Biomedical subjects

Irina-Draga Caruntu

Publications and source records attributed to Irina-Draga Caruntu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Renal corpuscle morphometry with increased reliability and high level of automation.

The paper presents an original computerized histometric technique for renal biopsies that outlines the role of quantitative information in the morphologic analysis of renal corpuscle (RC). We investigated 10 cases diagnosed as rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) by randomly selecting 10 RCs from each case. Our technique is based on two algorithms (implemented in the Zeiss KS400) that process digital color images for extracting the morphometric features at two levels: (1) of a single RC and (2) of a whole case. The algorithm operating at level (1) includes instruments especially designed for ensuring the accuracy in the identification of the regions occupied by the RC components; it evaluates the areas of the RC components and their percentages relative to the total area of the RC. The novelty of the instruments lies in the usage of intermediate recoloring for multifold thresholding segmentation and in the mutual validation of the regions provided by red-green-blue (RGB) and hue-lightness-saturation (HLS) segmentation. The algorithm operating at level (2) averages the data obtained from all the RCs considered in a case. The proposed technique offers a high level of automation; it is reliable and repeatable. The basic principles of the presented technique can also be adapted to the histometric approaches of other pathology domains. Results illustrate the utilization of the technique at both levels. The extraction of the RC morphometric features allows for establishing a significant correlation between the quantitative and qualitative information. This may contribute to a better understanding of the RPGN evolution and, implicitly, to the refinement of the diagnosis.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2005

Epidemiology of renal disease in Romania: a 10 year review of two regional renal biopsy databases.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological data of renal disease are available from large national renal biopsy registries from Central and Western European countries; in contrast, detailed epidemiological data from Eastern European countries are missing. This report is the first review of histological data, over a period of 10 years (1995-2004), covering a population of over 6 million inhabitants and two distinct regions from an East European country - Romania. METHODS: 635 eco-guided kidney biopsies from the Moldova (North-Eastern Romania, 8 counties, 4 754 048 inhabitants) and Banat (Western Romania, 3 counties, 1 454 747 inhabitants) regions were analysed. Data on serum creatinine concentration (sCr), 24 h proteinuria, haematuria, clinical diagnosis, histological diagnosis and complications after renal biopsy were collected. RESULTS: The number of biopsies performed varied between 10.9 p.m.p./year in 1995 and 11.3 p.m.p./year in 2004. The most common clinical syndromes - as indication for performing the renal biopsy - were: nephrotic syndrome (52.3%), followed by nephritic syndrome (21.9%), acute renal failure (ARF) (12.4%), chronic kidney disease (CKD) (10.2%) and asymptomatic urinary abnormalities (AUA) (3.3% of the cases). The major histological groups identified were: primary glomerulonephritis (GN) (66.2%), secondary GN (26.4%), vascular nephropathies (2.3%), and tubulointerstitial nephropathies (TIN) (1.5%) of the cases. Among primary GN's, the most frequent diagnoses were: membranoproliferative GN (MPGN) (29.4%, incidence in 2004 - 9.3 p.m.p./year), mesangioproliferative GN (MesGN) (28.9%, incidence - 10 p.m.p./year), membranous GN (MGN) (11.2%, incidence - 5.3 p.m.p./year), minimal change disease (MCD) (8.5%, incidence - 7.3 p.m.p./year), focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) (11.5%, incidence - 3.3 p.m.p./year) and crescentic GN (CGN) (7.9%, incidence - 3.3 p.m.p./year). The prevalence of membranoproliferative GN significantly decreased from 1995 to 2004. The prevalence of different types of secondary GN was similar to Western and Central European countries, with the particular difference of higher infectious diseases associated GN. CONCLUSION: The present data are an important contribution to the epidemiology of renal diseases in Europe, highlighting not only numerous similarities but also significant epidemiological differences in Western and Central European countries, particularly a higher, albeit declining, incidence and prevalence of membranoproliferative GN. This report represents the basis for the future of Romanian Registry of Renal Biopsies and is intended to serve as a source of information for nephrologists concerned with East European renal pathology.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Highly effective techniques in computerized dental tissue morphometry.

The effectiveness of computer-aided morphometry is greatly dependent on the capabilities of the software platforms, but the literature provides only information about the measurement methods and their medical interpretation. The purpose of our work is to create a link between the technical algorithm and the medical significance, by a detailed description of measurement procedures, accompanied by the interpretation of their results. The developed techniques operate at a pixel level, by deriving a full benefit from the computational resources available in the modern software environments for image processing. The approach is built on three illustrative cases, formulated in a large sense, so as to cover classes of general problems, referring to cellular entities and tubular structures in cross and longitudinal section. Specimens belonging to the dentin-pulp complex were chosen, because they permit a quantitative analysis for each morphological element, as well as comparative discussion. With appropriate adaptations of the procedures, the measurements of other types of normal and pathological tissues can be analogously addressed. The design, implementation and exploitation of our procedures are supported by specific references to the use of an image analysis system (Zeiss KS400). The algorithmic background remains valid (except for some possible minor changes) when similar software is used. Consequently, the results and their interpretations, prove the importance of the numerical analysis in automating the quantitative evaluation of the structural features.

Algorithms↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Computerized morphometric discrimination between normal and tumoral cells in oral smears.

The oral exfoliative cytology allows a quick and fairly accurate assessment of suspicious lesions of the oral cavity. Within this context, our paper proposes a quantitative approach, focusing on the construction of a classifier for detecting the presence of the tumoral cells on oral smears. The design of the classifier relies on a detailed computerized analysis of the individual morphometric features exhibited by two large known populations of normal and tumoral cells, respectively; the digital image processing was performed in the Zeiss KS400 environment. The classifier was implemented as a neural network with step activation function, whose parameters were obtained from an adequate training, based on the nuclear and cytoplasmic areas of the cells belonging to the two populations. Our procedure based on this classifier was meant to operate by identifying the tumoral or normal nature of any cell randomly selected from a smear. To identify the nature of an arbitrary cell, its nuclear and cytoplasmic areas are presented at the input of the classifier. The classification procedure was tested on several smears, and the results coincided with the pathological diagnosis in all the considered cases. The performances of our approach are discussed in comparison with other analytical methods previously reported in oral exfoliative cytology. These discussions emphasize the role of numerical information exploited for the classifier design, concluding that the individual morphometric features are more meaningful than the global characterization of smears by mean values.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The role of some prostaglandin analogues in experimental intoxication produced by carbon tetrachloride in rats.

Prostaglandins are synthesized ubiquitously in the body from unsaturated fatty acids and they act as paracrine messengers. We have studied the influence of a prostaglandin analogue on experimental induced hepatopathy. The tested compound is a synthetic isopropyl ester of PGF2 alpha (IPEF) and as hepato-toxic agent we used CCl4. We worked on four groups of 4 adult male rats each. Group I received no substance; Group II received CCl4 0.1 ml/bw/per os, single dose, for three days; Group III received CCl4 as series I and IPEF 15 micrograms/bw i.p., single dose daily, one hour before CCl4 administration; Group IV received CCl4 as series I and IPEF 50 micrograms/bw i.p., single dose daily. Twenty-four hours after the last administration, samples of blood were taken and ALT, AST, LDH as well as conjugate and unconjugate bilirubin were determined. We also determined MDH, GSH and glutathion peroxidase, in liver homogenate. Our data show that MDH levels are increased in Group I (20.81 +/- 3.15 microM/microgram protein) as compared with both Group III (8.44 +/- 1.32 microM/microgram protein) and IV (7.31 +/- 1.92 microM/microgram protein) which might suggest that prostaglandin analogue IPEF decreases the polyunsaturated fatty acids degradation, at both low and high level. ALAT levels for group that received CCl4 (782 +/- 20.8 U/L) are significantly higher than those for group III (264 +/- 15.4 U/L) and IV (227 +/- 8.4 U/L) which received IPEF at low, respectively high dose. Our data suggest that the synthetic prostaglandin analogue presents stabilizing membrane effects (plasmatic and membrane of some cellular organelles) and reduces peroxide radicals production.

Algorithms↗