An overview of medical image processing methods

Since human life is worthier than all things, efforts on virtual animation and visualization of human body’s viscera, without surgical interference to diagnose a disease is very important. Recently, modern medical instruments are able to produce views which can be used for better diagnoses and accurate treatment. Various standards were formed regarding these instruments and end products that are being used more frequently everyday. Personal computers (PCs) have reached a significant level in image processing, carried analysis and visualization processes which could be done with expensive hardware on doctors’ desktops. The next step is to try to find out proper solutions by software developers andengineers that help doctors to make decision by combining opportunities in these two scientific areas. The objective of the present study is to construct 3D models and present it to users on screen in personal computers by using data acquired from tomography and magnetic resonance instruments. In order to realize this objective, developing software is aimed. In the second and third sections, the datastructures and processing of 3D volumetric data in digital format, 3D visualization techniques and theoretical subjects about methods and algorithms used are explained. In the forth section, explanations on developing a software package for the realization of the objective of the study, its usage and information about software development tools used are given. In the last section, the determinations made at the end of trials in this study, difficulties met and recommendations obtained in the light of the trial results are presented

Mock juror perceptions of child witnesses on the autism spectrum: the impact of providing diagnostic labels and information about autism

Research suggests that autistic children can provide accurate and forensically useful eyewitness evidence. However, members of a jury also rely on non-verbal behaviours when judging the credibility of a witness, and this could determine the verdict of a case. We presented mock jurors with videos (from an experimental study) of one of two child witnesses on the autism spectrum being interviewed about a mock minor crime. Results demonstrated that providing jurors with generic information about autism and/or informing them of the child’s diagnostic label differentially affected credibility ratings, but not for both children. Implications for how to present information about child witnesses with autism to a jury – highlighting the need for approaches tailored to individual children – are discussed

Predator Cat Odors Activate Sexual Arousal Pathways in Brains of Toxoplasma gondii Infected Rats

Cat odors induce rapid, innate and stereotyped defensive behaviors in rats at first exposure, a presumed response to the evolutionary pressures of predation. Bizarrely, rats infected with the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii approach the cat odors they typically avoid. Since the protozoan Toxoplasma requires the cat to sexually reproduce, this change in host behavior is thought to be a remarkable example of a parasite manipulating a mammalian host for its own benefit. Toxoplasma does not influence host response to non-feline predator odor nor does it alter behavior on olfactory, social, fear or anxiety tests, arguing for specific manipulation in the processing of cat odor. We report that Toxoplasma infection alters neural activity in limbic brain areas necessary for innate defensive behavior in response to cat odor. Moreover, Toxoplasma increases activity in nearby limbic regions of sexual attraction when the rat is exposed to cat urine, compelling evidence that Toxoplasma overwhelms the innate fear response by causing, in its stead, a type of sexual attraction to the normally aversive cat odor

PC-based generation of real-time realistic synthetic scenes for low altitude flights

Generation of crowded realistic scenes that include thousands of 3D objects for low altitude flights is not a widely covered topic. In this study we tried to generate immersive and dynamic realistic scenes for low altitude flights by using low cost PC configuration. At the end of the study encouraging results were obtained. Some features offered by high-end image generators regarding out-the-window scene were transported into our implementation. Hundreds of moving human beings, vehicles with realistic motion and very dense forests are rendered at interactive frame rates resulting in a low cost/high performance application. Limited number of pilots reviewed the scenes generated by our application and were satisfied

General anaesthesia versus local anaesthesia for carotid surgery (GALA): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: The effect of carotid endarterectomy in lowering the risk of stroke ipsilateral to severe atherosclerotic carotid-artery stenosis is offset by complications during or soon after surgery. We compared surgery under general anaesthesia with that under local anaesthesia because prediction and avoidance of perioperative strokes might be easier under local anaesthesia than under general anaesthesia. METHODS: We undertook a parallel group, multicentre, randomised controlled trial of 3526 patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic carotid stenosis from 95 centres in 24 countries. Participants were randomly assigned to surgery under general (n=1753) or local (n=1773) anaesthesia between June, 1999 and October, 2007. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with stroke (including retinal infarction), myocardial infarction, or death between randomisation and 30 days after surgery. Analysis was by intention to treat. The trial is registered with Current Control Trials number ISRCTN00525237. FINDINGS: A primary outcome occurred in 84 (4.8%) patients assigned to surgery under general anaesthesia and 80 (4.5%) of those assigned to surgery under local anaesthesia; three events per 1000 treated were prevented with local anaesthesia (95% CI -11 to 17; risk ratio [RR] 0.94 [95% CI 0.70 to 1.27]). The two groups did not significantly differ for quality of life, length of hospital stay, or the primary outcome in the prespecified subgroups of age, contralateral carotid occlusion, and baseline surgical risk. INTERPRETATION: We have not shown a definite difference in outcomes between general and local anaesthesia for carotid surgery. The anaesthetist and surgeon, in consultation with the patient, should decide which anaesthetic technique to use on an individual basis. FUNDING: The Health Foundation (UK) and European Society of Vascular Surgery