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Left ventricular non-compaction is characterized by the presence of multiple trabecules in the left ventricle myocardium, associated with multiple inter-trabecular recesses communicated with the ventricular cavity. The medical community needs an objective quantification of non-compacted cardiomyopathy, characterized by a trabeculated mass in the left ventricle myocardium. A software tool for the automatic quantification of the exact hyper-trabeculation degree in the left ventricle myocardium for a population of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (QLVTHC) patients is developed and tested. End-diastolic cardiac magnetic resonance images of the patients are the input of the software, while the volumes of the compacted zones and the trabeculated zones are necessary to produce the percentage quantification of the trabecular zone with respect to the compacted zone. Significant improvements are obtained with respect to the manual process, by saving valuable diagnosis time. The development of a self-optimized software tool (SOST) based on the outputs of 50 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy automatically produces the volumes of the compacted zones and the trabeculated zones, as a percentage quantification. Now, the SOST is tested with a different population of patients, with different characteristics. Besides, a parallelization for the detection of the external layer of the compacted zone allows the real-time analysis per slice in a patient, obtaining important speedups with regard to the QLVTHC proposed and the manual process used traditionally by cardiologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family Melastomataceae is an important component of the Brazilian Cerrado flora, inhabiting different environments from those with well-drained soils to swamp soil sites. Several members of this family are recognized as aluminum (Al)-accumulating. We studied the wood anatomy of six species of Melastomataceae ( Miconia albicans (Sw.) Triana, M. fallax DC., M. chamissois Naudin, M. ligustroides (DC.) Naudin, Microlepis oleaefolia (DC.) Triana, Rhynchanthera dichotoma DC.), growing in different environments of Cerrado, exploring the occurrence of trabeculae and Al-accumulation sites. We processed the material following the usual techniques in wood anatomy and histochemistry. We used a chrome azurol-S spot-test in fresh material to detect Al-accumulation. The common features were diffuse porosity, vessel elements with simple perforation plates and vestured pits, abundant parenchyma-like fiber bands and septate fibers, axial parenchyma scanty to vasicentric, and heterocellular rays. The presence of trabeculae in vessel elements, septa in parenchyma cells, and aluminum in the G-layer of the gelatinous fiber walls, in the septa of fibers, in cambial initials and derivatives cell walls, and in the vacuole of ray cells are recorded for the first time for Melastomataceae. The results of this study indicate an additional role for gelatinous fibers in Al-accumulation, and offer a new perspective on Al-compartmentalization in the wood cells from Cerrado species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]