{
  "abstract": "Objective: To assess whether a DFUC2022-derived soft ulcer-region prior improves four-class infection/ischaemia label prediction in ulcer-centred DFUC2021 patches, using comparators matched for classifier architecture or base-model outputs.\n\nMethods: We analysed 5, 955 labelled patches using five fixed image-similarity-grouped outer folds and five training seeds. CNN checkpoint selection and stacker fitting and selection excluded each outer evaluation fold. Three incremental comparisons assessed Full lesion-prior transfer (LPT) against an architecture-matched neutral-prior control, reliability-aware LPT (RA-LPT) against its output-only stack, and strong RGB stacks with versus without explicit prior features. Pointwise 95% confidence intervals and approximate two-sided p values were obtained from 5, 000 paired crossed seed × similarity-group bootstrap resamples; p values were Holm-adjusted across the three comparisons.\n\nResults: Full LPT achieved Macro-F1 of 0.8921 ± 0.0059 versus 0.8777 ± 0.0085 for neutral Full LPT (mean ± sample SD across seeds). The mean paired difference was +0.0144 (95% CI, + 0.0048 to +0.0244; Holm-adjusted approximate p = 0.0132), positive in all five seeds. RA-LPT achieved Macro-F1 of 0.9181 ± 0.0038 versus 0.9206 ± 0.0028 for its corresponding output-only stack, without demonstrating an incremental improvement (difference, −0.0026; 95% CI, −0.0066 to +0.0012; adjusted p = 0.3079). Adding explicit prior features to the strong RGB stack also did not demonstrate an improvement in Macro-F1 (−0.0016; 95% CI, −0.0057 to +0.0025; adjusted p = 0.4223). The strong RGB stack achieved 0.9370 ± 0.0050, above Full LPT. In a later exploratory training-size analysis, Full LPT and its neutral control improved with increasing labelled-training budgets; mean Full LPT-minus-neutral Macro-F1 differences were positive at all four budgets, but all pointwise 95% confidence intervals included zero.\n\nConclusion: In the main five-seed evaluation, sample-specific prior information improved Full LPT relative to its architecture-matched neutral control. Its incremental value was comparator-dependent: additional explicit prior features showed no confirmed improvement beyond the evaluated model-output stacks. Patient identifiers and target-domain lesion masks were unavailable; these internal development findings require patient-linked, multicentre external validation before clinical use.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University",
    "Clinical Pharmacology Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ajuan Gong"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Wanjin Fu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Wenjing Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xiaoqun Xu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xiaomin Huang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Nuojin Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yue Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Tianrong Pan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yijun Du"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0yayfn4vggbq5.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fendo.2026.1944475",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "0yayfn4vggbq5",
  "issns": [
    "1664-2392"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2026.1944475/full",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-06",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0yayfn4vggbq5.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-06T12:21:23Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fendo.2026.1944475",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2026.1944475/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "issn:1664-2392",
      "subfield": "endocrinology-metabolism"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Incremental value of a cross-dataset ulcer-region prior for infection and ischaemia classification in diabetic foot ulcer image patches",
  "title_text": "Incremental value of a cross-dataset ulcer-region prior for infection and ischaemia classification in diabetic foot ulcer image patches",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T00:23:07Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0yayfn4vggbq5",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Endocrinology",
  "versions": []
}