Search

BACKGROUND: For a traditional vision-based static sign language recognition (SLR) system, arm segmentation is a major factor restricting the accuracy of SLR. OBJECTIVE: To achieve accurate arm segmentation for different bent arm shapes, we designed a segmentation method for a static SLR system based on image processing and combined it with morphological reconstruction. METHODS: First, skin segmentation was performed using YCbCr color space to extract the skin-like region from a complex background. Then, the area operator and the location of the mass center were used to remove skin-like regions and obtain the valid hand-arm region. Subsequently, the transverse distance was calculated to distinguish different bent arm shapes. The proposed segmentation method then extracted the hand region from different types of hand-arm images. Finally, the geometric features of the spatial domain were extracted and the sign language image was identified using a support vector machine (SVM) model. Experiments were conducted to determine the feasibility of the method and compare its performance with that of neural network and Euclidean distance matching methods. RESULTS: The results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively segment skin-like regions from complex backgrounds as well as different bent arm shapes, thereby improving the recognition rate of the SLR system.

Siphon plays essential role in the occurrence of deadlocks for the flexible manufacturing system (FMS) modeled by Petri nets. For siphon-based a deadlock a prevention a strategies, the selection of a siphon to be controlled in each iteration may affect the number of permissive behaviors and the a structural a complexity of a the controlled a system. For aaa class of Petri nets called systems of sequential systems with shared resources (S4PR), an iterative policy based on mixed integer programming (MIP) is introduced in this paper. In each iteration, a minimal bad siphon (MBS) with minimum number of places and resources is derived to control. Some experiments show that the resultant system obtained by the proposed strategy has simpler structure and more permissive behaviors than those obtained from existing methods. Meanwhile, the computational complexity of the policy is low because the complete state and siphon enumeration are avoided.

Digital holographic imaging fusion for a larger size object using compressive sensing is proposed. In this method, the high frequency component of the digital hologram under discrete wavelet transform is represented sparsely by using compressive sensing so that the data redundancy of digital holographic recording can be resolved validly, the low frequency component is retained totally to ensure the image quality, and multiple reconstructed images with different clear parts corresponding to a laser spot size are fused to realize the high quality reconstructed image of a larger size object. In addition, a filter combing high-pass and low-pass filters is designed to remove the zero-order term from a digital hologram effectively. The digital holographic experimental setup based on off-axis Fresnel digital holography was constructed. The feasible and comparative experiments were carried out. The fused image was evaluated by using the Tamura texture features. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method can improve the processing efficiency and visual characteristics of the fused image and enlarge the size of the measured object effectively.

Derlin-1 is involved in the elimination of misfolded proteins and has been implicated in the progression of human cancers. However, its prognostic value and biological function in breast cancer remain unknown. Here, we show that Derlin-1 is overexpressed in breast cancer and exhibits oncogenic activities via interaction with UBE2C. Increased expression of Derlin-1 is correlated with lymph node metastasis, advanced clinical stage, and unfavorable overall survival in two cohorts containing over 1,000 patients. Multivariate analyses by the Cox regression model suggest Derlin-1 is an independent factor for poor prognosis. In vitro experiments demonstrate that Derlin-1 expression is transcriptionally upregulated by c-Myc. Ectopic expression of Derlin-1 promotes breast cancer cell proliferation and migration, whereas the knockdown of Derlin-1 results in the opposite phenotypes. Mechanistically, Derlin-1 directly binds to UBE2C to increase the phosphorylation of AKT and ERK. The treatment of UBE2C siRNA markedly attenuates Derlin-1-mediated cell growth and migration. Collectively, our data suggest Derlin-1 is a potential prognostic factor and functions as an oncogene in breast cancer.

A novel signal processing method of movement direction identification and phase correction is presented for laser heterodyne interferometry. Based on the reference signal, four intervals with phase difference of 90° each other are set up. The real-time movement direction identification and the integer fringe counting are realized by detecting the times that the rising-edge of the measurement signal crosses the intervals. The phase correction approach is proposed in detail to solve the fraction phase compensation when the initial phase difference is not equal to the zero phase difference. Three experiments of the stability test, the nanometer and micrometer displacement tests on bi-directional movement were performed to demonstrate the usefulness and feasibility of the presented signal processing method.

To solve the problem of the small field of the view caused by CCD in the process of the hologram record, the hologram mosaic algorithm based on the Harris corners is proposed. The Harris corners in multi-scale are extracted and the mismatching points are removed. The final homography is calculated by using the improved RANSAC algorithm based on L-M algorithm. Finally, the stitched hologram with high quality can be obtained based on the weighted average fusion algorithm. It can overcome the influence to the hologram that the incident angles of the object beam are not consistent. Two experiments carried out with different reconstructed distance demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can realize the measurement of the big object by using the hologram method. Furthermore, it has high accuracy and strong robustness.

The breast is an unusual site for metastasis from a gastric carcinoma. The present study reports two cases of metastatic gastric carcinoma to the breast. The first patient, a 37-year-old woman, initially presented with gastric adenocarcinoma, prior to developing metastatic cancer to the breast 4 years later. The second female patient presented with a breast mass, and a modified radical mastectomy was performed; however, the subsequent pathological examination revealed the mass to be a metastatic signet ring cell carcinoma. An abdominal computed tomography scan revealed a diffuse gastric wall thickening that was consistent with gastric cancer. The findings suggest that immunohistochemistry is a useful tool to differentiate between primary breast tumors and gastrointestinal carcinomas that have metastasized to the breast. Additional studies are required in order to define the optimal treatment.

A systematic study on the structure and function of Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) variations was carried out in China. A total of 155,879 participants were screened for G6PD deficiency by the G6PD/6PGD ratio method and 6,683 cases have been found. The prevalence of G6PD deficiency ranged from 0 to 17.4%. With informed consent, 1,004 cases from 11 ethnic-based groups were subjected to molecular analysis. Our results showed the followings: (1) The G6PD variants are consistent across traditional ethnic boundaries, but vary in frequencies across ethnic-based groups in Chinese population, (2) The G6PD variants in Chinese population are different from those in African, European, and Indian populations, (3) A novel G6PD-deficiency mutation, 274C--T, has been found, and (4) Denaturing high performance liquid chromatography is of great advantage to detecting G6PD-deficient mutations for diagnosis and genetic counseling. Moreover, functional analysis of the human G6PD variants showed the following: (1) The charge property, polarity, pK-radical and side-chain radical of the substituting amino acid have an effect on G6PD activity, (2) The G6PDArg459 and Arg463 play important roles in anchoring NADP+ to the catalytic domain to maintain the enzymatic activity, and (3) The sequence from codon 459 to the carboxyl terminal is essential for the enzymatic function.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) lacks the expression of the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and receptor tyrosine-protein kinase erbB-2 (HER2/neu), which renders hormone-related endocrine and targeted therapy essentially futile. Objective: We performed a meta-analysis to assess the effects of antitumor regimens in the treatment of TNBC patients. Methods: We searched electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, through January 2017 using the following keywords: “triple negative breast cancer,” “TNBC,” and “random∗” without language restrictions. The major outcome in the present analysis was the overall response rate (ORR), and the secondary outcomes were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). A network meta-analysis and multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression were used to compare antitumor regimens. Results: We included 35 articles assessing a total of 8476 TNBC patients in our systematic review. The regimen of Bevacizumab, Carboplatin, and Paclitaxel (78.2%) was the most likely to improve the ORR in TNBC patients, followed by EndoTAG-1 and Paclitaxel (69.7%), Carboplatin and Paclitaxel (65.0%), and Bevacizumab and Paclitaxel (61.8%). In the patients without metastasis, the regimen of Bevacizumab, Carboplatin, and Paclitaxel (74.9%) remained the most likely to improve the ORR. We could not analyze the results for patients with metastasis or outcomes of PFS and OS because no >4 regimens formed a network. In the regression analysis, Bevacizumab (odds ratio [OR], 1.71; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.43–2.05; P

To identify pathological mutation in a Chinese male infant featuring oculocerebrorenal syndrome (also called Lowe syndrome).Clinical data of the patient were collected. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood of the infant and his parents. All of the 24 exons and intron-exon splice sites of OCRL gene were amplified with PCR. Mutations were detected by direct sequencing the PCR products.The infant was found to have carried a c.1499GA (p.R500Q) mutation in exon 15 of the OCRL gene, which was transmitted from his mother, who was heterozygous for the same mutation. The c.1499GA mutation, discovered in Chinese population for the first time, has been reported to cause severe Lowe syndrome in other ethnic populations.The c.1499GA mutation of the OCRL gene is probably responsible for the disease in the patient. Further study of this mutation may facilitate delineation of the genotype-phenotype correlation of this disease.

We report the genetic data of 435 patients with Hb H (β4) disease who presented at our center between 2005 and 2012. Our results showed that all patients had the Southeast Asian deletion (- -(SEA)) on one allele. The -α(3.7) (rightward) deletion was the most common on the other allele, followed by the -α(4.2) (leftward) deletion, Hb Constant Spring (Hb CS, α142, Term → Gln; HBA2: c.427T C) and Hb Quong Sze [Hb QS, α125(H8)Leu → Pro; HBA2: c.377T C] mutations. Two rare point mutations, α31(B12)Arg → Lys; HBA2: c.95GA and Hb Zurich Albisrieden [α59(E8)Gly → Arg; HBA1: c.178G C], were also identified. Four patients had a concomitant β-thalassemia (β-thal) heterozygosity. Our results reflect the genetic heterogeneity of Hb H disease and the interaction between Hb H disease and β-thal trait in Southern China.

A laser automatic tracking extensometer for material deformation measurement based on CCD is proposed. The image processing methods of the laser mark localization and the automatic tracking of the mark line on the specimen are studied for the extensometer. First, geometrical mean filter (GMF), harmonic mean filter (HMF) and inverse harmonic mean filter (IHMF) using for the image processing are compared in order to select a suitable mean filter for removing noises from the specimen images, and then the GMF is adopted for the de-noising of the images. Second, Sobel operator is introduced to detect the edges of the specimen images. At last, the specimen images are reduced to eliminate unwanted background information by pruning. Hough transformation of pretreated specimen images is also studied and linking images algorithm is proposed based on the image gray distribution and the connectivity principle. The laser mark localization and the automatic tracking of the mark line on the specimen are then implemented. The experimental results show that the linking image algorithm is prior to Hough transformation on both recognition effect and recognition efficiency.

Conventional video extensometers, using a measurement mark on specimen to obtain material strain, have a problem with deformation of the measurement mark. Therefore, the accurate position of the measurement mark is difficult to evaluate, and measurement accuracy is limited. To solve this problem, a strain measurement method based on a laser mark automatically tracking a line mark on the specimen is proposed. This method is using an undeformed laser mark to replace the line mark to calculate the specimen strain and eliminates the measurement error induced by the deformation of specimen marks. The positions of the laser mark and the line mark are achieved by using digital image processing. Automatic tracking is realized by means of an intelligent motor control. Also, the strain of the specimen is obtained by analyzing the movement trace of the laser mark. A video extensometer experimental setup based on the proposed method is constructed. Two experiments were carried out. The first experiment verified the validity and the repeatability of the method via tensile testing of the specimens of low-carbon steel and cast iron. The second one demonstrated the high measurement accuracy of the method by comparing with a clip-on extensometer.