA-splicing pathways. Furthermore, TP53/HNRNP-mutant lung adenocarcinomas displayed embryonic-like molecular features associated with cytoskeletal remodeling and progenitor-state reactivation. Together, our study provided a spatiotemporally resolved framework of embryonic lung development and identifies a critical transition window linking lung morphogenesis, regulatory network remodeling, and cancer-associated epithelial plasticity. Full article

Three-dimensional (3D) ear morphology is critical for the design of in-the-ear hearing aids, earphones, transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) electrodes, and auricular reconstruction, yet most existing ear shape models still rely on manually placed landmarks. Here, a fully annotation-free pipeline is presented for constructing a 3D ear atlas and statistical shape model (SSM) of the auricular bowl from 50 surface meshes. Individual ears are iteratively registered to a current atlas using rigid the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm followed by a bidirectional thin-plate spline (BiTPS) deformation, and dense surface correspondences are established by nearest-neighbour mapping. Registration quality is quantified using mean and maximum nearest-neighbour distance, symmetric Chamfer-$L_2$ distance and coverage. Furthermore, SSM-derived bowl height and width are validated against manual 3D mesh measurements in Geomagic Design X. Across five atlas iterations, the BiTPS pipeline substantially reduces registration errors and increases coverage, and principal component analysis (PCA) derived dimensions show excellent agreement with manual measurements (Pearson $r\ge 0.98$, ICC $\ge 0.98$). The proposed framework yields a stable, anatomically plausible ear atlas and an interpretable low-dimensional SSM without manual landmarks, providing a computational basis for the geometric optimization of ear-related medical and wearable devices. Full article

In practical imaging applications, low-light and overexposure are two common types of image degradation problems with inherent conflicts, and existing methods struggle to achieve accurate restoration of both degradations within a unified framework. To address this challenge, this paper proposes DFE-Net based on explicit frequency decoupling. The network adopts a symmetric U-Net architecture and embeds discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and inverse discrete wavelet transform (IWT) to construct an explicit dual-frequency processing mechanism, which optimizes the low-frequency information carrying global illumination and the high-frequency information containing detailed textures, respectively. In the encoder, DWT decouples features into low-frequency and high-frequency sub-bands and feeds them into dedicated enhancement modules. The low-frequency enhancement block integrates SS2D and a gated convolutional feed-forward network to efficiently model global contextual dependencies with linear complexity and accurately restore image illumination and contrast; the high-frequency enhancement block adopts CMT attention combined with a matching convolutional feed-forward network, enabling the detail restoration process to be guided by the optimized low-frequency information and ensuring the collaborative optimization of global structure and local textures. The decoder completes the reconstruction and fusion of the processed sub-bands through IWT. The quantitative and qualitative experimental results on the MSEC, SICE, and LOLv1 datasets demonstrate that DFE-Net achieves or surpasses existing state-of-the-art methods in various metrics while maintaining low model complexity. Full article

Background: Proximal lower-extremity muscle strengthening is an important conservative intervention for patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), as these muscle groups play critical roles in femoral stabilization and knee valgus control. However, evidence remains limited regarding the effectiveness of muscle strengthening in improving lower-extremity axial alignment through modulation of femoral neck anteversion, femoral internal rotation, and tibial external rotation. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine whether a strengthening protocol targeting the quadriceps and hip external rotator and hip abductor muscles could improve knee alignment and reduce bone torsion in young adults with patellofemoral pain syndrome. Methods: This prospective interventional cohort study implemented a muscle strengthening protocol in ten university students with PFPS. Outcomes included femoral neck anteversion angle (FNA), tibial tubercle–trochlear groove distance (TT–TG), tibial external torsion angle (TET), and the knee Q-angle, assessed via 3D reconstruction of computed tomography (3D-CT) images. Pre- and post-intervention data were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk test for normality and repeated-measures ANOVA (p < 0.05; 95% confidence interval). Results: Muscle strengthening improved lower-limb axial alignment, with reductions observed across all measures post-intervention. Mean changes were 0.68 ± 1.26° for FNA (p = 0.0626); 1.51 ± 0.97 mm for TT–TG (p = 0.0001); 1.38 ± 3.36° for TET (p = 0.2231); and 1.14 ± 1.52° for the Q-angle. Statistically significant improvements were observed for TT–TG and the Q-angle. Conclusions: Proximal muscle strengthening improved knee valgus and axial lower-limb alignment, as evidenced by significant reductions in Q angle and TT–TG distance. Reductions in femoral neck anteversion (FNA) and tibial external torsion angle (TET) were observed. However, these differences were not statistically significant. These findings support muscle strengthening as a noninvasive strategy for improving lower-limb alignment in individuals with patellofemoral pain syndrome. Full article

Lymph node-to-vein anastomosis (LNVA) is an emerging physiologic treatment for fluid-predominant lymphedema that combines the efficacy of lymphatic bypass with reduced technical complexity. Despite its advantages, LNVA is limited by challenges in identifying suitable lymph nodes and recipient veins. This study evaluated whether three-dimensional stereolithography (SLA) could improve surgical planning, intraoperative navigation, and efficiency in robotic LNVA. A retrospective comparative study was conducted of 29 patients who underwent robotic inguinal LNVA between November 2024 and September 2025. Thirteen procedures were performed using standard robotic LNVA (control group), and sixteen were performed with the addition of SLA-assisted planning and navigation (study group). Patient-specific SLA models were created from contrast-enhanced CT data, segmented into lymph nodes, veins, arteries, and bony landmarks, and printed at 1:1 scale for incision planning and real-time intraoperative reference. Outcome measures included operative time, time to identification of target structures (TITS), surgeon-perceived operative difficulty (SPOD), and early patient-reported outcomes. Mean operative time was similar between groups (171 vs. 161 min), but TITS was significantly shorter with SLA (36 vs. 27 min; p = 0.021). Double LNVA was achieved in 69% of SLA cases compared with 8% of controls, without prolonging operative duration. SPOD was significantly lower in the SLA group (p < 0.001). All anastomoses were patent intraoperatively, and all patients reported symptom relief at one month. Model fabrication required approximately eight hours and averaged $270 per case. Stereolithography enhances robotic LNVA by providing a tangible three-dimensional roadmap that improves intraoperative orientation, reduces identification time, and enables multiple anastomoses without added operative burden. With modest cost and rapid production, SLA makes LNVA more precise, reproducible, and scalable—facilitating wider adoption and serving as a foundation for future outcome-based research. Full article

Hypertension is a major global health issue, and continuous, convenient blood pressure monitoring is of great significance for early screening and intervention. To address the insufficient exploitation of multi-scale temporal features and the high model complexity in existing radar-based non-contact blood pressure prediction methods, we propose a lightweight temporal multi-scale feature fusion network (LULMNet), for blood pressure prediction and waveform reconstruction. LULMNet adopts a two-stage training strategy. In the first stage, a lightweight one-dimensional U-Net (1D U-Net) is employed for blood pressure waveform reconstruction and intermediate-to-deep temporal feature extraction. In the second stage, systolic and diastolic blood pressure are estimated via multi-scale fusion of intermediate and deep features from the encoder of the 1D U-Net, followed by LSTM-based temporal modeling and regression through a global average pooling (GAP)and a two-layer fully connected prediction head. Experimental results show that the proposed model achieves an error of 3.21 ± 4.94 mmHg for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and 2.25 ± 3.39 mmHg for diastolic blood pressure (DBP), satisfying the Grade A standard of the British Hypertension Society (BHS). In addition, the normalized mean absolute error (NMAE) for waveform reconstruction is as low as 0.044. These results indicate that the proposed method maintains low model complexity while ensuring prediction accuracy, with only 3.0 M parameters and 0.37 G floating-point operations (FLOPs), demonstrating strong potential for non-contact continuous blood pressure monitoring. Full article

Dynamic three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of small objects moving at high speed is fundamentally limited by the number of viewpoints that a fixed camera array can provide at any single time instant. When the camera count is insufficient, single-frame multi-view stereo produces incomplete or inaccurate geometry. This paper proposes a multi-frame temporal integration approach that overcomes this limitation by exploiting the rigid-body assumption: because a falling object maintains its shape across consecutive frames, images captured at different time instants can be combined into a single, viewpoint-enriched reconstruction. A three-layer circular array of 32 synchronized RGB cameras captures 1440 × 1080 images at 160 fps, and a free-fall-oriented algorithm automatically detects active frames, selects informative temporal windows, and feeds the accumulated multi-frame images into a structure-from-motion and multi-view stereo (SfM-MVS) pipeline, effectively multiplying the number of viewpoints without additional hardware. The algorithm simultaneously recovers the 6-DOF pose trajectory of each object from the SfM-estimated camera parameters. Progressive accumulation experiments on freely falling soybeans (approximately 9–10 mm diameter) show that a single 32-camera frame already achieves an F-score exceeding 0.97 at a 0.5 mm threshold against an industrial structured-light scanner reference, and that accumulating additional temporal frames reaches a stable convergence plateau with both objects reaching a plateau F-score of 0.984. Beyond approximately one to two accumulated frames, additional frames yield diminishing returns, confirming that a small number of temporal frames is sufficient for convergent sub-millimeter accuracy. Across 30 independent free-fall trials with three objects, the system achieves an overall mean error of $0.146\pm 0.033$ mm and an overall F-score of $0.980\pm 0.006$—a mean relative error of approximately 1.6% on 8–10 mm targets—and fine surface features such as structural cracks are resolved at a fidelity sufficient for visual defect identification. These results establish rigid-body multi-frame temporal integration as an effective strategy for high-throughput, non-contact 3-D inspection of small objects in motion. Full article

Faced with a global energy crisis and ecological degradation, overall water splitting (OWS) is a pivotal approach for renewable energy conversion and storage. However, its industrial application is hindered by the high energy barriers/sluggish kinetics of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as well as the scarcity of precious metal catalysts limiting large-scale deployment. Herein, a cobalt-based layered double hydroxide (Co-LDH) was used as the precursor, and a multi-strategy synergistic modification (hydrothermal synthesis, Fe doping, sulfurization, and external magnetic field magnetization) was applied to fabricate the Fe-Co₃S₄-MS-20 min electrocatalyst. This strategy establishes Fe-Co bimetallic synergistic active centers, and magnetic treatment modulates the electron configuration of Fe 3d orbitals without changing the material’s lattice spacing or morphology. Structural characterizations and electrochemical measurements were used to investigate the effects of combined modifications on the catalyst’s phase structure, morphology, electronic structure, and trifunctional catalytic performance toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), OER, and urea oxidation reaction (UOR). The Fe-Co₃S₄-MS-20 min catalyst exhibits a larger electrochemical active surface area, lower charge transfer resistance, and smaller Tafel slope in 1 M KOH, it achieves overpotentials of 165 mV for HER (10 mA·cm⁻²) and 310 mV for OER (100 mA·cm⁻²), along with superior UOR performance and long-term stability. In situ impedance and Raman spectroscopy confirm that magnetization accelerates charge transfer and promotes in situ reconstruction. Synergistic multi-strategy regulation optimizes the electronic structure of active centers, reducing electrocatalytic energy barriers. This work provides new insights into designing high-performance non-precious metal electrocatalysts and offers experimental support for external magnetic field regulation in electrocatalyst modification. Full article

Rotor blades in aero-engines operating in sand-laden environments are highly susceptible to particle-induced erosion. Conventional sand ingestion experiments primarily rely on post-test disassembly, which lacks the capability for real-time surface shape analysis. To overcome this limitation, this study proposes a high-precision three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement method for ultrafast dynamic scenarios, based on pulsed laser illumination and stroboscopic structured light. In the proposed approach, a pulsed laser is employed to illuminate a physical grating, generating stroboscopic structured fringe patterns that are projected onto high-speed rotating blades. The deformed fringe images are synchronously captured by a high-speed camera and processed using Fourier transform profilometry (FTP) to reconstruct fine surface features with high accuracy. Compared with conventional LED-based stroboscopic systems, the pulsed-laser-based scheme effectively suppresses motion blur and significantly improves image intensity under ultra-short exposure conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that stable and high-quality fringe acquisition can be achieved at high rotational speeds. The method enables precise quantification of micro-scale defects, such as scratches and pits, providing a reliable solution for in situ monitoring and performance evaluation in aero-engine sand ingestion tests. Full article