A soft-segmentation visualization scheme for magnetic resonance images

Prevalent visualization tools exploit gray value distribution in images through modified histogram equalization and matching technique, referred to as the window width/window level-based method, to improve visibility and enhance diagnostic value. The window width/window level tool is extensively used in magnetic resonance (MR) images to highlight tissue boundaries during image interpretation. However, the identification of different regions and distinct boundaries between them based on gray-level distribution and displayed intensity levels is extremely difficult because of the large dynamic range of tissue intensities inherent in MR images. We propose a soft-segmentation visualization scheme to generate pixel partitions from the histogram of MR image data using a connectionist approach and then generate selective visual depictions of pixel partitions using pseudo color based on an appropriate fuzzy membership function. By applying the display scheme in clinical examples in this study, we could demonstrate additional overlapping regions between distinct tissue types in healthy and diseased areas (in the brain) that could help improve the tissue characterization ability of MR images.     

A simplified approach for the generation of projection data for cone beam geometry

To test a developed reconstruction algorithm for cone beam geometry, whether it is transmission or emission tomography, one needs projection data. Generally, mathematical phantoms are generated in three dimensions and the projection for all rotation angles is calculated. For non-symmetric objects, the process is cumbersome and computation intensive. This paper describes a simple methodology for the generation of projection data for cone beam geometry for both transmission and emission tomographies by knowing the object’s attenuation and/or source spatial distribution details as input. The object details such as internal geometrical distribution are nowhere involved in the projection data calculation. This simple approach uses the pixilated object matrix values in terms of the matrix indices and spatial geometrical coordinates. The projection data of some typical phantoms (generated using this approach) are reconstructed using standard FDK algorithm and Novikov’s inversion formula. Correlation between the original and reconstructed images has been calculated to compare the image quality.     

Collective dynamics of multicellular systems

We have studied the collective behaviour of a one-dimensional ring of cells for conditions when the individual uncoupled cells show stable, bistable and oscillatory dynamics. We show that the global dynamics of this model multicellular system depends on the system size, coupling strength and the intrinsic dynamics of the cells. The intrinsic variability in dynamics of the constituent cells are suppressed to stable dynamics, or modified to intermittency under different conditions. This simple model study reveals that cell–cell communication, system size and intrinsic cellular dynamics can lead to evolution of collective dynamics in structured multicellular biological systems that is significantly different from its constituent single-cell behaviour.     

Concise preparation of novel tricyclic chemotypes: fused hydantoin-benzodiazepines

The following article describes a concise synthesis of a collection of 4,5-dihydro-1H-benzo[e][1,4]diazepines fused to a hydantoin ring. Molecular complexity and biological relevance are high and structures are generated in a mere three steps, employing the Ugi reaction to assemble diversity reagents. The protocol represents a novel UDC (Ugi-deprotect-cyclize) strategy employed in the Ugi-5-component CO₂-mediated condensation, followed by further cyclization under basic conditions, to afford the fused hydantoin. Mechanistic caveats, dependent on the aldehydes of choice will be revealed and a facile oxidation of the final products to imidazolidenetriones is briefly discussed.     

Engineered alginate hydrogels for effective microfluidic capture and release of endothelial progenitor cells from whole blood

Microfluidic adhesion-based cell separation systems are of interest in clinical and biological applications where small sample volumes must be processed efficiently and rapidly. While the ability to capture rare cells from complex suspensions such as blood using microfluidic systems has been demonstrated, few methods exist for rapid and nondestructive release of the bound cells. Such detachment is critical for applications in tissue engineering and cell-based therapeutics in contrast with diagnostics wherein immunohistochemical, proteomic, and genomic analyses can be carried out by simply lysing captured cells. This paper demonstrates how the incorporation of four-arm amine-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) molecules along with antibodies within alginate hydrogels can enhance the ability of the hydrogels to capture endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from whole human blood. The hydrogel coatings are applied conformally onto pillar structures within microfluidic channels and their dissolution with a chelator allows for effective recovery of EPCs following capture.     

A versatile route for the synthesis of 3-(1′, 1′-dimethyllallyl)coumarins

Synthesis of 3-(′, 1′-dimethylallyl)herniarin and 3-(′, 1′-dimethylallyl)desmothosyherniarin has been carried out by a versatile route.     

An FPTAS for optimizing a class of low-rank functions over a polytope

We present a fully polynomial time approximation scheme (FPTAS) for optimizing a very general class of non-linear functions of low rank over a polytope. Our approximation scheme relies on constructing an approximate Pareto-optimal front of the linear functions which constitute the given low-rank function. In contrast to existing results in the literature, our approximation scheme does not require the assumption of quasi-concavity on the objective function. For the special case of quasi-concave function minimization, we give an alternative FPTAS, which always returns a solution which is an extreme point of the polytope. Our technique can also be used to obtain an FPTAS for combinatorial optimization problems with non-linear objective functions, for example when the objective is a product of a fixed number of linear functions. We also show that it is not possible to approximate the minimum of a general concave function over the unit hypercube to within any factor, unless P = NP. We prove this by showing a similar hardness of approximation result for supermodular function minimization, a result that may be of independent interest.