Kálmán B. Bódis, David-Ioan Florea, Shouheng Goh
et al.
Abstract Background Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and local infections increase the risk of non-healing diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and limb amputations but are treatable by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), local wound care and antibiotic therapy. The exact time to treat chronic leg artery stenosis (LAS) and the role of microbiome composition in DFU remain unclear. This study aims to assess whether an early PTA within 48 h after diagnosing a LAS offers advantages over standard care. Methods The PTA-DFS Study is a randomised controlled monocentric trial including individuals with T2D and DFU, aged > 18 years with haemodynamically relevant chronic LAS. The primary study endpoint is to investigate the impact of the early PTA within 48 h on wound-healing assessed by wound area changes after PTA using a 3D-camera with artificial intelligence (AI)-based wound-analysis-system. The secondary endpoint is the effect of early PTA on the combined occurrence of major adverse limb (MALE) and safety-related cardiac events (MACE) over 12 month post-angioplasty using time-to-event analysis. Additional secondary outcomes are time to complete wound healing, major amputation rate and the need for new revascularization. Explanatory variables for wound healing are wound microbiome changes using whole-genome sequencing and oxygen saturation of the wound environment measured using near-infrared spectroscopy. Data will be collected at baseline, 24 h, 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months after PTA. Diabetic kidney disease, distal symmetric polyneuropathy, retinopathy, cardiomyopathy, LAS will be assessed by laboratory analyses, clinical scores, AI-based fundus photography, echocardiography, duplex sonography, and pulse oscillography. Discussion The PTA-DFS aims to improve diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms, risk assessment and enable tailored therapies for persons with T2D and ischemic DFU. Trial registration Trial Registration Number: NCT06124586 (Registration Date: 2023–08-2).
Diseases of the circulatory (Cardiovascular) system
Meat characterized by a high marbling value is typically anticipated to display enhanced sensory attributes. This study aimed to predict the marbling scores of rib-eye, steaks sourced from the Longissimus dorsi muscle of different cattle types, namely Boran, Senga, and Sheko, by employing digital image processing and machine-learning algorithms. Marbling was analyzed using digital image processing coupled with an extreme gradient boosting (GBoost) machine learning algorithm. Meat texture was assessed using a universal texture analyzer. Sensory characteristics of beef were evaluated through quantitative descriptive analysis with a trained panel of twenty. Using selected image features from digital image processing, the marbling score was predicted with R<sup>2</sup> (prediction) = 0.83. Boran cattle had the highest fat content in sirloin and chuck cuts (12.68% and 12.40%, respectively), followed by Senga (11.59% and 11.56%) and Sheko (11.40% and 11.17%). Tenderness scores for sirloin and chuck cuts differed among the three breeds: Boran (7.06 ± 2.75 and 3.81 ± 2.24, respectively), Senga (5.54 ± 1.90 and 5.25 ± 2.47), and Sheko (5.43 ± 2.76 and 6.33 ± 2.28 Nmm). Sheko and Senga had similar sensory attributes. Marbling scores were higher in Boran (4.28 ± 1.43 and 3.68 ± 1.21) and Senga (2.88 ± 0.69 and 2.83 ± 0.98) compared to Sheko (2.73 ± 1.28 and 2.90 ± 1.52). The study achieved a remarkable milestone in developing a digital tool for predicting marbling scores of Ethiopian beef breeds. Furthermore, the relationship between quality attributes and beef marbling score has been verified. After further validation, the output of this research can be utilized in the meat industry and quality control authorities.
Photography, Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics
Khadija Aguerchi, Younes Jabrane, Maryam Habba
et al.
Breast cancer is considered one of the most-common types of cancers among females in the world, with a high mortality rate. Medical imaging is still one of the most-reliable tools to detect breast cancer. Unfortunately, manual image detection takes much time. This paper proposes a new deep learning method based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Convolutional Neural Networks are widely used for image classification. However, the determination process for accurate hyperparameters and architectures is still a challenging task. In this work, a highly accurate CNN model to detect breast cancer by mammography was developed. The proposed method is based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm in order to look for suitable hyperparameters and the architecture for the CNN model. The CNN model using PSO achieved success rates of 98.23% and 97.98% on the DDSM and MIAS datasets, respectively. The experimental results proved that the proposed CNN model gave the best accuracy values in comparison with other studies in the field. As a result, CNN models for mammography classification can now be created automatically. The proposed method can be considered as a powerful technique for breast cancer prediction.
Photography, Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics
The hazardous rock zone on the Wansui Mountain slope in Ganzi Town, Ganzi County, has experienced frequent rockfalls over the years, posing a serious threat to the lives and property of residents below. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct stability analysis of the hazardous rock zone and rockfall trajectory prediction for the Wansui Mountain slope. Focusing on the dangerous rock zone of Wansui Mountain's slope, the geometric dimensions and 3D morphology of the zone were obtained using drone oblique photography combined with field surveys. The development characteristics of the dangerous rock zone and the distribution characteristics of the dangerous rock bodies were analyzed, and the stability of the dangerous rocks was assessed. Based on RAMMS-ROCKFALL, considering the geometric shapes of the dangerous rocks and the 3D terrain, potential rockfall trajectories after the collapse of the dangerous rocks were simulated.The results show that:The slope is generally intact, with the main instability modes being falling and toppling due to weathering. A total of seven dangerous rock zones have developed, which are in an unstable state under seismic conditions; the simulation provided the relationships between rolling and bouncing heights, speeds, kinetic energy, trajectories, and positions. By predicting the rockfall trajectories, the threat range and targets of the dangerous rock zone were determined. The prediction results indicate a significant threat to the houses and pedestrians on the streets below the slope of Wansui Mountain, and remedial measures should be taken as soon as possible.The research results indicate that the use of drone oblique photography is beneficial for the stability analysis of dangerous rock bodies on slopes, compensating for the blind spots of traditional surveys, and improving the efficiency and quality of the investigation. This provides a new approach for the investigation of dangerous rock bodies and rockfall trajectory analysis, which has positive significance for disaster mitigation technology research and the management of dangerous rock bodies.
Marina Giardinetti, Daniel Foliard, Julien Schuh
et al.
The EyCon dataset, comprising nearly 130,000 JPEG images and pages, documents armed conflicts from the 1890s to 1918, with a focus on extra-European contexts. The project team aggregated thousands of digitized images and metadata from various institutions, including previously inaccessible documents. To enhance metadata, the team conducted visual and multimodal similarity analyses, as well as human and animal detection. Captions were processed to extract named entities for XML-formatted descriptive metadata. Challenges in identifying and publishing graphic images due to automated tools’ limitations in detecting violence were addressed with human expertise for accurate classification. Available online and on Zenodo for download and reuse, the dataset confronts issues in computer vision for heritage photographs, such as degradation from fading, discoloration, scratches and noise, which impair algorithms reliant on visual features. The under-representation of early photographic cultures in datasets introduces bias in applying standard solutions to archival materials.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Language and Literature
The goal is to study the philosophical and anthropological dimension of computerization and digitalization of humanity and their influence on modern art. Research methods — historical and philosophical, philosophy of art, analytical method, synergetics. Scientific novelty. An examination of the evolution of digital art growing out of technology - from digital photography and computer graphics to the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of new artistic images. The former reproducibility of the technical image is complemented by a new understanding of creativity and innovation in digital art, where the problem of authorship and co-authorship is exacerbated as much as possible. A new synergy of art and technology is proposed, which requires philosophical reflection. Conclusions. The revolution of convergence of technologies (Converging Technology) or the revolution of NBIC (NBIC) as a combination of nano-, biotechnologies and cyber-information technologies is a new stage of scientific and technical progress, it has a strong influence on modern culture and art. The synergy of art and technology is revealed in the fact that even a new way of technological representation of the image provides a new unseen aesthetic, the emergent nature of this image is simulative and repetitive, and at the same time innovative. Thus, art created by artificial intelligence can create new unique combinations, in fact it can vary endlessly. Art allows us to articulate and present unexplored ideas, concepts, and phenomena, contributing to debate, changes in aesthetic ideals and social progress. The ability of digital art to transform physical or bodily modes of perception is important, providing new anthropological opportunities for artistic expression and public understanding. In addition, contemporary art has an important aesthetic and ethical impact on sociocultural transformation in the context of contemporary social changes.
Simon Salzmann, Philip Wakili, Sami Al-Nawaiseh
et al.
The prevalent cause of retinal detachment is a full-thickness retinal break and the ingress of fluid into the subretinal space. To prevent progression of the detachment, laser photocoagulation (LPC) lesions are placed around the break in clinical practice to seal the tissue. Unlike the usual application under indirect ophthalmoscopy, we developed a semi-automatic treatment planning software based on a sequence of optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans to perform navigated LPC treatment. The depth information allows demarcation of the border where the neurosensory retina is still attached to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which is critical for prevention of detachment progression. To evaluate the method, artificially provoked retinal breaks were treated in seven ex-vivo porcine eyes. Treatment outcome was assessed by fundus photography and OCT imaging. The automatically applied lesions surrounding each detachment (4.4–39.6 mm<sup>2</sup>) could be identified as highly scattering coagulation regions in color fundus photography and OCT. Between the planned and applied pattern, a mean offset of 68 µm (SD ± 16.5 µm) and a mean lesion spacing error of 5 µm (SD ± 10 µm) was achieved. The results demonstrate the potential of navigated OCT-guided laser retinopexy to improve overall treatment accuracy, efficiency, and safety.
The Swiss photographer Jean Mohr, who died in November 2018 at the age of 93, is well known for his long career documenting the plight of the displaced and dispossessed. Especially noteworthy are his collaborations with major intellectual figures, through which he experimented with the construction of visual narratives. His celebrated books with John Berger include *A Fortunate Man*, an intimate portrait of an English country doctor, and A Seventh Man, a meditation on migrant labour in 1970s Europe; with Edward Said, he published After the Last Sky, a reflection on Palestinian life through the fusion of text and photography. Partially based on a short interview conducted with Mohr in early 2018, this paper reflects on his life and work, taking the reader on a journey mediated by our conversation. In particular, I explore the development of his unique approach to photography and the experimental construction of visual narratives. In so doing, I argue that Mohr’s work offers social scientists, particularly those engaged in studying processes of migration or zones of conflict, ways of constructing more effective, more engaged, and more experiential accounts of complex social realities.
In recent years, the rise of car accident fatalities has grown significantly around the world. Hence, road security has become a global concern and a challenging problem that needs to be solved. The deaths caused by road accidents are still increasing and currently viewed as a significant general medical issue. The most recent developments have made in advancing knowledge and scientific capacities of vehicles, enabling them to see and examine street situations to counteract mishaps and secure travelers. Therefore, the analysis of driver’s behaviors on the road has become one of the leading research subjects in recent years, particularly drowsiness, as it grants the most elevated factor of mishaps and is the primary source of death on roads. This paper presents a way to analyze and anticipate driver drowsiness by applying a Recurrent Neural Network over a sequence frame driver’s face. We used a dataset to shape and approve our model and implemented repetitive neural network architecture multi-layer model-based 3D Convolutional Networks to detect driver drowsiness. After a training session, we obtained a promising accuracy that approaches a 92% acceptance rate, which made it possible to develop a real-time driver monitoring system to reduce road accidents.
Photography, Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics
Two new species of the mycoheterotrophic genus Thismia Griff. (Thismiaceae), Thismia domei Siti-Munirah and T. terengganuensis Siti-Munirah from Peninsular Malaysia, are described and illustrated. Thismia domei, characterized by its perianth lobes that are upright and curve inward, but are imperfectly connate, falls within section Odoardoa. Thismia terengganuensis is characterized by its mitre with three appendages on its apex, so falls within section Geomitra. Both new species are unique and totally different from other described species, T. domei by the trichomes on its outer perianth tube surface and T. terengganuensis by its mitre with slender appendages. Thismia javanica J.J.Sm, also from Terengganu, is a new record for Peninsular Malaysia.
The author reflects upon her experience of exploratory fieldwork conducted by an interdisciplinary group during the Urban Summer School. The research was conducted within an environment built according to the idea of "Open Form", introduced by architect Oskar Hansen. Together with his wife Zofia, he designed a few neighborhoods around Poland, one of which – the Juliusz Słowacki housing estate in Lublin – is used as a case study for this paper. The article follows the process of collaborative development of research design and discusses a number of methods (focused ethnography, interviews, mental mapping, observation, participatory photography) applied to the study of materiality and social functioning of balconies as "threshold spaces" and their domestication. The author also outlines her positions in relation to both the local people with whom she has conducted interviews about their homes and the participants of her group.
Informed consent is justified by the principle of respect for individuals and their autonomous decisions. The photography in Genetic for the data that it provides in the clinical evaluation of the patient and the family, as well as in the phenotype-genotype correlation, it is a human genetic data of so much importance as a sample of deoxyribonucleic acid, and as such must be subject to the same ethical standards for its taking, with the written informed consent, like the rest of the biological samples. Similarly, in the Medical Genetic Services, the implementation of invasive technique of prenatal diagnostic, as well as the couple’s request to interrupt the pregnancy in the diagnosis of severe congenital malformations, they require the expressed and written consent of both members of the couple. A bibliographic review was carried out with the aim of putting some considerations on the informed consent in the different situations of the care practice in the Specialty of Clinical Genetics.
Émile Brisson-Curadeau, David Bird, Chantelle Burke
et al.
Abstract Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide an opportunity to rapidly census wildlife in remote areas while removing some of the hazards. However, wildlife may respond negatively to the UAVs, thereby skewing counts. We surveyed four species of Arctic cliff-nesting seabirds (glaucous gull Larus hyperboreus, Iceland gull Larus glaucoides, common murre Uria aalge and thick-billed murre Uria lomvia) using a UAV and compared censusing techniques to ground photography. An average of 8.5% of murres flew off in response to the UAV, but >99% of those birds were non-breeders. We were unable to detect any impact of the UAV on breeding success of murres, except at a site where aerial predators were abundant and several birds lost their eggs to predators following UAV flights. Furthermore, we found little evidence for habituation by murres to the UAV. Most gulls flew off in response to the UAV, but returned to the nest within five minutes. Counts of gull nests and adults were similar between UAV and ground photography, however the UAV detected up to 52.4% more chicks because chicks were camouflaged and invisible to ground observers. UAVs provide a less hazardous and potentially more accurate method for surveying wildlife. We provide some simple recommendations for their use.
When Albert Lévy (1891–1976) took over the publishing house La Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts in 1919, it had enjoyed a certain fame since the late 19th century. The publications of Lévy, at the helm of the family business until 1936, were part of a period rich in critical developments, both for the revival of decorative arts and for that of the recognition of photography. The publishing house’s photographic archives, now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, also find themselves at the crossroads of early twentieth-century decorative arts and photography. From 1928, the publisher seems to have abandoned black-and-white photography in favour of stencil-coloured illustrations. Thus it was necessary to examine the roles occupied by photography and photographers in his editorial project and how the concession of the photographic laboratory of the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs, run by the Lévy family from 1907 to 1936, became part of its activities.
The benefits of photography as a tool for an effective and reliable communicating, are summarized in Photo journalistic . In one side, photography has the feel of reality in detail the
reliable, furthermore, photography is also a more rapidly digested, knew and understood. So the response and reaction will be given to the information that there will be more quickly
and precisely. Moreover with the invention of digital technology will shorten the process of delivering information to better results and faster. Through a combination of drawings and manuscripts, photographs contained in a newspaper or magazine will give us information as is appropriate. Because the image is recorded
based on trust-owned, which is something that is absolutely necessar y to inform the sustainability of human life on this earth. In addition, not only, the works of photo-journalistic produced have the factual, reality and detail that is strong, but also contains the values of the beauty of high, given the work
that was created by a photojournalist eye will be seen by millions of human beings throughout the world through the mass media both print and electronically.
Keywords: Photography, Mass Media, Script.
Before the availability of digital photography resulting from the invention of charged couple devices in 1969, the measurement of plant architecture was a manual process either on the plant itself or on traditional photographs. The introduction of cheap digital imaging devices for the consumer market enabled the wide use of digital images to capture the shape of plant networks such as roots, tree crowns, or leaf venation. Plant networks contain geometric traits that can establish links to genetic or physiological characteristics, support plant breeding efforts, drive evolutionary studies, or serve as input to plant growth simulations. Typically, traits are encoded in shape descriptors that are computed from imaging data. Skeletons are one class of shape descriptors that are used to describe the hierarchies and extent of branching and looping plant networks. While the mathematical understanding of skeletons is well developed, their application within the plant sciences remains challenging because the quality of the measurement depends partly on the interpretation of the skeleton. This article is meant to bridge the skeletonization literature in the plant sciences and related technical fields by discussing best practices for deriving diameters and approximating branching hierarchies in a plant network.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">Abstract:</span></strong><span lang="EN-CA"> Following in the ‘revolutionary’ aesthetic footsteps of the post-World War One avant-garde, many writers, painters, and photographers chose to partake in interartistic collaboration, thus defying the established boundaries between the different arts and their media and putting an end to the idea of the work of art as the ultimate production of a sole individual. Artistic contributions such as those by Magritte and Man Ray for Éluard, or those by Masson for Aragon, Bataille and Leiris, are now considered classics of the surrealist book. Yet the collaboration between women writers and artists of the surrealist movement remains to this day largely unknown, notwithstanding their recognized intermedial practice. Most would combine two artistic practices in their works: writing and film (Belen a.k.a Nelly Kaplan), writing and photography (Claude Cahun), writing and painting (Leonora Carrington), or writing and drawing (Unica Zürn). In my analysis of the avant-garde book-object, I examine two examples of rethinking the book as a space of text/image experimentation in the framework of surrealist aesthetics. The first is Lise Deharme, who sees the book as a space for collaboration and intermedial dialogue, the second Gisèle Prassinos, who views the book-object as a space for playful metamorphosis. These two writers and artists upset any previous understanding of the ‘illustrated book’ and come far closer to what is referred to today as the <em>livre d’artiste</em>.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.6pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 21.6pt;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: FR;" lang="FR">Résumé</span></strong><span style="mso-ansi-language: FR;" lang="FR">: Fidèle à l’esthétique « révolutionnaire » propre aux avant-gardes de l’entre-deux-guerres, bon nombre d’auteurs, de peintres et de photographes se sont lancés dans l’aventure de la collaboration interartistique défiant par là les frontières entre les arts et les genres, mettant à mort l’idée de l’œuvre d’art comme l’aboutissement d’une démarche individuelle. Si les illustrations de Max Ernst pour Crevel, Tzara ou Péret, de Magritte et Man Ray pour Éluard, de Masson pour Aragon, Bataille et Leiris ou de Miro pour Breton font aujourd’hui partie des grands classiques du livre dit surréaliste, la collaboration entre femmes auteurs et artistes du mouvement surréaliste semblent encore aujourd’hui moins connue. Ces créatrices surréalistes faisaient pourtant preuve le plus souvent d’une véritable <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">praxis</em> intermédiale, c’est-à-dire que, pour la plupart, elles investissaient d’office deux arts et leur médium respectif : l’écriture et le cinéma (Belen alias Nelly Kaplan), l’écriture et la photographie (Claude Cahun), l’écriture et la peinture (Leonora Carrington) ou l’écriture et le dessin (Unica Zürn).</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 0cm;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: FR;" lang="FR"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Les deux cas de figure que je me propose d’examiner de plus près sont représentatifs d’une nouvelle conception de l’espace livresque, telle que mise en œuvre par l’esthétique surréaliste : je m’intéresserai d’abord au livre comme espace de collaboration et de dialogue intermédial chez Lise Deharme, ensuite au livre-objet comme possible lieu de métamorphose ludique chez Gisèle Prassinos. Les deux auteures font éclater les limites anciennement assignées au « livre illustré » se rapprochant davantage de ce que l’on désigne aujourd’hui comme « livre d’artiste ». M’inspirant des recherches menées par Henri Béhar, Renée Riese Hubert, Lothar Lang et Montserrat Prudon dans le contexte du livre dit surréaliste, je m’interrogerai sur les rapports de collusion et de collision entre le texte et l’image, de même que sur le type de lecture exigé par le nouvel objet <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">livre</em>. Mon analyse prendra appui sur <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Le Cœur de Pic</em>, <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Le Poids d’un oiseau</em> et <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brelin le frou</em> <em>ou le Portrait de famille</em>.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -21.6pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.6pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 21.6pt;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: FR;" lang="FR"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
O "Inventário da Azulejaria Portuguesa" é um conjunto de espécies fotográficas coladas em cartão. Composta por 5028 documentos fotográficos ( a p& b e a cores), esta colecção faz parte de um projecto mais abrangente e ambicioso proposto pelo estudioso da Azulejaria Portuguesa João Miguel Santos Simões (1907-1972) à Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian em Lisboa no ano de 1958, de que resultaram a criação da Brigada de Estudos da Azulejaria e o Corpus da Azulejaria Portuguesa que a Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian editou entre 1963 e 1970. Cobrindo um vastíssimo território geográfico continental e atlântico, este espólio fotográfico - desde 2005 digitalizado e disponível online a partir da pesquisa do catálogo da Biblioteca de Arte da FGC - reverte-se de um importante interesse como documento histórico no estudo e levantamento do Património em Azulejo ainda existente e parte desaparecido. O propósito deste texto é apresentar e validar a importância enquanto memória documental desta mesma colecção, no âmbito de uma estrutura de organização mais vasta, como foi o rastreio sistemático e a recolha de elementos informativos e actualizados no tempo sobre a azulejaria portuguesa.<br>"Inventário da Azulejaria Portuguesa" is a collection of photographs pasted onto cardboard. Comprising 5028 photographic documents (in colour and black and white), the collection is part of a broader, more ambitious project proposed by Portuguese tile researcher João Miguel Santos Simões (1807-1972) to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in 1958, a project that resulted in the publication of Brigada de Estudos da Azulejaria and Corpus da Azulejaria Portuguesa by the Foundation between 1963 and 1970. Covering a vast continental and Atlantic geographic territory, these photographic spoils - digitalized in 2005 and available online through the catalogue of the CGF's Art Library - constitute an important historical document for the study and inventorying of the heritage of Portuguese tiles, both the part that remains and that which has been lost. The aim of this text is to present and validate the documental significance of this collection within the context of a broader organizational structure, such as the systematic sampling and gathering of current data on Portuguese tiles.
A major advance in our understanding of the natural history of Schistosoma haematobium-related morbidity has come through the introduction of the portable ultrasound machines for non-invasive examination of the kidneys and bladder. With the use of generators or battery packs to supply power in non-clinical field settings, and with the use of instant photography or miniaturized thermal printers to record permanent images, it is possible to examine scores of individuals in endemic communities every day. Broad-based ultrasound screening has allowed better definition of age-specific disease risks in urinary schistosomiasis. Results indicate that urinary tract abnormalities are common (18% overall prevalence) in S. haematobium transmission areas, with a 2-4% risk of either severe bladder abnormality or advanced ureteral obstruction. In longitudinal surveys, ultrasound studies have shown that praziquantel and metrifonate therapy are rapidly effective in reversing urinary tract abnormalities among children. The benefits of treating adults are less well known, but research in progress should help to define this issue. Similarly, the prognosis of specific ultrasound findings needs to be clarified, and the ease of sonographic examination will make such long-term follow-up studies feasible. In summary, the painless, quick, and reproducible ultrasound examination has become an essential tool in the study of urinary schistosomiasis.