While recent advances in deep learning have significantly advanced the state of the art for vessel detection in color fundus (CF) images, the success for detecting vessels in fluorescein angiography (FA) has been stymied due to the lack of labeled ground truth datasets. We propose a novel pipeline to detect retinal vessels in FA images using deep neural networks (DNNs) that reduces the effort required for generating labeled ground truth data by combining two key components: crossmodality transfer and human-in-the-loop learning. The cross-modality transfer exploits concurrently captured CF and fundus FA images. Binary vessels maps are first detected from CF images with a pre-trained neural network and then are geometrically registered with and transferred to FA images via robust parametric chamfer alignment to a preliminary FA vessel detection obtained with an unsupervised technique. Using the transferred vessels as initial ground truth labels for deep learning, the human-in-the-loop approach progressively improves the quality of the ground truth labeling by iterating between deep-learning and labeling. The approach significantly reduces manual labeling effort while increasing engagement. We highlight several important considerations for the proposed methodology and validate the performance on three datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed pipeline significantly reduces the annotation effort and the resulting deep learning methods outperform prior existing FA vessel

Background Hymenoplasty, commonly called “revirginization,” is a controversial procedure that pushes the scope of medical practice to satisfy cultural and/or religious “needs.” Aim To outline the sociocultural contexts underlying patient requests for hymenoplasty and present Islamic juridical views on the moral status of hymenoplasty for Muslim patients. Methods Narrative review of the extant bioethics literature and leading Islamic ethico-legal verdicts. Outcomes We identified “Western” and Islamic bioethical debates on hymenoplasty and the critical concepts that underpin ethical justifications for and against the procedure. Results From a Western-ethics perspective, the life-saving potential of the procedure is weighed against the role of the surgeon in directly assisting in a deception and in indirectly promoting cultural practices of sexual inequality. From an Islamic bioethical vantage point, jurists offer two opinions. The first is that the surgery is always impermissible. The second is that although the surgery is generally impermissible, it can become licit when the risks of not having postcoital bleeding harm are sufficiently great. Clinical Implications Patient requests for hymenoplasty should be approached by surgeons with a willingness to understand patients' social contexts and reasons for pursuing the procedure and are ethically justified by leading Islamic jurists in particular circumstances. Strengths and Limitations This article presents emic and etic perspectives on hymenoplasty in Muslim patients, although our review of the Islamic bioethical stances might have missed some juridical opinions and important considerations. Further, Muslims, even devout ones, might not be beholden to Islamic juridical views on medical procedures and thus physicians should not make assumptions about the rationale for, and ethical views of, patients seeking hymenoplasty. Conclusion This article provides critical insight into how Muslim patients, and Islamic jurists, evaluate the moral contexts of hymenoplasty.

To investigate the correlation between quantifiable vessel density, computed in an automated fashion, from ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography (UWFFA) images from patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) with visual acuity and macular thickness. Methods We performed a secondary analysis of a prospective randomized controlled trial. We designed and trained an algorithm to automate retinal vessel detection from input UWFFA images. We then used our algorithm to study the correlation between baseline vessel density and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and CRT for patients in the RECOVERY study. Reliability of the algorithm was tested using the intraclass correlation (ICC). 42 patients from the Intravitreal Aflibercept for Retinal Non-Perfusion in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (RECOVERY) trial who had both baseline UWFFA images and optical coherence tomography (OCT) data were included in our study. These patients had PDR without significant center-involving diabetic macular edema (central retinal thickness [CRT] �320μm). Results Our algorithm analyzed UWFFA images with a reliability measure (ICC) of 0.98. A positive correlation (r = 0.4071, p = 0.0075) was found between vessel density and BCVA. No correlation was found between vessel density and CRT.

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