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The purpose of this paper is to establish an automated microscopic imaging database system using a set of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) management functions to provide a secure storage for hispathology images.

The automated microscopy imaging system is composed mainly of four parts, which include: first, tissue biopsy image acquisition system, second, image processing system, third, RFID system, and fourth, SQL database system. The system has two modes of operation to store and manage hispathology images. First, the hispathology slide undergoes fluorescence staining before acquiring images directly from an external CCD camera connected to the system. Second, the hispathogical slides that have undergone fluorescence staining undergo another microscopic imaging system, and the contents are extracted into a digitized image archive and imported to the system. Also, the system not only acquires images but also performs functions such as displacement correction, image superimposition, and calculation of the total number of fluorescence points. The two methods mentioned above produce the hispathology image files and are tagged using an RFID string index to establish and manage the database system.

The results demonstrated that in the impurities were effectively eliminated in the red fluorescence staining after binarization processing. However, the blue ones remained the same and to solve this problem an adjustable threshold allows users to select the appropriate threshold. Using an additional eigenvalue code to the RFID string provides better encryption mechanism for the patient files and any attempt to tamper the file can easily be detected through the comparison of the eigenvalues.

This paper proposes a novel method to implement a more comprehensive, safe, fast, and automated management system for hispathological images using RFID management and image processing techniques. Additional security is provided by including eigenvalues as encryption mechanisms in the Tag string of the RFID.

Delay in histologically confirming rectal cancer may lead to late treatment as histological confirmation is required prior to chemo-radiotherapy or surgical intervention. Multidisciplinary colorectal meetings indicate that there are patients who require multiple tissue biopsy episodes prior to histologically confirming rectal cancer. The purpose of this paper is to examine a quality improvement (QI) measure’s impact on tissue biopsy process diagnostic yield.

The authors performed the study in two phases (pre- and post-QI), between February 2012 and April 2014 in a district general hospital. The QI measures were derived from process mapping a rectal cancer diagnostic pathway. The primary outcome was to assess the tissue biopsy process diagnostic yield. The secondary outcome included total breaches for a 62-day target in the pre- and post-QI study phases.

There was no significant difference in demographics or referral mode in both study phases. There were 81 patients in the pre-QI phase compared to 38 in the post-QI phase, 68 per cent and 74 per cent were referred via the two-week wait urgent pathway, respectively. Diagnostic tissue biopsy process yield improved from 58.1 to 77.6 per cent after implementing the QI measure (p=0.02). The 62-day target breach was reduced from 14.8 to 3.5 per cent (p=0.42).

Simple QI measures can achieve significant improvements in rectal cancer diagnostic tissue biopsy process yields. A multidisciplinary approach, involving process mapping and cause and effect modelling, proved useful tools.

A process mapping exercise and QI measures resulted in significant improvements in diagnostic yield, reducing the episodes per patient before histological diagnosis was confirmed.

This chapter focuses on the differences that younger, middle-aged, and older women with breast cancer experience, particularly in health knowledge and treatment. These differential experiences, in part, stem from our youth oriented culture. This ideology extends into medicine and can affect day-to-day medical practice. Differential experiences are, therefore, likely to result in inequality and disparity in health and in healthcare. It is argued that older women are less empowered than their younger counterparts to display the same degree of agency. This analysis has important implications for health care professionals in the treatment of older women with breast cancer.

Prison populations in Western countries are characterised by a high hepatitis C prevalence. This reflects a high rate of imprisonment for drug related offences. Prison entrants who are HCV‐negative face a significant risk of acquiring hepatitis C. Effective prevention strategies and successful treatment of a significant percentage of hepatitis C‐positive inmates could reduce the risk of transmission in the prison context significantly. Several reports of treating hepatitis C in prisoners in major facilities have been published. We report our experience of establishing a liver clinic service in two regional prisons in New South Wales, Australia. Liver biopsy requirements to access treatment in Australia meant that only 46 of 196 reviewed patients were able to commence treatment in our 5‐year experience. Treatment completion rate was 61% and end of treatment viral response was 57%. The removal of liver biopsy requirements in Australia in April 2006 has freed up access to treatment and our results encourage further effort to optimise the process of assessment and treatment in this high‐risk population.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. Physical and chemical agents such as tobacco smoke are the leading cause of various lung cancers. The intrinsic heterogeneity of normal lung tissue may be affected in different ways, giving rise to different types of lung cancers classified as either small‐cell lung cancer (SCLC) or non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Adenocarcinoma, a NSCLC, accounts for 40 percent of all lung cancer cases and the incidence is increasing worldwide, especially among women. The survival rate and prognosis is poorest for adenocarcinoma. Therefore, diagnosis at the earliest stage (Stage I, localized) is critical for increasing survival rates of those suffering from lung cancer. However, many factors affect early diagnosis including the variable natural growth of tumors plus technological and human factors associated with manipulation of tissue samples and interpretation of results. This article reviews potential problems associated with diagnosing lung cancer and considers future directions of diagnostic technology.

Purpose: Evidence of adverse health effects of artificial trans fatty acids (TFAs) have accumulated since 1990s, yet TFAs are widely used by several food manufacturers around the world. This review aimed to: ascertain the available evidence of the known unfavourable biochemical properties of artificial TFAs, their metabolic functions and health consequences; estimate their average intake levels and trends in different countries in order to critically evaluate whether more action is required to eliminate them from the diet. Methodology: The published evidence was searched by employing: Medline, Pubmed, InterScience, BioMed Central and Annual Reviews. Findings: With reference to human health, evidences from epidemiological, retrospective and observational studies revealed that the consumption of TFAs could outweigh the health risks posed by saturated fat consumption. The main health concerns included unfavourably altered blood cholesterol concentrations, insulin resistance, foetal brain and neural disturbances, proinflammatory and carcinogenic responses. Great variation exists in the global trends of industrial TFAs intake, being low in Mediterranean region, Japan and Scandinavia and high in parts of United States of America and Iceland. Besides the intense use of TFAs by food manufacturers and in eateries, the use of TFAs in food products is often poorly regulated and ill‐informed to consumers. Value: Since competitive alternatives to TFAs have made them non‐mandatory a broad public health intervention at government level to regulate or completely eliminate them from the national diet is warranted.

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women, which badly have an effect on women's physical and psychological health and even danger to life. Nowadays, mammography is considered as a fundamental criterion for medical practitioners to recognize breast cancer. Though, due to the intricate formation of mammogram images, it is reasonably hard for practitioners to spot breast cancer features.

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women, which badly have an effect on women's physical and psychological health and even danger to life. Nowadays, mammography is considered as a fundamental criterion for medical practitioners to recognize breast cancer. Though, due to the intricate formation of mammogram images, it is reasonably hard for practitioners to spot breast cancer features.

The performance analysis was done for both segmentation and classification. From the analysis, the accuracy of the proposed IAP-CSA-based fuzzy was 41.9% improved than the fuzzy classifier, 2.80% improved than PSO, WOA, and CSA, and 2.32% improved than GWO-based fuzzy classifiers. Additionally, the accuracy of the developed IAP-CSA-fuzzy was 9.54% better than NN, 35.8% better than SVM, and 41.9% better than the existing fuzzy classifier. Hence, it is concluded that the implemented breast cancer detection model was efficient in determining the normal, benign and malignant images.

This paper adopts the latest Improved Awareness Probability-based Crow Search Algorithm (IAP-CSA)-based Region growing and fuzzy classifier for enhancing the breast cancer detection of mammogram images, and this is the first work that utilizes this method.

India's diagnostics business valued at USD 10 billion was growing at 20% annually. Several players with different business models competed. Dr. Lal PathLabs, the world's largest histopathology centre led with a menu of 3,500 tests, 1,600 collection centres and 7,000 pick-up points. Its Initial Public Offer had been oversubscribed 33.41 times and the team at Dr. Lal PathLabs was excited about expanding its international footprint. Two overseas companies were incorporated in Netherlands and Nepal. Yet, there were enormous unmet needs in India alongside potential for public-private partnerships. Trade-offs over portfolio choice and regional versus international footprint needed thinking through.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the advantages of a robotic time‐lapsed microscopic imaging system for tracking stem cells in in vitro biological assays which measure stem cell activities.

The unique aspects of the system include robotic movement of stem cell culture flasks which enables selection of a large number of regions of interest for data collection. Numerous locations of a cell culture flask can be explored and selected for time‐lapsed analysis. The system includes an environmentally controlled chamber to maintain experimental conditions including temperature, gas levels, and humidity, such that stem cells can be tracked by visible and epifluorescence imaging over extended periods of time.

This is an extremely unique system for both individual cell tracking and cell population tracking in real‐time with high‐throughput experimental capability. In comparison to a conventional manual cell culture and assay approach, this system provides stem cell biologists with the ability to quantify numerous and unique temporal changes in stem cell populations, this drastically reduces man‐hours, consumes fewer laboratory resources and provides standardization to biological assays.

Fundamental basic biology questions can be addressed using this approach.

Stem cells are often available only in small numbers – due both to their inherent low frequency in the post‐natal tissue as compared to somatic cells, and their slow growth rates. The unique capabilities of this robotic cell culture system allow for the study of cell populations which are few in number.

The robotic time‐lapsed imaging system is a novel approach to stem cell research.

Biobanks are collections of biological samples (e.g. tissue samples and body fluids) and their associated data intended for various approaches in medical research. The field of biobanking evolves rapidly as an interdisciplinary branch of research and requires educational efforts to provide skilled experts in Europe and beyond. New ways in research and research education play a pivotal role in the future of biobanking.

The increasing of requests and potential uses of biospecimens from biobanks necessitates an international and national intensified transfer of forward looking knowledge and know-how. In Austria, this could be realized by special trainings as well as a postgraduate education. Furthermore, the forward looking research and further development of infrastructure will play a pivotal role in biobanks in the future.

Few opportunities are available for specific education on biobanking in Europe. This could be remedied by the creation networks of ISO-certified biobanks and co-operation with interested parties.

The current research focuses on the situation of information transfer in the field of biobanking in Europe. A wider investigation in better harmonization and standardization of methods in other parts of the world would be beneficial.

The value of biomolecular resources such as biobanks has previously been discussed in detail, e.g. by the Time magazine. The paper focuses on demonstrating the importance for education in the future of biobanking in general.