The demand for automatically recognizing and retrieving medical images for screening, reference, and management is growing faster than ever. In this paper, we present an intelligent content-based image retrieval system called I-Browse, which integrates both iconic and semantic content for histological image analysis. The I-Browse system combines low-level image processing technology with high-level semantic analysis of medical image content through different processing modules in the proposed system architecture. Similarity measures are proposed and their performance is evaluated. Furthermore, as a byproduct of semantic analysis, I-Browse allows textual annotations to be generated for unknown images. As an image browser, apart from retrieving images by image example, it also supports query by natural language.
Inflammation and the coagulation cascade are considered to be the potential mechanisms of ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure-induced adverse cardiovascular events. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and fibrinogen are arguably the four most commonly assayed markers to reflect the relationships of PM with inflammation and blood coagulation. This review summarized and quantitatively analyzed the existing studies reporting short- and long-term associations of PM
2.5
(PM with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm)/PM
10
(PM with an aerodynamic diameter≤10 μm) with important inflammation and blood coagulation markers (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, fibrinogen). We reviewed relevant studies published up to July 2020, using three English databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase) and two Chinese databases (Wang-Fang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure). The OHAT tool, with some modification, was applied to evaluate risk of bias. Meta-analyses were conducted with random-effects models for calculating the pooled estimate of markers. To assess the potential effect modifiers and the source of heterogeneity, we conducted subgroup analyses and meta-regression analyses where appropriate. The assessment and correction of publication bias were based on Begg’s and Egger’s test and “trim-and-fill” analysis. We identified 44 eligible studies. For short-term PM exposure, the percent change of a 10 μg/m
3
PM
2.5
increase on TNF-α and fibrinogen was 3.51% (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21%, 5.81%) and 0.54% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.21%, 0.86%) respectively. We also found a significant short-term association between PM
10
and fibrinogen (percent change = 0.17%, 95% CI: 0.04%, 0.29%). Overall analysis showed that long-term associations of fibrinogen with PM
2.5
and PM
10
were not significant. Subgroup analysis showed that long-term associations of fibrinogen with PM
2.5
and PM
10
were significant only found in studies conducted in Asia. Our findings support significant short-term associations of PM with TNF-α and fibrinogen. Future epidemiological studies should address the role long-term PM exposure plays in inflammation and blood coagulation markers level change.
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