Certain fluorescent DNA-binding compounds, among them quinacrine mustard and quinacrine, give characteristic banding patterns in human metaphase chromosomes; these patterns can be used to identify all the 24 chromosome types as well as chromosome aberrations. The patterns given by quinacrine mustard are especially clear and stable and are suitable for chromosome identification either visually—preferably after contrast enhancement by photography—or by photometric methods. The typical fluorescence pattern of each chromosome type is described. The reproducibility and variability of the patterns have been analysed by photometric measurements of the patterns in a material of about 5000 chromosomes from 14 healthy subjects. Apart from certain minor but well defined chromosome regions with especially strong fluorescence, which are subject to certain individual variations, the fluorescence patterns were shown to be quite stable and reproducible.
Abstract This article gives an overview of the background-oriented schlieren (BOS) technique, typical applications and literature in the field. BOS is an optical density visualization technique, belonging to the same family as schlieren photography, shadowgraphy or interferometry. In contrast to these older techniques, BOS uses correlation techniques on a background dot pattern to quantitatively characterize compressible and thermal flows with good spatial and temporal resolution. The main advantages of this technique, the experimental simplicity and the robustness of correlation-based digital analysis, mean that it is widely used, and variant versions are reviewed in the article. The advantages of each variant are reviewed, and further literature is provided for the reader.
Visually impaired and blind people due to diabetic retinopathy were 2.6 million in 2015 and estimated to be 3.2 million in 2020 globally. Though the incidence of diabetic retinopathy is expected to decrease for high-income countries, detection and treatment of it in the early stages are crucial for low-income and middle-income countries. Due to the recent advancement of deep learning technologies, researchers showed that automated screening and grading of diabetic retinopathy are efficient in saving time and workforce. However, most automatic systems utilize conventional fundus photography, despite ultra-wide-field fundus photography provides up to 82% of the retinal surface. In this study, we present a diabetic retinopathy detection system based on ultra-wide-field fundus photography and deep learning. In experiments, we show that the use of early treatment diabetic retinopathy study 7-standard field image extracted from ultra-wide-field fundus photography outperforms that of the optic disc and macula centered image in a statistical sense.
T. A. Novikova-Bilak, A. V. Zheleznyakova, O. E. Iljukhin
et al.
BACKGROUND: Diabetic retinal involvements as proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and diabetic macular edema (DME), revealed in most cases of PDR, are main causes of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) loss in diabetic patients. PDR represents late diabetes mellitus (DM) complication, in severe cases it requires vitreoretinal surgery (VRS). Given high risk of vision loss and comorbidity of PDR patients, optimal choice of ophthalmological treatment strategy is still actual.AIM: to compare clinical guides’ recommendations accomplishment and real clinical practice, analyze main retinal diabetic involvement diagnosis and management problems, on diabetic patients, presented to Endocrinology Research Center of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation for VRS.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study subjects: data of medical records and endocards (Endocrinology Research Center diabetic patients clinical statistical registration cards) of 252 patients (260 eyes) with type 1 (n=168) and type 2 (n=84) DM, undergoing VRS from 2019 to 2023. We analyzed reasons for PDR deterioration, VRS results, frequencies of cardiovascular (CV) and diabetic complications, that heighten risks of cardiovascular events (CVE), such as atherosclerotic diseases, ischemic heart disease (IHD), chronic heart failure (CHF), cerebrovascular accident (CVA), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and diabetic foot syndrome (DFS). Inclusion criterion was presence of PDR complication, requiring VRS, irrespective of its severity. Standard ophthalmological investigation, ultrasound B-scan of the eyes, retinal optical coherent tomography (OCT), and fundus photography were carried out. BCVA evaluation was made before VRS and one month after the procedure. Proliferative process stabilization was checked up in one month to five years.RESULTS: Median age of patients with T1DM/T2DM was 39/63 years, DM duration before VRS was 19/17 years, females constituted 63%/57% of patients, respectively. In 258 eyes of 260 (99,2%) retinal photocoagulation (PC) before VRS procedure was not accomplished or was not performed at all. In all patients one month after procedure BCVA grew higher, but it strictly depended on baseline BCVA, which was determined by PDR complication severity. Before/after VRS in 76 eyes (29%) it constituted between light perception with projection and 0,05/0,01–0,08; in 68 eyes (26%) — 0,06–0,1/0,08–0,3; in 62 eyes (24%) — 0,2–0,3/0,3–0,5; in 54 eyes (21%) — 0,4–0,8/0,5–1,0 in decimals, respectively. Concurrent conditions frequencies among DM1/DM2 patients were for atherosclerosis — 47%/67%, for IHD — 9%/32%, for CVA — 4%/9%, for CHF — 5%/30%, for CKD — 71%/63% (including CKD stage C5 24,7%/13,6%), for DFS — 29%/17%, for amputations — 13%/17% of cases, respectively.CONCLUSION: In the studied cohort of patients with severe PDR, frequent concurrent conditions and high CVE risks in 99,2% of cases retinal PC extent was improper, that lead to complications and need for VRS. In patients with PDR and comorbidities panretinal PC should be carried out without delay, as it is required by clinical guidelines. To avoid severe visual loss panretinal PC must be the treatment of high priority.
RESUMO: Procurando entender as especificidades da fotografia nas ciências sociais e, particularmente, na antropologia visual, este texto se propõem a analisar de que maneira uma foto produzida sobre um ser humano é qualitativamente diferente da foto de uma paisagem ou de uma pedra. Para tal, situa as diferentes concepções de sujeito que estão embutidas no olhar do fotógrafo que registra paisagens naturais, paisagens humanas e paisagens culturais. Para em seguida pensar sociologicamente estas diferenças, reconstruindo o lugar do sujeito fotografado na informação imagética constituída pelo aparato fotográfico.
PALAVRAS-CHAVES: Antropologia, Fotografia, Semiótica, Sujeito.
ABSTRACT: Trying to understand the specificities of photography in the social sciences and, particularly, in visual anthropology, this text aims to analyze how a photo produced about a human being is qualitatively different from the photo of a landscape or a stone. To this end, it situates the different conceptions of the subject that are embedded in the look of the photographer who records natural landscapes, human landscapes and cultural landscapes. Then it to think sociologically about these differences to reconstruct the place of the subject photographed in the image information constituted by the photographic apparatus.
KEYWORDS: Anthropology, Photography, Semiotics, Subject.
Abstract Background Cerebral malaria (CM) is the most lethal complication of malaria, and survivors usually endure neurological sequelae. Notably, the cytotoxic effect of infiltrating Plasmodium-activated CD8+ T cells on cerebral microvasculature endothelial cells is a prominent feature of the experimental CM (ECM) model with blood–brain barrier disruption. However, the damage effect of CD8+ T cells infiltrating the brain parenchyma on neurons remains unclear. Based on the immunosuppressive effect of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway on T cells, our previous study demonstrated that the systemic upregulation of PD-L1 to inhibit CD8+ T cell function could effectively alleviate the symptoms of ECM mice. However, it has not been reported whether neurons can suppress the pathogenic effect of CD8+ T cells through the PD-1/PD-L1 negative immunomodulatory pathway. As the important inflammatory factor of CM, interferons can induce the expression of PD-L1 via different molecular mechanisms according to the neuro-immune microenvironment. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the direct interaction between CD8+ T cells and neurons, as well as the mechanism of neurons to alleviate the pathogenic effect of CD8+ T cells through up-regulating PD-L1 induced by IFNs. Methods Using the ECM model of C57BL/6J mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA), morphological observations were conducted in vivo by electron microscope and IF staining. The interaction between the ECM CD8+ T cells (immune magnetic bead sorting from spleen of ECM mice) and primary cultured cortical neurons in vitro was observed by IF staining and time-lapse photography. RNA-seq was performed to analyze the signaling pathway of PD-L1 upregulation in neurons induced by IFNβ or IFNγ, and verified through q-PCR, WB, IF staining, and flow cytometry both in vitro and in vivo using IFNAR or IFNGR gene knockout mice. The protective effect of adenovirus-mediated PD-L1 IgGFc fusion protein expression was verified in ECM mice with brain stereotaxic injection in vivo and in primary cultured neurons via viral infection in vitro. Results In vivo, ECM mice showed infiltration of activated CD8+ T cells and neuronal injury in the brain parenchyma. In vitro, ECM CD8+ T cells were in direct contact with neurons and induced axonal damage, as an active behavior. The PD-L1 protein level was elevated in neurons of ECM mice and in primary cultured neurons induced by IFNβ, IFNγ, or ECM CD8+ T cells in vitro. Furthermore, the IFNβ or IFNγ induced neuronal expression of PD-L1 was mediated by increasing STAT1/IRF1 pathway via IFN receptors. The increase of PD-L1 expression in neurons during PbA infection was weakened after deleting the IFNAR or IFNGR. Increased PD-L1 expression by adenovirus partially protected neurons from CD8+ T cell-mediated damage both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that both type I and type II IFNs can induce neurons to upregulate PD-L1 via the STAT1/IRF1 pathway mediated by IFN receptors to protect against activated CD8+ T cell-mediated damage, providing a targeted pathway to alleviate neuroinflammation during ECM. Graphical Abstract
SAR data provide sufficient information for burned area detection in any weather condition, making it superior to optical data. In this study, we assess the potential of Sentinel-1 SAR images for precise forest-burned area mapping using deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN). Accurate mapping with DCNN techniques requires high quantity and quality training data. However, labeled ground truth might not be available in many cases or requires professional expertise to generate them via visual interpretation of aerial photography or field visits. To overcome this problem, we proposed an unsupervised method that derives DCNN training data from fuzzy c-means (FCM) clusters with the highest and lowest probability of being burned. Furthermore, a saliency-guided (SG) approach was deployed to reduce false detections and SAR image speckles. This method defines salient regions with a high probability of being burned. These regions are not affected by noise and can improve the model performance. The developed approach based on the SG-FCM-DCNN model was investigated to map the burned area of Rossomanno-Grottascura-Bellia, Italy. This method significantly improved the burn detection ability of non-saliency-guided models. Moreover, the proposed model achieved superior accuracy of 87.67% (i.e., more than 2% improvement) compared to other saliency-guided techniques, including SVM and DNN.
Life for the population in the Czech Republic came to a standstill in spring 2020 due to measures enacted in relation to the Coronavirus epidemic: a travel ban and closed borders, the cancellation of physical lessons at all types of school, the closure of stores except those securing basic necessities, radical restrictions to free movement of people. This unprecedented situation became the inspiration for creative work by students at the Studio of Advertising Photography at Tomas Bata University in Zlin. Since joint work in the studio was not possible, the students were given their assignments as part of the Digital Photography classes in the form of a document reflecting the social situation during the Corona crisis. Selected visual narratives, or photo novellas, are a methodical component of arts-based research, meaning the use of art artefacts and imagination for a more complete knowledge of this mode of social reality. Verbal commentary complements the images’ topic by interpreting the main themes of the selected photographic images: Easter festivities without religious services, sewing facemasks and covering faces, newly discovered meanings of borders and emptiness, the social role of meals in family life. The Coronavirus crisis has revealed the hidden opportunities of a new way to see and discover again how to evaluate our everyday life, something which in the haste of each ordinary day can become subconscious routine.
Received: 30 August 2021
Accepted: 20 April 2022