Tracking cells in Life Cell Imaging videos using topological alignments

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Computational prediction of neural progenitor cell fates

Understanding how stem and progenitor cells choose between alternative cell fates is a major challenge in developmental biology. Efforts to tackle this problem have been hampered by the scarcity of markers that can be used to predict cell division outcomes. Here we present a computational method, based on algorithmic information theory, to analyze dynamic features of living cells over time. Using this method, we asked whether rat retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) display characteristic phenotypes before undergoing mitosis that could foretell their fate. We predicted whether RPCs will undergo a self-renewing or terminal division with 99% accuracy, or whether they will produce two photoreceptors or another combination of offspring with 87% accuracy. Our implementation can segment, track and generate predictions for 40 cells simultaneously on a standard computer at 5 min per frame. This method could be used to isolate cell populations with specific developmental potential, enabling previously impossible investigations.The computational aspects of this work were supported by the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (NSF Grant EEC-9986821), by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. This work was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Foundation Fighting Blindness – Canada (to M.C). M.C. is a CIHR New Investigator and a W.K. Stell Scholar of the Foundation Fighting Blindness – Canada

A Time-Series Method for Automated Measurement of Changes in Mitotic and Interphase Duration from Time-Lapse Movies

Automated time-lapse microscopy can visualize proliferation of large numbers of individual cells, enabling accurate measurement of the frequency of cell division and the duration of interphase and mitosis. However, extraction of quantitative information by manual inspection of time-lapse movies is too time-consuming to be useful for analysis of large experiments.Here we present an automated time-series approach that can measure changes in the duration of mitosis and interphase in individual cells expressing fluorescent histone 2B. The approach requires analysis of only 2 features, nuclear area and average intensity. Compared to supervised learning approaches, this method reduces processing time and does not require generation of training data sets. We demonstrate that this method is as sensitive as manual analysis in identifying small changes in interphase or mitotic duration induced by drug or siRNA treatment.This approach should facilitate automated analysis of high-throughput time-lapse data sets to identify small molecules or gene products that influence timing of cell division

Transfusion-transmitted infections

Although the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections today is lower than ever, the supply of safe blood products remains subject to contamination with known and yet to be identified human pathogens. Only continuous improvement and implementation of donor selection, sensitive screening tests and effective inactivation procedures can ensure the elimination, or at least reduction, of the risk of acquiring transfusion transmitted infections. In addition, ongoing education and up-to-date information regarding infectious agents that are potentially transmitted via blood components is necessary to promote the reporting of adverse events, an important component of transfusion transmitted disease surveillance. Thus, the collaboration of all parties involved in transfusion medicine, including national haemovigilance systems, is crucial for protecting a secure blood product supply from known and emerging blood-borne pathogens

The influence of Annette Vallon, Fanny Brawne, and Maud Gonne upon the poets who loved them: William Wordsworth, John Keats, and William Butler Yeats

Includes bibliographical references.This paper concerns three Romantic poets and the women they loved. It analyzes the reactions of each of the poets to the object of his love, and, secondly, it attempts to determine the effect of this relationship upon the poetic powers of each man. William Wordsworth felt a passionate love for Annette Vallon, the French girl who bore his child. Separated from Annette and his daughter for nearly ten years as a result of the war between England and France, Wordsworth experienced feelings of guilt and remorse which had a definite effect upon the quality of the poetry which he produced. One poem in particular, "Vaudracour And Julia," is closely related to Wordsworth's personal experience. John Keats fell in love with Fanny Brawne the first time he saw her, and, though the two soon became engaged, happiness eluded them. Keats was suffering from tuberculosis, which, in the process of killing him, snuffed out his creative powers and gave him a passionate, uneasy, and jealous desire for Fanny. Keats' love, jealousy, and sorrow are shaping influences in such poems as "Bright Star," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," and "Lamia." These works of Keats give a clear idea of the young poet's troubled existence before his untimely death in Italy closed the chapter of his love for Fanny Brawne. William Butler Yeats loved the tall, beautiful Maud Gonne, who rejected him as a suitor on numerous occasions. In an effort to win Maud, Yeats entered Into the Irish political movement with her and sought her assistance in the establishment of literary societies. He even wrote a play, Cathleen Ni Houlihan, as a vehicle for her, but, in spite of all his efforts, she would never become his wife. The poet was shocked when Maud Gonne married another man, Major John MacBride, and the turbulence of Yeats' feelings comes forth in much of his poetry. He and Maud remained friends for a lifetime, and she continued to be an influential force upon his writings. This paper examines the thoughts and actions of these men - all great Romantics writing at different times, compares their reactions to the emotion of love, and attempts to trace in their lives and works the influence of the women whom they loved.M.A. (Master of Arts

Documentation of the El Castillo (Puente Viesgo) cave using 3D scanning

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Numérisation 3D de la grotte d'El Castillo (Puente Viesgo)

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Image Processing for in Vitro Cell Tracking

In this paper, we propose an image processing method able to detect cells trough in vitro phase-contrast video microscopy. Bodies of the cells and image background are very similar; it does not allow having a good performance of tracking process. The proposed method normalizes original image to obtain better object-background contrast, image is equalized to highlight the object to be tracked, and image is threshold in order to obtain a better object-background contrast. Gray Level Morphological Gradient is applied to obtain more defined contours in the areas surrounded by Halos. Dilatation and Erosion were combined to achieve this goal. A subtraction process was applied after dilation of image to obtain borders. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe