Fractal analysis as a method of morphometric study of linear anatomical objects: modified Caliper method

The purpose of the study was to develop an original modification of the Caliper method of image fractal analysis to determine the fractal dimension of linear anatomical objects. To develop the method, the linear contour of the outer surface of the cerebral cortex was chosen as the object of study. Magnetic resonance brain images in coronal projection were used. The original modification of the Caliper method includes image analysis using Adobe Photoshop CS5 software or its analogues. The linear contour of the studied object is selected, followed by stepwise smoothing of the contour with different smoothing radius. At the 1st stage of fractal analysis smoothing is not applied, at the 2nd stage the smoothing radius is 2 pixels, the 3rd – 4 pixels, the 4th – 8 pixels, the 5th – 16 pixels. At each stage, the contour length in pixels is measured (P). The size of the fractal measurement unit (G) at the 1st stage of fractal analysis is 1 pixel, the 2nd stage – 2 pixels, the 3rd stage – 4 pixels, the 4th stage – 8 pixels, the 5th stage – 16 pixels. The contour smoothing radius, the size of the fractal measurement units and the number of stages of fractal analysis can be changed depending on the characteristics of the studied structure, size, scale and image resolution. Based on the values of the perimeter and the size of the fractal measurement units, the number of fractal measurement units covering the studied object (N) is calculated: N=P/G. The fractal dimension value is calculated based on the N and G values. The modification of the Caliper method described in this paper is automatized and does not require much time required for manual calculation. In addition, compared to the classic Caliper method, this modification is more accurate because the measurement is performed automatically. The main limitation of the developed modification is the ability to determine the fractal dimension of only closed contours of studied structures or closed linear structures, because this method involves determining the length of the closed perimeter of the selected image area. The modified Caliper method of image fractal analysis described in this paper can be used in morphology and other fields of medicine for fractal analysis of linear objects: external and internal linear contours of different anatomical structures (cerebellum, cerebral hemispheres) and pathological foci (tumors, foci of necrosis, fibrosis, etc.).

Object Categorization of the English Nominations for Animals Diseases

Introduction. The article is devoted to the study of features of object categorization in veterinary terminology for animal diseases. The relevance of the article is due to the need to study the object categorization in the formation, structuring and functioning of the English terminology of veterinary medicine, in particular the terms for animal diseases. The analysis was performed using definitive, semantic, categorical and conceptual research methods. The purpose of the research is to study object categorization of the English terms for animal diseases. Materials and methods of research. English veterinary terms that name animal diseases, obtained by the method of continuous sampling from specialized dictionaries were chosen as the material for research Results of the research. The category OBJECT is widely used in veterinary terminology, as it is one of the basic categories for the classification of concepts that are nominated by terms for animal diseases. Terms representing the category of OBJECT are divided into three groups: 1) terms for affected anatomical objects; 2) terms for pathological objects; 3) terms to indicate the diseases of certain animals. The author represents groups of nominations that correspond to the category OBJECT. Thus, the category of OBJECT is widely used in veterinary terminology, as it is one of the basic categories that play an important role in the formation of a scientific concept, as well as in the formation of the name that reflects it. Conclusions. Object categorization is one of the principles of classification of animal diseases, on the basis of which the process of cognition of objects of veterinary medicine is realized, as well as the formation, structuring and functioning of English terminology for animal diseases. We see the prospect of research in identifying a set of language tools in English that are used to verbalize the category OBJECT in the terminology for animal diseases.

Deep negative volume segmentation

Clinical examination of three-dimensional image data of compound anatomical objects, such as complex joints, remains a tedious process, demanding the time and the expertise of physicians. For instance, automation of the segmentation task of the TMJ (temporomandibular joint) has been hindered by its compound three-dimensional shape, multiple overlaid textures, an abundance of surrounding irregularities in the skull, and a virtually omnidirectional range of the jaw’s motion—all of which extend the manual annotation process to more than an hour per patient. To address the challenge, we invent a new workflow for the 3D segmentation task: namely, we propose to segment empty spaces between all the tissues surrounding the object—the so-called negative volume segmentation. Our approach is an end-to-end pipeline that comprises a V-Net for bone segmentation, a 3D volume construction by inflation of the reconstructed bone head in all directions along the normal vector to its mesh faces. Eventually confined within the skull bones, the inflated surface occupies the entire “negative” space in the joint, effectively providing a geometrical/topological metric of the joint’s health. We validate the idea on the CT scans in a 50-patient dataset, annotated by experts in maxillofacial medicine, quantitatively compare the asymmetry given the left and the right negative volumes, and automate the entire framework for clinical adoption.

Rapid Prototyping – A Prospective Paradigm A Narrative Review

Computational modelling signifies the simulation of real life layout in a virtual domain by the transfiguration of physical structures into numerical models, which then is processed into objects. It has restructured the field of Bio – medical engineering in the past 40 years. It has conceptualised the transposition of the visual to the visual-tactile portrayal of anatomical objects leading to a new kind of reciprocity called ‘touch to comprehend’, paving way for educational approaches. This advent of Rapid prototyping has opened new prospects in medical field, especially dentistry with its accuracy and speed. Rapid prototyping is an additive manufacturing technology that produces prototype models by addition of materials in a layer by layer process. With new researches coming to the fore for molding materials and the forming process of RP techniques, this technology has become trendsetter in dental prosthesis fabrication. This article provides a Narrative review of the evolution and its foray into Prosthodontics through the multiple technological options it has panned.

Les styles de raisonnement médical à l’épreuve du concept de santé dans les années 1630–1670

The concept of health forms a main issue for the medical theory. In as much as it depends on a special time, place, epistemology and metaphysics, it gets a specifi c thickness. In the modern medicine of the years 1630–1670s, on the one hand, it delineates an ideal characterised by a just proportion, that anatomy studies; on the other hand, a frequency noticed by new technologies of knowledge. Those scientifi c reorganizations bear a new conception of health in the frame of a political anatomy, which aims not only to cure, but also to prevent epidemics and optimize the general state of the population. The alternative to generalizing individual data through two anatomical objects – either through the humani corporis fabrica or the «politick body» – captures the thickness of modern health conception, which characterizes the cumulative ways of proceeding in science inducing a foliated pluralism in western medicine.

SHELL WORDS IN ANATOMY A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF BULGARIAN AND ENGLISH ANATOMICAL SYSTEMS

Shell words are a particular category of lexemes that make up an open-ended functionally defined class of abstract nouns having the potential to be as conceptual shells for complex, proposition-like pieces of information. Examples include: “fact”, “case”, “idea”, “problem”, “position”, “cause”, “situation”, “something”, etc. The idea of a particular class of words that group semantic features, but are not related to a referent is also found in many authors. Such words have greater reference potential and thus become useful for naming different referents (onomasiological salience). From a theoretical point of view, the need for a context to determine the meaning of a single lexeme is in fact equivalent to deleting the difference between polysemy and vagueness. Shell nouns are indexical words or "hollow words, envelopes" because their meaning is incomplete; they only point to what can fill the envelope, but still give it some structure. Thus, the meaning associated with these shell units is both context-related and in turn generates a linguistic context. At first glance it seems strange that generalized words such as shells are not hyperonimic, but in connection with the nature of the anatomical terms (physically perceived) it is important to note that it is precisely words from the basic level that are conceptualized as sensory and functional gestalts. The eventual clash between the specificity of the object and the abstract nature of terms causes the conflict in terminology. Once again, the choice of a linguistic rather than a terminological approach to the names of the anatomical objects is argued. The current research assumes that shell function may be applicable to specific nouns, i.e. anatomical terms, the so-called termini generales. In both Bulgarian and English anatomical terminologies, there are about 190 such terms that are head words in anatomical expressions and occur in all parts of anatomy, e.g. terms such as: glava (en – head), greben (en – crest), gynka (en –fold), klon (en – branch), list (en – leaf), plocha (en – plate), sloy (en – layer), tyalo (en – body), vryzka (en – “link”, “connection”), etc. What is special about them is that with their help are formed the names of organs in the different systems. Their semantic value is contextually defined. They "mark” large branches in the anatomical terminology system and are expressions of terminological multiplicity. Obtained through specialization of commonly used nouns, general terms are a manifestation of re-terminologization through metaphorical projection. In our view, termini generales have lost their metaphorical status (if they have one) and some of them serve as shell nouns. We also perform a cross-linguistic Bulgarian – English analysis of shells in both anatomical systems.

SHELL WORDS IN ANATOMY A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF BULGARIAN AND ENGLISH ANATOMICAL SYSTEMS

Shell words are a particular category of lexemes that make up an open-ended functionally defined class of abstract nouns having the potential to be as conceptual shells for complex, proposition-like pieces of information. Examples include: “fact”, “case”, “idea”, “problem”, “position”, “cause”, “situation”, “something”, etc. The idea of a particular class of words that group semantic features, but are not related to a referent is also found in many authors. Such words have greater reference potential and thus become useful for naming different referents (onomasiological salience). From a theoretical point of view, the need for a context to determine the meaning of a single lexeme is in fact equivalent to deleting the difference between polysemy and vagueness. Shell nouns are indexical words or "hollow words, envelopes" because their meaning is incomplete; they only point to what can fill the envelope, but still give it some structure. Thus, the meaning associated with these shell units is both context-related and in turn generates a linguistic context. At first glance it seems strange that generalized words such as shells are not hyperonimic, but in connection with the nature of the anatomical terms (physically perceived) it is important to note that it is precisely words from the basic level that are conceptualized as sensory and functional gestalts. The eventual clash between the specificity of the object and the abstract nature of terms causes the conflict in terminology. Once again, the choice of a linguistic rather than a terminological approach to the names of the anatomical objects is argued. The current research assumes that shell function may be applicable to specific nouns, i.e. anatomical terms, the so-called termini generales. In both Bulgarian and English anatomical terminologies, there are about 190 such terms that are head words in anatomical expressions and occur in all parts of anatomy, e.g. terms such as: glava (en – head), greben (en – crest), gynka (en –fold), klon (en – branch), list (en – leaf), plocha (en – plate), sloy (en – layer), tyalo (en – body), vryzka (en – “link”, “connection”), etc. What is special about them is that with their help are formed the names of organs in the different systems. Their semantic value is contextually defined. They "mark” large branches in the anatomical terminology system and are expressions of terminological multiplicity. Obtained through specialization of commonly used nouns, general terms are a manifestation of re-terminologization through metaphorical projection. In our view, termini generales have lost their metaphorical status (if they have one) and some of them serve as shell nouns. We also perform a cross-linguistic Bulgarian – English analysis of shells in both anatomical systems.

DYNAMIC ADAPTIVE TESTS OF IDENTIFICATION OF THE STRUCTURE OF ANATOMICAL OBJECTS

Problem and purpose. The requirements for the results of professional training of students of medical educational institutions have actualized the problem of dynamic adaptive testing of the enabling conditions for the acquisition by students of the experience of independent learning activity in electronic problematic environments of anatomical objects of the human body. The purpose of the article is to identify and substantiate the possibilities of increasing the teaching potential of students on the basis of the use of computerized dynamic adaptive tests for the identification of complex anatomical objects in conditions of estimated feedback.The methodologyof the research is the analysis of the psychological and pedagogical theory and the generalization of the results of scientific research of domestic and foreign scientists reflecting the ideas of actual approaches to dynamic adaptive testing in education, namely: the activity approach that implements developmental learning in the conditions of instructive feedback; the environmental approach, on the basis of training with reinforcement, in the context of evaluative feedback.Results. Based on the analysis of educational theory and practice, the basic didactic principles of dynamic adaptive testing of the process of self-learning in the electronic problematic environment of anatomical objects are formulated: evaluative feedback, thesaurus, interactivity, iterativity, semiotic diversity, monitoring, instability, uncertainty. Based on these principles, computerized dynamic adaptive tests-simulators for the identification of anatomical objects have been developed, a methodological model has been created for diagnosing the procedural characteristics of students’ learning activities, and the effectiveness of dynamic adaptive testing in the formation and development of cognitive abilities of students has been proved.The conclusion. The article describes the implementation of the ideas of dynamic adaptive testing in enriching the didactic potential of the student’s productive learning activity. The proposed model of dynamic adaptive testing of the structure of anatomical objects, through a combination of self-learning activities and external management in the context of evaluative feedback, allows students to be included in independent educational activities and to diagnose changes in its procedural characteristics. The results and conclusions allow us to develop the basic principles of dynamic adaptive testing.

Methods of reconstructing complex multi-structural anatomical objects with RP techniques

This article presents reconstruction methods applied to a (geometrically and physically) complex structural object with the use of RP and RT techniques. The methods are innovative due to their hybrid - multi-model and multi-material - approach to reconstruction, as well as the application of multiple technologies. An experimental analysis was conducted to verify the feasibility of rapid prototyping (RP) techniques in the reconstruction of complex internal structures using materials of diverse properties. Some RP techniques offer the possibility of discriminating between diverse objects through the use of different colours. Such models are well-suited for diagnostic purposes, for better visualisation of complex clinical problems, pathological alterations, etc. Nevertheless, they fail to fully reflect physical and mechanical properties of objects, which renders them useful in experimental analysis only to a limited extent. Their basic drawback is that they merely reflect geometrical features of the examined object. The methods discussed in the present article enable modelling multi-object structures in a single process based on the PolyJet Matrix technology and materials of different physical properties by means of a hybrid method. The article also describes the process of modelling complex anatomical structures of soft tissues and bones using models of the maxilla and the mandible as examples. The study is based on data acquired through standard computed tomography (CT). In addition, the article addresses selected aspects of CT acquisition, generation of numerical models composed of several anatomical structures (objects) and fabricating physical multi-object models.

Developed Design for Humeral Head Replacement Using 3D Surface Mapping

Assessment of dimensional and geometrical data on the humeral head replacement (HHR) objects is essential for solving the relevant designing problems in the physics of reverse engineering (RE). In this work, 2D-assessment for human humerus was performed using the computed tomography (CT) technique within the RE plan, after which the 2D images of humeral objects were converted into 3D images. The conversion was successful and indicated a clear difference in the 2D and 3D estimates of sizes and geometry of the humerus. The authors have analyzed and confirmed experimentally the statistical information on the relevant anatomical objects. The results of finite-element simulation of the compressive stresses affecting the geometry of 3D surface mapping were analyzed using SolidWorks software. For developing the biomechanical design of an HHR object suitable biomaterials were selected, and different metal-based biomaterials are discussed as applied at various loads. New methodology is presented for the size estimation of humeral head - both anatomical and artificial - in 3D-shape. A detailed interpretation is given for the results of CT D-measurements.