Biomedical subjects

W J Yi

Publications and source records attributed to W J Yi.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Correlation between ciliary beat frequency and metachronal wave disorder using image analysis method.

Ciliary beating and metachronal waves are fundamental to effective mucociliary transport. The ciliary beat frequencies (CBFs) and metachronal wave directions of multiple cilia beating in culture media were measured simultaneously using digital microscopic images. The degree of synchronisation between ciliary beats was determined by the correlation between ciliary signals at two different locations. The wave propagation directions of cilia were determined from a two-dimensional correlation map by a principal axis method. The standard deviation of measured wave directions in a region of interest was defined as a measure of metachronal wave disorder (MWD). Considerable variation was found in the beat frequencies and metachronal wave directions of cilia beating on epithelium. The pooled mean of MWDs was 23.4 +/- 8.8 degrees, and the pooled mean of CBFs was 10.1 +/- 1.9 Hz on 120 cells from five healthy subjects. The means of the MWD and the CBF from subjects were highly correlated (correlation = -0.83). The higher the CBF, the lower the level of the MWD.

Humans↗

PubMed2001

Hypertonic saline decreases ciliary movement in human nasal epithelium in vitro.

Various saline solution formulae are frequently used in patients with rhinosinusitis. Osmolarity affects ciliary beat frequency (CBF); however, little is known about the effects of saline solutions on ciliary activity of nasal epithelial cells. The aim of this study was to assess whether CBF of normal turbinate mucosa is affected by hypertonic, isotonic, or hypotonic saline solution in vitro and whether histologic changes are associated with the alteration of ciliary movement. We assessed variations of CBF after exposure to 0.06%, 0.12%, 0.9%, 3.0%, or 7.0% saline solutions and histologic changes were examined by transmission electron microscopy. Isotonic and hypotonic solutions produced no ciliary slowing; however, ciliostasis was observed within a few minutes in 3.0% or 7.0% solution. The histologic changes demonstrated that the ciliary slowing might be attributed to epithelial damage by fluid transport toward the surrounding medium. In conclusion, hypertonic saline solutions decrease CBF and disrupt nasal epithelial cells in vitro.

Cell Culture Techniques↗

PubMed2001

Ciliary beat frequency in cultured human nasal epithelial cells.

This study aimed to determine the characteristics of ciliogenesis and the ciliary beat frequency (CBF) of cultured human nasal epithelial cells by means of an in vitro air-liquid interface (ALI) culture system. On the 14th, 21st, and 27th days of ALI culture, CBFs of cultured cells were measured with a video computerized analysis system, and the epithelial cell-collagen matrix complex was examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Using a CBF distribution map, we calculated the proportion of ciliary beating area (CBA) on the cultured cells. On the 14th day, ciliated cells could be easily distinguished from other cells on scanning electron microscopy by their elongated cilia. Between the 14th and 27th days, the number of mature cilia increased, and after 27 days of air exposure, the cilia of each cell pointed to one direction. From the beginning of air-exposure culture until the 7th day, the number of secretory cells increased; however, from the 7th day to the 27th day, it decreased, and the number of ciliated cells increased. Total CBAs increased from the 7th day to the 21st day. The proportions of actively beating cells and the mean CBFs of beating cells among cultured epithelial cells increased with culture time. On the 21st day, the mean CBF of the cultured cells was similar to that of nasal ciliated cells in biopsy specimens (10.9 +/- 0.5 Hz versus 11.4 +/- 1.3 Hz), but until the 27th day, the CBF of cultured cells increased significantly (13.9 +/- 0.8 Hz). It is suggested that there may be some difference in CBF between nasal epithelial cells submitted to biopsy and nasal epithelial cells cultured by the ALI culture system.

Cells, Cultured↗

PubMed1998

Morphological classification of sperm heads using artificial neural networks.

In male reproducible health and fertility and IVF (in-vitro fertilization), morphological analysis of sperm has been most important. But the traditional tools for semen analysis are subjective, imprecise, inaccurate, difficult to standardize, and reproduce mainly due to their manually oriented operations. The purpose of morphological analysis of sperm is to microscopically type-classify sperm according to their morphological characteristics of heads. Until now, the strict criteria method has long been used in clinic to discriminate normal sperm from abnormal. This method cannot classify the diverse groups of abnormal sperm in detail and shows large variations in inter-operators and intra-operator. In this paper, we have studied a new method of sperm morphological classification using artificial neural networks that are widely used in pattern recognition and image processing. With a multi-layer perceptron trained by the error back-propagation algorithm, profile features from digitized sperm images were classified into four classes that consisted of one normal group and three abnormal groups according to their morphological characteristics.

Humans↗

PubMed1997

Distribution mapping of ciliary beat frequencies of respiratory epithelium cells using image processing.

Through their rapid periodic actions, the cilia of the human respiratory tract play an important role in clearing inhaled noxious particles. An automated method is developed, based on an image-processing technique, to measure and analyse objectively and quantitatively, ciliary beat frequency (CBF). Microscopic ciliary images are transformed into digitised grey images through an image grabber inside a PC, and signals are extracted from these, based on an image-subtraction algorithm, and are processed through power spectrum analysis using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). By means of the FFT power spectrum, maximum peak frequencies are detected as CBFs in each partitioned block for the entire digitised field. Using these CBFs, distribution maps are composed in various resolutions, showing visually the spatial distribution of CBFs through cells and in a single cell. To measure CBF variations quantitatively, phenylephrine hydrochloride is used, and the changes in CBF influenced by its concentration and duration are observed.

Cell Culture Techniques↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Segmentation of sperms using the strategic Hough transform.

A new method based on the Hough transform has been used for the quantitative estimation of the morphological characteristics of the sperm. Images of the sperms were acquired into the digital format using the optical microscope, CCD camera, and frame grabber. For each sperm in the image, the region of interest for the segmentation of the sperm head was selected using the density difference between the sperm head and background. The boundary of the sperm head was approximated with an ellipse and represented by five parameters. These five parameters representing an ellipse have been investigated by applying the Hough transform strategically. During the searching procedure using the Hough transform, we restricted the searching volume minimally and moved the next searching volume to the direction showing the steepest gradient of the estimation error. Also, we increased the parameter resolution from the three pixel distance to the one pixel distance. For the tested images, head boundaries of the sperms were estimated with an error of 1/2 pixel distance, and morphological parameters were calculated by the equations without further image processing. This new method separates sperm head based on the geometrical characteristic of the sperm and calculates morphological parameters simply from the derived boundary.

Algorithms↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, and TGF-beta on ciliary beat frequency of human nasal ciliated epithelial cells in vitro.

Previous reports suggested that several cytokines may influence the ciliary beat of the airway ciliated epithelial cells. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of cytokines including IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, and TGF-beta on ciliary beat frequency (CBF) of human nasal ciliated epithelial cells. CBF of cultured human nasal ciliated epithelial cells was measured 24 hours after incubating with concentrations of 0.01 ng/mL, 0.1 ng/mL, 1 ng/mL, 10 ng/mL, and 100 ng/mL of each recombinant human (rh) cytokine including rhIL-1 beta, rhTNF-alpha, and rhTGF-beta. CBF was measured with time at concentrations of 1 ng/mL of rhIL-1 beta, 10 ng/mL of TNF-alpha, and 1 ng/mL of TGF-beta solutions. CBF of the human nasal ciliated epithelial cells increased after addition of rhIL-1 beta and rhTNF-alpha. Maximum CBF was observed at 1 ng/mL of rhIL-1 beta and at 10 ng/mL of rhTNF-alpha. CBF increased progressively to 4 hours after addition of rhIL-1 beta and rhTNF-alpha. Increased CBF sustained for 24 hours and decreased by 2 days. However, no variation of CBF was observed after addition of rhTGF-beta, regardless of concentrations and time. The results of this study suggest that during acute inflammation, IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha may have a potential role in defense mechanism of human nasal epithelium by regulating CBF of the nasal ciliated epithelial cells.

Adult↗