Categorization of indoor places by combining local binary pattern histograms of range and reflectance data from laser range finders

This paper presents an approach to categorize typical places in indoor environments using 3D scans provided by a laser range finder. Examples of such places are offices, laboratories, or kitchens. In our method, we combine the range and reflectance data from the laser scan for the final categorization of places. Range and reflectance images are transformed into histograms of local binary patterns and combined into a single feature vector. This vector is later classified using support vector machines. The results of the presented experiments demonstrate the capability of our technique to categorize indoor places with high accuracy. We also show that the combination of range and reflectance information improves the final categorization results in comparison with a single modality

Linfoma cutáneo no epiteliotrópico en un mastín español

El linfoma cutáneo no epiteliotrópico (LCNE) es un tumor poco frecuente, muy agresivo y de evolución rápida. En este trabajo se describe un caso de LCNE en un perro mastín español de 5 años de edad. El animal presentó inicialmente nódulos cutáneos múltiples y lesiones arciformes en la piel de costados y abdomen. Pocos días más tarde se observó diarrea y síntomas sistémicos inespecíficos como anorexia, apatía, hipertermia y rápido deterioro del estado general. En la exploración también se apreció linfadenopatía generalizada, dolor abdominal e hipovolemia moderada. El diagnóstico se confirmó mediante el estudio citohistopatológico e inmunohistoquímico de las lesiones cutáneas. Se inició un tratamiento sintomático pero el perro murió a los tres días de ser examinado. La necropsia demostró la existencia de múltiples metástasis en corazón, ganglios linfáticos subcutáneos y mesentéricos, mesenterio, intestino delgado, páncreas y vejiga urinaria.Cutaneous non-epitheliotropic Iymphoma is arare tumour with an agressive biological behaviour characterised by a rapid progression of the disease. In this article, a cutaneous non-epitheliotropic lymphoma is described in a 5-year-old Spanish Mastín dogo The dog first clinical signs were multiple cutaneous nodules and bilateral arciforrn lesions in both flanks and abdominal skin. Few days later, the patient developed diarrhea and non-specífíc signs such as inappetence, lethargy and hyperthermia. At examination the dog also showed poor body condition, generalised Iymphadenopathy, abdominal pain and signs of mild hypovolemic shock. Diagnosis was confirmad by the cytohistopathological and immunohistochemical analyses. Symptomatic treatment was instaured but the dog died three days after íírst examination. Necropsy revealed multiple metastases to the heart, subcutaneous and mesenteric Iymph nodes, small intestine, mesenterium, pancreas and urinary bladder

Tumores de cavidad oral en el perro : estudio retrospectivo

Se ha realizado un estudio epidemiológico de los tumores caninos de cavidad oral a partir de 8608 casos recibidos en los Optas. de Patología Clínica y Anatomía Patológica de la Facultad de Veterinaria de Córdoba durante un período de cuatro años. Nuestros resultados mostraron una prevalencia de las neoplasias orales del 5,6% con respecto a los procesos neoplásicos del perro en ese período. La edad media de presentación fue de 5,3 años para los tumores benignos y de 8,8 años para los tumores malignos. El 75,6% de tumores orales de perros viejos (>7 años) fueron de carácter maligno, mientras que en perros jóvenes y adultos «7 años) este porcentaje se reducía a un 36%. Los machos (62,7%) se afectaron con más frecuencia que las hembras (37,3%). La prevalencia fue mayor en perros cruzados (26,7%) y en perros de razas Pastor Alemán (11,7%), Boxer (10%), Caniche (6,7%) y Pequinés (6,7%). Con carácter general, las neoplasias orales benignas (18%) fueron menos frecuentes que las malignas (58,1 %), correspondiendo el 23,9% restante a lesiones seudotumorales (èpulís fundamentalmente). Los papilomas (8,9% del total) representaron los tumores benignos más comunes, mientras que los carcinomas de células escamosas (17,9%), seguidos de ros fibrosarcomas (15%), los melanomas (8,9%) y los osteosarcomas (8,9%) constituyeron las lesiones malignas más frecuentes. Clínicamente las neoplasias orales se presentaron en general como masas solitarias, con un crecimiento lento pero invasivo localmente y con capacidad de metástasis variable en función del tipo tumoral.An epidemiologic analysis of oral cavity neoplasias in 8608 dogs examined at the Clinical Pathology.and Pathology departments of the University of Córdoba the last 4 years was made. Results show that these neoplasms account for 5.6 % of all the canine tumours found during that time. The mean age was 5.3 years for dogs suffering from benign neoplasms and 8.8 years for dogs with malignant tumours. In older dogs (>7 years) 75,6 % of oral tumours were malignant whereas in young and adult dogs «7 years) only 36 % were malignant. Males (62.7%) were more frequently affected than females (37.3%). The prevalen ce in mixed- breed dogs was higher (26.7%) compared with purebred dogs where the German Shepherd (11.7%), the Boxer (10%), the Poodle, (6.7%) and the Pekingese (6.7%) comprised the higher number of oral cavity neoplasms. The being tumour prevalen ce was lower (18%) than the malignant one (58.1%) and 23.9% were seudotumoral lesions (epulis mainly). The most prevalent benign tumour was the papilloma (8.9%). The squamous cell carcinomas (17.9%) were the malignant neoplasms most commonly diagnosed, followed by the fibrosarcomas (15%), melanomas (8.9%) and osteosarcomas (8.9%). Clinically, oral neoplasm appeared more commonly as solitary slow growing masses with local invasive and metastasizing potential which varied depending on each tumou

Estudio immunohistoquímico de tumores de folículos pilosos caninos

El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido analizar los patrones de expresión de varias citoqueratinas e involucrina en tumores del folículo piloso canino con especial interés en los que exhiben menor diferenciación tricofítica. En el estudio se han utilizado 71 tumores foliculares diagnosticados en el Servicio de Diagnóstico de Histología y Anatomía Patológica Comparadas de la UCO. Las muestras, fijadas en formol al 10%, se procesaron de la forma habitual para diagnóstico histopatológico y se utilizó la técnica ABC para el estudio inmunohistoquímico. Los tumores foliculares se clasificaron histopatológicamente según Golsmidht y cols, (1998) como tricoepiteliomas (22), epiteliomas intracutáneos cornificantes (23) y tricoblastomas (5)y pilomatricomas (21)

Highly sensitive molecular diagnosis of prostate cancer using surplus material washed off from biopsy needles

INTRODUCTION: Currently, final diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa) is based on histopathological analysis of needle biopsies, but this process often bears uncertainties due to small sample size, tumour focality and pathologist’s subjective assessment. METHODS: Prostate cancer diagnostic signatures were generated by applying linear discriminant analysis to microarray and real-time RT–PCR (qRT–PCR) data from normal and tumoural prostate tissue samples. Additionally, after removal of biopsy tissues, material washed off from transrectal biopsy needles was used for molecular profiling and discriminant analysis. RESULTS: Linear discriminant analysis applied to microarray data for a set of 318 genes differentially expressed between non-tumoural and tumoural prostate samples produced 26 gene signatures, which classified the 84 samples used with 100% accuracy. To identify signatures potentially useful for the diagnosis of prostate biopsies, surplus material washed off from routine biopsy needles from 53 patients was used to generate qRT–PCR data for a subset of 11 genes. This analysis identified a six-gene signature that correctly assigned the biopsies as benign or tumoural in 92.6% of the cases, with 88.8% sensitivity and 96.1% specificity. CONCLUSION: Surplus material from prostate needle biopsies can be used for minimal-size gene signature analysis for sensitive and accurate discrimination between non-tumoural and tumoural prostates, without interference with current diagnostic procedures. This approach could be a useful adjunct to current procedures in PCa diagnosis. British Journal of Cancer (2011) 105, 1600–1607. doi:10.1038/bjc.2011.435 www.bjcancer.com Published online 18 October 2011 & 2011 Cancer Research UKMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovacion (PI080274), Fundación Marato TV3, Ministerio de Educacio´n (GEN2001-4856- C13, GEN2001-4865-C13-10 and SAF2005-05109), Ministerio de Sanidad (PI020231), Red Temática de Cáncer of the Instituto Carlos III (ISCIII-RETIC RD06/0020), Xarxa de Bancs de Tumors de Catalunya-ICO (XBTC) and Fundación Ramón Areces.Peer Reviewe

Seudomicetoma dermatofítico en un gato persa : aspectos clínicos, patológicos y evolutivos

En este trabajo presentamos los aspectos clínicos, anatomopatológicos y evolutivos de un caso de dermatitis piogranulomatosa múltiple causada por hongos del género Microsporum, también conocida como seudomicetoma dermatofítico, en un gato persa, no castrado, de un año de edad al comienzo de la enfermedad. Las lesiones se caracterizaron macroscópicamente por la formación de numerosos nódulos de diferentes tamaños, localizados en la cabeza y antebrazo derecho, extendiéndose posteriormente a zona dorso lateral del tronco. La evolución de estos nódulos, que se generalizaron en algo menos de un mes, era hacia la coalescencia y fistulización, con descarga de un material grumoso blanco-grisáceo. El estudio histopatológico reveló una dermatitis piogranulomatosa, supeficial y profunda, caracterizada por presentar en el centro de los granulomas agregados de hongos septados inmersos en una matriz acidófila. La extirpación quirúrgica de un gran número de nódulos proporcionó mejorías transitorias, aunque reaparecieron nuevas lesiones. En este trabajo se describe la evolución tras dos años de seguimiento clínico. Tras el tratamiento con griseofulvina no se detectan nuevas lesiones después de 6 meses de su aplicación y seguimiento.This paper reports the clinical and histopathological features of a case of pyogranulomatous dermatitis caused by Microsporum fungi, a condition also known as dermatophyte pseudomycetoma, in a eneyear-old Persian cat. Grossly apparent fistulized nodules of varying sizes displaying a granular discharge were localized on the head, back, elbow and tail. Microscopic analysis revealed a deep piogranulomatous dermatitis characterized by centrally-located clusters of fungi within an acidophilic matrix. In just under a month, nodules had beco me generalized. Partial surgical excision and non-specific treatment provided temporary improvement, but new lesions subsequentlyappeared

A phase-field model of Hele-Shaw flows in the high viscosity contrast regime

A one-sided phase-field model is proposed to study the dynamics of unstable interfaces of Hele-Shaw flows in the high viscosity contrast regime. The corresponding macroscopic equations are obtained by means of an asymptotic expansion from the phase-field model. Numerical integrations of the phase-field model in a rectangular Hele-Shaw cell reproduce finger competition with the final evolution to a steady state finger the width of which goes to one half of the channel width as the velocity increases

Interactively solving school timetabling problems using extensions of constraint programming

Timetabling problems have been frequently studied due to their wide range of applications. However, they are often solved manually because of the lack of appropriate computer tools. Although many approaches mainly based on local search or constraint programming seem to have been quite successful in recent years, they are often highly dedicated to specific problems and encounter difficulties to take the dynamic and over-constrained nature of such problems. We were confronted with such an over-constrained and dynamic problem in our institution. This paper deals with a timetabling system based on constraint programming with the use of explanations to offer a dynamic behaviour and to allow automatic relaxations of constraints. Our tool has successfully answered the needs of the current planner by providing solutions in a few minutes instead of a week of manual design.We present in this paper the techniques used, the results obtained and a discussion on the effects of the automation of the timetabling process

Influence of surface roughness measurement scale on radar backscattering in different agricultural soils

Soil surface roughness strongly affects the scattering of microwaves on the soil surface and determines the backscattering coefficient (σ 0 ) observed by radar sensors. Previous studies have shown important scale issues that compromise the measurement and parameterization of roughness especially in agricultural soils. The objective of this paper was to determine the roughness scales involved in the backscattering process over agricultural soils. With this aim, a database of 132 5-m profiles taken on agricultural soils with different tillage conditions was used. These measurements were acquired coinciding with a series of ENVISAT/ASAR observations. Roughness profiles were processed considering three different scaling issues: 1) influence of measurement range; 2) influence of low-frequency roughness components; and 3) influence of high-frequency roughness components. For each of these issues, eight different roughness parameters were computed and the following aspects were evaluated: 1) roughness parameters values; 2) correlation with σ 0 ; and 3) goodness-of-fit of the Oh model. Most parameters had a significant correlation with σ 0 especially the fractal dimension, the peak frequency, and the initial slope of the autocorrelation function. These parameters had higher correlations than classical parameters such as the standard deviation of surface heights or the correlation length. Very small differences were observed when longer than 1-m profiles were used as well as when small-scale roughness components (100 cm) were disregarded. In conclusion, the medium-frequency roughness components (scale of 5-100 cm) seem to be the most influential scales in the radar backscattering process on agricultural soils.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Grant BES-2012-054521, Project CGL2011-24336, Project CGL2015-64284-C2-1-R, and Project CGL2016-75217-R (MINECO/FEDER, EU)

Cluster-based density-functional approach to quantum transport through molecular and atomic contacts

We present a cluster-based density-functional approach to model charge transport through molecular and atomic contacts. The electronic structure of the contacts is determined in the framework of density functional theory, and the parameters needed to describe transport are extracted from finite clusters. A similar procedure, restricted to nearest-neighbor interactions in the electrodes, has been presented by Damle et al. [Chem. Phys. 281, 171 (2002)]. Here, we show how to systematically improve the description of the electrodes by extracting bulk parameters from sufficiently large metal clusters. In this way we avoid problems arising from the use of nonorthogonal basis functions. For demonstration we apply our method to electron transport through Au contacts with various atomic-chain configurations and to a single-atom contact of Al.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figure