Use of texture feature maps for the refinement of Information derived from digital Intraoral radiographs of lytic and sclerotic lesions

The aim of this study was to examine whether additional digital intraoral radiography (DIR) image preprocessing based on textural description methods improves the recognition and differentiation of periapical lesions. (1) DIR image analysis protocols incorporating clustering with the k-means approach (CLU), texture features derived from co-occurrence matrices, first-order features (FOF), gray-tone difference matrices, run-length matrices (RLM), and local binary patterns, were used to transform DIR images derived from 161 input images into textural feature maps. These maps were used to determine the capacity of the DIR representation technique to yield information about the shape of a structure, its pattern, and adequate tissue contrast. The effectiveness of the textural feature maps with regard to detection of lesions was revealed by two radiologists independently with consecutive interrater agreement. (2) High sensitivity and specificity in the recognition of radiological features of lytic lesions, i.e., radiodensity, border definition, and tissue contrast, was accomplished by CLU, FOF energy, and RLM. Detection of sclerotic lesions was refined with the use of RLM. FOF texture contributed substantially to the high sensitivity of diagnosis of sclerotic lesions. (3) Specific DIR texture-based methods markedly increased the sensitivity of the DIR technique. Therefore, application of textural feature mapping constitutes a promising diagnostic tool for improving recognition of dimension and possibly internal structure of the periapical lesions

Influence of acquisition time on MR image quality estimated with nonparametric measures based on texture features

Correlation of parametrized image texture features (ITF) analyses conducted in different regions of interest (ROIs) overcomes limitations and reliably reflects image quality. +e aim of this study is to propose a nonparametrical method and classify the quality of a magnetic resonance (MR) image that has undergone controlled degradation by using textural features in the image. Images of 41 patients, 17 women and 24 men, aged between 23 and 56 years were analyzed. T2-weighted sagittal sequences of the lumbar spine, cervical spine, and knee and T2-weighted coronal sequences of the shoulder and wrist were generated. The implementation of parallel imaging with the use of GRAPPA2, GRAPPA3, and GRAPPA4 led to a substantial reduction in the scanning time but also degraded image quality. The number of degraded image textural features was correlated with the scanning time. Longer scan times correlated with markedly higher ITF image persistence in comparison with images computed with reduced scan times. Higher ITF preservation was observed in images of bones in the spine and femur as compared to images of soft tissues, i.e., tendons and muscles. Finally, a nonparametrized image quality assessment based on an analysis of the ITF, computed for different tissues, correlating with the changes in acquisition time of the MRimages, was successfully developed. The correlation between acquisition time and the number of reproducible features present in an MR image was found to yield the necessary assumptions to calculate the quality index

Magnetic Resonance Image Quality Assessment by Using Non-Maximum Suppression and Entropy Analysis

An investigation of diseases using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging requires automatic image quality assessment methods able to exclude low-quality scans. Such methods can be also employed for an optimization of parameters of imaging systems or evaluation of image processing algorithms. Therefore, in this paper, a novel blind image quality assessment (BIQA) method for the evaluation of MR images is introduced. It is observed that the result of filtering using non-maximum suppression (NMS) strongly depends on the perceptual quality of an input image. Hence, in the method, the image is first processed by the NMS with various levels of acceptable local intensity difference. Then, the quality is efficiently expressed by the entropy of a sequence of extrema numbers obtained with the thresholded NMS. The proposed BIQA approach is compared with ten state-of-the-art techniques on a dataset containing MR images and subjective scores provided by 31 experienced radiologists. The Pearson, Spearman, Kendall correlation coefficients and root mean square error for the method assessing images in the dataset were 0.6741, 0.3540, 0.2428, and 0.5375, respectively. The extensive experimental evaluation of the BIQA methods reveals that the introduced measure outperforms related techniques by a large margin as it correlates better with human scores

Image processing in detection of knee joints injuries based on MRI images

This paper presents image processing methods for visualization and classification of medial meniscus tears. The first method uses watershed with a threshold segmentation approach. The algorithm was tested on a number of images of the knee obtained with a use of the magnetic resonance imaging technique (MR). Images of the knee were collected from healthy subjects and patients with a clinically diagnosed meniscal pathology. Then, watershed technique was compared with other popular methods of image segmentation, i.e. simple thresholding and region growing. For this purpose, the execution speed and the efficiency of the methods were analyzed. Additionally, an automatic detection of the meniscus based on MRI of the knee joint was developed. The solutions were implemented using classical image processing methods in the MATLAB environment with an application of the Image Processing Toolbox and MVtec Halcon vision libraries. The presented methods will have a practical value for the referring physicians and the diagnostic imaging specialists

Zasoby wietrzne w strukturze miejskiej – analiza numeryczna CFD. Możliwości wykorzystania energii wiatru na przykładzie osiedla Słonecznego w Szczecinie

The issue of wind in an urbanized structure, considered in the context of benefits, forces to undertake activities across multiple disciplines. The lack of understanding of the aerodynamic phenomena in heterogeneous space may lead to failures in implemented projects. The article presents the general scope of issues related to the urban wind turbine and the numerical CFD simulation of air flows in the Słoneczne housing estate in Szczecin, together with the conclusions drawn from it.Problematyka wiatru w strukturze zurbanizowanej, rozpatrywana w kontekście korzyści, zmusza do podejmowania działań z zakresu wielu dyscyplin. Brak zrozumienia zjawisk aerodynamicznych w przestrzeni niejednorodnej prowadzić może do niepowodzeń w realizowanych projektach. W artykule przedstawiono ogólny zakres zagadnień związanych z wiatrowymi turbinami miejskimi UWT oraz symulację numeryczną CFD przepływów powietrza na szczecińskim osiedlu mieszkaniowym Słoneczne, wraz z płynącymi z niej wnioskami

Dziedzictwo poprzemysłowe jako atrakcja turystyczna – istniejące zasoby i możliwości ich wykorzystania na przykładzie wybranych obiektów Szczecina

The aim of the work is to review, taking into account the possibilities of touristic use, selected post-industrial objects in Szczecin. Residues successfully managed for tourist purposes were indicated. All of the non-hotel facilities selected were those that have tourism potential, indicating the possibilities of their development for tourism purposes and the features that would make them become a Post-Industrial Tourist Facility (PPOT). Conclusions from the conducted research indicate actions that should be taken to rescue postindustrial heritage, enabling the development of post-industrial tourism in Szczecin.Celem pracy jest dokonanie przeglądu, uwzględniającego możliwości wykorzystania turystycznego, wybranych obiektów poprzemysłowych na terenie Szczecina. Wskazano zabytki z powodzeniem zagospodarowane dla celów turystycznych. Ze wszystkich niezagospodarowanych obiektów wybrano te, które posiadają potencjał turystyczny, wskazując możliwości ich zagospodarowania dla celów turystycznych oraz cechy predysponujące je do stania się Poprzemysłowym Obiektem Turystycznym (PPOT). Wnioski z przeprowadzonych badań wskazują działania, które należy podjąć celem ratowania dziedzictwa poprzemysłowego, umożliwiające rozwój turystyki poprzemysłowej Szczecina

Znaczenie badania ultrasonograficznego w diagnostyce różnicowej barku

Because its superficially located soft tissue structures are readily accessible, the shoulder joint constitutes an appropriate area for ultrasonographic examination. Technical progress in the field of ultrasonography and the continuously increasing experience of the examiners has markedly increased the diagnostic usefulness of this imaging modality. Ultrasonographic evaluation has advantages over other imaging modalities, with its possibility of dynamic examination, which provides an opportunity for a much more accurate evaluation of joint structures while in motion. As a diagnostic method, ultrasonography is also preferred by patients. The most common cause of pain associated both with degenerative process-induced changes and the posttraumatic shoulder syndrome is supraspinatus muscle tendon tear – ultrasonography enables the identification of various types of injury of this component and other rotator cuff components. Dynamic evaluation increases diagnostic accuracy in the evaluation of the causes of subacromial impingement including instability of the humeral joint and instability of the acromioclavicular joint, the pathology of which has recently been ascertained as being among the most important causes of shoulder pain. Other pathologic conditions related to extra-skeletal calcifications within the soft tissue structures of the shoulder joint as well as degenerative protrusions from the acromioclavicular joint are readily visualised by means of ultrasonography. Ultrasonographic evaluation is also a recognised method in the assessment of the superficially located tendon of the long head of biceps brachii muscle and it has been proven as a very accurate method in the assessment of both chronic and acute biceps tendinitis. It is also considered to be one of the best imaging methods used for the detection of the presence of fluid in the gliding spaces and the joint cavity of the shoulder. Depending on the experience of the sonographer, ultrasound evaluation should be considered the imaging study of choice for the detection of pathological changes in soft tissues of the shoulder and be used as a valuable tool for the assessment of different functional pathological states