Development of heart motion reconstruction framework based on the 4D echocardiographic data

Abnormalities in heart motion can eventually lead to life threatening cardiac injuries therefore measurements of dynamic heart functions are of great clinical importance. The images of moving spatial heart structures can be efficiently acquired using 4D echocardiography. Unfortunately, because of the low quality such images do not allow for precise measurements. To overcome this problem images need to be further processed and moving structures have to be extracted. In this work we present a method for estimating heart motion from the 3D echocardiographic image sequence. On the basis of this method we have developed an application that enables qualitative and quantitative (i.e. volume changes, stroke volume, ejection fraction and cardiac output parameters) description of the heart wall motion. We provide a set of tools for denoising images using the anisotropic diffusion algorithm extended to the fourth dimension and the time averaging method based on non-linear registration efficiently parameterized using the B-spline based Free Form Deformation. We have also developed a non-linear deformable segmentation algorithm for extraction of the inner ventricular surface. The motion of the left ventricle is reconstructed in our approach by recovering deformations of the matter during the cardiac cycle. All the obtained results using our framework can be efficiently presented in 3D using a set of newly developed heart motion visualization tools

Automated geometric features evaluation method for normal foot skeleton model

Normal foot model is a geometric model of a healthy human foot. As the comparison of the processed feet requires a reference ideal healthy foot parameterization it was necessary to create such a model by defining skeleton geometric features and generating the feature set on a dataset population. Manual positioning of such number of landmarks is both a complex and time consuming task for a skilled radiologist, not to mention the total cost of such a procedure. Thus it was recommended to formulate an automated computer algorithm to perform this procedure with accuracy at a comparable level as the manual process. The following paper describes our approach based on automatic landmark positioning in a volumetric foot dataset. The proposed automated procedure is based on four main steps: manual landmark positioning on a reference dataset, registration of the reference dataset with the examined study, transformation of landmark positions from the reference dataset space into the examined dataset space, and calculation of the geometric features on the basis of landmarks positions. The results of our algorithm are presented and discussed in the context of pros and cons of the automated method itself as well as in the context of the generated normal foot model

THE SCIENTIFIC, CONSERVATION AND EXHIBITION PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH THE BRICK-BUILT ROTUNDA, SIERADZ

The rotunda that once performed the function of a stronghold chapel has been discovered in 1968 during archaeological investigations carried on area belonging to the stronghold and castle at Sieradz. It had been built within the system of fortifications constructed of timber and earth around the castle which existed here in a period from the late ninth to the la te fo u rteenth century. Since the bricks used for its erection were joined by means of lime mortar the rotunda in question may be regarded as an unique monument of( Polish architecture dating back to the mid-thirteenth century. The portion of walls exposed to daylight is ranging as high as to 3 m above the foundation level. Its nave has been erected on circular plan (with a 10 m diameter). Of architectural details the following were preserved: a stepped opening parapet, probably of a window, a vault corbel and the wood flooring. The shape of the apse is still not known. From the conservator’s viewpoint the essential problem consists in durable preserving the wall relics which should form a p a rt of th e future archaeological site. In his article the author puts forward two proposals as to possible solutions, taking into account both the preservation and exhibition standpoints. The first of the above variants suggests the full exposure of building from a pit while the other its leaving in situ together with all archaeological profiles preserved and thus revealing the stratification of both th e stronghold and castle. In both cases a light-weight construction shelter should be provided above the object under which space could also be found for reconstruction of the natural setting of rotunda as, for instance, the defensive bulwark, from the 13th century, beams forming the flooring, and s.o. For the purpose of open- air exhibition within the same archaeological site should also be used the profiles and timber constructions discovered in other pits. In th a t way could be shown the separate stages of transformation of a stronghold into a castle and a fullest possible picture history of Castle Hill at Sieradz provided with its main accent in the form of brick-built rotunda