Developing an imaging bi-spectrometer for fluorescent materials

Fluorescent effects have been observed for thousands of years. Stokes, in 1852, began the science of fluorescence culminating in his law of fluorescence, which explained that fluorescence emission occurs at longer wavelengths than the excitation wavelength. This phenomenon is observed extensively in the art world. Daylight fluorescent colors known as Day-Glo have become an artistic medium since the 1960s. Modern artists exploit these saturated and brilliant colors to glitter their painting. Multispectral imaging as a noninvasive technique has been used for archiving by museums and cultural-heritage institutions for about a decade. The complex fluorescence phenomenon has been often ignored in the multispectral projects. The ignored fluorescence results in errors in digital imaging of artwork containing fluorescent colors. The illuminant-dependency of the fluorescence radiance makes the fluorescence colorimetry and consequently spectral imaging more complex. In this dissertation an abridged imaging bi-spectrometer for artwork containing both fluorescent and non-fluorescent colors was developed. The method developed included two stages of reconstruction of the spectral reflected radiance factor and prediction of the fluorescent radiance factor. The estimation of the reflected radiance factor as a light source independent component was achieved by imaging with a series of short-wavelength cutoff filters placed in the illumination path. The fluorescent radiance factor, a light source dependent component, was estimated based on a proposed model, the abridged two-monochromator method. The abridged two-monochromator method was developed for reconstructing the bi-spectral matrix of a fluorescent color based on a calibrated UV-fluorescence imaging. In this way, one could predict the fluorescence radiance factor under any desired illuminant and consequently a better color evaluation and rendering could be obtained. Furthermore, this method easily fitted in a general system for spectral imaging of paintings containing both fluorescent and non-fluorescent colors. The abridged two-monochromator method could predict fluorescent radiance factor of a fluorescent color via prediction of the true emission and the number of absorbed quanta by a fluorescing specimen for a given viewing light source. The superiority of the abridged fluorescence spectral imaging to the traditional spectral and colorimetric imaging for a few light sources was confirmed using fluorescent and non-fluorescent targets. Additionally, an exploratory visual experiment using a paired-comparison method was performed to evaluate the performance of the abridged fluorescence spectral imaging in comparison to the traditional spectral and colorimetric imaging for rendering images of a reference painting. The abridged fluorescence spectral imaging had better performance than traditional spectral and colorimetric imaging in rendering images for daylight

Pigment selection using Kubelka-Munk Turbid media theory and non-negative least square technique

This report describes a process of pigment selection for reconstructing the Gamblin Conservation Colors and various artist pigments dispersed in linseed oil. Single constant Kubelka–Munk (K-M) turbid media theory and a non-negative least square (NNLS) optimization technique were employed in this experiment. Eleven pigments were selected as representative of the 30-pigments Gamblin Conservation Colors. These were quinacridone red (PV 19), venetian red (PR 101), cadmium red medium (PR 108), cadmium yellow medium (PY 37), indian yellow (PY 83), chromium oxide green (PG 17), phthalocyanine green (PG 7), phthalocyanine blue (PB 15:2), cobalt blue (PB 28), titanium dioxide white (PW 6), and ivory black (PBK 9)

A prototype calibration target for spectral imaging

A prototype calibration target was designed and tested for spectral imaging that consisted of 14 samples, nine of which were derived from statistical analyses of artist paints and a five-step grey scale. This target was compared with those commonly used when calibrating spectral-imaging systems. An Esser TE221 scanner target, GretagMacbeth ColorChecker DC, GretagMacbeth ColorChecker Color Rendition Chart, and the prototype target were used as both calibration and verification targets using a modified commercial color-filter-array digital camera as a spectralimaging device. When evaluating a verification target made from 30 different pigments, the prototype target had equivalent performance. Thus for spectral imaging, the spectral properties are more important than the number of samples or its colorimetric range of colors

Birth prevalence of genital anomalies among males conceived by intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles: A cross-sectional study

Background: Several studies have been conducted worldwide to evaluate the prevalence and relative risks of congenital anomalies associated with assisted reproductive technology cycles; however, there is limited data in Iran. Objective: To investigate male genital anomalies among live births from assisted reproductive technology. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on children born after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) at Royan Institute, Tehran, Iran from April 2013-December 2015. The prevalence of male genitalia disorders that included hypospadias, epispadias, cryptorchidism, micropenis, and vanishing testis were reported. The relationship between the cause of infertility and type of embryo transfer (fresh or frozen), gestational age at birth (term or preterm), and birth weight with these male genitalia anomalies were evaluated. Results: In total, 4409 pregnant women were followed after their ICSI cycles to evaluate genitalia anomalies in their children. Out of 5608 live births, 2614 (46.61%) newborns were male, of which 14 cases (0.54%) had genital anomalies. The prevalence of various anomalies were cryptorchidism (0.34%), hypospadias (0.038%), micropenis (0.038%), vanishing testis (0.038%), and epispadias (0.077%). No relationship was found between the cause of infertility, type of embryo transfer (fresh or frozen), gestational age at birth (term or preterm), and male genital malformation (p = 0.33, p = 0.66, and p = 0.62, respectively). Conclusion: The prevalence of each male genital anomaly after the ICSI cycle was rare and less than 0.5%; however, no significant infertility-related factor was observed with these anomalies. Key words: Cryptorchidism, Hypospadias, Microinjections, Prevalence, Reproductive techniques, Urogenital abnormalitie

The Effects of Foeniculum vulgare Seed Extract on Fertility Results of Assisted Reproductive Technology in Women With Poor Ovarian Response

Objectives: Foeniculum vulgare due to phytoestrogens is important in the treatment of female sexual dysfunction including infertility. Accordingly, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of the F. vulgare seed extract on the fertility results of assisted reproductive technology (ART) in women with a poor ovarian response (POR). Materials and Methods: In this before-after intervention, 19 infertile women with POR were enrolled by a convenience sampling method. The amounts of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), ovarian ultrasound volume, the number of preantral follicles, and the size of the prominent ovary were measured before treatment with F. vulgare. Then, patients were treated with F. vulgare for two months, followed by initiating the in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle. The number of embryos transferred in previous and current cycles was investigated after IVF. Finally, the data were analyzed in SPSS 16. Results: There was a significant difference in the serum LH level (P = 0.002), LH/FSH (P = 0.049), the number of follicles and ovules (P = 0.003), endometrial thickness (P = 0.04), and ovarian volume (P = 0.03) between before and after treatment with F. vulgare. Moreover, a significant difference regarding the decreased number of required days for induction was observed between before and after treatment with F. vulgare (P = 0.022). Conclusions: In general, the use of F. vulgare had positive effects on improving the quality of oocytes and female fertility indices in women with POR. Keywords:Foeniculum vulgare; Fertility; Ovarian failure; Phytotherapy; Assisted reproductive technique

Reproducibility of deep learning in digital pathology whole slide image analysis

Funding: This work is supported by the Industrial Centre for AI Research in digital Diagnostics (iCAIRD) which is funded by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) [project number: 104690], and in part by Chief Scientist Office, Scotland.For a method to be widely adopted in medical research or clinical practice, it needs to be reproducible so that clinicians and regulators can have confidence in its use. Machine learning and deep learning have a particular set of challenges around reproducibility. Small differences in the settings or the data used for training a model can lead to large differences in the outcomes of experiments. In this work, three top-performing algorithms from the Camelyon grand challenges are reproduced using only information presented in the associated papers and the results are then compared to those reported. Seemingly minor details were found to be critical to performance and yet their importance is difficult to appreciate until the actual reproduction is attempted. We observed that authors generally describe the key technical aspects of their models well but fail to maintain the same reporting standards when it comes to data preprocessing which is essential to reproducibility. As an important contribution of the present study and its findings, we introduce a reproducibility checklist that tabulates information that needs to be reported in histopathology ML-based work in order to make it reproducible.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Effect of Guided Imagery and Music on the Level of Sexual Satisfaction of Women of Reproductive Age: A parallel cluster- Randomized Trial

Background & aim: As one of the most influential factors of marital life, sexual satisfaction can significantly lead to peace and compatibility of couples. The present study investigated the effect of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) on the level of sexual satisfaction in women of reproductive age.Methods: In this parallel cluster-randomized trial which was conducted from Feb. 2019 to Apr. 2020, 72 women of reproductive age (two groups of 36 subjects) who had moderate or undesirable sexual satisfaction were sampled. The guided imagery music was presented for the intervention group for 6 weeks as twice a week. No intervention was performed for the control group.  The data collection tool included fertility characteristics and Larson questionnaires, which was completed before, immediately and one month after the intervention. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 20) using independent t-test, chi-square, Mann-Whitney and variance analysis with repeated measurements.Results:  There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the sexual satisfaction score before the intervention. The mean sexual satisfaction score in the intervention group had a statistically significant difference between the baseline (91.1±9.1), immediately after intervention (112±4.46) and one month later (102±9.24) (P< 0.001). However, there was no significant difference between the changes in the sexual satisfaction of women in the control group between three times.Conclusion: GIM technique improves women's sexual satisfaction. It is recommended to health care providers to use this behavioral technique to enhance the level of sexual satisfaction in women of reproductive age