Evaluation of a Telemedicine System for the Transmission of Morpho/Immunological Data Aiming at the Inclusion of Patients in a Therapeutic Trial

Due to their high levels of achievement and efficiency, image digitalization and teletransmission tools are more and more frequently used. Applied to cellular haematology, these tools often contribute to diagnosis confrontation, sometimes within the framework of therapeutic trials. We present one of the first approaches of the use of telehaematology for the inclusion of patients in the GOELAMS chronic lymphocytic leukaemia 98 trial. The advantages were (1) the creation of a unique, protected, stable data bank that could be remotely consulted, (2) the use of digitized pictures which made expertise on identical documents possible, (3) the facility of computer exchanges between experts, in terms of reception as well as replying time delays. We were able to set out new standards of image sampling for CLL, solve the semantic divergences, and point out interobserver variability as regards morphology. The limiting factors were the important need for expert investment, but they more importantly concerned the first line morphologists who should benefit from adequate tools, in terms of computer equipment as well as members of staff, so as to apprehend this second reading system as a quality control procedure.

Effects of Irradiation and Methyl-Triazene on Craniofacial Development in Mouse Embryos: A Semiautomated Morphometric Analysis

Objective The purpose of the present study was a 2D-semiautomated morphometric analysis of craniofacial growth in nuclear magnetic resonance imaged (NMRI) mouse embryos. Methods The NMRI mouse embryos were exposed in utero to either a single dose of 2 Gy X-irradiation on day 9 of gestation (113 embryos) or to 1.5 mg methyl-triazene administered orally to their pregnant mothers on gestational day 10.5 (124 embryos). An additional group of 108 embryos was used as controls. Digitized pictures of embryos from gestational days 14 to 17 were taken in lateral right view using a video system. Landmarks were located and digitized for computerized analysis of growth changes in relation to developmental stages of the face. Results The results revealed that the snout of control embryos lengthens during the developmental period considered. The snout of embryos previously submitted to methyl-triazene displayed micrognathia, and all treated fetuses exhibited macroscopic signs of microcephaly with a reduced mandible. The snouts of irradiated embryos appeared shortened at the 14-day stage and continued to shorten as development proceeded. A shortening of the midface was detected macroscopically in 83% of the cases. Conclusion The results of this morphometric analysis enabled us to trace the developmental progression of the induced dysmorphosis and to assess the differences compared with normal development.

Directed Cell Movement in Pulsed Electric Fields

Human granulocytes exposed to pulsed electric guiding fields were investigated. The trajectories were determined from digitized pictures (phase contrast). The basic results are: (i) No directed response was induced by pulsed electric guiding fields having a zero averaged field, (ii) A directed response was induced by pulsed electric guiding fields having a non-zero averaged field, (iii) The directed response was enhanced for pulse sequencies having a repetition time of 8 s. (iv) The lag-time between signal recognition and cellular response was 8 - 10 s. The results are discussed in the framework of a self-ignition model

The representation of stimulus familiarity in anterior inferior temporal cortex

1. The inferior temporal (IT) cortex plays an important role in both short- and long-term memory for visual patterns. Most previous studies of IT neurons have tested their responses in recency memory tasks, which require that the memory lasts only the length of a single behavioral trial, which may be < 1 s. To determine the role of IT neurons in longer lasting memories, we measured their responses to initially novel stimuli as the stimuli gradually became familiar to the animal. 2. Two rhesus monkeys were trained on a delayed matching to sample (DMS) task with several intervening stimuli between the sample and the final matching stimulus on each trial. The purpose of the task was to ensure that the animal attended to the stimuli and held them in memory, at least temporarily. Unlike in several previous studies, the focus was not on within-trial effects but rather on the incidental memories that built up across trials as the stimuli became familiar. Each cell was tested with a set of 20 novel stimuli (digitized pictures of objects) that the monkey had not seen before. These stimuli were used in a fixed order over the course of an hour-long recording session, and the number of intervening trials between repetitions of a given sample stimulus was varied. 3. The responses of about one-third of the cells recorded in anterior-ventral IT cortex declined systematically as the novel stimuli became familiar. After six to eight repetitions, responses reached a plateau that was approximately 40% of the peak response. Virtually all of these cells also showed selectivity for particular visual stimuli and thus were not "novelty detectors" in the sense of cells that respond to any novel stimulus. Rather, the responses of these cells were a joint function of familiarity and specific object features such as shape and color. A few cells showed increasing responses with repetition over the recording session, but these changes were accompanied by changes in baseline firing rate, suggesting that they were caused by nonspecific effects. 4. The decrement in response with familiarity was stimulus specific and bridged > 150 presentations of other stimuli, the maximum tested. For some cells the maximum decrement in response occurred for those stimuli that initially elicited the largest response. There was no significant change in response to stimuli that were already familiar. 5. The same cells that showed familiarity effects also showed reduced responses to the matching stimuli at the end of each trial, compared with the responses to the samples.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Characterization of internalization and endosome formation of epidermal growth factor in transfected NIH-3T3 cells by computerized image-intensified three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy.

Computerized image-intensified fluorescence microscopy has been used to quantify routing and subcellular concentrations of rhodaminated EGF (Rh-EGF) during its receptor-mediated endocytosis in two transfected NIH-3T3 cell lines expressing 2 X 10(5) and 1.5 X 10(6) receptors per cell, respectively. A series of images were digitized by focusing at different depths through the volume of a single cell. The digitized pictures were corrected for fluorescence photobleaching, and removal of out-of-focus fluorescence contributions by deconvolution using the point spread function of the microscope optics (Agard, D. A., and J. W. Sedat. 1980. Proc. Soc. Photo-Opt. Instr. Eng. 264:110-117) allowed automatic computer analysis of the time dependence of endosomal vesicle size and fluorescence intensity in a live cell and also enabled the study of isolated vesicles. An increase in the amount of fluorescence bound to the cell surface, either by increasing the number of receptors expressed per cell or the concentration of Rh-EGF in the incubation drop, yielded an increase in the total fluorescence of internalized vesicles without an increase in their number and area. The linear relation between fluorescence intensity and area for vesicles at different times indicates that EGF concentration is conserved. This is compatible with fusion of small vesicles to form larger ones. However, as endocytosis proceeds, a twofold increase in the slope of the fluorescence vs. area plots is observed for larger vesicles, suggesting that active sorting causes the EGF to be concentrated. Alternatively, this factor could be produced by cumulative fluorescence contributions from stacked membranes. Since coated pits are internalized independent of their occupancy with EGF receptor, we propose that endocytosis does not involve a mechanism specifically recognizing occupied receptor but is rather triggered by a global intracellular event.

Processing and Memory of Color, Contour, and Pattern Found in Computer Digitized Color Pictures for Elementary Children

Children in grades one, three, and five participated in three experiments which examined the active processing and short-term memory (STM) of color, contour, and interior pattern of shapes found in computer digitized pictures. No age-related differences were found at the level of active processing and at the onset of STM (10 msec delay) for the three dimensions, while age-related differences occurred for color and contour information at a longer memory lag time (100 msec delay). The study provides insights to the role of processing and memory for specific types of information found in color pictures, which has implications for effecting higher order cognitive behaviors.