An Automatic Quantitative Image Analysis System for Construction Materials

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A qualitative and quantitative analysis of M. vastus lateralis fibers from 40 male sedentary subjects, ranging in age from 30 to 89 years, was carried out by light and electron microscopy and by an automatic Interactive Image Analysis System. Biopsies for enzyme histochemical and ultrastructural studies were taken from subjects subdivided into four age groups: 30-50, 60-70, 71-80, and 81-89 years. Attention was focused on the fiber type size and distribution, the size and the amount of mitochondria, and the amount of lipid droplets. Main changes observed in the four age groups are indicative of a sequence of events within senescent skeletal muscle fibers. With increasing age the enzyme histochemical reactions reveal changes in fiber type distribution characterized by decrease in muscle fiber diameter and by type I fiber predominance. Type II fiber atrophy is consistent. Type I fiber predominance seen in older subjects could be related to a selective decrease of type II fibers with age. It also suggests a possible conversion of type II fibers to type I fibers. Lipid droplet percentage per fiber area increases, while mitochondrial size and mitochondrial percentage per fiber area decrease with age. It is possible that energy requirements decline with age and that the decrease in mitochondrial size and percentage represents a response to a reduced metabolic demand.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the possibility of applying first-reader and second-reader modes in the implementation of an automatic detection program for MCA ischemic stroke in the diagnostic process of radiologists with less than 3 years of experience and varying expertise in emergency neuroradiology.Material and methods. The study included a software product based on artificial intelligence technologies, as well as seven doctors with less than 3 years of experience and varying expertise in the diagnosis of ischemic stroke. Complementary evaluation was performed based on a cohort of 100 patients admitted to the regional vascular center in Saint Petersburg with clinical presentation of ischemic stroke in the territory of the middle cerebral artery, who underwent native CT brain studies. Ischemic stroke was confirmed in half of the patients based on clinical data, as well as CT angiography of the cerebral vessels and CT perfusion. The diagnosis was ruled out in the other half. Two variants of implementing the artificial intelligence algorithm as a decision support system in the diagnostic process of a radiologist were simulated: the first (parallel) and second reader modes.Results. The results of the study showed that the application of the complementary evaluation parallel- reader mode leads to an increase in diagnostic efficiency indicators and interobserver agreement in assessing ASPECTS scale among young specialists, regardless of their experience with urgent pathology.

Population vulnerability due to the exposure to radon and airborne particulate matter (PM 10), in Mexico City

In recent years the Comet assay (or single cell gel electrophoresis assay) has been established as a rapid and sensitive method for the detection of DNA damage. For early genotoxicity screening of new chemical entities in industrial toxicology, the Comet assay is more and more used for assessment of the DNA damaging potential of a test compound. In order to increase compound screening throughput, we have established an image analysis system for fully automated measurement of microscope slides processed in the Comet assay. For the comparative investigation various cell types, such as V79 Chinese hamster cells, mouse lymphoma cells and human leukocytes, were treated with several test compounds. Using tail moment as the quantitative parameter for comet formation, we show a very high correlation between our automatic image analysis system and a commercially available, interactive system (Comet Assay II of Perceptive Instruments). The possibility of analyzing 50 samples within 1 day and the high reproducibility of results make automated image processing a powerful tool for automatic analysis of slides processed in the Comet assay.

This series of studies proposed an automatic machine embroidery image color analysis system. Based on the machine embroidery image color separation system proposed in part I of this series of papers (Kuo CFJ, Jian BJ and Wu HC. Automatic machine embroidery image color analysis system, part I: using Gustafson-Kessel clustering algorithm in embroidery fabric color separation. Textil Res J 2011, submitted for publication), this paper presents an automatic repetitive pattern image recognition algorithm for machine embroidery. Firstly, the image pre-processing is implemented to eliminate image acquisition noise and smooth the texture of machine embroidery. After the completion of image pre-processing, the genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to obtain the color image of repetitive patterns. The novel fitness function proposed in this paper can increase the calculation of the color entropy value to improve the measurement block accuracy of color similarity in previous literature. When applied to the GA, the system can accurately identify and cut out images of repetitive patterns. In addition, since the proposed fitness function has been normalized, it can accurately calculate the optimal target function, indicating that the proposed algorithm can automatically and accurately identify and cut out the images of repetitive patterns in machine embroidery.

Compliance in the use of daily oral antiseptics can probably be enhanced by prescribing easily-applied bioadhesive tablets which slowly release chlorhexidine (CHX). This could also be of use in patients with difficulties in rinsing or performing mechanical plaque control. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the capacity of bioadhesive tablets containing either 30 mg or 40 mg of CHX to inhibit de novo plaque formation. In this single, examiner-blinded, crossover study, 22 volunteers between 21 and 25 years of age refrained from oral hygiene for 4 days. Bioadhesive mucosal tablets containing 30 mg or 40 mg of CHX were applied in the canine region. Rinses with a 0.2% CHX solution and placebo tablets served as controls. Plaque regrowth was evaluated with the Quigley-Hein Index modification of Turesky and by an automatic image analysis system (AIA) using slides of stained plaque. Rinsing and application of the tablets were done under supervision twice daily. According to the plaque index, plaque regrowth was significantly inhibited by CHX rinses ( P<0.001) and by tablets with 40 mg of CHX ( P<0.02) for all teeth and surfaces. Placebo tablets and 30-mg CHX tablets had no plaque-inhibiting effect. For taste, the subjects preferred the placebo and the 30-mg tablets more than the rinses and 40-mg tablets. In 3/22 of the subjects, superficial mucosal lesions were found at the side of application of the 40-mg tablets. Using the AIA system for evaluation of plaque regrowth, similar results for plaque inhibition were found. It can be concluded that bioadhesive mucosal tablets containing 40 mg of CHX can inhibit plaque regrowth as well as 0.2% CHX rinses. However, unpleasant taste and superficial mucosal lesions are local side effects to be considered.

The influence of flight activity on the formation of secretory granules and the concomitant membrane recycling by the trans-Golgi network in the peptidergic neurosecretory adipokinetic cells of Locusta migratoria was investigated by means of ultrastructural morphometric methods. The patterns of labelling of the trans-Golgi network by the exogenous adsorptive endocytotic tracer wheat-germ agglutinin-conjugated horse-radish peroxidase and by the endogenous marker enzyme acid phosphatase were used as parameters and were measured by an automatic image analysis system. The results show that endocytosed fragments of plasma membrane with bound peroxidase label were transported to the trans-Golgi network and used to build new secretory granules. The amounts of peroxidase and especially of acid phosphatase within the trans-Golgi network showed a strong tendency to be smaller in flight-stimulated cells than in non-stimulated cells. The amounts of acid phosphatase in the immature secretory granules originating from the trans-Golgi network were significantly smaller in stimulated cells. The number of immature secretory granules positive for acid phosphatase tended to be higher in stimulated cells. Thus, flight stimulation of adipokinetic cells for 1 h influences the functioning of the trans-Golgi network; this most probably results in a slight enhancement of the production of secretory granules by the trans-Golgi network.

Fast neutron spectroscopy using CR-39 track detectors

Two-dimensional electrophoresis is the most common method in the biochemistry. It is used to investigater proteom – all proteins existing in the cell or an organism at a particular time instance. The investigation results get sense when several images of twodimensional electrophoresis gels are compared. Due to huge amount of spots in the images of gels and big variability in the images under the comparison, various automatic comparison and analysis systems are built. Image segmentation is the one of the processes used during automatic two-dimensional electrophoresis gel image analysis. Quality of the segmentation is crucial for the comparison results. In this work: segmentation process and its place in the automatic gel analysis are discussed, common methods for the segmentation of images taken from two-dimensional electrophoresis gels are analyzed, alternative segmentation algorithm and results of its application are presented. Proposed segmentation algorithm consists of noise reduction based on the median filtering, contrast enhancement based on the morphological operators, and two level segmentation employing Watershed transform. Ill. 4, bibl. 19 (in Lithuanian; summaries in Lithuanian, English, Russian).

&lt;p&gt;This paper presents a review of the state-of-the-art in histopathology image representation used in automatic image analysis tasks. Automatic analysis of histopathology images is important for building computer-assisted diagnosis tools, automatic image enhancing systems and virtual microscopy systems, among other applications. Histopathology images have a rich mix of visual patterns with particularities that make them difficult to analyze. The paper discusses these particularities, the acquisition process and the challenges found when doing automatic analysis. Second an overview of recent works and methods addressed to deal with visual content representation in different automatic image analysis tasks is presented. Third an overview of applications of image representation methods in several medical domains and tasks is presented. Finally, the paper concludes with current trends of automatic analysis of histopathology images like digital pathology.&lt;/p&gt;

Application of automated image analysis to coal petrography

Material damage in graphite by run-away electrons

Dermoscopy is a non-invasive diagnostic technique for the in vivo observation of pigmented skin lesions used in dermatology. There is currently a great interest in the prospects of automatic image analysis methods for dermoscopy, both to provide quantitative information about a lesion, which can be of relevance for the clinician, and as a stand alone early warning tool. The standard approach in automatic dermoscopic image analysis has usually three stages: (i) segmentation, (ii) feature extraction and selection, (iii) lesion classification. This paper evaluates the potential of an alternative approach based on the Menzies method - presence of 1 or more of 6 color classes, indicating that the lesion should be considered a potential melanoma. This method does not require stages (i) and (ii) - lesion segmentation and feature extraction. The Jeffries-Matusita and Transformed Divergence metrics were used to evaluate the color class separability. The preliminary results presented in this paper suggest that a system based on the Menzies method could provide valuable information for automatic dermoscopic image analysis.

Objective: To establish a method to improve the detection of disseminated tumor cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood samples of neuroblastoma patients and analysis of cytogenetic aberration. Methods: Immunofluorescent staining was performed using a cocktail of primary monoclonal neuroblastoma antibodies (14.G2a, 5.1H11). Fluorescence in situ hybridization was applied with fluorescent probes specific for Nmyc genes afterwards. A novel computer assisted scanning system for automatic search, image analysis and repositioning of these positive cells was developed. Fifty-six bone marrow and peripheral blood samples from 7 patients were evaluated by this method. Results: Fluorescence in situ hybridization can be combined with immunofluorescent staining in detecting Nmyc amplification in neuroblastoma patients. Fluorescence in situ hybridization results correlated well with data obtained by conventional cytogenetic procedures. Conclusion: The technique described allows search of tumor cells in the bone marrow as well as detection of Nmyc amplification in interphase nuclei.