Development of an electronic medical report delivery system to 3G GSM mobile (cellular) phones for a medical imaging department

Author name used in this publication: Dagan FengAuthor name used in this publication: Michael FulhamRefereed conference paper2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

An illumination-invariant phase-shifting algorithm for three-dimensional profilometry

Image Processing: Machine Vision Applications V, Burlingame, California, USA, 22 January, 2012Uneven illumination is a common problem in real optical systems for machine vision applications, and it contributes significant errors when using phase-shifting algorithms (PSA) to reconstruct the surface of a moving object. Here, we propose an illumination-reflectivity-focus (IRF) model to characterize this uneven illumination effect on phase-measuring profilometry. With this model, we separate the illumination factor effectively, and then formulate the phase reconstruction as an optimization problem. To simplify the optimization process, we calibrate the uneven illumination distribution beforehand, and then use the calibrated illumination information during surface profilometry. After calibration, the degrees of freedom are reduced. Accordingly, we develop a novel illumination-invariant phase-shifting algorithm (II-PSA) to reconstruct the surface of a moving object under an uneven illumination environment. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can improve the reconstruction quality both visually and numerically. Therefore, using this IRF model and the corresponding II-PSA, not only can we handle uneven illumination in a real optical system with a large field of view (FOV), but we also develop a robust and efficient method for reconstructing the surface of a moving object. © 2012 Copyright Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).link_to_subscribed_fulltextpublished_or_final_versio

Recent Cases

Constitutional Law-First Amendment-School Authorities May Prohibit High School Student\u27s Distribution of Sex Questionnaire to Prevent Possible Psychological Harm to Other Students Robert Edward Banta Plaintiff, editor of a high school publication,\u27 brought suit in federal court seeking an order compelling defendant school officials to allow the student publication to distribute a sex questionnaire,to students in the high school and to publish the results. Plaintiff claimed that defendants had not shown that the planned distribution would disrupt school activities and that, therefore, defendants\u27prohibition of the questionnaire violated 42 U.S.C. § 19831 and the first and fourteenth amendments. Pointing to potential psychological harm to students, defendants argued that the state\u27s interest in protecting the students\u27 emotional well-being outweighed plaintiffs interest in distributing the questionnaire. The trial court held that defendants could prohibit distribution of the questionnaire to ninth-and tenth-grade students but not to eleventh- and twelfth-grade students. On appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held, reversed in part\u27 and remanded with instructions to dismiss the complaint. If school officials reasonably believe that distribution on school grounds of a high school student\u27s questionnaire soliciting information about the sexual habits of his fellow students might cause psychological harm to other students, then prohibition of the questionnaire does not violate the right to freedom of expression of the student seeking to distribute the questionnaire. Trachtman v. Anker, 563 F.2d 512 (2d Cir. 1977). Corporations--Freeze-Out Mergers--The Delaware Supreme Court Requires Majority Shareholder Proof of a Valid Business Purpose As a Component of Entire Fairness in Freeze-Out Merger Challenges Oby T. Brewer, III Recent declines in stock market averages\u27 accompanied by costly disclosure requirements imposed under the federal securities laws have prompted many companies to reconsider their positions as publicly held corporations. In response to the resulting minimal benefits of public ownership, many controlling shareholders now seek to increase their control and participation in a corporation\u27s future profits by going private.\u27 One means of going private is the freeze-out merger, by which a parent company forces the liquidation of minority interests in a publicly held subsidiary through a merger of the subsidiary with the parent. By complying with applicable state merger statutes, the parent may eliminate the minority\u27s shares by tendering a cash-out price, which the minority either must accept or have appraised judicially. The merger statutes thus represent a legislative compromise between total majority control and the single vote veto available to the minority at common law. Criminal Procedure--Prosecutorial Immunity-Federal Prosecutor Is Not Absolutely Immune From Suit for Alleged Perjury Cornelia Anne Clark Plaintiffs\u27 brought a civil action in tort charging that defendant federal prosecutor\u27s alleged perjury at a hearing incident to a grand jury investigation of plaintiffs\u27 activities\u27 violated their constitutional rights. On motion to dismiss, defendant contended that he enjoyed absolute quasi-judicial immunity because he had been acting at the hearing in his official capacity as a special federal prosecutor. The district court\u27 denied the motion, holding that the doctrine of quasi-judicial immunity does not apply when the prosecutor is alleged to have committed perjury. On interlocutory appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, held, affirmed. Because a federal prosecutor\u27s perjury during a court hearing incident and prior to a grand jury investigation falls within his investigative duty rather than his advocatory duty,the prosecutor is entitled only to a qualified immunity.\u27 Briggs v.Goodwin, No. 75-1642 (D.C. Cir. Sept. 21, 1977). Securities Law--Rule 10b-5-Defense of In Pari Delicto Bars Private Damage Action Brought Against Tipper by Tippee Who Fails to Disclose Before Trading Terry Currie Tippees\u27 brought a private action for damages under section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and rule 10b-53 charging that defendant tippers disseminated false and misleading material inside information in advising plaintiffs of an imminent merger between two corporations that would result in appreciated stock values.\u27 In reliance on this information, plaintiffs purchased stock in one of the corporations and subsequently incurred substantial losses on the stock when the proposed merger did not occur. Defendants moved for summary judgment, claiming that the doctrine of in pari delicto barred plaintiffs\u27 recovery because plaintiffs also had violated rule 10b-5 by failing to make full disclosure of the inside information before trading on the open market.\u27 The district court granted the tippers\u27 motion for summary judgment. On appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, held, affirmed. When a tippee violates rule 10b-5 by failing to make full disclosure to the investing public of material inside information prior to trading on the open market, the defense of in pari delicto bars a rule 10b-5 private damage action by the tippee against the tipper. Torts--Negligence--Child Has Cause of Action for Preconception Medical Malpractice Douglas William Ey, Jr. Plaintiff, claiming that she suffered permanent physical injuries\u27 as a result of defendants\u27 conduct prior to her conception,sought to recover damages in a negligence action.2 In 1965 plaintiffs mother,who had Rh negative blood, was given two transfusions of incompatible Rh positive blood in defendant hospital where defendant physician was director of laboratories.\u27 Plaintiff\u27s mother did not discover that these transfusions had sensitized her blood until shortly before plaintiffs birth in 1973. Defendants moved to dis-miss for failure to state a cause of action, arguing that because plaintiff had not been conceived at the time of the alleged negligent conduct, defendants owed no duty of care to plaintiff. The trial court granted defendants\u27 motion, but the Illinois Appellate Court reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings. On appeal to the Supreme Court of Illinois, held, affirmed. A child injured by the negligent acts of a physician and a hospital committed against his mother prior to his conception has a cause of action based on negligence. Renslow v. Mennonite Hospital, 367 N.E.2d 1250 (Ill.1977)

Structural Insights into Notum Covalent Inhibition

The carboxylesterase Notum hydrolyzes a palmitoleate moiety from Wingless/Integrated(Wnt) ligands and deactivates Wnt signaling. Notum inhibitors can restore Wnt signaling which may be of therapeutic benefit for pathologies such as osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease. We report the identification of a novel class of covalent Notum inhibitors, 4-(indolin-1-yl)-4-oxobutanoate esters. High-resolution crystal structures of the Notum inhibitor complexes reveal a common covalent adduct formed between the nucleophile serine-232 and hydrolyzed butyric esters. The covalent interaction in solution was confirmed by mass spectrometry analysis. Inhibitory potencies vary depending on the warheads used. Mechanistically, the resulting acyl-enzyme intermediate carbonyl atom is positioned at an unfavorable angle for the approach of the active site water, which, combined with strong hydrophobic interactions with the enzyme pocket residues, hinders the intermediate from being further processed and results in covalent inhibition. These insights into Notum catalytic inhibition may guide development of more potent Notum inhibitors

Low Level of Transmitted HIV Drug Resistance at Two HIV Care Centres in Ghana: A Threshold Survey

Background: As access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) increases, the emergence and transmission of HIV drug resistant strains becomes a major problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) therefore recommends an initial minimum-resource method to signal when transmitted HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) requires action.Objective: This survey sought to generate information on the presence of HIV drug-resistant strains in the locality where Ghana’s ART for HIV was first introduced.Methods: The Ghana HIVDR threshold survey (TS) was conducted and analyzed according to WHO strategy for surveillance of HIVDR in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Sixty (60) plasma specimens were collected from 2007 to 2009 by an unlinked anonymous method from HIV seropositive pregnant women, aged between 15 to24 years, who were with their first pregnancy and ART naive. Genotyping was done as follows; Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted from the samples and the protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) genes amplified and sequenced. The sequences were then analyzed for HIV drug resistance mutations using Stanford University HIV Drug Resistance Database.Results: Only two individuals were found with major HIVDR mutations: one each in the PR and RT genes. Thus the level of HIVDR in the study population in 2009 was classified as low (< 5%).Conclusion: As at February 2009, transmitted drug resistance was not a serious problem in the Eastern Region of Ghana. However, it is important to continue monitoring tHIVDR in order to understand the dynamics of the evolution of HIV drug resistance in the country

Justice Stevens: The First Three Terms

This Special Project undertakes an examination of Justice Stevens\u27 Supreme Court opinions in an effort to identify his philosophical orientations, to evaluate the consistency of his views, and to determine the extent to which he has developed workable analytical methods. To achieve these goals, Justice Stevens\u27 opinions are examined in three contexts: first, the area of federal-state relations,including commerce clause and supremacy clause questions; second, the individual rights area, emphasizing criminal constitutional and first amendment issues, and problems of fifth and fourteenth amendment analysis; and third, questions concerning the proper role of the Supreme Court in the constitutional scheme. Even though any vote cast by a Supreme Court Justice may illustrate a significant aspect of his ideology, this Special Project limits attention to opinions authored by Justice Stevens on the assumption that they most accurately represent his views.\u2

Paleo-landscapes of the Northern Patagonian Massif, Argentina

Fil: Aguilera, Emilia Yolanda. Instituto de Geomorfología y Suelos (IGS). Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Rabassa, Jorge. Laboratorio de Geomorfología y Cuaternario. CADIC. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego; ArgentinaFil: Aragón, Eugenio. Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CIG). Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentin

Integrated stratigraphy of the Priabonian (upper Eocene) Urtsadzor section, Armenia

The transition from the Bartonian to the Priabonian, as traditionally understood, has long been associated with a series of extinctions and originations in several microfossil groups. The planktonic foraminifer genus Morozovelloides and large species of Acarinina suffered a rapid global extinction, as did many radiolarians. Calcareous nannofossils show several assemblage changes including the acme beginning of Cribrocentrum erbae and the lowest and highest occurrences of Chiasmolithus oamaruensis and C. grandis respectively. In shallow water environments, larger foraminifera also show an extinction among large species of Nummulites, as well as the first occurrences of the stratigraphically important genus Spiroclypeus. However, the correlation between shallow and deep water records remains uncertain, as do the mechanisms driving these biotic events. Here we present the results of a new integrated stratigraphical study (calcareous nannofossils, planktonic foraminifera, larger benthic foraminifera, and low-resolution magnetostratigraphy) of the Urtsadzor section in south-western Armenia which appears to be continuous through this interval. The Urtsadzor section consists of calcareous siltstones rich in micro- and nannofossils, with interbedded limestones containing abundant larger benthic foraminifera. Our new data enable us to correlate larger foraminiferal events with global plankton biostratigraphy, in a section outside of southwest Europe where most previous correlations have been based. At Urtsadzor, the large Nummulites species of N. millecaput-group are present throughout the whole section but decrease in abundance toward the top. The first occurrence of Spiroclypeus, also occurs in the upper part of the section, marking the SBZ 18/19 boundary. These events are associated with the phylogenetic development of the Nummulites fabianii and Heterostegina reticulata lineages. However, the calcareous plankton biostratigraphy indicates the section is well within the Priabonian; within planktonic foraminiferal Zones E14 and E15 and calcareous nannoplankton Zones CNE 18 and CNE 19. These results indicate larger foraminiferal events occur well above the planktonic foraminiferal extinction level and nannofossil assemblage changes indicating the events are not synchronous across groups, with implications for biostratigraphy and recognition of the basal Priabonian in different depositional settings and regions

Editorial: The Mammary Stroma in Normal Development and Function

The mammary gland can no longer be simply viewed as an organ composed of epithelial cells within a passive stromal microenvironment. Many lines of evidence have evolved to reinforce the notion that mammary epithelial cell growth, differentiation, lactation and progression to cancer involves bidirectional interactions between the epithelial population and its surrounding stroma. Within this stroma are numerous systems that are all capable of modulating epithelial function. In this context, the mammary stroma is not simply a depot of adipose tissue in which mammary epithelial cells undertake a unique growth and differentiation process, although adipocytes can impart numerous modulatory signals to epithelial cells, and vice versa. Rather, the stromal environment constitutes and supports a critical vasculature that supplies nutrients and endocrine cues, a lymphatic system that not only removes metabolites but also provides an intimate interface with the immune system, and an extracellular matrix scaffold in which epithelial cells grow, differentiate and regress. Ultimately all of these components play a critical role in directing the epithelial phenotype during normal mammary gland growth and function. An increasing appreciation for these different systems demands a view of mammary epithelial cells in a much different light, and further necessitates the development of model systems that incorporate and integrate increasing complexity

Therapeutic DNA vaccine induces broad T cell responses in the gut and sustained protection from viral rebound and AIDS in SIV-infected rhesus macaques.

Immunotherapies that induce durable immune control of chronic HIV infection may eliminate the need for life-long dependence on drugs. We investigated a DNA vaccine formulated with a novel genetic adjuvant that stimulates immune responses in the blood and gut for the ability to improve therapy in rhesus macaques chronically infected with SIV. Using the SIV-macaque model for AIDS, we show that epidermal co-delivery of plasmids expressing SIV Gag, RT, Nef and Env, and the mucosal adjuvant, heat-labile E. coli enterotoxin (LT), during antiretroviral therapy (ART) induced a substantial 2-4-log fold reduction in mean virus burden in both the gut and blood when compared to unvaccinated controls and provided durable protection from viral rebound and disease progression after the drug was discontinued. This effect was associated with significant increases in IFN-γ T cell responses in both the blood and gut and SIV-specific CD8+ T cells with dual TNF-α and cytolytic effector functions in the blood. Importantly, a broader specificity in the T cell response seen in the gut, but not the blood, significantly correlated with a reduction in virus production in mucosal tissues and a lower virus burden in plasma. We conclude that immunizing with vaccines that induce immune responses in mucosal gut tissue could reduce residual viral reservoirs during drug therapy and improve long-term treatment of HIV infection in humans