Automated analysis of contractility in the embryonic stem cell test, a novel approach to assess embryotoxicity.

The embryonic stem cell test (EST) is an ECVAM-validated assay to detect embryotoxicity. The output of the assay is the effect of test compounds on the differentiation of murine-derived embryonic stem cells (D3 cells), recorded by visual analysis of contracting cardiomyocyte-like cells. Incorporation of a system to assess the contractility in an automated manner is proposed, to increase the throughput in the EST independent of observer bias.

Statistical texture characterization from discrete wavelet representations.

We conjecture that texture can be characterized by the statistics of the wavelet detail coefficients and therefore introduce two feature sets: (1) the wavelet histogram signatures which capture all first order statistics using a model based approach and (2) the wavelet co-occurrence signatures, which reflect the coefficients' second-order statistics. The introduced feature sets outperform the traditionally used energy. Best performance is achieved by combining histogram and co-occurrence signatures.

A multiparametric assay for quantitative nerve regeneration evaluation.

We introduce an assay for the semi-automated quantification of nerve regeneration by image analysis. Digital images of histological sections of regenerated nerves are recorded using an automated inverted microscope and merged into high-resolution mosaic images representing the entire nerve. These are analysed by a dedicated image-processing package that computes nerve-specific features (e.

Validation of nuclear texture, density, morphometry and tissue syntactic structure analysis as prognosticators of cervical carcinoma.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of karyometry and histometry in the prediction of survival, recurrence and response of early-stage invasive cervical carcinoma.

Study Design: Nuclear morphometry, chromatin texture and tissue architecture (characterized by syntactic structure analysis) were measured using a semiautomated image analysis system on 46 cases of Feulgen-stained tissue sections. The performance of the features was compared to that of clinical features, reported to be the best prognosticators until now, such as age, lympho-vascular permeation, histologic type, stage and grade.

Value of morphometry, texture analysis, densitometry, and histometry in the differential diagnosis and prognosis of malignant mesothelioma.

Malignant mesothelioma is a tumour with increasing incidence due to widespread use of its causative agent, asbestos, in the past decades. The poor survival necessitates a correct differentiation from other lesions at the same site, such as hyperplastic mesothelium and carcinomas metastatic to pleura or peritoneum. Since genetic and immunohistochemical markers are not absolutely differentiating, the diagnosis is based on the histology complemented with (immuno)histochemistry.