Detection of cotton crops diseases using customized deep learning model

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A novel approach for disease and pests detection in potato production system based on deep learning

Vulnerability of potato crops to diseases and pest infestation can affect its quality and lead to significant yield losses. Timely detection of such diseases can help take effective decisions. For this purpose, a deep learning-based object detection framework is designed in this study to identify and classify major potato diseases and pests under real-world field conditions. A total of 2,688 field images were collected from two research farms in Punjab, Pakistan, across multiple growth stages in various seasonal conditions. Excluding 285 symptoms-free images from the earliest collection led to 2,403 images which were annotated into four biotic-stress classes: blight disease (n = 630), leaf spot disease (n = 370), leafroll virus (viral symptom complex; n = 888), and Colorado potato beetle (larvae/adults; n = 515), indicating class imbalance. Several state-of-the-art models were used including YOLOv8 variants (n/s/m), YOLOv7, YOLOv5, and Faster R-CNN, and the results are discussed in relation to recent potato disease classification studies involving cropped leaf images. Stratified splitting (70% training, 20% validation, 10% testing) was applied to preserve class distribution across all subsets. YOLOv8-medium achieve the best performance with mean average precision (mAP)@0.5 of 98% on the held-out test images. Results for stable 5-fold cross-validation show a mean mAP@0.5 of 97.8%, which offers a balance between accuracy and inference time. Model robustness was evaluated using 5-fold cross-validation and repeated training with different random seeds, showing a low variance of ±0.4% mAP. Results demonstrate promising outcomes under the real-world field conditions, while, broader cross-region and cross-season validation is intended for the future.

Producción Científica

Ahmed Abbas mail , Saif Ur Rehman mail , Khalid Mahmood mail , Santos Gracia Villar mail santos.gracia@uneatlantico.es, Luis Alonso Dzul López mail luis.dzul@uneatlantico.es, Aseel Smerat mail , Imran Ashraf mail ,

Abbas

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Benchmarking multiple instance learning architectures from patches to pathology for prostate cancer detection and grading using attention-based weak supervision

Histopathological evaluation is necessary for the diagnosis and grading of prostate cancer, which is still one of the most common cancers in men globally. Traditional evaluation is time-consuming, prone to inter-observer variability, and challenging to scale. The clinical usefulness of current AI systems is limited by the need for comprehensive pixel-level annotations. The objective of this research is to develop and evaluate a large-scale benchmarking study on a weakly supervised deep learning framework that minimizes the need for annotation and ensures interpretability for automated prostate cancer diagnosis and International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grading using whole slide images (WSIs). This study rigorously tested six cutting-edge multiple instance learning (MIL) architectures (CLAM-MB, CLAM-SB, ILRA-MIL, AC-MIL, AMD-MIL, WiKG-MIL), three feature encoders (ResNet50, CTransPath, UNI2), and four patch extraction techniques (varying sizes and overlap) using the PANDA dataset (10,616 WSIs), yielding 72 experimental configurations. The methodology used distributed cloud computing to process over 31 million tissue patches, implementing advanced attention mechanisms to ensure clinical interpretability through Grad-CAM visualizations. The optimum configuration (UNI2 encoder with ILRA-MIL, 256 256 patches, 50% overlap) achieved 78.75% accuracy and 90.12% quadratic weighted kappa (QWK), outperforming traditional methods and approaching expert pathologist-level diagnostic capability. Overlapping smaller patches offered the best balance of spatial resolution and contextual information, while domain-specific foundation models performed noticeably better than generic encoders. This work is the first large-scale, comprehensive comparison of weekly supervised MIL methods for prostate cancer diagnosis and grading. The proposed approach has excellent clinical diagnostic performance, scalability, practical feasibility through cloud computing, and interpretability using visualization tools.

Producción Científica

Naveed Anwer Butt mail , Dilawaiz Sarwat mail , Irene Delgado Noya mail irene.delgado@uneatlantico.es, Kilian Tutusaus mail kilian.tutusaus@uneatlantico.es, Nagwan Abdel Samee mail , Imran Ashraf mail ,

Butt

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A Systematic Literature Review on Integrated Deep Learning and Multi-Agent Vision-Language Frameworks for Pathology Image Analysis and Report Generation

This systematic literature review (SLR) investigates the integration of deep learning (DL), vision-language models(VLMs), and multi-agent systems in the analysis of pathology images and automated report generation. The rapidadvancement of whole-slide imaging (WSI) technologies has posed new challenges in pathology, especially due to thescale and complexity of the data. DL techniques in general and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and transform-ers in particular have significantly enhanced image analysis tasks including segmentation, classification, and detection.However, these models often lack generalizability to generate coherent, clinically relevant text, thus necessitating theintegration of VLMs and large language models (LLMs). This review examines the effectiveness of VLMs and LLMsin bridging the gap between visual data and clinical text, focusing on their potential for automating the generationof pathology reports. Additionally, multi-agent systems, which leverage specialized artificial intelligence (AI) agentsto collaboratively perform diagnostic tasks, are explored for their contributions to improving diagnostic accuracy andscalability. Through a synthesis of recent studies, this review highlights the successes, challenges, and future direc-tions of these AI technologies in pathology diagnostics, offering a comprehensive foundation for the development ofintegrated, AI-driven diagnostic workflows.

Producción Científica

Usama Ali mail , Imran Shafi mail , Jamil Ahmad mail , Arlette Zárate Cáceres mail , Thania Chio Montero mail , Hafiz Muhammad Raza ur Rehman mail , Imran Ashraf mail ,

Ali

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Attention-based multi-feature fusion neuromarker for EEG-driven stress classification in learners

With the growing academic pressure and competitive educational environment, students often face mental stress, which can affect their academic performance and mental health. Its accurate and timely detection and prevention is important. Traditionally, mental stress has been reported by self-assessment, which is highly subjective and can be erroneous. With advances in neuroscience, electroencephalogram (EEG) signals have been used to study brain states more objectively. EEG-based features, including time-domain, frequency-domain, and various types of connectivity features, have been used to effectively classify stress signals. However, these individual features are only able to present one aspect of the brain under stress. Several studies have combined a distinct set of features extracted from EEG signals, including time and frequency domain features, with other peripheral signals. Stress is a complex mechanism which leads to alternation in brain dynamics, its connectivity patterns and information flow. This study proposed a feature-fusion model that can effectively combine spatial features, i.e. Microstates (MS), connectivity features like Transfer Entropy (TE) and Granger Causality (GC), which provided a new neuromarker for stress classification. These features are combined with attention fusion, which enhances the discriminant features and mitigates the individual limitations within each modality. We also extracted microstates for stress-based signals. It provided a new set of microstate topomaps to study brain networks when under stress, which was not explored previously. The proposed Attention-fusion based multi-feature set is classified using Support Vector Machine, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and gave a reliable accuracy of 95.47%, 98.91%, and 83.49%, respectively. To validate the proposed method, the classification results were compared with individual and binary fusion of MS, TE and GC features, which further confirmed the robustness of the framework. This proposed feature fusion provides a more robust stress classification neuromarker, which can effectively cover the brain dynamics for accurate reporting of the underlying mental state.

Producción Científica

Saliha Ejaz mail , Soyiba Javed mail , Imran Shafi mail , Jamil Ahmad mail , Samuel Allende Monje mail samuel.allende@uneatlantico.es, Josep Alemany Iturriaga mail josep.alemany@uneatlantico.es, Jin-Ghoo Choi mail , Imran Ashraf mail ,

Ejaz

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Inflammatory potential of the diet and self-rated quality of life in Italian adults

Background: Dietary quality is widely acknowledged as a key factor in maintaining good health. Recommendations that promote plant-based eating patterns are largely grounded in evidence showing that dietary choices can modulate the immune function. In line with such a hypothesis, diet may be considered as a potential driver of persistent low-grade inflammation. Quality of life (QoL), on the other hand, serves as a broad indicator that encompasses both physical and psychological wellbeing.Aim: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between the inflammatory potential of the diet and QoL in a population sample of Italian adults.Design: A total of 1,936 participants completed a 110-item food frequency questionnaire to assess eating habits. The inflammatory potential of their diet was calculated using the dietary inflammatory score (DIS). Quality of life was measured with the Manchester Short Appraisal (MANSA).Results: Higher DIS values, reflecting a more pro-inflammatory diet, were linked to reduced likelihood of reporting high QoL (OR = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.40–0.78). Several specific domains of QoL, including general life satisfaction, social relationships, personal safety, satisfaction with cohabitation, physical health, and mental health, also showed significant associations with DIS.Conclusion: The findings suggest an association between the inflammatory potential of the diet and QoL.

Producción Científica

Francesca Giampieri mail francesca.giampieri@uneatlantico.es, Justyna Godos mail , Giuseppe Caruso mail , Marco Antonio Olvera-Moreira mail , Fabrizio Furnari mail , Andrea Di Mauro mail , Irma Dominguez Azpíroz mail irma.dominguez@unini.edu.mx, Raynier Zambrano-Villacres mail , Evelyn Frias-Toral mail , Fabio Galvano mail , Giuseppe Grosso mail ,

Giampieri