English

The process of detecting objects in a path of the image frame is a complex process. Generally, the identification process to find out the condition of a track in the form of objects and the size of objects is done manually by humans, namely using measuring instruments such as rulers, etc. It requires long processing time, and is less efficient, besides that it cannot be done remotely in the form of monitoring on the computer from the camera in terms of measurement. This study aims to create a system of detection and measurement of obstacle on a track using color segmentation method with background subtraction and morphological operation as a result of decision support. This detection and measurement system consists of webcam image acquisition, video extraction, converting frames of RGB to HSV images, color segmentation with background subtraction, gray scaling and thresholding, morphological analysis to improve the results of segmentation, detection and measurement displayed in the form of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). The performance of the system was tested on two background color references in the form of black, namely the asphalt track and white, namely the concrete cement track. The result of testing with the black background, produces an accuracy value of 96%, and with a white background of 100%. The system results in measuring obstacle have an average length of accuracy of 96.16% and a height of 85% on a black background in the form of an asphalt track, and on a white background in the form of cement concrete track results in a length measurement accuracy of 95.99% and a height of 90.88% with the camera moving or fixed.

Detection of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in pericardial fluid culture and its correlation with cartridge based nucleic acid amplification test and adenosine deaminase activity

The method of fuzzy color recognition and segmentation of vision scene of robot based on the combination of fuzzy color quantization and edge extraction of HSV (hue saturation value) color space was proposed in the article. In the method the color would be quickly recognized fuzzily as less than ten natural standard colors according to human visual perception and the recognized image will be edge extracted. Integrating with color and edge information, the area segmentation will be conducted to the image, realizing color fuzzy recognition and segmentation and setting up color index map. As the experimental results and the subjective perception of human have reached good consistency, it improves color recognition speed and perception speed of the environment of the robot.

The authors report the results of a controlled comparative study of four proposed methods for extracting boundaries in static images using color information. The first two techniques are, more properly speaking, edge-detection methods. These include the adaptation of the Hueckel operator to color images by R. Nevatia (1977) and the DOOG (difference of offset Gaussians) operator proposed by R. Young (1985, 1986). The latter two methods are examples of region-based segmentation. These include the adaptation of R. Ohlander et al. (1978), region splitting by Y. Ohta et al. (1980), and the fuzzy c-means segmentation and edge-detection methods of T.L. Huntsberger et al. (1985). The methods are compared using both simulated, controlled images as well as a variety of natural scene images. Images with various levels of randomly additive noise provide some indication of the degradation of performance of these methods under noisy conditions. >

In this article, we present an adaptive color similarity function defined in a modified hue‐saturation‐intensity color space, which can be used directly as a metric to obtain pixel‐wise segmentation of color images among other applications. The color information of every pixel is integrated as a unit by an adaptive similarity function thus avoiding color information scattering. As a direct application we present an efficient interactive, supervised color segmentation method with linear complexity respect to the number of pixels of the input image. The process has three steps: (1) Manual selection of few pixels in a sample of the color to be segmented. (2) Automatic generation of the so called color similarity image (CSI), which is a gray level image with all the gray level tonalities associated with the selected color. (3) Automatic threshold of the CSI to obtain the final segmentation. The proposed technique is direct, simple and computationally inexpensive. The evaluation of the efficiency of the color segmentation method is presented showing good performance in all cases of study. A comparative study is made between the behavior of the proposed method and two comparable segmentation techniques in color images using (1) the Euclidean metric of thea* andb* color channels rejectingL* and (2) a probabilistic approach ona* andb* in the CIE L*a*b* color space. Our testing system can be used either to explore the behavior of a similarity function (or metric) in different color spaces or to explore different metrics (or similarity functions) in the same color space. It was obtained from the results that the color parametersa* andb* are not independent of the luminance parameterL* as one might initially assume in the CIE L*a*b* color space. We show that our solution improves the quality of the proposed color segmentation technique and its quick result is significant with respect to other solutions found in the literature. The method also gives a good performance in low chromaticity, gray level and low contrast images. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 42, 156–172, 2017

Dynamic, cholesterol-dense regions of the plasma membrane, known as lipid rafts (LR), have been observed to develop during and may be directly involved in infection of host cells by various pathogens. This study focuses on LR aggregation induced in alveolar epithelial cells during infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) bacilli. We report dose- and time-dependent increases in LR aggregation after infection with three different strains at multiplicities of infection of 1, 10 and 100 from 2–24 hr post infection (hpi). Specific strain-dependent variations were noted among H37Rv, HN878 and CDC1551 with H37Rv producing the most significant increase from 15 aggregates per cell (APC) to 27 APC at MOI 100 during the 24 hour infection period. Treatment of epithelial cells with Culture Filtrate Protein, Total Lipids and gamma-irradiated whole cells from each strain failed to induce the level of LR aggregation observed during infection with any of the live strains. However, filtered supernatants from infected epithelial cells did produce comparable LR aggregation, suggesting a secreted mycobacterial product produced during infection of host cells is responsible for LR aggregation. Disruption of lipid raft formation prior to infection indicates that Mtb bacilli utilize LR aggregates for internalization and survival in epithelial cells. Treatment of host cells with the LR-disruption agent Filipin III produced a nearly 22% reduction in viable bacteria for strains H37Rv and HN878, and a 7% reduction for strain CDC1551 after 6 hpi. This study provides evidence for significant mycobacterial-induced changes in the plasma membrane of alveolar epithelial cells and that Mtb strains vary in their ability to facilitate aggregation and utilization of LR.

Processing of microscope images in medicine is one of the priority research areas. Among the many medical imaging follows allocate the image of blood preparations. This is due to the fact that study of the image of blood preparations allows to conduct a comprehensive diagnosis of human health state. However, the specific complexity of visualization process of blood preparations and their subsequent processing with the use of automated processing determine the necessity to study different possibilities to use any approaches for image processing. We consider the image of blood preparations is a complex image. For image analysis of blood preparations’ structure, we use the method of color segmentation. For image analysis, we also use the methodology of the human-machine. This allows you to clarify the structure of the image of blood preparations. We give some of examples that show the effectiveness of the proposed image processing of blood preparations.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains an unsolved community health problem since identification of its causing microorganism called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) by Robert Koch in 1882. Annually, eight million TB cases are newly reported and 2~3 million patients die from TB. Pulmonary TB is highly infectious and untreated pulmonary TB patients are believed to infect >10 people in a year. The conventional methods for diagnosis of TB are chest X-ray and isolation of the causing microorganisms from patient specimens. Screening of TB is conducted with smeared sputum in slides, and TB is confirmed by identification of MTB in cultured specimens. One of the fatal pitfalls of screening detection for smeared sputum is that it is impossible to distinguish MTB and other acid-fast bacilli (AFB) because they are stained equally with Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain. Culture of MTB is the most reliable method for diagnosis of TB but it takes 4~8 weeks. In this report, we suggest a fast and highly-reliable MTB detection method that distinguishes AFB in sputum samples. Purified DNA from the AFB stained slide samples offered by The Korean Institute of Tuberculosis were used to detect infected MTB in patients. PCR, real-time PCR and reverse blot hybridization assay (REBA) methods were applied to purified DNA. Conclusively, the real-time PCR method was confirmed to produce high sensitivity and we were able to further detect drug-resistant MTB with REBA.

Honey bees have crucial role in pollination across the world. This paper presents a simple, non-invasive, system for pollen bearing honey bee detection in surveillance video obtained at the entrance of a hive. The proposed system can be used as a part of a more complex system for tracking and counting of honey bees with remote pollination monitoring as a final goal. The proposed method is executed in real time on embedded systems co-located with a hive. Background subtraction, color segmentation and morphology methods are used for segmentation of honey bees. Classification in two classes, pollen bearing honey bees and honey bees that do not have pollen load, is performed using nearest mean classifier, with a simple descriptor consisting of color variance and eccentricity features. On in-house data set we achieved correct classification rate of 88.7% with 50 training images per class. We show that the obtained classification results are not far behind from the results of state-of-the-art image classification methods. That favors the proposed method, particularly having in mind that real time video transmission to remote high performance computing workstation is still an issue, and transfer of obtained parameters of pollination process is much easier.

Theobald Smith in 1890 described certain differences in the virulency, morphology and cultural growth between the tubercle bacilli found in human tuberculosis and in bovine tuberculosis. Koch at once commenced a series of experiments, with the result that he not only confirmed the observations of Smith but went further and announced at the British Congress for Tuberculosis in 1901 the following conclusions: 1. The tubercle bacilli of bovine tuberculosis are different from those of human tuberculosis. 2. Human beings may be infected by bovine tubercle bacilli, but serious diseases from this cause occur very rarely. 3. Preventive measures against tuberculosis should therefore be directed primarily against the propagation of human tubercle bacilli. Koch has been persistently misquoted and the impression is deeply implanted in the lay and medical mind that he denied absolutely the possibility of human infection from the bovine type of the tubercle bacillus. In order to offset

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. One way to diagnose this disease is by microscopic examination using the Ziehl Neelsen method. Bleach is a decontaminant solution that can help reduce microscopic dirt and sterilize microscopic fields of view. This study aims to determine the comparison of Ziehl Neelsen staining acid fast bacilli scores and Ziehl Neelsen Bleach 2% sputum specimens in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. The design used is pre-experimental with 36 sputum samples taken. Data analysis is performed by bivariate analysis using the Wilcoxon test at value of 0.05. From this study, the results for Ziehl Neelsen staining are 30.6% negative, 11.1% scanty, 19.4% positive 1 (+1), 16.7% positive 2 (+2), 22.2% positive 3 (+3), while for Ziehl Neelsen staining Bleach 2% as much as 25% negative, 16.7% scanty, 19.4% positive 1 (+1), 16.7% positive 2 (+2), 22.2% positive 3 (+3). The results of bivariate analysis show a p value of 0.157 so it is concluded that there is no difference in the positivity rate of microscopic TB smear results between the addition of 2% bleach solution compared to ordinary Ziehl Neelsen staining. Keywords: Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Staining of Acid-Fast Bacilli (AFB), Ziehl-Neelsen, Bleach. ABSTRAK Tuberkulosis (TB) adalah penyakit menular yang disebabkan oleh Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Salah satu cara untuk mendiagnosis penyakit ini yaitu dengan pemeriksaan mikroskopis metode Ziehl-Neelsen. Bleach merupakan larutan dekontaminan yang dapat membantu mengurangi kotoran mikroskopis dan mensterilkan lapang pandang mikroskopis. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui perbandingan skor basil tahan asam pewarnaan Ziehl Neelsen dan Ziehl Neelsen Bleach 2% spesimen sputum pada penderita Tuberkulosis paru.Desain yang digunakan yaitu pre-eksperimen dengan 36 sampel sputum yang diambil dari pasien TB di Rumah Sakit Santa Elisabeth Medan. Analisis data dilakukan dengan analisis bivariat menggunakan uji Wilcoxon pada nilai α 0,05. Dari penelitian ini didapatkan hasil pada pewarnaan Ziehl Neelsen sebanyak 30.6% negatif, 11.1% scanty, 19.4% positif 1 (+1), 16.7% positif 2 (+2), 22.2% positif 3 (+3), sedangkan pada pewarnaan Ziehl Neelsen Bleach 2% sebanyak 25% negatif, 16.7% scanty, 19.4% positif 1 (+1), 16.7% positif 2 (+2), 22.2% positif 3 (+3). Hasil analisis bivariat menunjukkan nilai p 0.157 sehingga disimpulkan bahwa tidak terdapat perbedaan tingkat kepositifan hasil BTA diagnostik mikroskopik TB antara penambahan larutan bleach 2% dibandingkan dengan pewarnaan BTA Ziehl Neelsen biasa. Kata kunci: Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Pewarnaan Basil Tahan Asam (BTA), Ziehl- Neelsen, Bleach.

ABSTRACTNot all patients produce sputum, yet most available TB tests use sputum. We investigated the utility of a novel RNA-based quantitative test, the tuberculosis molecular bacterial load assay (TB-MBLA), for the detection and quantification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in stool. Stools from 100 adult individuals were treated with OMNIgene-sputum reagent and tested using Xpert MTB/RIF ultra (Xpert ultra), auramine O smear microscopy (smear), mycobacterial growth indicator tube (MGIT), and Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) cultures. The remaining portions were frozen at −20°C and later tested by TB-MBLA. MGIT sputum culture was used as a TB confirmatory test and reference for stool tests. Sixty-one of 100 participants were already confirmed TB positive by MGIT sputum culture, 20 (33%) of whom were HIV coinfected. TB-MBLA detected M. tuberculosis in 57/100 stool samples, including 49 already confirmed for TB. The mean bacterial load measured by stool TB-MBLA was 5.67 ± 1.7 log10 estimated CFU (eCFU) per mL in HIV-coinfected participants, which was higher than the 4.83 ± 1.59 log10 eCFU per mL among the HIV-negative participants (P = 0.04). The sensitivities (95% confidence intervals [CI]) of stool assays were 80% (68 to 89) and 90% (79 to 98) for TB-MBLA and Xpert ultra, which were both higher than the 44% (32 to 58), 64% (51 to 76), and 62% (45 to 77) for smear, MGIT, and Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) stool cultures, respectively. The specificity (95% CI) of stool assays was highest for smear, at 97% (87 to 100), followed by Xpert ultra at 91% (76 to 98), TB-MBLA at 79% (63 to 90), LJ at 80% (64 to 91), and MGIT at 62% (45 to 77). Twenty-six percent of MGIT and 21% of LJ stool cultures were indeterminate due to contamination. Detection and quantification of viable M. tuberculosis bacilli in stool raises its utility as an alternative to sputum as a sample type for TB diagnosis.IMPORTANCE This paper highlights the value of stool as a sample type for diagnosis of tuberculosis. While other studies have used DNA-based assays like the Xpert MTB/RIF and culture to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in stool, this is the first study that has applied TB-MBLA, an RNA-based assay, to quantify TB bacteria in stool. The high microbial density and diversity in stool compromises the specificity and sensitivity of culture-based tests due to overgrowth of non-M. tuberculosis flora. Consequently, TB-MBLA becomes the most sensitive and specific test for the detection and quantification of viable TB bacteria in stool. Most crucially, this study raises the possibility of a nonsputum alternative sample type for diagnosis of TB among people who have difficulty in producing sputum.

Sulfonamides are unique class of compounds possessing exceptional antibacterial activity. Sulpha drugs were the first effective chemotherapeutic agents to be widely used for the cure of bacterial infection in human and found to be resisted on Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Typhoid and Paratyphoid bacilli etc. A series of novel 10-phenylsulfonyl-2-substituted-4,10 dihydrobenzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2- a]pyrimidin-4-one derivatives obtained from N-sulfonation of 2-substituted-pyrimido[1,2- a]benzimidazol-4(10H)-ones and screened for their in vitro anti-tuberculosis activities against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv by Microplate Alamar Blue Assay (MABA) method.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) bacilli are the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), a major killer of mankind. Although it is widely accepted that local interactions between Mtb and the immune system in the tuberculous granuloma determine whether the outcome of infection is controlled or disseminated, these have been poorly studied due to methodological constraints. We have recently used a spatial transcriptomic technique, in situ sequencing (ISS), to define the spatial distribution of immune transcripts in TB mouse lungs. To further contribute to the understanding of the immune microenvironments of Mtb and their local diversity, we here present two complementary automated bacteria-guided analysis pipelines. These position 33 ISS-identified immune transcripts in relation to single bacteria and bacteria clusters. The analysis was applied on new ISS data from lung sections of Mtb-infected C57BL/6 and C3HeB/FeJ mice. In lungs from C57BL/6 mice early and late post infection, transcripts that define inflammatory macrophages were enriched at subcellular distances to bacteria, indicating the activation of infected macrophages. In contrast, expression patterns associated to antigen presentation were enriched in non-infected cells at 12 weeks post infection. T-cell transcripts were evenly distributed in the tissue. In Mtb-infected C3HeB/FeJ mice, transcripts characterizing activated macrophages localized in apposition to small bacteria clusters, but not in organized granulomas. Despite differences in the susceptibility to Mtb, the transcript patterns found around small bacteria clusters of C3HeB/FeJ and C57BL/6 mice were similar. Altogether, the presented tools allow us to characterize in depth the immune cell populations and their activation that interact with Mtb in the infected lung.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) bacilli readily aggregate. We previously reported that Mtb aggregates lead to phagocyte death and subsequent efficient replication in the dead infected cells. Here we examined the transcriptional response of human monocyte derived macrophages to phagocytosis of aggregated Mtb relative to phagocytosis of non-aggregated single or multiple bacilli. Infection with aggregated Mtb led to an early upregulation of pro-inflammatory associated genes and enhanced TNF-alpha- signaling via the NF-kappa B pathway. These pathways were significantly more highly upregulated relative to infection with single or multiple non-aggregated bacilli per cell. Phagocytosis of aggregates led to a decreased phagosome acidification on a per bacillus basis and increased phagocyte cell death, which was not observed when Mtb aggregates were heat killed prior to phagocytosis. Mtb aggregates, observed in a granuloma from a patient, were found surrounding a lesion cavity. These observations suggest that TB aggregation may be a mechanism for pathogenesis. They raise the possibility that aggregated Mtb, if spread from individual to individual, could facilitate increased inflammation, Mtb growth and macrophage cell death, potentially leading to active disease, cell necrosis, and additional cycles of transmission.