Cell Tracking using a Distributed Algorithm for 3D Image Segmentation

We have developed and tested an automated method for simultaneous 3D tracking of numerous, flourescently-tagged cells. The procedure uses multiple thresholding to segment individual cells at a starting timepoint, and then iteratively applies a template-matching algorithm to locate a particular cell\u27s position at subsequent time points. To speed up the method, we have developed a distributed implementation in which template matching is carried out in parallel on several different server machines. The distributed implementation showed a monotonic decrease in response time with increasing number of servers (up to 15 tested), demonstrating that the tracking algorithm is well suited to parallelization, and that nearly real-time performance could be expected on a parallel processor. Of four different template matching statistics tested for 3D tracking of amebae from the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum, we found that the automated procedure performed best when using a correlation statistic for matching. Using this statistic, the method achieved a .985% success rate in correctly identifying a cell from one timepoint to the next. This method is now being used regularly for 3D tracking of normal and mutant cells of D. discoideum, and as such provides a means to quantify the motion of many cells within a three-dimensional tissue mass

Hardware Based Error and Flow Control in the Axon Gigabit Host-Network Interface

We have proposed a new architecture called Axon that meets the challenges of delivering high performance network bandwidth directly to applications. Its pipelines network interface must perform critical per packet processing in hardware a packets flow through the pipeline, without imposing any store-and-forward buffering of packets. This requires the design of error and flow control mechanisms to be simple enough for implementation in the network interface hardware, while providing functionality required by applications. This paper describes the implementation of the Axon host-network interface, and in particular the hardware design of the critical per packet processing with emphasis on error and flow control. An extensive simulation model of the network interface hardware has been used to determine the feasibility and performance of hardware implementation of these functions

Autonomic neuropathy predisposes to rosiglitazone-induced vascular leakage in insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomised, controlled trial on thiazolidinedione-induced vascular leakage

Contains fulltext : 88447.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The mechanism of fluid-related complications caused by thiazolidinedione derivatives is unclear. One potential mechanism is thiazolidinedione-induced arterial vasodilatation, which results in vascular leakage and a fall in blood pressure, normally counterbalanced by sympathetic activation and subsequent renal fluid retention. We hypothesised that thiazolidinedione-induced vascular leakage will be particularly prominent in patients with autonomic neuropathy. METHODS: We conducted a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel study in 40 patients with type 2 diabetes on insulin treatment recruited from a university medical centre. The randomisation was performed by a central office using a randomisation schedule. Both treatment groups, placebo (n = 21) and rosiglitazone (n = 19), were stratified for sex and level of autonomic neuropathy as assessed by Ewing score (or=2.5). We investigated the effects of 16 weeks of treatment with rosiglitazone 4 mg twice daily on vascular leakage (transcapillary escape rate of albumin, TERalb), body weight, extracellular volume and plasma volume. RESULTS: Thirty-nine patients were included in the analysis. In patients with high Ewing scores (n = 16), rosiglitazone increased TERalb significantly (DeltaTERalb: rosiglitazone +2.43 +/- 0.45%/h, placebo -0.11 +/- 0.15%/h, p = 0.002), while rosiglitazone had no effect in the patients with low Ewing scores (n = 23). Rosiglitazone-induced increases in TERalb and Ewing score at baseline were correlated (r = 0.65, p = 0.02). There was no correlation between Ewing score and rosiglitazone-induced changes in fluid variables. One subject was withdrawn from the study because of atrial fibrillation. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Rosiglitazone may increase vascular leakage in insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes with autonomic neuropathy. Autonomic neuropathy did not exaggerate rosiglitazone-induced fluid retention. Therefore, autonomic neuropathy should be considered as a risk factor for thiazolidinedione-induced oedema, not for thiazolidinedione-induced fluid retention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00422955. FUNDING: GlaxoSmithKline.1 september 201

Letter to the Editor - Advancing Laparoscopic Surgery in Urology

Sir, I read with interest the article by Hemal and Menon.1 The authors should be congratulated in charting a bright future and vision for advancing laparoscopic surgery in urology. In the late 80's and early 90's when general surgeons and gynecologists were gaining expertise in complicated laparoscopic procedures, there was concern amongst urologists whether the laparoscopic surgeon will replace urologists in advanced laparoscopic cases. In fact many worldwide transplant centres have a team of laparoscopic general surgeons still performing donor nephrectomies

Bringing Real-time Scheduling Theory and Practice Closer for Multimedia Computing

This paper seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice of real-time scheduling in the domain of high speed multimedia networking. We show that the strict preemptive nature of real-time scheduling leads to more context switching, and requires system calls for concurrency control. We present our scheduling scheme called rate-monotonic with delayed preemption (rmdp) and show how it reduces both these overheads. We then develop the analytical framework to analyze rmdp and other scheduling schemes that lie in the region between strict (immediate) preemption and no preemption. Our idealized scheduler simulation methodology accounts for the blocking introduced by these schemes under the usual assumption that the time for context switching and preemption is zero. We derive simpler schedulability tests for non-preemptive scheduling, and prove a variant of rate-monotonic scheduling that has fewer preemptions. Our measurements on Sparc and Pentium platforms, show that for the workloads w..

Growth of vascular surgery in India

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Medicine and its Preventive Excesses

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