Interoperator test for anatomical annotation of earprints.

As part of the Forensic Ear Identification (FearID) research project, which aims to obtain estimators for the strength of evidence of earmarks found on crime scenes, a large database of earprints (over 1200 donors) has been collected. Starting from a knowledge-based approach where experts add anatomical annotations of minutiae and landmarks present in prints, comparison of pairs of prints is done using the method of Vector Template Matching (VTM). As the annotation process is subjective, a validation experiment was performed to study its stability.

2D/3D image (facial) comparison using camera matching.

A problem in forensic facial comparison of images of perpetrators and suspects is that distances between fixed anatomical points in the face, which form a good starting point for objective, anthropometric comparison, vary strongly according to the position and orientation of the camera. In case of a cooperating suspect, a 3D image may be taken using e.g.

Comparison of quantification of histochemical staining by hue-saturation-intensity (HSI) transformation and color-deconvolution.

We tested a recently developed flexible method of separation and quantification of immunohistochemical staining by means of color image analysis. An algorithm was recently developed to deconvolve the color information acquired with RGB cameras, to calculate the contribution of each of the applied stains, based on the stain-specific RGB absorption. The algorithm was tested using a set of lung-tumor samples labeled for the detection of Ki-67, an antigen expressed in proliferating cells, covering a wide range of staining levels.

Amplification/overexpression of a mitotic kinase gene in human bladder cancer.

Background: The mitotic kinase-encoding gene STK15/BTAK/ AuroraA is associated with aneuploidy and transformation when overexpressed in mammalian cells. STK15 overexpression activates an unknown oncogenic pathway that involves centrosome amplification and results in missegregation of chromosomes. Because clinical prognosis and tumor aneuploidy are tightly linked in human bladder cancer, we examined whether increased STK15 copy number and protein levels are linked to aneuploidy in bladder cancers.

Hepatocytes and epithelial cells of donor origin in recipients of peripheral-blood stem cells.

Background: Bone marrow contains stem cells with the potential to differentiate into mature cells of various organs. We determined whether circulating stem cells have a similar potential.

Methods: Biopsy specimens from the liver, gastrointestinal tract, and skin were obtained from 12 patients who had undergone transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells from peripheral blood (11 patients) or bone marrow (1 patient).