AIM:To investigate the performance of a new software-based colonoscopy quality assessment system.METHODS:The software-based system employs a novel image processing algorithm which detects the levels of image clarity,w...AIM:To investigate the performance of a new software-based colonoscopy quality assessment system.METHODS:The software-based system employs a novel image processing algorithm which detects the levels of image clarity,withdrawal velocity,and level of the bowel preparation in a real-time fashion from live video signal.Threshold levels of image blurriness and the withdrawal velocity below which the visualization could be considered adequate have initially been determined arbitrarily by review of sample colonoscopy videos by two experienced endoscopists.Subsequently,an overall colonoscopy quality rating was computed based on the percentage of the withdrawal time with adequate visualization(scored 1-5;1,when the percentage was 1%-20%;2,when the percentage was 21%-40%,etc.).In order to test the proposed velocity and blurriness thresholds,screening colonoscopy withdrawal videos from a specialized ambulatory colon cancer screening center were collected,automatically processed and rated.Quality ratings on the withdrawal were compared to the insertion in the same patients.Then,3 experienced endoscopists reviewed the collected videos in a blinded fashion and rated the overall quality of each withdrawal(scored 1-5;1,poor;3,average;5,excellent) based on 3 major aspects:image quality,colon preparation,and withdrawal velocity.The automated quality ratings were compared to the averaged endoscopist quality ratings using Spearman correlation coefficient.RESULTS:Fourteen screening colonoscopies were assessed.Adenomatous polyps were detected in 4/14(29%) of the collected colonoscopy video samples.As a proof of concept,the Colometer software rated colonoscope withdrawal as having better visualization than the insertion in the 10 videos which did not have any polyps(average percent time with adequate visualization:79% ± 5% for withdrawal and 50% ± 14% for insertion,P < 0.01).Withdrawal times during which no polyps were removed ranged from 4-12 min.The median quality rating from the automated system and the reviewers was 3.45 [interquartile range(IQR),3.1-3.68] and 3.00(IQR,2.33-3.67) respectively for all colonoscopy video samples.The automated rating revealed a strong correlation with the reviewer's rating(ρ coefficient= 0.65,P = 0.01).There was good correlation of the automated overall quality rating and the mean endoscopist withdrawal speed rating(Spearman r coefficient= 0.59,P = 0.03).There was no correlation of automated overall quality rating with mean endoscopists image quality rating(Spearman r coefficient= 0.41,P = 0.15).CONCLUSION:The results from a novel automated real-time colonoscopy quality feedback system strongly agreed with the endoscopists' quality assessments.Further study is required to validate this approach.展开更多
In manufacture of precise optical products, it is important to inspect and classify the potential defects existing on the products’ surfaces after precise machining in order to obtain high quality in both functionali...In manufacture of precise optical products, it is important to inspect and classify the potential defects existing on the products’ surfaces after precise machining in order to obtain high quality in both functionality and aesthetics. The existing methods for detecting and classifying defects all are low accuracy or efficiency or high cost in inspection process. In this paper, a new inspection system based on machine vision has been introduced, which uses automatic focusing and image mosaic technologies to rapidly acquire distinct surface image, and employs Case-Based Reasoning(CBR)method in defects classification. A modificatory fuzzy similarity algorithm in CBR has been adopted for more quick and robust need of pattern recognition in practice inspection. Experiments show that the system can inspect surface diameter of 500mm in half an hour with resolving power of 0.8μm diameter according to digs or 0.5μm transverse width according to scratches. The proposed inspection principles and methods not only have meet manufacturing requirements of precise optical products, but also have great potential applications in other fields of precise surface inspection.展开更多
GPR54 is highly expressed in the central nervous system and plays a crucial role in pubertal development. However, GRP54 is also expressed in the immune system, implying possible immunoregulatory functions. Here we in...GPR54 is highly expressed in the central nervous system and plays a crucial role in pubertal development. However, GRP54 is also expressed in the immune system, implying possible immunoregulatory functions. Here we investigated the role of GPR54 in T cell and immune tolerance. GPR54 deficiency led to an enlarged thymus, an increased number of thymocytes, and altered thymic micro-architecture starting around puberty, indicating GPR54 function in T-cell development through its regulatory effect on the gonadal system. However, flow cytometry revealed a significant reduction in the peripheral regulatory T cell population and a moderate decrease in CD4 single-positive thymocytes in prepubertal Gpr54^(-/-) mice. These phenotypes were confirmed in chimeric mice with GPR54 deficient bone marrow-derived cells. In addition, we found elevated T cell activation in peripheral and thymic T cells in Gpr54^(-/-) mice. When intact mice were immunized with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, a more severe experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis(EAE) developed in the Gpr54^(-/-) mice. Interestingly, aggravated EAE disease was also manifested in castrated and bone marrow chimeric Gpr54^(-/-) mice compared to the respective wild-type control,suggesting a defect in self-tolerance resulting from GPR54 deletion through a mechanism that bypassed sex hormones. These findings demonstrate a novel role for GPR54 in regulating self-tolerant immunity in a sex hormone independent manner.展开更多
Graph transformation systems have become a general formal modeling language to describe many models in software development process.Behavioral modeling of dynamic systems and model-to-model transformations are only a ...Graph transformation systems have become a general formal modeling language to describe many models in software development process.Behavioral modeling of dynamic systems and model-to-model transformations are only a few examples in which graphs have been used to software development.But even the perfect graph transformation system must be equipped with automated analysis capabilities to let users understand whether such a formal specification fulfills their requirements.In this paper,we present a new solution to verify graph transformation systems using the Bogor model checker.The attributed graph grammars(AGG)-like graph transformation systems are translated to Bandera intermediate representation(BIR),the input language of Bogor,and Bogor verifies the model against some interesting properties defined by combining linear temporal logic(LTL) and special-purpose graph rules.Experimental results are encouraging,showing that in most cases our solution improves existing approaches in terms of both performance and expressiveness.展开更多
基金Supported by The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Partially)
文摘AIM:To investigate the performance of a new software-based colonoscopy quality assessment system.METHODS:The software-based system employs a novel image processing algorithm which detects the levels of image clarity,withdrawal velocity,and level of the bowel preparation in a real-time fashion from live video signal.Threshold levels of image blurriness and the withdrawal velocity below which the visualization could be considered adequate have initially been determined arbitrarily by review of sample colonoscopy videos by two experienced endoscopists.Subsequently,an overall colonoscopy quality rating was computed based on the percentage of the withdrawal time with adequate visualization(scored 1-5;1,when the percentage was 1%-20%;2,when the percentage was 21%-40%,etc.).In order to test the proposed velocity and blurriness thresholds,screening colonoscopy withdrawal videos from a specialized ambulatory colon cancer screening center were collected,automatically processed and rated.Quality ratings on the withdrawal were compared to the insertion in the same patients.Then,3 experienced endoscopists reviewed the collected videos in a blinded fashion and rated the overall quality of each withdrawal(scored 1-5;1,poor;3,average;5,excellent) based on 3 major aspects:image quality,colon preparation,and withdrawal velocity.The automated quality ratings were compared to the averaged endoscopist quality ratings using Spearman correlation coefficient.RESULTS:Fourteen screening colonoscopies were assessed.Adenomatous polyps were detected in 4/14(29%) of the collected colonoscopy video samples.As a proof of concept,the Colometer software rated colonoscope withdrawal as having better visualization than the insertion in the 10 videos which did not have any polyps(average percent time with adequate visualization:79% ± 5% for withdrawal and 50% ± 14% for insertion,P < 0.01).Withdrawal times during which no polyps were removed ranged from 4-12 min.The median quality rating from the automated system and the reviewers was 3.45 [interquartile range(IQR),3.1-3.68] and 3.00(IQR,2.33-3.67) respectively for all colonoscopy video samples.The automated rating revealed a strong correlation with the reviewer's rating(ρ coefficient= 0.65,P = 0.01).There was good correlation of the automated overall quality rating and the mean endoscopist withdrawal speed rating(Spearman r coefficient= 0.59,P = 0.03).There was no correlation of automated overall quality rating with mean endoscopists image quality rating(Spearman r coefficient= 0.41,P = 0.15).CONCLUSION:The results from a novel automated real-time colonoscopy quality feedback system strongly agreed with the endoscopists' quality assessments.Further study is required to validate this approach.
文摘In manufacture of precise optical products, it is important to inspect and classify the potential defects existing on the products’ surfaces after precise machining in order to obtain high quality in both functionality and aesthetics. The existing methods for detecting and classifying defects all are low accuracy or efficiency or high cost in inspection process. In this paper, a new inspection system based on machine vision has been introduced, which uses automatic focusing and image mosaic technologies to rapidly acquire distinct surface image, and employs Case-Based Reasoning(CBR)method in defects classification. A modificatory fuzzy similarity algorithm in CBR has been adopted for more quick and robust need of pattern recognition in practice inspection. Experiments show that the system can inspect surface diameter of 500mm in half an hour with resolving power of 0.8μm diameter according to digs or 0.5μm transverse width according to scratches. The proposed inspection principles and methods not only have meet manufacturing requirements of precise optical products, but also have great potential applications in other fields of precise surface inspection.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31271468)the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality(12ZR1408700)
文摘GPR54 is highly expressed in the central nervous system and plays a crucial role in pubertal development. However, GRP54 is also expressed in the immune system, implying possible immunoregulatory functions. Here we investigated the role of GPR54 in T cell and immune tolerance. GPR54 deficiency led to an enlarged thymus, an increased number of thymocytes, and altered thymic micro-architecture starting around puberty, indicating GPR54 function in T-cell development through its regulatory effect on the gonadal system. However, flow cytometry revealed a significant reduction in the peripheral regulatory T cell population and a moderate decrease in CD4 single-positive thymocytes in prepubertal Gpr54^(-/-) mice. These phenotypes were confirmed in chimeric mice with GPR54 deficient bone marrow-derived cells. In addition, we found elevated T cell activation in peripheral and thymic T cells in Gpr54^(-/-) mice. When intact mice were immunized with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, a more severe experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis(EAE) developed in the Gpr54^(-/-) mice. Interestingly, aggravated EAE disease was also manifested in castrated and bone marrow chimeric Gpr54^(-/-) mice compared to the respective wild-type control,suggesting a defect in self-tolerance resulting from GPR54 deletion through a mechanism that bypassed sex hormones. These findings demonstrate a novel role for GPR54 in regulating self-tolerant immunity in a sex hormone independent manner.
文摘Graph transformation systems have become a general formal modeling language to describe many models in software development process.Behavioral modeling of dynamic systems and model-to-model transformations are only a few examples in which graphs have been used to software development.But even the perfect graph transformation system must be equipped with automated analysis capabilities to let users understand whether such a formal specification fulfills their requirements.In this paper,we present a new solution to verify graph transformation systems using the Bogor model checker.The attributed graph grammars(AGG)-like graph transformation systems are translated to Bandera intermediate representation(BIR),the input language of Bogor,and Bogor verifies the model against some interesting properties defined by combining linear temporal logic(LTL) and special-purpose graph rules.Experimental results are encouraging,showing that in most cases our solution improves existing approaches in terms of both performance and expressiveness.