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Biomedical subjects

P W Verbeek

Publications and source records attributed to P W Verbeek.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Semiautomated DNA probe mapping using digital imaging microscopy: I. System development.

Algorithms have been developed to help automate the mapping of DNA sequences along metaphase chromosomes using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Custom algorithms computationally define chromosome boundaries and compute chromosomal medial axes. A dynamic regional thresholding (DRT) algorithm is described that allows reliable detection of hybridization domains, even when they differ substantially in size and intensity. Chromosomal locations are calculated by determining the fractional location of each hybridization probe along the medial axis of a metaphase chromosome relative to the short arm (FLpter). These algorithms were tested on simulated data and by analysis of the location of probes that had been previously mapped by other techniques. These algorithms allow probes to be mapped rapidly along human chromosomes with a precision of 2-3 Mb.

Algorithms

Characterization of chromatin distribution in cell nuclei.

In this paper we develop four measures to describe the distribution of nuclear chromatin. These measures attempt to describe in an objective and meaningful way the heterogeneity, granularity, condensation, and margination of chromatin in cell nuclei. Starting with a high-resolution digitized image of a cell where the nuclear pixels have been identified, the four measures may be rapidly estimated. The range of each is derived and the interpretation of the measures in the context of chromatin compaction and distribution is developed. Implementation issues such as sampling density, thresholding and subsequent pre-processing, and algorithmic complexity are discussed.

Animals

Image processing for mitoses in sections of breast cancer: a feasibility study.

This paper describes an image analysis technique for the counting of nuclei in mitosis in tissue sections. Five experienced pathologists scored mitoses in photographs of preselected areas of tissue sections of the breast. Objects consistently labelled as mitotic cells by all five pathologists were considered "mitoses" in the analysis. In total, there were 45 mitotic nuclei, 68 possible mitotic nuclei and 1,172 nonmitotic nuclei. The image analysis procedure was designed to give priority to a low false negative rate, i.e., misclassification of mitoses. The procedure consists of three steps: 1. Segmentation of the image. 2. Reduction of the number of nonmitotic nuclei by using feature values based on the brightness histogram of the objects. 3. Fully automatic classification of the remaining objects using contour features. The objects remaining after the first two steps were visualized in a composite display for interactive evaluation: 10% of the mitotic nuclei were missed, and 85% of the nonmitotic nuclei were eliminated. The result of the fully automatic procedure described in this paper is rather disappointing and gave a loss of 37% of the mitoses while 5% of the nonmitotic nuclei remained.

Breast Neoplasms