Automatic segmentation of liver & lesion detection using H-minima transform and connecting component labeling

Automatic segmentation of the liver and the Lesion detection can be a very challenging task due to its variability in size, shape, position and the presence of other organs with similar intensities. Manual segmentation and detection of a tumor is a time-consuming task and greatly depends upon the expertise and experience of the physician. We proposed a method which consists of automatic segmentation and detection of liver and lesion using CT scan modality. H-minima transform filter, Otsu global thresholds, Morphological opening by reconstruction and modified Connected Component Labeling algorithms are applied for liver segmentation. To keep the technique simple and effective, an appropriate range of threshold values are defined to detect different types of lesions. Performance of the proposed system is evaluated and compared with the state-of-the art algorithms. The results of the comparison show that the proposed approach is robust and efficient due to its simplicity. The dice coefficient score for the hepatic segmentation is 94% while sensitivity and specificity for hepatic lesion are 93% and 87% respectively.

     

3D QSAR pharmacophore modeling, in silico screening, and density functional theory (DFT) approaches for identification of human chymase inhibitors

Human chymase is a very important target for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Using a series of theoretical methods like pharmacophore modeling, database screening, molecular docking and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, an investigation for identification of novel chymase inhibitors, and to specify the key factors crucial for the binding and interaction between chymase and inhibitors is performed. A highly correlating (r = 0.942) pharmacophore model (Hypo1) with two hydrogen bond acceptors, and three hydrophobic aromatic features is generated. After successfully validating "Hypo1", it is further applied in database screening. Hit compounds are subjected to various drug-like filtrations and molecular docking studies. Finally, three structurally diverse compounds with high GOLD fitness scores and interactions with key active site amino acids are identified as potent chymase hits. Moreover, DFT study is performed which confirms very clear trends between electronic properties and inhibitory activity (IC(50)) data thus successfully validating "Hypo1" by DFT method. Therefore, this research exertion can be helpful in the development of new potent hits for chymase. In addition, the combinational use of docking, orbital energies and molecular electrostatic potential analysis is also demonstrated as a good endeavor to gain an insight into the interaction between chymase and inhibitors.     

Decolorization of textile effluent by bitter gourd peroxidase immobilized on concanavalin A layered calcium alginate-starch beads

Bitter gourd peroxidase immobilized on the surface of concanavalin A layered calcium alginate-starch beads was used for the successful and effective decolorization of textile industrial effluent. Effluent was recalcitrant to the action of bitter gourd peroxidase; however, in the presence of some redox mediators, it was successfully decolorized. Effluent decolorization was maximum (70%) in the presence of 1.0mM 1-hydroxybenzotriazole within 1h of incubation. However, immobilized bitter gourd peroxidase showed maximum decolorization at pH 5.0 and 40 degrees C. Immobilized bitter gourd peroxidase decolorized more than 90% effluent after 3h of incubation in a batch process. The two-reactor system, one reactor containing immobilized peroxidase and the other had activated silica, was quite effective in the decolorization of textile effluent. The system was capable of decolorizing 40% effluent even after 2 months of continuous operation. The absorption spectra of the untreated and treated effluent exhibited a marked difference in absorbance at various wavelengths. Immobilized peroxidase/1-hydroxybenzotriazole system could be employed for the treatment of a large volume of effluent in a continuous reactor.     

Entrapment of porous and stable concanavalin A–peroxidase complex into hybrid calcium alginate–pectin gel

Ammonium sulfate‐fractionated proteins of turnip (Brassica rapa) were used for the simultaneous purification and immobilization of peroxidase by using crude jack bean extract. The concanavalin A–turnip peroxidase complex retained nearly 70% of the original activity. Calcium alginate–pectin‐entrapped soluble turnip peroxidase and the concanavalin A complex of peroxidase retained 63% and 52% of the original activity, respectively. The concanavalin A–peroxidase complex, the alginate–pectin‐entrapped soluble peroxidase and the alginate–pectin‐entrapped concanavalin A–peroxidase complex showed very high stability against denaturation mediated by heat, pH, urea, organic solvents and detergents. The exposure of soluble and immobilized turnip peroxidase to trypsin resulted in an enhancement of the peroxidase activity. The concanavalin A–peroxidase complex entrapped preparation was markedly more stable as compared with the directly entrapped soluble enzyme preparation. The results suggested that such preparations have great potential in the construction of bioreactors to be used for the remediation of aromatic compounds present in polluted wastewater/industrial effluents. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Efficient Algorithms for Cache-Throughput Analysis in Cellular-D2D 5G Networks

In this paper, we propose a two-tiered segment-based Device-to-Device (S-D2D) caching approach to decrease the startup and playback delay experienced by Video-on-Demand (VoD) users in a cellular network. In the S-D2D caching approach cache space of each mobile device is divided into two cache-blocks. The first cache-block reserve for caching and delivering the beginning portion of the most popular video files and the second cache-block caches the latter portion of the requested video files ‘fully or partially’ depending on the users’ video watching behaviour and popularity of videos. In this approach before caching, video is divided and grouped in a sequence of fixed-sized fragments called segments. To control the admission to both cache-blocks and improve the system throughput, we further propose and evaluate three cache admission control algorithms. We also propose a video segment access protocol to elaborate on how to cache and share the video segments in a segmentation based D2D caching architecture. We formulate an optimisation problem and find the optimal cache probability and beginning-segment size that maximise the cache-throughput probability of beginning-segments. To solve the non-convex cache-throughout maximisation problem, we derive an iterative algorithm, where the optimal solution is derived in each step. We used extensive simulations to evaluate the performance of our proposed S-D2D caching system.     

Comparative analysis of segmentation techniques based on chest X-ray images

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The image segmentation is the basic step in the image processing involved in the processing of medical images. Over the past two decades, medical image...