Muscle structure assessment using synchrotron radiation X-ray micro-computed tomography in murine with cerebral ischemia.

Muscles are crucial for balance and walking, activities which depend specifically on the lower extremity muscles. Therefore, the evaluation of stroke induced atrophy and paralysis is essential; however, determining the extent of damage in the days after its occurrence remains challenging. In this study, we evaluated ischemic stroke-induced soleus muscle damage in gerbils using synchrotron radiation X-ray micro-computed tomography (SR-µCT), comparing a control group (n = 3), animals 7 days after stroke (7 d, n = 3), and animals 14 days after stroke (14 d, n = 3).

Correlation analysis between texture features and elasticity of skin hyperspectral images in the near-infrared band.

Background/purpose: Skin elasticity was used to evaluate healthy and diseased skin. Correlation analysis between image texture characteristics and skin elasticity was performed to study the feasibility of assessing skin elasticity using a non-contact method.

Materials And Methods: Skin images in the near-infrared band were acquired using a hyperspectral camera, and skin elasticity was obtained using a skin elastimeter.

Hyperspectral imaging-based erythema classification in atopic dermatitis.

Background/purpose: Among the characteristics that appear in the epidermis of the skin, erythema is primarily evaluated through qualitative scales, such as visual assessment (VA). However, VA is not ideal because it relies on the experience and skill of dermatologists. In this study, we propose a new evaluation method based on hyperspectral imaging (HSI) to improve the accuracy of erythema diagnosis in clinical settings and investigate the applicability of HSI to skin evaluation.

Simultaneous visualization of micro-damage in cortical bone, trabecular bone, and intracortical vasculature for diagnosing osteoporosis: An animal model synchrotron imaging.

Osteoporosis (OP) is difficult to diagnose through the three-dimensional visualization of micro-damage. In this study, aimed to make an objective diagnosis by visualizing micro-damage caused by OP using synchrotron radiation-based μCT (SR-μCT). Female mice (n = 12) were randomly divided into an ovariectomized group (OVX, n = 6) in which both ovaries were excised and OP occurred, and a sham-operated group (SHAM, n = 6).

Single fiber curvature for muscle impairment assessment: Phase contrast imaging of stroke-induced animals.

There are technical challenges in imaging studies that can three-dimensionally (3D) analyze a single fiber (SF) to observe the functionality of the entire muscle after stroke. This study proposes a 3D assessment technique that only segments the SF of the right stroke-induced soleus muscle of a gerbil using synchrotron radiation x-ray microcomputed tomography (SR-μCT), which is capable of muscle structure analysis. Curvature damage in the SF of the left soleus muscle (impaired) progressed at 7-day intervals after the stroke in the control; particularly on the 7 days (1 week) and 14 days (2 weeks), as observed through visualization analysis.

4D dynamic system for visual-motor integration analysis.

It is very important to evaluate visual-motor integration (VMI), as it is used as an index to evaluate cognitive abilities. However, it is difficult to use the existing paper-based tests to evaluate the dynamic process, including spatial and depth perception abilities. Therefore, this study aims to extract kinematic and dynamic features for dynamic assessment for VMI.

Robust skin microrelief depth estimation using a mobile stereo system.

Background: The skin surface becomes wrinkled and rough due to various internal and external factors. A three-dimensional (3D) analysis of the skin is required to improve skin conditions. Stereophotogrammetry, a noninvasive 3D analysis method, is easy to install and use, but most stereo systems have a fixed baseline and scale.

Skin color classification of Koreans using clustering.

Background/purpose: Skin color is used as an index for diagnosing and predicting skin irritation, dermatitis, and skin conditions because skin color changes based on various factors. Therefore, a new method for consistently and accurately evaluating skin color while overcoming the limitations of the existing skin color evaluation method was proposed, and its usefulness was demonstrated.

Methods: Skin color was quantified using the RGB (Red, Green, Blue), HSV (Hue Saturation Value), CIELab, and YCbCr color spaces in the acquired Korean skin images, which were classified through clustering.

Automatic analysis system for abnormal red blood cells in peripheral blood smears.

The type and ratio of abnormal red blood cells (RBCs) in blood can be identified through peripheral blood smear test. Accurate classification is important because the accompanying diseases indicated by abnormal RBCs vary. In clinical practice, this task is time-consuming because the RBCs are manually classified.

Optimization of psoriasis assessment system based on patch images.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that occurs in various forms throughout the body and is associated with certain conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression. The psoriasis area severity index (PASI) score, a tool used to evaluate the severity of psoriasis, is currently used in clinical trials and clinical research. The determination of severity is based on the subjective judgment of the clinician.

Analysis of type I osteoporosis animal models using synchrotron radiation.

Preclinical experiments to analyze the trabecular space of spongy bones using small animals are required for the evaluation and treatment of patients with osteoporosis (OP). We performed ovariectomy to create OP models. A total of four mice were used.

Micro- and nano-tomography analysis of mouse soleus muscle using radiation.

In this study, we analyze radiation images of muscle structure of mice soleus muscles using radiation source-based microtomography and nanotomography. Soleus muscle samples were collected for analysis from 8-week-old male Institute of Cancer Research mice. First, phase-contrast X-ray microtomography was employed in these experiments.

Three-dimensional structure analysis of mouse nails using synchrotron radiation.

Until now, studies on nail diseases have been performed through microscopic diagnosis and microscopic computed tomography (micro-CT). However, these kinds of conventional methods have some limitations. Firstly, the microscopic method is considered the gold standard for medical diagnosis.

Upper Limb Rehabilitation Tools in Virtual Reality Based on Haptic and 3D Spatial Recognition Analysis: A Pilot Study.

With aging, cerebrovascular diseases can occur more often. Stroke cases involve hemiplegia, which causes difficulties in performing activities of daily living. Existing rehabilitation treatments are based on the subjective evaluation of the therapist as the need for non-contact care arises; it is necessary to develop a system that can self-rehabilitate and offer objective analysis.

Development of a Diagnosis and Evaluation System for Hemiplegic Patients Post-Stroke Based on Motion Recognition Tracking and Analysis of Wrist Joint Kinematics.

An inexperienced therapist lacks the analysis of a patient's movement. In addition, the patient does not receive objective feedback from the therapist due to the visual subjective judgment. The aim is to provide a guide for in-depth rehabilitation therapy in virtual space by continuously tracking the user's wrist joint during Leap Motion Controller (LMC) activities and present the basic data to confirm steady therapy results in real-time.

Adaptive Fine Distortion Correction Method for Stereo Images of Skin Acquired with a Mobile Phone.

With the development of the mobile phone, we can acquire high-resolution images of the skin to observe its detailed features using a mobile camera. We acquire stereo images using a mobile camera to enable a three-dimensional (3D) analysis of the skin surface. However, geometric changes in the observed skin structure caused by the lens distortion of the mobile phone result in a low accuracy of the 3D information extracted through stereo matching.

Three-dimensional analysis of injury conditions of single muscle fibers in small animals using phase-contrast X-ray imaging.

Muscle damage can reduces the biological functions and lead to ultimately a disease state. For the reason, it is important to accurately check the state of an injury such as atrophy, and it is required to identify the state of fibers constituting the muscle. This study describes a novel method of analyzing single muscle fibers with injury conditions in three-dimensions.

Synchrotron radiation imaging analysis of neural damage in mouse soleus muscle.

Damage to lower limb muscles requires accurate analysis of the muscular condition via objective microscopic diagnosis. However, microscopic tissue analysis may cause deformation of the tissue structure due to injury induced by external factors during tissue sectioning. To substantiate these muscle injuries, we used synchrotron X-ray imaging technology to project extremely small objects, provide three-dimensional microstructural analysis as extracted samples.

Synchrotron radiation-based analysis of fatigue in dental restorative materials.

Few studies performed a microstructural analysis of dental restorations to evaluate fatigue impact under various tensions, because of a lack of analytical equipment. In this study, the fatigue of restorative materials was evaluated using the force tester's fatigue method at 0.30, 0.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of skin disease using multi-view mobile images.

Background/purpose: In skin beauty area, interest in diagnosis and management methods for acne is increasing. However, it is difficult to diagnose protruding skin disease by two-dimensional (2D) image. Three-dimensional (3D) approach is needed.

Usefulness of synchrotron radiation for three-dimensional microstructure analysis of the mouse tibia.

This study was to construct a quantitative analysis for the diagnosis and evaluation of osteoporosis by using synchrotron radiation based X-ray, which can analyze the three-dimensional microstructure of white mouse tibia. The anatomical structure and microstructure of the white mouse tibia was obtained through synchrotron radiation, and to achieve this, three-dimensional structural analysis was performed. Then, we visualized the quantified analysis and microstructure information with high-resolution imagery through the image data obtained by synchrotron radiation.

Image segmentation by graph cut for radiation images of small animal blood vessels.

Synchrotron radiation (SR) based X-ray imaging is an attractive method for analyzing biomedical structure. However, despite its many advantages, there are few gold standards in image processing methods, especially in segmentation. Image segmentation is an essential step in medical imaging for image analysis and three-dimensional reconstruction.

An extended Kalman filter for mouse tracking.

Animal tracking is an important tool for observing behavior, which is useful in various research areas. Animal specimens can be tracked using dynamic models and observation models that require several types of data. Tracking mouse has several barriers due to the physical characteristics of the mouse, their unpredictable movement, and cluttered environments.

Usefulness of hard X-ray microscope using synchrotron radiation for the structure analysis of insects.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has the advantage of enabling specific visualization of creative ideas. Since synchrotron based images can provide high sensitivity and high resolution, they are a very useful technology to identify the 3D anatomy of microscale samples. X-ray images using such synchrotron radiation are grafted to 3D printing technology.