Zygmunt Wróbel

Headache in Children's Drawings:

Headache is a common health problem in childhood. Childrens drawings are helpful in the diagnosis of headache type. Children, especially younger ones, communicate better through pictures than verbally. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the usefulness of drawings of the childs headache in the diagnostic process carried out by a pediatrician and a pediatric neurologist. At the beginning of a visit in a neurological clinic, or on the first day of hospitalization, the child was asked, “Please draw your headache,” or “How do you feel your headache?” without any additional explanations or suggestions. Clinical diagnosis of headache type was made on the basis of the standard diagnostic evaluation. For the purpose of this study, childrens headaches were categorized as migraine, tension-type headache, or “the others.” One hundred twenty-four drawings of children with headaches were analyzed by 8 pediatricians and 8 pediatric neurologists. The analysts were unaware of the clinical history, age, sex, and diagnosis of the patients. The clinical diagnosis was considered the “gold standard” to which the headache drawing diagnosis was compared. There were 68 girls 5—18 years of age and 56 boys 7—18 years of age. Of the 124 children, 40 were clinically diagnosed with migraine (32.2%), 47 with tension-type headache (37.9%), and 37 (29.8%) as the others. Children with migraine most frequently draw sharp elements. Children with tension-type headache mainly drew compression elements and pressing elements. In the group of “the other” headaches, 21 children were diagnosed with somatoform disorders. The most frequent element in this groups drawings was a whirl in the head. Colors used most frequently were black and red, which signify severe pain. There was no difference in sensitivity of diagnoses between neurologists and pediatricians. Because the evaluation of drawings by children with headaches done both by pediatricians and pediatric neurologists was correct for approximately half of the children, the authors decided to prepare a set of test pictures, including characteristic presentations of pain. Preparing a ready set of test drawings may facilitate differentiation for the inexperienced doctors and encourage those children who refuse to draw.

Layers Recognition in Tomographic Eye Image Based on Random Contour Analysis

The paper presents an algorithm designed to detect layers of eye’s retina using an area analysis. This analysis has been implemented and tested in images obtained by means of Copernicus OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography). The algorithm created is an original approach to detect layers, contours and psuedoparallels. The approach presented is an expansion of approaches described in [1] and [2],[3] and enables identification and recognition of external limiting membranes, retina and others. The algorithm has been implemented in Matlab and C environment.

Fully automatic algorithm for the analysis of vessels in the angiographic image of the eye fundus

BackgroundThe available scientific literature contains descriptions of manual, semi-automated and automated methods for analysing angiographic images. The presented algorithms segment vessels calculating their tortuosity or number in a given area. We describe a statistical analysis of the inclination of the vessels in the fundus as related to their distance from the center of the optic disc.MethodsThe paper presents an automated method for analysing vessels which are found in angiographic images of the eye using a Matlab implemented algorithm. It performs filtration and convolution operations with suggested masks. The result is an image containing information on the location of vessels and their inclination angle in relation to the center of the optic disc. This is a new approach to the analysis of vessels whose usefulness has been confirmed in the diagnosis of hypertension.ResultsThe proposed algorithm analyzed and processed the images of the eye fundus using a classifier in the form of decision trees. It enabled the proper classification of healthy patients and those with hypertension. The result is a very good separation of healthy subjects from the hypertensive ones: sensitivity - 83%, specificity - 100%, accuracy - 96%. This confirms a practical usefulness of the proposed method.ConclusionsThis paper presents an algorithm for the automatic analysis of morphological parameters of the fundus vessels. Such an analysis is performed during fluorescein angiography of the eye. The presented algorithm automatically calculates the global statistical features connected with both tortuosity of vessels and their total area or their number.

EPR studies of free radicals decay and survival in gamma irradiated aminoglycoside antibiotics: sisomicin, tobramycin and paromomycin.

Radiation sterilization technology is more actively used now that any time because of its many advantages. Gamma radiation has high penetrating power, relatively low chemical reactivity and causes small temperature rise. But on the other hand radiosterilization can lead to radiolytic products appearing, in example free radicals. Free radicals in radiative sterilized sisomicin, tobramycin and paromomycin were studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Dose of gamma irradiation of 25kGy was used. Concentrations and properties of free radicals in irradiated antibiotics were studied. EPR spectra were recorded for samples stored in air and argon. For gamma irradiated antibiotics strong EPR lines were recorded. One- and two-exponential functions were fitted to experimental points during testing and researching of time influence of the antibiotics storage to studied parameters of EPR lines. Our study of free radicals in radiosterilized antibiotics indicates the need for characterization of medicinal substances prior to sterilization process using EPR values. We propose the concentration of free radicals and other spectroscopic parameters as useful factors to select the optimal type of sterilization for the individual drug. The important parameters are i.a. the τ time constants and K constants of exponential functions. Time constants τ give us information about the speed of free radicals concentration decrease in radiated medicinal substances. The constant K(0) shows the free radicals concentration in irradiated medicament after long time of storage.

Automatic analysis of selected choroidal diseases in OCT images of the eye fundus

IntroductionThis paper describes a method for automatic analysis of the choroid in OCT images of the eye fundus in ophthalmology. The problem of vascular lesions occurs e.g. in a large population of patients having diabetes or macular degeneration. Their correct diagnosis and quantitative assessment of the treatment progress are a critical part of the eye fundus diagnosis.Material and methodThe study analysed about 1’000 OCT images acquired using SOCT Copernicus (Optopol Tech. SA, Zawiercie, Poland). The proposed algorithm for image analysis enabled to analyse the texture of the choroid portion located beneath the RPE (Retinal Pigment Epithelium) layer. The analysis was performed using the profiled algorithm based on morphological analysis and texture analysis and a classifier in the form of decision trees.ResultsThe location of the centres of gravity of individual objects present in the image beneath the RPE layer proved to be important in the evaluation of different types of images. In addition, the value of the standard deviation and the number of objects in a scene were equally important. These features enabled classification of three different forms of the choroid that were related to retinal pathology: diabetic edema (the classification gave accuracy ACC1u2009=u20090.73), ischemia of the inner retinal layers (ACC2u2009=u20090.83) and scarring fibro vascular tissue (ACC3u2009=u20090.69). For the cut decision tree the results were as follows: ACC1u2009=u20090.76, ACC2u2009=u20090.81, ACC3u2009=u20090.68.ConclusionsThe created decision tree enabled to obtain satisfactory results of the classification of three types of choroidal imaging. In addition, it was shown that for the assumed characteristics and the developed classifier, the location of B-scan does not significantly affect the results. The image analysis method for texture analysis presented in the paper confirmed its usefulness in choroid imaging. Currently the application is further studied in the Clinical Department of Ophthalmology in the District Railway Hospital in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Poland.

The Cell Structures Segmentation

In this article we have presented an attempt to segmentation of cell structures images acquired while histological slides microscopic observation. The described algorithm of segmentation is also applicable in other matters, where the image segmentation is an important part.

Automatic ultrasound image analysis in Hashimoto's disease

The paper presents diagnostics of parenchyma echogenicity and organ dimensions in thyroid examinations in the case of Hashimotos disease using image processing methods. In the event of discovering focal changes within the thyroid, a method for their pathology evaluation was suggested. The detector proposed operates fully automatically; using the information on the image texture it detects an artery in the image, which fulfils the role of reference point, and based on it - detects the area of interest.

Identification of Layers in a Tomographic Image of an Eye Based on the Canny Edge Detection

In the paper we present an algorithm for the identification of retina layers using the Canny edge detection for images obtained with OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) Copernicus. The developed algorithm is an extension of the approaches covered in [4] and allows the identification and detection of hyaline-retinal border layers, the retina and other. The algorithm was implemented in the Matlab environment and the C language.

Assessment of significance of features acquired from thyroid ultrasonograms in Hashimoto's disease

IntroductionThis paper concerns the analysis of the features obtained from thyroid ultrasound images in left and right transverse and longitudinal sections. In the image analysis, the thyroid lobe is treated as a texture for healthy subjects and patients with Hashimoto’s disease. The applied methods of analysis and image processing were profiled to obtain 10 features of the image. Then, their significance in the classification was shown.MaterialIn this study, the examined group consisted of 29 healthy subjects aged 18 to 60 and 65 patients with Hashimotos disease. For each subject, four ultrasound images were taken. They were all in transverse and longitudinal sections of the right and left lobe of the thyroid, which gave 376 images in total.Method10 different features obtained from each ultrasound image were suggested. The analyzed thyroid lobe was marked automatically or manually with a rectangular element.ResultsThe analysis of 10 features and the creation for each one of them their own decision tree configuration resulted in distinguishing 3 most significant features. The results of the quality of classification show accuracy above 94% for a non-trimmed decision tree.

Automatic method for the dermatological diagnosis of selected hand skin features in hyperspectral imaging

IntroductionHyperspectral imaging has been used in dermatology for many years. The enrichment of hyperspectral imaging with image analysis broadens considerably the possibility of reproducible, quantitative evaluation of, for example, melanin and haemoglobin at any location in the patients skin. The dedicated image analysis method proposed by the authors enables to automatically perform this type of measurement.Material and methodAs part of the study, an algorithm for the analysis of hyperspectral images of healthy human skin acquired with the use of the Specim camera was proposed. Images were collected from the dorsal side of the hand. The frequency λ of the data obtained ranged from 397 to 1030xa0nm. A total of 4000 2D images were obtained for 5 hyperspectral images. The method proposed in the paper uses dedicated image analysis based on human anthropometric data, mathematical morphology, median filtration, normalization and others. The algorithm was implemented in Matlab and C programs and is used in practice.ResultsThe algorithm of image analysis and processing proposed by the authors enables segmentation of any region of the hand (fingers, wrist) in a reproducible manner. In addition, the method allows to quantify the frequency content in different regions of interest which are determined automatically. Owing to this, it is possible to perform analyses for melanin in the frequency range λE∈(450,600) nm and for haemoglobin in the range λH∈(397,500) nm extending into the ultraviolet for the type of camera used. In these ranges, there are 189 images for melanin and 126 images for haemoglobin. For six areas of the left and right sides of the little finger (digitus minimus manus), the mean values of melanin and haemoglobin content were 17% and 15% respectively compared to the pattern.ConclusionsThe obtained results confirmed the usefulness of the proposed new method of image analysis and processing in dermatology of the hand as it enables reproducible, quantitative assessment of any fragment of this body part. Each image in a sequence was analysed in this way in no more than 100xa0ms using Intel Core i5 CPU M460 @2.5 GHz 4 GB RAM.