Development of a Novel \u3cem\u3ein vivo\u3c/em\u3e Corneal Fibrosis Model in the Dog

The aim of this study was to develop a novel in vivo corneal model of fibrosis in dogs utilizing alkali burn and determine the ability of suberanilohydroxamic acid (SAHA) to inhibit corneal fibrosis using this large animal model. To accomplish this, we used seven research Beagle dogs. An axial corneal alkali burn in dogs was created using 1 N NaOH topically. Six dogs were randomly and equally assigned into 2 groups: A) vehicle (DMSO, 2 μL/mL); B) anti-fibrotic treatment (50 μM SAHA). The degree of corneal opacity, ocular health, and anti-fibrotic effects of SAHA were determined utilizing the Fantes grading scale, modified McDonald-Shadduck (mMS) scoring system, optical coherence tomography (OCT), corneal histopathology, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The used alkali burn dose to produce corneal fibrosis was well tolerated as no significant difference in mMS scores between control and treatment groups (p=0.89) were detected. The corneas of alkali burned dogs showed significantly greater levels of α-smooth muscle actin, the fibrotic marker, than the controls (p=0.018). Total corneal thickness of all dogs post-burn was significantly greater than baseline OCT images irrespective of treatment (p=0.004); TEM showed that alkali burned corneas had significantly greater minimum and maximum interfibrillar distances than the controls (p=0.026, p=0.018). The tested topical corneal alkali burn dose generated significant opacity and fibrosis in dog corneas without damaging the limbus as evidenced by histopathology, IHC, TEM, and OCT findings, and represents a viable large animal corneal fibrosis in vivo model. Additional in vivo SAHA dosing studies with larger sample size are warranted

A fast modular RLE-based inspection scheme for PCBs

On-line inspection of PCBs requires acquisition and processing of gigabytes of image data in a matter of few seconds, especially when multi-layer and very high-resolution boards are used. To meet the demands for speed and accuracy, our inspection system uses run-length encoding (RLE) for storage and operations and an inspection scheme which exploits the availability of an artwork for comparison purposes. The system which is suitable for parallel processing consists of four parts: (i) segmentation of artwork and feature extraction, (ii) image acquisition, (iii) inspection of blank areas, and (iv) inspection of trace areas. First, the artwork which is available as a CAD file in Gerber Format, is segmented offline into primitive patterns and information related to the location and identification of each segment is stored in a large image database to be used later for real-time inspection. A time- and space-efficient technique based on RLE is used for storage of essential features and imag..

HEp-2 cell classification in IIF images using shareboost

Abstract Indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) imaging is a method used for detection of antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) for the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases. We present a feature extraction and classification scheme to classify the fluorescence staining patterns of HEp-2 cells in IIF images. We propose a set of complementary features that are sensitive to staining pattern variations among classes. Our feature set utilizes local shape measures via Hessian matrix, gradient features using our adaptive robust structure tensors and texture features. We apply our multi-view ShareBoost algorithm to this set using each feature descriptor as a separate view. ShareBoost utilizes a single re-sampling distribution for all views that helps the classifier to exploit the interplay between subspaces and is robust to noisy labels. Our experimental results show an average of over 90 percent accuracy in classification of six HEp-2 cell types

The effect of calcineurin inhibitors on endothelial function in renal transplant recipients

Endothelial dysfunction is of vital importance, as it may cause ischemia and dysfunction in various organs. Despite, this problem has been well documented in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), there is not enough data considering this issue following renal transplantation. One of the potential causes of endothelial dysfunction in renal transplant recipients may be administration of calcineurin inhibitors. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of two different calcineurin inhibitors [cyclosporin A (CsA) and tacrolimus (FK506)] on endothelial function in renal transplant patients. Forty-four renal transplant recipients [22 on FK506 (group I) and 22 on CsA (group II)] were studied. Endothelial functions of the brachial artery were evaluated by using high resolution vascular ultrasound. Endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilations were assessed by establishing reactive hyperemia and using sublingual nitroglycerine (NTG), respectively. Results are presented as percentage change from baseline values. Significant endothelial dysfunction was noted in renal transplant patients treated with CsA. While endothelium-dependent vasodilation was 12.1+/-5.1% in group I and it was 6.5+/-3.7% in group II (p0.05). Post-transplant course of renal transplant recipients is complicated by endothelial dysfunction. This problem is more prominent in patients on CsA therapy, which can predispose these patients to more frequent cardiac complications

Computerized Dura Mater laminae analysis of fluorescence microscopy images

<p>Poster from:</p> <p>V. B. S. Prasath, O. Haddad, F. Bunyak, R. K. Singh, O. Glinskii, V. Glinskii, V. Huxley, K. Palaniappan. <em>Computerized Dura Mater Laminae Analysis of Fluorescence Microscopy Images</em>. Missouri Life Sciences Week, April 2013.</p> <p> </p> <p>This poster is related to the following paper:</p> <p>V. B. S. Prasath, O. Haddad, F. Bunyak, O. Glinskii, V. Glinskii, V. Huxley, K. Palaniappan. <strong>Robust Robust Filtering Based Segmentation and Analysis of Dura Mater Vasculature using Epifluorescence Microscopy</strong>. 35th Annual International Conference EMBS (IEEE EMBS/EMBC 2013), Osaka, Japan.</p> <p> </p

Structure tensor of colour quaternion image representations for invariant feature extraction

International audienceColour image representation using real quaternions has shown to be very useful for linear and morphological colour filtering. This paper deals with the extension of first derivatives-based structure tensor for various quaternionic colour image representations. Classical corner and edge features are obtained from eigenvalues of the quaternionic colour structure tensors. We study the properties of invariance of the quaternion colour spatial derivatives and their robustness for feature extraction on practical examples

Change Detection and Blob Tracking of Fish in Underwater Scenarios

In this paper, the difficult task of detecting fishes in underwater scenarios is analyzed with a special focus on crowded scenes where the differentiation between separate fishes is even more challenging. An extension for the Gaussian Switch Model is developed for the detection which applies an intelligent update scheme to create more accurate background models even for difficult scenes. To deal with very crowded areas in the scene we use the Flux Tensor to create a first coarse segmentation and only update areas that are with high certainty background. The spatial coherency is increased by the N2Cut, which is a Ncut adaption to change detection. More relevant information are gathered with a novel blob tracker that uses a specially developed energy function and handling of errors during the change detection. This method keeps the generality of the whole approach so that it can be used for any moving object. The proposed algorithm enabled us to get very accurate underwater segmentations as well as precise results in tracking scenarios