Robust automated reading of the skin prick test via 3D imaging and parametric surface fitting

The conventional reading of the skin prick test (SPT) for diagnosing allergies is prone to inter- and intra-observer variations. Drawing the contours of the skin wheals from the SPT and scanning them for computer processing is cumbersome. However, 3D scanning technology promises the best results in terms of accuracy, fast acquisition, and processing. In this work, we present a wide-field 3D imaging system for the 3D reconstruction of the SPT, and we propose an automated method for the measurement of the skin wheals. The automated measurement is based on pyramidal decomposition and parametric 3D surface fitting for estimating the sizes of the wheals directly. We proposed two parametric models for the diameter estimation. Model 1 is based on an inverted Elliptical Paraboloid function, and model 2 on a super-Gaussian function. The accuracy of the 3D imaging system was evaluated with validation objects obtaining transversal and depth accuracies within ± 0.1 mm and ± 0.01 mm, respectively. We tested the method on 80 SPTs conducted in volunteer subjects, which resulted in 61 detected wheals. We analyzed the accuracy of the models against manual reference measurements from a physician and obtained that the parametric model 2 on average yields diameters closer to the reference measurements (model 1: -0.398 mm vs. model 2: -0.339 mm) with narrower 95% limits of agreement (model 1: [-1.58, 0.78] mm vs. model 2: [-1.39, 0.71] mm) in a Bland-Altman analysis. In one subject, we tested the reproducibility of the method by registering the forearm under five different poses obtaining a maximum coefficient of variation of 5.24% in the estimated wheal diameters. The proposed method delivers accurate and reproducible measurements of the SPT. © 2019 Pineda et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (COLCIENCIAS), COLCIENCIAS: 538871552485 C2018P018, C2018P005This study was supported by Colciencias (www.colciencias.gov.co, Grant 538871552485) and by Universidad Tecnol?gica de Bolivar (www.utb.edu.co, Grants C2018P005 and C2018P018), Colombia

Fringe quality map for fringe projection profilometry in LabVIEW

The phase retrieval process is mainly affected by local shadows, irregular surface brightness and fringe discontinuities. To overcome these problems, image-processing strategies are carried out such as binary masks, interpolation techniques, and filtering. Similarly, many unwrapping algorithms have been developed to handle phase unwrapping errors in two-dimensional regions. The presence of error-prone areas can be visualized during the acquisition stage avoiding the use of image processing strategies and sophisticated phase unwrapping algorithms, which in many cases represent high computational costs and long execution times. To help overcome these problems, we propose a Fringe Quality Map based on a phase residue analysis to estimate error-prone areas during acquisition. The software was fully implemented in LabVIEW, and we provide the software as supplementary material. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method estimates areas with poor contrast, which lead to unwrapping errors, as well as phase errors in a more complex 3D shape. © Sociedad Española de Óptica

La óptica en Colombia: introducción al número especial

This special issue of Optica Pura y Aplicada (OPA) on Optics in Colombia compiles peer-reviewed articles by optics and photonics researchers from Colombia. The call for papers was made in May 2021 through a call published on the page of the Sociedad Red Colombiana de Óptica and was open to contributions from professionals with affiliation in Colombia in all related areas. Additionally, authors from the 2021 National Optics Meeting and the Andean and Caribbean Conference on Optics and its Applications were invited to send their contributions to this special issue. The result is a good number of contributions published in this special issue of OPA with articles by authors from different institutions in Colombia demonstrating a consolidation of optics in the country. © Sociedad Española de Óptic

Métodos de calibración cámara-proyector con compensación de distorsiones geométricas en perfilometría por proyección de franjas: Un estudio comparativo

The calibration methods most used in fringe projection profilometry are based on models of least squares adjustment and stereo vision techniques. However, the geometric distortions of the projector and camera lenses introduce imprecision in certain regions of the 3D reconstruction. In this paper, we perform a comparative study between the second order polynomial adjustment method and the stereo calibration method applying lens distortion compensation. The experimental results show that in the stereo calibration the incidence of the distortions in the 3D reconstruction is significant. In contrast, in the proposed polynomial calibration, reconstruction errors are associated with the calibrated volume, typically low within the calibration volume. © Sociedad Española de óptica.Los métodos de calibración más usados en perfilometría por proyección de franjas están basados en modelos de ajustes por mínimos cuadrados y técnicas de visión estéreo. Sin embargo, las distorsiones geométricas de los lentes del proyector y de la cámara introducen imprecisión en ciertas regiones de la reconstrucción 3D. En este trabajo realizamos un estudio comparativo entre el método de ajuste polinomial de segundo orden y el método de calibración estéreo aplicando compensación de distorsiones. Los resultados experimentales muestran que en la calibración estéreo la incidencia de las distorsiones en la reconstrucción 3D es significativa. En cambio, en la calibración polinomial propuesta, los errores de reconstrucción están asociados al volumen calibrado. © Sociedad Española de óptica

Evaluation of seed yield and oil contents in four materials of ricinus communis l.

Four castor materials were evaluated in 2009 in the middle region of Valle del Sinu, Colombia. The variables were phonological development, plant height, seed production and oil yield, in order to determine the best material for commercial purposes. All materials reported high yields of oil seeds and highlighting the commercial genotype Nordestina BRS149, 2.2 t ha-1 seed and 47% oil content. Planting distances were 1.5 x 1.5 m and 2.0 x 2.0 m, with densities of 6,666 and 3,906 plants ha-1, respectively. The plant height, seed productivity and oil yield showed significant differences for the interaction density × material; while comparing each material density, seed production only showed differences. These variables were significantly different between population densities, which shows that the higher the plant height, lower productivity. The planting distance of 2.0 x 2.0 m, provides higher productivity per plant values but seed oil yields were not different between densities. The oil quality parameters were assessed using free fatty acid value, iodine, acidity index, saponification, refraction and specific gravity, found that planting distance does not affect the quality of oil

Mapping subnational HIV mortality in six Latin American countries with incomplete vital registration systems

BackgroundHuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a public health priority in Latin America. While the burden of HIV is historically concentrated in urban areas and high-risk groups, subnational estimates that cover multiple countries and years are missing. This paucity is partially due to incomplete vital registration (VR) systems and statistical challenges related to estimating mortality rates in areas with low numbers of HIV deaths. In this analysis, we address this gap and provide novel estimates of the HIV mortality rate and the number of HIV deaths by age group, sex, and municipality in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico.MethodsWe performed an ecological study using VR data ranging from 2000 to 2017, dependent on individual country data availability. We modeled HIV mortality using a Bayesian spatially explicit mixed-effects regression model that incorporates prior information on VR completeness. We calibrated our results to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.ResultsAll countries displayed over a 40-fold difference in HIV mortality between municipalities with the highest and lowest age-standardized HIV mortality rate in the last year of study for men, and over a 20-fold difference for women. Despite decreases in national HIV mortality in all countries-apart from Ecuador-across the period of study, we found broad variation in relative changes in HIV mortality at the municipality level and increasing relative inequality over time in all countries. In all six countries included in this analysis, 50% or more HIV deaths were concentrated in fewer than 10% of municipalities in the latest year of study. In addition, national age patterns reflected shifts in mortality to older age groups-the median age group among decedents ranged from 30 to 45years of age at the municipality level in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico in 2017.ConclusionsOur subnational estimates of HIV mortality revealed significant spatial variation and diverging local trends in HIV mortality over time and by age. This analysis provides a framework for incorporating data and uncertainty from incomplete VR systems and can help guide more geographically precise public health intervention to support HIV-related care and reduce HIV-related deaths.Peer reviewe

Anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2018

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results demonstrate widespread moderate improvements in overall anemia prevalence but identify only three LMICs with a high probability of achieving the WHO GNT by 2030 at a national scale, and no LMIC is expected to achieve the target in all their subnational administrative units. Our maps show where large within-country disparities occur, as well as areas likely to fall short of the WHO GNT, offering precision public health tools so that adequate resource allocation and subsequent interventions can be targeted to the most vulnerable populations

Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050

Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US$, 2020 US$ per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted US$per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached$8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or $1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total,$40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that $54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this,$13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. $12.3 billion was newly committed and$1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. $3.1 billion (22.4$2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only $714.4 million (7.7$1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe