Volume reconstruction from sparse 3D ultrasonography

3D freehand ultrasound has extensive application for organ volume measurement and has been shown to have better reproducibility than estimates of volume made from 2D measurement followed by interpolation to 3D. One key advantage of free-hand ultrasound is that of image compounding, but this advantage is lost in many automated reconstruction systems. A novel method is presented for the automated segmentation and surface reconstruction of organs from sparse 3D ultrasound data. Preliminary results are demonstrated for simulated data, and two cases of in-vivo data; breast ultrasound and imaging of ovarian follicles

Cylindrical Echocardiographic Image Segmentation Based on 3D Deformable Models

This paper presents a 3D echocardiographic image segmentation procedure based on deformable surfaces. We first propose to adapt filtering techniques to the cylindrical geometry of several 3D ultrasound image devices. Then we compare the eoeect of dioeerent external forces on a surface template deformation inside volumetric echocardiographic images. An original method involving region grey-level analysis along the model normal directions is described. We rely on an a priori knowledge of the cardiac left ventricle shape and on region grey-level values to perform a robust segmentation. During the deformation process the allowable surface deformation is modified. Finally, we show experimental results on very challenging sparse and noisy images and quantitative measurements of the left ventricle volume

Stalagmite evidence for the onset of the Last Interglacial in southern Europe at 129 a 1 ka

A stable isotope record from a stalagmite collected from Antro del Corchia cave (Apuan Alps, Central Italy), supported by 17 uranium-series ages, indicates enhanced regional rainfall between ca. 8.9 and 7.3 kyr cal. BP at the time of sapropel S1 deposition. Within this phase, the highest rainfall occurred between 7.9 and 7.4 kyr cal. BP. Comparison with different marine and lake records, and in particular with the Soreq Cave record (Israel), suggests substantial in-phase occurrence of enhanced rainfall between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean basins. There is no convincing evidence for major climatic change at the time of the “8.2 ka event”