Anal Sphincter Augmentation Using Biological Material.

Science.gov (United States)

Alam, Nasra N; Narang, Sunil K; Köckerling, Ferdinand; Daniels, Ian R; Smart, Neil J

2015-01-01

The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the use of biological materials in the augmentation of the anal sphincter either as part of an overlapping sphincter repair (OSR) or anal bulking procedure. A systematic search of PubMed was conducted using the search terms "anal bulking agents," "anal sphincter repair," or "overlapping sphincter repair." Five studies using biological material as part of an overlapping sphincter repair (OSR) or as an anal bulking agent were identified. 122 patients underwent anal bulking with a biological material. Anorectal physiology was conducted in 27 patients and demonstrated deterioration in maximum resting pressure, and no significant change in maximum squeeze increment. Quality of life scores (QoLs) demonstrated improvements at 6 weeks and 6 months, but this had deteriorated at 12 months of follow up. Biological material was used in 23 patients to carry out an anal encirclement procedure. Improvements in QoLs were observed in patients undergoing OSR as well as anal encirclement using biological material. Incontinence episodes decreased to an average of one per week from 8 to 10 preoperatively. Sphincter encirclement with biological material has demonstrated improvements in continence and QoLs in the short term compared to traditional repair alone. Long-term studies are necessary to determine if this effect is sustained. As an anal bulking agent the benefits are short-term.

Early discharge after external anal sphincter repair

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosenberg, J; Kehlet, H

1999-01-01

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to describe an accelerated-stay program for repair of the external anal sphincter. METHODS: Twenty consecutive patients undergoing overlapping repair of the external anal sphincter were included in the study. Effect parameters were length of hospitalization....... CONCLUSION: We have described a safe accelerated-stay program (24 to 48 hours) for overlapping repair of external anal sphincter....

Alteration of sodium, potassium-adenosine triphosphatase activity in rabbit ciliary processes by cyclic adenosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delamere, N.A.; Socci, R.R.; King, K.L.

1990-01-01

The response of sodium, potassium-adenosine triphosphatase (Na,K-ATPase) to cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase was examined in membranes obtained from rabbit iris-ciliary body. In the presence of the protein kinase together with 10(-5) M cAMP, Na,K-ATPase activity was reduced. No change in Na,K-ATPase activity was detected in response to the protein kinase without added cAMP. Likewise cAMP alone did not alter Na,K-ATPase activity. Reduction of Na,K-ATPase activity was also observed in the presence of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit. The response of the enzyme to the kinase catalytic subunit was also examined in membranes obtained from rabbit ciliary processes. In the presence of 8 micrograms/ml of the catalytic subunit, ciliary process Na,K-ATPase activity was reduced by more than 50%. To examine whether other ATPases were suppressed by the protein kinase, calcium-stimulated ATPase activity was examined; its activity was stimulated by the catalytic subunit. To test whether the response of the ciliary process Na,K-ATPase is unique, experiments were also performed using membrane preparations from rabbit lens epithelium or rabbit kidney; the catalytic subunit significantly reduced the activity of Na,K-ATPase from the kidney but not the lens. These Na,K-ATPase studies suggest that in the iris-ciliary body, cAMP may alter sodium pump activity. In parallel 86Rb uptake studies, we observed that ouabain-inhibitable potassium uptake by intact pieces of iris-ciliary body was reduced by exogenous dibutryl cAMP or by forskolin

Enhanced iris recognition method based on multi-unit iris images

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Kwang Yong; Kim, Yeong Gon; Park, Kang Ryoung

2013-04-01

For the purpose of biometric person identification, iris recognition uses the unique characteristics of the patterns of the iris; that is, the eye region between the pupil and the sclera. When obtaining an iris image, the iris's image is frequently rotated because of the user's head roll toward the left or right shoulder. As the rotation of the iris image leads to circular shifting of the iris features, the accuracy of iris recognition is degraded. To solve this problem, conventional iris recognition methods use shifting of the iris feature codes to perform the matching. However, this increases the computational complexity and level of false acceptance error. To solve these problems, we propose a novel iris recognition method based on multi-unit iris images. Our method is novel in the following five ways compared with previous methods. First, to detect both eyes, we use Adaboost and a rapid eye detector (RED) based on the iris shape feature and integral imaging. Both eyes are detected using RED in the approximate candidate region that consists of the binocular region, which is determined by the Adaboost detector. Second, we classify the detected eyes into the left and right eyes, because the iris patterns in the left and right eyes in the same person are different, and they are therefore considered as different classes. We can improve the accuracy of iris recognition using this pre-classification of the left and right eyes. Third, by measuring the angle of head roll using the two center positions of the left and right pupils, detected by two circular edge detectors, we obtain the information of the iris rotation angle. Fourth, in order to reduce the error and processing time of iris recognition, adaptive bit-shifting based on the measured iris rotation angle is used in feature matching. Fifth, the recognition accuracy is enhanced by the score fusion of the left and right irises. Experimental results on the iris open database of low-resolution images showed that the

Toward accurate and fast iris segmentation for iris biometrics.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Zhaofeng; Tan, Tieniu; Sun, Zhenan; Qiu, Xianchao

2009-09-01

Iris segmentation is an essential module in iris recognition because it defines the effective image region used for subsequent processing such as feature extraction. Traditional iris segmentation methods often involve an exhaustive search of a large parameter space, which is time consuming and sensitive to noise. To address these problems, this paper presents a novel algorithm for accurate and fast iris segmentation. After efficient reflection removal, an Adaboost-cascade iris detector is first built to extract a rough position of the iris center. Edge points of iris boundaries are then detected, and an elastic model named pulling and pushing is established. Under this model, the center and radius of the circular iris boundaries are iteratively refined in a way driven by the restoring forces of Hooke's law. Furthermore, a smoothing spline-based edge fitting scheme is presented to deal with noncircular iris boundaries. After that, eyelids are localized via edge detection followed by curve fitting. The novelty here is the adoption of a rank filter for noise elimination and a histogram filter for tackling the shape irregularity of eyelids. Finally, eyelashes and shadows are detected via a learned prediction model. This model provides an adaptive threshold for eyelash and shadow detection by analyzing the intensity distributions of different iris regions. Experimental results on three challenging iris image databases demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods in both accuracy and speed.

Internal anal sphincter: Clinical perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Lalit; Emmanuel, Anton

2017-08-01

To summarise current knowledge of Internal anal sphincter. The internal anal sphincter (IAS) is the involuntary ring of smooth muscle in the anal canal and is the major contributor to the resting pressure in the anus. Structural injury or functional weakness of the muscle results in passive incontinence of faeces and flatus. With advent of new assessment and treatment modalities IAS has become an important topic for surgeons. This review was undertaken to summarise our current knowledge of internal anal sphincter and highlight the areas that need further research. The PubMed database was used to identify relevant studies relating to internal anal sphincter. The available evidence has been summarised and advantages and limitations highlighted for the different diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. Our understanding of the physiology and pharmacology of IAS has increased greatly in the last three decades. Additionally, there has been a rise in diagnostic and therapeutic techniques specifically targeting the IAS. Although these are promising, future research is required before these can be incorporated into the management algorithm. Copyright © 2016 Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (Scottish charity number SC005317) and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fiber types in the striated urethral and anal sphincters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schrøder, H D; Reske-Nielsen, E

1983-01-01

Seven normal human striated urethral and anal sphincters obtained by autopsy were examined using histochemical techniques. In both the urethral sphincter and the subcutaneous (s.c.) and superficial part of the anal sphincter a characteristic pattern with two populations of muscle fibers, abundant...

Evaluation of the anorectal sphincter using MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kohda, Ehiichi

1994-01-01

Until now the evaluation of how to function on the sphincter muscle complex on the imaging study has been done by defecography. The purpose of this paper is to show the normal and abnormal functions of sphincter muscle complex at rest and squeeze using MRI. The subjects were 15 volunteers with informed consent and 13 post operative patients with a history anorectal anomalies. MR images were obtained with a 1.5 T unit. Sagittal and axial planes were evaluated both at rest and squeeze. Squeeze was simulated by insufflating a rectal balloon or enema on the volunteers. Only light stimulation was stressed on the post operative patients by means of balloon insufflation with 50 ml air. Under balloon stimulation, 71% of normal sphincter muscle complexes contracted only transverse dimention. The rest was as is. None revealed significant distension. All patients with continence demonstrated the same transverse contraction. Patients with incontinence showed no significant contraction. Under enema stimulation for normal subjects, sphincter muscle complex distended on both dimensions. Gluteal muscle contracted 50% of volunteers under enema stimulation. All post operative patients with continence demonstrated gluteal muscles contractions. Normal sphincter muscle complex contracts only in transverse dimension under balloon stimulation, which is caused by the muscle. Under enema stimulation, it distends on both dimensions. Gluteal muscle contract only under enema stimulation. In post operative patients, MRI shows different functions of anal sphincter muscle complex between continent and incontinent groups. It may explain causes of incontinence. The gluteal muscle and puborectal muscle seem to have one of the essentials for continence. (author)

Sphincter of Oddi stenosis: diagnosis using hepatobiliary scintigraphy and endoscopic manometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, R.G.L.; Gregg, J.A.; Koroshetz, A.M.; Hill, T.C.; Clouse, M.E.

1985-01-01

To determine the role of radionuclide imaging in diagnosing sphincter of Oddi stenosis, 21 patients with symptoms suggesting this disorder underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, cholescintigraphy, and, when possible, endoscopic manometry. Those patients with abnormal hepatobiliary scintigraphy results had a mean basal sphincter pressure of 38.5 mm Hg. Sphincter pressures could not be measured in six patients with sphincters too tight to cannulate. Ten patients who underwent hepatobiliary scanning both before and after sphincter surgery had normal scan results of the repeat study. Hepatobiliary imaging appears useful for diagnosis of sphincter of Oddi stenosis in selected patients in whom manometry cannot be performed and for objective assessment of response to therapy

Genetic Background of Iris Melanomas and Iris Melanocytic Tumors of Uncertain Malignant Potential.

Science.gov (United States)

van Poppelen, Natasha M; Vaarwater, Jolanda; Mudhar, Hardeep S; Sisley, Karen; Rennie, Ian G; Rundle, Paul; Brands, Tom; van den Bosch, Quincy C C; Mensink, Hanneke W; de Klein, Annelies; Kiliç, Emine; Verdijk, Robert M

2018-01-19

Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in adults. Iris melanoma comprises 4% to 10% of all UMs and has a lower mortality rate. The genetic changes in iris melanoma are not as well characterized as ciliary body or choroidal melanoma. The aim of this study was to gain more insight into the genetic background of iris melanoma and iris nevi. Multicenter, retrospective case series. Patients diagnosed with iris melanoma or iris nevi who underwent surgical intervention as primary or secondary treatment. Next-generation sequencing of GNAQ, GNA11, EIF1AX, SF3B1, BAP1, NRAS, BRAF, PTEN, c-Kit, TP53, and TERT was performed on 30 iris melanomas and 7 iris nevi. Copy number status was detected using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) included in the next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel, SNP array, or fluorescent in situ hybridization. BAP1 immunohistochemistry was performed on all samples. Mutation and copy number status were analyzed. Results of BAP1 immunohistochemistry were used for survival analysis. In 26 of the 30 iris melanoma and all iris nevi, at least 1 mutation was identified. Multiple mutations were detected in 23 iris melanoma and 5 nevi, as well as mutations in GNAQ and GNA11. Furthermore, 13 of 30 BAP1, 5 of 30 EIF1AX, and 2 of 30 SF3B1 mutations were identified in iris melanoma. No correlation between BAP1 status and disease-free survival was found. The iris nevi showed 1 EIF1AX and 3 BAP1 mutations. Two of the nevi, with a BAP1 mutation, were histologically borderline malignant. Mutations in NRAS, BRAF, PTEN, c-KIT, and TP53 were detected in 6 iris melanomas and 4 iris nevi. Mutations that are often found in uveal and cutaneous melanoma were identified in this cohort of iris melanomas and iris nevi. Therefore, iris melanomas harbor a molecular profile comparable to both choroidal melanoma and cutaneous melanoma. These findings may offer adjuvant targeted therapies for iris melanoma. There was no prognostic significance of

IRiS: construction of ARG networks at genomic scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Javed, Asif; Pybus, Marc; Melé, Marta; Utro, Filippo; Bertranpetit, Jaume; Calafell, Francesc; Parida, Laxmi

2011-09-01

Given a set of extant haplotypes IRiS first detects high confidence recombination events in their shared genealogy. Next using the local sequence topology defined by each detected event, it integrates these recombinations into an ancestral recombination graph. While the current system has been calibrated for human population data, it is easily extendible to other species as well. IRiS (Identification of Recombinations in Sequences) binary files are available for non-commercial use in both Linux and Microsoft Windows, 32 and 64 bit environments from https://researcher.ibm.com/researcher/view_project.php?id = 2303 parida@us.ibm.com.

IRIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malfaro, W.; Zygmont, A.

1991-01-01

This paper discusses development of ISOLATION RESET INFORMATION SYSTEM (IRIS), an expert system to aid nuclear plant operators during plant transients known as automatic containment isolations. IRIS is implemented using the Personal Consultant Plus expert system shell, taking advantage of the dBase III Plus interface. The design of IRIS is discussed as well as the system's current state of development. The use of expert systems for training operators is discussed. The importance of gaining regulatory acceptance of expert systems is presented. This issue will ultimately determine the extent of expert system use in nuclear applications

Deep Learning-Based Iris Segmentation for Iris Recognition in Visible Light Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Arsalan

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Existing iris recognition systems are heavily dependent on specific conditions, such as the distance of image acquisition and the stop-and-stare environment, which require significant user cooperation. In environments where user cooperation is not guaranteed, prevailing segmentation schemes of the iris region are confronted with many problems, such as heavy occlusion of eyelashes, invalid off-axis rotations, motion blurs, and non-regular reflections in the eye area. In addition, iris recognition based on visible light environment has been investigated to avoid the use of additional near-infrared (NIR light camera and NIR illuminator, which increased the difficulty of segmenting the iris region accurately owing to the environmental noise of visible light. To address these issues; this study proposes a two-stage iris segmentation scheme based on convolutional neural network (CNN; which is capable of accurate iris segmentation in severely noisy environments of iris recognition by visible light camera sensor. In the experiment; the noisy iris challenge evaluation part-II (NICE-II training database (selected from the UBIRIS.v2 database and mobile iris challenge evaluation (MICHE dataset were used. Experimental results showed that our method outperformed the existing segmentation methods.

IRIS Licensing Status

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kling, Charles L.; Carelli, Mario D.

2006-01-01

The International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) nuclear power plant is well into the pre-application review process with the US NRC and has accomplished its first near term goal of obtaining US NRC feedback on the long term testing program. To date, the IRIS team has submitted to the US NRC a number of documents patterned after the Evaluation Model Development and Assessment Process (EMDAP) outlined in Regulatory Guide 1,203. They have covered a detailed description of IRIS, initial safety analysis results, PIRT development for limiting transients, scaling analysis and a description of the test program. The IRIS Safety-by-Desing TM intrinsically eliminates and/or significantly reduces the consequences of traditional LWR accidents. In addition, the fewer passive safety systems are similar in principle to those of the US NRC approved AP1000 design. For these reasons, the IRIS testing program only needs to include those features unique to the IRIS design. NRC feedback was that the planned test program appeared to be complete and could generate sufficient information to support a Design Certification (DC) submittal. The US NRC has also stated that a DC application must include complete information regarding the test program. On this basis the IRIS team has initiated an aggressive program to conduct IRIS testing to support a DC submittal by the end of 2008. Subsequent US NRC review should be expeditious because of the AP1000 precedent, allowing IRIS to obtain its Final Design Approval (FDA) in 2012; thereby, maintaining its goal of deployment in the 2015-2017 time frame. The next steps in the pre-application review process will be to provide the US NRC with a road map of the anticipated IRIS licensing process, a review of current licensing requirements showing that IRIS meets or exceeds all current criteria and information to support the long term goal of redefining the Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ)

Iris Recognition Using Wavelet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaliq Masood

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Biometric systems are getting more attention in the present era. Iris recognition is one of the most secure and authentic among the other biometrics and this field demands more authentic, reliable and fast algorithms to implement these biometric systems in real time. In this paper, an efficient localization technique is presented to identify pupil and iris boundaries using histogram of the iris image. Two small portions of iris have been used for polar transformation to reduce computational time and to increase the efficiency of the system. Wavelet transform is used for feature vector generation. Rotation of iris is compensated without shifts in the iris code. System is tested on Multimedia University Iris Database and results show that proposed system has encouraging performance.

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF EXTRACTS OF IRIS HUNGARICA AND IRIS SIBIRICA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kovalev V. M.

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Referring to the latest data, infectious diseases command a large part of among the total number of pathologies in the world and are an important problem in medicine. The leading role in prevention and treatment of diseases of microbial origin belongs to antibacterial chemotherapeutic agents. Advantages of antibiotics of synthetic origin are the high activity compared to phytogenic drugs. But it is known that microorganisms can release the resistance to synthetic antibiotics, so the use of drugs based on the plant materials is appropriate: phytogenic drugs more rarely induce the formation of resistance of the strains of microorganisms, they have a gentle action, can be used for a long-term, have the low cost. Therefore, it is appropriate to examine the drug plants with the aim of determination their antibacterial activity.Iris hungarica Waldst et Kit. and Iris sibirica L. are the representatives of the family Iridaceae, genus Iris and they have a wide spectrum of the pharmacological activity. Biologically active substances that were recovered from plants of the genus Iris (tectoridin, iristectorigenin B, nigracin, kaempferol, quercetin, etc. exhibited an antitumor, antimicrobial, estrogenic, insecticidal, antiplasmatic, anticholinesterase action, they were the inhibitors of enzymes and exhibited the immunomodulatory properties, which made these plants perspective for the research study. Raw materials Irises are constituent components of more than 9 medicines. Materials and Methods. The objects of the study were the leaves and rhizomes of Iris hungarica and Iris sibirica that were prepared during the growing season in 2014 in the M.M. Gryshko National botanical garden (Kiev, Ukraine. The dry and lipophilic extracts from the leaves and rhizomes of Irises were used to establish the antimicrobial activity. For the study of extracts antimicrobial activity was used agar well diffusion method. According to the WHO recommendations the

Biomimetic artificial sphincter muscles: status and challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Vanessa; Fattorini, Elisa; Karapetkova, Maria; Osmani, Bekim; Töpper, Tino; Weiss, Florian; Müller, Bert

2016-04-01

Fecal incontinence is the involuntary loss of bowel content and affects more than 12% of the adult population, including 45% of retirement home residents. Severe fecal incontinence is often treated by implanting an artificial sphincter. Currently available implants, however, have long-term reoperation rates of 95% and definitive explantation rates of 40%. These statistics show that the implants fail to reproduce the capabilities of the natural sphincter and that the development of an adaptive, biologically inspired implant is required. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) are being developed as artificial muscles for a biomimetic sphincter, due to their suitable response time, reaction forces, and energy consumption. However, at present the operation voltage of DEAs is too high for artificial muscles implanted in the human body. To reduce the operating voltage to tens of volts, we are using microfabrication to reduce the thickness of the elastomer layer to the nanometer level. Two microfabrication methods are being investigated: molecular beam deposition and electrospray deposition. This communication covers the current status and a perspective on the way forward, including the long-term prospects of constructing a smart sphincter from low-voltage sensors and actuators based on nanometer-thin dielectric elastomer films. As DEA can also provide sensory feedback, a biomimetic sphincter can be designed in accordance with the geometrical and mechanical parameters of its natural counterpart. The availability of such technology will enable fast pressure adaption comparable to the natural feedback mechanism, so that tissue atrophy and erosion can be avoided while maintaining continence du ring daily activities.

Optimization of the artificial urinary sphincter: modelling and experimental validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marti, Florian; Leippold, Thomas; John, Hubert; Blunschi, Nadine; Mueller, Bert

2006-01-01

The artificial urinary sphincter should be long enough to prevent strangulation effects of the urethral tissue and short enough to avoid the improper dissection of the surrounding tissue. To optimize the sphincter length, the empirical three-parameter urethra compression model is proposed based on the mechanical properties of the urethra: wall pressure, tissue response rim force and sphincter periphery length. In vitro studies using explanted animal or human urethras and different artificial sphincters demonstrate its applicability. The pressure of the sphincter to close the urethra is shown to be a linear function of the bladder pressure. The force to close the urethra depends on the sphincter length linearly. Human urethras display the same dependences as the urethras of pig, dog, sheep and calf. Quantitatively, however, sow urethras resemble best the human ones. For the human urethras, the mean wall pressure corresponds to (-12.6 ± 0.9) cmH 2 O and (-8.7 ± 1.1) cmH 2 O, the rim length to (3.0 ± 0.3) mm and (5.1 ± 0.3) mm and the rim force to (60 ± 20) mN and (100 ± 20) mN for urethra opening and closing, respectively. Assuming an intravesical pressure of 40 cmH 2 O, and an external pressure on the urethra of 60 cmH 2 O, the model leads to the optimized sphincter length of (17.3 ± 3.8) mm

Successful implantation of physiologically functional bioengineered mouse internal anal sphincter.

Science.gov (United States)

Raghavan, Shreya; Miyasaka, Eiichi A; Hashish, Mohamed; Somara, Sita; Gilmont, Robert R; Teitelbaum, Daniel H; Bitar, Khalil N

2010-08-01

We have previously developed bioengineered three-dimensional internal anal sphincter (IAS) rings from circular smooth muscle cells isolated from rabbit and human IAS. We provide proof of concept that bioengineered mouse IAS rings are neovascularized upon implantation into mice of the same strain and maintain concentric smooth muscle alignment, phenotype, and IAS functionality. Rings were bioengineered by using smooth muscle cells from the IAS of C57BL/6J mice. Bioengineered mouse IAS rings were implanted subcutaneously on the dorsum of C57BL/6J mice along with a microosmotic pump delivering fibroblast growth factor-2. The mice remained healthy during the period of implantation, showing no external signs of rejection. Mice were killed 28 days postsurgery and implanted IAS rings were harvested. IAS rings showed muscle attachment, neovascularization, healthy color, and no external signs of infection or inflammation. Assessment of force generation on harvested IAS rings showed the following: 1) spontaneous basal tone was generated in the absence of external stimulation; 2) basal tone was relaxed by vasoactive intestinal peptide, nitric oxide donor, and nifedipine; 3) acetylcholine and phorbol dibutyrate elicited rapid-rising, dose-dependent, sustained contractions repeatedly over 30 min without signs of muscle fatigue; and 4) magnitudes of potassium chloride-induced contractions were 100% of peak maximal agonist-induced contractions. Our preliminary results confirm the proof of concept that bioengineered rings are neovascularized upon implantation. Harvested rings maintain smooth muscle alignment and phenotype. Our physiological studies confirm that implanted rings maintain 1) overall IAS physiology and develop basal tone, 2) integrity of membrane ionic characteristics, and 3) integrity of membrane associated intracellular signaling transduction pathways for contraction and relaxation by responding to cholinergic, nitrergic, and VIP-ergic stimulation. IAS smooth muscle

A Novel Iris Segmentation Scheme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen-Chung Liu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available One of the key steps in the iris recognition system is the accurate iris segmentation from its surrounding noises including pupil, sclera, eyelashes, and eyebrows of a captured eye-image. This paper presents a novel iris segmentation scheme which utilizes the orientation matching transform to outline the outer and inner iris boundaries initially. It then employs Delogne-Kåsa circle fitting (instead of the traditional Hough transform to further eliminate the outlier points to extract a more precise iris area from an eye-image. In the extracted iris region, the proposed scheme further utilizes the differences in the intensity and positional characteristics of the iris, eyelid, and eyelashes to detect and delete these noises. The scheme is then applied on iris image database, UBIRIS.v1. The experimental results show that the presented scheme provides a more effective and efficient iris segmentation than other conventional methods.

Paradoxical sphincter contraction is rarely indicative of anismus.

Science.gov (United States)

Voderholzer, W A; Neuhaus, D A; Klauser, A G; Tzavella, K; Müller-Lissner, S A; Schindlbeck, N E

1997-08-01

Anismus is thought to be a cause of chronic constipation by producing outlet obstruction. The underlying mechanism is paradoxical contraction of the anal sphincter or puborectalis muscle. However, paradoxical sphincter contraction (PSC) also occurs in healthy controls, so anismus may be diagnosed too often because it may be based on a non-specific finding related to untoward conditions during the anorectal examination. To investigate the pathophysiological importance of PSC found at anorectal manometry in constipated patients and in patients with stool incontinence. Digital rectal examination and anorectal manometry were performed in 102 chronically constipated patients, 102 patients with stool incontinence, and in 18 controls without anorectal disease. In 120 of the 222 subjects defaecography was also performed. Paradoxical sphincter contraction was defined as a sustained increase in sphincter pressure during straining. Anismus was assumed when PSC was present on anorectal manometry and digital rectal examination and the anorectal angle did not widen on defaecography. Manometric PSC occurred about twice as often in constipated patients as in incontinent patients (41.2% versus 25.5%, p anismus is rare.

Shape adaptive, robust iris feature extraction from noisy iris images.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghodrati, Hamed; Dehghani, Mohammad Javad; Danyali, Habibolah

2013-10-01

In the current iris recognition systems, noise removing step is only used to detect noisy parts of the iris region and features extracted from there will be excluded in matching step. Whereas depending on the filter structure used in feature extraction, the noisy parts may influence relevant features. To the best of our knowledge, the effect of noise factors on feature extraction has not been considered in the previous works. This paper investigates the effect of shape adaptive wavelet transform and shape adaptive Gabor-wavelet for feature extraction on the iris recognition performance. In addition, an effective noise-removing approach is proposed in this paper. The contribution is to detect eyelashes and reflections by calculating appropriate thresholds by a procedure called statistical decision making. The eyelids are segmented by parabolic Hough transform in normalized iris image to decrease computational burden through omitting rotation term. The iris is localized by an accurate and fast algorithm based on coarse-to-fine strategy. The principle of mask code generation is to assign the noisy bits in an iris code in order to exclude them in matching step is presented in details. An experimental result shows that by using the shape adaptive Gabor-wavelet technique there is an improvement on the accuracy of recognition rate.

Sphincter-saving procedure for radiation-injuried rectum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moriya, Yoshihiro; Koyama, Yasuo; Hojo, Keiichi

1982-01-01

Up to this time the sigmoid colostomy has been widely accepted and conventional treatment for radiation-injured rectum, but patients without residual malignancy strongly desire to live without colostomy. We have tried to remove the involved rectal segments by sphincter-saving procedures. Four patients underwent these procedures, pull-through procedure in three and low anterior resection in one. Among sphincter-saving procedures, pull-through procedure was most adequate. Provided the following five conditions are fulfilled, pull-through procedure should be considered for severe radiation-injured rectum. (1) No recurrence of initial malignancy in the pelvis. (2) More than 2 cm intact rectal segment above dentate line may be preserved. (3) No radiation-injured segment in upper sigmoid. (4) No severe radiation damage in small intestine. (5) Patients under 70 year-old, with normal tonus of anal sphincter. (author)

PLATEAU IRIS SYNDROME--CASE SERIES.

Science.gov (United States)

Feraru, Crenguta Ioana; Pantalon, Anca Delia; Chiselita, Dorin; Branisteanu, Daniel

2015-01-01

Plateau iris is characterized by closing the anterior chamber angle due to a large ciliary body or due to its anterior insertion that alters the position of iris periphery in respect to the trabecular meshwork. There are two aspects that need to be differentiated: plateau iris configuration and plateau iris syndrome. The first describes a situation when the iris root is flat and the anterior chamber is not shallow, the latter refers to a post laser iridotomy condition in which a patent iridotomy has removed the relative pupillary block, but goniscopically confirmed angle closure recurs without central shallowing of the anterior chamber. Isolated plateau iris syndrome is rare compared to plateau iris configuration. We hereby present two case reports of plateau iris syndrome in young patients who came to an ophthalmologic consult by chance.

Adenovirus-mediated heme oxygenase-1 gene transfer into rabbit ocular tissues.

Science.gov (United States)

Abraham, N G; da Silva, J L; Lavrovsky, Y; Stoltz, R A; Kappas, A; Dunn, M W; Schwartzman, M L

1995-10-01

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is a stress protein induced up to 100-fold within a few hours after exposure to oxidative stress, and it has been shown to counteract oxidative injury induced by ultraviolet light or free radicals. The current study was undertaken to determine whether the HO-1 gene can be introduced into adult rabbit ocular tissues by microinjection of a recombinant replication-deficient adenovirus human HO-1 cDNA (Adv-HHO). Human HO-1 gene was used for transfection studies to differentiate endogenous from transfected HO. The purified Adv-HHO construct (10(8) pfu/ml) was mixed with lipofectamine and microinjected into the anterior chamber, vitreous cavity, and subretinal space of New Zealand rabbit eyes. After 2 weeks, total RNA was extracted from different ocular tissues, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed using specific human HO-1 primers, and amplification products were subjected to Southern hybridization. Transfection with the Adv-HHO construct into rabbit corneal epithelial cells in culture resulted in a functional expression of the human HO-1 gene; the human HO-1 mRNA was detected, and enzyme activity increased threefold. Human HO-1 mRNA was detected in the retina after microinjection of the Adv-HHO construct into the subretinal space. Microinjection into the vitreous resulted in HO-1 mRNA expression in the corneal endothelium, iris, lens, and retina; after intracameral injection of the Adv-HHO construct, human HO-1 mRNA was detected in corneal epithelium and endothelium, ciliary body, lens, and iris. Regardless of the injection site, transfected human HO-1 mRNA was undetectable in tissues outside the eye, that is, brain, liver, and kidney. These results demonstrated a tissue-selective functional transfer of the human HO-1 gene into rabbit ocular tissues in vivo. This technique may be a promising means for delivering HO-1 gene in vivo as a protective mechanism against oxidative stress that contributes to the pathogenesis of

Exploring the feasibility of iris recognition for visible spectrum iris images obtained using smartphone camera

Science.gov (United States)

Trokielewicz, Mateusz; Bartuzi, Ewelina; Michowska, Katarzyna; Andrzejewska, Antonina; Selegrat, Monika

2015-09-01

In the age of modern, hyperconnected society that increasingly relies on mobile devices and solutions, implementing a reliable and accurate biometric system employing iris recognition presents new challenges. Typical biometric systems employing iris analysis require expensive and complicated hardware. We therefore explore an alternative way using visible spectrum iris imaging. This paper aims at answering several questions related to applying iris biometrics for images obtained in the visible spectrum using smartphone camera. Can irides be successfully and effortlessly imaged using a smartphone's built-in camera? Can existing iris recognition methods perform well when presented with such images? The main advantage of using near-infrared (NIR) illumination in dedicated iris recognition cameras is good performance almost independent of the iris color and pigmentation. Are the images obtained from smartphone's camera of sufficient quality even for the dark irides? We present experiments incorporating simple image preprocessing to find the best visibility of iris texture, followed by a performance study to assess whether iris recognition methods originally aimed at NIR iris images perform well with visible light images. To our best knowledge this is the first comprehensive analysis of iris recognition performance using a database of high-quality images collected in visible light using the smartphones flashlight together with the application of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) iris recognition methods.

The Danish anal sphincter rupture questionnaire: Validity and reliability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Due, Ulla; Ottesen, Marianne

2008-01-01

Objective. To revise, validate and test for reliability an anal sphincter rupture questionnaire in relation to construct, content and face validity. Setting and background. Since 1996 women with anal sphincter rupture (ASR) at one of the public university hospitals in Copenhagen, Denmark have bee...

Ordinal measures for iris recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Zhenan; Tan, Tieniu

2009-12-01

Images of a human iris contain rich texture information useful for identity authentication. A key and still open issue in iris recognition is how best to represent such textural information using a compact set of features (iris features). In this paper, we propose using ordinal measures for iris feature representation with the objective of characterizing qualitative relationships between iris regions rather than precise measurements of iris image structures. Such a representation may lose some image-specific information, but it achieves a good trade-off between distinctiveness and robustness. We show that ordinal measures are intrinsic features of iris patterns and largely invariant to illumination changes. Moreover, compactness and low computational complexity of ordinal measures enable highly efficient iris recognition. Ordinal measures are a general concept useful for image analysis and many variants can be derived for ordinal feature extraction. In this paper, we develop multilobe differential filters to compute ordinal measures with flexible intralobe and interlobe parameters such as location, scale, orientation, and distance. Experimental results on three public iris image databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ordinal feature models.

NMR imaging of the anal levator and sphincter muscles in anorectal malformations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aoyagi, Hiroshi; Takahashi, Hideyo; Maie, Masahiko; Ohnuma, Naomi; Etoh, Takao; Iwai, Jun

1986-01-01

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the anal levater and sphincter muscles was obtained on 4 normal volunteers and 11 patients with postoperative anorectal malformations (including 8 supra-levator type and 3 low type). Balloon catheter were inserted into the rectum and marked it as the center of a anal canal. Four normal subjects revealed the levater and sphincter muscles were thick and well developed in all sections (Sagittal, Transevse, Coronal). In most of the supra-levator type of anorectal malformations, thin levator and sphincter muscles were observed by Sagittal and Coronal scans. Transeverse scan revealed that the neorectum was not effectively pull-throughed into the puborectal muscle in one patient. Coronal scan showed the dameged external sphincter muscle. In three low types of anorectal malformations, the levator and the sphincter muscles were all well developed, but in one patient the external sphincter muscle existed at the posterior part of the anal canal. These observations were usefull in managing the postoperative care of anorectal malformations. (author)

Anal sphincter electromyography in patients with Anorectal Dysfunctions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trinchet Soler, Rafael; Hidalgo Marrero, Yanet; Espichicoque Megret, Arianne; Manzano Suarez, Jianeya; Perez Gonzales, Ruth Maite

2009-01-01

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the electromyography value of anal sphincter in patients with anorectal dysfunctions. Anorectal dysfunctions are frequent reason of pediatric consultation in children, especially with anal incontinence. A study of series of cases in patient with anorectal dysfunctions was carried out from January 2002 to January of 2006. 65 patients were studied. Anorectal malformations (ARM) represented the predominant affection with 38 patients (58.5%), prevailing the male sex in 25 patients (65.8%). Encopresis and intestinal agagliosis dicrease was observed. Sphincter was found before surgical treatment through electromyography in patients with anorectal malformations and colostomy; in those with definitive operation and open colostomy, it avoided the operation in a patient that did not have muscular activity of the external sphincter. In children already operated and with closed colostomy several electromyography changes were observed in correspondence with different incontinence grades. In encopresis cases the study was useful to rule out sphincter functional alterations. Electromyography was pathological in all the operated patients of intestinal aganglionosis. This procedure was very useful for anal incontinence study that helped to determine and establish the prognosis. (author)

Anal sphincter complex: endoanal MR imaging of normal anatomy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hussain, S. M.; Stoker, J.; Laméris, J. S.

1995-01-01

To determine the normal anatomy of the anal sphincter complex on magnetic resonance (MR) images. Ten healthy volunteers (four men, six women; age range, 21-26 years) underwent MR imaging with an endoanal coil. The lower part of the anal canal contained the internal sphincter, the longitudinal muscle

Radiology of the AS 800 artificial urinary sphincter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamilton, S.; Shetty, M.K.; Flood, H.D.; Grainger, R.

1991-01-01

Thirteen adult male patients who had an AS 800 artificial urinary sphincter inserted are reviewed. Five have had malfunction, and in four the causes were diagnosed radiologically. These included: fistula formation, leakage of hydraulic fluid, air in the system, and inadequate deflation of the cuff. Since the sphincter is filled with contrast medium, it is ideally suited to radiological assessment. (author). 5 refs.; 6 figs

[Anal sphincter injury caused by falling off a trampoline].

Science.gov (United States)

Pakarinen, Mikko

2013-01-01

A girl of preschool age fell off a trampoline in a sitting position onto an iron bar sticking up from the ground. In addition to a laceration of the terminal portion of the rectum, she was found to have a severe sphincter injury. The sphincters were repaired by a surgeon the next morning. After one month from the surgery the anal canal pressure was found to be symmetrical with good contractile force of the sphincters. No abnormalities were found in a contrast study or in rectoscopy. The protective stoma was closed after three months from the injury and fecal continence was normal after one and a half years.

Mode of delivery after obstetric anal sphincter injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Karmarkar, Roopali; Bhide, Alka; Digesu, Alex; Khullar, Vik; Fernando, Ruwan

2015-11-01

To assess the effect of vaginal delivery and caesarean section on faecal symptoms and structure and function of anal sphincter in women who sustained obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) in their previous pregnancy and were advised about the mode of delivery based on faecal incontinence symptoms, anal manometry and endoanal ultrasound. It is a descriptive study on a cohort of women who had OASIS from 2006 to 2013. They were assessed after OASIS and during subsequent pregnancy with a questionnaire, endoanal ultrasound and anal manometry. Vaginal delivery was recommended to asymptomatic women with normal investigations. Elective caesarean section was recommended to women with faecal symptoms, anal sphincter defects of more than 30° or low resting or incremental anal pressures. All women were reassessed after subsequent delivery. Fifty women who had pregnancies after OASIS, were seen after OASIS, during subsequent pregnancy and after the second delivery. 15 women had faecal symptoms after OASIS. The external, internal and combined anal sphincter defects were seen in 13, 11 and 9 women respectively. Low resting and incremental pressure were seen in 15 and 11 women respectively. Caesarean section was done in 22 women and 28 women delivered vaginally. Worsening of faecal symptoms and reduction in anal pressures were not observed in planned vaginal delivery or elective caesarean section groups. Faecal symptoms were worse with reduced anal pressures in three women from the planned caesarean section group. One of the women had a vaginal delivery and two women had emergency caesarean section at 7cm and 10cm dilatation. There were no new sphincter defects or recurrent OASIS in any of the women in the study group. Decision about the mode of delivery of pregnancy after OASIS based on symptoms, anal manometry and endoanal ultrasound helps in preserving the anal sphincter function and avoiding unnecessary caesarean sections. Further follow-up of these patients is essential

Primary iris leiomyoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeaney, Gabrielle A; Platt, Sean; Singh, Arun D

Intraocular leiomyomas are uncommon and usually occur in the ciliary body. Primary leiomyoma of the iris is both rare and a difficult diagnosis to make, given melanocytic tumors are more common and may be amelanotic. The somewhat controversial diagnosis of iris leiomyoma requires further confirmation by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Herein, we describe a 58-year-old man with a 2-mm round translucent pink lesion of the iris. The tumor was excised by sector iridectomy. Immunohistochemistry showed positivity for both smooth muscle actin and desmin and negativity for S-100, HMB45, SOX10, MelanA, CD31, CD34, and h-caldesmon. Epstein-Barr virus-associated smooth muscle tumor was excluded by chromogenic in situ hybridization-Epstein-Barr virus-encoded RNA. Ultrastructural analysis showed cytoplasmic myofilaments with focal fusiform densities and micropinocytotic vesicles. Our review of previous literature confirmed the unusual nature of this tumor. Primary iris leiomyoma should be considered in the differential of an amelanotic S-100-immunonegative iris tumor. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

77 FR 31869 - Iris Lacustris (Dwarf Lake Iris); Draft Recovery Plan for Review and Comment

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-30

...-FF03E00000] Iris Lacustris (Dwarf Lake Iris); Draft Recovery Plan for Review and Comment AGENCY: Fish and... Service (Service) announces availability for public review of the draft recovery plan for the Iris lacustris (dwarf lake iris), a species that is federally listed as threatened under the Endangered Species...

Frequency of operative trauma to anal sphincters: evaluation with endoanal ultrasound.

Science.gov (United States)

Stamatiadis, Apostolos; Konstantinou, Evangelos; Theodosopoulou, Eleni; Mamoura, Konstantinia

2002-01-01

Sphincter trauma after anorectal surgery is usually asymptomatic. Frequency of trauma cannot be established with the clinical examination only. The frequency of operative sphincter defects and their correlation with disorders of continence was evaluated with the endoanal ultrasound. This study includes 123 subjects who had undergone anorectal surgery in the past and were examined with endoanal ultrasound for various indications such as continence disorders, recurrent fistula, idiopathic perineal pain, or simple postoperative follow-up. No subjects had isolated external anal sphincter defects. Nineteen of 123 patients (15%) had minor or major continence disorders, 55 patients (45%) had no sphincter defects, 42 (34%) had only internal anal sphincter (IAS) defects, and 26 (21%) had simultaneously external and internal anal sphincter (EAS) defects. The incidence of IAS and EAS trauma after Milligan-Morgan hemorrhoidectomy was 1/18 (5.5%) and 0/18 respectively; after fistula repair, 24/42 (57%) and 12/42 (29%); and after anal dilatation, 13/17 (76%) and 4/17 (24%). Sixteen of 26 patients (62%) with EAS trauma and 51/68 patients (75%) with IAS trauma did not report any disorders of continence. In patients with two or more operations, the frequency of IAS trauma was 74%, 30% for EAS trauma, and 26% for continence disorders.

Iris metastasis of gastric adenocarcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Celebi, Ali Riza Cenk; Kilavuzoglu, Ayse Ebru; Altiparmak, U Emrah; Cosar, C Banu; Ozkiris, Abdullah

2016-03-08

Iris metastasis in patients with gastric cancer is extremely rare. Herein, it is aimed to report on a patient with gastric adenocarcinoma and iris metastasis. A 65-year-old patient with the history of gastric cancer was admitted for eye pain and eye redness on his left eye. There was ciliary injection, severe +4 cells with hypopyon in the anterior chamber and a solitary, friable, yellow-white, fleshy-creamy vascularized 2 mm × 4 mm mass on the upper nasal part of the iris within the left eye. The presented patient's mass lesion in the iris fulfilled the criteria of the metastatic iris lesion's appearance. The ocular metastasis occurred during chemotherapy. Iris metastasis can masquerade as iridocyclitis with pseudohypopyon or glaucoma. In patients with a history of gastric cancer that present with an iris mass, uveitis, and high intraocular pressure, ocular metastasis of gastric cancer should be a consideration.

Influence of hiatal hernia on lower esophageal sphincter function.

Science.gov (United States)

Pettersson, G B; Bombeck, C T; Nyhus, L M

1981-01-01

Sliding hiatal hernia has long term been implicated as a cause of lower esophageal sphincter (LES) incompetence and gastroesophageal reflux. The physics of LES function in hiatal hernia were investigated in in vitro and in vivo experiments. In vitro models of sliding hernias were constructed from excised canine gastroesophageal specimens. A "sphincter" was simulated with a rubber band around the gastroesophageal junction. It was found that placement of a ligature "hernia ring" on the stomach increased the opening pressure of the model sphincter. Addition of a tissue "hernia sac" sutured to the esophagus above the sphincter further increased the opening pressure, the protective effect being related to the pressure transmitted from the stomach to the hernia sac. There was no fluid leakage from the hernia sac between the hernia ring and the stomach. In anesthetized dogs (in vivo model) gastric and esophageal pressures were measured during gastric infusion while the LES gas way to reflux. A ligature tied loosely around the stomach to simulate a "hernia ring" and a sliding hernia without a hernia sac increased both the opening and the closing pressures of the LES by 36 +/- 18% and 35 +/- 20% (mean +/- SD), respectively. The opening pressure was increased by a decrease in gastric wall tension at the gastroesophageal junction, which was caused by the decreased radius of the herniated portion of the stomach. Pressure transmitted from the stomach to the hernia sac added to the LES pressure, and thereby further increased the opening pressure of the sphincter. The results explain how gastroesophageal reflux may be prevented in patients with hiatal hernia. It was recognized that the hernia sac may protect the sphincter, provided that it inserts into the esophagus above the LES. PMID:7469555

PLATEAU IRIS--DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT.

Science.gov (United States)

Stefan, Cornel; Iliescu, Daniela Adriana; Batras, Mehdi; Timaru, Cristina Mihaela; De Simone, Algerino

2015-01-01

The objective of our study was to review the current knowledge on the diagnosis and treatment options of plateau iris configuration and syndrome. Relevant publications on plateau iris that were published until 2014. Plateau iris syndrome is a form of primary angle closure glaucoma caused by a large or anteriorly positioned ciliary body that leads to mechanical obstruction of trabecular meshwork. This condition is most often found in younger patients. Plateau iris has been considered an abnormal anatomic variant of the iris that can be diagnosed on ultrasound biomicroscopy or optical coherence tomography of anterior segment. Patients with plateau iris syndrome can be recognized by the lack of response in angle opening after iridotomy. The treatment of choice in these cases is argon laser peripheral iridoplasty.

The IRIS user guide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adams, M.; Howells, W.; Telling, M.

2001-01-01

The principles of operation of the IRIS instrument based on inelastic neutron scattering and diffraction are described. The procedure of an experiment performance on IRIS consists of selecting sample cans, loading the sample into the neutron beam. Instructions for using the beam line shutter interlock system, IRIS computing procedure, suitable instrument settings and chopper control are included

Iris Matching Based on Personalized Weight Map.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Wenbo; Sun, Zhenan; Tan, Tieniu

2011-09-01

Iris recognition typically involves three steps, namely, iris image preprocessing, feature extraction, and feature matching. The first two steps of iris recognition have been well studied, but the last step is less addressed. Each human iris has its unique visual pattern and local image features also vary from region to region, which leads to significant differences in robustness and distinctiveness among the feature codes derived from different iris regions. However, most state-of-the-art iris recognition methods use a uniform matching strategy, where features extracted from different regions of the same person or the same region for different individuals are considered to be equally important. This paper proposes a personalized iris matching strategy using a class-specific weight map learned from the training images of the same iris class. The weight map can be updated online during the iris recognition procedure when the successfully recognized iris images are regarded as the new training data. The weight map reflects the robustness of an encoding algorithm on different iris regions by assigning an appropriate weight to each feature code for iris matching. Such a weight map trained by sufficient iris templates is convergent and robust against various noise. Extensive and comprehensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed personalized iris matching strategy achieves much better iris recognition performance than uniform strategies, especially for poor quality iris images.

Relationship of the Van Herick Grading System with Peripheral Iris Configuration and Level of Iris Insertion.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Faisal Aziz; Niazi, Shafaq Pervez Khan; Khan, Assad Zaman

2017-09-01

To determine the relationship of the van Herick angle grading system with the level of iris insertion and peripheral iris configuration. Observational study. Eye department, Combined Military Hospital, Malir Cantt., Karachi, from May to October 2015. Sixty-five eyes of 65 patients were recruited. Anterior chamber depth at the temporal limbus was measured as a fraction of corneal section thickness using van Herick technique and graded on the standard 4-point scale of the van Herick grading system. Gonioscopy of the temporal quadrant was performed with a Posner 4 mirror goniolens and both the true level of iris insertion and peripheral iris configuration were recorded on a 4-point scale so as to equate with the van Herick 4-point grading system. Spearman's rho test was applied to determine the relationship of the van Herick grading system with level of iris root insertion and peripheral iris configuration. Amoderate positive correlation between van Herick grade and peripheral iris configuration was found which was statistically significant (rs=0.42, p < 0.001). Astatistically significant and moderate positive correlation was also detected between van Herick grade and the level of iris insertion (rs=0.45, p < 0.001). The van Herick grade has a moderately positive relationship with the peripheral iris configuration and true level of iris insertion.

The IRIS user-guide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adams, M.A.

1997-10-01

This is the first version of the IRIS User-Guide. IRIS is continually evolving and improving and so some of the information contained within this manual will become out of date quite quickly. The basics behind the operation of IRIS, however, should remain essentially constant for the foreseeable future. Updated manuals will be produced when appropriate although it should always be remembered that the most up-to-date sources of information concerning IRIS are the instrument scientist and the local contacts for the experiments. It would be appreciated, however, if this user-guide were to be the first point of call. (author)

Incontinence after primary repair of obstetric anal sphincter tears is related to relative length of reconstructed external sphincter: a case-control study.

Science.gov (United States)

Norderval, S; Røssaak, K; Markskog, A; Vonen, B

2012-08-01

To determine if anatomic primary repair with end-to-end reconstruction of the external anal sphincter (EAS) in its full length combined with separate repair of coexisting internal anal sphincter (IAS) tear, when present, results in less incontinence and better anal sphincter integrity compared with conventional primary end-to-end repair in which the IAS is not actively reconstructed. Women who sustained third- or fourth-degree obstetric tears were included prospectively in the study following anatomic primary repair. Women treated with conventional primary repair prior to the study period comprised the control group. Three-dimensional endoanal ultrasonography (3D-EAUS) images were classified according to the EAUS defect score, and incontinence according to St Mark's score. Sixty-three women were included in the study group and 61 in the control group, with mean follow-up times of 11 and 21 months, respectively. Among women who had not delivered vaginally prior to the tear, St Mark's score ≥ 3 was reported by 9.6% (5/52) in the study group and 37.5% (15/40) in the control group at follow-up (P = 0.002). The corresponding numbers among women who had previously delivered vaginally were 36.4% (4/11) and 42.9% (9/21), respectively (non-significant). St Mark's score correlated with the EAUS defect score (P = 0.017). An EAS defect exceeding 50% of the sphincter length was significantly less common in the study group, and in a multivariable logistic regression model, mode of repair (anatomic vs conventional) was the only factor explaining the difference in EAS sphincter length between the two groups (P = 0.007). Improved continence status after anatomic primary repair was associated with a better longitudinal reconstruction of the EAS, while the integrity of the IAS did not differ between the groups. Women with a history of vaginal delivery prior to the sphincter tear had an inferior outcome regardless of mode of repair. Copyright © 2012 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley

Improved iris localization by using wide and narrow field of view cameras for iris recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yeong Gon; Shin, Kwang Yong; Park, Kang Ryoung

2013-10-01

Biometrics is a method of identifying individuals by their physiological or behavioral characteristics. Among other biometric identifiers, iris recognition has been widely used for various applications that require a high level of security. When a conventional iris recognition camera is used, the size and position of the iris region in a captured image vary according to the X, Y positions of a user's eye and the Z distance between a user and the camera. Therefore, the searching area of the iris detection algorithm is increased, which can inevitably decrease both the detection speed and accuracy. To solve these problems, we propose a new method of iris localization that uses wide field of view (WFOV) and narrow field of view (NFOV) cameras. Our study is new as compared to previous studies in the following four ways. First, the device used in our research acquires three images, one each of the face and both irises, using one WFOV and two NFOV cameras simultaneously. The relation between the WFOV and NFOV cameras is determined by simple geometric transformation without complex calibration. Second, the Z distance (between a user's eye and the iris camera) is estimated based on the iris size in the WFOV image and anthropometric data of the size of the human iris. Third, the accuracy of the geometric transformation between the WFOV and NFOV cameras is enhanced by using multiple matrices of the transformation according to the Z distance. Fourth, the searching region for iris localization in the NFOV image is significantly reduced based on the detected iris region in the WFOV image and the matrix of geometric transformation corresponding to the estimated Z distance. Experimental results showed that the performance of the proposed iris localization method is better than that of conventional methods in terms of accuracy and processing time.

Integrated risk information system (IRIS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tuxen, L. [Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (United States)

1990-12-31

The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is an electronic information system developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) containing information related to health risk assessment. IRIS is the Agency`s primary vehicle for communication of chronic health hazard information that represents Agency consensus following comprehensive review by intra-Agency work groups. The original purpose for developing IRIS was to provide guidance to EPA personnel in making risk management decisions. This original purpose for developing IRIS was to guidance to EPA personnel in making risk management decisions. This role has expanded and evolved with wider access and use of the system. IRIS contains chemical-specific information in summary format for approximately 500 chemicals. IRIS is available to the general public on the National Library of Medicine`s Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET) and on diskettes through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS).

Evaluation of Genetic Diversity of Iris Genotypes (Iris spp Using ISSR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

seyedeh zeinab attari

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Some of Iris species are growing in different parts of the Iran as wild species. Iris species have important medicinal and horticultural properties. Understanding of the genetic variation within and between populations is essential for the establishment of effective and efficient methods for conservation of the plants. Genetic variation studies are fundamental for the management and conservation of this species. The use of molecular markers is a powerful tool in the genetic study of populations. The use of DNA marker, such as AFLP, SSR, RAPD and ISSR represents an alternative method in detection of polymorphism. ISSRs are highly variable, require less investment in time, money and labor than other methods. ISSR can generate higher percentages of polymorphic loci than other PCR methods. These can serve as an efficient tool for phylogenetic studies. ISSRs had reported that used in studies of cultivated species to produce genetic linkage maps and to determine the relatedness of lines of agriculturally important species. ISSR analysis involves the PCR amplification of regions between adjacent, inversely oriented microsatellites, using a single simple sequence repeat (SSR motifs (dinucleotide, trinucleotide, tetranucleotide or penta nucleotides. Therefore, little is known about the genetic variability of the Iranian Iris ssp .The objectives of this study were to evaluate genetic diversity among genotypes using ISSR markers and the degree of polymorphism generated from ISSR technique as a pre-requisite for their applicability to population genetics studies in Iris ssp. Materials and Methods: To evaluate genetic variations in some wild Iris genotypes, Iris kopetdaghensis ،Iris songarica and Iris fosteriana were collected from some parts of Khorasan province. Genomic DNA was extracted from young leaves following the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB procedure. Extracted DNA concentration was quantified by using the spectrophotometer

Using crypts as iris minutiae

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Feng; Flynn, Patrick J.

2013-05-01

Iris recognition is one of the most reliable biometric technologies for identity recognition and verification, but it has not been used in a forensic context because the representation and matching of iris features are not straightforward for traditional iris recognition techniques. In this paper we concentrate on the iris crypt as a visible feature used to represent the characteristics of irises in a similar way to fingerprint minutiae. The matching of crypts is based on their appearances and locations. The number of matching crypt pairs found between two irises can be used for identity verification and the convenience of manual inspection makes iris crypts a potential candidate for forensic applications.

Bladder-sphincter dysfunction in myelomeningocele

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Gool, J. D.; Dik, P.; de Jong, T. P.

2001-01-01

Pediatric urodynamics taught us that detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia creates a bladder outlet obstruction in about 50% of any population of children with myelomeningocele. This functional obstruction causes renal damage due to obstructive uropathy, exactly the same way as a congenital anatomical

Manometric Changes to the Lower Esophageal Sphincter After Magnetic Sphincter Augmentation in Patients With Chronic Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Warren, Heather F; Louie, Brian E; Farivar, Alexander S; Wilshire, Candice; Aye, Ralph W

2017-07-01

To evaluate the manometric changes, function, and impact of magnetic sphincter augmentation (MSA) on the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Implantation of a MSA around the gastroesophageal junction has been shown to be a safe and effective therapy for gastroesophageal reflux disease, but its effect on the LES has not been elucidated. Retrospective case control study (n = 121) evaluating manometric changes after MSA. Inclusion criteria consisted of a confirmed diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease by an abnormal esophageal pH study (body mass index <35 kg/m, hiatal hernia <3 cm, and absence of endoscopic Barrett disease). Manometric changes, pH testing, and proton pump inhibitor use were assessed preoperatively and 6 and 12 months after MSA. MSA was associated with an overall increase in the median LES resting pressure (18 pre-MSA vs 23 mm Hg post-MSA; P = 0.0003), residual pressure (4 vs 9 mm Hg; P < 0.0001), and distal esophageal contraction amplitude (80 vs 90 mm Hg; P = 0.02). The percent peristalsis remained unaltered (94% vs 87%; P = 0.71).Overall, patients with a manometrically defective LES were restored 67% of the time to a normal sphincter with MSA. Those with a structurally defective or severely defective LES improved to a normal LES in 77% and 56% of patients, respectively. Only 18% of patients with a normal preoperative manometric LES deteriorated to a lower category. MSA results in significant manometric improvement of the LES without apparent deleterious effects on the esophageal body. A manometrically defective LES can be restored to normal sphincter, whereas a normal LES remains stable.

Distribution of radioactively labelled myobacterium tuberculosis (65Zn, 35S-BCG) after injection into the anterior chamber. Studies in rabbits with and without anterior chamber sensitisation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tabillion, M.

1985-01-01

The rabbit model was used to study the behaviour of antigens in the eye as well as their spread to extraocular regions. Prior to the investigations, a test dose of 35 S-labelled and 65 Zn-labelled BCG (Bacille Calmette Guerin) had been injected into the anterior chamber of the eyes of sensitised and non-sensitised rabbits. The percentage of BCG escaping from the aqueous humor and iris was mostly not dependent of the test dose given, nor did the rate of its spread show any relation to the occurrence of an antigen-antibody reaction. On the 32nd day p.i., there were still acid-resisting rods in the uvea, which could be proven by histological examination. As shown by the levels of activity in the iris and ciliary body, the bacteria appear to migrate mostly to these organs and, in the second place, to the choroid membrane. The spread of bacteria in previously sensitised rabbits was not different from the observed in non-sensitised animals. Theories claiming that more antigens are formed in sensitised tissue as compared to non-sensitised tissue cannot be confirmed by the findings revealed here. (TRV) [de

Iris unwrapping using the Bresenham circle algorithm for real-time iris recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Carothers, Matthew T.; Ngo, Hau T.; Rakvic, Ryan N.; Broussard, Randy P.

2015-02-01

An efficient parallel architecture design for the iris unwrapping process in a real-time iris recognition system using the Bresenham Circle Algorithm is presented in this paper. Based on the characteristics of the model parameters this algorithm was chosen over the widely used polar conversion technique as the iris unwrapping model. The architecture design is parallelized to increase the throughput of the system and is suitable for processing an inputted image size of 320 × 240 pixels in real-time using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. Quartus software is used to implement, verify, and analyze the design's performance using the VHSIC Hardware Description Language. The system's predicted processing time is faster than the modern iris unwrapping technique used today∗.

TAPIOCA MELANOMA OF THE IRIS

NARCIS (Netherlands)

DEKEIZER, RJW; OOSTERHUIS, JA; HOUTMAN, WA; DEWOLFFROUENDAAL, D

Clinical identification of tapioca melanoma of the iris is important because its medical treatment may differ from that of other malignant iris melanomas. The characteristic iris nodules must be differentiated from granulomatous uveitis, metastases, and Lisch nodules (neurofibromatosis). We will

Sphincter Saving Surgery in Low Rectal Carcinoma in a Resource ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Surgery is the principal modality of treatment of rectal carcinoma in order to achieve cure. Sphincter saving surgery improves the quality of life of patients with low rectal carcinoma. Aim: To report a case of sphincter saving low anterior resection for low rectal cancer with hand sown colorectal anastomosis

Iridium Interfacial Stack (IRIS)

Science.gov (United States)

Spry, David James (Inventor)

2015-01-01

An iridium interfacial stack ("IrIS") and a method for producing the same are provided. The IrIS may include ordered layers of TaSi.sub.2, platinum, iridium, and platinum, and may be placed on top of a titanium layer and a silicon carbide layer. The IrIS may prevent, reduce, or mitigate against diffusion of elements such as oxygen, platinum, and gold through at least some of its layers.

Hydrogen sulfide synthesis enzymes reduced in lower esophageal sphincter of patients with achalasia.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, L; Zhao, W; Zheng, Z; Wang, T; Zhao, C; Zhou, G; Jin, H; Wang, B

2016-10-01

The etiology of achalasia remains largely unknown. Considerable evidence reveals that the lower esophageal sphincter dysfunction is due to the lack of inhibitory neurotransmitter, secondary to esophageal neuronal inflammation or loss. Recent studies suggest hydrogen sulfide may act as an inhibitory transmitter in gastrointestinal tract, but study about hydrogen sulfide in human esophagus still lack. The aim of the study was to investigate if hydrogen sulfide synthesis enzymes could be detected in human esophagus and if the synthesis of the endogenous hydrogen sulfide could be affected in achalasia patients. Tissue samples in cardia, lower esophageal sphincter, 2 cm and 4 cm above lower esophageal sphincter were obtained from achalasia patients undergoing peroral endoscopic myotomy. Control tissues in lower esophageal sphincter were obtained from esophageal carcinoma patients. Expression of cystathionine-β-synthase and cystathionine-γ-lyase in lower esophageal sphincter of achalasia patients and control were detected by immunohistochemical staining. In addition, expression of cystathionine-β-synthase and cystathionine-γ-lyase were compared among different parts of esophagus in achalasia patients. Compared with control, the expression of cystathionine-β-synthase and cystathionine-γ-lyase in lower esophageal sphincter of achalasia patients was significantly reduced (χ 2 = 11.429, P = 0.010). The expression of cystathionine-β-synthase and cystathionine-γ-lyase were lower in lower esophageal sphincter than that in 2 cm and 4 cm above lower esophageal sphincter, respectively (all P achalasia, which implicates the involvement of the two hydrogen sulfide synthesis enzymes in the pathophysiology of achalasia. © 2015 International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus.

Defining sphincter of oddi dysfunction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Funch-Jensen, Peter

1996-01-01

Sphincter of Oddi (SO) dysmotility may give rise to pain. The golden standard for the demonstration of SO dysfunction is endoscopic manometry. A number of abnormalities are observed in patients with postcholecystectomy pain and in patients with idiopathic recurrent pancreatitis. Criteria for defi...

Iris Image Classification Based on Hierarchical Visual Codebook.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhenan Sun; Hui Zhang; Tieniu Tan; Jianyu Wang

2014-06-01

Iris recognition as a reliable method for personal identification has been well-studied with the objective to assign the class label of each iris image to a unique subject. In contrast, iris image classification aims to classify an iris image to an application specific category, e.g., iris liveness detection (classification of genuine and fake iris images), race classification (e.g., classification of iris images of Asian and non-Asian subjects), coarse-to-fine iris identification (classification of all iris images in the central database into multiple categories). This paper proposes a general framework for iris image classification based on texture analysis. A novel texture pattern representation method called Hierarchical Visual Codebook (HVC) is proposed to encode the texture primitives of iris images. The proposed HVC method is an integration of two existing Bag-of-Words models, namely Vocabulary Tree (VT), and Locality-constrained Linear Coding (LLC). The HVC adopts a coarse-to-fine visual coding strategy and takes advantages of both VT and LLC for accurate and sparse representation of iris texture. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed iris image classification method achieves state-of-the-art performance for iris liveness detection, race classification, and coarse-to-fine iris identification. A comprehensive fake iris image database simulating four types of iris spoof attacks is developed as the benchmark for research of iris liveness detection.

Engineering a Light-Attenuating Artificial Iris

Science.gov (United States)

Shareef, Farah J.; Sun, Shan; Kotecha, Mrignayani; Kassem, Iris; Azar, Dimitri; Cho, Michael

2016-01-01

Purpose Discomfort from light exposure leads to photophobia, glare, and poor vision in patients with congenital or trauma-induced iris damage. Commercial artificial iris lenses are static in nature to provide aesthetics without restoring the natural iris's dynamic response to light. A new photo-responsive artificial iris was therefore developed using a photochromic material with self-adaptive light transmission properties and encased in a transparent biocompatible polymer matrix. Methods The implantable artificial iris was designed and engineered using Photopia, a class of photo-responsive materials (termed naphthopyrans) embedded in polyethylene. Photopia was reshaped into annular disks that were spin-coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to form our artificial iris lens of controlled thickness. Results Activated by UV and blue light in approximately 5 seconds with complete reversal in less than 1 minute, the artificial iris demonstrates graded attenuation of up to 40% of visible and 60% of UV light. There optical characteristics are suitable to reversibly regulate the incident light intensity. In vitro cell culture experiments showed up to 60% cell death within 10 days of exposure to Photopia, but no significant cell death observed when cultured with the artificial iris with protective encapsulation. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed these results as there was no apparent leakage of potentially toxic photochromic material from the ophthalmic device. Conclusions Our artificial iris lens mimics the functionality of the natural iris by attenuating light intensity entering the eye with its rapid reversible change in opacity and thus potentially providing an improved treatment option for patients with iris damage. PMID:27116547

Engineering a Light-Attenuating Artificial Iris.

Science.gov (United States)

Shareef, Farah J; Sun, Shan; Kotecha, Mrignayani; Kassem, Iris; Azar, Dimitri; Cho, Michael

2016-04-01

Discomfort from light exposure leads to photophobia, glare, and poor vision in patients with congenital or trauma-induced iris damage. Commercial artificial iris lenses are static in nature to provide aesthetics without restoring the natural iris's dynamic response to light. A new photo-responsive artificial iris was therefore developed using a photochromic material with self-adaptive light transmission properties and encased in a transparent biocompatible polymer matrix. The implantable artificial iris was designed and engineered using Photopia, a class of photo-responsive materials (termed naphthopyrans) embedded in polyethylene. Photopia was reshaped into annular disks that were spin-coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to form our artificial iris lens of controlled thickness. Activated by UV and blue light in approximately 5 seconds with complete reversal in less than 1 minute, the artificial iris demonstrates graded attenuation of up to 40% of visible and 60% of UV light. There optical characteristics are suitable to reversibly regulate the incident light intensity. In vitro cell culture experiments showed up to 60% cell death within 10 days of exposure to Photopia, but no significant cell death observed when cultured with the artificial iris with protective encapsulation. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed these results as there was no apparent leakage of potentially toxic photochromic material from the ophthalmic device. Our artificial iris lens mimics the functionality of the natural iris by attenuating light intensity entering the eye with its rapid reversible change in opacity and thus potentially providing an improved treatment option for patients with iris damage.

Overdiagnosis and rising rate of obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS): time for reappraisal.

Science.gov (United States)

Sioutis, D; Thakar, R; Sultan, A H

2017-11-01

To determine the accuracy of clinical diagnosis of obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) using three-dimensional (3D) endoanal ultrasound (EA-US) and to compare symptoms and anal manometry measurements between women with anal sphincters adequately repaired and those with persistent anal sphincter defects. The EA-US images of women with clinically diagnosed and repaired OASIS, defined as third- or fourth-degree perineal tear, who attended the perineal clinic at Croydon University Hospital over a 10-year period (2003-2013) were reanalyzed by a single expert blind to symptoms and the results of clinical examination. St Mark's Incontinence Scores (SMIS) and anal manometry measurements were obtained and compared between women with an intact anal sphincter and those with an anal sphincter scar and between those with an intact anal sphincter and those with a defect. Anal manometry measurements were compared between women with an external anal sphincter (EAS) defect and those with an internal anal sphincter (IAS) defect. The images of 908 women were reanalyzed. No evidence of OASIS was found in 64 (7.0%) women, an EAS scar alone was detected in 520 (57.3%) and an anal sphincter defect in 324 (35.7%). Of the 324 women with a defect, 112 had an EAS defect, 90 had an IAS defect and 122 had a combined IAS and EAS defect. SMIS results were significantly higher in women with an anal sphincter defect compared with those with no evidence of OASIS (P = 0.018), but there was no significant difference in scores between women with an intact sphincter and those with an EAS scar only. Women with a defect had a significantly lower maximum resting pressure (median (range), 44 (8-106) vs 55 (29-86) mmHg; P 40) vs 25 (10-40) mm; P = 0.003). Seven percent of women with a clinical diagnosis of OASIS were wrongly diagnosed. We believe that this rate may differ from that of other units but training methods and competency assessment tools for the diagnosis and repair of OASIS need

[The artificial sphincter: therapy for faecal incontinence].

Science.gov (United States)

Baumgartner, U

2012-08-01

Faecal incontinence (FI) challenges a patient's professional, social and sexual life. Often the patient becomes depressive and socially isolated. If able to break open for therapy the patient should receive as first line a conservative treatment (like dietary measures, pelvic re-education, biofeedback, bulking agents, irrigation). When is the time to implant an artificial anal sphincter? If conservative therapy fails as well as surgical options (like a sphincteroplasty - if indicated a reconstruction of the pelvic floor if insufficient, or a sacral nerve stimulation) an ultimo surgical procedure should be offered to appropriate and compliant patients: an artificial anal sphincter. Worldwide, there are two established devices on the market: the artificial bowel sphincter® (ABS) from A. M. S. (Minnetonka, MN, USA) and the soft anal band® from A. M. I. (Feldkirch, Austria). How to implant the artificial anal sphincter? Both devices consist of a silicon cuff which can be filled with fluid. Under absolute aseptic conditions this cuff is placed in the lithotomy position by perianal incisions around the anal canal below the pelvic floor. A silicon tube connects the anal cuff with a reservoir (containing fluid) which is placed either behind the pubis bone in front of the bladder (ABS) or below the costal arch (anal band). With a pump placed in the scrotum/labia (ABS) or by pressing the balloon (anal band) in both types operated by the patient the fluid is shifted forth and back between the anal cuff and the reservoir closing or opening the anal canal. Both systems are placed completely subcutaneously. Both devices improve significantly the anal continence. Both systems have a high rate of reoperations. However, the causes for the redos are different. The ABS is associated with high infection and anal penetration rates of the cuff leading to an explantation rate to up to 60 % of the implants. This kind of complication seems to be much lower with the anal band. The major

Porcine cadaver iris model for iris heating during corneal surgery with a femtosecond laser

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Hui; Fan, Zhongwei; Wang, Jiang; Yan, Ying; Juhasz, Tibor; Kurtz, Ron

2015-03-01

Multiple femtosecond lasers have now been cleared for use for ophthalmic surgery, including for creation of corneal flaps in LASIK surgery. Preliminary study indicated that during typical surgical use, laser energy may pass beyond the cornea with potential effects on the iris. As a model for laser exposure of the iris during femtosecond corneal surgery, we simulated the temperature rise in porcine cadaver iris during direct illumination by the femtosecond laser. Additionally, ex-vivo iris heating due to femtosecond laser irradiation was measured with an infrared thermal camera (Fluke corp. Everett, WA) as a validation of the simulation.

Video-based noncooperative iris image segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Yingzi; Arslanturk, Emrah; Zhou, Zhi; Belcher, Craig

2011-02-01

In this paper, we propose a video-based noncooperative iris image segmentation scheme that incorporates a quality filter to quickly eliminate images without an eye, employs a coarse-to-fine segmentation scheme to improve the overall efficiency, uses a direct least squares fitting of ellipses method to model the deformed pupil and limbic boundaries, and develops a window gradient-based method to remove noise in the iris region. A remote iris acquisition system is set up to collect noncooperative iris video images. An objective method is used to quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of the segmentation results. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. The proposed method would make noncooperative iris recognition or iris surveillance possible.

Iris Template Protection Based on Local Ranking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongdong Zhao

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Biometrics have been widely studied in recent years, and they are increasingly employed in real-world applications. Meanwhile, a number of potential threats to the privacy of biometric data arise. Iris template protection demands that the privacy of iris data should be protected when performing iris recognition. According to the international standard ISO/IEC 24745, iris template protection should satisfy the irreversibility, revocability, and unlinkability. However, existing works about iris template protection demonstrate that it is difficult to satisfy the three privacy requirements simultaneously while supporting effective iris recognition. In this paper, we propose an iris template protection method based on local ranking. Specifically, the iris data are first XORed (Exclusive OR operation with an application-specific string; next, we divide the results into blocks and then partition the blocks into groups. The blocks in each group are ranked according to their decimal values, and original blocks are transformed to their rank values for storage. We also extend the basic method to support the shifting strategy and masking strategy, which are two important strategies for iris recognition. We demonstrate that the proposed method satisfies the irreversibility, revocability, and unlinkability. Experimental results on typical iris datasets (i.e., CASIA-IrisV3-Interval, CASIA-IrisV4-Lamp, UBIRIS-V1-S1, and MMU-V1 show that the proposed method could maintain the recognition performance while protecting the privacy of iris data.

Thermal responses of shape memory alloy artificial anal sphincters

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Yun; Takagi, Toshiyuki; Matsuzawa, Kenichi

2003-08-01

This paper presents a numerical investigation of the thermal behavior of an artificial anal sphincter using shape memory alloys (SMAs) proposed by the authors. The SMA artificial anal sphincter has the function of occlusion at body temperature and can be opened with a thermal transformation induced deformation of SMAs to solve the problem of severe fecal incontinence. The investigation of its thermal behavior is of great importance in terms of practical use in living bodies as a prosthesis. In this work, a previously proposed phenomenological model was applied to simulate the thermal responses of SMA plates that had undergone thermally induced transformation. The numerical approach for considering the thermal interaction between the prosthesis and surrounding tissues was discussed based on the classical bio-heat equation. Numerical predictions on both in vitro and in vivo cases were verified by experiments with acceptable agreements. The thermal responses of the SMA artificial anal sphincter were discussed based on the simulation results, with the values of the applied power and the geometric configuration of thermal insulation as parameters. The results obtained in the present work provided a framework for the further design of SMA artificial sphincters to meet demands from the viewpoint of thermal compatibility as prostheses.

Cloxacillin distribution in the rabbit eye after intravenous injection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salminen, L.

1978-01-01

Distribution of isotopically labelled and intravenously injected cloxacillin was studied in the rabbit eye. The antibiotic concentration determined by liquid scintillation counting proved to be a reliable measure of the total antibiotic concentration when controlled by microbiological assay. In the rabbit eye after an intravenous injection of 50 mg/kg of cloxacillin sodium, longlasting antibiotic concentration regarded as therapeutic against penicillinase producing staphylococci was obtained in all vascularized ocular structures and in the cornea. The antibiotic present in the iris and ciliary body, and in the retina and choroid preparations, proved to be partly intravascular, whereas it penetrated better into the extravascular tissue compartment of the sclera and limbal area. Cloxacillin failed to achieve a therapeutic antibiotic concentration in the vitreous body and in the lens. Administration of probenecid had an enhancing effect on ocular cloxacillin concentration allowing improved drug diffusion into the eye by means of an elevated plasma concentration. No specific ocular effect of probenecid was noticed. Therapeutic concentration of cloxacillin in the aqueous humour, otherwise barely achieved, was more satisfactorily obtained with a previous injection of probenecid. (author)

PLATEAU IRIS – DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Science.gov (United States)

Stefan, Cornel; Iliescu, Daniela Adriana; Batras, Mehdi; Timaru, Cristina Mihaela; De Simone, Algerino

2015-01-01

Objectives: The objective of our study was to review the current knowledge on the diagnosis and treatment options of plateau iris configuration and syndrome. Systematic review methodology: Relevant publications on plateau iris that were published until 2014. Conclusions: Plateau iris syndrome is a form of primary angle closure glaucoma caused by a large or anteriorly positioned ciliary body that leads to mechanical obstruction of trabecular meshwork. This condition is most often found in younger patients. Plateau iris has been considered an abnormal anatomic variant of the iris that can be diagnosed on ultrasound biomicroscopy or optical coherence tomography of anterior segment. Patients with plateau iris syndrome can be recognized by the lack of response in angle opening after iridotomy. The treatment of choice in these cases is argon laser peripheral iridoplasty PMID:27373109

Does iris change over time?

Science.gov (United States)

Mehrotra, Hunny; Vatsa, Mayank; Singh, Richa; Majhi, Banshidhar

2013-01-01

Iris as a biometric identifier is assumed to be stable over a period of time. However, some researchers have observed that for long time lapse, the genuine match score distribution shifts towards the impostor score distribution and the performance of iris recognition reduces. The main purpose of this study is to determine if the shift in genuine scores can be attributed to aging or not. The experiments are performed on the two publicly available iris aging databases namely, ND-Iris-Template-Aging-2008-2010 and ND-TimeLapseIris-2012 using a commercial matcher, VeriEye. While existing results are correct about increase in false rejection over time, we observe that it is primarily due to the presence of other covariates such as blur, noise, occlusion, and pupil dilation. This claim is substantiated with quality score comparison of the gallery and probe pairs.

New methods in iris recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Daugman, John

2007-10-01

This paper presents the following four advances in iris recognition: 1) more disciplined methods for detecting and faithfully modeling the iris inner and outer boundaries with active contours, leading to more flexible embedded coordinate systems; 2) Fourier-based methods for solving problems in iris trigonometry and projective geometry, allowing off-axis gaze to be handled by detecting it and "rotating" the eye into orthographic perspective; 3) statistical inference methods for detecting and excluding eyelashes; and 4) exploration of score normalizations, depending on the amount of iris data that is available in images and the required scale of database search. Statistical results are presented based on 200 billion iris cross-comparisons that were generated from 632500 irises in the United Arab Emirates database to analyze the normalization issues raised in different regions of receiver operating characteristic curves.

High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging of the anal sphincter using a dedicated endoanal receiver coil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeSouza, N.M.; Williams, A.D.; Gilderdale, D.J.

1999-01-01

The use of a surface coil in MR imaging improves signal-to-noise ratio of adjacent tissues of interest. We therefore devised an endoanal receiver coil for imaging the anal sphincter. The probe is solid and re-usable: it comprises a saddle geometry receiver with integral tuning, matching and decoupling. It is placed in the anal canal and immobilised externally. Both in vitro and in vivo normal anatomy is identified. The mucosa is high signal intensity, the submucosa low signal intensity, the internal sphincter uniformly high signal intensity and the external sphincter low signal intensity on T1- and T2-weighted images. In females, the transverse perineal muscle bridges the inferior part of the external sphincter anteriorly. In perianal sepsis, collections and the site of the endoanal opening are identified. In early-onset fecal incontinence following obstetric trauma/surgery, focal sphincter defects are demonstrated; in late-onset fecal incontinence external sphincter atrophy is seen. In fecally incontinent patients with scleroderma, forward deviation of the anterior sphincter musculature with descent of rectal air and feces into the anal canal is noted. The extent of sphincter invasion is assessed in low rectal tumours. In children with congenital anorectal anomalies, abnormalities of the muscle components are defined using smaller-diameter coils. Such information is invaluable in the assessment and surgical planning of patients with a variety of anorectal pathologies. (orig.)

IRIS COLOUR CLASSIFICATION SCALES--THEN AND NOW.

Science.gov (United States)

Grigore, Mariana; Avram, Alina

2015-01-01

Eye colour is one of the most obvious phenotypic traits of an individual. Since the first documented classification scale developed in 1843, there have been numerous attempts to classify the iris colour. In the past centuries, iris colour classification scales has had various colour categories and mostly relied on comparison of an individual's eye with painted glass eyes. Once photography techniques were refined, standard iris photographs replaced painted eyes, but this did not solve the problem of painted/ printed colour variability in time. Early clinical scales were easy to use, but lacked objectivity and were not standardised or statistically tested for reproducibility. The era of automated iris colour classification systems came with the technological development. Spectrophotometry, digital analysis of high-resolution iris images, hyper spectral analysis of the human real iris and the dedicated iris colour analysis software, all accomplished an objective, accurate iris colour classification, but are quite expensive and limited in use to research environment. Iris colour classification systems evolved continuously due to their use in a wide range of studies, especially in the fields of anthropology, epidemiology and genetics. Despite the wide range of the existing scales, up until present there has been no generally accepted iris colour classification scale.

Does Iris Change Over Time?

Science.gov (United States)

Mehrotra, Hunny; Vatsa, Mayank; Singh, Richa; Majhi, Banshidhar

2013-01-01

Iris as a biometric identifier is assumed to be stable over a period of time. However, some researchers have observed that for long time lapse, the genuine match score distribution shifts towards the impostor score distribution and the performance of iris recognition reduces. The main purpose of this study is to determine if the shift in genuine scores can be attributed to aging or not. The experiments are performed on the two publicly available iris aging databases namely, ND-Iris-Template-Aging-2008–2010 and ND-TimeLapseIris-2012 using a commercial matcher, VeriEye. While existing results are correct about increase in false rejection over time, we observe that it is primarily due to the presence of other covariates such as blur, noise, occlusion, and pupil dilation. This claim is substantiated with quality score comparison of the gallery and probe pairs. PMID:24244305

Does iris change over time?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hunny Mehrotra

Full Text Available Iris as a biometric identifier is assumed to be stable over a period of time. However, some researchers have observed that for long time lapse, the genuine match score distribution shifts towards the impostor score distribution and the performance of iris recognition reduces. The main purpose of this study is to determine if the shift in genuine scores can be attributed to aging or not. The experiments are performed on the two publicly available iris aging databases namely, ND-Iris-Template-Aging-2008-2010 and ND-TimeLapseIris-2012 using a commercial matcher, VeriEye. While existing results are correct about increase in false rejection over time, we observe that it is primarily due to the presence of other covariates such as blur, noise, occlusion, and pupil dilation. This claim is substantiated with quality score comparison of the gallery and probe pairs.

Off-Angle Iris Correction Methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos-Villalobos, Hector J [ORNL; Thompson, Joseph T [ORNL; Karakaya, Mahmut [ORNL; Boehnen, Chris Bensing [ORNL

2016-01-01

In many real world iris recognition systems obtaining consistent frontal images is problematic do to inexperienced or uncooperative users, untrained operators, or distracting environments. As a result many collected images are unusable by modern iris matchers. In this chapter we present four methods for correcting off-angle iris images to appear frontal which makes them compatible with existing iris matchers. The methods include an affine correction, a retraced model of the human eye, measured displacements, and a genetic algorithm optimized correction. The affine correction represents a simple way to create an iris image that appears frontal but it does not account for refractive distortions of the cornea. The other method account for refraction. The retraced model simulates the optical properties of the cornea. The other two methods are data driven. The first uses optical flow to measure the displacements of the iris texture when compared to frontal images of the same subject. The second uses a genetic algorithm to learn a mapping that optimizes the Hamming Distance scores between off-angle and frontal images. In this paper we hypothesize that the biological model presented in our earlier work does not adequately account for all variations in eye anatomy and therefore the two data-driven approaches should yield better performance. Results are presented using the commercial VeriEye matcher that show that the genetic algorithm method clearly improves over prior work and makes iris recognition possible up to 50 degrees off-angle.

A new objective criterion for IRIS localization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basit, A.

2010-01-01

Iris localization is the most important step in iris recognition systems. For commonly used databases, exact data is not given which describe the true results of localization. To cope with this problem a new objective criterion for iris localization is proposed in this paper based on our visual system. A specific number of points are selected on pupil boundary, iris boundary, upper eyelid and lower eyelid using the original image and then distance from these points to the result of complete iris localization has been calculated. If the determined distance is below a certain threshold then iris localization is considered correct. Experimental results show that proposed criterion is very effective. (author)

High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging of the anal sphincter using a dedicated endoanal receiver coil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

DeSouza, N.M.; Williams, A.D.; Gilderdale, D.J. [Dept. of Radiology, Imperial College School of Medicine, London (United Kingdom)

1999-04-01

The use of a surface coil in MR imaging improves signal-to-noise ratio of adjacent tissues of interest. We therefore devised an endoanal receiver coil for imaging the anal sphincter. The probe is solid and re-usable: it comprises a saddle geometry receiver with integral tuning, matching and decoupling. It is placed in the anal canal and immobilised externally. Both in vitro and in vivo normal anatomy is identified. The mucosa is high signal intensity, the submucosa low signal intensity, the internal sphincter uniformly high signal intensity and the external sphincter low signal intensity on T1- and T2-weighted images. In females, the transverse perineal muscle bridges the inferior part of the external sphincter anteriorly. In perianal sepsis, collections and the site of the endoanal opening are identified. In early-onset fecal incontinence following obstetric trauma/surgery, focal sphincter defects are demonstrated; in late-onset fecal incontinence external sphincter atrophy is seen. In fecally incontinent patients with scleroderma, forward deviation of the anterior sphincter musculature with descent of rectal air and feces into the anal canal is noted. The extent of sphincter invasion is assessed in low rectal tumours. In children with congenital anorectal anomalies, abnormalities of the muscle components are defined using smaller-diameter coils. Such information is invaluable in the assessment and surgical planning of patients with a variety of anorectal pathologies. (orig.) With 15 figs., 26 refs.

Distribution and Effect of Galanin on Gallbladder and Sphincter of Oddi Motility in the Pig

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henrik Harling

1991-01-01

Full Text Available This study was designed to determine the occurrence and topographical distribution of galanin-like immunoreactivity (GAL-LI in the porcine gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi and to investigate the pharmacologic effect of GAL on gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi motility. By radioimmunoassay the concentration of GAL-LI in the gallbladder was 2.75 ± 0.23, 9.73 ± 1.33 in the common bile duct and 5.10 ± 0.37 in the sphincter of Oddi (pmol/g ± SE. By immunohistochemistry GAL-LI was found exclusively in ganglionic cells and in nerve fibers among the smooth muscle bundles. Gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi pressures were recorded before and during 5-minute local intraarterial infusion of 4, 8, 19, 39, 78 and 194 ng GAL-Kg-1-min-1 in 12 anaesthetized pigs. GAL in doses ≥ 39 ng.kg-1.min-1 significantly reduced sphincter of Oddi phasic wave frequency (4.8 ± 0.4 vs. 2.1 ± 0.5; p = 0.004 and sphincter of Oddi motility index (70.2 ± 6.02 vs. 27.7 ± 8.3; p = 0.002 but did not affect gallbladder pressure. We conclude that the distribution of GAL-LI in the sphincter of Oddi and the effect that a pharmacologic dose of GAL has on sphincter of Oddi motor activity, suggests that GAL may be involved in the physiologic control of bile flow in the pig.

Smooth muscle enfoldment internal sphincter construction after intersphincteric resection for rectal cancer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heiying Jin

Full Text Available To assess smooth muscle enfoldment and internal sphincter construction (SMESC for improvement of continence after intersphincteric resection (ISR for rectal cancer.Twenty-four Bama miniature pigs were randomly divided into a conventional ISR group and experimental SMESC group, with 12 pigs in each group. The proximal sigmoid colon was anastomosed directly to the anus in the ISR group. In the SMESC group, internal sphincter construction was performed. At 12 weeks before and after surgery, rectal resting pressure and anal canal length were assessed. Three-dimensional ultrasound was used to determine the thickness of the internal sphincter. After the animals were sacrificed, the rectum and anus were resected and pathological examinations were performed to evaluate the differences in sphincter thickness and muscle fibers.All 24 animals in the SMESC group and the ISR group survived the surgery. Twelve weeks post-surgery, the rectal resting pressure, length of the anal high-pressure zone and the postoperative internal sphincter thickness for the ISR group were significantly lower than for the SMESC group. There was a thickened area (about 2 cm above the anastomotic stoma among animals from the SMESC group; in addition, the smooth muscles were significantly enlarged and enfolded when compared to the ISR group.This animal model study shows that the SMESC procedure achieved acceptable reconstruction of the internal anal neo-sphincter (IAN/S, without increasing surgical risk. However, the findings in this experimental animal model must be confirmed by clinical trials to determine the safety and efficacy of this procedure in clinical practice.

Smooth muscle enfoldment internal sphincter construction after intersphincteric resection for rectal cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Heiying; Zhang, Bei; Yao, Hang; Du, Yonghong; Wang, Xiaofeng; Leng, Qiang

2014-01-01

To assess smooth muscle enfoldment and internal sphincter construction (SMESC) for improvement of continence after intersphincteric resection (ISR) for rectal cancer. Twenty-four Bama miniature pigs were randomly divided into a conventional ISR group and experimental SMESC group, with 12 pigs in each group. The proximal sigmoid colon was anastomosed directly to the anus in the ISR group. In the SMESC group, internal sphincter construction was performed. At 12 weeks before and after surgery, rectal resting pressure and anal canal length were assessed. Three-dimensional ultrasound was used to determine the thickness of the internal sphincter. After the animals were sacrificed, the rectum and anus were resected and pathological examinations were performed to evaluate the differences in sphincter thickness and muscle fibers. All 24 animals in the SMESC group and the ISR group survived the surgery. Twelve weeks post-surgery, the rectal resting pressure, length of the anal high-pressure zone and the postoperative internal sphincter thickness for the ISR group were significantly lower than for the SMESC group. There was a thickened area (about 2 cm) above the anastomotic stoma among animals from the SMESC group; in addition, the smooth muscles were significantly enlarged and enfolded when compared to the ISR group. This animal model study shows that the SMESC procedure achieved acceptable reconstruction of the internal anal neo-sphincter (IAN/S), without increasing surgical risk. However, the findings in this experimental animal model must be confirmed by clinical trials to determine the safety and efficacy of this procedure in clinical practice.

Iris and periocular biometrics

CERN Document Server

Rathgeb, Christian

2017-01-01

This book provides an overview of scientific fundamentals and principles of iris and periocular biometric recognition. It covers: an introduction to iris and periocular recognition; a selective overview of issues and challenges; soft biometric classification; security aspects; privacy protection and forensics; and future trends.

IRIS Mission Operations Director's Colloquium

Science.gov (United States)

Carvalho, Robert; Mazmanian, Edward A.

2014-01-01

Pursuing the Mysteries of the Sun: The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) Mission. Flight controllers from the IRIS mission will present their individual experiences on IRIS from development through the first year of flight. This will begin with a discussion of the unique nature of IRISs mission and science, and how it fits into NASA's fleet of solar observatories. Next will be a discussion of the critical roles Ames contributed in the mission including spacecraft and flight software development, ground system development, and training for launch. This will be followed by experiences from launch, early operations, ongoing operations, and unusual operations experiences. The presentation will close with IRIS science imagery and questions.

What Genes Tell about Iris Appearance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harder, Stine; Christoffersen, Susanne R.; Johansen, Peter

2012-01-01

Predicting phenotypes based on genotypes is generally hard, but has shown good results for prediction of iris color. We propose to correlate the appearance of iris with DNA. Six single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have previously been shown to correlate with human iris color, and we demonstrat...

Transient analysis of the IRIS reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bajs, T.; Oriani, L.; Ricotti, M.E.; Barroso, A.C.

2002-01-01

An international consortium of industry, laboratory, university and utility establishments, led by Westinghouse, is developing a modular, integral, light water cooled, small to medium power reactor, the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS). IRIS features innovative, advanced engineering, but it is firmly based on the proven technology of pressurized water reactors (PWR). Given the large number of organizations involved in the IRIS design, the RELAP5/MOD 3.3 code has been selected as the main system code. A nodalization of the reference IRIS design has been developed with a basic set of protective functions and controls. Engineered Safety Features of the concept are being also implemented, and in particular the Emergency Heat Removal System that is used for safety grade decay heat removal and in the small break LOCA response of IRIS (Large break LOCAs are eliminated in IRIS by the adoption of the Integral layout) This paper discusses developed model and transient behavior of the system for representative transient sequences.(author)

Feature Vector Construction Method for IRIS Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Odinokikh, G.; Fartukov, A.; Korobkin, M.; Yoo, J.

2017-05-01

One of the basic stages of iris recognition pipeline is iris feature vector construction procedure. The procedure represents the extraction of iris texture information relevant to its subsequent comparison. Thorough investigation of feature vectors obtained from iris showed that not all the vector elements are equally relevant. There are two characteristics which determine the vector element utility: fragility and discriminability. Conventional iris feature extraction methods consider the concept of fragility as the feature vector instability without respect to the nature of such instability appearance. This work separates sources of the instability into natural and encodinginduced which helps deeply investigate each source of instability independently. According to the separation concept, a novel approach of iris feature vector construction is proposed. The approach consists of two steps: iris feature extraction using Gabor filtering with optimal parameters and quantization with separated preliminary optimized fragility thresholds. The proposed method has been tested on two different datasets of iris images captured under changing environmental conditions. The testing results show that the proposed method surpasses all the methods considered as a prior art by recognition accuracy on both datasets.

Feature Set Fusion for Spoof Iris Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. V. L. Suvarchala

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Iris recognition is considered as one of the most promising noninvasive biometric systems providing automated human identification. Numerous programs, like unique ID program in India - Aadhar, include iris biometric to provide distinctive identity identification to citizens. The active area is usually captured under non ideal imaging conditions. It usually suffers from poor brightness, low contrast, blur due to camera or subject's relative movement and eyelid eyelash occlusions. Besides the technical challenges, iris recognition started facing sophisticated threats like spoof attacks. Therefore it is vital that the integrity of such large scale iris deployments must be preserved. This paper presents the development of a new spoof resistant approach which exploits the statistical dependencies of both general eye and localized iris regions in textural domain using spatial gray level dependence matrix (SGLDM, gray level run length matrix (GLRLM and contourlets in transform domain. We did experiments on publicly available fake and lens iris image databases. Correct classification rate obtained with ATVS-FIr iris database is 100% while it is 95.63% and 88.83% with IITD spoof iris databases respectively.

Dom IRIS in njegova vloga v rehabilitaciji: Smart Home IRIS and its role in rehabilitation: Smart Home IRIS and its role in rehabilitation:

OpenAIRE

Jenko, Mojca; Ocepek, Julija; Zupan, Anton

2010-01-01

Smart Home IRIS is a demonstrative apartment, founded in 2008 on the basis of numerous European smart home projects. The aim of this study was to establish the role of Smart Home IRIS in improving quality of life for persons with disabilities and elderly in Slovenia and the satisfaction of persons who have already been involved in a treatment in it. We analyzed a satisfaction questionnaire of the treatment in Smart Home IRIS, sent to all patients in 2008 (79 in total), as well as the problems...

Iris Recognition: The Consequences of Image Compression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bishop DanielA

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Iris recognition for human identification is one of the most accurate biometrics, and its employment is expanding globally. The use of portable iris systems, particularly in law enforcement applications, is growing. In many of these applications, the portable device may be required to transmit an iris image or template over a narrow-bandwidth communication channel. Typically, a full resolution image (e.g., VGA is desired to ensure sufficient pixels across the iris to be confident of accurate recognition results. To minimize the time to transmit a large amount of data over a narrow-bandwidth communication channel, image compression can be used to reduce the file size of the iris image. In other applications, such as the Registered Traveler program, an entire iris image is stored on a smart card, but only 4 kB is allowed for the iris image. For this type of application, image compression is also the solution. This paper investigates the effects of image compression on recognition system performance using a commercial version of the Daugman iris2pi algorithm along with JPEG-2000 compression, and links these to image quality. Using the ICE 2005 iris database, we find that even in the face of significant compression, recognition performance is minimally affected.

Iris Recognition: The Consequences of Image Compression

Science.gov (United States)

Ives, Robert W.; Bishop, Daniel A.; Du, Yingzi; Belcher, Craig

2010-12-01

Iris recognition for human identification is one of the most accurate biometrics, and its employment is expanding globally. The use of portable iris systems, particularly in law enforcement applications, is growing. In many of these applications, the portable device may be required to transmit an iris image or template over a narrow-bandwidth communication channel. Typically, a full resolution image (e.g., VGA) is desired to ensure sufficient pixels across the iris to be confident of accurate recognition results. To minimize the time to transmit a large amount of data over a narrow-bandwidth communication channel, image compression can be used to reduce the file size of the iris image. In other applications, such as the Registered Traveler program, an entire iris image is stored on a smart card, but only 4 kB is allowed for the iris image. For this type of application, image compression is also the solution. This paper investigates the effects of image compression on recognition system performance using a commercial version of the Daugman iris2pi algorithm along with JPEG-2000 compression, and links these to image quality. Using the ICE 2005 iris database, we find that even in the face of significant compression, recognition performance is minimally affected.

Computational cameras for moving iris recognition

Science.gov (United States)

McCloskey, Scott; Venkatesha, Sharath

2015-05-01

Iris-based biometric identification is increasingly used for facility access and other security applications. Like all methods that exploit visual information, however, iris systems are limited by the quality of captured images. Optical defocus due to a small depth of field (DOF) is one such challenge, as is the acquisition of sharply-focused iris images from subjects in motion. This manuscript describes the application of computational motion-deblurring cameras to the problem of moving iris capture, from the underlying theory to system considerations and performance data.

[Intraoperative floppy iris syndrome].

Science.gov (United States)

Mazal, Z

2007-04-01

In the year 2005, Chang and Cambell described unusual reaction of the iris during the cataract surgery in patients treated with tamsulosine. This was named as IFIS, an acronym for the Intraoperative Floppy Iris Syndrome. In its advanced stage, the syndrome is characterized by insufficient mydfiasis before the surgery, narrowing of the pupil during the surgery, its impossible dilatation during the surgery by means of stretching, unusual elasticity of the pupilar margin, surging and fluttering iris with tendency to prolapse. The same manifestations we observed in our patients and we confirm the direct connection with tamsulosine hydrochloride treatment. Tamsulosine is the antagonist of alpha 1A adrenergic receptors whose are present, except in the smooth musculature of the prostate gland and the urinary bladder, in the iris dilator as well. At the same time we observed this syndrome rarely in some patients not using tamsulosine. In most cases, these patients were treated with antipsychotic drugs.

A gallery approach for off-angle iris recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Karakaya, Mahmut; Yoldash, Rashiduddin; Boehnen, Christopher

2015-05-01

It has been proven that hamming distance score between frontal and off-angle iris images of same eye differs in iris recognition system. The distinction of hamming distance score is caused by many factors such as image acquisition angle, occlusion, pupil dilation, and limbus effect. In this paper, we first study the effect of the angle variations between iris plane and the image acquisition systems. We present how hamming distance changes for different off-angle iris images even if they are coming from the same iris. We observe that increment in acquisition angle of compared iris images causes the increment in hamming distance. Second, we propose a new technique in off-angle iris recognition system that includes creating a gallery of different off-angle iris images (such as, 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 degrees) and comparing each probe image with these gallery images. We will show the accuracy of the gallery approach for off-angle iris recognition.

Anti-inflammatory effect of Heliotropium indicum Linn on lipopolysaccharide-induced uveitis in New Zealand white rabbits.

Science.gov (United States)

Kyei, Samuel; Koffuor, George Asumeng; Ramkissoon, Paul; Ameyaw, Elvis Ofori; Asiamah, Emmanuel Akomanin

2016-01-01

To investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of an aqueous whole plant extract of Heliotropium indicum (HIE) on endotoxin-induced uveitis in New Zealand white rabbits. Clinical signs of uveitis including flares, iris hyperemia and miosis, were sought for and scored in 1.0 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -induced uveitic rabbits treated orally with HIE (30-300 mg/kg), prednisolone (30 mg/kg), or normal saline (10 mL/kg). The number of polymorphonuclear neutrophils infiltrating, the protein concentration, as well as levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and monocyte chemmoattrant protein-1 (MCP-1) in the aqueous humor after the various treatments were also determined. A histopathological study of the anterior uveal was performed. The extract and prednisolone-treatment significantly reduced (P≤0.001) both the clinical scores of inflammation (1.0-1.8 compared to 4.40±0.40 in the normal saline-treated rabbits) and inflammatory cells infiltration. The level of protein, and the concentrations of TNF-α, PGE2 and MCP-1 in the aqueous humor were also significantly reduced (P≤0.001). Histopathological studies showed normal uveal morphology in the HIE and prednisolone-treated rabbits while normal saline-treated rabbits showed marked infiltration of inflammatory cells. The HIE exhibits anti-inflammatory effect on LPS-induced uveitis possibly by reducing the production of pro-inflammatory mediators.

Idiopathic detrusor sphincter dyssynergia in neurologically normal patients with voiding abnormalities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, T M; Djurhuus, J C; Schrøder, H D

1982-01-01

Symptomatology and clinical manifestations of detrusor sphincter dyssynergia are described in 23 patients without neurological disease. Their cardinal symptoms were recurrent cystitis, enuresis, frequent voiding, back pain during voiding and anal discomfort. The major objective finding was vesico......Symptomatology and clinical manifestations of detrusor sphincter dyssynergia are described in 23 patients without neurological disease. Their cardinal symptoms were recurrent cystitis, enuresis, frequent voiding, back pain during voiding and anal discomfort. The major objective finding...... was vesicoureteral reflux in 11 cases with kidney scarring in 10. Bladder trabeculation was found in 13 patients, bladder hyperreflexia in 8, and significant residual urine in 16 patients. The etiology of detrusor sphincter dyssynergia in non-neurological patients is discussed. By means of exclusion it is most...

Preoperative Therapy for Lower Rectal Cancer and Modifications in Distance From Anal Sphincter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gavioli, Margherita; Losi, Lorena; Luppi, Gabriele; Iacchetta, Francesco; Zironi, Sandra; Bertolini, Federica; Falchi, Anna Maria; Bertoni, Filippo; Natalini, Gianni

2007-01-01

Purpose: To assess the frequency and magnitude of changes in lower rectal cancer resulting from preoperative therapy and its impact on sphincter-saving surgery. Preoperative therapy can increase the rate of preserving surgery by shrinking the tumor and enhancing its distance from the anal sphincter. However, reliable data concerning these modifications are not yet available in published reports. Methods and Materials: A total of 98 cases of locally advanced cancer of the lower rectum (90 Stage uT3-T4N0-N+ and 8 uT2N+M0) that had undergone preoperative therapy were studied by endorectal ultrasonography. The maximal size of the tumor and its distance from the anal sphincter were measured in millimeters before and after preoperative therapy. Surgery was performed 6-8 weeks after therapy, and the histopathologic margins were compared with the endorectal ultrasound data. Results: Of the 90 cases, 82.5% showed tumor downsizing, varying from one-third to two-thirds or more of the original tumor mass. The distance between the tumor and the anal sphincter increased in 60.2% of cases. The median increase was 0.73 cm (range, 0.2-2.5). Downsizing was not always associated with an increase in distance. Preserving surgery was performed in 60.6% of cases. It was possible in nearly 30% of patients in whom the cancer had reached the anal sphincter before the preoperative therapy. The distal margin was tumor free in these cases. Conclusion: The results of our study have shown that in very low rectal cancer, preoperative therapy causes tumor downsizing in >80% of cases and in more than one-half enhances the distance between the tumor and anal sphincter. These modifications affect the primary surgical options, facilitating or making sphincter-saving surgery possible

Efficient Iris Localization via Optimization Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qi Wang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Iris localization is one of the most important processes in iris recognition. Because of different kinds of noises in iris image, the localization result may be wrong. Besides this, localization process is time-consuming. To solve these problems, this paper develops an efficient iris localization algorithm via optimization model. Firstly, the localization problem is modeled by an optimization model. Then SIFT feature is selected to represent the characteristic information of iris outer boundary and eyelid for localization. And SDM (Supervised Descent Method algorithm is employed to solve the final points of outer boundary and eyelids. Finally, IRLS (Iterative Reweighted Least-Square is used to obtain the parameters of outer boundary and upper and lower eyelids. Experimental result indicates that the proposed algorithm is efficient and effective.

LOCA analysis of the IRIS reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bajs, T.; Grgic, D.; Cavlina, N.

2003-01-01

The IRIS reactor (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) is an integral, light water cooled, medium power reactor. IRIS has been selected as an International Near Term Deployable (INTD) reactor, within the Generation IV International Forum activities. The IRIS concept addresses the key-requirements defined by the US DOE for next generation reactors, i.e. enhanced reliability and safety, and improved economics. It features innovative, advanced engineering, but it is firmly based on the proven technology of pressurized water reactors (PWR). An innovative safety approach has been developed to mitigate the IRIS response to small-to-medium Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA). This strategy is based on the interaction of IRIS compact containment with the reactor vessel to limit initial blowdown, and on depressurization through the use of a passive Emergency Heat Removal System (EHRS). A small Automatic Depressurization System (ADS) provides supplementary depressurization capability. A pressure suppression system is provided to limit the pressure peak following the initial blowdown to well below the containment design limit. The ultimate result is that during a small-to-medium LOCA, the core remains covered for an extended period of time, without credit for emergency water injection or external core makeup. The IRIS LOCA response is based on 'maintaining water inventory' rather than on the principle of safety injection. This novel safety approach poses significant issues for computational and analysis methods since the IRIS vessel and containment are strongly coupled, and the system response is based on the interaction between the two. The small break LOCA was calculated using RELAP5/mod3.3 and GOTHIC codes. Break of the largest line connected to the IRIS Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) was analyzed. The results of the calculations confirmed good performance of the IRIS system during LOCA. (author)

IRIS pre-application licensing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, Mario D.; Kling, Charles L.; Ritterbusch, Stanley E.

2003-01-01

This paper presents the approach to pre-application licensing by the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS), and advanced, integral reactor design with a thermal power of 1000 MW. The rationale for the pre-application licensing is discussed. Since IRIS technology is based on proven LWR experience, the project will rely on AP600/AP1000 precedent and will focus during the pre-application on long lead and novel items. A discussion of the evolution of the project to significantly reduce licensing issues is provided, followed by a summary of the IRIS safety-by-design which provides a formidable first step in the Defense in Depth approach. The effects of the safety-by-design, as well as of passive systems, on the IRIS safety will be investigated in a proposed testing program that will be reviewed by NRC during the pre-application. Documentation to be provided to NRC is discussed. Early design analyses indicate that the benefits of the IRIS safety-by-design approach are so significant that the basic premise of current emergency planning regulations (i.e., likelihood of core damage) will be reduced to the extent that special emergency response planning beyond the exclusion area boundary may not be needed. How this very significant outcome can be effected through a highly risk-informed licensing is discussed. (author)

Iris - nimi marmortahvlilt / Tiit Tuumalu

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Tuumalu, Tiit, 1971-

2003-01-01

Briti kirjanikust Iris Murdochist pajatava inglise-ameerika mängufilmist "Iris" eesti videolevisse jõudmise puhul. Võrreldakse inglise teatrilavastaja Richard Eyre filmidebüüti Elmo Nüganeni debüütfilmiga "Nimed marmortahvlil"

IRIS COLOUR CLASSIFICATION SCALES – THEN AND NOW

Science.gov (United States)

Grigore, Mariana; Avram, Alina

2015-01-01

Eye colour is one of the most obvious phenotypic traits of an individual. Since the first documented classification scale developed in 1843, there have been numerous attempts to classify the iris colour. In the past centuries, iris colour classification scales has had various colour categories and mostly relied on comparison of an individual’s eye with painted glass eyes. Once photography techniques were refined, standard iris photographs replaced painted eyes, but this did not solve the problem of painted/ printed colour variability in time. Early clinical scales were easy to use, but lacked objectivity and were not standardised or statistically tested for reproducibility. The era of automated iris colour classification systems came with the technological development. Spectrophotometry, digital analysis of high-resolution iris images, hyper spectral analysis of the human real iris and the dedicated iris colour analysis software, all accomplished an objective, accurate iris colour classification, but are quite expensive and limited in use to research environment. Iris colour classification systems evolved continuously due to their use in a wide range of studies, especially in the fields of anthropology, epidemiology and genetics. Despite the wide range of the existing scales, up until present there has been no generally accepted iris colour classification scale. PMID:27373112

Eclipse-Free-Time Assessment Tool for IRIS

Science.gov (United States)

Eagle, David

2012-01-01

IRIS_EFT is a scientific simulation that can be used to perform an Eclipse-Free- Time (EFT) assessment of IRIS (Infrared Imaging Surveyor) mission orbits. EFT is defined to be those time intervals longer than one day during which the IRIS spacecraft is not in the Earth s shadow. Program IRIS_EFT implements a special perturbation of orbital motion to numerically integrate Cowell's form of the system of differential equations. Shadow conditions are predicted by embedding this integrator within Brent s method for finding the root of a nonlinear equation. The IRIS_EFT software models the effects of the following types of orbit perturbations on the long-term evolution and shadow characteristics of IRIS mission orbits. (1) Non-spherical Earth gravity, (2) Atmospheric drag, (3) Point-mass gravity of the Sun, and (4) Point-mass gravity of the Moon. The objective of this effort was to create an in-house computer program that would perform eclipse-free-time analysis. of candidate IRIS spacecraft mission orbits in an accurate and timely fashion. The software is a suite of Fortran subroutines and data files organized as a "computational" engine that is used to accurately predict the long-term orbit evolution of IRIS mission orbits while searching for Earth shadow conditions.

Teaching the pharyngeal flap and sphincter pharyngoplasty: The sticky note method.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jake J; Jabbour, Noel

2015-11-01

To demonstrate a cost-effective, quick, and easily reproducible three-dimensional sticky note model to enhance the understanding and conceptualization of the geometry and steps of the pharyngeal flap and sphincter pharyngoplasty. The method involves making specified incisions and rearrangements of readily available components, including disposable clear plastic cups, yellow and pink sticky notes, and white paper. Once assembly is complete, further incisions and remodeling are performed to simulate a pharyngeal flap or sphincter pharyngoplasty. The cost of the materials to make one model was $0.94. Average construction time was less than 10 min. This three-dimensional model is an efficient, interactive, and simple visual aid to teach surgical trainees the geometry and steps of the pharyngeal flap and sphincter pharyngoplasty. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Interagency ...

Science.gov (United States)

In January 2017, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Benzo[a]pyrene. The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science discussion materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for BaP that will be entered into the IRIS database.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tetrahydrofuran (THF) ...

Science.gov (United States)

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Tetrahydrofuran, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies and White House Offices are provided below with external peer review panel comments. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for tetrahydrofuran. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

A novel iris localization algorithm using correlation filtering

Science.gov (United States)

Pohit, Mausumi; Sharma, Jitu

2015-06-01

Fast and efficient segmentation of iris from the eye images is a primary requirement for robust database independent iris recognition. In this paper we have presented a new algorithm for computing the inner and outer boundaries of the iris and locating the pupil centre. Pupil-iris boundary computation is based on correlation filtering approach, whereas iris-sclera boundary is determined through one dimensional intensity mapping. The proposed approach is computationally less extensive when compared with the existing algorithms like Hough transform.

The concave iris in pigment dispersion syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lance; Ong, Ee Lin; Crowston, Jonathan

2011-01-01

To visualize the changes of the iris contour in patients with pigment dispersion syndrome after blinking, accommodation, and pharmacologic miosis using anterior segment optical coherence tomography. Observational case series. A total of 33 eyes of 20 patients with pigment dispersion syndrome. Each eye was imaged along the horizontal 0- to 180-degree meridian using the Visante Anterior Segment Imaging System (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA). Scans were performed at baseline and after focusing on an internal fixation target for 5 minutes, forced blinking, accommodation, and pharmacologic miosis with pilocarpine 2%. Quantitative analysis of the changes in the iris configuration. After 5 minutes of continual fixation, the iris became planar with the mean ± standard deviation curvature decreasing from 214 ± 74 μm to 67 ± 76 μm (P pigment dispersion syndrome after forced blinking, but the iris concavity recovered to 227 ± 113 μm (P = 0.34) and 238 ± 119 μm (P = 0.19) with the -3.0 and -6.0 diopter lenses, respectively. Pilocarpine-induced miosis caused the iris to assume a planar configuration in all subjects. This study shows that the iris in pigment dispersion syndrome assumes a planar configuration when fixating and that the concavity of the iris surface is not restored by blinking. Accommodation restored the iris concavity, suggesting that the posterior curvature of the iris in pigment dispersion syndrome is induced and probably maintained, at least in part, by accommodation. Copyright © 2011 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of tamsulosin on iris vasculature and morphology

Science.gov (United States)

Shtein, Roni M.; Hussain, Munira T.; Cooney, Theresa M.; Elner, Victor M.; Hood, Christopher T.

2015-01-01

PURPOSE To determine whether preoperative iris vasculature and morphology are altered in patients who have taken tamsulosin (Flomax). SETTING Academic multispecialty practice. DESIGN Case series. METHODS Patients with current or past tamsulosin use and age- and sex-matched control patients were included. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) and iris fluorescein angiography were performed to measure iris vasculature and thickness before cataract surgery. Data collected at surgery included pupil diameter, clinical signs of intraoperative floppy-iris syndrome, and surgical complications. RESULTS Tamsulosin was currently used by 16 patients and in the past by 4 patients; the control group comprised 10 patients. Pharmacologically dilated pupil diameter was significantly smaller preoperatively and immediately postoperatively in the tamsulosin group than in the control group (P = .009 and P = .003, respectively). There was a statistically significant decrease in pupil size intraoperatively in the tamsulosin group (P = .05) but not in the control group (P = .3). Iris-vasculature parameters, specifically time to first vessel fill and percentage of vessel fill on iris fluorescein angiography, were not significantly different between the 2 groups. The AS-OCT measurements of iris morphology were not statistically significantly different between the groups. No surgical complications occurred. No fluorescein dye leakage, staining, or other vascular anomalies were observed. CONCLUSIONS Although there were differences in pupil measurements and intraoperative iris behavior between patients who had been on tamsulosin and control patients, there were no significant differences in iris vasculature on iris fluorescein angiography or in iris morphology on AS-OCT. PMID:24631201

On techniques for angle compensation in nonideal iris recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Schuckers, Stephanie A C; Schmid, Natalia A; Abhyankar, Aditya; Dorairaj, Vivekanand; Boyce, Christopher K; Hornak, Lawrence A

2007-10-01

The popularity of the iris biometric has grown considerably over the past two to three years. Most research has been focused on the development of new iris processing and recognition algorithms for frontal view iris images. However, a few challenging directions in iris research have been identified, including processing of a nonideal iris and iris at a distance. In this paper, we describe two nonideal iris recognition systems and analyze their performance. The word "nonideal" is used in the sense of compensating for off-angle occluded iris images. The system is designed to process nonideal iris images in two steps: 1) compensation for off-angle gaze direction and 2) processing and encoding of the rotated iris image. Two approaches are presented to account for angular variations in the iris images. In the first approach, we use Daugman's integrodifferential operator as an objective function to estimate the gaze direction. After the angle is estimated, the off-angle iris image undergoes geometric transformations involving the estimated angle and is further processed as if it were a frontal view image. The encoding technique developed for a frontal image is based on the application of the global independent component analysis. The second approach uses an angular deformation calibration model. The angular deformations are modeled, and calibration parameters are calculated. The proposed method consists of a closed-form solution, followed by an iterative optimization procedure. The images are projected on the plane closest to the base calibrated plane. Biorthogonal wavelets are used for encoding to perform iris recognition. We use a special dataset of the off-angle iris images to quantify the performance of the designed systems. A series of receiver operating characteristics demonstrate various effects on the performance of the nonideal-iris-based recognition system.

Cross-sensor iris recognition through kernel learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Pillai, Jaishanker K; Puertas, Maria; Chellappa, Rama

2014-01-01

Due to the increasing popularity of iris biometrics, new sensors are being developed for acquiring iris images and existing ones are being continuously upgraded. Re-enrolling users every time a new sensor is deployed is expensive and time-consuming, especially in applications with a large number of enrolled users. However, recent studies show that cross-sensor matching, where the test samples are verified using data enrolled with a different sensor, often lead to reduced performance. In this paper, we propose a machine learning technique to mitigate the cross-sensor performance degradation by adapting the iris samples from one sensor to another. We first present a novel optimization framework for learning transformations on iris biometrics. We then utilize this framework for sensor adaptation, by reducing the distance between samples of the same class, and increasing it between samples of different classes, irrespective of the sensors acquiring them. Extensive evaluations on iris data from multiple sensors demonstrate that the proposed method leads to improvement in cross-sensor recognition accuracy. Furthermore, since the proposed technique requires minimal changes to the iris recognition pipeline, it can easily be incorporated into existing iris recognition systems.

SEGMENTATION AND QUALITY ANALYSIS OF LONG RANGE CAPTURED IRIS IMAGE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anand Deshpande

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The iris segmentation plays a major role in an iris recognition system to increase the performance of the system. This paper proposes a novel method for segmentation of iris images to extract the iris part of long range captured eye image and an approach to select best iris frame from the iris polar image sequences by analyzing the quality of iris polar images. The quality of iris image is determined by the frequency components present in the iris polar images. The experiments are carried out on CASIA-long range captured iris image sequences. The proposed segmentation method is compared with Hough transform based segmentation and it has been determined that the proposed method gives higher accuracy for segmentation than Hough transform.

Iris recognition in the presence of ocular disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Aslam, Tariq Mehmood; Tan, Shi Zhuan; Dhillon, Baljean

2009-05-06

Iris recognition systems are among the most accurate of all biometric technologies with immense potential for use in worldwide security applications. This study examined the effect of eye pathology on iris recognition and in particular whether eye disease could cause iris recognition systems to fail. The experiment involved a prospective cohort of 54 patients with anterior segment eye disease who were seen at the acute referral unit of the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh. Iris camera images were obtained from patients before treatment was commenced and again at follow-up appointments after treatment had been given. The principal outcome measure was that of mathematical difference in the iris recognition templates obtained from patients' eyes before and after treatment of the eye disease. Results showed that the performance of iris recognition was remarkably resilient to most ophthalmic disease states, including corneal oedema, iridotomies (laser puncture of iris) and conjunctivitis. Problems were, however, encountered in some patients with acute inflammation of the iris (iritis/anterior uveitis). The effects of a subject developing anterior uveitis may cause current recognition systems to fail. Those developing and deploying iris recognition should be aware of the potential problems that this could cause to this key biometric technology.

Iris image recognition wavelet filter-banks based iris feature extraction schemes

CERN Document Server

Rahulkar, Amol D

2014-01-01

This book provides the new results in wavelet filter banks based feature extraction, and the classifier in the field of iris image recognition. It provides the broad treatment on the design of separable, non-separable wavelets filter banks, and the classifier. The design techniques presented in the book are applied on iris image analysis for person authentication. This book also brings together the three strands of research (wavelets, iris image analysis, and classifier). It compares the performance of the presented techniques with state-of-the-art available schemes. This book contains the compilation of basic material on the design of wavelets that avoids reading many different books. Therefore, it provide an easier path for the new-comers, researchers to master the contents. In addition, the designed filter banks and classifier can also be effectively used than existing filter-banks in many signal processing applications like pattern classification, data-compression, watermarking, denoising etc.  that will...

Iris reconstruction using artificial iris prosthesis for management of aniridia.

Science.gov (United States)

Mostafa, Yehia S; Osman, Amr A; Hassanein, Dina H; Zeid, Ashraf M; Sherif, Ahmed M

2018-01-01

To discuss the limitations and benefits of the BrightOcular prosthetic artificial iris device in management of aniridia associated with aphakia or cataract. This is a retrospective study including 5 eyes of 4 patients who underwent implantation of the BrightOcular iris prosthesis (Stellar Devices) for total or partial aniridia. The cases included 2 eyes of 1 patient with congenital aniridia associated with congenital cataract and 3 eyes with traumatic aniridia: 1 with subluxated cataractous lens and 2 with aphakia. In all cases, the iris prosthesis was implanted after a 3-piece acrylic intraocular lens was implanted. We evaluated the clinical course with a minimum follow-up period of 6 months, the intraoperative and postoperative complications, and the cosmetic satisfaction of patients. All patients had improved uncorrected distance visual acuity and best-corrected distance visual acuity. All patients had a transient corneal edema that resolved within the first postoperative week. Only the patient with congenital aniridia had a permanent increase in intraocular pressure and developed a band keratopathy throughout a 2-year follow-up period. The prosthesis was well-centered in all eyes except for one case that required scleral suture fixation after 3 months. All patients had a satisfactory cosmetic appearance. BrightOcular iris prosthesis is a safe and useful tool to correct aniridia associated with pseudophakia or aphakia. Being foldable, it is easy to be implanted through a small incision and placed in the ciliary sulcus without sutures when properly sized. Cosmetic results are satisfactory. Sizing methods should be improved.

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Characteristics of Iris Melanocytic Tumors

Science.gov (United States)

Skalet, Alison H.; Li, Yan; Lu, Chen D.; Jia, Yali; Lee, ByungKun; Husvogt, Lennart; Maier, Andreas; Fujimoto, James G.; Thomas, Charles R.; Huang, David

2016-01-01

Objective To evaluate tumor vasculature with optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography (OCTA) in malignant iris melanomas and benign iris lesions. Design Cross-sectional observational clinical study. Participants Patients with iris lesions and healthy volunteers. Methods Eyes were imaged using OCTA systems operating at 1050 and 840 nm wavelengths. Three-dimensional OCTA scans were acquired. Iris melanomas patients treated with radiation therapy were imaged again after I-125 plaque brachytherapy at 6 and 18 months. Main Outcome Measures OCT and OCTA images, qualitative evaluation of iris and tumor vasculature and quantitative vessel density. Results One eye each of eight normal volunteers and nine patients with iris melanomas or benign iris lesions including freckles, nevi, and an iris pigment epithelial (IPE) cyst were imaged. The normal iris has radially-oriented vessels within the stroma on OCTA. Penetration of flow signal in normal iris depended on iris color, with best penetration seen in light to moderately pigmented irides. Iris melanomas demonstrated tortuous and disorganized intratumoral vasculature. In two eyes with nevi there was no increased vascularity; in another, fine vascular loops were noted near an area of ectropion uveae. Iris freckles and the IPE cyst did not have intrinsic vascularity. The vessel density was significantly higher within iris melanomas (34.5%±9.8%, piris nevi (8.0%±1.4%) or normal irides (8.0%±1.2%). Tumor regression after radiation therapy for melanomas was associated with decreased vessel density. OCTA at 1050 nm provided better visualization of tumor vasculature and penetration through thicker tumors than at 840 nm. But in very thick tumors and highly pigmented lesions even 1050 nm OCTA could not visualize their full thickness. Interpretable OCTA images were obtained in 82% participants in whom imaging was attempted. Conclusions This is the first demonstration of OCTA in iris tumors. OCTA may provide a dye-free, no

Anti-inflammatory effect of Heliotropium indicum Linn on lipopolysaccharide-induced uveitis in New Zealand white rabbits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel Kyei

2016-04-01

Full Text Available AIM: To investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of an aqueous whole plant extract of Heliotropium indicum (HIE on endotoxin-induced uveitis in New Zealand white rabbits. METHODS: Clinical signs of uveitis including flares, iris hyperemia and miosis, were sought for and scored in 1.0 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS -induced uveitic rabbits treated orally with HIE (30-300 mg/kg, prednisolone (30 mg/kg, or normal saline (10 mL/kg. The number of polymorphonuclear neutrophils infiltrating, the protein concentration, as well as levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2, and monocyte chemmoattrant protein-1 (MCP-1 in the aqueous humor after the various treatments were also determined. A histopathological study of the anterior uveal was performed. RESULTS: The extract and prednisolone-treatment significantly reduced (P≤0.001 both the clinical scores of inflammation (1.0-1.8 compared to 4.40±0.40 in the normal saline-treated rabbits and inflammatory cells infiltration. The level of protein, and the concentrations of TNF-α, PGE2 and MCP-1 in the aqueous humor were also significantly reduced (P≤0.001. Histopathological studies showed normal uveal morphology in the HIE and prednisolone-treated rabbits while normal saline-treated rabbits showed marked infiltration of inflammatory cells. CONCLUSION: The HIE exhibits anti-inflammatory effect on LPS-induced uveitis possibly by reducing the production of pro-inflammatory mediators.

Iris melanocytoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Radovanović, Anica Bobić; Krnjaja, Bojana Dacić; Jaksić, Vesna

2016-01-01

Iris melanocytoma (IM) is a rare benign tumor, but unavoidable in differential diagnosis of pigmented iris lesions. According to the best knowledge of the authors it is for the first time in Serbia that a well-documented case of IM is presented and that the problem of this tumor is discussed. In the left eye of a 47-year-old white female at the iris in a six o'clock position, a highly pigmented, dome shaped lesion with a crater-like cavity in the center and with feathery margins was noticed. There were no signs of infiltration of surrounding tissue or intrinsic vessels and the lens was clear. Visual acuity and intraocular pressure were normal. An ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) revealed a well-defined lesion with high internal reflectivity, with a base diameter of 1.25 mm and a thickness of 0.80 mm in the periphery, and 0.53 mm in the central part.The diagnosis of IM of the left eye was established and regular checkups were performed for ten years. No changes in clinical or UBM presentation were established. Awareness of clinical presentation of IM is most important for correct diagnosis. Ultrasound biomicroscopy is a useful diagnostic procedure in the following up of IM.

Iris recognition via plenoptic imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Santos-Villalobos, Hector J.; Boehnen, Chris Bensing; Bolme, David S.

2017-11-07

Iris recognition can be accomplished for a wide variety of eye images by using plenoptic imaging. Using plenoptic technology, it is possible to correct focus after image acquisition. One example technology reconstructs images having different focus depths and stitches them together, resulting in a fully focused image, even in an off-angle gaze scenario. Another example technology determines three-dimensional data for an eye and incorporates it into an eye model used for iris recognition processing. Another example technology detects contact lenses. Application of the technologies can result in improved iris recognition under a wide variety of scenarios.

Esophageal Sphincter Device for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ganz, Robert A.; Peters, Jeffrey H.; Horgan, Santiago; Bemelman, Willem A.; Dunst, Christy M.; Edmundowicz, Steven A.; Lipham, John C.; Luketich, James D.; Melvin, W. Scott; Oelschlager, Brant K.; Schlack-Haerer, Steven C.; Smith, C. Daniel; Smith, Christopher C.; Dunn, Dan; Taiganides, Paul A.

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND Patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease who have a partial response to proton-pump inhibitors often seek alternative therapy. We evaluated the safety and effectiveness of a new magnetic device to augment the lower esophageal sphincter. METHODS We prospectively assessed 100 patients

Risk factors of recurrent anal sphincter ruptures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jangö, Hanna; Langhoff-Roos, J; Rosthøj, Steen

2012-01-01

Please cite this paper as: Jangö H, Langhoff-Roos J, Rosthøj S, Sakse A. Risk factors of recurrent anal sphincter ruptures: a population-based cohort study. BJOG 2012;00:000-000 DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2012.03486.x. Objective  To determine the incidence and risk factors of recurrent anal sphincter...... were used to determine risk factors of recurrent ASR. Main outcome measures  The incidence of recurrent ASR and odds ratios for possible risk factors of recurrent ASR: age, body mass index, grade of ASR, birthweight, head circumference, gestational age, presentation, induction of labour, oxytocin...... augmentation, epidural, episiotomy, vacuum extraction, forceps, shoulder dystocia, delivery interval and year of second delivery. Results  Out of 159 446 women, 7336 (4.6%) experienced an ASR at first delivery, and 521 (7.1%) had a recurrent ASR (OR 5.91). The risk factors of recurrent ASR in the multivariate...

Iris autofluorescence in Fuchs' heterochromic uveitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qian; Jia, Yading; Zhang, Suhua; Xie, Juan; Chang, Xin; Hou, Jia; Li, Gaiyun; Koch, Douglas D; Wang, Li

2016-10-01

To explore the characteristic autofluorescence patterns of iris depigmentation in eyes diagnosed with Fuchs' heterochromic uveitis (FHU). Near-infrared autofluorescence images and colour images of iris were taken in 21 eyes of 21 patients with FHU, 30 eyes of 15 normal subjects, 30 eyes of 15 normal age-related iris atrophy and 33 eyes of 20 patients with uveitis other than FHU. The confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (Heidelberg Retina Angiograph 2, HRA2) was used for melanin-related autofluorescence imaging. The indocyanine green angiography mode of HRA2 was applied for near-infrared laser imaging, and the wavelength of the excitation laser was 795 nm. Iris colour images were also taken with the slit lamp. In normal iris, moderately intense autofluorescence was noted for the pigment ruff at the pupillary border, the crests in the pupillary zone and the collarette; and there was mild autofluorescence in the ciliary zone. In eyes with age-related iris atrophy and uveitis, much less autofluorescence was seen than the healthy normal irides. In eyes with FHU, there was moderate but discontinuous autofluorescence in the pigment ruff, a petaloid pattern of autofluorescence in the pupillary zone, moderate autofluorescence in the collarette and reticular pattern of autofluorescence in the ciliary zone. Characteristic autofluorescence patterns appeared in eyes diagnosed with FHU. Near-infrared autofluorescence is a promising objective technique to document the iris changes in FHU. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Scale Invariant Gabor Descriptor-Based Noncooperative Iris Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Du Yingzi

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract A new noncooperative iris recognition method is proposed. In this method, the iris features are extracted using a Gabor descriptor. The feature extraction and comparison are scale, deformation, rotation, and contrast-invariant. It works with off-angle and low-resolution iris images. The Gabor wavelet is incorporated with scale-invariant feature transformation (SIFT for feature extraction to better extract the iris features. Both the phase and magnitude of the Gabor wavelet outputs were used in a novel way for local feature point description. Two feature region maps were designed to locally and globally register the feature points and each subregion in the map is locally adjusted to the dilation/contraction/deformation. We also developed a video-based non-cooperative iris recognition system by integrating video-based non-cooperative segmentation, segmentation evaluation, and score fusion units. The proposed method shows good performance for frontal and off-angle iris matching. Video-based recognition methods can improve non-cooperative iris recognition accuracy.

Scale Invariant Gabor Descriptor-based Noncooperative Iris Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhi Zhou

2010-01-01

Full Text Available A new noncooperative iris recognition method is proposed. In this method, the iris features are extracted using a Gabor descriptor. The feature extraction and comparison are scale, deformation, rotation, and contrast-invariant. It works with off-angle and low-resolution iris images. The Gabor wavelet is incorporated with scale-invariant feature transformation (SIFT for feature extraction to better extract the iris features. Both the phase and magnitude of the Gabor wavelet outputs were used in a novel way for local feature point description. Two feature region maps were designed to locally and globally register the feature points and each subregion in the map is locally adjusted to the dilation/contraction/deformation. We also developed a video-based non-cooperative iris recognition system by integrating video-based non-cooperative segmentation, segmentation evaluation, and score fusion units. The proposed method shows good performance for frontal and off-angle iris matching. Video-based recognition methods can improve non-cooperative iris recognition accuracy.

Iris-based medical analysis by geometric deformation features.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Lin; Zhang, D; Li, Naimin; Cai, Yan; Zuo, Wangmeng; Wang, Kuanguan

2013-01-01

Iris analysis studies the relationship between human health and changes in the anatomy of the iris. Apart from the fact that iris recognition focuses on modeling the overall structure of the iris, iris diagnosis emphasizes the detecting and analyzing of local variations in the characteristics of irises. This paper focuses on studying the geometrical structure changes in irises that are caused by gastrointestinal diseases, and on measuring the observable deformations in the geometrical structures of irises that are related to roundness, diameter and other geometric forms of the pupil and the collarette. Pupil and collarette based features are defined and extracted. A series of experiments are implemented on our experimental pathological iris database, including manual clustering of both normal and pathological iris images, manual classification by non-specialists, manual classification by individuals with a medical background, classification ability verification for the proposed features, and disease recognition by applying the proposed features. The results prove the effectiveness and clinical diagnostic significance of the proposed features and a reliable recognition performance for automatic disease diagnosis. Our research results offer a novel systematic perspective for iridology studies and promote the progress of both theoretical and practical work in iris diagnosis.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Thallium and Compounds ...

Science.gov (United States)

Thallium compounds are used in the semiconductor industry, the manufacture of optic lenses and low-melting glass, low-temperature thermometers, alloys, electronic devices, mercury lamps, fireworks, and imitation germs, and clinically as an imaging agent in the diagnosis of certain tumors. EPA's assessment of noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of thallium compounds was last prepared and added to the IRIS database between 1988 and 1990. The IRIS program is preparing an assessment that will incorporate current health effects information available for thallium and compounds, and current risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for thallium compounds will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physiochemical and toxicokinetic properties of a chemical, and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference values for the noncancer effects of thallium compounds (RfD and Rfc), and a cancer assessment. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary have been subject to Agency review, Interagency review, and external scientific peer review. The final product will reflect the Agency opinion on the overall toxicity of thallium and compounds. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for thallium and compounds. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effec

Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Iris

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHEN Yuan

2014-06-01

Full Text Available For efficiency using the amphibious plant iris to restore polluted water, the promoting effect of different arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi（AMFon iris was investigated, by monitoring the plant growth index, the physicochemical properties of the soil and the plant photosynthesis indexes. The result showed that the promoting effects of the AMF on the aboveground part and the underground part of the iris were based on different mechanism. For the underground part of the iris, the AMF stimulated its growth through the nutrient enrichment which was performed by the enormous hypha network. The nitrogen absorbing rate of the G. mosseae and the G. intraradices infected iris increased about 71.75% and 42.55%, and the phosphorous absorbing rate increased 8.36% and 9.5% separately. For the aboveground part of the iris, the AMF strengthened the conductance of the leaves’ stomas to control the balance between the net photosynthesis rate and the transpiration rate, so that the utilization rate of water resources was optimized, the metabolic rate was accelerated and the growth of the plant was promoted eventually. In this study, the promoting effect of the G. mosseae on the photosynthesis rate of the iris was significantly better than that of the G. intraradices(P<0.05.

[Design of an artificial sphincter system with bio-feedback function based on MSP430].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yong-kan; Yan, De-tian

2005-11-01

In this paper, we advance a new treating method for rectectomy postoperative anus incontinence, which is called "artificial sphincter system with biofeedback-function". The system simulates the function of human's sphincter and has entered into a stage of simulation experiments on animals.

Iris double recognition based on modified evolutionary neural network

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shuai; Liu, Yuan-Ning; Zhu, Xiao-Dong; Huo, Guang; Liu, Wen-Tao; Feng, Jia-Kai

2017-11-01

Aiming at multicategory iris recognition under illumination and noise interference, this paper proposes a method of iris double recognition based on a modified evolutionary neural network. An equalization histogram and Laplace of Gaussian operator are used to process the iris to suppress illumination and noise interference and Haar wavelet to convert the iris feature to binary feature encoding. Calculate the Hamming distance for the test iris and template iris , and compare with classification threshold, determine the type of iris. If the iris cannot be identified as a different type, there needs to be a secondary recognition. The connection weights in back-propagation (BP) neural network use modified evolutionary neural network to adaptively train. The modified neural network is composed of particle swarm optimization with mutation operator and BP neural network. According to different iris libraries in different circumstances of experimental results, under illumination and noise interference, the correct recognition rate of this algorithm is higher, the ROC curve is closer to the coordinate axis, the training and recognition time is shorter, and the stability and the robustness are better.

Iris recognition based on key image feature extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, X; Tian, Q; Zhang, J; Wu, S; Zeng, Y

2008-01-01

In iris recognition, feature extraction can be influenced by factors such as illumination and contrast, and thus the features extracted may be unreliable, which can cause a high rate of false results in iris pattern recognition. In order to obtain stable features, an algorithm was proposed in this paper to extract key features of a pattern from multiple images. The proposed algorithm built an iris feature template by extracting key features and performed iris identity enrolment. Simulation results showed that the selected key features have high recognition accuracy on the CASIA Iris Set, where both contrast and illumination variance exist.

Checking the new IRI model: The bottomside B parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mosert, M.; Buresova, D.; Miro, G.; Lazo, B.; Ezquer, R.

2003-01-01

Electron density profiles obtained at Pruhonice (50.0, 15.0), El Arenosillo (37.1, 353.2) and Havana (23, 278) were used to check the bottom-side B parameters BO (thickness parameter) and B1 (shape parameter) predicted by the new IRI - 2000 version. The electron density profiles were derived from ionograms using the ARP technique. The data base includes daytime and nighttime ionograms recorded under different seasonal and solar activity conditions. Comparisons with IRI predictions were also done. The analysis shows that: a) The parameter B1 given by IRI 2000 reproduces better the observed ARP values than the IRI-90 version and b) The observed BO values are in general well reproduced by both IRI versions: IRI-90 and IRI-2000. (author)

Checking the new IRI model The bottomside B parameters

CERN Document Server

Mosert, M; Ezquer, R; Lazo, B; Miro, G

2002-01-01

Electron density profiles obtained at Pruhonice (50.0, 15.0), El Arenosillo (37.1, 353.2) and Havana (23, 278) were used to check the bottom-side B parameters BO (thickness parameter) and B1 (shape parameter) predicted by the new IRI - 2000 version. The electron density profiles were derived from ionograms using the ARP technique. The data base includes daytime and nighttime ionograms recorded under different seasonal and solar activity conditions. Comparisons with IRI predictions were also done. The analysis shows that: a) The parameter B1 given by IRI 2000 reproduces better the observed ARP values than the IRI-90 version and b) The observed BO values are in general well reproduced by both IRI versions: IRI-90 and IRI-2000.

Balloon cell nevus of the iris.

Science.gov (United States)

Morcos, Mohib W; Odashiro, Alexandre; Bazin, Richard; Pereira, Patricia Rusa; O'Meara, Aisling; Burnier, Miguel N

2014-12-01

Balloon cell nevus is a rare histopathological lesion characterized by a predominance of large, vesicular and clear cells, called balloon cells. There is only 1 case of balloon cell nevus of the iris reported in the literature. A 55 year-old man presented a pigmented elevated lesion in the right iris since the age of 12 years old. The lesion had been growing for the past 2 years and excision was performed. Histopathological examination showed a balloon cell nevus composed of clear and vacuolated cells without atypia. A typical spindle cell nevus of the iris was also observed. The differential diagnosis included xanthomatous lesions, brown adipocyte or other adipocytic lesions, clear cell hidradenoma, metastatic clear cell carcinoma of the kidney and clear cell sarcoma. The tumor was positive for Melan A, S100 protein and HMB45. Balloon cell nevus of the iris is rare but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of melanocytic lesions of the iris. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Iris recognition and what is next? Iris diagnosis: a new challenging topic for machine vision from image acquisition to image interpretation

Science.gov (United States)

Perner, Petra

2017-03-01

Molecular image-based techniques are widely used in medicine to detect specific diseases. Look diagnosis is an important issue but also the analysis of the eye plays an important role in order to detect specific diseases. These topics are important topics in medicine and the standardization of these topics by an automatic system can be a new challenging field for machine vision. Compared to iris recognition has the iris diagnosis much more higher demands for the image acquisition and interpretation of the iris. One understands by iris diagnosis (Iridology) the investigation and analysis of the colored part of the eye, the iris, to discover factors, which play an important role for the prevention and treatment of illnesses, but also for the preservation of an optimum health. An automatic system would pave the way for a much wider use of the iris diagnosis for the diagnosis of illnesses and for the purpose of individual health protection. With this paper, we describe our work towards an automatic iris diagnosis system. We describe the image acquisition and the problems with it. Different ways are explained for image acquisition and image preprocessing. We describe the image analysis method for the detection of the iris. The meta-model for image interpretation is given. Based on this model we show the many tasks for image analysis that range from different image-object feature analysis, spatial image analysis to color image analysis. Our first results for the recognition of the iris are given. We describe how detecting the pupil and not wanted lamp spots. We explain how to recognize orange blue spots in the iris and match them against the topological map of the iris. Finally, we give an outlook for further work.

OCCULT ANAL SPHINCTER INJURIES (OASIS IN DEPARTMENT OF PERINATOLOGY IN LJUBLJANA – INCIDENCE AND RISK FACTORS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katja Jakopič

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Vaginal delivery is the most important risk factors for development of faecal incontinence, which significantly affects quality of life. Foreign studies show OASIS occur at 20 to 40 % of vaginal deliveries. In Slovenia we recognize sphincter injuries at 1.7 % of deliveries, while true incidence of OASIS in our population remains unknown. Caesarean section prevents anal sphincter injuries. Known risk factors in foreign studies include prolonged second stage of labour, fetal weight > 3500 g, malpresentation, forceps delivery, maternal age more than 35 years at the time of first delivery, first delivery. Few women complain about defecatory problems in puerperium unless they are directly asked about them, so true incidence of such injuries is grossly underestimated. Previously compensated anal sphincter dysfunction can clinically manifest as late as in menopause. The most probable cause is atrophy of muscle and fibrous tissue of pelvic floor and anal sphincter due to lack of estrogen support in this period. With anal ultrasound we tried to determine the incidence of occult damage to anal sphincter in primiparas after vaginal delivery and the relation of injury to symptoms 6 weeks after delivery and identify possible risk factors in our population. We also tried to find out how many patients with anal sphincter injury become symptomatic immediately after deliv- ery. Methods: From January to June 2009 we examined 26 primiparas after vaginal delivery in the Ljubljana Maternity Hospital with anal ultrasound and compared various data about the delivery from our national delivery form. We excluded all patients with caesarean section, recognized anal sphincter injury at the time of the delivery or previous anorectal surgery, history of irritable bowel syndrome or pre-existing inflammatory bowel disease. All patients completed a bowel-function questionnaire, which included questions about faecal urgency and involuntary passing of gas, liquid or

Distribution and multiplication of iris severe mosaic potyvirus in bulbous Iris in relation to metabolic activity : implications for ISMV detection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vlugt, van der C.I.M.

1994-01-01

During cultivation of iris, several viruses may cause severe damage like yield reduction and discoloration of the plant. In commercial stocks in the Netherlands virtually all plants are infected with iris mild mosaic virus (IMMV) while iris severe mosaic virus (ISMV) and narcissus latent

IRIS Simplified LERF Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maioli, A.; Finnicum, D.J.; Kumagai, Y.

2004-01-01

Westinghouse is currently conducting the pre-application licensing of the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS). One of the key aspects of the IRIS design is its safety-by-designTM philosophy and within this framework the PRA is being used as an integral part of the design process. The most ambitious risk-related goal for IRIS is to reduce the Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) to within the exclusion area by demonstrating that the off-site doses are consistent with the US Protective Action Guidelines (PAGs) for initiation of emergency response so that the required protective actions would be limited to the exclusion area. As a first step, a model has been developed to provide a first order approximation of the Large Early Release Frequency (LERF) as a surrogate predictor of the off-site doses. A key-aspect of the LERF model development is the characterization of the possible paths of release. Four main categories have been historically pointed out: (1) Core Damage (CD ) sequences with containment bypass, (2) CD sequences with containment isolation failure, (3) CD sequences with containment failure at low pressure and (4) CD sequences with containment failure at high pressure. They have been reevaluated to account for the IRIS design features

Iris analysis for biometric recognition systems

CERN Document Server

Bodade, Rajesh M

2014-01-01

The book presents three most significant areas in Biometrics and Pattern Recognition. A step-by-step approach for design and implementation of Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DTCWT) plus Rotated Complex Wavelet Filters (RCWF) is discussed in detail. In addition to the above, the book provides detailed analysis of iris images and two methods of iris segmentation. It also discusses simplified study of some subspace-based methods and distance measures for iris recognition backed by empirical studies and statistical success verifications.

Cultured smooth muscle cells of the human vesical sphincter are more sensitive to histamine than are detrusor smooth muscle cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Neuhaus, Jochen; Oberbach, Andreas; Schwalenberg, Thilo; Stolzenburg, Jens-Uwe

2006-05-01

To compare histamine receptor expression in cultured smooth muscle cells from the human detrusor and internal sphincter using receptor-specific agonists. Smooth muscle cells from the bladder dome and internal sphincter were cultured from 5 male patients undergoing cystectomy for bladder cancer therapy. Calcium transients in cells stimulated with carbachol, histamine, histamine receptor 1 (H1R)-specific heptanecarboxamide (HTMT), dimaprit (H2R), and R-(alpha)-methylhistamine (H3R) were measured by calcium imaging. Histamine receptor proteins were detected by Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry. H1R, H2R, and H3R expression was found in tissue and cultured cells. Carbachol stimulated equal numbers of detrusor and sphincter cells (60% and 51%, respectively). Histamine stimulated significantly more cells than carbachol in detrusor (100%) and sphincter (99.34%) cells. Calcium responses to carbachol in detrusor and sphincter cells were comparable and did not differ from those to histamine in detrusor cells. However, histamine and specific agonists stimulated more sphincter cells than did carbachol (P <0.001), and the calcium increase was greater in sphincter cells than in detrusor cells. Single cell analysis revealed comparable H2R responses in detrusor and sphincter cells, but H1R and H3R-mediated calcium reactions were significantly greater in sphincter cells. Histamine very effectively induces calcium release in smooth muscle cells. In sphincter cells, histamine is even more effective than carbachol regarding the number of reacting cells and the intracellular calcium increase. Some of the variability in the outcome of antihistaminic interstitial cystitis therapies might be caused by the ineffectiveness of the chosen antihistaminic or unintentional weakening of sphincteric function.

Iris reactor development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paramonov, D.V.; Carelli, M.D.; Miller, K.; Lombardi, C.V.; Ricotti, M.E.; Todreas, N.E.; Greenspan, E.; Yamamoto, K.; Nagano, A.; Ninokata, H.; Robertson, J.; Oriolo, F.

2001-01-01

The development progress of the IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) nuclear power system is presented. IRIS is currently being developed by an international consortium of industry, laboratory, university and utility establishments, led by Westinghouse. It is aimed at achieving the four major objectives of the Generation IV nuclear systems, i.e., proliferation resistance, enhanced safety, economic competitiveness and reduced waste. The project first year activities, which are summarized here, were focused on core neutronics, in-vessel configuration, steam generator and containment design, safety approach and economic performance. Details of these studies are provided in parallel papers in these proceedings. (author)

IRIS: Supporting & Managing the Research Life-Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Bollini, Andrea; Mennielli, Michele; Mornati, Susanna; Palmer, David T.

2016-01-01

IRIS is a new Current Research Information System (CRIS) developed by Cineca to upgrade and replace two previous solutions that have been used by Italian universities in the last 10 years. At the end of 2015, sixty-three Italian institutions are using IRIS. One of the main components of IRIS is DSpace-CRIS, an open source solution that can also be…

Comparison and evaluation of datasets for off-angle iris recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Kurtuncu, Osman M.; Cerme, Gamze N.; Karakaya, Mahmut

2016-05-01

In this paper, we investigated the publicly available iris recognition datasets and their data capture procedures in order to determine if they are suitable for the stand-off iris recognition research. Majority of the iris recognition datasets include only frontal iris images. Even if a few datasets include off-angle iris images, the frontal and off-angle iris images are not captured at the same time. The comparison of the frontal and off-angle iris images shows not only differences in the gaze angle but also change in pupil dilation and accommodation as well. In order to isolate the effect of the gaze angle from other challenging issues including dilation and accommodation, the frontal and off-angle iris images are supposed to be captured at the same time by using two different cameras. Therefore, we developed an iris image acquisition platform by using two cameras in this work where one camera captures frontal iris image and the other one captures iris images from off-angle. Based on the comparison of Hamming distance between frontal and off-angle iris images captured with the two-camera- setup and one-camera-setup, we observed that Hamming distance in two-camera-setup is less than one-camera-setup ranging from 0.05 to 0.001. These results show that in order to have accurate results in the off-angle iris recognition research, two-camera-setup is necessary in order to distinguish the challenging issues from each other.

Effect of tamsulosin on iris vasculature and morphology.

Science.gov (United States)

Shtein, Roni M; Hussain, Munira T; Cooney, Theresa M; Elner, Victor M; Hood, Christopher T

2014-05-01

To determine whether preoperative iris vasculature and morphology are altered in patients who have taken tamsulosin (Flomax). Academic multispecialty practice. Case series. Patients with current or past tamsulosin use and age- and sex-matched control patients were included. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) and iris fluorescein angiography were performed to measure iris vasculature and thickness before cataract surgery. Data collected at surgery included pupil diameter, clinical signs of intraoperative floppy-iris syndrome, and surgical complications. Tamsulosin was currently used by 16 patients and in the past by 4 patients; the control group comprised 10 patients. Pharmacologically dilated pupil diameter was statistically significantly smaller preoperatively and immediately postoperatively in the tamsulosin group than in the control group (P=.009 and P=.003, respectively). There was a statistically significant decrease in pupil size intraoperatively in the tamsulosin group (P=.05) but not in the control group (P=.3). Iris-vasculature parameters, specifically time to first vessel fill and percentage of vessel fill on iris fluorescein angiography, were not significantly different between the 2 groups. The AS-OCT measurements of iris morphology were not statistically significantly different between the groups. No surgical complications occurred. No fluorescein dye leakage, staining, or other vascular anomalies were observed. Although there were differences in pupil measurements and intraoperative iris behavior between patients who had been on tamsulosin and control patients, there were no significant differences in iris vasculature on iris fluorescein angiography or in iris morphology on AS-OCT. Copyright © 2014 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Real-time image restoration for iris recognition systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Byung Jun; Park, Kang Ryoung

2007-12-01

In the field of biometrics, it has been reported that iris recognition techniques have shown high levels of accuracy because unique patterns of the human iris, which has very many degrees of freedom, are used. However, because conventional iris cameras have small depth-of-field (DOF) areas, input iris images can easily be blurred, which can lead to lower recognition performance, since iris patterns are transformed by the blurring caused by optical defocusing. To overcome these problems, an autofocusing camera can be used. However, this inevitably increases the cost, size, and complexity of the system. Therefore, we propose a new real-time iris image-restoration method, which can increase the camera's DOF without requiring any additional hardware. This paper presents five novelties as compared to previous works: 1) by excluding eyelash and eyelid regions, it is possible to obtain more accurate focus scores from input iris images; 2) the parameter of the point spread function (PSF) can be estimated in terms of camera optics and measured focus scores; therefore, parameter estimation is more accurate than it has been in previous research; 3) because the PSF parameter can be obtained by using a predetermined equation, iris image restoration can be done in real-time; 4) by using a constrained least square (CLS) restoration filter that considers noise, performance can be greatly enhanced; and 5) restoration accuracy can also be enhanced by estimating the weight value of the noise-regularization term of the CLS filter according to the amount of image blurring. Experimental results showed that iris recognition errors when using the proposed restoration method were greatly reduced as compared to those results achieved without restoration or those achieved using previous iris-restoration methods.

Phasic or terminal detrusor overactivity in women: age, urodynamic findings and sphincter behavior relationships

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Françoise A. Valentini

2011-12-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: To search for relationships between phasic (P and terminal (T DO with age, urodynamic findings and sphincter behavior during involuntary detrusor contraction in woman. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Urodynamic studies (triple lumen catheter 7F, seated position of 164 successive women referred for LUTS with diagnosis of DO were reviewed. Patients were stratified in 4 sub-groups: pre- (18-44y, peri- (45-54 y, post-menopause (55-74 y and oldest old (≥ 75 y. The urethral sensor was positioned at the level of the maximum urethral closure pressure for sphincter behavior analysis. A variation of at least 5 cmH2O in pressure (detrusor or urethra was chosen to assert DO or sphincter response. Sphincter response was classified as relaxation (re before or during DO, or steady (st. RESULTS: Occurrence of P and TDO was similar: 77 P and 87 T. The PDO group was significantly younger (p = 0.0003. TDO was more frequent in patients with a history of neurological disease. The percentage of PDO remained almost constant in age groups, while that of TDO increased with age from 6.7% to 23.2% (p = 0.0013. Uninhibited contraction occurred at a smaller bladder volume in the P group: 149 ± 95 vs. 221 ± 113 mL (p < 0.0001. Steady sphincter predominated in the TDO subgroup: 45.9% vs. 32.1% and increased significantly in each DO sub-group of ³ 75y. CONCLUSION: Steady sphincter during both P and TDO, and occurrence of TDO appear as specific of aging. The last result could be related to structural changes in the detrusor muscle with aging.

Image compression with Iris-C

Science.gov (United States)

Gains, David

2009-05-01

Iris-C is an image codec designed for streaming video applications that demand low bit rate, low latency, lossless image compression. To achieve compression and low latency the codec features the discrete wavelet transform, Exp-Golomb coding, and online processes that construct dynamic models of the input video. Like H.264 and Dirac, the Iris-C codec accepts input video from both the YUV and YCOCG colour spaces, but the system can also operate on Bayer RAW data read directly from an image sensor. Testing shows that the Iris-C codec is competitive with the Dirac low delay syntax codec which is typically regarded as the state-of-the-art low latency, lossless video compressor.

HyspIRI Low Latency Concept and Benchmarks

Science.gov (United States)

Mandl, Dan

2010-01-01

Topics include HyspIRI low latency data ops concept, HyspIRI data flow, ongoing efforts, experiment with Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) approach to injecting new algorithms into SensorWeb, low fidelity HyspIRI IPM testbed, compute cloud testbed, open cloud testbed environment, Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF) and OCC collaboration with Starlight, delay tolerant network (DTN) protocol benchmarking, and EO-1 configuration for preliminary DTN prototype.

IRIS Final Technical Progress Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

M. D. Carelli

2003-11-03

OAK-B135 This NERI project, originally started as the Secure Transportable Autonomous Light Water Reactor (STAR-LW) and currently known as the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) project, had the objective of investigating a novel type of water-cooled reactor to satisfy the Generation IV goals: fuel cycle sustainability, enhanced reliability and safety, and improved economics. The research objectives over the three-year (1999-2002) program were as follows: First year: Assess various design alternatives and establish main characteristics of a point design; Second year: Perform feasibility and engineering assessment of the selected design solutions; Third year: Complete reactor design and performance evaluation, including cost assessment These objectives were fully attained and actually they served to launch IRIS as a full fledged project for eventual commercial deployment. The program did not terminate in 2002 at the end of the NERI program, and has just entered in its fifth year. This has been made possible by the IRIS project participants which have grown from the original four member, two-countries team to the current twenty members, nine countries consortium. All the consortium members work under their own funding and it is estimated that the value of their in-kind contributions over the life of the project has been of the order of $30M. Currently, approximately 100 people worldwide are involved in the project. A very important constituency of the IRIS project is the academia: 7 universities from four countries are members of the consortium and five more US universities are associated via parallel NERI programs. To date, 97 students have worked or are working on IRIS; 59 IRIS-related graduate theses have been prepared or are in preparation, and 41 of these students have already graduated with M.S. (33) or Ph.D. (8) degrees. This ''final'' report (final only as far as the NERI program is concerned) summarizes the work performed

Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for Identification of Iris Vasculature and Staging of Iris Neovascularization: A Pilot Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Philipp K; Goldstein, Debra A; Fawzi, Amani A

2017-08-01

Purpose/Aim of the study: To assess the ability of optical coherence tomographic angiography (OCTA) to visualize the normal iris vasculature as well as neovascularization of the iris (NVI). Study participants with healthy eyes, patients at risk of NVI development and patients with active or regressed NVI were consecutively included in this cross-sectional observational study. Imaging was performed using a commercially available OCTA system (RTVue- XR Avanti, Optovue Inc., Fremont, CA, USA). Abnormal iris vessels were graded on OCTA according to a modified clinical staging system and compared to slitlamp and gonioscopic findings. Fifty eyes of 26 study participants (16 healthy eyes, 19 eyes at risk, 15 eyes with different stages of NVI) were imaged using OCTA. In 11 out of 16 healthy eyes (69%) with light or moderately dark iris pigmentation, we observed physiological, radially aligned iris vasculature on OCTA imaging, which could not be visualized in five eyes (31%) with darkly pigmented irides. One eye in the "eyes at risk" group was diagnosed with NVI based on OCTA, which was not observed clinically. Fifteen eyes with clinically active or regressed NVI were imaged. Different stages of NVI could be differentiated by OCTA, corresponding well to an established clinical grading system. Four eyes showed regressed NVI by OCTA, not seen clinically, and were graded as a newly defined stage 4. This pilot clinical study showed that OCTA for imaging of the iris vasculature in health and disease is highly dependent on iris pigmentation. Fine, clinically invisible iris vessels can be visualized by OCTA in the very early stages as well as in the regressed stage of NVI.

An iris recognition algorithm based on DCT and GLCM

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, G.; Wu, Ye-qing

2008-04-01

With the enlargement of mankind's activity range, the significance for person's status identity is becoming more and more important. So many different techniques for person's status identity were proposed for this practical usage. Conventional person's status identity methods like password and identification card are not always reliable. A wide variety of biometrics has been developed for this challenge. Among those biologic characteristics, iris pattern gains increasing attention for its stability, reliability, uniqueness, noninvasiveness and difficult to counterfeit. The distinct merits of the iris lead to its high reliability for personal identification. So the iris identification technique had become hot research point in the past several years. This paper presents an efficient algorithm for iris recognition using gray-level co-occurrence matrix(GLCM) and Discrete Cosine transform(DCT). To obtain more representative iris features, features from space and DCT transformation domain are extracted. Both GLCM and DCT are applied on the iris image to form the feature sequence in this paper. The combination of GLCM and DCT makes the iris feature more distinct. Upon GLCM and DCT the eigenvector of iris extracted, which reflects features of spatial transformation and frequency transformation. Experimental results show that the algorithm is effective and feasible with iris recognition.

Iris recognition as a biometric method after cataract surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Roizenblatt, Roberto; Schor, Paulo; Dante, Fabio; Roizenblatt, Jaime; Belfort, Rubens

2004-01-28

Biometric methods are security technologies, which use human characteristics for personal identification. Iris recognition systems use iris textures as unique identifiers. This paper presents an analysis of the verification of iris identities after intra-ocular procedures, when individuals were enrolled before the surgery. Fifty-five eyes from fifty-five patients had their irises enrolled before a cataract surgery was performed. They had their irises verified three times before and three times after the procedure, and the Hamming (mathematical) distance of each identification trial was determined, in a controlled ideal biometric environment. The mathematical difference between the iris code before and after the surgery was also compared to a subjective evaluation of the iris anatomy alteration by an experienced surgeon. A correlation between visible subjective iris texture alteration and mathematical difference was verified. We found only six cases in which the eye was no more recognizable, but these eyes were later reenrolled. The main anatomical changes that were found in the new impostor eyes are described. Cataract surgeries change iris textures in such a way that iris recognition systems, which perform mathematical comparisons of textural biometric features, are able to detect these changes and sometimes even discard a pre-enrolled iris considering it an impostor. In our study, re-enrollment proved to be a feasible procedure.

IRIS Toxicological Review of n-Butanol (Interagency Science ...

Science.gov (United States)

On September 8, 2011, the Toxicological Review of n-Butanol (External Review Draft) was released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments with EPA's response and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of n-Butanol and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for n-butanol. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene ...

Science.gov (United States)

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride): In support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health. This document presents background information and justification for the Intergrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Summary of the hazard and dose-response assessment of dichloromethane. IRIS Summaries may include oral reference dose (RfD) and inhalation reference concentration (RfC) values for chronic and other exposure durations, and a carcinogencity assessment. Internet/NCEA web site

IRIS-economics review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, K.

2005-01-01

IRIS is a medium sized advanced light water cooled modular reactor being developed by an international Group led by Westinghouse/BNFL. This reactor design is aimed at a broad spectrum of Utilities looking to install nuclear capacity to match market demands, or at emerging Nations with specific financial constraints looking to strategically optimise their debit levels. The IRIS building block is a multiple module sized at 335 MWe, with a construction period of 3 years and a 60-year plant life. Modules can be installed individually or in parks. In the latter case, deployment can be in single modules or in pairs (twin-unit); both will be built in staggered fashion at time intervals as dictated by economic and market considerations. One of the unique features of IRIS is its ability to offer reduction in costs through increased experience 'Learning' at a single site: In construction, the principal benefit is derived for subsequent modules, and is dependent on maintaining the 'core' team throughout. This is particularly important if there is any significant period between the completion of say module 1 and the start of module 2. This time frame will be driven by the overall market size, projected growth in demand and the level of financial risk the utility is prepared to accept. Learning benefits in construction are derived from skills and experience retention impacting on reducing the number of inputs and construction time. Learning in operation may benefit from a certain delay between modules as this allows operators to build up their 'cumulative experience'. Reactor operations on day 1 would be significantly different from those of say 3 years later. These benefits would be passed on to modules 2 and 3, which would realise them from day 1. Learning in operation is dependent on the ability to retain within the organisation knowledge and records of key events. The benefits from Learning in operation may also be applicable to different sites, in different countries. It

Optimal wavelength band clustering for multispectral iris recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Yazhuo; Zhang, David; Shi, Pengfei; Yan, Jingqi

2012-07-01

This work explores the possibility of clustering spectral wavelengths based on the maximum dissimilarity of iris textures. The eventual goal is to determine how many bands of spectral wavelengths will be enough for iris multispectral fusion and to find these bands that will provide higher performance of iris multispectral recognition. A multispectral acquisition system was first designed for imaging the iris at narrow spectral bands in the range of 420 to 940 nm. Next, a set of 60 human iris images that correspond to the right and left eyes of 30 different subjects were acquired for an analysis. Finally, we determined that 3 clusters were enough to represent the 10 feature bands of spectral wavelengths using the agglomerative clustering based on two-dimensional principal component analysis. The experimental results suggest (1) the number, center, and composition of clusters of spectral wavelengths and (2) the higher performance of iris multispectral recognition based on a three wavelengths-bands fusion.

Cosmetic Detection Framework for Face and Iris Biometrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omid Sharifi

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Cosmetics pose challenges to the recognition performance of face and iris biometric systems due to its ability to alter natural facial and iris patterns. Facial makeup and iris contact lens are considered to be commonly applied cosmetics for the face and iris in this study. The present work aims to present a novel solution for the detection of cosmetics in both face and iris biometrics by the fusion of texture, shape and color descriptors of images. The proposed cosmetic detection scheme combines the microtexton information from the local primitives of texture descriptors with the color spaces achieved from overlapped blocks in order to achieve better detection of spots, flat areas, edges, edge ends, curves, appearance and colors. The proposed cosmetic detection scheme was applied to the YMU YouTube makeup database (YMD facial makeup database and IIIT-Delhi Contact Lens iris database. The results demonstrate that the proposed cosmetic detection scheme is significantly improved compared to the other schemes implemented in this study.

Quality assessment for online iris images

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Makinana, S

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Iris recognition systems have attracted much attention for their uniqueness, stability and reliability. However, performance of this system depends on quality of iris image. Therefore there is a need to select good quality images before features can...

Iris Recognition Using Feature Extraction of Box Counting Fractal Dimension

Science.gov (United States)

Khotimah, C.; Juniati, D.

2018-01-01

Biometrics is a science that is now growing rapidly. Iris recognition is a biometric modality which captures a photo of the eye pattern. The markings of the iris are distinctive that it has been proposed to use as a means of identification, instead of fingerprints. Iris recognition was chosen for identification in this research because every human has a special feature that each individual is different and the iris is protected by the cornea so that it will have a fixed shape. This iris recognition consists of three step: pre-processing of data, feature extraction, and feature matching. Hough transformation is used in the process of pre-processing to locate the iris area and Daugman’s rubber sheet model to normalize the iris data set into rectangular blocks. To find the characteristics of the iris, it was used box counting method to get the fractal dimension value of the iris. Tests carried out by used k-fold cross method with k = 5. In each test used 10 different grade K of K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN). The result of iris recognition was obtained with the best accuracy was 92,63 % for K = 3 value on K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) method.

An assessment of the complications of the Brantley Scott artificial sphincter.

Science.gov (United States)

Heathcote, P S; Galloway, N T; Lewis, D C; Stephenson, T P

1987-08-01

A Brantley Scott artificial sphincter has been inserted into 95 patients since 1981; more than half of the patients had lower urinary tract neuropathy and most of the others post-TUR incontinence. The main problem with the device has been cuff failure (12), which should be resolved by the new "dipped" cuffs. The major surgical complication has been erosion (10), usually associated with infection. Twenty-four patients had variable degrees of incontinence but the artificial sphincter remains the cornerstone of continence control when other methods have failed or are inappropriate.

Morphologic changes of the anal sphincter musculature during and after temporary stool deviation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sailer, M; Fein, M; Fuchs, K H; Bussen, D; Grun, C; Thiede, A

2001-04-01

Temporary stool deviation, using a stoma, is a well-known surgical principle to protect low colorectal or coloanal anastomoses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate any morphologic changes with regard to the anal sphincter muscles during and after temporary ileostomy. Forty-four patients with rectal carcinomas were studied prospectively. All patients underwent low anterior resection. Reconstruction was performed using either a coloanal pouch or a straight end-to-end anastomosis. A protective stoma was fashioned in all 44 patients (ileostomy n=41; colostomy n=3). Stoma closure was carried out after a median of 85 days (41-330 days). Using a standard protocol, anal-sphincter thickness [m. puborectalis, external anal sphincter (EAS) and internal anal (IAS) sphincter] was assessed by means of endoanal ultrasonography preoperatively, at the time of stoma closure, and every 3 months thereafter for 1 year. The diameter of the puborectal muscle decreased from a median preoperative value of 6.3 mm to 5.7 mm at the time of stoma closure (P=0.03). After 3 months, 6.2 mm was measured. This value remained stable for the complete follow-up period. Similar results were recorded for the EAS. The IAS thickness remained stable throughout the study period, measuring between 2.1 mm and 2.4 mm. Temporary stool deviation does lead to morphologic changes of the anal sphincter. While the smooth muscle remains unchanged, the striated counterpart undergoes atrophic transformation. However, after passage reconstruction, i.e., stoma closure, a rapid regeneration of the voluntary muscles is observed.

Influence of preoperative (hyperthermic) radiochemotherapy on manometric anal sphincter function in locally advanced rectal cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritzmann, J.; Huenerbein, M.; Slisow, W.; Rau, B.; Gellermann, J.; Wust, P.

2004-01-01

Background and purpose: preoperative radiochemotherapy (RCT) followed by curative surgery is a well-accepted therapeutic option in the treatment of advanced rectal cancer. Usually, the anal sphincter is located in the irradiation area of a preoperative RCT regime. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of preoperative RCT on anal sphincter function. Patients and methods: between 1994 and 2000, 102 patients with rectal cancer stage uT3/uT4 were analyzed. All patients underwent radiotherapy with 45 Gy (5 x 1.8 Gy) including two cycles of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucovorin (folinic acid) chemotherapy. 46 patients were treated additionally with up to five sessions of locoregional hyperthermia. The sphincter function was analyzed by perfusion manometry before preoperative therapy and 4 weeks after pretreatment had been finished. For statistics, the Wilcoxon signed rank test and mann-whitney U-test were used (SPSS 9.0 for Windows trademark). Results: the mean value of all 102 patients showed a significant reduction of the mean maximum resting pressure from 97 to 89 mmHg (p = 0.02). For the mean maximal squeeze pressure no significant difference could be shown (178 vs. 176 mmHg). For patients with distal (≤ 7.5 cm from anal verge) tumors the difference was highly significant (92 vs. 79 mmHg). Locoregional hyperthermia had no additional influence on sphincter function. Conclusion: preoperative RCT impairs sphincter function especially in patients with distal tumors. In addition, RCT could have a negative influence on the continence of patients who received sphincter-preserving surgery. (orig.) [de

Video manometry of the sphincter of Oddi: a new aid for interpreting manometric tracings and excluding manometric artefacts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madácsy, L; Middelfart, H V; Matzen, Peter

2000-01-01

was to develop a new method sphincter of Oddi video manometry-based on simultaneous ESOM and real-time endoscopic image analysis, and to investigate the usefulness of video manometry for detecting manometric artefacts during ESOM. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seven consecutive patients who had undergone cholecystectomy...... and were referred with a suspicion of sphincter of Oddi dysfunction were investigated. Sphincter of Oddi pressure and endoscopic images (20 frames/s) were recorded simultaneously on a Synectics PC Polygraf computer system with a time-correlated basis, and then compared. RESULTS: On ESOM, 69 sphincter......, or retching, were also easily recognized using simultaneous ESOM and real-time endoscopic image analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Video manometry of the sphincter of Oddi is a promising new method for improving the analysis and documentation of ESOM tracings. It has several advantages over the conventional technique...

Eyelid Localization for Iris Identification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Ea

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents a new eyelid localization algorithm based on a parabolic curve fitting. To deal with eyelashes, low contrast or false detection due to iris texture, we propose a two steps algorithm. First, possible edge candidates are selected by applying edge detection on a restricted area inside the iris. Then, a gradient maximization is applied along every parabola, on a larger area, to refine parameters and select the best one. Experiments have been conducted on a database of 151 iris that have been manually segmented. The performance evaluation is carried out by comparing the segmented images obtained by the proposed method with the manual segmentation. The results are satisfactory in more than 90% of the cases.

Simplified safety and containment systems for the iris reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conway, L.E.; Lombardi, C.; Ricotti, M.; Oriani, L.

2001-01-01

The IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) is a 100 - 300 MW modular type pressurized water reactor supported by the U.S. DOE NERI Program. IRIS features a long-life core to provide proliferation resistance and to reduce the volume of spent fuel, as well as reduce maintenance requirements. IRIS utilizes an integral reactor vessel that contains all major primary system components. This integral reactor vessel makes it possible to reduce containment size; making the IRIS more cost competitive. IRIS is being designed to enhance reactor safety, and therefore a key aspect of the IRIS program is the development of the safety and containment systems. These systems are being designed to maximize containment integrity, prevent core uncover following postulated accidents, minimize the probability and consequences of severe accidents, and provide a significant simplification over current safety system designs. The design of the IRIS containment and safety systems has been identified and preliminary analyses have been completed. The IRIS safety concept employs some unique features that minimize the consequences of postulated design basis events. This paper will provide a description of the containment design and safety systems, and will summarize the analysis results. (author)

Orthognathic Consequences of Sphincter Pharyngoplasty in Cleft Patients: A 2-Institutional Study

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshikane, Frances; Lai, Li Han; Hui, Brian K.; Martins, Deborah B.; Farias-Eisner, Gina; Mandelbaum, Rachel S.; Hoang, Han; Bradley, James P.; Wilson, Libby

2016-01-01

Background: Understanding long-term sequelae of cleft treatment is paramount in the refinement of treatment algorithms to accomplish optimized immediate and long-term outcomes. In this study, we reviewed sphincter pharyngoplasties as a method of velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) treatment in relationship to orthognathic surgery. Methods: Cleft lip/palate and cleft palate patients, 15 years of age and older, were reviewed for demographics, VPI surgery, revisions, and subsequent orthognathic surgery at 2 institutions. Chi-square test, Student’s t test, and logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: In 214 patients reviewed (mean age, 19.5 years), 61.7% were male, 18.2% had isolated cleft palate, 61.2% had unilateral cleft lip and palate, and 20.6% had bilateral cleft lip and palate. A total of 33.6% were diagnosed with VPI and received a sphincter pharyngoplasty (mean age, 11.9 years). When subsequent orthognathic surgery was examined, sphincter pharyngoplasty was not associated with maxillary advancement (P = 0.59) but did correlate with an increase in mandibular surgery from 2.8% to 11.1% (P = 0.02). The indications for mandibular surgery in the pharyngoplasty population were related to congenital micrognathia. When cephalometric analyses were evaluated, sphincter pharyngoplasty resulted in a decreased sella-to-nasion-to-B point angle (mean, 79.0–76.3 degrees, P = 0.02) and a higher incidence of normal to class II maxillomandibular relationships as defined by A point-to-nasion-to-B point angles >0.5 (P = 0.02). Conclusions: Sphincter pharyngoplasty decreases anterior mandibular growth and the discrepancy between maxillomandibular skeletal relationships because of the frequent predisposition of cleft patients to maxillary hypoplasia. In patients with congenital mandibular micrognathia, a small increase in mandibular surgeries may occur. PMID:27200238

Three-Dimensional Endoanal Ultrasound Features of the Anal Sphincter in Asian Primigravidae.

Science.gov (United States)

Wickramasinghe, Dakshitha Praneeth; Senaratne, Supun; Senanayake, Hemantha; Samarasekera, Dharmabandu Nandadeva

2018-04-17

The normal parameters of 3-dimensional endoanal ultrasound (3DEAUS) of the anal sphincter have not been reported for primigravidae or pregnant women at present. 3DEAUS parameters in Asian primigravidae were assessed in this study. We analyzed 3DEAUS data of 101 consecutives Asian primigravidae, assessed in the early third trimester. The assessment was performed with a rigid ultrasonic probe (Olympus ® RU 12M-R1 probe and EU-ME1 ultrasound system (Olympus Corp., Shinjuku, Japan). The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to detect the differences in pressure in different quadrants. The participants had a mean age of 24.7 (standard deviation [SD], 5.1) years. The Cleveland Clinic Incontinence Score was normal in all participants. The anal sphincter complex had 3 characteristic segments that were identifiable: upper, middle and lower. The puborectalis muscle was identified as a striated "V"-shaped sling, and its mean thickness was 7.44 (SD, 1.41) mm. The mean thickness of internal (IAS) and external (EAS) sphincters at the mid-sphincter level were 1.78 (SD, 0.59) and 5.49 (SD, 1.21) mm, respectively. The EAS measured 6.02 (SD, 1.07) mm at the lower sphincter level. The statistically significant differences seen in the in quadrants were: the IAS was thicker anteriorly (Z = -2.642; P = .008), the EAS at both midsphincter level (Z = -3.70; P IAS was thicker at the 9 o'clock position (Z = -2.081; P = .037). Good symmetry at all 3 levels was seen in the EAS (including the puborectalis muscle). Normal values of 3DEAUS for primigravidae have been identified and may serve as reference values for other laboratories. © 2018 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

Iris recognition as a biometric method after cataract surgery

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Roizenblatt Jaime

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Biometric methods are security technologies, which use human characteristics for personal identification. Iris recognition systems use iris textures as unique identifiers. This paper presents an analysis of the verification of iris identities after intra-ocular procedures, when individuals were enrolled before the surgery. Methods Fifty-five eyes from fifty-five patients had their irises enrolled before a cataract surgery was performed. They had their irises verified three times before and three times after the procedure, and the Hamming (mathematical distance of each identification trial was determined, in a controlled ideal biometric environment. The mathematical difference between the iris code before and after the surgery was also compared to a subjective evaluation of the iris anatomy alteration by an experienced surgeon. Results A correlation between visible subjective iris texture alteration and mathematical difference was verified. We found only six cases in which the eye was no more recognizable, but these eyes were later reenrolled. The main anatomical changes that were found in the new impostor eyes are described. Conclusions Cataract surgeries change iris textures in such a way that iris recognition systems, which perform mathematical comparisons of textural biometric features, are able to detect these changes and sometimes even discard a pre-enrolled iris considering it an impostor. In our study, re-enrollment proved to be a feasible procedure.

Distribution and effect of galanin on gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi motility in the pig

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harling, H; Messell, T; Poulsen, Steen Seier

1991-01-01

This study was designed to determine the occurrence and topographical distribution of galanin-like immunoreactivity (GAL-LI) in the porcine gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi and to investigate the pharmacologic effect of GAL on gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi motility. By radioimmunoassay the c...

Cataract influence on iris recognition performance

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Trokielewicz, Mateusz; Czajka, Adam; Maciejewicz, Piotr

2014-11-01

This paper presents the experimental study revealing weaker performance of the automatic iris recognition methods for cataract-affected eyes when compared to healthy eyes. There is little research on the topic, mostly incorporating scarce databases that are often deficient in images representing more than one illness. We built our own database, acquiring 1288 eye images of 37 patients of the Medical University of Warsaw. Those images represent several common ocular diseases, such as cataract, along with less ordinary conditions, such as iris pattern alterations derived from illness or eye trauma. Images were captured in near-infrared light (used in biometrics) and for selected cases also in visible light (used in ophthalmological diagnosis). Since cataract is a disorder that is most populated by samples in the database, in this paper we focus solely on this illness. To assess the extent of the performance deterioration we use three iris recognition methodologies (commercial and academic solutions) to calculate genuine match scores for healthy eyes and those influenced by cataract. Results show a significant degradation in iris recognition reliability manifesting by worsening the genuine scores in all three matchers used in this study (12% of genuine score increase for an academic matcher, up to 175% of genuine score increase obtained for an example commercial matcher). This increase in genuine scores affected the final false non-match rate in two matchers. To our best knowledge this is the only study of such kind that employs more than one iris matcher, and analyzes the iris image segmentation as a potential source of decreased reliability

Spatula scaffold: An iris-sparing technique for lensectomy.

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Narang, Priya; Agarwal, Amar

2017-12-01

Lensectomy with vitrectomy is often performed for crystalline lenticular subluxation. We report a new technique and a practical approach that involves the placement of a spatula beneath the iris tissue that facilitates retroiridial removal of subluxated lens and acts as a scaffold by protecting the iris tissue from being accidentally trapped into the vitrectomy cutter port. Our technique facilitates management of the lens and vitreous without any trauma to the iris and secondarily obviates the need to perform an iris repair procedure that may arise due to iatrogenic reasons.

Sphincter-Preserving Surgery for Low Rectal Cancers: Incidence and Risk Factors for Permanent Stoma.

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Mak, Joanna Chung Kiu; Foo, Dominic Chi Chung; Wei, Rockson; Law, Wai Lun

2017-11-01

Advances in surgical techniques and paradigm changes in rectal cancer treatment have led to a drastic decline in the abdominoperineal resection rate, and sphincter-preserving operation is possible in distal rectal cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the long-term incidence of permanent stoma after sphincter-preserving surgery for low rectal cancer and its corresponding risk factors. From 2000 to 2014, patients who underwent sphincter-preserving low anterior resection for low rectal cancer (within 5 cm from the anal verge) were included. The occurrence of permanent stoma over time and its risk factors were investigated by using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. This study included 194 patients who underwent ultra-low anterior resection for distal rectal cancer, and the median follow-up period was 77 months for the surviving patients. Forty-six (23.7%) patients required a permanent stoma eventfully. Anastomotic-related complications and disease progression were the main reasons for permanent stoma. Clinical anastomotic leakage (HR 5.72; 95% CI 2.31-14.12; p consideration when contemplating sphincter-preserving surgery.

A giant traumatic iris cyst

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Lott Pooi Wah

2015-12-01

Full Text Available A 52 year-old construction worker presented with progressive painful blurring of vision in the left eye associated with redness for past 1 month. There was a history of penetrating injury in the same eye 10 years ago and he underwent primary wound toilet and suturing, lens removal with intraocular lens implantation. Slit lamp examination revealed a corneal scar at 9’oclock, a large transilluminant iris cyst superotemporally and adherent to corneal endothelium. It was extended from angle of the pupil and obstructing the visual axis. The patient underwent excision of an iris cyst through superior limbal incision. Viscodissection was done to separate the cyst from the corneal endothelium and underlying iris stroma. Trypan blue ophthalmic solution was injected into the cyst to stain the cyst capsule. Post operatively 7 days, vision improved to 6/7.5 without complication. There was no recurrence up to 1 year postoperation. Histopathological finding revealed a benign cyst mass lined by simple cuboidal to nonkeratinized stratified squamous epithelium. We had achieved a good surgical outcome with no complication to date for our case study. We advocate this modified surgical method to completely remove iris cyst.

Safety design features of the IRIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-01-01

The International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) is an advanced, integral, light water cooled reactor of medium generating capacity (335 MW(e)), that features an integral reactor vessel containing all the reactor primary system components, including steam generators, coolant pumps, pressurizer and heaters, and control rod drive mechanisms; in addition to the typical core, internals, control rods and neutron reflector. This integral configuration allows for the use of a small, high design pressure, spherical steel containment which results in a significant reduction in the size of the nuclear island. Other IRIS innovations include a simplified passive safety system concept and equipment features that derive from the 'safety-by-design' philosophy. This design approach allows for elimination of certain accident initiators at the design stage, or when outright elimination is not possible, decreases accident consequences and/or their probability of occurrence. Major design characteristics of the IRIS are given. As part of the IRIS pre-application licensing review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the IRIS design team has developed a test plan that will provide the necessary data for safety analysis computer model verification, as well as for verifying the manufacturing feasibility, operability, and durability of new component designs

Proton beam radiotherapy of iris melanoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Damato, Bertil; Kacperek, Andrzej; Chopra, Mona; Sheen, Martin A.; Campbell, Ian R.; Errington, R. Douglas

2005-01-01

Purpose: To report on outcomes after proton beam radiotherapy of iris melanoma. Methods and Materials: Between 1993 and 2004, 88 patients with iris melanoma received proton beam radiotherapy, with 53.1 Gy in 4 fractions. Results: The patients had a mean age of 52 years and a median follow-up of 2.7 years. The tumors had a median diameter of 4.3 mm, involving more than 2 clock hours of iris in 32% of patients and more than 2 hours of angle in 27%. The ciliary body was involved in 20%. Cataract was present in 13 patients before treatment and subsequently developed in another 18. Cataract had a 4-year rate of 63% and by Cox analysis was related to age (p = 0.05), initial visual loss (p < 0.0001), iris involvement (p < 0.0001), and tumor thickness (p < 0.0001). Glaucoma was present before treatment in 13 patients and developed after treatment in another 3. Three eyes were enucleated, all because of recurrence, which had an actuarial 4-year rate of 3.3% (95% CI 0-8.0%). Conclusions: Proton beam radiotherapy of iris melanoma is well tolerated, the main problems being radiation-cataract, which was treatable, and preexisting glaucoma, which in several patients was difficult to control

IrisDenseNet: Robust Iris Segmentation Using Densely Connected Fully Convolutional Networks in the Images by Visible Light and Near-Infrared Light Camera Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Arsalan, Muhammad; Naqvi, Rizwan Ali; Kim, Dong Seop; Nguyen, Phong Ha; Owais, Muhammad; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-05-10

The recent advancements in computer vision have opened new horizons for deploying biometric recognition algorithms in mobile and handheld devices. Similarly, iris recognition is now much needed in unconstraint scenarios with accuracy. These environments make the acquired iris image exhibit occlusion, low resolution, blur, unusual glint, ghost effect, and off-angles. The prevailing segmentation algorithms cannot cope with these constraints. In addition, owing to the unavailability of near-infrared (NIR) light, iris recognition in visible light environment makes the iris segmentation challenging with the noise of visible light. Deep learning with convolutional neural networks (CNN) has brought a considerable breakthrough in various applications. To address the iris segmentation issues in challenging situations by visible light and near-infrared light camera sensors, this paper proposes a densely connected fully convolutional network (IrisDenseNet), which can determine the true iris boundary even with inferior-quality images by using better information gradient flow between the dense blocks. In the experiments conducted, five datasets of visible light and NIR environments were used. For visible light environment, noisy iris challenge evaluation part-II (NICE-II selected from UBIRIS.v2 database) and mobile iris challenge evaluation (MICHE-I) datasets were used. For NIR environment, the institute of automation, Chinese academy of sciences (CASIA) v4.0 interval, CASIA v4.0 distance, and IIT Delhi v1.0 iris datasets were used. Experimental results showed the optimal segmentation of the proposed IrisDenseNet and its excellent performance over existing algorithms for all five datasets.

IrisDenseNet: Robust Iris Segmentation Using Densely Connected Fully Convolutional Networks in the Images by Visible Light and Near-Infrared Light Camera Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Arsalan

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The recent advancements in computer vision have opened new horizons for deploying biometric recognition algorithms in mobile and handheld devices. Similarly, iris recognition is now much needed in unconstraint scenarios with accuracy. These environments make the acquired iris image exhibit occlusion, low resolution, blur, unusual glint, ghost effect, and off-angles. The prevailing segmentation algorithms cannot cope with these constraints. In addition, owing to the unavailability of near-infrared (NIR light, iris recognition in visible light environment makes the iris segmentation challenging with the noise of visible light. Deep learning with convolutional neural networks (CNN has brought a considerable breakthrough in various applications. To address the iris segmentation issues in challenging situations by visible light and near-infrared light camera sensors, this paper proposes a densely connected fully convolutional network (IrisDenseNet, which can determine the true iris boundary even with inferior-quality images by using better information gradient flow between the dense blocks. In the experiments conducted, five datasets of visible light and NIR environments were used. For visible light environment, noisy iris challenge evaluation part-II (NICE-II selected from UBIRIS.v2 database and mobile iris challenge evaluation (MICHE-I datasets were used. For NIR environment, the institute of automation, Chinese academy of sciences (CASIA v4.0 interval, CASIA v4.0 distance, and IIT Delhi v1.0 iris datasets were used. Experimental results showed the optimal segmentation of the proposed IrisDenseNet and its excellent performance over existing algorithms for all five datasets.

SINGLE FRAME SUPER RESOLUTION OF NONCOOPERATIVE IRIS IMAGES

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Anand Deshpande

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Image super-resolution, a process to enhance image resolution, has important applications in biometrics, satellite imaging, high definition television, medical imaging, etc. The long range captured iris identification systems often suffer from low resolution and meager focus of the captured iris images. These degrade the iris recognition performance. This paper proposes enhanced iterated back projection (EIBP method to super resolute the long range captured iris polar images. The performance of proposed method is tested and analyzed on CASIA long range iris database by comparing peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR and structural similarity index (SSIM with state-of-the-art super resolution (SR algorithms. It is further analyzed by increasing the up-sampling factor. Performance analysis shows that the proposed method is superior to state-of-the-art algorithms, the peak signal-to-noise ratio improved about 0.1-1.5 dB. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is well suited to super resolve the iris polar images captured at a long distance

A multi-approach feature extractions for iris recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Sanpachai, H.; Settapong, M.

2014-04-01

Biometrics is a promising technique that is used to identify individual traits and characteristics. Iris recognition is one of the most reliable biometric methods. As iris texture and color is fully developed within a year of birth, it remains unchanged throughout a person's life. Contrary to fingerprint, which can be altered due to several aspects including accidental damage, dry or oily skin and dust. Although iris recognition has been studied for more than a decade, there are limited commercial products available due to its arduous requirement such as camera resolution, hardware size, expensive equipment and computational complexity. However, at the present time, technology has overcome these obstacles. Iris recognition can be done through several sequential steps which include pre-processing, features extractions, post-processing, and matching stage. In this paper, we adopted the directional high-low pass filter for feature extraction. A box-counting fractal dimension and Iris code have been proposed as feature representations. Our approach has been tested on CASIA Iris Image database and the results are considered successful.

International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) summary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, Mario D.

2001-01-01

The IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) reactor is described in the first part of the presentation. IRIS is a light water cooled reactor with an integral configuration, where steam generators, pumps and pressurizer are inside the reactor vessel. Partially funded by the DOE NERI program, IRIS is being developed by an international consortium of 16 organizations from seven countries. A key IRIS characteristic is its 'safety by design' approach which strives to eliminate, by design, as many accidents as possible rather than coping with their consequences. Initial returns are very positive; out of the eight Class IV accidents considered in the AP600 only one remains as a Class IV in IRIS, and at much reduced probability. Small-to-medium LOCAs have minimal consequences as the core remains safely under water for days, without the need for safety injection or water makeup. In spite of its novelty IRIS is firmly grounded on proven LWR technology and therefore a prototype is not needed to assure design certification. Rather, very extensive scaled tests will be performed to investigate the performance of in-vessel components such as steam generators and pumps, both individually and as interactive systems. Accident sequences will also be simulated and tested to prove IRIS safety by design claims. The first core fuel is less than 5% enriched and the fuel assembly is very similar to existing PWR assemblies, so there is no licensing challenge regarding the fuel. Because of the safety by design approach, yielding simplifications In design and accident management (e.g., IRIS does not have an emergency core cooling system), some accident scenarios are eliminated and others have lesser consequences. Thus, simplification and streamlining of the regulatory process might be possible. Risk informed regulation will be coupled with safety by design to show lower accident and damage probabilities. This could lead to a relaxation of siting regulatory requirements. It is

An effective approach for iris recognition using phase-based image matching.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyazawa, Kazuyuki; Ito, Koichi; Aoki, Takafumi; Kobayashi, Koji; Nakajima, Hiroshi

2008-10-01

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for iris recognition using phase-based image matching--an image matching technique using phase components in 2D Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFTs) of given images. Experimental evaluation using CASIA iris image databases (versions 1.0 and 2.0) and Iris Challenge Evaluation (ICE) 2005 database clearly demonstrates that the use of phase components of iris images makes possible to achieve highly accurate iris recognition with a simple matching algorithm. This paper also discusses major implementation issues of our algorithm. In order to reduce the size of iris data and to prevent the visibility of iris images, we introduce the idea of 2D Fourier Phase Code (FPC) for representing iris information. The 2D FPC is particularly useful for implementing compact iris recognition devices using state-of-the-art Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology.

Significance of the thickness of the anal sphincters with age and its relevance in faecal incontinence.

Science.gov (United States)

Papachrysostomou, M; Pye, S D; Wild, S R; Smith, A N

1994-08-01

Ultrasonographic studies in healthy volunteers showed that the external anal sphincter (EAS) and internal anal sphincter (IAS) thicknesses were inversely related at rest. The functional importance of the two sphincters in continence control was demonstrated in the relationship between the sum of the thicknesses of the two sphincters and the anal canal resting pressure. The aims of the present study were to assess the morphometric appearance of the anal sphincters by endosonography in faecally incontinent patients and to contrast this with that of older healthy subjects. Twenty-eight female patients with neurogenic faecal incontinence (FI) were studied. An older group of 7 healthy women, aged 41-75 years, and a young group of 11 nulliparous healthy women, aged 20-23 years, served as control groups. Anal endosonography was performed with a radial rotating endoprobe, with the subject in the left lateral position. Conventional anal manometry was performed in all subjects. The EAS in the FI group was thicker than the EAS in the old (p IAS thickness in the FI group did not differ from that in the older group. In both these groups the IAS was thicker than in the young women (p IAS in the FI group does not seem to compensate for function and results in a failure of the sphincter mechanism to maintain continence, whereas in healthy elderly subjects the increased IAS thickness appears to be compensatory and important for continence control.

The diagnostic accuracy of endovaginal and transperineal ultrasound for detecting anal sphincter defects: The PREDICT study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roos, A.-M., E-mail: annemarie.roos@gmail.com [Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mayday University Hospital, Croydon (United Kingdom); Abdool, Z. [Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria (South Africa); Sultan, A.H.; Thakar, R. [Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mayday University Hospital, Croydon (United Kingdom)

2011-07-15

Aim: To determine the accuracy and predictive value of transperineal (TPU) and endovaginal ultrasound (EVU) in the detection of anal sphincter defects in women with obstetric anal sphincter injuries and/or postpartum symptoms of faecal incontinence. Materials and methods: One hundred and sixty-five women were recruited, four women were excluded as they were seen years after their last delivery. TPU and EVU, followed by endonanal ultrasound (EAU), were performed using the B and K Viking 2400 scanner. Sensitivity and specificity, as well as predictive values with 95% confidence intervals, for detecting anal sphincter defects were calculated for EVU and TPU, using EAU as the reference standard. Results: On EAU a defect was found in 42 (26%) women: 39 (93%) had an external (EAS) and 23 (55%) an internal anal sphincter (IAS) defect. Analysable images of one level of the EAS combined with an analysable IAS were available in 140 (87%) women for EVU and in 131 (81%) for TPU. The sensitivity and specificity for the detection of any defect was 48% (30-67%) and 85% (77-91%) for EVU and 64% (44-81%) and 85% (77-91%) for TPU, respectively. Conclusion: Although EAU using a rotating endoprobe is the validated reference standard in the identification of anal sphincter defects, it is not universally available. However while TPU and/or EVU with conventional ultrasound probes can be useful in identifying normality, for clinical purposes they are not sensitive enough to identify an underlying sphincter defect.

The diagnostic accuracy of endovaginal and transperineal ultrasound for detecting anal sphincter defects: The PREDICT study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roos, A.-M.; Abdool, Z.; Sultan, A.H.; Thakar, R.

2011-01-01

Aim: To determine the accuracy and predictive value of transperineal (TPU) and endovaginal ultrasound (EVU) in the detection of anal sphincter defects in women with obstetric anal sphincter injuries and/or postpartum symptoms of faecal incontinence. Materials and methods: One hundred and sixty-five women were recruited, four women were excluded as they were seen years after their last delivery. TPU and EVU, followed by endonanal ultrasound (EAU), were performed using the B and K Viking 2400 scanner. Sensitivity and specificity, as well as predictive values with 95% confidence intervals, for detecting anal sphincter defects were calculated for EVU and TPU, using EAU as the reference standard. Results: On EAU a defect was found in 42 (26%) women: 39 (93%) had an external (EAS) and 23 (55%) an internal anal sphincter (IAS) defect. Analysable images of one level of the EAS combined with an analysable IAS were available in 140 (87%) women for EVU and in 131 (81%) for TPU. The sensitivity and specificity for the detection of any defect was 48% (30-67%) and 85% (77-91%) for EVU and 64% (44-81%) and 85% (77-91%) for TPU, respectively. Conclusion: Although EAU using a rotating endoprobe is the validated reference standard in the identification of anal sphincter defects, it is not universally available. However while TPU and/or EVU with conventional ultrasound probes can be useful in identifying normality, for clinical purposes they are not sensitive enough to identify an underlying sphincter defect.

Multidisciplinary training in perineal care during labor and delivery for the reduction of anal sphincter injuries.

Science.gov (United States)

Frost, Jonathan; Gundry, Rowan; Young, Helen; Naguib, Adel

2016-08-01

To determine whether the introduction of a multidisciplinary intrapartum perineal-care training program reduced the rate of obstetric anal sphincter injuries in patients undergoing vaginal deliveries. A prospective observational cohort study enrolled women undergoing vaginal deliveries at a district general hospital maternity unit in the United Kingdom between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2014. All women experiencing obstetric anal sphincter injuries during the study period were identified and the rate of obstetric anal sphincter injuries before (2012-2013) a multidisciplinary training program was implemented was compared with the rate after (2013-2014) implementation using logistic regression analysis. The study enrolled 4920 patients. Following the implementation of the training program, the rate of obstetric anal sphincter injuries decreased from 4.8% to 3.1% of vaginal deliveries (odds ratio 0.66; 95% confidence interval 0.493-0.899; P = 0.008). The integration of intrapartum perineal-care training into mandatory annual staff training was associated with a statistically and clinically significant reduction in the rate of obstetric anal sphincter injuries. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toward noncooperative iris recognition: a classification approach using multiple signatures.

Science.gov (United States)

Proença, Hugo; Alexandre, Luís A

2007-04-01

This paper focuses on noncooperative iris recognition, i.e., the capture of iris images at large distances, under less controlled lighting conditions, and without active participation of the subjects. This increases the probability of capturing very heterogeneous images (regarding focus, contrast, or brightness) and with several noise factors (iris obstructions and reflections). Current iris recognition systems are unable to deal with noisy data and substantially increase their error rates, especially the false rejections, in these conditions. We propose an iris classification method that divides the segmented and normalized iris image into six regions, makes an independent feature extraction and comparison for each region, and combines each of the dissimilarity values through a classification rule. Experiments show a substantial decrease, higher than 40 percent, of the false rejection rates in the recognition of noisy iris images.

Hereditary internal anal sphincter myopathy causing proctalgia fugax and constipation. A newly identified condition.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamm, M A; Hoyle, C H; Burleigh, D E; Law, P J; Swash, M; Martin, J E; Nicholls, R J; Northover, J M

1991-03-01

A newly identified myopathy of the internal anal sphincter is described. In the affected family, at least one member from each of five generations had severe proctalgia fugax; onset was usually in the third to fifth decades of life. Three members of the family have been studied in detail. Each had severe pain intermittently during the day and hourly during the night. Constipation was an associated symptom, in particular difficulty with rectal evacuation. Clinically the internal anal sphincter was thickened and of decreased compliance. The maximum anal canal pressure was usually increased with marked ultraslow wave activity. Anal endosonography confirmed a grossly thickened internal anal sphincter. Two patients were treated by internal anal sphincter strip myectomy; one showed marked improvement and one was relieved of the constipation but had only slight improvement of the pain. The hypertrophied muscle in two of the patients showed unique myopathic changes, consisting of vacuolar changes with periodic acid-Schiff-positive polyglycosan bodies in the smooth muscle fibers and increased endomysial fibrosis. In vitro organ-bath studies showed insensitivity of the muscle to noradrenaline, isoprenaline, carbachol, dimethylpiperazinium, and electrical-field stimulation. Immunohistochemical studies for substance P, calcitonin gene-related peptide, galanin, neuropeptide Y, and vasoactive intestinal peptide showed staining in a similar distribution to that in control tissue. A specific autosomal-dominant inherited myopathy of the internal anal sphincter that causes anal pain and constipation has been identified and characterized.

Unconstrained Iris Acquisition and Recognition Using COTS PTZ Camera

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Venugopalan Shreyas

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Uniqueness of iris patterns among individuals has resulted in the ubiquity of iris recognition systems in virtual and physical spaces, at high security facilities around the globe. Traditional methods of acquiring iris patterns in commercial systems scan the iris when an individual is at a predetermined location in front of the scanner. Most state-of-the-art techniques for unconstrained iris acquisition in literature use expensive custom equipment and are composed of a multicamera setup, which is bulky, expensive, and requires calibration. This paper investigates a method of unconstrained iris acquisition and recognition using a single commercial off-the-shelf (COTS pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ camera, that is compact and that reduces the cost of the final system, compared to other proposed hierarchical multicomponent systems. We employ state-of-the-art techniques for face detection and a robust eye detection scheme using active shape models for accurate landmark localization. Additionally, our system alleviates the need for any calibration stage prior to its use. We present results using a database of iris images captured using our system, while operating in an unconstrained acquisition mode at 1.5 m standoff, yielding an iris diameter in the 150–200 pixels range.

Evaluating the impact of image preprocessing on iris segmentation

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José F. Valencia-Murillo

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Segmentation is one of the most important stages in iris recognition systems. In this paper, image preprocessing algorithms are applied in order to evaluate their impact on successful iris segmentation. The preprocessing algorithms are based on histogram adjustment, Gaussian filters and suppression of specular reflections in human eye images. The segmentation method introduced by Masek is applied on 199 images acquired under unconstrained conditions, belonging to the CASIA-irisV3 database, before and after applying the preprocessing algorithms. Then, the impact of image preprocessing algorithms on the percentage of successful iris segmentation is evaluated by means of a visual inspection of images in order to determine if circumferences of iris and pupil were detected correctly. An increase from 59% to 73% in percentage of successful iris segmentation is obtained with an algorithm that combine elimination of specular reflections, followed by the implementation of a Gaussian filter having a 5x5 kernel. The results highlight the importance of a preprocessing stage as a previous step in order to improve the performance during the edge detection and iris segmentation processes.

Antigen-Specific Interferon-Gamma Responses and Innate Cytokine Balance in TB-IRIS

Science.gov (United States)

Goovaerts, Odin; Jennes, Wim; Massinga-Loembé, Marguerite; Ceulemans, Ann; Worodria, William; Mayanja-Kizza, Harriet; Colebunders, Robert; Kestens, Luc

2014-01-01

Background Tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) remains a poorly understood complication in HIV-TB patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). TB-IRIS could be associated with an exaggerated immune response to TB-antigens. We compared the recovery of IFNγ responses to recall and TB-antigens and explored in vitro innate cytokine production in TB-IRIS patients. Methods In a prospective cohort study of HIV-TB co-infected patients treated for TB before ART initiation, we compared 18 patients who developed TB-IRIS with 18 non-IRIS controls matched for age, sex and CD4 count. We analyzed IFNγ ELISpot responses to CMV, influenza, TB and LPS before ART and during TB-IRIS. CMV and LPS stimulated ELISpot supernatants were subsequently evaluated for production of IL-12p70, IL-6, TNFα and IL-10 by Luminex. Results Before ART, all responses were similar between TB-IRIS patients and non-IRIS controls. During TB-IRIS, IFNγ responses to TB and influenza antigens were comparable between TB-IRIS patients and non-IRIS controls, but responses to CMV and LPS remained significantly lower in TB-IRIS patients. Production of innate cytokines was similar between TB-IRIS patients and non-IRIS controls. However, upon LPS stimulation, IL-6/IL-10 and TNFα/IL-10 ratios were increased in TB-IRIS patients compared to non-IRIS controls. Conclusion TB-IRIS patients did not display excessive IFNγ responses to TB-antigens. In contrast, the reconstitution of CMV and LPS responses was delayed in the TB-IRIS group. For LPS, this was linked with a pro-inflammatory shift in the innate cytokine balance. These data are in support of a prominent role of the innate immune system in TB-IRIS. PMID:25415590

Disorders of the pelvic floor and anal sphincters; a gastroenterologist’s perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eamonn M.M. Quigley, MD FRCP FACP FACG FRCPI

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The integration and coordination of the musculature of the pelvic floor and the anal sphincters is critical to two important physiological functions: defecation and continence. Consequently, disorders affecting the pelvic floor muscles, the anal sphincters, their innervation or their precise coordination will, depending on their nature, result either in obstructed defecation or fecal incontinence. Both of these disorders are much more common in females and the latter, in particular, is linked with parity. While the symptomatology, presentation and optimal mode of investigation of fecal incontinence are well standardized, considerable debate and controversy continues to surround the contributions of pelvic floor and anal sphincter dysfunction to chronic constipation and the optimal clinical approach to their investigation remains to be defined. In appropriately chosen cases surgical intervention may provide the best outcome for sufferers from incontinence; biofeedback approaches may be of value in both incontinence and obstructed defecation and surgery has little role to play in the latter.

The Danish anal sphincter rupture questionnaire: Validity and reliability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Due, Ulla; Ottesen, Marianne

2008-01-01

Objective. To revise, validate and test for reliability an anal sphincter rupture questionnaire in relation to construct, content and face validity. Setting and background. Since 1996 women with anal sphincter rupture (ASR) at one of the public university hospitals in Copenhagen, Denmark have been...... main questions but one. Two questions needed further explanation. Seven women made minor errors. Conclusion. The validated Danish questionnaire has a good construct, content and face validity. It is a well accepted, reliable, simple and clinically relevant screening tool. It reveals physical problems...... offered pelvic floor muscle examination and instruction by a specialist physiotherapist. In relation to that, a non-validated questionnaire about anal and urinary incontinence was to be answered six months after childbirth. Method. The original questionnaire was revised and a pilot test was performed...

Iris Transponder-Communications and Navigation for Deep Space

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, Courtney B.; Smith, Amy E.; Aguirre, Fernando H.

2014-01-01

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed the Iris CubeSat compatible deep space transponder for INSPIRE, the first CubeSat to deep space. Iris is 0.4 U, 0.4 kg, consumes 12.8 W, and interoperates with NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) on X-Band frequencies (7.2 GHz uplink, 8.4 GHz downlink) for command, telemetry, and navigation. This talk discusses the Iris for INSPIRE, it's features and requirements; future developments and improvements underway; deep space and proximity operations applications for Iris; high rate earth orbit variants; and ground requirements, such as are implemented in the DSN, for deep space operations.

Extending the imaging volume for biometric iris recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Narayanswamy, Ramkumar; Johnson, Gregory E; Silveira, Paulo E X; Wach, Hans B

2005-02-10

The use of the human iris as a biometric has recently attracted significant interest in the area of security applications. The need to capture an iris without active user cooperation places demands on the optical system. Unlike a traditional optical design, in which a large imaging volume is traded off for diminished imaging resolution and capacity for collecting light, Wavefront Coded imaging is a computational imaging technology capable of expanding the imaging volume while maintaining an accurate and robust iris identification capability. We apply Wavefront Coded imaging to extend the imaging volume of the iris recognition application.

Gabor Weber Local Descriptor for Bovine Iris Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shengnan Sun

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Iris recognition is a robust biometric technology. This paper proposes a novel local descriptor for bovine iris recognition, named Gabor Weber local descriptor (GWLD. We first compute the Gabor magnitude maps for the input bovine iris image, and then calculate the differential excitation and orientation for each pixel over each Gabor magnitude map. After that, we use these differential excitations and orientations to construct the GWLD histogram representation. Finally, histogram intersection is adopted to measure the similarity between different GWLD histograms. The experimental results on the SEU bovine iris database verify the representation power of our proposed local descriptor.

IRIS and the National Research Council (NRC)

Science.gov (United States)

Since the 2011 National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC) review of the IRIS Program's assessment of Formaldehyde, EPA and NRC have had an ongoing relationship into the improvements of developing the IRIS Assessments.

Ethnicity distinctiveness through iris texture features using Gabor filters

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mabuza-Hocquet, Gugulethu P

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Research in iris biometrics has been focused on utilizing iris features as a means of identity verification and authentication. However, not enough research work has been done to explore iris textures to determine soft biometrics such as gender...

Barumiki antocyjanowe u Iris germanica [Anthocyanin pigments in Iris germanica L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Szczepańska

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Anthocyanin pigments occurring in the flowers of Iris germanica were investigated in five varieties: Rota, Wedgewood, Empress of India, Deputate Nomblot and Joanna. The relation between the colour of the flower and the amount of the pigment was studied. The pigments were extracted from the dry plant material with 1% hydrochloric acid in methanol. Paper chromatography and colorimetric determinations were used for identification of the pigments and their quantitative determination. The results allow the following conclusions: 1. The varieties investigated were characterized toy the occurrence of delphinidine glycoside; 2. The colour intensity is dependent on the anthocyanin pigments; 3. The colour spectrum of Iris sp. flowersis greatly extended by yellow copigments.

Effect of hepatic venous sphincter contraction on transmission of central venous pressure to lobar and portal pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Lautt, W W; Legare, D J; Greenway, C V

1987-11-01

In dogs anesthetized with pentobarbital, central vena caval pressure (CVP), portal venous pressure (PVP), and intrahepatic lobar venous pressure (proximal to the hepatic venous sphincters) were measured. The objective was to determine some characteristics of the intrahepatic vascular resistance sites (proximal and distal to the hepatic venous sphincters) including testing predictions made using a recent mathematical model of distensible hepatic venous resistance. The stimulus used was a brief rise in CVP produced by transient occlusion of the thoracic vena cava in control state and when vascular resistance was elevated by infusions of norepinephrine or histamine, or by nerve stimulation. The percent transmission of the downstream pressure rise to upstream sites past areas of vascular resistance was elevated. Even small increments in CVP are partially transmitted upstream. The data are incompatible with the vascular waterfall phenomenon which predicts that venous pressure increments are not transmitted upstream until a critical pressure is overcome and then further increments would be 100% transmitted. The hepatic sphincters show the following characteristics. First, small rises in CVP are transmitted less than large elevations; as the CVP rises, the sphincters passively distend and allow a greater percent transmission upstream, thus a large rise in CVP is more fully transmitted than a small rise in CVP. Second, the amount of pressure transmission upstream is determined by the vascular resistance across which the pressure is transmitted. As nerves, norepinephrine, or histamine cause the hepatic sphincters to contract, the percent transmission becomes less and the distensibility of the sphincters is reduced. Similar characteristics are shown for the "presinusoidal" vascular resistance and the hepatic venous sphincter resistance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effects of lesogaberan on reflux and lower esophageal sphincter function in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boeckxstaens, Guy E.; Beaumont, Hanneke; Mertens, Veerle; Denison, Hans; Ruth, Magnus; Adler, John; Silberg, Debra G.; Sifrim, Daniel

2010-01-01

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations (TLESRs) are a major mechanism behind reflux. This study assessed the effects of lesogaberan (AZD3355), a novel gamma-aminobutyric acid type B receptor agonist, on reflux and lower esophageal sphincter (LES) function when used as

DCT-based iris recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Monro, Donald M; Rakshit, Soumyadip; Zhang, Dexin

2007-04-01

This paper presents a novel iris coding method based on differences of discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients of overlapped angular patches from normalized iris images. The feature extraction capabilities of the DCT are optimized on the two largest publicly available iris image data sets, 2,156 images of 308 eyes from the CASIA database and 2,955 images of 150 eyes from the Bath database. On this data, we achieve 100 percent Correct Recognition Rate (CRR) and perfect Receiver-Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curves with no registered false accepts or rejects. Individual feature bit and patch position parameters are optimized for matching through a product-of-sum approach to Hamming distance calculation. For verification, a variable threshold is applied to the distance metric and the False Acceptance Rate (FAR) and False Rejection Rate (FRR) are recorded. A new worst-case metric is proposed for predicting practical system performance in the absence of matching failures, and the worst case theoretical Equal Error Rate (EER) is predicted to be as low as 2.59 x 10(-4) on the available data sets.

Iris Cryptography for Security Purpose

Science.gov (United States)

Ajith, Srighakollapu; Balaji Ganesh Kumar, M.; Latha, S.; Samiappan, Dhanalakshmi; Muthu, P.

2018-04-01

In today's world, the security became the major issue to every human being. A major issue is hacking as hackers are everywhere, as the technology was developed still there are many issues where the technology fails to meet the security. Engineers, scientists were discovering the new products for security purpose as biometrics sensors like face recognition, pattern recognition, gesture recognition, voice authentication etcetera. But these devices fail to reach the expected results. In this work, we are going to present an approach to generate a unique secure key using the iris template. Here the iris templates are processed using the well-defined processing techniques. Using the encryption and decryption process they are stored, traversed and utilized. As of the work, we can conclude that the iris cryptography gives us the expected results for securing the data from eavesdroppers.

The diagnostic accuracy of endovaginal and transperineal ultrasound for detecting anal sphincter defects: The PREDICT study.

Science.gov (United States)

Roos, A-M; Abdool, Z; Sultan, A H; Thakar, R

2011-07-01

To determine the accuracy and predictive value of transperineal (TPU) and endovaginal ultrasound (EVU) in the detection of anal sphincter defects in women with obstetric anal sphincter injuries and/or postpartum symptoms of faecal incontinence. One hundred and sixty-five women were recruited, four women were excluded as they were seen years after their last delivery. TPU and EVU, followed by endonanal ultrasound (EAU), were performed using the B&K Viking 2400 scanner. Sensitivity and specificity, as well as predictive values with 95% confidence intervals, for detecting anal sphincter defects were calculated for EVU and TPU, using EAU as the reference standard. On EAU a defect was found in 42 (26%) women: 39 (93%) had an external (EAS) and 23 (55%) an internal anal sphincter (IAS) defect. Analysable images of one level of the EAS combined with an analysable IAS were available in 140 (87%) women for EVU and in 131 (81%) for TPU. The sensitivity and specificity for the detection of any defect was 48% (30-67%) and 85% (77-91%) for EVU and 64% (44-81%) and 85% (77-91%) for TPU, respectively. Although EAU using a rotating endoprobe is the validated reference standard in the identification of anal sphincter defects, it is not universally available. However while TPU and/or EVU with conventional ultrasound probes can be useful in identifying normality, for clinical purposes they are not sensitive enough to identify an underlying sphincter defect. Copyright © 2011 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Presentation Attack Detection for Iris Recognition System Using NIR Camera Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Baek, Na Rae; Pham, Tuyen Danh; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-01-01

Among biometric recognition systems such as fingerprint, finger-vein, or face, the iris recognition system has proven to be effective for achieving a high recognition accuracy and security level. However, several recent studies have indicated that an iris recognition system can be fooled by using presentation attack images that are recaptured using high-quality printed images or by contact lenses with printed iris patterns. As a result, this potential threat can reduce the security level of an iris recognition system. In this study, we propose a new presentation attack detection (PAD) method for an iris recognition system (iPAD) using a near infrared light (NIR) camera image. To detect presentation attack images, we first localized the iris region of the input iris image using circular edge detection (CED). Based on the result of iris localization, we extracted the image features using deep learning-based and handcrafted-based methods. The input iris images were then classified into real and presentation attack categories using support vector machines (SVM). Through extensive experiments with two public datasets, we show that our proposed method effectively solves the iris recognition presentation attack detection problem and produces detection accuracy superior to previous studies. PMID:29695113

Presentation Attack Detection for Iris Recognition System Using NIR Camera Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dat Tien Nguyen

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Among biometric recognition systems such as fingerprint, finger-vein, or face, the iris recognition system has proven to be effective for achieving a high recognition accuracy and security level. However, several recent studies have indicated that an iris recognition system can be fooled by using presentation attack images that are recaptured using high-quality printed images or by contact lenses with printed iris patterns. As a result, this potential threat can reduce the security level of an iris recognition system. In this study, we propose a new presentation attack detection (PAD method for an iris recognition system (iPAD using a near infrared light (NIR camera image. To detect presentation attack images, we first localized the iris region of the input iris image using circular edge detection (CED. Based on the result of iris localization, we extracted the image features using deep learning-based and handcrafted-based methods. The input iris images were then classified into real and presentation attack categories using support vector machines (SVM. Through extensive experiments with two public datasets, we show that our proposed method effectively solves the iris recognition presentation attack detection problem and produces detection accuracy superior to previous studies.

Presentation Attack Detection for Iris Recognition System Using NIR Camera Sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Baek, Na Rae; Pham, Tuyen Danh; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-04-24

Among biometric recognition systems such as fingerprint, finger-vein, or face, the iris recognition system has proven to be effective for achieving a high recognition accuracy and security level. However, several recent studies have indicated that an iris recognition system can be fooled by using presentation attack images that are recaptured using high-quality printed images or by contact lenses with printed iris patterns. As a result, this potential threat can reduce the security level of an iris recognition system. In this study, we propose a new presentation attack detection (PAD) method for an iris recognition system (iPAD) using a near infrared light (NIR) camera image. To detect presentation attack images, we first localized the iris region of the input iris image using circular edge detection (CED). Based on the result of iris localization, we extracted the image features using deep learning-based and handcrafted-based methods. The input iris images were then classified into real and presentation attack categories using support vector machines (SVM). Through extensive experiments with two public datasets, we show that our proposed method effectively solves the iris recognition presentation attack detection problem and produces detection accuracy superior to previous studies.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Acrolein (2003 Final)

Science.gov (United States)

EPA announced the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of Acrolein: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for Acrolein and accompanying toxicological review have been added to the IRIS Database.

IRIS: A global approach to nuclear power renaissance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M.D.

2004-01-01

Improved international reactor IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) is discussed. IRIS is defined as a modular reactor with integral arrangement and water coolant. Industrial companies, research, scientific groups and electric power producers of different countries (USA, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Japan, Croatia) take part in the realization of IRIS. Basic parameters of the reactor, construction characteristics, arrangement are presented [ru

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Features of Iris Racemose Hemangioma in 4 Cases.

Science.gov (United States)

Chien, Jason L; Sioufi, Kareem; Ferenczy, Sandor; Say, Emil Anthony T; Shields, Carol L

2017-10-01

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) allows visualization of iris racemose hemangioma course and its relation to the normal iris microvasculature. To describe OCTA features of iris racemose hemangioma. Descriptive, noncomparative case series at a tertiary referral center (Ocular Oncology Service of Wills Eye Hospital). Patients diagnosed with unilateral iris racemose hemangioma were included in the study. Features of iris racemose hemangioma on OCTA. Four eyes of 4 patients with unilateral iris racemose hemangioma were included in the study. Mean patient age was 50 years, all patients were white, and Snellen visual acuity was 20/20 in each case. All eyes had sectoral iris racemose hemangioma without associated iris or ciliary body solid tumor on clinical examination and ultrasound biomicroscopy. By anterior segment OCT, the racemose hemangioma was partially visualized in all cases. By OCTA, the hemangioma was clearly visualized as a uniform large-caliber vascular tortuous loop with intense flow characteristics superimposed over small-caliber radial iris vessels against a background of low-signal iris stroma. The vascular course on OCTA resembled a light bulb filament (filament sign), arising from the peripheral iris (base of light bulb) and forming a tortuous loop on reaching its peak (midfilament) near the pupil (n = 3) or midzonal iris (n = 1), before returning to the peripheral iris (base of light bulb). Intravenous fluorescein angiography performed in 1 eye depicted the iris hemangioma; however, small-caliber radial iris vessels were more distinct on OCTA than intravenous fluorescein angiography. Optical coherence tomography angiography is a noninvasive vascular imaging modality that clearly depicts the looping course of iris racemose hemangioma. Optical coherence tomography angiography depicted fine details of radial iris vessels, not distinct on intravenous fluorescein angiography.

Plateau iris Íris em platô

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alberto Diniz Filho

2008-10-01

Full Text Available The term plateau iris was first coined in 1958 to describe the iris configuration of a patient. Two years later the concept of plateau iris was published. In 1977, the plateau iris configuration was classically defined as presurgical changes of an eye with a relative normal central anterior chamber depth, flat iris by conventional biomicroscopy, but displaying an extremely narrow or closed angle on gonioscopic examination. On the other hand, the plateau iris syndrome was defined as an acute glaucoma crisis in one eye with a relative normal central anterior chamber depth and patent iridotomy on direct examination, presenting angle closure confirmed by gonioscopic examination after mydriasis. In 1992, the anatomic aspects of plateau iris were studied using ultrasound biomicroscopy. Finally, plateau iris has been considered an anatomic variant of iris structure in which the iris periphery angulates sharply forward from its insertion point and then again angulates sharply and centrally backward, along with an anterior positioning of the ciliary processes seen on ultrasound biomicroscopy. The clinical treatment of plateau iris syndrome is carried out with topical use of pilocarpine. However, the definitive treatment should be fulfilled by performing an argon laser peripheral iridoplasty.O termo íris em platô foi primeiramente inventado em 1958 para descrever a configuração da íris de um paciente. Dois anos depois o conceito de íris em platô foi publicado. Em 1977, a configuração de íris em platô foi classicamente definida como alterações pré-cirúrgicas de um olho com uma profundidade de câmara anterior relativamente normal, íris plana pela biomicroscopia convencional, mas mostrando um ângulo extremamente estreito ou fechado pela gonioscopia. Por outro lado, a síndrome de íris em platô foi definida como uma crise de glaucoma agudo em um olho com uma profundidade de câmara anterior relativamente normal e uma iridectomia patente ao

IRIS Toxicological Review of Chloroform (Final Report)

Science.gov (United States)

EPA is announcing the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of Chloroform: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for Chloroform and accompanying Quickview have also been added to the IRIS Database.

Edge detection techniques for iris recognition system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tania, U T; Motakabber, S M A; Ibrahimy, M I

2013-01-01

Nowadays security and authentication are the major parts of our daily life. Iris is one of the most reliable organ or part of human body which can be used for identification and authentication purpose. To develop an iris authentication algorithm for personal identification, this paper examines two edge detection techniques for iris recognition system. Between the Sobel and the Canny edge detection techniques, the experimental result shows that the Canny's technique has better ability to detect points in a digital image where image gray level changes even at slow rate

Keskittymishäiriön kuvaaminen syanotypialla

OpenAIRE

Lammela, Maarit

2017-01-01

Toiminallisessa opinnäytetyössäni oli tavoitteena havainnollistaa kuvina luki- ja keskittymishäiriön tunnetiloja syanotypialla vedostaen. Projektissa tarkastelin ja tutkin itseäni. Havainnollistin kuvina yli viisikymmentä luonteenpiirrettä, jotka ovat tyypillisiä luki- ja keskittymishäiriöiselle ihmiselle. Näistä toteutin teoksiksi 25. Kuvasin itseäni ja tunnetilojani digikameralla itselaukaisinta apuna käyttäen. Halusin tehdä tämän työn kertoakseni luki- ja keskittymishäiriöisen ihmisen t...

Enhancement of Iris Recognition System Based on Phase Only Correlation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nuriza Pramita

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Iris recognition system is one of biometric based recognition/identification systems. Numerous techniques have been implemented to achieve a good recognition rate, including the ones based on Phase Only Correlation (POC. Significant and higher correlation peaks suggest that the system recognizes iris images of the same subject (person, while lower and unsignificant peaks correspond to recognition of those of difference subjects. Current POC methods have not investigated minimum iris point that can be used to achieve higher correlation peaks. This paper proposed a method that used only one-fourth of full normalized iris size to achieve higher (or at least the same recognition rate. Simulation on CASIA version 1.0 iris image database showed that averaged recognition rate of the proposed method achieved 67%, higher than that of using one-half (56% and full (53% iris point. Furthermore, all (100% POC peak values of the proposed method was higher than that of the method with full iris points.

IRIS Toxicological Review of n-Butanol (External Review Draft ...

Science.gov (United States)

EPA is conducting a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of n-butanol that will appear in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for n-butanol. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

[Surgical treatment with an artificial iris].

Science.gov (United States)

Mayer, C S; Hoffmann, A E

2015-10-01

Iris defects with their disturbed pupillary function, visual impairment and glare constitute a therapeutic challenge in surgical reconstruction. A new therapeutic option for distinctive defects consists in the implantation of a custom-made silicone iris. This new and challenging therapy provides the opportunity to achieve an individual, aesthetically appealing and good functional result for the patient.

Gabor Weber Local Descriptor for Bovine Iris Recognition

OpenAIRE

Sun, Shengnan; Zhao, Lindu; Yang, Shicai

2013-01-01

Iris recognition is a robust biometric technology. This paper proposes a novel local descriptor for bovine iris recognition, named Gabor Weber local descriptor (GWLD). We first compute the Gabor magnitude maps for the input bovine iris image, and then calculate the differential excitation and orientation for each pixel over each Gabor magnitude map. After that, we use these differential excitations and orientations to construct the GWLD histogram representation. Finally, histogram intersectio...

A bibliography of IRIS-related publications, 2000-2011

Science.gov (United States)

Muco, B.

2012-12-01

Citations and acknowledgements in scientific journals can be an indicator of the role an organization has on the research of that field. Since its formation and incorporation in May 1984, the IRIS Consortium (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) is mentioned more and more as a valuable source of data, instruments and programs in the literature of earth sciences. As a large organization with more than 100 member domestic institutes and about 40 international affiliates, obviously IRIS has a direct impact on the earth sciences through all its programs, projects, workshops, symposia, and news¬letters and as a lively forum for exchanging ideas. In order to maintain support from National Science Foundation (NSF) and the research community, it is important to document the continued use of IRIS facilities in basic research programs. IRIS maintains a database of articles that are based on the use of IRIS facilities or which reference use of IRIS data and resources. Articles in this database have been either been provided to IRIS by the authors or selected through an annual search of a number of prominent journals. A text version of the full bibliographic database is available on the IRIS website and a version in EndNote format is also provided. To provide a more complete bibliography and a consistent evaluation of temporal tends in publications, a special annual search began in 2000 which focused on a subset of key seismology and Earth science journals: Bulletin of Seismological Society of America, Journal of Geophysical Research, Seismological Research Letters, Geophysical Research Letters, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, Tectonophysics, Geophysical Journal International, Nature, Science, Geology and EOS. Using different search engines as Scirus, ScienceDirect, GeoRef, OCLC First Search, EASI Search, NASA Abstract Service etc. for online journals and publishers' databases, we searched for key words (IRIS

A novel iris patterns matching algorithm of weighted polar frequency correlation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Weijie; Jiang, Linhua

2014-11-01

Iris recognition is recognized as one of the most accurate techniques for biometric authentication. In this paper, we present a novel correlation method - Weighted Polar Frequency Correlation(WPFC) - to match and evaluate two iris images, actually it can also be used for evaluating the similarity of any two images. The WPFC method is a novel matching and evaluating method for iris image matching, which is complete different from the conventional methods. For instance, the classical John Daugman's method of iris recognition uses 2D Gabor wavelets to extract features of iris image into a compact bit stream, and then matching two bit streams with hamming distance. Our new method is based on the correlation in the polar coordinate system in frequency domain with regulated weights. The new method is motivated by the observation that the pattern of iris that contains far more information for recognition is fine structure at high frequency other than the gross shapes of iris images. Therefore, we transform iris images into frequency domain and set different weights to frequencies. Then calculate the correlation of two iris images in frequency domain. We evaluate the iris images by summing the discrete correlation values with regulated weights, comparing the value with preset threshold to tell whether these two iris images are captured from the same person or not. Experiments are carried out on both CASIA database and self-obtained images. The results show that our method is functional and reliable. Our method provides a new prospect for iris recognition system.

Ingestion of a carbonated beverage decreases lower esophageal sphincter pressure and increases frequency of transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxation in normal subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Shukla, Akash; Meshram, Megha; Gopan, Amrit; Ganjewar, Vaibhav; Kumar, Praveen; Bhatia, Shobna J

2012-06-01

Transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxation (tLESR) and decreased basal lower esophageal sphincter (LES) pressure are postulated mechanisms of gastroesophageal reflux (GER). There is conflicting evidence on the effect of carbonated drinks on lower esophageal sphincter function. This study was conducted to assess the effect of a carbonated beverage on tLESR and LES pressure. High resolution manometry tracings (16 channel water-perfused, Trace 1.2, Hebbard, Australia) were obtained in 18 healthy volunteers (6 men) for 30 min each at baseline, and after 200 mL of chilled potable water and 200 mL of chilled carbonated cola drink (Pepsi [Pepsico India Ltd]). The sequence of administration of the drinks was determined by random number method generated by a computer. The analysis of tracings was done using TRACE 1.2 software by a physician who was unaware of the sequence of administration of fluids. The mean (SD) age of the participant was 37.3 (12.9) years. The median (range) frequency of tLESr was higher after the carbonated beverage (10.5 [0-26]) as compared to baseline (0 [0-3], p = 0.005) as well as after water (1 [0-14], p = 0.010). The LES pressure decreased after ingestion of the carbonated beverage (18.5 [11-37] mmHg) compared to baseline (40.5 [25-66] mmHg, p = 0.0001) and after water (34 [15-67] mmHg, p = 0.003). Gastric pressure was not different in the three groups. Ingestion of a carbonated beverage increases tLESr and lowers LES pressure in healthy subjects.

Internal anal sphincter myopathy causing proctalgia fugax and constipation: further clinical and radiological characterization in a patient.

Science.gov (United States)

Guy, R J; Kamm, M A; Martin, J E

1997-02-01

We report a case of a distinctive familial internal anal sphincter myopathy with unique histological and radiological features. A 67-year-old woman presented with a 20-year history of proctalgia fugax and outlet obstruction; other family members were similarly affected. Computed tomograpy and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a grossly hypertrophied internal anal sphincter. Strip myectomy of the sphincter was carried out with improvement in evacuation but little relief of proctalgia. Further relief of symptoms was obtained using oral and transdermal nitrates and a calcium antagonist. Histological examination of the excised muscle revealed hypertrophy and an abnormal arrangement of fibres in whorls; many fibres contained vacuoles with inclusion bodies positive for periodic acid-Schiff. This description of a specific anal sphincter myopathy illustrates the potential importance of histopathological studies of smooth muscle in functional disorders of the gut.

Iris recognition based on robust principal component analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Karn, Pradeep; He, Xiao Hai; Yang, Shuai; Wu, Xiao Hong

2014-11-01

Iris images acquired under different conditions often suffer from blur, occlusion due to eyelids and eyelashes, specular reflection, and other artifacts. Existing iris recognition systems do not perform well on these types of images. To overcome these problems, we propose an iris recognition method based on robust principal component analysis. The proposed method decomposes all training images into a low-rank matrix and a sparse error matrix, where the low-rank matrix is used for feature extraction. The sparsity concentration index approach is then applied to validate the recognition result. Experimental results using CASIA V4 and IIT Delhi V1iris image databases showed that the proposed method achieved competitive performances in both recognition accuracy and computational efficiency.

Embedded Design Research of Iris Information Acquisition System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huiyan Xu

2014-09-01

Full Text Available In view of the limitation of traditional identification, it is easy to lose and copy keys, cards or ID cards, and it is easy to forget the password, so we designed an embedded application system based on the iris identification technology, which can realize the functions of gathering, inputting, and registering the iris information and identification. The hardware circuit was designed by using advanced RISC machines (ARM embedded microprocessor as the core. The iris sensor was used to gather the iris information, and the development of software was accomplished with the embedded OS Windows CE. The system can be used on the company entrance guard system, customs security of airport and criminal identification.

Endosonographic and manometric assessment of the anal sphincters after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudol-Szopinska, I.; Jakubowski, W.; Ciesielski, A.; Bielecki, K.; Baczuk, L.; Tarnowski, W.

2003-01-01

Background. The aim of this study was to compare endosonography and manometry of the anal sphincters in patients after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA). Patients and methods. Ten patients aged between 23 and 50 years with IPAA performed for ulcerative colitis were examined with anal endosonography (AES) and manometry. Results. AES visualised abnormal image of the internal anal sphincter (IAS) in 9 patients (90%). Defects of the external anal sphincter (EAS) and puborectalis muscle (PR) were shown in 4 patients (40%). In 5 patients (50%) correlation between endosonographic and manometric assessment for the all analysed muscles: IAS, EAS and PR was found. In 4 cases (40%) both methods correlated with the evaluation of the EAS only and in 1 patient (10%) no correlation was found. Correlation between both methods for the IAS was found in half of the patients (50%) while in the evaluation of the EAS and PR dynamic activity, it was found in 9 cases (90%). Conclusions. Anal endosonography and manometry allow us to assess the morphology as well as the function of the anal sphincters in patients with IPAA. The methods mentioned above show high correlation in the assessment of the EAS function (9 cases; 90%) whereas in the case of IAS, manometry frequently (5 patients; 50%) does not confirm endosonografically detected defects. (author)

Sphincter preservation in distal CT2N0 rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wasserberg, Nir; Kundel, Yulia; Purim, Ofer; Keidar, Andrei; Kashtan, Hanoch; Sadot, Eran; Fenig, Eyal; Brenner, Baruch

2014-01-01

Preoperative chemoradiotherapy is usually not indicated for cT2N0 rectal cancer. Abdominoperineal resection is the standard treatment for distal rectal tumors. The aim of the study was to evaluate the actual sphincter-preservation rate in patients with distal cT2N0 rectal cancer given neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Data were retrospectively collected for all patients who were diagnosed with distal cT2N0 rectal cancer at a tertiary medical center in 2000–2008 and received chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery (5–7 weeks later). Thirty-three patients (22 male) of median age 65 years (range, 32–88) were identified. Tumor distance from the anal verge ranged from 0 to 5 cm. R0 resection with sphincter preservation was accomplished in 22 patients (66%), with a 22% pathological complete response rate. Median follow-up time was 62 months (range 7–120). There were no local failures. Crude disease-free and overall survival were 82% and 86%, respectively. Factors associated with sphincter preservation were tumor location (OR = 0.58, p = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.37-0.91) and pathological downstaging (OR = 7.8, p = 0.02, 95% CI = 1.35-45.85). Chemoradiotherapy was well tolerated. High rates of sphincter preservation can be achieved after preoperative chemoradiotherapy for distal cT2N0 rectal cancer, with tolerable toxicity, without compromising oncological outcome

An automatic iris occlusion estimation method based on high-dimensional density estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yung-Hui; Savvides, Marios

2013-04-01

Iris masks play an important role in iris recognition. They indicate which part of the iris texture map is useful and which part is occluded or contaminated by noisy image artifacts such as eyelashes, eyelids, eyeglasses frames, and specular reflections. The accuracy of the iris mask is extremely important. The performance of the iris recognition system will decrease dramatically when the iris mask is inaccurate, even when the best recognition algorithm is used. Traditionally, people used the rule-based algorithms to estimate iris masks from iris images. However, the accuracy of the iris masks generated this way is questionable. In this work, we propose to use Figueiredo and Jain's Gaussian Mixture Models (FJ-GMMs) to model the underlying probabilistic distributions of both valid and invalid regions on iris images. We also explored possible features and found that Gabor Filter Bank (GFB) provides the most discriminative information for our goal. Finally, we applied Simulated Annealing (SA) technique to optimize the parameters of GFB in order to achieve the best recognition rate. Experimental results show that the masks generated by the proposed algorithm increase the iris recognition rate on both ICE2 and UBIRIS dataset, verifying the effectiveness and importance of our proposed method for iris occlusion estimation.

Relationship between external anal sphincter atrophy at endoanal magnetic resonance imaging and clinical, functional, and anatomic characteristics in patients with fecal incontinence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Terra, Maaike P.; Deutekom, Marije; Beets-Tan, Regina G. H.; Engel, Alexander F.; Janssen, Lucas W. M.; Boeckxstaens, Guy E. E.; Dobben, Annette C.; Baeten, Cor G. M. I.; de Priester, Jacobus A.; Bossuyt, Patrick M. M.; Stoker, Jaap

2006-01-01

PURPOSE: External anal sphincter atrophy at endoanal magnetic resonance imaging has been associated with poor outcome of anal sphincter repair. We studied the relationship between external anal sphincter atrophy on endoanal magnetic resonance imaging and clinical, functional, and anatomic

IRIS Nuclear Power Plant design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M. D.; Cobian, J.

2002-01-01

IRIS(International Reactor Innovative and Secure) is a novel light water reactor with a modular, integral primary system configuration. This concept, initially developed in response to the first NERI solicitation, is now being pursued by an international consortium of 20 participants from seven countries. IRIS is designed to satisfy the four key requirements for Generation IV systems: enhanced safety, improved economics, proliferation resistance and waste minimization. Its main features are: small-to-medium power (100-335 MWe/module); long life core 5 to 10 years) without shuffling or refueling; optimized maintenance with repair shutdown intervals of a least four years; simplified compact design with the primary vessel housing steam generators, pressurizer and pumps; safety by design where accidents are positively eliminated by design rather than engineering to cope with their consequences; loss of coolant accidents of any size and loss of low accidents are eliminated as major safety concerns; estimated power generation total cost is projected to be competitive with other power options. IRIS is one of four new reactor designs currently under NRC review. Projected schedule calls for design certification by 2008 and being ready for deployment by 2001 or later. This rather short schedule is made possible by the fact that IRIS is based on proven light water technology and new technology development is not required. (Author)

Effect of clebopride on lower esophageal sphincter pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Ribeiro, V; da Silva, A L; Castro, L de P

1981-01-01

In 12 individuals without gastrointestinal symptoms, the IV administration of metoclopramide and of clebopride produced both a significant increase on the lower esophageal sphincter pressure. The increase induced by clebopride was significantly higher than that induced by metoclopramide. The tolerability of clebopride was satisfactory with just mild drowsiness being noted in most cases.

The male bulbospongiosus muscle and its relation to the external anal sphincter.

Science.gov (United States)

Peikert, Kevin; Platzek, Ivan; Bessède, Thomas; May, Christian Albrecht

2015-04-01

The bulbospongiosus muscle is part of the superficial muscular layer of the perineum and pelvic floor. Its morphology remains controversial in the literature. Therefore, we reinvestigated the fascial arrangement and fiber courses of the bulbospongiosus muscle and its topographical relation to the external anal sphincter. The perineum was dissected in 9 male cadavers (mean ± SD age 78.3 ± 10.7 years). Select samples were obtained for histology and immunohistochemistry. In 43 patients (mean age 60.7 ± 12 years) the topographical relation between the bulbospongiosus muscle and the external anal sphincter was determined by magnetic resonance imaging. The perineum contains several fascial layers consisting of elastic and collagen fibers as well as bundles of smooth muscle cells. The bulbospongiosus muscle was subdivided into a ventral and dorsal portion, which developed in 4 variants. The ventral insertion formed a morphological unity with the ischiocavernous muscle while the dorsal origin had a variable relation to the external anal sphincter (5 variants). A muscle-like or connective tissue-like connection was frequently present between the muscles. However, in some cases the muscles were completely separated. We suggest a concept of variations of bulbospongiosus muscle morphology that unifies the conflicting literature. Its ventral fiber group and the ischiocavernosus muscle form a functional and morphological unity. While the bulbospongiosus muscle and the external anal sphincter remain independent muscles, their frequent connection might have clinical implications for perineal surgery and anogenital disorders. Copyright © 2015 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is glutamate involved in transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hirsch, D. P.; Tytgat, G. N. J.; Boeckxstaens, G. E. E.

2002-01-01

Glutamate is an important excitatory amino acid and plays a major role in brain stem neurotransmission. Although the effect of glutamate on esophaoreal motility is well studied, its role in the triggering of transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations (TLESRs) remains to be determined.

Iris Location Algorithm Based on the CANNY Operator and Gradient Hough Transform

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, L. H.; Meng, K.; Wang, Y.; Dai, Z. Q.; Li, S.

2017-12-01

In the iris recognition system, the accuracy of the localization of the inner and outer edges of the iris directly affects the performance of the recognition system, so iris localization has important research meaning. Our iris data contain eyelid, eyelashes, light spot and other noise, even the gray transformation of the images is not obvious, so the general methods of iris location are unable to realize the iris location. The method of the iris location based on Canny operator and gradient Hough transform is proposed. Firstly, the images are pre-processed; then, calculating the gradient information of images, the inner and outer edges of iris are coarse positioned using Canny operator; finally, according to the gradient Hough transform to realize precise localization of the inner and outer edge of iris. The experimental results show that our algorithm can achieve the localization of the inner and outer edges of the iris well, and the algorithm has strong anti-interference ability, can greatly reduce the location time and has higher accuracy and stability.

Muscle-Derived Cells for Treatment of Iatrogenic Sphincter Damage and Urinary Incontinence in Men

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Gerullis

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Aim of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of injection of autologous muscle-derived cells into the urinary sphincter for treatment of postprostatectomy urinary incontinence in men and to characterize the injected cells prior to transplantation. Methods. 222 male patients with stress urinary incontinence and sphincter damage after uroloical procedures were treated with transurethral injection of autologous muscle-derived cells. The transplanted cells were investigated after cultivation and prior to application by immunocytochemistry using different markers of myogenic differentiation. Feasibility and functionality assessment was achieved with a follow-up of at least 12 months. Results. Follow-up was at least 12 months. Of the 222 treated patients, 120 responded to therapy of whom 26 patients (12% were continent, and 94 patients (42% showed improvement. In 102 (46% patients, the therapy was ineffective. Clinical improvement was observed on average 4.7 months after transplantation and continued in all improved patients. The cells injected into the sphincter were at least ~50% of myogenic origin and representative for early stages of muscle cell differentiation. Conclusions. Transurethral injection of muscle-derived cells into the damaged urethral sphincter of male patients is a safe procedure. Transplanted cells represent different phases of myogenic differentiation.

Long-term outcome of internal sphincter myectomy in patients with internal anal sphincter achalasia.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Doodnath, Reshma

2012-02-01

BACKGROUND: Internal anal sphincter achalasia (IASA) is a condition with presentation similar to Hirschsprung\\'s disease (HD), but with the presence of ganglion cells on rectal suction biopsy (RSB). The diagnosis is made on anorectal manometry (ARM) by the absence of the rectosphincteric reflex on rectal balloon inflation. Internal sphincter myectomy (ISM) is the treatment of choice for patients with IASA. Recently, botulinum toxin has been used to treat IASA patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term bowel function in patients with IASA following ISM. METHODS: The medical records of 24 patients with IASA managed by ISM during 1993-2005 were examined. There were 18 boys and 6 girls, aged 2-12 years. All patients presented with intractable constipation with or without soiling. The diagnosis was made by the demonstration of the absence of the rectosphincteric reflex on ARM. HD was excluded by the presence of ganglion cells and normal acetylcholinesterase activity in RSB. Patients were followed 4-14 years later. RESULTS: Fifteen (62.5%) patients at the time of follow-up had regular bowel motions without the use of laxatives. Six (25%) patients had regular bowel motions, but remained on small doses of laxatives. Two (8.3%) patients who suffered from constipation and soiling required twice weekly enemas to remain clean. One (4.2%) patient required resection of dilated rectosigmoid colon 3 years after myectomy, remains on laxatives, but has normal bowel control. No patients had faecal incontinence following ISM. CONCLUSION: This long-term follow-up study shows that the vast majority of IASA patients have normal bowel control following ISM.

Trichostatin A (TSA) improves the development of rabbit-rabbit intraspecies cloned embryos, but not rabbit-human interspecies cloned embryos.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Li-Hong; Miao, Yi-Liang; Ouyang, Ying-Chun; Huang, Jun-Cheng; Lei, Zi-Li; Yang, Ji-Wen; Han, Zhi-Ming; Song, Xiang-Fen; Sun, Qing-Yuan; Chen, Da-Yuan

2008-03-01

The interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) technique for therapeutic cloning gives great promise for treatment of many human diseases. However, the incomplete nuclear reprogramming and the low blastocyst rate of iSCNT are still big problems. Herein, we observed the effect of TSA on the development of rabbit-rabbit intraspecies and rabbit-human interspecies cloned embryos. After treatment with TSA for 6 hr during activation, we found that the blastocyst rate of rabbit-rabbit cloned embryos was more than two times higher than that of untreated embryos; however, the blastocyst rate of TSA-treated rabbit-human interspecies cloned embryos decreased. We also found evident time-dependent histone deacetylation-reacetylation changes in rabbit-rabbit cloned embryos, but not in rabbit-human cloned embryos from fusion to 6 hr after activation. Our results suggest that TSA-treatment does not improve blastocyst development of rabbit-human iSCNT embryos and that abnormal histone deacetylation-reacetylation changes in iSCNT embryos may account for their poor blastocyst development. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Let the IRIS Bloom:Regrowing the integrated risk information system (IRIS) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Science.gov (United States)

Dourson, Michael L

2018-05-03

The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has an important role in protecting public health. Originally it provided a single database listing official risk values equally valid for all Agency offices, and was an important tool for risk assessment communication across EPA. Started in 1986, IRIS achieved full standing in 1990 when it listed 500 risk values, the effort of two senior EPA groups over 5 years of monthly face-to-face meetings, to assess combined risk data from multiple Agency offices. Those groups were disbanded in 1995, and the lack of continuing face-to-face meetings meant that IRIS became no longer EPA's comprehensive database of risk values or their latest evaluations. As a remedy, a work group of the Agency's senior scientists should be re-established to evaluate new risks and to update older ones. Risk values to be reviewed would come from the same EPA offices now developing such information on their own. Still, this senior group would have the final authority on posting a risk value in IRIS, independently of individual EPA offices. This approach could also lay the groundwork for an all-government IRIS database, especially needed as more government Agencies, industries and non-governmental organizations are addressing evolving risk characterizations. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Iris recognition in less constrained environments: a video-based approach

OpenAIRE

Mahadeo, Nitin Kumar

2017-01-01

This dissertation focuses on iris biometrics. Although the iris is the most accurate biometric, its adoption has been relatively slow. Conventional iris recognition systems utilize still eye images captured in ideal environments and require highly constrained subject presentation. A drop in recognition performance is observed when these constraints are removed as the quality of the data acquired is affected by heterogeneous factors. For iris recognition to be widely adopted, it can therefore ...

Hepatitis E Virus in Farmed Rabbits, Wild Rabbits and Petting Farm Rabbits in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burt, S.A.; Veltman, Jorg; Hakze-van der Honing, Renate; Schmitt, Heike; van der Poel, Wim H.M.

2016-01-01

Rabbits have been suggested as a zoonotic source of Hepatitis E virus. Phylogenetic analysis of HEV isolates from farmed, wild and pet rabbits in the Netherlands (23, 0, and 60 % respectively) showed them to be grouped amongst published rabbit HEV sequences and distinct from most human isolates.

The fast iris image clarity evaluation based on Tenengrad and ROI selection

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Shuqin; Han, Min; Cheng, Xu

2018-04-01

In iris recognition system, the clarity of iris image is an important factor that influences recognition effect. In the process of recognition, the blurred image may possibly be rejected by the automatic iris recognition system, which will lead to the failure of identification. Therefore it is necessary to evaluate the iris image definition before recognition. Considered the existing evaluation methods on iris image definition, we proposed a fast algorithm to evaluate the definition of iris image in this paper. In our algorithm, firstly ROI (Region of Interest) is extracted based on the reference point which is determined by using the feature of the light spots within the pupil, then Tenengrad operator is used to evaluate the iris image's definition. Experiment results show that, the iris image definition algorithm proposed in this paper could accurately distinguish the iris images of different clarity, and the algorithm has the merit of low computational complexity and more effectiveness.

Retrospective Evaluation of Topical Bimatoprost and Iris Pigmentation Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaleski-Larsen, Lisa A; Ruth, Nadine H; Fabi, Sabrina G

2017-12-01

Topical bimatoprost is a topical prostaglandin analog originally used to treat glaucoma and more recently used to cosmetically induce hypertrichosis of the eyelashes. Iris pigmentation change has been noted in the treatment of glaucoma but has not been assessed with the cosmetic periorbital application of bimatoprost. To evaluate for iris pigmentation change with the long-term cosmetic use of topical bimatoprost. A retrospective chart review in a cosmetic dermatology practice of women (N = 50) who consistently purchased topical bimatoprost over an average of 4.59 years was compared with that of age-matched non-bimatoprost patients (N = 50). A blinded evaluator assessed each patient for iris pigmentary change. No iris pigmentation change was noted with the cutaneous application of bimatoprost. The cutaneous application of bimatoprost appears to be safe with minimal risk for iris pigmentation change.

IRIS: Proceeding Towards the Preliminary Design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M.; Miller, K.; Lombardi, C.; Todreas, N.; Greenspan, E.; Ninokata, H.; Lopez, F.; Cinotti, L.; Collado, J.; Oriolo, F.; Alonso, G.; Morales, M.; Boroughs, R.; Barroso, A.; Ingersoll, D.; Cavlina, N.

2002-01-01

The IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) project has completed the conceptual design phase and is moving towards completion of the preliminary design, scheduled for the end of 2002. Several other papers presented in this conference provide details on major aspects of the IRIS design. The three most innovative features which uniquely characterize IRIS are, in descending order of impact: 1. Safety-by-design, which takes maximum advantage of the integral configuration to eliminate from consideration some accidents, greatly lessen the consequence of other accident scenarios and decrease their probability of occurring; 2. Optimized maintenance, where the interval between maintenance shutdowns is extended to 48 months; and 3. Long core life, of at least four years without shuffling or partial refueling. Regarding feature 1, design and analyses will be supplemented by an extensive testing campaign to verify and demonstrate the performance of the integral components, individually as well as interactive systems. Test planning is being initiated. Test results will be factored into PRA analyses under an overall risk informed regulation approach, which is planned to be used in the IRIS licensing. Pre-application activities with NRC are also scheduled to start in mid 2002. Regarding feature 2, effort is being focused on advanced online diagnostics for the integral components, first of all the steam generators, which are the most critical component; several techniques are being investigated. Finally, a four year long life core design is well underway and some of the IRIS team members are examining higher enrichment, eight to ten year life cores which could be considered for reloads. (authors)

Hepatitis E Virus in Farmed Rabbits, Wild Rabbits and Petting Farm Rabbits in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burt, Sara A.; Veltman, Jorg; Hakze-van der Honing, Renate; Schmitt, Heike; Poel, van der Wim H.M.

2016-01-01

Rabbits have been suggested as a zoonotic source of Hepatitis E virus. Phylogenetic analysis of HEV isolates from farmed, wild and pet rabbits in the Netherlands (23, 0, and 60 % respectively) showed them to be grouped amongst published rabbit HEV sequences and distinct from most human isolates.

Iris image enhancement for feature recognition and extraction

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mabuza, GP

2012-10-01

Full Text Available the employment of other algorithms and commands so as to better present and demonstrate the obtained results. Edge detection and enhancing images for use in an iris recognition system allow for efficient recognition and extraction of iris patterns. REFERENCES... Gonzalez, R.C. and Woods, R.E. 2002. Digital Image Processing 2nd Edition, Instructor?s manual .Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, pp 17-36. Proen?a, H. and Alexandre, L.A. 2007. Toward Noncooperative Iris Recognition: A classification approach using...

Ocular pharmacokinetics and tolerability of bimatoprost ophthalmic solutions administered once or twice daily in rabbits, and clinical dosing implications

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Jie; Goodkin, Margot L; Tong, Warren; Attar, Mayssa

2017-01-01

Purpose Fixed-combination medications can benefit patients requiring multiple agents to lower their intraocular pressure (IOP), but combining agents with complementary mechanisms of action is challenging if their dosing frequency differs. This study compares in vivo pharmacokinetic and ocular tolerability of bimatoprost 0.01% ophthalmic solutions dosed once or twice daily. Reports of twice-daily dosing in glaucoma patients are also reviewed. Methods New Zealand White rabbits were administered bimatoprost 0.01% monotherapy or fixed-combination bimatoprost 0.01%/brimonidine 0.1%, once or twice daily in both eyes for 4 days. Ocular tissues were harvested and analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The pharmacokinetic parameters calculated included maximum observed concentration, time to maximum concentration, and area under the concentration-time curve. Results Due to extensive metabolism, bimatoprost concentration was below the quantitation limit by 1 hour post-dose in all samples. Bimatoprost acid exposure, however, could be measured up to 6–8 hours post-dose and was similar in the aqueous humor and iris-ciliary body (pharmacological site of action) of animals treated once or twice daily with either bimatoprost 0.01% or fixed-combination bimatoprost 0.01%/brimonidine 0.1%. Increasing dosage frequency in rabbits did not raise the incidence of drug-related conjunctival hyperemia (most common adverse event associated with bimatoprost use in humans), suggesting comparable ocular tolerability of the once- and twice-daily regimens for each formulation. Conclusion Bimatoprost 0.01% administered once or twice daily as monotherapy and in fixed-combination with brimonidine 0.1% in rabbits show similar pharmacokinetic profiles of bimatoprost acid, especially in the iris-ciliary body. Key findings from previous clinical studies suggest that by varying the concentration of benzalkonium chloride (a preservative with corneal penetration-enhancing properties

Free-Floating Iris Cyst in a Patient with Recurrent Iritis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanne M.Y. Teong

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: We describe an unusual clinical finding of a free-floating iris cyst in a patient with recurrent iritis. Method: The clinical finding of a free-floating iris cyst was recorded using slit-lamp photography. Results: A 39-year-old male with a 5-year history of recurrent right iritis was found to have a small mobile iris cyst within his right anterior chamber, first identified 3 years ago. The patient did not experience any discomfort or visual symptoms resulting from the cyst. Conclusion: Surgical removal is not indicated for asymptomatic non-progressive free-floating iris cysts. The significance of a free-floating iris cyst in the setting of recurrent iritis remains unknown.

Correlation of iris biometrics and DNA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harder, Stine; Clemmensen, Line Katrine Harder; Dahl, Anders Bjorholm

2013-01-01

The presented work concerns prediction of complex human phenotypes from genotypes. We were interested in correlating iris color and texture with DNA. Our data consist of 212 eye images along with DNA: 32 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We used two types of biometrics to describe the eye...... images: One for iris color and one for iris texture. Both biometrics were high dimensional and a sparse principle component analysis (SPCA) reduced the dimensions and resulted in a representation of data with good interpretability. The correlations between the sparse principal components (SPCs......) and the 32 SNPs were found using a canonical correlation analysis (CCA). The result was a single significant canonical correlation (CC) for both biometrics. Each CC comprised two correlated canonical variables, consisting of a linear combination of SPCs and a linear combination of SNPs, respectively...

Iris Recognition for Partially Occluded Images: Methodology and Sensitivity Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Poursaberi A

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Accurate iris detection is a crucial part of an iris recognition system. One of the main issues in iris segmentation is coping with occlusion that happens due to eyelids and eyelashes. In the literature, some various methods have been suggested to solve the occlusion problem. In this paper, two different segmentations of iris are presented. In the first algorithm, a circle is located around the pupil with an appropriate diameter. The iris area encircled by the circular boundary is used for recognition purposes then. In the second method, again a circle is located around the pupil with a larger diameter. This time, however, only the lower part of the encircled iris area is utilized for individual recognition. Wavelet-based texture features are used in the process. Hamming and harmonic mean distance classifiers are exploited as a mixed classifier in suggested algorithm. It is observed that relying on a smaller but more reliable part of the iris, though reducing the net amount of information, improves the overall performance. Experimental results on CASIA database show that our method has a promising performance with an accuracy of 99.31%. The sensitivity of the proposed method is analyzed versus contrast, illumination, and noise as well, where lower sensitivity to all factors is observed when the lower half of the iris is used for recognition.

Dynamic Features for Iris Recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

da Costa, R M; Gonzaga, A

2012-08-01

The human eye is sensitive to visible light. Increasing illumination on the eye causes the pupil of the eye to contract, while decreasing illumination causes the pupil to dilate. Visible light causes specular reflections inside the iris ring. On the other hand, the human retina is less sensitive to near infra-red (NIR) radiation in the wavelength range from 800 nm to 1400 nm, but iris detail can still be imaged with NIR illumination. In order to measure the dynamic movement of the human pupil and iris while keeping the light-induced reflexes from affecting the quality of the digitalized image, this paper describes a device based on the consensual reflex. This biological phenomenon contracts and dilates the two pupils synchronously when illuminating one of the eyes by visible light. In this paper, we propose to capture images of the pupil of one eye using NIR illumination while illuminating the other eye using a visible-light pulse. This new approach extracts iris features called "dynamic features (DFs)." This innovative methodology proposes the extraction of information about the way the human eye reacts to light, and to use such information for biometric recognition purposes. The results demonstrate that these features are discriminating features, and, even using the Euclidean distance measure, an average accuracy of recognition of 99.1% was obtained. The proposed methodology has the potential to be "fraud-proof," because these DFs can only be extracted from living irises.

Changes of the eye optics after iris constriction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Montés-Micó

2010-10-01

Conclusion: Iris constriction slightly modifies the optics of the eye. The small hyperopic shift of the best image plane after iris constriction may be explained by a change in the lens shape and/or position.

IS (Iris Security)

OpenAIRE

Iovane, G.; Tortoriello, F. S.

2003-01-01

In the paper will be presented a safety system based on iridology. The results suggest a new scenario where the security problem in supervised and unsupervised areas can be treat with the present system and the iris image recognition.

Improved Iris Recognition through Fusion of Hamming Distance and Fragile Bit Distance.

Science.gov (United States)

Hollingsworth, Karen P; Bowyer, Kevin W; Flynn, Patrick J

2011-12-01

The most common iris biometric algorithm represents the texture of an iris using a binary iris code. Not all bits in an iris code are equally consistent. A bit is deemed fragile if its value changes across iris codes created from different images of the same iris. Previous research has shown that iris recognition performance can be improved by masking these fragile bits. Rather than ignoring fragile bits completely, we consider what beneficial information can be obtained from the fragile bits. We find that the locations of fragile bits tend to be consistent across different iris codes of the same eye. We present a metric, called the fragile bit distance, which quantitatively measures the coincidence of the fragile bit patterns in two iris codes. We find that score fusion of fragile bit distance and Hamming distance works better for recognition than Hamming distance alone. To our knowledge, this is the first and only work to use the coincidence of fragile bit locations to improve the accuracy of matches.

Velopharyngeal sphincter pathophysiologic aspects in the in cleft palat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Collares, Marcus Vinicius Martins

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Cleft lip and palate are common congenital abnormalities with typical functional disorders on speech, deglutition and middle ear function. Objective: This article reviews functional labiopalatine disorders through a pathophysiological view. Method: We performed a literature search on line, as well as books and periodicals related to velopharyngeal sphincter. Our sources were LILACS, MEDLINE and SciELO databases, and we applied to the research Keywords of interest on the velopharyngeal pathophysiology, for articles published between 1965 and 2007. Conclusion: Velopharyngeal sphincter plays a central role in speech, swallowing and middle ear physiology in patients with labiopalatine cleft. At the end of our bibliographic review, pursuant to the velopharyngeal physiology in individuals with this disorder in the functional speech, deglutition and otologic function, we observed that although there is a great number of published data discussing this issue, further studies are necessary to completely understand the pathophysiology, due to the fact they have been exploited superficially.

Long-term effect of sphincteric fatigue during bladder neurostimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, J S; Hassouna, M; Sawan, M; Duval, F; Elhilali, M M

1995-01-01

Commercially available stimulators lack several features, including multiple channel capability and flexible stimulation parameters. These factors limit clinical application. A new computerized electrical stimulator system was developed by our team and evaluated for its efficacy in bladder evacuation in an animal model after spinal cord transection. The system can generate a wide range of stimulation characteristics and has the feature of being a programmable multichannel pacemaker. It has enabled us to induce a reversible fatigue to the external sphincter that results in proper bladder emptying on stimulation. Using this new bladder pacemaker, 8 dogs were studied. We applied the concept of fatiguing of the external sphincter via the pudendal nerve to avoid rhizotomy. We determined the optimal stimulation parameters that can reliably empty the dog's bladder for the duration of the experiment, which lasted for 8 months. The new computerized electrical stimulation system achieved the objective of reducing bladder outlet resistance without the need for sacral rhizotomy.

Automatic quantification of iris color

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christoffersen, S.; Harder, Stine; Andersen, J. D.

2012-01-01

regions. The result is a blue-brown ratio for each eye. Furthermore, an image clustering approach has been used with promising results. The approach is based on using a sparse dictionary of feature vectors learned from a training set of iris regions. The feature vectors contain both local structural...... information and colour information. For each iris an explanatory histogram is build, containing information about the weighted occurrence of each visual word. A hierarchical agglomerative clustering of the entire set of photos is performed using the distance between the explanatory histograms. The approach...

IRIS Arrays: Observing Wavefields at Multiple Scales and Frequencies

Science.gov (United States)

Sumy, D. F.; Woodward, R.; Frassetto, A.

2014-12-01

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) provides instruments for creating and operating seismic arrays at a wide range of scales. As an example, for over thirty years the IRIS PASSCAL program has provided instruments to individual Principal Investigators to deploy arrays of all shapes and sizes on every continent. These arrays have ranged from just a few sensors to hundreds or even thousands of sensors, covering areas with dimensions of meters to thousands of kilometers. IRIS also operates arrays directly, such as the USArray Transportable Array (TA) as part of the EarthScope program. Since 2004, the TA has rolled across North America, at any given time spanning a swath of approximately 800 km by 2,500 km, and thus far sampling 2% of the Earth's surface. This achievement includes all of the lower-48 U.S., southernmost Canada, and now parts of Alaska. IRIS has also facilitated specialized arrays in polar environments and on the seafloor. In all cases, the data from these arrays are freely available to the scientific community. As the community of scientists who use IRIS facilities and data look to the future they have identified a clear need for new array capabilities. In particular, as part of its Wavefields Initiative, IRIS is exploring new technologies that can enable large, dense array deployments to record unaliased wavefields at a wide range of frequencies. Large-scale arrays might utilize multiple sensor technologies to best achieve observing objectives and optimize equipment and logistical costs. Improvements in packaging and power systems can provide equipment with reduced size, weight, and power that will reduce logistical constraints for large experiments, and can make a critical difference for deployments in harsh environments or other situations where rapid deployment is required. We will review the range of existing IRIS array capabilities with an overview of previous and current deployments and examples of data and results. We

Postpartum two- and three-dimensional ultrasound evaluation of anal sphincter complex in women with obstetric anal sphincter injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Ros, C; Martínez-Franco, E; Wozniak, M M; Cassado, J; Santoro, G A; Elías, N; López, M; Palacio, M; Wieczorek, A P; Espuña-Pons, M

2017-04-01

To compare the sensitivity and specificity of two- (2D) and three- (3D) dimensional transperineal ultrasound (TPUS) and 3D endovaginal ultrasound (EVUS) with the gold standard 3D endoanal ultrasound (EAUS) in detecting residual defects after primary repair of obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS). External (EAS) and internal (IAS) anal sphincters were evaluated by the four ultrasound modalities in women with repaired OASIS. 2D-TPUS was evaluated in real-time, whereas 3D-TPUS, 3D-EVUS and 3D-EAUS volumes were evaluated offline by six blinded readers. The presence/absence of any tear in EAS or IAS was recorded and defects were scored according to the Starck system. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were calculated, using 3D-EAUS as reference standard. Inter- and intraobserver analyses were performed for all 3D imaging modalities. Association between patients' symptoms (Wexner score) and ultrasound findings (Starck score) was calculated. Images from 55 patients were analyzed. Compared with findings on 3D-EAUS, the agreement for EAS evaluation was poor for 3D-EVUS (κ = 0.01), fair for 2D-TPUS (κ = 0.30) and good for 3D-TPUS (κ = 0.73). The agreement for IAS evaluation was moderate for both 3D-EVUS (κ = 0.41) and 2D-TPUS (κ = 0.52) and good for 3D-TPUS (κ = 0.66). Good intraobserver (3D-EAUS, κ = 0.73; 3D-TPUS, κ = 0.78) and interobserver (3D-EAUS, κ = 0.68; 3D-TPUS, κ = 0.60) agreement was reported. Significant association between Starck and Wexner scores was found only for 3D-EAUS (Spearman's rho = 0.277, P = 0.04). 2D-TPUS and 3D-EVUS are not accurate modalities for the assessment of anal sphincters after repair of OASIS. 3D-TPUS shows good agreement with the gold standard 3D-EAUS and a high sensitivity in detecting residual defects. It, thus, has potential as a screening tool after primary repair of OASIS. Copyright © 2016 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Copyright © 2016 ISUOG

Iris ultrastructure in patients with synechiae as revealed by in vivo laser scanning confocal microscopy : In vivo iris ultrastructure in patients with Synechiae by Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ming; Cheng, Hongbo; Guo, Ping; Zhang, Chun; Tang, Song; Wang, Shusheng

2016-04-26

Iris plays important roles in ocular physiology and disease pathogenesis. Currently it is technically challenging to noninvasively examine the human iris ultrastructure in vivo. The purpose of the current study is to reveal human iris ultrastructure in patients with synechiae by using noninvasive in vivo laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). The ultrastructure of iris in thirty one patients, each with synechiae but transparent cornea, was examined by in vivo LSCM. Five characteristic iris ultrastructures was revealed in patients with synechiae by in vivo LSCM, which include: 1. tree trunk-like structure; 2. tree branch/bush-like structure; 3. Fruit-like structure; 4. Epithelioid-like structure; 5. deep structure. Pigment granules can be observed as a loose structure on the top of the arborization structure. In iris-associated diseases with Tyndall's Phenomenon and keratic precipitates, the pigment particles are more likely to fall off from the arborization structure. The ultrastructure of iris in patients with synechiae has been visualized using in vivo LSCM. Five iris ultrastructures can be clearly observed, with some of the structures maybe disease-associated. The fall-off of the pigment particles may cause the Tyndall's Phenomenon positive. In vivo LSCM provides a non-invasive approach to observe the human iris ultrastructure under certain eye disease conditions, which sets up a foundation to visualize certain iris-associated diseases in the future.

Hereditary vacuolar internal anal sphincter myopathy causing proctalgia fugax and constipation: a new case contribution.

Science.gov (United States)

de la Portilla, Fernando; Borrero, Juan José; Rafel, Enrique

2005-03-01

Hereditary anal sphincter myopathy is rare. We present a family with one affected member with proctalgia fugax, constipation and internal anal sphincter hypertrophy. Ultrastructural findings show vacuolization of smooth muscle cells without the characteristic polyglucosan inclusion. Further relief of symptoms was obtained using an oral calcium antagonist. Based on clinical presentation, endosonography and morphological findings, we consider our case is a histological variant of the vacuolar myopathy originally described.

Efficient iris recognition by characterizing key local variations.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Li; Tan, Tieniu; Wang, Yunhong; Zhang, Dexin

2004-06-01

Unlike other biometrics such as fingerprints and face, the distinct aspect of iris comes from randomly distributed features. This leads to its high reliability for personal identification, and at the same time, the difficulty in effectively representing such details in an image. This paper describes an efficient algorithm for iris recognition by characterizing key local variations. The basic idea is that local sharp variation points, denoting the appearing or vanishing of an important image structure, are utilized to represent the characteristics of the iris. The whole procedure of feature extraction includes two steps: 1) a set of one-dimensional intensity signals is constructed to effectively characterize the most important information of the original two-dimensional image; 2) using a particular class of wavelets, a position sequence of local sharp variation points in such signals is recorded as features. We also present a fast matching scheme based on exclusive OR operation to compute the similarity between a pair of position sequences. Experimental results on 2255 iris images show that the performance of the proposed method is encouraging and comparable to the best iris recognition algorithm found in the current literature.

BRCA1-IRIS Overexpression Promotes Formation of Aggressive Breast Cancers

Science.gov (United States)

Shimizu, Yoshiko; Luk, Hugh; Horio, David; Miron, Penelope; Griswold, Michael; Iglehart, Dirk; Hernandez, Brenda; Killeen, Jeffrey; ElShamy, Wael M.

2012-01-01

Introduction Women with HER2+ or triple negative/basal-like (TN/BL) breast cancers succumb to their cancer rapidly due, in part to acquired Herceptin resistance and lack of TN/BL-targeted therapies. BRCA1-IRIS is a recently discovered, 1399 residue, BRCA1 locus alternative product, which while sharing 1365 residues with the full-length product of this tumor suppressor gene, BRCA1/p220, it has oncoprotein-like properties. Here, we examine whether BRCA1-IRIS is a valuable treatment target for HER2+ and/or TN/BL tumors. Methodology/Principal Findings Immunohistochemical staining of large cohort of human breast tumor samples using new monoclonal anti-BRCA1-IRIS antibody, followed by correlation of BRCA1-IRIS expression with that of AKT1, AKT2, p-AKT, survivin and BRCA1/p220, tumor status and age at diagnosis. Generation of subcutaneous tumors in SCID mice using human mammary epithelial (HME) cells overexpressing TERT/LT/BRCA1-IRIS, followed by comparing AKT, survivin, and BRCA1/p220 expression, tumor status and aggressiveness in these tumors to that in tumors developed using TERT/LT/RasV12-overexpressing HME cells. Induction of primary and invasive rat mammary tumors using the carcinogen N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (NMU), followed by analysis of rat BRCA1-IRIS and ERα mRNA levels in these tumors. High BRCA1-IRIS expression was detected in the majority of human breast tumors analyzed, which was positively correlated with that of AKT1-, AKT2-, p-AKT-, survivin, but negatively with BRCA1/p220 expression. BRCA1-IRIS-positivity induced high-grade, early onset and metastatic HER2+ or TN/BL tumors. TERT/LT/BRCA1-IRIS overexpressing HME cells formed invasive subcutaneous tumors that express high AKT1, AKT2, p-AKT and vimentin, but no CK19, p63 or BRCA1/p220. NMU-induced primary and invasive rat breast cancers expressed high levels of rat BRCA1-IRIS mRNA but low levels of rat ERα mRNA. Conclusion/Significance BRCA1-IRIS overexpression triggers aggressive breast tumor formation

Developmental origin of the posterior pigmented epithelium of iris.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiaobing; Xiong, Kai; Lu, Lei; Gu, Dandan; Wang, Songtao; Chen, Jing; Xiao, Honglei; Zhou, Guomin

2015-03-01

Iris epithelium is a double-layered pigmented cuboidal epithelium. According to the current model, the neural retina and the posterior iris pigment epithelium (IPE) are derived from the inner wall of the optic cup, while the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the anterior IPE are derived from the outer wall of the optic cup during development. Our current study shows evidence, contradicting this model of fetal iris development. We demonstrate that human fetal iris expression patterns of Otx2 and Mitf transcription factors are similar, while the expressions of Otx2 and Sox2 are complementary. Furthermore, IPE and RPE exhibit identical morphologic development during the early embryonic period. Our results suggest that the outer layer of the optic cup forms two layers of the iris epithelium, and the posterior IPE is the inward-curling anterior rim of the outer layer of the optic cup. These findings provide a reasonable explanation of how IPE cells can be used as an appropriate substitute for RPE cells.

The design and safety features of the IRIS reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, Mario D.; Conway, L.E.; Oriani, L.; Petrovic, B.; Lombardi, C.V.; Ricotti, M.E.; Barroso, A.C.O.; Collado, J.M.; Cinotti, L.; Todreas, N.E.; Grgic, D.; Moraes, M.M.; Boroughs, R.D.; Ninokata, H.; Ingersoll, D.T.; Oriolo, F.

2004-01-01

Salient features of the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) are presented here. IRIS, an integral, modular, medium size (335 MWe) PWR, has been under development since the turn of the century by an international consortium led by Westinghouse and including over 20 organizations from nine countries. Described here are the features of the integral design which includes steam generators, pumps and pressurizer inside the vessel, together with the core, control rods, and neutron reflector/shield. A brief summary is provided of the IRIS approach to extended maintenance over a 48-month schedule. The unique IRIS safety-by-design approach is discussed, which, by eliminating accidents, at the design stage, or decreasing their consequences/probabilities when outright elimination is not possible, provides a very powerful first level of defense in depth. The safety-by-design allows a significant reduction and simplification of the passive safety systems, which are presented here, together with an assessment of the IRIS response to transients and postulated accidents

Rectocele and anal sphincter defect – surgical anatomy and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

carefully directed translabial ultrasound scan of the rectum and anal sphincters. The ultrasound examination was performed by a radi- ologist with specific understanding of the pathology. Conventional two-dimensional ultrasound imaging was performed using a 4 - 8. MHz curved array probe. The patient was in the left ...

Internet Renewable energy Information System (IRIS)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bäurle, Britta; Nielsen, Vilhjalmur; Ménard, Lionel

1999-01-01

Even though the Internet is now a widely accessible data source, the unorganised flood of information makes a specific request e.g. for renewable energy products inefficient. In addition, existing databases on renewable energies are often old and incomplete. The objective of IRIS has been...... to organise and retrieve renewable energy product information on the Internet instead of collecting it manually. Updating coincides with the self interestself-interest of manufacturers to present their latest renewable energy products on their own HTML documents. IRIS is based on a set of powerful tools...... and intends to find, extract, collect and index HTML documents with standardised META tags that are widely spread across web servers on the Internet. This paper presents the structure of IRIS, the software tools, and gives one example of how to categorise and prepare web-sites with product information...

Treatment of non-resectable malignant iris tumours with custom designed plaque radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shields, C.L.; Shields, J.A.; Potter, P. De; Singh, A.D.; Hernandez, C.; Brady, L.W.

1995-01-01

Background- Plaque radiotherapy is the most common method of managing posterior uveal melanoma but its use for iris melanoma and iris metastases has not yet been evaluated. Methods -Fourteen patients with non-resectable iris melanoma and four with iris metastasis were treated with plaque radiotherapy. The tumour response to treatment and the local side effects of the radioactive plaque were evaluated. Results -In the iris melanoma group over a mean follow up of 26 (range 6-75) months, the tumour regressed in 13 of the 14 patients (93%) and recurred as diffuse seeding in one patient (7%). Despite large doses of radiation given transcorneally, the cornea developed epitheliopathy, abraxion, and oedema in only one case each. The major radiation side effects were localised iris vasculopathy without glaucoma in two cases, posterior synechiae in five cases, and cataract in six cases. In the iris metastasis group, tumour regression was observed in all four patients (100%) and radiation side effects were not evident over the relatively short mean follow up period of 8 (range 4-9) months. All of the 14 patients with irradiated iris melanoma have remained systemically healthy without metastasis while three of the four patients with irradiated iris metastases have died of metastases from the primary neoplasm. Conclusion - Custom designed plaque radiotherapy appears to be an effective alternative method of controlling non-resectable diffuse iris melanoma and solitary iris metastasis and has relatively few side effects. (author)

[Electronic Device for Retinal and Iris Imaging].

Science.gov (United States)

Drahanský, M; Kolář, R; Mňuk, T

This paper describes design and construction of a new device for automatic capturing of eye retina and iris. This device has two possible ways of utilization - either for biometric purposes (persons recognition on the base of their eye characteristics) or for medical purposes as supporting diagnostic device. eye retina, eye iris, device, acquisition, image.

A fourier transform quality measure for iris images

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Makinana, S

2014-08-01

Full Text Available to ensure that good quality images are selected for feature extraction, in order to improve iris recognition system. In addition, this research proposes a measure of iris image quality using a Fourier Transform. The experimental results demonstrate...

A patient with multiple iris | Asselman | Southern African Journal of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

IRIS results from a pathological inflammatory response to pre-existing infective, host or other antigens, alive or dead, causing clinical deterioration in HIV-infected patients after initiating ART.1 A case definition for IRIS is shown in Table I. The most common forms of IRIS described occur in association with mycobacterial and ...

IRIS PRA preliminary results and future direction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finnicum, D.J.; Kling, C.L.; Carelli, M.D.

2004-01-01

Westinghouse is currently conducting the pre-application licensing of the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) on behalf of the IRIS Consortium. One of the key aspects of the IRIS design is the concept of safety-by-design. The PRA (Probabilistic Risk Analysis) is being used as an integral part of the design process. As part of this effort, a PRA of the initial design was generated to address 2 key areas. First, the IRIS PRA supported the evaluation of IRIS design issues by providing a solid risk basis for design and analyses required for the pre-licensing evaluation of the IRIS design. The PRA provides the tool for quantifying the benefit of the safety-by-design approach. Second, the current PRA task is beginning the preparation of the more complete PRA analyses and documentation eventually required for Design Certification. One of the key risk-related goals for IRIS is to reduce the EPZ (Emergency Protection Zone) to within the exclusion area by demonstrating that the off-site doses are consistent with the US Protective Action Guidelines (PAGs) for initiation of emergency response so that the required protective actions would be limited to the exclusion area. The results of the preliminary PRA indicated a core damage frequency of 1.2 E-08 for internal initiators. This is a very good result but much work is needed to meet the ambitious goal of no emergency response. The next phase of the PRA analyses will involve a two-fold expansion of the PRA. First, as the design and analyses approach a greater level of detail, the assumptions used for the initial PRA will be reviewed and the models will be revised as needed to reflect the improved knowledge of the system design and performance. Furthermore, as the full plant design advances, the PRA will be expanded to incorporate risk associated with external challenges such as seismic and fire, and to address low power and shutdowns modes of operation. As with the initial work, the PRA will serve as a tool to

Ekspert i undervisning - IRIS Connect

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wullum, Annemette Heine; Eriksen, Frits Hedegaard

Ekspert i undervisning – IRIS Connect Credoet bag de seneste års mange læreruddannelsesreformer har været, at flere og dybere kundskaber vil styrke de studerendes forudsætninger for at løse opgaverne i pædagogisk praksis. Et forhold, som bliver overset i forbindelse med uddannelsesreformerne, er...... praksis, og hvad ”effektiv” undervisning er. Hovedantagelserne bag projektet er, at de studerendes personbundne kundskaber kan synliggøres, at deres lægmandsopfattelser af, hvad ”effektiv” undervisning er, kan udfordres gennem analyser og drøftelser, og at brugen af IRIS Connects dataindsamlings- og...

Report printer (COBOL IRIS 50)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paul, Daniele

1973-10-01

The research thesis reports a detailed study of the Report Writer of the COBOL language in order to integrate it into the IRIS 50 COBOL compiler. In order to use existing compiler processing, the author developed a simulation of the Report Writer by using Cobol statements generated in the declarative part of the Division procedure. After a brief presentation of the IRIS 50 computer, the author presents the general plan of the compiler with modifications and adjunctions exclusively due to the Report Writer. The next part addresses the practical implementation and the problems met and solved during this implementation

[The automatic iris map overlap technology in computer-aided iridiagnosis].

Science.gov (United States)

He, Jia-feng; Ye, Hu-nian; Ye, Miao-yuan

2002-11-01

In the paper, iridology and computer-aided iridiagnosis technologies are briefly introduced and the extraction method of the collarette contour is then investigated. The iris map can be overlapped on the original iris image based on collarette contour extraction. The research on collarette contour extraction and iris map overlap is of great importance to computer-aided iridiagnosis technologies.

Novel Neurostimulation of Autonomic Pelvic Nerves Overcomes Bladder-Sphincter Dyssynergia

Science.gov (United States)

Peh, Wendy Yen Xian; Mogan, Roshini; Thow, Xin Yuan; Chua, Soo Min; Rusly, Astrid; Thakor, Nitish V.; Yen, Shih-Cheng

2018-01-01

The disruption of coordination between smooth muscle contraction in the bladder and the relaxation of the external urethral sphincter (EUS) striated muscle is a common issue in dysfunctional bladders. It is a significant challenge to overcome for neuromodulation approaches to restore bladder control. Bladder-sphincter dyssynergia leads to undesirably high bladder pressures, and poor voiding outcomes, which can pose life-threatening secondary complications. Mixed pelvic nerves are potential peripheral targets for stimulation to treat dysfunctional bladders, but typical electrical stimulation of pelvic nerves activates both the parasympathetic efferent pathway to excite the bladder, as well as the sensory afferent pathway that causes unwanted sphincter contractions. Thus, a novel pelvic nerve stimulation paradigm is required. In anesthetized female rats, we combined a low frequency (10 Hz) stimulation to evoke bladder contraction, and a more proximal 20 kHz stimulation of the pelvic nerve to block afferent activation, in order to produce micturition with reduced bladder-sphincter dyssynergia. Increasing the phase width of low frequency stimulation from 150 to 300 μs alone was able to improve voiding outcome significantly. However, low frequency stimulation of pelvic nerves alone evoked short latency (19.9–20.5 ms) dyssynergic EUS responses, which were abolished with a non-reversible proximal central pelvic nerve cut. We demonstrated that a proximal 20 kHz stimulation of pelvic nerves generated brief onset effects at lower current amplitudes, and was able to either partially or fully block the short latency EUS responses depending on the ratio of the blocking to stimulation current. Our results indicate that ratios >10 increased the efficacy of blocking EUS contractions. Importantly, we also demonstrated for the first time that this combined low and high frequency stimulation approach produced graded control of the bladder, while reversibly blocking afferent

Sphincter preservation with pre-operative radiation therapy (RT) and coloanal anastomosis: long term follow-up

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wagman, Raquel; Minsky, Bruce D.; Cohen, Alfred M.; Guillem, Jose G.; Paty, Philip B.

1997-01-01

PURPOSE: To determine the long term follow-up of sphincter preservation with pre-operative RT and coloanal anastomosis for rectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 36 pts (M:25, F:11) with invasive, clinically resectable, primary adenocarcinoma of the rectum were enrolled from 1/87 through 4/96 on a prospective Phase I/II trial. All patients were examined in the office by their operating surgeon prior to the start of RT and were judged clinically to require an abdominoperineal resection (APR) due to the proximity (but not invasion of) the tumor to the anal sphincter. By transrectal ultrasound, clinical T stage was T2:5, and T3:31. The median age was 55 years (range: 33-76 years), and the median distance from the anal verge was 4 cm (range: 3-7 cm). The median tumor size was 3.8 cm (range: 1.5-7 cm). Pts received 4680 cGy (180 cGy/day) to the whole pelvis followed by a boost to 5040 cGy followed by surgery 4-5 weeks later. Although no chemotherapy was delivered concurrently with RT, patients with pathologically positive pelvic nodes (13) or metastatic disease (6) received post-operative 5-FU based chemotherapy. All underwent fecal diversion which was closed 2-4 months post-op. Sphincter function was performed using a telephone survey according to the MSKCC sphincter function scale (Excellent: 1-2 bowel movements/day, no soilage, Good: 3-4 bowel movements/day, and/or mild soilage, fair: Episodic > 4 bowel movements/day, and/or moderate soilage, and Poor: incontinence). Actuarial calculations were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. The median follow-up was 56 months (range: 4-121 months). RESULTS: Of the 35 patients who underwent surgery (1 pt with unresectable liver mets did not undergo surgery) (27(35)) (77%) were able to undergo a coloanal anastomosis and the pathological complete response rate was 14%. Post-operative complications included 1 (3%) partial anastamotic disruption, 2 (6%) rectal stenosis, and 1 (3%) pelvic abscess. For the total group of

Characterization of basal hepatic bile flow and the effects of intravenous cholecystokinin on the liver, sphincter, and gallbladder in patients with sphincter of Oddi spasm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krishnamurthy, Gerbail T.; Krishnamurthy, Shakuntala; Watson, Randy D.

2004-01-01

The major objectives of this project were to establish the pattern of basal hepatic bile flow and the effects of intravenous administration of cholecystokinin on the liver, sphincter of Oddi, and gallbladder, and to identify reliable parameters for the diagnosis of sphincter of Oddi spasm (SOS). Eight women with clinically suspected sphincter of Oddi spasm (SOS group), ten control subjects (control group), and ten patients who had recently received an opioid (opioid group) were selected for quantitative cholescintigraphy with cholecystokinin. Each patient was studied with 111-185 MBq (3-5 mCi) technetium-99m mebrofenin after 6-8 h of fasting. Hepatic phase images were obtained for 60 min, followed by gallbladder phase images for 30 min. During the gallbladder phase, 10 ng/kg octapeptide of cholecystokinin (CCK-8) was infused over 3 min through an infusion pump. Hepatic extraction fraction, excretion half-time, basal hepatic bile flow into the gallbladder, gallbladder ejection fraction, and post-CCK-8 paradoxical filling (>30% of basal counts) were identified. Seven of the patients with SOS were treated with antispasmodics (calcium channel blockers), and one underwent endoscopic sphincterotomy. Mean (±SD) hepatic bile entry into the gallbladder (versus GI tract) was widely variable: it was lower in SOS patients (32%±31%) than in controls (61%±36%) and the opioid group (61%±25%), but the difference was not statistically significant. Hepatic extraction fraction, excretion half-time, and pattern of bile flow through both intrahepatic and extrahepatic ducts were normal in all three groups. Gallbladder mean ejection fraction was 9%±4% in the opioid group; this was significantly lower (P<0.0001) than the values in the control group (54%±18%) and the SOS group (48%±29%). Almost all of the bile emptied from the gallbladder refluxed into intrahepatic ducts; it reentered the gallbladder after cessation of CCK-8 infusion (paradoxical gallbladder filling) in all eight

Characterization of basal hepatic bile flow and the effects of intravenous cholecystokinin on the liver, sphincter, and gallbladder in patients with sphincter of Oddi spasm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krishnamurthy, Gerbail T.; Krishnamurthy, Shakuntala [Department of Nuclear Medicine, Tuality Community Hospital, 335 SE 8th Avenue, OR 97123, Hillsboro (United States); Watson, Randy D. [Department of Gastroenterology, Tuality Community Hospital, Hillsboro, OR (United States)

2004-01-01

The major objectives of this project were to establish the pattern of basal hepatic bile flow and the effects of intravenous administration of cholecystokinin on the liver, sphincter of Oddi, and gallbladder, and to identify reliable parameters for the diagnosis of sphincter of Oddi spasm (SOS). Eight women with clinically suspected sphincter of Oddi spasm (SOS group), ten control subjects (control group), and ten patients who had recently received an opioid (opioid group) were selected for quantitative cholescintigraphy with cholecystokinin. Each patient was studied with 111-185 MBq (3-5 mCi) technetium-99m mebrofenin after 6-8 h of fasting. Hepatic phase images were obtained for 60 min, followed by gallbladder phase images for 30 min. During the gallbladder phase, 10 ng/kg octapeptide of cholecystokinin (CCK-8) was infused over 3 min through an infusion pump. Hepatic extraction fraction, excretion half-time, basal hepatic bile flow into the gallbladder, gallbladder ejection fraction, and post-CCK-8 paradoxical filling (>30% of basal counts) were identified. Seven of the patients with SOS were treated with antispasmodics (calcium channel blockers), and one underwent endoscopic sphincterotomy. Mean ({+-}SD) hepatic bile entry into the gallbladder (versus GI tract) was widely variable: it was lower in SOS patients (32%{+-}31%) than in controls (61%{+-}36%) and the opioid group (61%{+-}25%), but the difference was not statistically significant. Hepatic extraction fraction, excretion half-time, and pattern of bile flow through both intrahepatic and extrahepatic ducts were normal in all three groups. Gallbladder mean ejection fraction was 9%{+-}4% in the opioid group; this was significantly lower (P<0.0001) than the values in the control group (54%{+-}18%) and the SOS group (48%{+-}29%). Almost all of the bile emptied from the gallbladder refluxed into intrahepatic ducts; it reentered the gallbladder after cessation of CCK-8 infusion (paradoxical gallbladder filling

Multispectral diagnostic imaging of the iris in pigment dispersion syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Daniel K; Lukic, Ana; Yang, Yongyi; Wilensky, Jacob T; Wernick, Miles N

2012-08-01

To determine if wavelength selection with near infrared iris imaging may enhance iris transillumination defects (ITDs) in pigment dispersion syndrome. An experimental apparatus was used to acquire iris images in 6 African-American (AA) and 6 White patients with pigment dispersion syndrome. Light-emitting diode probes of 6 different spectral bands (700 to 950 nm) were used to project light into patients' eyes. Iris patterns were photographed, ITD regions of interest were outlined, and region of interest contrasts were calculated for each spectral band. Contrasts varied as a function of wavelength (Ppigmented eyes may be slightly longer than for less pigmented eyes.

Improving iris recognition performance using segmentation, quality enhancement, match score fusion, and indexing.

Science.gov (United States)

Vatsa, Mayank; Singh, Richa; Noore, Afzel

2008-08-01

This paper proposes algorithms for iris segmentation, quality enhancement, match score fusion, and indexing to improve both the accuracy and the speed of iris recognition. A curve evolution approach is proposed to effectively segment a nonideal iris image using the modified Mumford-Shah functional. Different enhancement algorithms are concurrently applied on the segmented iris image to produce multiple enhanced versions of the iris image. A support-vector-machine-based learning algorithm selects locally enhanced regions from each globally enhanced image and combines these good-quality regions to create a single high-quality iris image. Two distinct features are extracted from the high-quality iris image. The global textural feature is extracted using the 1-D log polar Gabor transform, and the local topological feature is extracted using Euler numbers. An intelligent fusion algorithm combines the textural and topological matching scores to further improve the iris recognition performance and reduce the false rejection rate, whereas an indexing algorithm enables fast and accurate iris identification. The verification and identification performance of the proposed algorithms is validated and compared with other algorithms using the CASIA Version 3, ICE 2005, and UBIRIS iris databases.

IRIS: A SIGNIFICANT ELEMENT OF THE MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. UBRIZSY SAVOIA

2000-01-01

Full Text Available The Southern European species of Iris growing in dry, rocky places, stony ground, terra rossa, sandy, basalt and/or calcareous hills, maquis and coastal rocky slopes, are a neglected bioplasm resource of the Mediterranean landscape. These species have traditional uses and cultural significance and have inspired artists. Both natural and naturalised ornamental Iris species may help to improve and maintain the Mediterranean landscape by avoiding land erosion, fixing dunes and preserving coastal zones. These Iris species are a significant component of Mediterranean floristic diversity. Their conservation and use in traditional Mediterranean landscape gardening are emphasised.

IRIS: A SIGNIFICANT ELEMENT OF THE MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. PIGNATTI

2000-04-01

Full Text Available The Southern European species of Iris growing in dry, rocky places, stony ground, terra rossa, sandy, basalt and/or calcareous hills, maquis and coastal rocky slopes, are a neglected bioplasm resource of the Mediterranean landscape. These species have traditional uses and cultural significance and have inspired artists. Both natural and naturalised ornamental Iris species may help to improve and maintain the Mediterranean landscape by avoiding land erosion, fixing dunes and preserving coastal zones. These Iris species are a significant component of Mediterranean floristic diversity. Their conservation and use in traditional Mediterranean landscape gardening are emphasised.

Some measurement possibilities for the improvement of IRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Serafimov, K.B.

1984-01-01

Some methodological assumptions behind the development of improved measurements for use in the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) are presented. Attention is given to improving the IRI-representation of electron density in the D-region by comparing data from vertical rocket soundings and absorption measurements on multifrequencies ionosondes; by the application of absorption measurements for the specification of density profile structure; and by the use of combined rocket and ground-based measurements. The methodological possibilities, for improving the IRI-distribution of electron densities in the bottomside and topside ionosphere, and for the specification of Te(h) profiles are also discussed

Iris structure and minor physical anomalies in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Trixler, Dániel; Tényi, Tamás

2017-10-01

This study compared five human iris characteristics and minor physical anomalies (MPAs) between patients with schizophrenia (n = 32) and controls (n = 31). Correlations between iris characteristics and MPAs were expected, due to their same ectodermic origin. Iris macro photos were taken and quantified in five categories mentioned before. MPAs were also examined in both groups. Our results show significant differences in the frequency of pigment dots of the iris and total number of MPAs between groups. Other significant differences were found in the extension of concentric furrows, as they were more common in healthy subjects, while Wolfflin nodules occurred significantly more often in patients with schizophrenia. Expected difference in Fuch's crypts could not be observed between groups. Light eye color was positively correlated to pigment dots and Wolfflin nodules, and negatively correlated with concentric furrows. Dark eye color showed positive correlation with concentric furrows, and negative correlation with pigment dots and concentric furrows. A gender effect could also been observed: male individuals showed moderate positive correlations between pigment dots and total MPAs frequency, while this couldn't be observed in the female group. Our findings suggest possible connections between iris characteristics and MPAs, where males are more prone to deviations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A pilot study of sphincter-sparing management of adenocarcinoma of the rectum.

Science.gov (United States)

Steele, G; Busse, P; Huberman, M S; LeClair, J M; Falchuk, Z M; Mayer, R J; Bothe, A; Ravikumar, T S; Stone, M; Jessup, J M

1991-06-01

After analysis of 26 prospectively accrued patients with distal rectal adenocarcinomas who underwent sphincter preservation treatment, we have concluded that tumors that invade only the submucosa can safely be treated with surgery alone and that tumors that invade the muscularis or further can be safely treated with surgery combined with chemoradiotherapy. None of the patients had either local or distant recurrence, with a median follow-up of 21 months. All patients have been fully continent. The results, although preliminary, imply that resection of distal rectal adenocarcinoma with sphincter preservation, and adjuvant therapy when appropriate, have achieved local and distant control equal to the conventional Miles' abdominoperineal resection, but without the need for a permanent colostomy.

Characterization of basal hepatic bile flow and the effects of intravenous cholecystokinin on the liver, sphincter, and gallbladder in patients with sphincter of Oddi spasm.

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnamurthy, Gerbail T; Krishnamurthy, Shakuntala; Watson, Randy D

2004-01-01

The major objectives of this project were to establish the pattern of basal hepatic bile flow and the effects of intravenous administration of cholecystokinin on the liver, sphincter of Oddi, and gallbladder, and to identify reliable parameters for the diagnosis of sphincter of Oddi spasm (SOS). Eight women with clinically suspected sphincter of Oddi spasm (SOS group), ten control subjects (control group), and ten patients who had recently received an opioid (opioid group) were selected for quantitative cholescintigraphy with cholecystokinin. Each patient was studied with 111-185 MBq (3-5 mCi) technetium-99m mebrofenin after 6-8 h of fasting. Hepatic phase images were obtained for 60 min, followed by gallbladder phase images for 30 min. During the gallbladder phase, 10 ng/kg octapeptide of cholecystokinin (CCK-8) was infused over 3 min through an infusion pump. Hepatic extraction fraction, excretion half-time, basal hepatic bile flow into the gallbladder, gallbladder ejection fraction, and post-CCK-8 paradoxical filling (>30% of basal counts) were identified. Seven of the patients with SOS were treated with antispasmodics (calcium channel blockers), and one underwent endoscopic sphincterotomy. Mean (+/-SD) hepatic bile entry into the gallbladder (versus GI tract) was widely variable: it was lower in SOS patients (32%+/-31%) than in controls (61%+/-36%) and the opioid group (61%+/-25%), but the difference was not statistically significant. Hepatic extraction fraction, excretion half-time, and pattern of bile flow through both intrahepatic and extrahepatic ducts were normal in all three groups. Gallbladder mean ejection fraction was 9%+/-4% in the opioid group; this was significantly lower (Pgallbladder refluxed into intrahepatic ducts; it reentered the gallbladder after cessation of CCK-8 infusion (paradoxical gallbladder filling) in all eight patients with SOS, but in none of the patients in the other two groups. Mean paradoxical filling was 204% (+/-193%) in the

An Improved Iris Recognition Algorithm Based on Hybrid Feature and ELM

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Juan

2018-03-01

The iris image is easily polluted by noise and uneven light. This paper proposed an improved extreme learning machine (ELM) based iris recognition algorithm with hybrid feature. 2D-Gabor filters and GLCM is employed to generate a multi-granularity hybrid feature vector. 2D-Gabor filter and GLCM feature work for capturing low-intermediate frequency and high frequency texture information, respectively. Finally, we utilize extreme learning machine for iris recognition. Experimental results reveal our proposed ELM based multi-granularity iris recognition algorithm (ELM-MGIR) has higher accuracy of 99.86%, and lower EER of 0.12% under the premise of real-time performance. The proposed ELM-MGIR algorithm outperforms other mainstream iris recognition algorithms.

Endosonographic appearance of the anal sphincters in patients following colostomy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudol-Szopinska, I.; Jakubowski, W.; Szczepkowski, M.; Panorska, A.

2002-01-01

Background. The aim of the study was to visualize, by anal ultrasound (AUS), the suspected defects of the anal sphincters in the patients after colostomy and to analyze possible factors that could have led to such defects. Patients and methods. AUS, using a 7.0 MHz endorectal probe, was performed in a group of 25 patients with colostomy. The internal anal sphincter (IAS), external anal sphincter (EAS) and puborectalis muscle (PR) were visualized and the defects within them were qualified and quantified. For statistical analysis, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Results. The IAS was thin in all but three patients (22 patients; 88 %) with the mean thickness of 1.62 mm. A circular reduction of the thickness along the entire length of the IAS was seen in 20 patients (90.9 %). The echogenicity of the IAS was increased in 15 patients (60 %), and in 10 of them (66.6%), this defect embraced the whole length and circumference of the IAS. The margins of the IAS were not well-defined in 10 patients (40%). A significant correlation was found between the length of the patient's life with the stoma and the IAS echogenicity defect (p-value = 0.0001). No significant correlation was found between the dynamic examination, the IAS thickness and the IAS borders definition. Conclusion. The reduced thickness, increased echogenicity and borders definition defect of the IAS are seen in the patients after colostomy. The only significant correlation was confirmed between the length of the patient's life with the stoma and the IAS echogenicity defect. (author)

Describing a new syndrome in L5-S1 disc herniation: Sexual and sphincter dysfunction without pain and muscle weakness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nezih Akca

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Context: Little seems to be known about the sexual dysfunction (SD in lumbar intervertebral disc herniation. Aims: Investigation of sexual and sphincter dysfunction in patient with lumbar disc hernitions. Settings and Design: A retrospective analysis. Materials and Methods: Sexual and sphincter dysfunction in patients admitted with lumbar disc herniations between September 2012-March 2014. Statistical Analysis Used: Statistical analysis was performed using the Predictive Analytics SoftWare (PASW Statistics 18.0 for Windows (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois. The statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. The Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to evaluate the difference between patients. Results: Four patients with sexual and sphincter dysfunction were found, including two women and two men, aged between 20 and 52 years. All of them admitted without low back pain. In addition, on neurological examination, reflex and motor deficit were not found. However, almost all patients had perianal sensory deficit and sexual and sphincter dysfunction. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI of three patients displayed a large extruded disc fragment at L5-S1 level on the left side. In fourth patient, there were not prominent disc herniations. There was not statistically significant difference between pre-operative and post-operative sexual function, anal-urethral sphincter function, and perianal sensation score. A syndrome in L5-S1 disc herniation with sexual and sphincter dysfunction without pain and muscle weakness was noted. We think that it is crucial for neurosurgeons to early realise that paralysis of the sphincter and sexual dysfunction are possible in patients with lumbar L5-S1 disc disease. Conclusion: A syndrome with perianal sensory deficit, paralysis of the sphincter, and sexual dysfunction may occur in patients with lumbar L5-S1 disc disease. The improvement of perianal sensory deficit after surgery was

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trichloroethylene (TCE) ...

Science.gov (United States)

EPA is conducting a peer review and public comment of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of Trichloroethylene (TCE) that when finalized will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. The purpose of this Toxicological Review is to provide scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment in IRIS pertaining to chronic exposure to trichloroethylene. It is not intended to be a comprehensive treatise on the chemical or toxicological nature of trichloroethylene.

Comparative quantitative monitoring of rabbit haemorrhagic disease viruses in rabbit kittens.

Science.gov (United States)

Matthaei, Markus; Kerr, Peter J; Read, Andrew J; Hick, Paul; Haboury, Stephanie; Wright, John D; Strive, Tanja

2014-06-09

Only one strain (the Czech CAPM-v351) of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) has been released in Australia and New Zealand to control pest populations of the European rabbit O. cuniculus. Antigenic variants of RHDV known as RHDVa strains are reportedly replacing RHDV strains in other parts of the world, and Australia is currently investigating the usefulness of RHDVa to complement rabbit biocontrol efforts in Australia and New Zealand. RHDV efficiently kills adult rabbits but not rabbit kittens, which are more resistant to RHD the younger they are and which may carry the virus without signs of disease for prolonged periods. These different infection patterns in young rabbits may significantly influence RHDV epidemiology in the field and hence attempts to control rabbit numbers. We quantified RHDV replication and shedding in 4-5 week old rabbits using quantitative real time PCR to assess their potential to shape RHDV epidemiology by shedding and transmitting virus. We further compared RHDV-v351 with an antigenic variant strain of RHDVa in kittens that is currently being considered as a potential RHDV strain for future release to improve rabbit biocontrol in Australia. Kittens were susceptible to infection with virus doses as low as 10 ID50. Virus growth, shedding and transmission after RHDVa infection was found to be comparable or non-significantly lower compared to RHDV. Virus replication and shedding was observed in all kittens infected, but was low in comparison to adult rabbits. Both viruses were shed and transmitted to bystander rabbits. While blood titres indicated that 4-5 week old kittens mostly clear the infection even in the absence of maternal antibodies, virus titres in liver, spleen and mesenteric lymph node were still high on day 5 post infection. Rabbit kittens are susceptible to infection with very low doses of RHDV, and can transmit virus before they seroconvert. They may therefore play an important role in RHDV field epidemiology, in

Anal incontinence in women with recurrent obstetric anal sphincter rupture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bøgeskov, Reneé; Nickelsen, Carsten Nahne Amtoft; Secher, Niels Jørgen

2015-01-01

UNLABELLED: Abstract Objectives: To determine the risk of recurrent anal sphincter rupture (ASR), and compare the risk of anal incontinence (AI) after recurrent ASR, with that seen in women with previous ASR who deliver by caesarean section or vaginally without sustaining a recurrent ASR. METHODS...

The IRIS consortium: international cooperation in advanced reactor development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M.; Petrovic, B.; Miller, K.; Lombardi, C.; Ricotti, M.E.

2005-01-01

Besides its many outstanding technical innovations in the design and safety, the most innovative feature of the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS), is perhaps the international cooperation which carries on its development. IRIS is designed by an international consortium which currently numbers 21 organizations from ten countries across four continents. It includes reactor, fuel and fuel cycle vendors, component manufacturers, laboratories, academia, architect engineers and power producers. The defining organizational characteristics of IRIS is that while Westinghouse has overall lead and responsibility, this lead is of the type of 'primus inter pares' (first among equals) rather than the traditional owner versus suppliers/contractors relationship. All members of the IRIS consortium contribute and expect to have a return, should IRIS be successfully deployed, commensurate to their investment. The nature of such return will be tailored to the type of each organization, because it will of course be of a different nature for say a component manufacturer, university, or architect engineer. One fundamental tenet of the consortium is that all members, regardless of their amount of contribution, have equal access to all information developed within the project. Technical work is thus being coordinated by integrated subgroups and the whole team meets twice a year to perform an overall review of the work, discuss policy and strategy and plan future activities. Personnel from consortium members have performed internships, mostly at Westinghouse locations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Windsor, Connecticut, but also at other members, as it has been the case for several graduate students. In fact, more than one hundred students at the various universities have been working on IRIS, most of them conducting graduate theses at the master or doctoral level. The IRIS experience has proved very helpful to the students in successfully landing their employment choice

Accumulation of 125I-factor XI in atheroma of rabbit with hereditary hyperlipidemia (WHHL-rabbit)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komiyama, Y.; Masuda, M.; Murakami, T.; Nishikado, H.; Egawa, H.; Nishimura, T.; Morii, S.; Murata, K.

1989-01-01

We have studied the turnover and accumulation of rabbit factor XI (F.XI) in atherosclerotic lesion in Watanabe-hereditable hyperlipidemic rabbit (WHHL rabbit) to reveal the participation of blood coagulation in atherosclerotic lesion. Rabbit F.XI was iodinated and administered intravenously to WHHL rabbits and Japanese white rabbits. The turnover of 125 I-rabbit F.XI was significantly faster in WHHL rabbits (T1/2 = 2.84 +/- 0.44 days) than in normal rabbits (T1/2 = 4.44 +/- 0.42 days). The thoracic aorta of WHHL rabbit was strongly labelled with 125 I-rabbit F.XI, in sections obtained after 5 days by en-face autoradiography, whereas no radioactivity was detected in normal aorta. By an immunohistochemical study of WHHL rabbit aorta, we confirmed that many F.XI- and fibrin-related compounds existed in the atheroma, whereas albumin did not in these area. These results suggest that the activation of F.XI proceeds on the atherosclerotic lesions of WHHL rabbits

[Evaluation of Iris Morphology Viewed through Stromal Edematous Corneas by Infrared Camera].

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayashi, Masaaki; Morishige, Naoyuki; Morita, Yukiko; Yamada, Naoyuki; Kobayashi, Motomi; Sonoda, Koh-Hei

2016-02-01

We reported that the application of infrared camera enables us to observe iris morphology in Peters' anomaly through edematous corneas. To observe the iris morphology in bullous keratopathy or failure grafts with an infrared camera. Eleven bullous keratopathy or failure grafts subjects (6 men and 5 women, mean age ± SD; 72.7 ± 13.0 years old) were enrolled in this study. The iris morphology was observed by applying visible light mode and near infrared light mode of infrared camera (MeibomPen). The detectability of pupil shapes, iris patterns and presence of iridectomy was evaluated. Infrared mode observation enabled us to detect the pupil shapes in 11 out of 11 cases, iris patterns in 3 out of 11 cases, and presence of iridetomy in 9 out of 11 cases although visible light mode observation could not detect any iris morphological changes. Applying infrared optics was valuable for observation of the iris morphology through stromal edematous corneas.

Allergy to Rabbits. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Price, J.A.; Longbottom, J.L.

1986-01-01

Investigations have been carried out into the presence of antibody light chains in rabbit allergenic extracts and the interference in RAST and crossed-radioimmunoelectrophoresis (XRIE) caused by antibodies directed against them. A ''non-specific'' uptake of radioactivity in XRIE has been demonstrated to be caused by direct cross-linking of the 125 I rabbit anti-human IgE by the sheep antibodies in the immunoprecipitate of rabbit light chains. Preincubation with normal rabbit serum blocked this direct uptake of the labelled antibody and enabled specific IgE uptake on the light chains to be demonstrated for rabbit allergic sera. Verification of the allergenicity of the light chains was obtained from a specific light chain RAST. Elution from a Sephacryl S-200 gel filtration column indicated a MW of approx. 50Kd and confirmation of the components as light chain dimers, not Fab fragments, was obtained by allotyping for loci present on heavy chains and light chains in the Fab region. Light chains were detected in urine from rabbits of all ages and in an extract of dust collected in a rabbit housing area. No background staining was observed in XRIE using rabbit antisera, either with rabbit allergic sera with specific IgE or with a human serum containing specific IgG antibodies to rabbit IgG. This latter serum also showed no evidence of uptake on all immunoprecipitates in systems using rabbit antisera, and did not give false positive RAST results when the labelled rabbit anti-human IgE contained unlabelled rabbit IgG. Those sera with specific IgE to light chains showed no uptake in XRIE using rabbit antisera, indicating that the IgE was possibly specific for epitopes revealed by the dissociation on the whole IgG molecule. (author)

Optimal Face-Iris Multimodal Fusion Scheme

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omid Sharifi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Multimodal biometric systems are considered a way to minimize the limitations raised by single traits. This paper proposes new schemes based on score level, feature level and decision level fusion to efficiently fuse face and iris modalities. Log-Gabor transformation is applied as the feature extraction method on face and iris modalities. At each level of fusion, different schemes are proposed to improve the recognition performance and, finally, a combination of schemes at different fusion levels constructs an optimized and robust scheme. In this study, CASIA Iris Distance database is used to examine the robustness of all unimodal and multimodal schemes. In addition, Backtracking Search Algorithm (BSA, a novel population-based iterative evolutionary algorithm, is applied to improve the recognition accuracy of schemes by reducing the number of features and selecting the optimized weights for feature level and score level fusion, respectively. Experimental results on verification rates demonstrate a significant improvement of proposed fusion schemes over unimodal and multimodal fusion methods.

Combining GPS measurements and IRI model predictions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernandez-Pajares, M.; Juan, J.M.; Sanz, J.; Bilitza, D.

2002-01-01

The free electrons distributed in the ionosphere (between one hundred and thousands of km in height) produce a frequency-dependent effect on Global Positioning System (GPS) signals: a delay in the pseudo-orange and an advance in the carrier phase. These effects are proportional to the columnar electron density between the satellite and receiver, i.e. the integrated electron density along the ray path. Global ionospheric TEC (total electron content) maps can be obtained with GPS data from a network of ground IGS (international GPS service) reference stations with an accuracy of few TEC units. The comparison with the TOPEX TEC, mainly measured over the oceans far from the IGS stations, shows a mean bias and standard deviation of about 2 and 5 TECUs respectively. The discrepancies between the STEC predictions and the observed values show an RMS typically below 5 TECUs (which also includes the alignment code noise). he existence of a growing database 2-hourly global TEC maps and with resolution of 5x2.5 degrees in longitude and latitude can be used to improve the IRI prediction capability of the TEC. When the IRI predictions and the GPS estimations are compared for a three month period around the Solar Maximum, they are in good agreement for middle latitudes. An over-determination of IRI TEC has been found at the extreme latitudes, the IRI predictions being, typically two times higher than the GPS estimations. Finally, local fits of the IRI model can be done by tuning the SSN from STEC GPS observations

Information fusion in personal biometric authentication based on the iris pattern

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Fenghua; Han, Jiuqiang

2009-01-01

Information fusion in biometrics has received considerable attention. This paper focuses on the application of information fusion techniques in iris recognition. To improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification based on the iris pattern, this paper proposes the schemes of multialgorithmic fusion and multiinstance fusion. Multialgorithmic fusion integrates the improved phase algorithm and the DCT-based algorithm, and multiinstance fusion combines information from the left iris and the right iris of an individual. Both multialgorithmic fusion and multiinstance fusion are carried out at the matching score level and the support vector machine (SVM)-based fusion rule is utilized to generate fused scores for final decision. The experimental results on the noisy iris database UBIRIS demonstrate that the proposed fusion schemes can perform better than the single recognition systems, and further prove that information fusion techniques are feasible and effective to improve the accuracy and robustness of iris recognition especially under noisy conditions

Feature and score fusion based multiple classifier selection for iris recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Islam, Md Rabiul

2014-01-01

The aim of this work is to propose a new feature and score fusion based iris recognition approach where voting method on Multiple Classifier Selection technique has been applied. Four Discrete Hidden Markov Model classifiers output, that is, left iris based unimodal system, right iris based unimodal system, left-right iris feature fusion based multimodal system, and left-right iris likelihood ratio score fusion based multimodal system, is combined using voting method to achieve the final recognition result. CASIA-IrisV4 database has been used to measure the performance of the proposed system with various dimensions. Experimental results show the versatility of the proposed system of four different classifiers with various dimensions. Finally, recognition accuracy of the proposed system has been compared with existing N hamming distance score fusion approach proposed by Ma et al., log-likelihood ratio score fusion approach proposed by Schmid et al., and single level feature fusion approach proposed by Hollingsworth et al.

Feature and Score Fusion Based Multiple Classifier Selection for Iris Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Md. Rabiul Islam

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to propose a new feature and score fusion based iris recognition approach where voting method on Multiple Classifier Selection technique has been applied. Four Discrete Hidden Markov Model classifiers output, that is, left iris based unimodal system, right iris based unimodal system, left-right iris feature fusion based multimodal system, and left-right iris likelihood ratio score fusion based multimodal system, is combined using voting method to achieve the final recognition result. CASIA-IrisV4 database has been used to measure the performance of the proposed system with various dimensions. Experimental results show the versatility of the proposed system of four different classifiers with various dimensions. Finally, recognition accuracy of the proposed system has been compared with existing N hamming distance score fusion approach proposed by Ma et al., log-likelihood ratio score fusion approach proposed by Schmid et al., and single level feature fusion approach proposed by Hollingsworth et al.

Multispectral iris recognition based on group selection and game theory

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Foysal; Roy, Kaushik

2017-05-01

A commercially available iris recognition system uses only a narrow band of the near infrared spectrum (700-900 nm) while iris images captured in the wide range of 405 nm to 1550 nm offer potential benefits to enhance recognition performance of an iris biometric system. The novelty of this research is that a group selection algorithm based on coalition game theory is explored to select the best patch subsets. In this algorithm, patches are divided into several groups based on their maximum contribution in different groups. Shapley values are used to evaluate the contribution of patches in different groups. Results show that this group selection based iris recognition

Prospective follow-up study of artificial urinary sphincter placement preserving the bulbospongiosus muscle.

Science.gov (United States)

Collado Serra, Argimiro; Domínguez-Escrig, José; Gómez-Ferrer, Álvaro; Batista Miranda, Emilio; Rubio-Briones, José; Solsona Narbón, Eduardo

2017-06-01

Artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) AMS-800® is an effective treatment for male stress urinary incontinence. The aim of the study was to assess the long-term effectiveness and complications of artificial urinary sphincter placement preserving the bulbospongiosus muscle. From April 2004 to March 2014, all consecutive male patients with urinary incontinence who underwent an AUS prosthesis insertion were prospectively evaluated. Surgical technique consisted of a perineal incision for cuff placement around the bulbous urethra preserving the bulbospongiosus muscle. Cure rate was defined as no pad use. A total of 82 consecutive patients (median age 68 years, range: 54-78) were prospectively evaluated (median follow-up 46 months, range: 12-135). Bulbospongiosus muscles were preserved intact in all cases with no intraoperative complications. Postoperative complications were reported in 14 patients (1 urethral erosion). The overall cure rate (dry rate) was 76.8% and the median ICIQ-UI score improved from 18 (range: 8-21) to 4 (range: 0-17) (P Artificial urinary sphincter survival rate was 95.5% (95%CI 89.4-100%) at 24 months and 62.6% (95%CI 45.5-79.6%) at 60 months. The mechanical failure rate was 6.3% (median 46.1 months, range: 22.2-100.9) and urethral atrophy and/or inadequate compression rate was 9.5% (median 58.6 months, range: 39-101.4 months). Our study suggests that placement of AUS preserving the bulbospongiosus muscle is technically easy and efficient, reports excellent continence rates and lower urethral erosion rates, and could delay the onset of urethral atrophy compared to other surgical procedures used for sphincter placement. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Rabbit analgesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Barter, Linda S

2011-01-01

With the increasing popularity of rabbits as household pets, the complexity of diagnostic and surgical procedures performed on rabbits is increasing, along with the frequency of routine surgical procedures. More practitioners are faced with the need to provide adequate analgesia for this species. Preemptive analgesia prior to planned surgical interventions may reduce nervous system changes in response to noxious input, as well as reduce postoperative pain levels and analgesic drug requirements. Concurrent administration of analgesic drugs to anesthetized rabbits undergoing painful procedures is warranted both pre- and intraoperatively as well as postoperatively. This article discusses the neuropharmacologic and pharmacologic aspects of pain in rabbits, and reviews current protocols for the use of analgesic drugs. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Artificial urethral sphincters: Value of plain film radiography in evaluation of prosthesis malfunction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rose, S.C.; Hansen, M.E.; Webster, G.; Dunnick, N.R.

1987-01-01

Case records were reviewed to determine the diagnostic efficacy of plain radiographs in the evaluation of inflatable artificial urethral sphincters. Of 84 patients with prostheses, 21 (25%) developed complications. Fluid leaks were found in 16 patients who presented with recurrent incontinence; plain radiographs demonstrated an interval decrease in balloon reservoir diameter. Kinked tubing, which was evident on plain films, caused acute urinary retention in three patients. However, plain radiographs failed to detect evidence of prosthesis erosion into the urethra in either of two patients with this complication. Although urethroscopy is needed to detect urethral erosion, plain radiographs are inexpensive and reliable in the initial evaluation of artifical sphincter malfunction

Quantitative study of the microvasculature and its endothelial cells in the porcine iris.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Hongfang; Yu, Paula K; Cringle, Stephen J; Sun, Xinghuai; Yu, Dao-Yi

2015-03-01

The roles of the iris microvasculature have been increasingly recognised in the pathogenesis of glaucoma and cataract; however limited information exists regarding the iris microvasculature and its endothelium. This study quantitatively assessed the iris microvascular network and its endothelium using intra-luminal micro-perfusion, fixation, and staining of the porcine iris. The temporal long posterior ciliary artery of 11 isolated porcine eyes was cannulated, perfusion-fixed and labelled using silver nitrate. The iris microvasculature was studied for its distribution, orders and endothelial morphometrics. The density of three layers of microvasculature was measured. Endothelial cell length and width were measured for each vessel order. The iris has an unusual vascular distribution which consisted of abundant large vessels in the middle of the iris stroma, branching over a relatively short distance to the microvasculature located in the superficial and deep stroma as well as the pupil edge. The average vascular density of the middle, superficial, and deep layers were 38.9 ± 1.93%, 10.9 ± 1.61% and 8.0 ± 0.79% respectively. Multiple orders of iris vessels (capillary, 6 orders of arteries, and 4 orders of veins) with relatively large capillary and input arteries (319.5 ± 25.6 μm) were found. Significant heterogeneity of vascular diameter and shape of the endothelia was revealed in different orders of the iris vasculature. Detailed information of topography and endothelium of the iris microvasculature combined with unique structural features of the iris may help us to further understand the physiological and pathogenic roles of the iris in relevant ocular diseases. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Histomorphology of canine urethral sphincter systems, including three-dimensional reconstruction and magnetic resonance imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Stolzenburg, Jens-Uwe; Neuhaus, Jochen; Liatsikos, Evangelos N; Schwalenberg, Thilo; Ludewig, Eberhard; Ganzer, Roman

2006-03-01

To present a detailed anatomic description and comparison of the smooth and striated urethral sphincter in male and female dogs. We performed a thorough histologic evaluation, three-dimensional reconstruction, and magnetic resonance imaging of the lower urinary tract of male and female dogs. The lower urinary tract anatomy was investigated in 16 male and 18 female dogs by serial sectioning, including immunohistochemical staining and three-dimensional reconstruction. Magnetic resonance imaging performed in 5 male and 5 female dogs before histologic investigation helped to demonstrate the anatomy in vivo. A urethral sphincter muscle in both sexes existed without muscular connection to the pelvic floor. It ran circularly and consisted of an inner smooth and outer striated muscular part. In the female dog, the striated muscle encircled the urethra and vagina in the caudal third of the membranous urethra (musculus urethrovaginalis). A urinary diaphragm (diaphragma urogenitale) could not be found histologically or by magnetic resonance imaging. The dog is a suitable animal model for investigations of the urethral sphincter. In the female dog, attention should be given to the special topography of the musculus urethrovaginalis.

Artificial urinary sphincter implantation: an important component of complex surgery for urinary tract reconstruction in patients with refractory urinary incontinence.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Fan; Liao, Limin

2018-01-08

We review our outcomes and experience of artificial urinary sphincter implantation for patients with refractory urinary incontinence from different causes. Between April 2002 and May 2017, a total of 32 patients (median age, 40.8 years) with urinary incontinence had undergone artificial urinary sphincter placement during urinary tract reconstruction. Eighteen patients (56.3%) were urethral injuries associated urinary incontinence, 9 (28.1%) had neurogenic urinary incontinence and 5 (15.6%) were post-prostatectomy incontinence. Necessary surgeries were conducted before artificial urinary sphincter placement as staged procedures, including urethral strictures incision, sphincterotomy, and augmentation cystoplasty. The mean follow-up time was 39 months. At the latest visit, 25 patients (78.1%) maintained the original artificial urinary sphincter. Four patients (12.5%) had artificial urinary sphincter revisions. Explantations were performed in three patients. Twenty-four patients were socially continent, leading to the overall success rate as 75%. The complication rate was 28.1%; including infections (n = 4), erosions (n = 4), and mechanical failure (n = 1). The impact of urinary incontinence on the quality of life measured by the visual analogue scale dropped from 7.0 ± 1.2 to 2.2 ± 1.5 (P urinary sphincter implantation in our center are unique, and the procedure is an effective treatment as a part of urinary tract reconstruction in complicated urinary incontinence cases with complex etiology.

IRIS design overview and status update

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M.D.; Petrovic, B.; Conway, L.E.; Oriani, L.; Kling, C.L.; Miller, K.; Lombardi, C.V.; Ricotti, M.E.; Barroso, A.C.O.; Collado, J.M.; Cinotti, L.; Storai, S.; Berra, F.; Todreas, N.E.; Ninokata, H.; Cavlina, N.; Grgic, D.; Oriolo, F.; Moraes, M.M.; Frederico, C.; Henning, F.; Griffith, W.; Love, J.; Ingersoll, D.T.; Wood, R.; Alonso, G.; Kodochigov, N.; Polunichev, V.; Augutis, J.; Alzbutas, R.; Boroughs, R.D.; Naviglio, A.; Panella, B.

2005-01-01

The International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) is an advanced, integral, light-water cooled reactor of medium generating capacity (1000 MWt, or ∼335 MWe), geared at near term deployment (2012- 2015). It has been under development since the turn of the century by an international consortium--led by Westinghouse--that includes 21 organizations from 10 countries, and it is currently in the pre-application licensing process with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This paper describes its integral design (i.e., steam generators, pumps, pressurizer and control rod drive mechanisms are all included inside the reactor vessel, together with the core, control rods, and neutron reflector/shield) and discusses the unique ('safety-by-design') TM IRIS philosophy. This approach, by eliminating accidents at the design stage, or decreasing their consequences and probabilities when outright elimination is not possible, provides a very powerful first level of defense in depth. The ('safety by- design') TM allows a significant reduction and simplification of the passive safety systems, which not only improves safety but simultaneously reduces the overall cost. Moreover, it supports licensing the power plant without the need for off-site emergency response planning--an objective which is part of the pre-application with NRC and is also pursued within an international research project coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This would allow IRIS to be treated as any other industrial facility, located closer to population centers, and enable its effective dual-purpose use for electricity production and co-generation (district heating, desalination, industrial steam). The modular IRIS--with each module rated at ∼335 MWe--is an ideal size for developing countries as it allows to easily introducing single modules in regions only requiring a few hundred MWs, or a moderate amount of power on limited electric grids. IRIS can be also deployed in

International Roughness Index (IRI) measurement using Hilbert-Huang transform

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wenjin; Wang, Ming L.

2018-03-01

International Roughness Index (IRI) is an important metric to measure condition of roadways. This index is usually used to justify the maintenance priority and scheduling for roadways. Various inspection methods and algorithms are used to assess this index through the use of road profiles. This study proposes to calculate IRI values using Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) algorithm. In particular, road profile data is provided using surface radar attached to a vehicle driving at highway speed. Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) is used in this study because of its superior properties for nonstationary and nonlinear data. Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) processes the raw data into a set of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), representing various dominating frequencies. These various frequencies represent noises from the body of the vehicle, sensor location, and the excitation induced by nature frequency of the vehicle, etc. IRI calculation can be achieved by eliminating noises that are not associated with the road profile including vehicle inertia effect. The resulting IRI values are compared favorably to the field IRI values, where the filtered IMFs captures the most characteristics of road profile while eliminating noises from the vehicle and the vehicle inertia effect. Therefore, HHT is an effect method for road profile analysis and for IRI measurement. Furthermore, the application of HHT method has the potential to eliminate the use of accelerometers attached to the vehicle as part of the displacement measurement used to offset the inertia effect.

Systemic and Ophthalmologic Findings in Patients with Iris Coloboma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sevda Ertekin

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Pur po se: Ocular coloboma is a rare malformation resulting from defective closure of the embryonic optic fissure. It can affect iris, retina, choroid, optic disc or ciliary body. This study reviews the clinical diagnosis and the accompanying ocular and systemic abnormalities in cases of iris coloboma. Ma te ri al and Met hod: Sixteen eyes of ten patients referred to our clinic and diagnosed as iris coloboma were included in the study and were reviewed retrospectively. Re sults: Seven cases were sporadic, and three cases were familial. Isolated iris coloboma was present in only one case, and chorioretinal involvement was present in all the others. Seven cases had involvement of the optic disc. Other ocular anomalies were unilateral microphthalmia in 3 cases, unilateral anophthalmia in 1 case, and unilateral microcornea in one case. Strabismus was present in the familial cases. Dis cus si on: In patients, diagnosed with iris coloboma, routine eye examination should be completed, refractive errors should be corrected, and these patients must be follewed for amblyopia. If strabismus is concominant, surgery can be performed. For potential complications, patients should be checked at regular intervals. (Turk J Ophthalmol 2013; 43: 19-22

Aqueous humor tyrosinase activity is indicative of iris melanocyte toxicity.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahanty, Sarmistha; Kawali, Ankush A; Dakappa, Shruthi Shirur; Mahendradas, Padmamalini; Kurian, Mathew; Kharbanda, Varun; Shetty, Rohit; Setty, Subba Rao Gangi

2017-09-01

Antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones (FQLs) are commonly used to treat ocular infections but are also known to cause dermal melanocyte toxicity. The release of dispersed pigments from the iris into the aqueous humor has been considered a possible ocular side effect of the systemic administration of FQLs such as Moxifloxacin, and this condition is known as bilateral acute iris transillumination (BAIT). Bilateral acute depigmentation of iris (BADI) is a similar condition, with iris pigment released into the aqueous, but it has not been reported as a side effect of FQL. Iris pigments are synthesized by the melanogenic enzyme tyrosinase (TYR) and can be detected but not quantified by using slit-lamp biomicroscopy. The correlation between dispersed pigments in the aqueous and the extent of melanocyte toxicity due to topical antibiotics in vivo is not well studied. Here, we aimed to study the effect of topical FQLs on iris tissue, the pigment release in the aqueous humor and the development of clinically evident iris atrophic changes. We evaluated this process by measuring the activity of TYR in the aqueous humor of 82 healthy eyes undergoing cataract surgery following topical application of FQLs such as Moxifloxacin (27 eyes, preservative-free) or Ciprofloxacin (29 eyes, with preservative) or the application of non-FQL Tobramycin (26 eyes, with preservative) as a control. In addition, the patients were questioned and examined for ocular side effects in pre- and post-operative periods. Our data showed a significantly higher mean TYR activity in the aqueous humor of Ciprofloxacin-treated eyes compared to Moxifloxacin- (preservative free, p iris melanocytes. However, the reduced TYR activity in the aqueous of Moxifloxacin-treated eyes was possibly due to the presence of a higher drug concentration, which inhibits TYR activity. Consistently, immunoblotting analysis of the aqueous humor from both Ciprofloxacin- and Moxifloxacin-treated eyes showed the presence of soluble

IRI profile parameters at equatorial latitudes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reinisch, B.W.; Huang Xueqin; Conway, J.

2002-01-01

The IRI bottom-side electron density profile is specified as a function of three parameters B0, B1, and D1 describing the F2 layer thickness and shape, and the shape of the F1 layer, respectively. Together with the URSI or CCIR coefficients for the F2 layer peak density and height, they completely specify the profiles as function of time, season and solar activity. In support of the international effort of determining the best set of parameters we have analyzed the diurnal variations of B0, B1, and D1 for Jicamarca for high solar activity during 1999 and 2000 for different seasons and magnetic activity. The B0 values vary from a minimum of ∼95 km at 0300 LT to ∼250 km at local noon (1700 UT). The diurnal variation is similar to the IRI2000 prediction. B1 varies from ∼1.9 at daytime to ∼2.2 at night. The value of D1 is ∼0.5. The parameters show little Kp dependence. Standard deviations are shown. We calculated the ionospheric total electron contents for March and April 1998 from the ionogram profiles at Jicamarca and compared them with IRI predictions using the IRI 2000 parameters. While there is fair agreement, a significant time shift of 1 to 2 hours occurs in the transition from night to daytime values. (author)

Comparison of features response in texture-based iris segmentation

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Bachoo, A

2009-03-01

Full Text Available the Fisher linear discriminant and the iris region of interest is extracted. Four texture description methods are compared for segmenting iris texture using a region based pattern classification approach: Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM), Discrete...

Early effect of external beam radiation therapy on the anal sphincter: A study using anal manometry and transrectal ultrasound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birnbaum, E.H.; Dreznik, Z.; Myerson, R.J.; Lacey, D.L.; Fry, R.D.; Kodner, I.J.; Fleshman, J.W.

1992-01-01

The early of pelvic irradiation on the anal sphincter has not been previously investigated. This study prospectively evaluated the acute effect of preoperative radiation on anal function. Twenty patients with rectal carcinoma received 4,500 cGy of preoperative external beam radiation. The field of radiation included the sphincter in 10 patients and was delivered above the anorectal ring in 10 patients. Anal manometry and transrectal ultrasound were performed before and four weeks after radiotherapy. No significant difference in mean maximal squeeze or resting pressure was found after radiation therapy. An increase in mean minimal sensory threshold was significant. Histologic examination revealed minimal radiation changes at the distal margin in 8 of 10 patients who underwent low anterior resection and in 1 of 3 patients who underwent abdominoperineal resection. The authors conclude that preoperative radiation therapy has minimal immediate effect on the anal sphincter and is not a major contributing factor to postoperative incontinence in patients after sphincter-saving operations for rectal cancer

Trade off between variable and fixed size normalization in orthogonal polynomials based iris recognition system.

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnamoorthi, R; Anna Poorani, G

2016-01-01

Iris normalization is an important stage in any iris biometric, as it has a propensity to trim down the consequences of iris distortion. To indemnify the variation in size of the iris owing to the action of stretching or enlarging the pupil in iris acquisition process and camera to eyeball distance, two normalization schemes has been proposed in this work. In the first method, the iris region of interest is normalized by converting the iris into the variable size rectangular model in order to avoid the under samples near the limbus border. In the second method, the iris region of interest is normalized by converting the iris region into a fixed size rectangular model in order to avoid the dimensional discrepancies between the eye images. The performance of the proposed normalization methods is evaluated with orthogonal polynomials based iris recognition in terms of FAR, FRR, GAR, CRR and EER.

Analysis of iris surface features in populations of diverse ancestry

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Melissa; Cha, David; Krithika, S.; Johnson, Monique; Parra, Esteban J.

2016-01-01

There are many textural elements that can be found in the human eye, including Fuchs’ crypts, Wolfflin nodules, pigment spots, contraction furrows and conjunctival melanosis. Although iris surface features have been well-studied in populations of European ancestry, the worldwide distribution of these traits is poorly understood. In this paper, we develop a new method of characterizing iris features from photographs of the iris. We then apply this method to a diverse sample of East Asian, European and South Asian ancestry. All five iris features showed significant differences in frequency between the three populations, indicating that iris features are largely population dependent. Although none of the features were correlated with each other in the East and South Asian groups, Fuchs’ crypts were significantly correlated with contraction furrows and pigment spots and contraction furrows were significantly associated with pigment spots in the European group. The genetic marker SEMA3A rs10235789 was significantly associated with Fuchs’ crypt grade in the European, East Asian and South Asian samples and a borderline association between TRAF3IP1 rs3739070 and contraction furrow grade was found in the European sample. The study of iris surface features in diverse populations may provide valuable information of forensic, biomedical and ophthalmological interest. PMID:26909168

Towards online iris and periocular recognition under relaxed imaging constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Chun-Wei; Kumar, Ajay

2013-10-01

Online iris recognition using distantly acquired images in a less imaging constrained environment requires the development of a efficient iris segmentation approach and recognition strategy that can exploit multiple features available for the potential identification. This paper presents an effective solution toward addressing such a problem. The developed iris segmentation approach exploits a random walker algorithm to efficiently estimate coarsely segmented iris images. These coarsely segmented iris images are postprocessed using a sequence of operations that can effectively improve the segmentation accuracy. The robustness of the proposed iris segmentation approach is ascertained by providing comparison with other state-of-the-art algorithms using publicly available UBIRIS.v2, FRGC, and CASIA.v4-distance databases. Our experimental results achieve improvement of 9.5%, 4.3%, and 25.7% in the average segmentation accuracy, respectively, for the UBIRIS.v2, FRGC, and CASIA.v4-distance databases, as compared with most competing approaches. We also exploit the simultaneously extracted periocular features to achieve significant performance improvement. The joint segmentation and combination strategy suggest promising results and achieve average improvement of 132.3%, 7.45%, and 17.5% in the recognition performance, respectively, from the UBIRIS.v2, FRGC, and CASIA.v4-distance databases, as compared with the related competing approaches.

An enhanced iris recognition and authentication system using ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Iris recognition and authentication has a major issue in its code generation and verification accuracy, in order to enhance the authentication process, a binary bit sequence of iris is generated, which contain several vital information that is used to calculate the Mean Energy and Maximum Energy that goes into the eye with an ...

IRIS. Progress in licensing and toward deployment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petrovic, B.; Carelli, M.D.; Kling, C.L.; Cavlina, N.; Grgic, D.

2006-01-01

The International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) is an advanced, integral, light water cooled, pressurized reactor of smaller generating capacity (1000 MWt, or 335 MWe). It is being developed through a strong international partnership by a team lead by Westinghouse and including organizations from 10 countries. The main objective of the project is to offer a simple nuclear power plant with outstanding safety, attractive economics and enhanced proliferation resistance characteristics ready for deployment within the next decade. IRIS embodies the requirements set forth by the recently announced US DOE Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program for worldwide deployment of a smaller-scale reactors and provides a viable bridge to Generation IV reactors. IRIS is designed to address the needs of both developed and emerging markets. Its smaller power level provides deployment flexibility in larger developed markets, and makes it in particular well suited for markets with limited grids or where the annual energy demand growth is moderate. Due to its short construction time and the staggered build option, IRIS significantly reduces the required financing, improves cash flow, and provides a viable solution for economies with limited resources. While based on proven and worldwide accepted LWR technology, IRIS introduces a number of innovative solutions to simplify its design and improve safety and operational characteristics, including the integral primary system and its components, as well as the safety-by-design approach. These features will be tested and demonstrated in a testing program that has been initiated. As its centerpiece, the program will include the integral test facility. Results of this program will support licensing with the US NRC. A multinational licensing is considered to facilitate worldwide deployment. (author)

IRIS Toxicological Review of Vinyl Chloride (Final Report, 2000)

Science.gov (United States)

EPA is announcing the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of Vinyl Chloride: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for Vinyl Chloride and accompanying Quickview have also been added to the IRIS Database.

The effect of baclofen on gastro-oesophageal reflux, lower oesophageal sphincter function and reflux symptoms in patients with reflux disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Herwaarden, M. A.; Samsom, M.; Rydholm, H.; Smout, A. J. P. M.

2002-01-01

BACKGROUND: Baclofen decreases gastro-oesophageal reflux episodes in healthy subjects by reducing the incidence of transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations. AIM: To investigate the effect of baclofen on reflux symptoms, oesophageal pH and lower oesophageal sphincter manometry in patients

Peripheral laser iridoplasty opens angle in plateau iris by thinning the cross-sectional tissues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu J

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Ji Liu,1,2 Tania Lamba,1 David A Belyea1 1Department of Ophthalmology, The George Washington University, Washington DC, USA; 2Yale Eye Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA Abstract: Plateau iris syndrome has been described as persistent angle narrowing or occlusion with intraocular pressure elevation after peripheral iridotomy due to the abnormal plateau iris configuration. Argon laser peripheral iridoplasty (ALPI is an effective adjunct procedure to treat plateau iris syndrome. Classic theory suggests that the laser causes the contraction of the far peripheral iris stroma, "pulls" the iris away from the angle, and relieves the iris-angle apposition. We report a case of plateau iris syndrome that was successfully treated with ALPI. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography confirmed the angle was open at areas with laser treatment but remained appositionally closed at untreated areas. Further analysis suggested significant cross-sectional thinning of the iris at laser-treated areas in comparison with untreated areas. The findings indicate that APLI opens the angle, not only by contracting the iris stroma, but also by thinning the iris tissue at the crowded angle. This is consistent with the ALPI technique to aim at the iris as far peripheral as possible. This case also suggests that spectral domain optical coherence tomography is a useful adjunct imaging tool to gonioscopy in assessing the angle condition. Keywords: plateau iris, optic coherence tomography, argon laser peripheral iridoplasty, angle-closure glaucoma

75 FR 25239 - Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS); Announcement of Availability of Literature Searches...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-07

... Information System (IRIS); Announcement of Availability of Literature Searches for IRIS Assessments AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Notice; Announcement of availability of literature searches for IRIS... the availability of literature searches for four IRIS assessments and requesting scientific...

Iris small break loca phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larson, T.K.; Moody, F.J.; Wilson, G.E.; Brown, W.L.; Frepoli, C.; Hartz, J.; Woods, B.G.; Oriani, L.

2007-01-01

The international reactor innovative and secure (IRIS) is a modular pressurized water reactor with an integral configuration (all primary system components - reactor core, internals, pumps, steam generators, pressurizer, and control rod drive mechanisms - are inside the reactor vessel). The IRIS plant conceptual design was completed in 2001 and the preliminary design is currently underway. The pre-application licensing process with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) started in October 2002. The first line of defense in IRIS is to eliminate event initiators that could potentially lead to core damage. If it is not possible to eliminate certain accidents altogether, then the design inherently reduces their consequences and/or decreases their probability of occurring. One of the most obvious advantages of the IRIS Safety-by-Design TM approach is the elimination of large break loss-of-coolant accidents (LBLOCAs), since no large primary penetrations of the reactor vessel or large loop piping exist. While the IRIS Safety-by-Design TM approach is a logical step in the effort to produce advanced reactors, the desired advances in safety must still be demonstrated in the licensing arena. With the elimination of LBLOCA, an important next consideration is to show the IRIS design fulfills the promise of increased safety also for small break LOCAs (SBLOCAs). Accordingly, the SBLOCA phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) project was established. The primary objective of the IRIS SBLOCA PIRT project was to identify the relative importance of phenomena in the IRIS response to SBLOCAs. This relative importance, coupled with the current relative state of knowledge for the phenomena, provides a framework for the planning of the continued experimental and analytical efforts. To satisfy the SBLOCA PIRT project objectives, Westinghouse organized an expert panel whose members were carefully selected to insure that the PIRT results reflect internationally

Botulinum toxin A injection for chronic anal fissures and anal sphincter spasm improves quality of life in recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cassandra Chaptini, MBBS

2015-12-01

Full Text Available We report a 20-year-old female with generalized, severe, recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa who developed secondary chronic anal fissures. This resulted in anal sphincter spasm and severe, disabling pain. She was treated with five botulinum toxin A injections into the internal anal sphincter over a period of 2 years and gained marked improvement in her symptoms. This case demonstrates the successful use of botulinum toxin A injections to relieve anal sphincter spasm and fissuring, with long-term improvement.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) (Public Comment Draft)

Science.gov (United States)

In September 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) released the draft Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE). Consistent with the 2013 IRIS Enhancements, draft IRIS assessments are released prior to e...

A plant control system development approach for IRIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, R.T.; Brittain, C.R.; March-Leuba, J.A.; Conway, L.E.; Oriani, L.

2003-01-01

The plant control system concept for the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) will make use of integrated control, diagnostic, and decision modules to provide a highly automated intelligent control capability. The plant control system development approach established for IRIS involves determination and verification of control strategies based on whole-plant simulation; identification of measurement, control, and diagnostic needs; development of an architectural framework in which to integrate an intelligent plant control system; and design of the necessary control and diagnostic elements for implementation and validation. This paper describes key elements of the plant control system development approach established for IRIS and presents some of the strategies and methods investigated to support the desired control capabilities. (author)

75 FR 76982 - Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS); Announcement of Availability of Literature Searches...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-10

... Information System (IRIS); Announcement of Availability of Literature Searches for IRIS Assessments AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Announcement of availability of literature searches for IRIS... the availability of literature searches for four IRIS assessments, acetaldehyde (CAS No. 75-07-0...

The immediate effect of vaginal and caesarean delivery on anal sphincter measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Karcaaltincaba, Deniz; Erkaya, Salim; Isik, Hatice; Haberal, Ali

2016-08-01

This study evaluated the effects of vaginal and caesarean delivery on internal and external anal sphincter muscle thickness using translabial ultrasonography (TL-US). This prospective cohort study enrolled nulliparous women who either had vaginal or caesarean deliveries. The thickness of the hypoechoic internal anal sphincter (IAS) and hyperechoic external anal sphincter (EAS) at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions at the distal level were measured before delivery and within 24-48 h after delivery. A total 105 consecutive women were enrolled in the study: 60 in the vaginal delivery group and 45 in the caesarean delivery group. The IAS muscle thickness at the 12 o'clock position in the vaginal delivery group was significantly thicker before compared with after delivery (mean ± SD: 2.31 ± 0.74 mm versus 1.81 ± 0.64 mm, respectively). The EAS muscle thickness at the 12 o'clock position in the vaginal delivery group was significantly thicker before compared with after delivery (mean ± SD: 2.42 ± 0.64 mm versus 1.97 ± 0.85, respectively). There was significant muscle thinning of both the IAS and EAS at the 12 o'clock position after vaginal delivery, but not after caesarean delivery. © The Author(s) 2016.

Lentes plegables suturadas a iris

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dunia Cruz Izquierdo

Full Text Available Para la corrección quirúrgica de la afaquia existen en la actualidad varias técnicas quirúrgicas que permiten fijar los lentes intraoculares plegables o rígidos en cámara posterior suturados al iris o al sulcus ciliar. En estas circunstancias el cirujano determinará cuándo, dónde y el tipo de lente mejor a implantar. Se presenta un paciente con una afaquia traumática del ojo izquierdo, con agudeza visual sin corrección de movimiento de mano a 1 m. Se le realizó implante secundario de lente intraocular plegable de cámara posterior suturada al iris. En el examen biomicroscópico en lámpara de hendidura del ojo izquierdo se observó midriasis media paralítica, refracción dinámica de +11,00 (0,6 y tensión ocular normal. Se le realizó examen por bimicroscopía indirecta sin alteración. Al mes de operado la agudeza visual mejor corregida alcanzó la unidad de visión. Las complicaciones presentadas fueron ovalización de la pupila y depósitos de pigmentos de iris en el lente intraocular.

Proceedings of the IRI Task Force Activity 2001

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radicella, S.M.

2002-08-01

This ICTP Internal Report contains the list of papers presented, activity report and the write up of a number of presentations delivered during the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) Task Force Activity 2001 which took place at the Abdus Salam ICTP during May 2001, particularly centred in the week from 21-25 May. The 2001 Task Force Activity is the eighth successful encounter of specialists organized by the URSI-Cospar IRI Working Group and the Aeronomy and Radiopropagation Laboratory of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics of Trieste, Italy. This project continues the IRI Task Force Activities at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. The primary focus of this activity was the development of a specification model for ionospheric variability. Such a model is high on the wish list of users of ionospheric models. Climatological models like IRI provide monthly mean values of ionospheric parameters. Understandably a satellite designer or operator needs to know not only the monthly average conditions but also the expected deviations from these mean values. The main discussions and presentations took place during the week 21-25 May. The format was similar to last year's activity with presentations and round-table discussions in the morning and follow-on work in small subgroups in front of computer terminals in the afternoon. This Proceedings contains also four papers of the previous IRI Task Force Activity which were omitted

Secondary iris recognition method based on local energy-orientation feature

Science.gov (United States)

Huo, Guang; Liu, Yuanning; Zhu, Xiaodong; Dong, Hongxing

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a secondary iris recognition based on local features. The application of the energy-orientation feature (EOF) by two-dimensional Gabor filter to the extraction of the iris goes before the first recognition by the threshold of similarity, which sets the whole iris database into two categories-a correctly recognized class and a class to be recognized. Therefore, the former are accepted and the latter are transformed by histogram to achieve an energy-orientation histogram feature (EOHF), which is followed by a second recognition with the chi-square distance. The experiment has proved that the proposed method, because of its higher correct recognition rate, could be designated as the most efficient and effective among its companion studies in iris recognition algorithms.

[Analysis of iris: history and future].

Science.gov (United States)

Norn, Mogens

2003-01-01

Analysis of the iris has ancient roots, but iridology in its present sense was established by Philippi Meyers in 1670. The discipline was further developed by Ignaz Péczely in 1881 and by Nils Liljequist in 1890. Other studies have been published in Germany, Sweden, Norway, England, France, USA, Australia and elsewhere, and iridology is practiced worldwide. The techniques used are described and the sources of error are mentioned when several photos from the same patient are compared (e.g. the influences of differences in pupil size, magnification and the effect of oblique light). The iris key (irigraphy) and the interpretation of different sights are discussed in some detail; there is little agreement among iridologists. Some iris diagnoses are of little interest to day and some modern diseases are missing in the diagnostic system. Controlled studies reveal that iridology is of no use whatsoever for the detection of cancer and other diseases in the stomach, intestines, kidney, lungs and heart. The reason for the continued popularity of iridology is discussed, and it is concluded that this type of alternative medicine is not harmless.

Iris features-based heart disease diagnosis by computer vision

Science.gov (United States)

Nguchu, Benedictor A.; Li, Li

2017-07-01

The study takes advantage of several new breakthroughs in computer vision technology to develop a new mid-irisbiomedical platform that processes iris image for early detection of heart-disease. Guaranteeing early detection of heart disease provides a possibility of having non-surgical treatment as suggested by biomedical researchers and associated institutions. However, our observation discovered that, a clinical practicable solution which could be both sensible and specific for early detection is still lacking. Due to this, the rate of majority vulnerable to death is highly increasing. The delayed diagnostic procedures, inefficiency, and complications of available methods are the other reasons for this catastrophe. Therefore, this research proposes the novel IFB (Iris Features Based) method for diagnosis of premature, and early stage heart disease. The method incorporates computer vision and iridology to obtain a robust, non-contact, nonradioactive, and cost-effective diagnostic tool. The method analyzes abnormal inherent weakness in tissues, change in color and patterns, of a specific region of iris that responds to impulses of heart organ as per Bernard Jensen-iris Chart. The changes in iris infer the presence of degenerative abnormalities in heart organ. These changes are precisely detected and analyzed by IFB method that includes, tensor-based-gradient(TBG), multi orientations gabor filters(GF), textural oriented features(TOF), and speed-up robust features(SURF). Kernel and Multi class oriented support vector machines classifiers are used for classifying normal and pathological iris features. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method, not only has better diagnostic performance, but also provides an insight for early detection of other diseases.

IRIS Responsiveness to Generation IV Road-map Goals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M.D.; Paramonov, D.V.; Petrovic, B.

2002-01-01

The DOE Generation IV road-map process is in its second and final year. Almost one hundred concepts submitted from all over the world have been reviewed against the Generation IV goals of resources sustainability; safety and reliability; and, economics. Advanced LWRs are taken as the reference point. IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure), a 100-335 MWe integral light water reactor being developed by a vast international consortium led by Westinghouse, is one on the concepts being considered in the road-map and is perhaps the most visible representative of the concept set known as Integral Primary System Reactors (IPSR). This paper presents how IRIS satisfies the prescribed goals. The first goal of resource sustainability includes criteria like utilization of fuel resources, amount and toxicity of waste produced, environmental impact, proliferation and sabotage resistance. As a thermal reactor IRIS does not have the same fuel utilization as fast reactors. However, it has a significant flexibility in fuel cycles as it is designed to utilize either UO 2 or MOX with straight burn cycles of 4 to 10 years, depending on the fissile content. High discharge burnup and Pu recycling result in good fuel utilization and lower waste; IRIS has also attractive proliferation resistance characteristics, due to the reduced accessibility of the fuel. The safety and reliability goal include reliability, workers' exposure, robust safety features, models with well characterized uncertainty, source term and mechanisms of energy release, robust mitigation of accidents. IRIS is significantly better than advanced LWRs because of its safety by design which eliminates a variety of accidents such as LOCAs, its containment vessel coupled design which maintains the core safely covered during the accident sequences, its design simplification features such as no (or reduced) soluble boron, internal shielding and four-year refueling/maintenance interval which significantly reduce

Ocular pharmacokinetics and tolerability of bimatoprost ophthalmic solutions administered once or twice daily in rabbits, and clinical dosing implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shen J

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Jie Shen,1 Margot L Goodkin,2 Warren Tong,2 Mayssa Attar3 1Clinical Pharmacology, 2Clinical Development, 3Clinical Pharmacology, Metabolism and Immunology, Allergan plc, Irvine, CA, USA Purpose: Fixed-combination medications can benefit patients requiring multiple agents to lower their intraocular pressure (IOP, but combining agents with complementary mechanisms of action is challenging if their dosing frequency differs. This study compares in vivo pharmacokinetic and ocular tolerability of bimatoprost 0.01% ophthalmic solutions dosed once or twice daily. Reports of twice-daily dosing in glaucoma patients are also reviewed.Methods: New Zealand White rabbits were administered bimatoprost 0.01% monotherapy or fixed-combination bimatoprost 0.01%/brimonidine 0.1%, once or twice daily in both eyes for 4 days. Ocular tissues were harvested and analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The pharmacokinetic parameters calculated included maximum observed concentration, time to maximum concentration, and area under the concentration-time curve.Results: Due to extensive metabolism, bimatoprost concentration was below the quantitation limit by 1 hour post-dose in all samples. Bimatoprost acid exposure, however, could be measured up to 6–8 hours post-dose and was similar in the aqueous humor and iris-ciliary body (pharmacological site of action of animals treated once or twice daily with either bimatoprost 0.01% or fixed-combination bimatoprost 0.01%/brimonidine 0.1%. Increasing dosage frequency in rabbits did not raise the incidence of drug-related conjunctival hyperemia (most common adverse event associated with bimatoprost use in humans, suggesting comparable ocular tolerability of the once- and twice-daily regimens for each formulation.Conclusion: Bimatoprost 0.01% administered once or twice daily as monotherapy and in fixed-combination with brimonidine 0.1% in rabbits show similar pharmacokinetic profiles of bimatoprost acid

Iris segmentation using an edge detector based on fuzzy sets theory and cellular learning automata.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghanizadeh, Afshin; Abarghouei, Amir Atapour; Sinaie, Saman; Saad, Puteh; Shamsuddin, Siti Mariyam

2011-07-01

Iris-based biometric systems identify individuals based on the characteristics of their iris, since they are proven to remain unique for a long time. An iris recognition system includes four phases, the most important of which is preprocessing in which the iris segmentation is performed. The accuracy of an iris biometric system critically depends on the segmentation system. In this paper, an iris segmentation system using edge detection techniques and Hough transforms is presented. The newly proposed edge detection system enhances the performance of the segmentation in a way that it performs much more efficiently than the other conventional iris segmentation methods.

The influence of iris color on the pupillary light reflex.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergamin, O; Schoetzau, A; Sugimoto, K; Zulauf, M

1998-08-01

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of iris color on the pupillary light reflex (PLR) in normal healthy volunteers. Pupil perimetry was performed on 50 healthy volunteers with the Octopus 1-2-3 automated perimeter. Within the 30-deg visual field, 33 test locations were investigated four times. Stimulus parameters were Goldmann size V (1.72 degrees), intensity 1632 cd/m2, stimulus time 200 ms, background illumination 0 cd/m2, and interstimulus interval 3 s. Pupillometric parameters studied were initial pupil size, amplitude (magnitude of pupillary contraction), latency time, contraction time, pre-PLR movement, contraction velocity, and redilation velocity. Pupillometric parameters were investigated by analysis of variance by the independent variables blue and brown irides. Iris color (blue vs brown) influenced statistically significantly (P movement (0.328 mm2/s vs 0.325 mm2/s). Pupillary contraction amplitude and velocity depended on iris color, whereas pupil size and latency time were independent of iris color. Therefore, iris color might be considered when, evaluating pupillary movements in pupil perimetry.

A Study on Iris Localization and Recognition on Mobile Phones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dae Sik Jeong

2007-11-01

Full Text Available A new iris recognition method for mobile phones based on corneal specular reflections (SRs is discussed. We present the following three novelties over previous research. First, in case of user with glasses, many noncorneal SRs may happen on the surface of glasses and it is very difficult to detect genuine SR on the cornea. To overcome such problems, we propose a successive on/off dual illuminator scheme to detect genuine SRs on the corneas of users with glasses. Second, to detect SRs robustly, we estimated the size, shape, and brightness of the SRs based on eye, camera, and illuminator models. Third, the detected eye (iris region was verified again using the AdaBoost eye detector. Experimental results with 400 face images captured from 100 persons with a mobile phone camera showed that the rate of correct iris detection was 99.5% (for images without glasses and 98.9% (for images with glasses or contact lenses. The consequent accuracy of iris authentication was 0.05% of the EER (equal error rate based on detected iris images.

Iris Segmentation using Gradient Magnitude and Fourier Descriptor for Multimodal Biometric Authentication System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Defiana Sulaeman

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Perfectly segmenting the area of the iris is one of the most important steps in iris recognition. There are several problematic areas that affect the accuracy of the iris segmentation step, such as eyelids, eyelashes, glasses, pupil (due to less accurate iris segmentation, motion blur, and lighting and specular reflections. To solve these problems, gradient magnitude and Fourier descriptor are employed to do iris segmentation in the proposed Multimodal Biometric Authentication System (MBAS. This approach showed quite promising results, i.e. an accuracy rate of 97%. The result of the iris recognition system was combined with the result of an open-source fingerprint recognition system to develop a multimodal biometrics authentication system. The results of the fusion between iris and fingerprint authentication were 99% accurate. Data from Multimedia Malaysia University (MMUI and our own prepared database, the SGU-MB-1 dataset, were used to test the accuracy of the proposed system.

Early discharge after external anal sphincter repair

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosenberg, J; Kehlet, H

1999-01-01

and complications within 30 days after the operation. Surgery was performed during the period of March 1993 to May 1997. The accelerated-stay program included preoperative information, no premedication, a surgical procedure without colostomy, single-dose prophylactic antibiotics, paracetamol for analgesia, free...... surgery and 5 patients stayed for 48 hours after the operation. There was no 30-day morbidity, and no patient received a colostomy in conjunction with the sphincter repair. Fourteen of 19 patients available for follow-up reported a significantly improved functional result compared with preoperative state...

SURVEY OF BIOMETRIC SYSTEMS USING IRIS RECOGNITION

OpenAIRE

S.PON SANGEETHA; DR.M.KARNAN

2014-01-01

The security plays an important role in any type of organization in today’s life. Iris recognition is one of the leading automatic biometric systems in the area of security which is used to identify the individual person. Biometric systems include fingerprints, facial features, voice recognition, hand geometry, handwriting, the eye retina and the most secured one presented in this paper, the iris recognition. Biometric systems has become very famous in security systems because it is not possi...

Uso de la triamcinolona subtenoniana en pacientes con rubeosis del iris Use of intravitreal triamcinolone in patients with iris rubeosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irene Rojas Rondón

2008-12-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Describir el comportamiento de la rubeosis del iris luego de la aplicación de triamcinolona subtenoniana. MÉTODOS: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo de corte longitudinal con 25 pacientes para un total de 32 ojos con diferentes afecciones oculares. Se efectuaron pruebas estadísticas con las variables del estudio y en algunas se utilizó la prueba de los signos de comparación para datos pareados y en otras se aplicó chi cuadrado. Se caracterizaron las variables: edad, sexo, causa de rubeosis del iris y sus estadios, síntomas y tratamiento con láser de panfotocoagulación retiniana. RESULTADOS: La retinopatía diabética proliferativa fue la afección más frecuente en el 76 % de los pacientes, seguida de la oclusión de la vena central retiniana. Del total de pacientes tratados, el 37,5 % evolucionó satisfactoriamente el estado de la rubeosis del iris. Fue mayor el número de pacientes que mejoraron el grado de la rubeosis con tratamiento combinado de láser y triamcinolona subtenoniana, aunque estadísticamente no fue significativo. El estado de la rubeosis mejoró en más de la mitad de los pacientes con tiempo de evolución menor de 6 meses. En aquellos con un tiempo mayor de 6 meses y neovascularización del iris grado III, se pudo estabilizar el glaucoma neovascular. CONCLUSIÓN: Se plantea que la triamcinolona subtenoniana constituye una alternativa para el manejo de este tipo de pacientes.OBJECTIVE: To describe the behaviour of iris rubeosis after using intravitreal triamcinolone. METHODS: A longitudinal descriptive study was performed on 25 patients for a total number of 32 eyes with several ocular diseases. Statistical tests were made with the study variables; sign comparison for paired data and Chi square tests were applied. The variables were age, sex, cause of iris rubeosis and its staging, symptoms and treatment with retinal photocoagulation laser. RESULTS: Proliferative diabetic retinopathy was the most common

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia (Revised External Review Draft)

Science.gov (United States)

In August 2013, EPA submitted a revised draft IRIS assessment of ammonia to the agency's Science Advisory Board (SAB) and posted this draft on the IRIS website. EPA had previously released a draft of the assessment for public comment, held a public meeting about the draft, and ...

Hyaluronic acid production and hyaluronidase activity in the newt iris during lens regeneration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kulyk, W.M.; Zalik, S.E.; Dimitrov, E.

1987-01-01

The process of lens regeneration in newts involves the dedifferentiation of pigmented iris epithelial cells and their subsequent conversion into lens fibers. In vivo this cell-type conversion is restricted to the dorsal region of the iris. We have examined the patterns of hyaluronate accumulation and endogenous hyaluronidase activity in the newt iris during the course of lens regeneration in vivo. Accumulation of newly synthesized hyaluronate was estimated from the uptake of [ 3 H]glucosamine into cetylpyridinium chloride-precipitable material that was sensitive to Streptomyces hyaluronidase. Endogenous hyaluronidase activity was determined from the quantity of reducing N-acetylhexosamine released upon incubation of iris tissue extract with exogenous hyaluronate substrate. We found that incorporation of label into hyaluronate was consistently higher in the regeneration-activated irises of lentectomized eyes than in control irises from sham-operated eyes. Hyaluronate labeling was higher in the dorsal (lens-forming) region of the iris than in ventral (non-lens-forming) iris tissue during the regeneration process. Label accumulation into hyaluronate was maximum between 10 and 15 days after lentectomy, the period of most pronounced dedifferentiation in the dorsal iris epithelium. Both normal and regenerating irises demonstrated a high level of endogenous hyaluronidase activity with a pH optimum of 3.5-4.0. Hyaluronidase activity was 1.7 to 2 times higher in dorsal iris tissue than in ventral irises both prior to lentectomy and throughout the regeneration process. We suggest that enhanced hyaluronate accumulation may facilitate the dedifferentiation of iris epithelial cells in the dorsal iris and prevent precocious withdrawal from the cell cycle. The high level of hyaluronidase activity in the dorsal iris may promote the turnover and remodeling of extracellular matrix components required for cell-type conversion

Iris reactor conceptual design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M.D.; Conway, L.E.; Petrovic, B.; Paramonov, D.V.; Galvin, M.; Todreas, N.E.; Lombardi, C.V.; Maldari, F.; Ricotti, M.E.; Cinotti, L.

2001-01-01

IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) is a modular, integral, light water cooled, low-to-medium power (100-350 MWe) reactor which addresses the requirements defined by the US DOE for Generation IV reactors, i.e., proliferation resistance, enhanced safety, improved economics and fuel cycle sustainability. It relies on the proven technology of light water reactors and features innovative engineering, but it does not require new technology development. This paper discusses the current reference IRIS design, which features a 1000 MWt thermal core with proven 5%-enriched uranium oxide fuel and five-year long straight burn fuel cycle, integral reactor vessel housing helical tube steam generators and immersed spool pumps. Other major contributors to the high level of safety and economic attractiveness are the safety by design and optimized maintenance approaches, which allow elimination of some classes of accidents, lower capital cost, long operating cycle, and high capacity factors. (author)

Iris recognition using possibilistic fuzzy matching on local features.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Chung-Chih; Lin, Heng-Yi; Taur, Jinshiuh; Tao, Chin-Wang

2012-02-01

In this paper, we propose a novel possibilistic fuzzy matching strategy with invariant properties, which can provide a robust and effective matching scheme for two sets of iris feature points. In addition, the nonlinear normalization model is adopted to provide more accurate position before matching. Moreover, an effective iris segmentation method is proposed to refine the detected inner and outer boundaries to smooth curves. For feature extraction, the Gabor filters are adopted to detect the local feature points from the segmented iris image in the Cartesian coordinate system and to generate a rotation-invariant descriptor for each detected point. After that, the proposed matching algorithm is used to compute a similarity score for two sets of feature points from a pair of iris images. The experimental results show that the performance of our system is better than those of the systems based on the local features and is comparable to those of the typical systems.

Three-batch reloading scheme for IRIS reactor extended cycles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jecmenica, R.; Pevec, D.; Grgic, D.

2004-01-01

To fully exploit the IRIS reactor optimized maintenance, and at the same time improve fuel utilization, a core design enabling a 4-year operating cycle together with a three-batch reloading scheme is desirable. However, this requires not only the increased allowed burnup but also use of fuel with uranium oxide enriched beyond 5%. This paper considers three-batch reloading scheme for a 4-year operating cycle with the assumptions of increased discharge burnup and fuel enrichment beyond 5%. Calculational model of IRIS reactor core has been developed based on FER FA2D code for group constants generation and NRC's PARCS nodal code for global core analysis. Studies have been performed resulting in a preliminary design of a three-batch core configuration for the first cycle. It must be emphasized that this study is outside the current IRIS licensing efforts, which rely on the present fuel technology (enrichment below 5%), but it is of long-term interest for potential future IRIS design upgrades. (author)

Challenges at different stages of an iris based biometric system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sunil Kumar Singla

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Iris recognition has been used for authentication for the past few years and is capable of positive/negative authenticationof an individual without any physical contact or intervention. This technique is being used mainly because of its uniqueness,stability, and reliability but still many challenges are being faced an the iris based recognition system. This paperpresents the difficulties faced in different modules, like the sensor module, preprocessing module, feature extraction module,and matching module of an iris biometric system.

Academy Distance Learning Tools (IRIS) -

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — IRIS is a suite of front-end web applications utilizing a centralized back-end Oracle database. The system fully supports the FAA Academy's Distance Learning Program...

Relation between flexor spasms, uninhibited detrusor contractions and anal sphincter activity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, E; Petersen, T; Schrøder, H D

1986-01-01

The time relation between flexor spasms, detrusor contractions and anal sphincter activity was recorded in a consecutive series of 111 patients with hyperreflexic bladder and flexor spasms. In 76 of the patients flexor spasms were preceded by detrusor contractions. The opposite pattern, namely de...

Outcomes of iris-claw anterior chamber versus iris-fixated foldable intraocular lens in subluxated lens secondary to Marfan syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Hirashima, Denise E; Soriano, Eduardo S; Meirelles, Rodrigo L; Alberti, Gustave N; Nosé, Walton

2010-08-01

To compare the outcome of phacoemulsification using 2 different iris-fixation techniques for intraocular lens (IOL) replacement, a foldable posterior chamber IOL (PCIOL; AcrySof MA60AC, Alcon Laboratories Inc, Fort Worth, TX) and an iris-claw anterior chamber IOL (ACIOL; Artisan, Ophtec BV), for treatment of subluxated lenses in patients with Marfan syndrome (MFS). Randomized, controlled trial. A total of 31 eyes of 16 patients with subluxated lenses associated with MFS and a preoperative corrected visual acuity (CVA) IOL type. Preoperative and postoperative ophthalmologic examination, optical coherence tomography, and endothelial cell counts were performed. We recorded CVA results at 3, 6, and 12 months, complications, endothelial cell loss, and central retinal thickness. In the iris-fixated PCIOL group, CVA was significantly improved at 3 (P = 0.011; n = 16), 6 (P = 0.006; n = 16), and 12 months (P = 0.002; n = 16). In the iris-claw ACIOL group, CVA was significantly improved at 3 (P = 0.001; n=15), 6 (P = 0.001; n = 15), and 12 months (P = 0.009; n = 12). The CVA results did not differ significantly between groups. Dislocation of the IOL occurred in 3 of 16 (18.75%) eyes in the PCIOL group. Retinal detachment occurred in 3 eyes (2 in the PCIOL group and 1 in the ACIOL group) and was successfully repaired. Postoperative foveal tomograms in both groups revealed a decrease in the mean foveal thickness (MFT; IOL dislocation tended to occur more frequently in the iris-fixated PCIOL group, the difference was not significant. At 6 months postoperatively, all study patients tended to have a thinner MFT. None of the patients in either group developed cystoid macular edema. Copyright 2010 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparison of anterior segment optical coherence tomography angiography and fluorescein angiography for iris vasculature analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zett, Claudio; Stina, Deborah M Rosa; Kato, Renata Tiemi; Novais, Eduardo Amorim; Allemann, Norma

2018-04-01

The aim of this study is to perform imaging of irises of different colors using spectral domain anterior segment optical coherence tomography angiography (AS-OCTA) and iris fluorescein angiography (IFA) and compare their effectiveness in examining iris vasculature. This is a cross-sectional observational clinical study. Patients with no vascular iris alterations and different pigmentation levels were recruited. Participants were imaged using OCTA adapted with an anterior segment lens and IFA with a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (cSLO) adapted with an anterior segment lens. AS-OCTA and IFA images were then compared. Two blinded readers classified iris pigmentation and compared the percentage of visible vessels between OCTA and IFA images. Twenty eyes of 10 patients with different degrees of iris pigmentation were imaged using AS-OCTA and IFA. Significantly more visible iris vessels were observed using OCTA than using FA (W = 5.22; p Iris pigmentation was negatively correlated to the percentage of visible vessels in both imaging methods (OCTA, rho = - 0.73, p iris vasculature. In both AS-OCTA and IFA, iris pigmentation caused vasculature imaging blockage, but AS-OCTA provided more detailed iris vasculature images than IFA. Additional studies including different iris pathologies are needed to determine the most optimal scanning parameters in OCTA of the anterior segment.

The impact of anal sphincter injury on perceived body image.

Science.gov (United States)

Iles, David; Khan, Rabia; Naidoo, Kristina; Kearney, Rohna; Myers, Jenny; Reid, Fiona

2017-05-01

Obstetric anal sphincter injury is common but the effect on body image is unreported. The aim of this study was to explore patient perceived changes in body image and other psychological aspects in women attending a perineal follow-up clinic. This retrospective study analysed women's responses to a self-reported questionnaire. Consecutive women with anal sphincter injury who attended a United Kingdom Maternity Hospital perineal follow-up clinic between January 1999 and January 2012 were identified and the records obtained and reviewed. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to examine variables influencing self-reported change in body image. Questionnaires and operation notes were analysed from 422 women who attended at a median of four months after delivery. 222 (53%) reported a change in body image with 80 (19%) reporting lower self-esteem and 75 (18%) a change in their personality due to the change in body image. 248 (59%) perceived an anatomical change due to the delivery. Factors associated with increased likelihood of reporting a change in body image were reporting a perceived change in anatomy due to the delivery, adjusted OR 6.11 (3.56-10.49), anal incontinence, OR 1.97 (1.16-3.36), and delivery by forceps, OR 2.59 (1.23-5.43). This is the first study to quantify body image changes in women after anal sphincter injury sustained in childbirth. These were found to be very common, affecting up to 50% of women. The study has several limitations but it does highlight the significant psychosocial problems of negative self-esteem and personality changes associated with a perceived change in body image that has not previously been reported. It also outlines the further research questions that need to be addressed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Association of iris crypts with acute primary angle closure.

Science.gov (United States)

Koh, Victor; Chua, Jacqueline; Shi, Yuan; Thakku, Sri Gowtham; Lee, Ryan; Nongpiur, Monisha E; Baskaran, Mani; Kumar, Rajesh S; Perera, Shamira; Aung, Tin; Cheng, Ching-Yu

2017-10-01

To determine the relationship between iris surface features and acute primary angle closure (APAC) in eyes with angle closure. Case-control study involving Asian patients diagnosed with previous APAC, primary angle closure suspect (PACS), primary angle closure (PAC) and primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) at an eye centre in Singapore between August 2012 and January 2015. Participants underwent ophthalmic examination and digital slit-lamp iris photography. Iris surface features were graded based on crypts, furrows and colour. Fellow eyes of APAC were compared with PACS and PAC/PACG eyes with regard to their iris surface features. Occurrence of APAC. A total of 309 patients (71 APAC, 139 PACS, 47 PAC and 52 PACG) were included (mean age: 67.7±7.2 years and 36.6% male). Compared with PACS, higher crypt grade was significantly associated with lower odds of APAC (OR=0.58 for one grade higher in crypt grade; p=0.027, adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity and pupil diameter). The results remained similar when compared with PAC/PACG group (OR=0.58 for one grade higher in crypt grade; p=0.043). We did not observe any significant associations between iris furrows or colour with presence of APAC. Our study comprising Asian eyes with angle closure suggests that the presence of a higher crypt grading may be protective for APAC. As such, assessing iris surface architecture for crypts could be a new measure for risk stratification of developing APAC in eyes with angle closure. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — EPA?s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is a compilation of electronic reports on specific substances found in the environment and their potential to cause...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tetrahydrofuran (THF) (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

Science.gov (United States)

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Tetrahydrofuran, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the iris/process.htm">IRIS Assessment Development Proc...

Comparative analysis of classification based algorithms for diabetes diagnosis using iris images.

Science.gov (United States)

Samant, Piyush; Agarwal, Ravinder

2018-01-01

Photo-diagnosis is always an intriguing area for the researchers, with the advancement of image processing and computer machine vision techniques it have become more reliable and popular in recent years. The objective of this paper is to study the change in the features of iris, particularly irregularities in the pigmentation of certain areas of the iris with respect to diabetic health of an individual. Apart from the point that iris recognition concentrates on the overall structure of the iris, diagnostic techniques emphasises the local variations in the particular area of iris. Pre-image processing techniques have been applied to extract iris and thereafter, region of interest from the extracted iris have been cropped out. In order to observe the changes in the tissue pigmentation of region of interest, statistical, texture textural and wavelet features have been extracted. At the end, a comparison of accuracies of five different classifiers has been presented to classify two subject groups of diabetic and non-diabetic. Best classification accuracy has been calculated as 89.66% by the random forest classifier. Results have been shown the effectiveness and diagnostic significance of the proposed methodology. Presented piece of work offers a novel systemic perspective of non-invasive and automatic diabetic diagnosis.

TEC variability near northern EIA crest and comparison with IRI model

Science.gov (United States)

Aggarwal, Malini

2011-10-01

Monthly median values of hourly total electron content (TEC) is obtained with GPS at a station near northern anomaly crest, Rajkot (geog. 22.29°N, 70.74°E; geomag. 14.21°N, 144.9°E) to study the variability of low latitude ionospheric behavior during low solar activity period (April 2005 to March 2006). The TEC exhibit characteristic features like day-to-day variability, semiannual anomaly and noon bite out. The observed TEC is compared with latest International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) - 2007 model using options of topside electron density, NeQuick, IRI01-corr and IRI-2001 by using both URSI and CCIR coefficients. A good agreement of observed and predicted TEC is found during the daytime with underestimation at other times. The predicted TEC by NeQuick and IRI01-corr is closer to the observed TEC during the daytime whereas during nighttime and morning hours, IRI-2001 shows lesser discrepancy in all seasons by both URSI and CCIR coefficients.

Secure and Robust Iris Recognition Using Random Projections and Sparse Representations.

Science.gov (United States)

Pillai, Jaishanker K; Patel, Vishal M; Chellappa, Rama; Ratha, Nalini K

2011-09-01

Noncontact biometrics such as face and iris have additional benefits over contact-based biometrics such as fingerprint and hand geometry. However, three important challenges need to be addressed in a noncontact biometrics-based authentication system: ability to handle unconstrained acquisition, robust and accurate matching, and privacy enhancement without compromising security. In this paper, we propose a unified framework based on random projections and sparse representations, that can simultaneously address all three issues mentioned above in relation to iris biometrics. Our proposed quality measure can handle segmentation errors and a wide variety of possible artifacts during iris acquisition. We demonstrate how the proposed approach can be easily extended to handle alignment variations and recognition from iris videos, resulting in a robust and accurate system. The proposed approach includes enhancements to privacy and security by providing ways to create cancelable iris templates. Results on public data sets show significant benefits of the proposed approach.

An Analysis on Better Testing than Training Performances on the Iris Dataset

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schutten, Marten; Wiering, Marco

2016-01-01

The Iris dataset is a well known dataset containing information on three different types of Iris flowers. A typical and popular method for solving classification problems on datasets such as the Iris set is the support vector machine (SVM). In order to do so the dataset is separated in a set used

AHMCT Intelligent Roadway Information System (IRIS) technical support and testing

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-31

This report documents the research project AHMCT IRIS Technical Support and Testing, : performed under contract 65A0275, Task ID 1777. It presents an overview of the Intelligent : Roadway Information System (IRIS), and its design and function. ...

Sphincter saving and abdomino-perineal resections following neoadjuvant chemoradiation in locally advanced low rectal cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gawad, W.; Fakhr, I.; Lotayef, M.; Mansour, O.; Mokhtar, N.

2015-01-01

Background: The improvement in surgical techniques alongside neoadjuvant chemo radiation enabled more patients with low rectal cancer to have sphincter preservation. Study aim: To compare the oncologic and functional outcome in patients with locally advanced low rectal cancer treated by neoadjuvant chemo radiation followed by sphincter saving resection (SSR) against those who underwent abdomino-perineal resection (APR). Patients and methods: A total of 111 patients with low rectal cancer were included in the study. Sixty-one consented patients who prospectively underwent SSR, from Jan 2008 to Jan 2013, and a retrospective group, formed of 50 patients, selected from cases seen at NCI, with comparable demographic, clinical and pathologic criteria, who underwent APR from Jan 2003 to Jan 2008. All lesions were <5 cm from anal verge. All 111 patients received preoperative chemo radiation and total mesorectal excision. Results: All tumors were located at a median of 3.6 cm (range 2.5-4.5 cm) for the SSR group, and 3.5 cm (range 2.5-4.6 cm) for the APR group, from the anal verge. The median follow-up was 34 months (range 1-60 months) for both groups. The difference in disease recurrence and OS between the APR and SSR groups were both statistically insignificant. Conclusion: In low rectal cancer, the sphincter preservation appears to have nearly the same oncologic outcome compared to APR, this might be attributed to the small sample size and short follow up period. However, patients with sphincter preservation have certainly demonstrated an indisputable better functional outcome, in terms of stoma avoidance and adequate continence.

Iris Murdoch armastusest / Udo uibo

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Uibo, Udo, 1956-

2010-01-01

Londoni Kingstoni ülikool omandas 50 000 naesterlingi eest 164 Iris Murdochi kirja prantsuse kirjanikule, keeleeksperimentaatorile Raymond Quenaule, millest selgub Murdochi ühepoolne ning vastamata jäänud tunne Quenau suhtes.

Texture Feature Extraction and Classification for Iris Diagnosis

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Lin; Li, Naimin

Appling computer aided techniques in iris image processing, and combining occidental iridology with the traditional Chinese medicine is a challenging research area in digital image processing and artificial intelligence. This paper proposes an iridology model that consists the iris image pre-processing, texture feature analysis and disease classification. To the pre-processing, a 2-step iris localization approach is proposed; a 2-D Gabor filter based texture analysis and a texture fractal dimension estimation method are proposed for pathological feature extraction; and at last support vector machines are constructed to recognize 2 typical diseases such as the alimentary canal disease and the nerve system disease. Experimental results show that the proposed iridology diagnosis model is quite effective and promising for medical diagnosis and health surveillance for both hospital and public use.

[Transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxation and the related esophageal motor activities].

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Seung Hyo; Hong, Su Jin

2012-03-01

Transient lower esophageal sphincter (LES) relaxation (TLESR) is defined as LES relaxation without a swallow. TLESRs are observed in both of the normal individuals and the patients with gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD). However, TLESR is widely considered as the major mechanism of the GERD. The new equipments such as high resolution manometry and impedance pH study is helped to understand of TLESR and the related esophageal motor activities. The strong longitudinal muscle contraction was observed during development of TLESR. Most of TLESRs are terminated by TLESR related motor events such as primary peristalsis and secondary contractions. The majority of TLESRs are associated with gastroesophageal reflux. Upper esophageal sphincter (UES) contraction is mainly associated with liquid reflux during recumbent position and UES relaxation predominantly related with air reflux during upright position. The frequency of TLESR in GERD patients seems to be not different compared to normal individuals, but the refluxate of GERD patients tend to be more acidic during TLESR.

Integrated electrochromic iris device for low power and space-limited applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deutschmann, T; Oesterschulze, E

2014-01-01

We present a micro-electrooptical iris based on the electrochromic polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene). Two ring-shaped concentric polymer-segments embedded in a transparent electrochemical cell form the micro iris. The polymer layers change their absorption when an external voltage is applied. This iris device benefits from the absence of any mechanically moving part. This renders a very slim design possible, which is suited for small integrated camera systems. During operation the polymer maintains its absorbing state without power consumption. Its low driving voltage of maximum 1.5 V is beneficial for battery powered applications. The impact of the iris on the depth of focus and transmission control as well as its dynamical behavior will be addressed. (paper)

Association between iris constitution and apolipoprotein e gene polymorphism in hypertensives.

Science.gov (United States)

Um, Jae-Young; Hwang, Chung-Yeon; Hwang, Woo-Jun; Kang, Sung-Do; Do, Keum-Rok; Cho, Ju-Jang; Cho, Jae-Woon; Kim, Sung-Hoon; Shin, Tae-Yong; Kim, Yun-Kyung; Kim, Hyung-Min; Hong, Seung-Heon

2004-12-01

Iridology is a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) that involves the diagnosis of medical conditions by noting irregularities of the pigmentation in the iris. Iris constitution has a strong familial aggregation and heredity is implicated. Apolipoprotein E (apoE) gene polymorphism is one of the most well-studied genetic markers for vascular diseases, including hypertension. In this study, we investigated the relationship between iris constitution and apoE polymorphism in hypertensives. We classified 87 hypertensives and 79 controls according to iris constitution and determined the apoE genotype of each individual. A significantly higher percentage of individuals with neurogenic constitutions was found in the hypertensive group when compared with the control group (chi(2) = 40.244, p < 0.001). In addition, a neurogenic constitution increased the relative risk for hypertension for subjects with an apo epsilon2 or an epsilon4 allele (chi(2) = 4.086, p = 0.049, odds ratio = 2.633, confidence interval = 1.004-6.905). Our results imply that a neurogenic iris constitution enhances the relative risk for hypertension in subjects with the apo epsilon2 or epsilon4 allele. Furthermore, we attempted to evaluate the efficacy of iris constitutional medicine and to find an association with hypertension.

Computational model for transient studies of IRIS pressurizer behavior; Modelo computacional para el estudio de transitorios en el compensador de presion IRIS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rives Sanz, R.; Montesino Otero, M.E.; Gonzalez Mantecon, J.; Rojas Mazaira, L., E-mail: mmontesi@instec.cu [Higher Institute of Technology and Applied Science, La Habana (Cuba). Department of Nuclear Engineering; Lira, C.A. Brayner de Oliveira [Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE (Brazil)

2014-07-01

International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) excels other Small Modular Reactor (SMR) designs due to its innovative characteristics regarding safety. IRIS integral pressurizer makes the design of larger pressurizer system than the conventional PWR, without any additional cost. The IRIS pressurizer volume of steam can provide enough margins to avoid spray requirement to mitigate in-surge transient. The aim of the present research is to model the IRIS pressurizer's dynamic using the commercial finite volume Computational Fluid Dynamic code CFX 14. A symmetric tridimensional model equivalent to 1/8 of the total geometry was adopted to reduce mesh size and minimize processing time. The model considers the coexistence of three phases: liquid, steam, and vapor bubbles in liquid volume. Additionally, it takes into account the heat losses between the pressurizer and primary circuit. The relationships for interfacial mass, energy, and momentum transport are programmed and incorporated into CFX by using expressions in CFX Command Language (CCL) format. Moreover, several additional variables are defined for improving the convergence and allow monitoring of boron dilution sequences and condensation-evaporation rate in different control volumes. For transient states a non - equilibrium stratification in the pressurizer is considered. This paper discusses the model developed and the behavior of the system for representative transients sequences such as the in/out-surge transients and boron dilution sequences. The results of analyzed transients of IRIS can be applied to the design of pressurizer internal structures and components. (author)

The Prototype HyspIRI Thermal Infrared Radiometer (PHyTIR): A High Speed, Multispectral, Thermal Instrument Development in Support of HyspIRI-TIR

Science.gov (United States)

Hook, Simon

2011-01-01

The Prototype HyspIRI Thermal Infrared Radiometer (PHyTIR) is being developed as part of the risk reduction activities associated with the Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI). The HyspIRI mission was recommended by the National Research Council Decadal Survey and includes a visible shortwave infrared (SWIR) pushboom spectrometer and a multispectral whiskbroom thermal infrared (TIR) imager. Data from the HyspIRI mission will be used to address key science questions related to the Solid Earth and Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems focus areas of the NASA Science Mission Directorate. The HyspIRI TIR system will have 60m ground resolution, better than 200mK noise equivalent delta temperature (NEDT), 0.5C absolute temperature resolution with a 5-day repeat from LEO orbit. PHyTIR addresses the technology readiness level (TRL) of certain key subsystems of the TIR imager, primarily the detector assembly and scanning mechanism. PHyTIR will use Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) technology at the focal plane and operate in time delay integration mode. A custom read out integrated circuit (ROIC) will provide the high speed readout hence allowing the high data rates needed for the 5 day repeat. PHyTIR will also demonstrate a newly developed interferometeric metrology system. This system will provide an absolute measurement of the scanning mirror to an order of magnitude better than conventional optical encoders. This will minimize the reliance on ground control points hence minimizing post-processing (e.g. geo-rectification computations).

Severe pigment dispersion after iris-claw phakic intraocular lens implantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Galvis, Virgilio; Carreño, Néstor I; Tello, Alejandro; Laiton, Andrea N

2017-12-01

A 23-year-old female patient presented 3 months after the implantation of an Artisan® phakic intraocular lens with a severe depigmentation of the iris and peripheral anterior synechiae. Explantation of the intraocular lens and goniosynechialysis were performed. Eleven months after the explantation appearance of the iris significantly improved. There was no loss of lines of corrected distance visual acuity. Severe pigment dispersion after the implantation of an Artisan® phakic intraocular lens may happen and may require explantation of the lens. Iris depigmentation may improve with time.

Severe pigment dispersion after iris-claw phakic intraocular lens implantation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virgilio Galvis

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A 23-year-old female patient presented 3 months after the implantation of an Artisan® phakic intraocular lens with a severe depigmentation of the iris and peripheral anterior synechiae. Explantation of the intraocular lens and goniosynechialysis were performed. Eleven months after the explantation appearance of the iris significantly improved. There was no loss of lines of corrected distance visual acuity. Severe pigment dispersion after the implantation of an Artisan® phakic intraocular lens may happen and may require explantation of the lens. Iris depigmentation may improve with time.

IRIS Assessment Plan for Uranium (Scoping and Problem Formulation Materials)

Science.gov (United States)

In January 2018, EPA released the IRIS Assessment Plan for Uranium (Oral Reference Dose) (Scoping and Problem Formulation Materials). An IRIS Assessment Plan (IAP) communicates to the public the plan for assessing each individual chemical and includes summary informatio...

Diagnostic potential of iris cross-sectional imaging in albinism using optical coherence tomography.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheth, Viral; Gottlob, Irene; Mohammad, Sarim; McLean, Rebecca J; Maconachie, Gail D E; Kumar, Anil; Degg, Christopher; Proudlock, Frank A

2013-10-01

To characterize in vivo anatomic abnormalities of the iris in albinism compared with healthy controls using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) and to explore the diagnostic potential of this technique for albinism. We also investigated the relationship between iris abnormalities and other phenotypical features of albinism. Prospective cross-sectional study. A total of 55 individuals with albinism and 45 healthy controls. We acquired 4.37×4.37-mm volumetric scans (743 A-scans, 50 B-scans) of the nasal and temporal iris in both eyes using AS-OCT (3-μm axial resolution). Iris layers were segmented and thicknesses were measured using ImageJ software. Iris transillumination grading was graded using Summers and colleagues' classification. Retinal OCT, eye movement recordings, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), visual evoked potential (VEP), and grading of skin and hair pigmentation were used to quantify other phenotypical features associated with albinism. Iris AS-OCT measurements included (1) total iris thickness, (2) stroma/anterior border (SAB) layer thickness, and (3) posterior epithelial layer (PEL) thickness. Correlation with other phenotypical measurements, including (1) iris transillumination grading, (2) retinal layer measurements at the fovea, (3) nystagmus intensity, (4) BCVA, (5) VEP asymmetry, (6) skin pigmentation, and (7) hair pigmentation (of head hair, lashes, and brows). The mean iris thickness was 10.7% thicker in controls (379.3 ± 44.0 μm) compared with the albinism group (342.5 ± 52.6 μm; P>0.001), SAB layers were 5.8% thicker in controls (315.1 ± 43.8 μm) compared with the albinism group (297.7 ± 50.0 μm; P=0.044), and PEL was 44.0% thicker in controls (64.1 ± 11.7 μm) compared with the albinism group (44.5 ± 13.9 μm; Palbinism. Phenotypic features of albinism, such as skin and hair pigmentation, BCVA, and nystagmus intensity, were significantly correlated to AS-OCT iris thickness measurements. We have

IRIS Toxicological Review of Inorganic Arsenic (Cancer) ...

Science.gov (United States)

EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) conducted a review of the scientific basis supporting the human health cancer hazard and dose-response assessment of inorganic arsenic that will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. EPA revised the assessment and is now returning the assessment to the SAB and releasing the document to the public for a focused review of EPA's responses to the SAB recommendations. This draft IRIS health assessment addresses only cancer human health effects that may result from chronic exposure to this chemical.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF THE IRIS PROJECT OF INTEREST FOR LATIN AMERICA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M.D.; Petrovic, B.

2004-01-01

The IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) reactor design is being developed by an international consortium of 21 organizations from ten countries, including three members from Brazil and one from Mexico. This reflects the interest that Latin America has for a project which addresses the energy needs of the region. Presented here are some of the most recent developments in the IRIS project. The project's highest priority is the current pre-application licensing with the US NRC, which has required an investigation of the major accident sequences and a preliminary probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). The results of the accident analyses confirmed the outstanding inherent safety of the IRIS configuration and the PRA analyses indicated a core damage frequency due to internal events of the order of 2E-8. This not only highlights the enhanced safety characteristic of IRIS which should enhance its public acceptance, but it has also prompted IRIS to consider the possibility of being licensed without the need for off-site emergency response planning which would have a very positive economic implication. The modular IRIS, with each module rated at ∼ 335 MWe, is of course an ideal size for developing countries as it allows to easily introduce a moderate amount of power on limited electric grids. IRIS can be deployed in single modules in regions only requiring a few hundred MWs or in multiple modules deployed successively at time intervals in large urban areas requiring a larger amount of power increasing with time. IRIS is designed to operate ''hands-off'' as much as possible, with a small crew, having in mind deployment in areas with limited infrastructure. Thus IRIS has a 48-months maintenance interval, long refueling cycles in excess of three years, and is designed to increase as much as possible operational reliability. For example, the project has recently adopted internal control rod drive mechanisms to eliminate vessel head penetrations and the

Prosessiautomaation häiriösuojaus

OpenAIRE

Aalto, Joni

2015-01-01

Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli tutustua prosessiteollisuuden automaatio- ja ohjausjärjestelmien häiriösuojaukseen ja varmistaa sen oikeanlainen rakenne ja toiminta käytännössä. Työ tehtiin Insta Automation Oy:lle, joka vastaa Boliden Harjavallan sähkökunnossapidosta ja sähkösuunnittelusta. Työ tehtiin Boliden Harjavallan sulaton alueella. Työhön kuului häiriöttömän eli TE-maadoituksen rakenteen tarkastaminen ja mittaus sekä prosessinohjaukseen käytettävän Metso DNA-järjestelmän sähköns...

Plateau iris secondary to iridociliary cysts.

Science.gov (United States)

Vila-Arteaga, J; Díaz-Céspedes, R A; Suriano, M M

2015-11-01

We present a case of plateau iris and glaucoma due to multiple unilateral iridociliary cysts. The patient was treated with iridotomy Nd: YAG laser and 360° iridoplasty, without achieving pressure control. Phacoemulsification improved the hypertension. Dynamic gonioscopy and OCT of the anterior chamber was also performed before and after treatment. Iridociliary cysts are a benign condition that can cause iris plateau configuration, and can produce a difficult to treat ocular hypertension. Cystotomy, peripheral iridoplasty, and other treatments have been proposed. Copyright © 2014 Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Toward a definition of a threshold for harmless doses to the anal-sphincter region and the rectum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Abany, Massoud; Helgason, Asgeir R.; Agren Cronqvist, Anna-Karin; Lind, Bengt; Mavroidis, Panayiotis; Wersaell, Peter; Lind, Helena; Qvanta, Eva; Steineck, Gunnar

2005-01-01

Purpose: To investigate dysfunction caused by unwanted radiation to the anal-sphincter region and the rectum. Methods and materials: A questionnaire assessing bowel symptoms, sexual function, and urinary symptoms was sent to 72 patients with clinically localized prostatic adenocarcinoma treated by external beam radiation therapy at the Radiumhemmet, Karolinska Hospital, in Stockholm, Sweden, 2-4 years after treatment. The mean percentage dose-volume histograms for patients with and without the specific symptom were calculated. Results: Of the 65 patients providing information, 9 reported fecal leakage, 10 blood and mucus in stools, 10 defecation urgency, and 7 diarrhea or loose stools. None of the 19 and 13 patients who received, respectively, a dose of ≥35 Gy to ≤60% or ≥40 Gy to ≤40% of the anal-sphincter region volume reported fecal leakage (p < 0.05). In dose-volume histograms, a statistically significant correlation was found between radiation to the anal-sphincter region and the risk of fecal leakage in the interval 45-55 Gy. There was also a statistically significant correlation between radiation to the rectum and the risk of defecation urgency and diarrhea or loose stools in the interval 25-42 Gy. No relationship was found between anatomic rectal wall volume and the investigated late effects. Conclusions: Although the limited data in this study prevent the definition of a conclusive threshold regarding volume and dose to the anal-sphincter region and untoward morbidity, it seems that careful monitoring of unnecessary irradiation to this area should be done because it can potentially help reduce the risk of adverse effects, such as fecal leakage. Future studies should pay more attention to the anal-sphincter region and help to more rigorously define its radiotherapeutic tolerance

INPRO economic assessment of the IRIS nuclear reactor for deployment in Brazil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goncalves Filho, Orlando Joao Agostinho, E-mail: orlando@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN - RJ), Rua Helio de Almeida, 75, Cidade Universitaria, Ilha do Fundao, 21941-906 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2011-06-15

Highlights: > First INPRO evaluation of IRIS economic competitiveness for deployment in Brazil. > Plant arrangement of three independent IRIS single units constructed in series. > Angra 3 reactor used as reference design for judgment of IRIS economic potential. > IRIS economically competes with 2nd generation nuclear power plants in Brazil - Abstract: This paper presents the results of the economic assessment of the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) for deployment in Brazil using the assessment methodology developed under the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO), co-ordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). INPRO initiated in 2001 and has the main objective of helping to ensure that nuclear energy will be available to contribute in a sustainable manner to the energy needs of the 21st century. Among its missions is the development of a methodology to assess innovative nuclear energy systems (INSs) on a global, regional and national basis. In 2005, Brazil submitted a proposal for the assessment of two small-size reactors as components of an INS, completed with a conventional open nuclear fuel cycle based on enriched uranium. One of the reactors assessed was IRIS, a small-size, modular, integral-type PWR reactor. IRIS was evaluated with regard to the areas of reactor safety and economics only. This paper outlines the rationale for the study and summarizes the results of the economic assessment. The study concluded that the reference design of IRIS complies with most of INPRO economics criteria and has potential to comply with the remaining ones.

IRIS: A global approach to nuclear power renaissance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M.D.

2004-01-01

Improved international reactor IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) is discussed. IRIS is defined as a modular reactor with integral arrangement and water coolant. Design of reactor core and fuel elements is considered. Use of radial neutron reflectors from stainless steel is favorable to decrease of cost and increase of reactor operation. Reactor maintenance, constructional safety and arrangement of plant are characterized. Economical analysis and marketing are performed [ru

Gaze Estimation for Off-Angle Iris Recognition Based on the Biometric Eye Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karakaya, Mahmut [ORNL; Barstow, Del R [ORNL; Santos-Villalobos, Hector J [ORNL; Thompson, Joseph W [ORNL; Bolme, David S [ORNL; Boehnen, Chris Bensing [ORNL

2013-01-01

Iris recognition is among the highest accuracy biometrics. However, its accuracy relies on controlled high quality capture data and is negatively affected by several factors such as angle, occlusion, and dilation. Non-ideal iris recognition is a new research focus in biometrics. In this paper, we present a gaze estimation method designed for use in an off-angle iris recognition framework based on the ANONYMIZED biometric eye model. Gaze estimation is an important prerequisite step to correct an off-angle iris images. To achieve the accurate frontal reconstruction of an off-angle iris image, we first need to estimate the eye gaze direction from elliptical features of an iris image. Typically additional information such as well-controlled light sources, head mounted equipment, and multiple cameras are not available. Our approach utilizes only the iris and pupil boundary segmentation allowing it to be applicable to all iris capture hardware. We compare the boundaries with a look-up-table generated by using our biologically inspired biometric eye model and find the closest feature point in the look-up-table to estimate the gaze. Based on the results from real images, the proposed method shows effectiveness in gaze estimation accuracy for our biometric eye model with an average error of approximately 3.5 degrees over a 50 degree range.

Iris recognition using image moments and k-means algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Yaser Daanial; Khan, Sher Afzal; Ahmad, Farooq; Islam, Saeed

2014-01-01

This paper presents a biometric technique for identification of a person using the iris image. The iris is first segmented from the acquired image of an eye using an edge detection algorithm. The disk shaped area of the iris is transformed into a rectangular form. Described moments are extracted from the grayscale image which yields a feature vector containing scale, rotation, and translation invariant moments. Images are clustered using the k-means algorithm and centroids for each cluster are computed. An arbitrary image is assumed to belong to the cluster whose centroid is the nearest to the feature vector in terms of Euclidean distance computed. The described model exhibits an accuracy of 98.5%.

Security enhanced BioEncoding for protecting iris codes

Science.gov (United States)

Ouda, Osama; Tsumura, Norimichi; Nakaguchi, Toshiya

2011-06-01

Improving the security of biometric template protection techniques is a key prerequisite for the widespread deployment of biometric technologies. BioEncoding is a recently proposed template protection scheme, based on the concept of cancelable biometrics, for protecting biometric templates represented as binary strings such as iris codes. The main advantage of BioEncoding over other template protection schemes is that it does not require user-specific keys and/or tokens during verification. Besides, it satisfies all the requirements of the cancelable biometrics construct without deteriorating the matching accuracy. However, although it has been shown that BioEncoding is secure enough against simple brute-force search attacks, the security of BioEncoded templates against more smart attacks, such as record multiplicity attacks, has not been sufficiently investigated. In this paper, a rigorous security analysis of BioEncoding is presented. Firstly, resistance of BioEncoded templates against brute-force attacks is revisited thoroughly. Secondly, we show that although the cancelable transformation employed in BioEncoding might be non-invertible for a single protected template, the original iris code could be inverted by correlating several templates used in different applications but created from the same iris. Accordingly, we propose an important modification to the BioEncoding transformation process in order to hinder attackers from exploiting this type of attacks. The effectiveness of adopting the suggested modification is validated and its impact on the matching accuracy is investigated empirically using CASIA-IrisV3-Interval dataset. Experimental results confirm the efficacy of the proposed approach and show that it preserves the matching accuracy of the unprotected iris recognition system.

Driving Simulator study for intelligent cooperative intersection safety system (IRIS)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vreeswijk, J.; Schendzielorz, T.; Mathias, P.; Feenstra, P.

2008-01-01

About forty percent of all accidents occur at intersections. The Intelligent Cooperative Intersection Safety system (IRIS), as part of the European research project SAFESPOT, is a roadside application and aims at minimizing the number of accidents at controlled and uncontrolled intersections. IRIS

A High-Gradient Test of a 30 GHz Molybdenum-Iris Structure

CERN Document Server

Wuensch, Walter; Braun, H; Carron, G; Corsini, R; Döbert, Steffen; Fandos, R; Grudiev, A; Jensen, E; Mete, Ö; Ramsvik, T; Rodríguez, José Alberto; Sladen, Jonathan P H; Syratchev, I V; Taborelli, M; Tecker, F A; Urschütz, Peter; Wilson, Ian H; CERN. Geneva

2006-01-01

The CLIC study is actively investigating a number of different materials in an effort to find ways to increase achievable accelerating gradient. So far a series of rf tests have been made with a set of identical-geometry structures: a W-iris 30 GHz structure, a Mo-iris 30 GHz structure (with pulses as long as 16 ns) and a scaled Mo-iris X-band structure. A second Mo-iris 30 GHz structure of the same geometry has now been tested in CTF3 with pulse lengths up to 350 ns. The structure was conditioned to a gradient of 140 MV/m with a 70 ns pulse length and a breakdown rate slope of 13 MV/m per decade has been measured

Developing virtual REU cohorts: Reflections from the IRIS Undergraduate Internship Program

Science.gov (United States)

Hubenthal, M.; Taber, J.; Aster, R.; Frassetto, A.

2007-12-01

Beginning in 2006, the IRIS Education and Outreach program received funding from the National Science Foundation (EAR-0453427) to explore a novel approach to the traditional Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) model. This model blends the spirit of an REU program, which traditionally hosts participants in one location with successful prior IRIS experience hosting students at widely separated institutions to participate in summer research. A unique feature the IRIS Undergraduate Internship Program is that throughout the summer, interns form and sustain a virtual community, offering assistance, sharing ideas, asking questions, and relaying life experiences while conducting their research at diverse institutions. Key to IRIS's REU model is a combination of: one-on-one mentoring by researchers at IRIS institutions across the US, developing a strong unity among interns through both face-to-face and on-line interactions, participation of an IRIS REU alumni mentor to provide both group and intern-specific guidance developing interns' abilities to self-evaluate and work independently, through carefully designed web-based tools, and increasing interns' awareness of the IRIS and broader Earth Science community; demonstrating the role they will play in this larger community. Virtual interaction is facilitated by 1) bringing students together for face-to-face contact, through a week long orientation held annually at the IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center on the campus of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and 2) the community enabling web infrastructure at http://www.iris.edu/internship/. During the orientation students engage in classes in geophysics basics, career preparation, as well as training to communicate virtually. Our experiences and evaluations from the 2006 and 2007 field seasons have:shown the increasing demand for electronic advertising of REU programs, provided support for several assumptions of the model including the key role of both the

Nuclear power desalinating complex with IRIS reactor plant and Russian distillation desalinating unit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostin, V. I.; Panov, Yu.K.; Polunichev, V. I.; Fateev, S. A.; Gureeva, L. V.

2004-01-01

This paper has been prepared as a result of Russian activities on the development of nuclear power desalinating complex (NPDC) with the IRIS reactor plant (RP). The purpose of the activities was to develop the conceptual design of power desalinating complex (PDC) and to evaluate technical and economical indices, commercial attractiveness and economical efficiency of PDC based on an IRIS RP with distillation desalinating plants. The paper presents the main results of studies as applied to dual-purpose PDC based on IRIS RP with different types of desalinating plants, namely: characteristics of nuclear power desalinating complex based on IRIS reactor plant using Russian distillation desalinating technologies; prospective options of interface circuits of the IRIS RP with desalinating plants; evaluations of NPDC with IRIS RP output based on selected desalinating technologies for water and electric power supplied to the grid; cost of water generated by NPDC for selected interface circuits made by the IAEA DEEP code as well as by the Russian TEO-INVEST code; cost evaluation results for desalinated water of PDC operating on fossil fuel and conditions for competitiveness of the nuclear PDC based on IRIS RP compared with analog desalinating complexes operating on fossil fuel.(author)

A modified COMS plaque for iris melanoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel J. Scanderbeg

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Melanoma of the iris is a rare condition compared to posterior ocular tumors and in this case report we presenta 51-year-old female patient with diffuse iris melanoma. Traditional COMS (Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Studyplaques are used at our institution for radiation therapy, so a novel modification of the traditional plaque was requiredto allow better conformance with placement on the cornea. The usual silastic insert was machined to dimensions incompliance with the cornea, placed without incident, and treatment delivered with excellent patient tolerance of themodified plaque.

Expression of defender against apoptotic death (DAD-1) in iris and dianthus petals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kop, van der D.A.M.; Ruys, G.; Dees, D.; Schoot, van der C.; Boer, de A.D.; Doorn, van W.G.

2003-01-01

The gene defender against apoptotic death (DAD-1) prevents programmed cell death in animal cells. We investigated the expression pattern of DAD-1 in petals of iris (Iris x hollandica cv. Blue Magic) and carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus cv. Etarro). DAD-1 expression in Iris petals was strongly

Systematic Re-evaluation of Iris atrofusca Baker (Sawsan Jela'd) of Shafa Badran in Jordan as Iris nigricans Dinsmore

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oran, S.; AL-Da'ja, I.

2003-01-01

The identity of one species of Iris (Iridaceae) from Locality at Shafa Badran area in Amman/Jordan has been reassessed and reidentified as I.nigricans Dinsmore, the national flower of Jordan, as it is misidentified as I. atrofusca for plants collected and identified from this area previously and as recorded in the related literature ( Post, 1932; Feinbrun, 1986). This decision has been made on the basis of studying fresh plants collected from Shafa Badran area, northeast of Amman in the period March-April 2001. The confirmation of identity of the species of Iris occur in Shafa Badran was based on studying the morphological characteristics of the leaves ,stems flowers for plants collected from that area, as well as studying the pollen grains and seed characteristics using light and scanning electron microscopy, as compared with plants of Iris nigricans collected from Madaba area for the same characters. Moreover, herbarium specimens deposited st Amman herbarium were checked and reidentified as I. nigricans. The results of studying the vegetative reproductive characters suggesting that the species that is occurring in Shafa Badran area is I.nigricans. However, these findings suggest that an interbreeding might have taken place between the individuals of I. nigricans in Shafa Badran and I.atrofusca from a neighboring geographical area called Jarash in North of Jordan, close enough that they are not geographically isolated for specimens that were probably intermixed with the population of Iris nigricans in Shafa Badran area. ( authors)

Thirty Years of Innovation in Seismology with the IRIS Consortium

Science.gov (United States)

Sumy, D. F.; Woodward, R.; Aderhold, K.; Ahern, T. K.; Anderson, K. R.; Busby, R.; Detrick, R. S.; Evers, B.; Frassetto, A.; Hafner, K.; Simpson, D. W.; Sweet, J. R.; Taber, J.

2015-12-01

The United States academic seismology community, through the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Consortium, has promoted and encouraged a rich environment of innovation and experimentation in areas such as seismic instrumentation, data processing and analysis, teaching and curriculum development, and academic science. As the science continually evolves, IRIS helps drive the market for new research tools that enable science by establishing a variety of standards and goals. This has often involved working directly with manufacturers to better define the technology required, co-funding key development work or early production prototypes, and purchasing initial production runs. IRIS activities have helped establish de-facto international standards and impacted the commercial sector in areas such as seismic instrumentation, open-access data management, and professional development. Key institutional practices, conducted and refined over IRIS' thirty-year history of operations, have focused on open-access data availability, full retention of maximum-bandwidth, continuous data, and direct community access to state-of-the-art seismological instrumentation and software. These practices have helped to cultivate and support a thriving commercial ecosystem, and have been a key element in the professional development of multiple generations of seismologists who now work in both industry and academia. Looking toward the future, IRIS is increasing its engagement with industry to better enable bi-directional exchange of techniques and technology, and enhancing the development of tomorrow's workforce. In this presentation, we will illustrate how IRIS has promoted innovations grown out of the academic community and spurred technological advances in both academia and industry.

A comparative study of various electrodes in electromyography of the striated urethral and anal sphincter in children

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, K K; Kristensen, E S; Qvist, N

1985-01-01

The series comprised 41 children aged 6 to 14 years consecutively referred with recurrent urinary tract infection and/or enuresis. Carbon dioxide cystometry was carried out in the supine and the erect position and combined with simultaneous electromyography (EMG). The external urethral sphincter ....... Correlation between them was good, as was reproducibility. Perianal surface ECG electrodes are recommended for the evaluation of functional disturbances of the external sphincter. They are painless, easy to use, and are well tolerated by the patient....

High-frequency ultrasound measurements of the normal ciliary body and iris.

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Julian P S; Spielberg, Leigh; Finger, Paul T

2011-01-01

To determine the normal ultrasonographic thickness of the iris and ciliary body. This prospective 35-MHz ultrasonographic study included 80 normal eyes of 40 healthy volunteers. The images were obtained at the 12-, 3-, 6-, and 9-o'clock radial meridians, measured at three locations along the radial length of the iris and at the thickest section of the ciliary body. Mixed model was used to estimate eye site-adjusted means and standard errors and to test the statistical difference of adjusted results. Parameters included mean thickness, standard deviation, and range. Mean thicknesses at the iris root, midway along the radial length of the iris, and at the juxtapupillary margin were 0.4 ± 0.1, 0.5 ± 0.1, and 0.6 ± 0.1 mm, respectively. Those of the ciliary body, ciliary processes, and ciliary body + ciliary processes were 0.7 ± 0.1, 0.6 ± 0.1, and 1.3 ± 0.2 mm, respectively. This study provides standard, normative thickness data for the iris and ciliary body in healthy adults using ultrasonographic imaging. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

IRIS: A SIGNIFICANT ELEMENT OF THE MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPE

OpenAIRE

A. UBRIZSY SAVOIA; S. PIGNATTI; S. VAROLI PIAZZA

2000-01-01

The Southern European species of Iris growing in dry, rocky places, stony ground, terra rossa, sandy, basalt and/or calcareous hills, maquis and coastal rocky slopes, are a neglected bioplasm resource of the Mediterranean landscape. These species have traditional uses and cultural significance and have inspired artists. Both natural and naturalised ornamental Iris species may help to improve and maintain the Mediterranean landscape by avoiding land erosion, fixing dunes and preserving coastal...

Computational model for transient studies of IRIS pressurizer behavior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rives Sanz, R.; Montesino Otero, M.E.; Gonzalez Mantecon, J.; Rojas Mazaira, L.

2014-01-01

International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) excels other Small Modular Reactor (SMR) designs due to its innovative characteristics regarding safety. IRIS integral pressurizer makes the design of larger pressurizer system than the conventional PWR, without any additional cost. The IRIS pressurizer volume of steam can provide enough margins to avoid spray requirement to mitigate in-surge transient. The aim of the present research is to model the IRIS pressurizer's dynamic using the commercial finite volume Computational Fluid Dynamic code CFX 14. A symmetric tridimensional model equivalent to 1/8 of the total geometry was adopted to reduce mesh size and minimize processing time. The model considers the coexistence of three phases: liquid, steam, and vapor bubbles in liquid volume. Additionally, it takes into account the heat losses between the pressurizer and primary circuit. The relationships for interfacial mass, energy, and momentum transport are programmed and incorporated into CFX by using expressions in CFX Command Language (CCL) format. Moreover, several additional variables are defined for improving the convergence and allow monitoring of boron dilution sequences and condensation-evaporation rate in different control volumes. For transient states a non - equilibrium stratification in the pressurizer is considered. This paper discusses the model developed and the behavior of the system for representative transients sequences such as the in/out-surge transients and boron dilution sequences. The results of analyzed transients of IRIS can be applied to the design of pressurizer internal structures and components. (author)

Efficient iris texture analysis method based on Gabor ordinal measures

Science.gov (United States)

Tajouri, Imen; Aydi, Walid; Ghorbel, Ahmed; Masmoudi, Nouri

2017-07-01

With the remarkably increasing interest directed to the security dimension, the iris recognition process is considered to stand as one of the most versatile technique critically useful for the biometric identification and authentication process. This is mainly due to every individual's unique iris texture. A modestly conceived efficient approach relevant to the feature extraction process is proposed. In the first place, iris zigzag "collarette" is extracted from the rest of the image by means of the circular Hough transform, as it includes the most significant regions lying in the iris texture. In the second place, the linear Hough transform is used for the eyelids' detection purpose while the median filter is applied for the eyelashes' removal. Then, a special technique combining the richness of Gabor features and the compactness of ordinal measures is implemented for the feature extraction process, so that a discriminative feature representation for every individual can be achieved. Subsequently, the modified Hamming distance is used for the matching process. Indeed, the advanced procedure turns out to be reliable, as compared to some of the state-of-the-art approaches, with a recognition rate of 99.98%, 98.12%, and 95.02% on CASIAV1.0, CASIAV3.0, and IIT Delhi V1 iris databases, respectively.

Frequency of anal sphincter rupture at delivery in Sweden and Finland--result of difference in manual help to the baby's head.

Science.gov (United States)

Pirhonen, J P; Grenman, S E; Haadem, K; Gudmundsson, S; Lindqvist, P; Siihola, S; Erkkola, R U; Marsal, K

1998-11-01

Anal sphincter rupture is a serious complication of vaginal delivery and almost half the affected women have persistent defecatory symptoms despite adequate primary repair. During the past decade, the incidence of anal sphincter ruptures has been increasing in Sweden and is currently estimated to occur in 2.5% of vaginal deliveries. The aim of the study was to report the frequency of anal sphincter ruptures in two university hospitals in two Scandinavian countries, Malmö in Sweden and Turku in Finland, and analyze the potential determinants. Retrospective analysis of a population of 30,933 deliveries (26,541 vaginal) during the years 1990 to 1994. The incidence of anal sphincter ruptures in Malmö, Sweden was 2.69%, and in Turku, Finland 0.36%. There were no significant population differences for the known risk factors (fetal weight, nulliparity or fetal head circumference). However, there is a difference in manual support given to the perineum and to the baby's head when crowning through the vaginal introitus between Malmö and Turku. The proportion of operative vaginal deliveries and abnormal presentations was significantly higher in Turku reflected in the lower Apgar score at 5 minutes and longer duration of second phase of labor. When high risk deliveries (operative vaginal delivery, abnormal presentation and newborns over 4,000 g) were excluded, the risk for anal sphincter ruptures was estimated to be 13 times higher in Malmö than in Turku. The difference in the incidence of anal sphincter rupture between Malmö, Sweden and Turku, Finland may be due to the difference in manual control of the baby's head when crowning.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5 ...

Science.gov (United States)

The IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) was released for external peer review in September 2016. The EPA’s Science Advisory Board’s (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) will conduct a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the RDX assessment and release a final report of their review. Information regarding the peer review can be found on the SAB website. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for RDX. The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for RDX that will be entered into the IRIS database.

Impact of Indocyanine Green Concentration, Exposure Time, and Degree of Dissolution in Creating Toxic Anterior Segment Syndrome: Evaluation in a Rabbit Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tamer Tandogan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. To investigate the role of indocyanine green (ICG dye as a causative material of toxic anterior segment syndrome (TASS in an experimental rabbit model. Method. Eight eyes of four rabbits were allocated to this study. Capsular staining was performed using ICG dye, after which the anterior chamber was irrigated with a balanced salt solution. The effects of different concentrations (control, 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0%, exposure times (10 and 60 seconds, and the degree of dissolution (differently vortexed were investigated. The analysis involved anterior segment photography, ultrasound pachymetry, prostaglandin assay (PGE2 Parameter Assay, R&D systems, Inc., and scanning electron microscopy of each iris. Result. There was no reaction in the control eye. A higher aqueous level of PGE2 and more severe inflammatory reaction were observed in cases of eyes with higher concentration, longer exposure time, and poorly dissolved dye. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy revealed larger and coarser ICG particles. Conclusion. TASS occurrence may be associated with the concentration, exposure time, and degree of dissolution of ICG dye during cataract surgery.

Koira-avusteinen terapia lasten psyykkisten häiriöiden hoidossa

OpenAIRE

Tuovinen, Susanna

2014-01-01

Tuovinen, Susanna. Koira-avusteinen terapia lasten psyykkisten häiriöiden hoidossa. Kevät 2014. 61 sivua, 1 liite. Diakonia-ammattikorkeakoulu, Hoitotyön koulutusohjelma, Sairaanhoitaja (AMK). Koira-avusteinen psykoterapia on maailmalla tunnettu hoitomuoto psyykkisten häiriöiden hoidossa. Suomessa se ei kuitenkaan ole vielä saavuttanut samanlaista suosiota. Tämä opinnäytetyö kertoo koira-avusteisesta terapiasta ja sen käytöstä yhtenä lasten psyykkisten häiriöiden hoitomuotona. O...

Novel approaches to improve iris recognition system performance based on local quality evaluation and feature fusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ying; Liu, Yuanning; Zhu, Xiaodong; Chen, Huiling; He, Fei; Pang, Yutong

2014-01-01

For building a new iris template, this paper proposes a strategy to fuse different portions of iris based on machine learning method to evaluate local quality of iris. There are three novelties compared to previous work. Firstly, the normalized segmented iris is divided into multitracks and then each track is estimated individually to analyze the recognition accuracy rate (RAR). Secondly, six local quality evaluation parameters are adopted to analyze texture information of each track. Besides, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to get the weights of these evaluation parameters and corresponding weighted coefficients of different tracks. Finally, all tracks' information is fused according to the weights of different tracks. The experimental results based on subsets of three public and one private iris image databases demonstrate three contributions of this paper. (1) Our experimental results prove that partial iris image cannot completely replace the entire iris image for iris recognition system in several ways. (2) The proposed quality evaluation algorithm is a self-adaptive algorithm, and it can automatically optimize the parameters according to iris image samples' own characteristics. (3) Our feature information fusion strategy can effectively improve the performance of iris recognition system.

Grading of Iris Color with an Extended Photographic Reference Set

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luuk Franssen

2008-01-01

Conclusion: The new method is promising to be more accurate than existing iris color classification systems in clinical situations where objective colorimetry-based systems are not available. The method may be useful to assess iris translucency and fundus reflectance as sources of variation in retinal straylight.

Subtle lower esophageal sphincter relaxation abnormalities in patients with unexplained esophageal dysphagia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herregods, T. V. K.; van Hoeij, F. B.; Bredenoord, A. J.; Smout, A. J. P. M.

2018-01-01

Esophageal dysphagia is a relatively common symptom. We aimed to evaluate whether subtle, presently not acknowledged forms of dysfunction of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) could explain dysphagia in a subset of patients with normal findings at high-resolution manometry (HRM) according to the

Appropriate Objective Functions for Quantifying Iris Mechanical Properties Using Inverse Finite Element Modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Pant, Anup D; Dorairaj, Syril K; Amini, Rouzbeh

2018-07-01

Quantifying the mechanical properties of the iris is important, as it provides insight into the pathophysiology of glaucoma. Recent ex vivo studies have shown that the mechanical properties of the iris are different in glaucomatous eyes as compared to normal ones. Notwithstanding the importance of the ex vivo studies, such measurements are severely limited for diagnosis and preclude development of treatment strategies. With the advent of detailed imaging modalities, it is possible to determine the in vivo mechanical properties using inverse finite element (FE) modeling. An inverse modeling approach requires an appropriate objective function for reliable estimation of parameters. In the case of the iris, numerous measurements such as iris chord length (CL) and iris concavity (CV) are made routinely in clinical practice. In this study, we have evaluated five different objective functions chosen based on the iris biometrics (in the presence and absence of clinical measurement errors) to determine the appropriate criterion for inverse modeling. Our results showed that in the absence of experimental measurement error, a combination of iris CL and CV can be used as the objective function. However, with the addition of measurement errors, the objective functions that employ a large number of local displacement values provide more reliable outcomes.

The IRIS Data Management Center: Enabling Access to Observational Time Series Spanning Decades

Science.gov (United States)

Ahern, T.; Benson, R.; Trabant, C.

2009-04-01

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to operate the facilities to generate, archive, and distribute seismological data to research communities in the United States and internationally. The IRIS Data Management System (DMS) is responsible for the ingestion, archiving, curation and distribution of these data. The IRIS Data Management Center (DMC) manages data from more than 100 permanent seismic networks, hundreds of temporary seismic deployments as well as data from other geophysical observing networks such as magnetotelluric sensors, ocean bottom sensors, superconducting gravimeters, strainmeters, surface meteorological measurements, and in-situ atmospheric pressure measurements. The IRIS DMC has data from more than 20 different types of sensors. The IRIS DMC manages approximately 100 terabytes of primary observational data. These data are archived in multiple distributed storage systems that insure data availability independent of any single catastrophic failure. Storage systems include both RAID systems of greater than 100 terabytes as well as robotic tape robots of petabyte capacity. IRIS performs routine transcription of the data to new media and storage systems to insure the long-term viability of the scientific data. IRIS adheres to the OAIS Data Preservation Model in most cases. The IRIS data model requires the availability of metadata describing the characteristics and geographic location of sensors before data can be fully archived. IRIS works with the International Federation of Digital Seismographic Networks (FDSN) in the definition and evolution of the metadata. The metadata insures that the data remain useful to both current and future generations of earth scientists. Curation of the metadata and time series is one of the most important activities at the IRIS DMC. Data analysts and an automated quality assurance system monitor the quality of the incoming data. This insures data

Measuring Biometric Sample Quality in terms of Biometric Feature Information in Iris Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Youmaran

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper develops an approach to measure the information content in a biometric feature representation of iris images. In this context, the biometric feature information is calculated using the relative entropy between the intraclass and interclass feature distributions. The collected data is regularized using a Gaussian model of the feature covariances in order to practically measure the biometric information with limited data samples. An example of this method is shown for iris templates processed using Principal-Component Analysis- (PCA- and Independent-Component Analysis- (ICA- based feature decomposition schemes. From this, the biometric feature information is calculated to be approximately 278 bits for PCA and 288 bits for ICA iris features using Masek's iris recognition scheme. This value approximately matches previous estimates of iris information content.

76 FR 13402 - Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS); Announcement of Availability of Literature Searches...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-11

... Information System (IRIS); Announcement of Availability of Literature Searches for IRIS Assessments AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Announcement of availability of literature searches for IRIS... the availability of literature searches for cobalt (CASRN 7440-48-4) and inorganic cobalt compounds...

77 FR 20817 - Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS); Announcement of Availability of Literature Searches...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-06

... System (IRIS); Announcement of Availability of Literature Searches for IRIS Assessments AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency. ACTION: Announcement of availability of literature searches for IRIS... the availability of literature searches for acetaldehyde (75-07-0) and 1,2,3-trimethlybenzene (526-73...

BRCA1-IRIS regulates cyclin D1 expression in breast cancer cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakuci, Enkeleda; Mahner, Sven; DiRenzo, James; ElShamy, Wael M.

2006-01-01

The regulator of cell cycle progression, cyclin D1, is up-regulated in breast cancer cells; its expression is, in part, dependent on ERα signaling. However, many ERα-negative tumors and tumor cell lines (e.g., SKBR3) also show over-expression of cyclin D1. This suggests that, in addition to ERα signaling, cyclin D1 expression is under the control of other signaling pathways; these pathways may even be over-expressed in the ERα-negative cells. We previously noticed that both ERα-positive and -negative cell lines over-express BRCA1-IRIS mRNA and protein. Furthermore, the level of over-expression of BRCA1-IRIS in ERα-negative cell lines even exceeded its over-expression level in ERα-positive cell lines. In this study, we show that: (1) BRCA1-IRIS forms complex with two of the nuclear receptor co-activators, namely, SRC1 and SRC3 (AIB1) in an ERα-independent manner. (2) BRCA1-IRIS alone, or in connection with co-activators, is recruited to the cyclin D1 promoter through its binding to c-Jun/AP1 complex; this binding activates the cyclin D1 expression. (3) Over-expression of BRCA1-IRIS in breast cells over-activates JNK/c-Jun; this leads to the induction of cyclin D1 expression and cellular proliferation. (4) BRCA1-IRIS activation of JNK/c-Jun/AP1 appears to account for this, because in cells that were depleted from BRCA1-IRIS, JNK remained inactive. However, depletion of SRC1 or SRC3 instead reduced c-Jun expression. Our data suggest that this novel signaling pathway links BRCA1-IRIS to cellular proliferation through c-Jun/AP1 nuclear pathway; finally, this culminates in the increased expression of the cyclin D1 gene

Survey of virus pathogens in gladiolus, iris and tulips in the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ganesh Selvaraj Duraisamy

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The occurrence of Bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV, Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV Tobacco rattle virus (TRV in gladiolus, iris, tulip and Iris yellow spot virus (IYSV in iris was investigated by examining the plants by the means of serological techniques (ELISA. ELISA was applied to determine the presence of BYMV, CMV, TRV infections in both aerial and underground parts of gladiolus, iris, and tulip, and IYSV on the aerial parts of iris, respectively. 262 gladiolus plants were tested. 63.7% was infected by BYMV, 29.4 % by CMV, and 2.7 % by TRV. Out of 180 plants of iris, 1.1% was infected by BYMV, 6.7% by CMV, 2.8% by TRV, and 0% by IYSV. Out of 28 plants of tulip, 28.6% was infected by CMV, and 7.1% by TRV. ELISA proved to be a suitable method for detection of viruses in leaves of these ornamental plants, but it often failed to detect viruses in flowers and corms. A high transmission of BYMV by gladiolus cormlets was also found.

Sphincter preservation for distal rectal cancer--a goal worth achieving at all costs?

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Mulsow, Jürgen

2011-02-21

To assess the merits of currently available treatment options in the management of patients with low rectal cancer, a review of the medical literature pertaining to the operative and non-operative management of low rectal cancer was performed, with particular emphasis on sphincter preservation, oncological outcome, functional outcome, morbidity, quality of life, and patient preference. Low anterior resection (AR) is technically feasible in an increasing proportion of patients with low rectal cancer. The cost of sphincter preservation is the risk of morbidity and poor functional outcome in a significant proportion of patients. Transanal and endoscopic surgery are attractive options in selected patients that can provide satisfactory oncological outcomes while avoiding the morbidity and functional sequelae of open total mesorectal excision. In complete responders to neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, a non-operative approach may prove to be an option. Abdominoperineal excision (APE) imposes a permanent stoma and is associated with significant incidence of perineal morbidity but avoids the risk of poor functional outcome following AR. Quality of life following AR and APE is comparable. Given the choice, most patients will choose AR over APE, however patients following APE positively appraise this option. In striving toward sphincter preservation the challenge is not only to achieve the best possible oncological outcome, but also to ensure that patients with low rectal cancer have realistic and accurate expectations of their treatment choice so that the best possible overall outcome can be obtained by each individual.

Sphincter preservation for distal rectal cancer--a goal worth achieving at all costs?

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Mulsow, Jurgen

2012-02-01

To assess the merits of currently available treatment options in the management of patients with low rectal cancer, a review of the medical literature pertaining to the operative and non-operative management of low rectal cancer was performed, with particular emphasis on sphincter preservation, oncological outcome, functional outcome, morbidity, quality of life, and patient preference. Low anterior resection (AR) is technically feasible in an increasing proportion of patients with low rectal cancer. The cost of sphincter preservation is the risk of morbidity and poor functional outcome in a significant proportion of patients. Transanal and endoscopic surgery are attractive options in selected patients that can provide satisfactory oncological outcomes while avoiding the morbidity and functional sequelae of open total mesorectal excision. In complete responders to neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, a non-operative approach may prove to be an option. Abdominoperineal excision (APE) imposes a permanent stoma and is associated with significant incidence of perineal morbidity but avoids the risk of poor functional outcome following AR. Quality of life following AR and APE is comparable. Given the choice, most patients will choose AR over APE, however patients following APE positively appraise this option. In striving toward sphincter preservation the challenge is not only to achieve the best possible oncological outcome, but also to ensure that patients with low rectal cancer have realistic and accurate expectations of their treatment choice so that the best possible overall outcome can be obtained by each individual.

Iris colour in relation to myopia among Chinese school-aged children.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Chen-Wei; Qiu, Qin-Xiao; Qian, Deng-Juan; Hu, Dan-Ning; Li, Jun; Saw, Seang-Mei; Zhong, Hua

2018-01-01

Understanding the association of iris colour and myopia may provide further insights into the role of the wavelength of lights in the pathophysiology of myopia. We aim to assess the association of iris colour and myopia in a school-based sample of Chinese students. Two thousand three hundred and forty-six Year 7 students from 10 middle schools (93.5% response rate) aged 13-14 years in Mojiang, a small county located in Southwestern China, participated in the study. We obtained standardised slit lamp photographs and developed a grading system assessing iris colour (higher grade denoting a darker iris). Refractive error was measured after cycloplegia using an autorefractor by optometrists or trained technicians. An IOLMaster (www.zeiss.com) was used to measure ocular biometric parameters including axial length (AL). Of all the study participants, 693 (29.5%) were affected by myopia with the prevalence estimates being higher in girls (36.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 34.0, 39.6) than in boys (22.8%; 95% CI: 20.4, 25.1) (p iris colour tended to have a higher prevalence of myopia, a more myopic refraction and a longer AL. Dose-response relationships were observed in all regression models (p for trend iris colour was associated with more myopic refractive errors and longer ALs among Chinese school-aged children and this association was independent of other known myopia-related risk factors. © 2017 The Authors Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2017 The College of Optometrists.

Genetic and phenotypic variability of iris color in Buenos Aires population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana María Hohl

Full Text Available Abstract The aim of this work was to describe the phenotypic and genotypic variability related to iris color for the population of Buenos Aires province (Argentina, and to assess the usefulness of current methods of analysis for this country. We studied five Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs included in the IrisPlex kit, in 118 individuals, and we quantified eye color with Digital Iris Analysis Tool. The markers fit Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for the whole sample, but not for rs12913832 within the group of brown eyes (LR=8.429; p=0.004. We found a remarkable association of HERC2 rs12913832 GG with blue color (p < 0.01 but the other markers did not show any association with iris color. The results for the Buenos Aires population differ from those of other populations of the world for these polymorphisms (p < 0,01. The differences we found might respond to the admixed ethnic composition of Argentina; therefore, methods of analysis used in European populations should be carefully applied when studying the population of Argentina. These findings reaffirm the importance of this investigation in the Argentinian population for people identification based on iris color.

Narcolepsy-cataplexy and loss of sphincter control.

Science.gov (United States)

Vgontzas, A. N.; Sollenberger, S. E.; Kales, A.; Bixler, E. O.; Vela-Bueno, A.

1996-01-01

We describe the case of a 34-year-old man who presented intermittent faecal incontinence as a manifestation of cataplexy. The patient's sleep history was positive for the full narcoleptic tetrad (sleep attacks, cataplexy, sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations) while extensive neuropsychiatric work up was negative for any neurologic or psychiatric illness. Repeat polysomnograms (including a polysomnogram with a full seizure montage) were positive for pathologic sleepiness, but there was no evidence of a seizure disorder. The course of the patient's symptomatology and the favourable response of his symptoms to stimulants and imipramine support the theory that his intermittent loss of sphincter control is part of his narcolepsy-cataplexy. PMID:8796217

Iris en sayuela signo clínico nuevo asociado al síndrome tóxico del segmento anterior: a new clinical sign associated to the anterior segment toxic syndrome Iris in underskirt

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iván Hernández López

2010-01-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Presentar un nuevo signo clínico como resultado del desprendimiento gigante del epitelio pigmentado posterior del iris en el curso de un síndrome tóxico del segmento anterior tras una cirugía de catarata. MÉTODOS: Presentamos un paciente intervenido de catarata mediante facoemulsificación con implante de lente intraocular de cámara posterior plegable, sin incidencias ni complicaciones transoperatorias. Se le realizó evaluación biomicroscópica en el posoperatorio inmediato diagnosticándosele un síndrome tóxico del segmento anterior asociado a un desprendimiento gigante del epitelio pigmentado posterior del iris. Se tomaron fotos durante la evolución del paciente para documentar este raro signo clínico. RESULTADOS: Al provocar la dilatación pupilar farmacológica nos encontramos con la retracción de todas las capas anteriores del iris, mostrando por debajo al epitelio pigmentado posterior del iris sinequiado al lente intraocular y tan extensamente desprendido que simulaba un segundo iris. No encontramos este hallazgo clínico reportado en la literatura revisada. Denominamos este signo como iris en sayuela. CONCLUSIONES: El desprendimiento del epitelio pigmentado posterior del iris constituye un hallazgo clínico que puede aparecer raramente asociado al síndrome tóxico del segmento anterior y cuando es muy extenso puede presentarse de forma insólita como el signo del iris en sayuela.OBJECTIVE: To present a new clinical sign as a result of a huge posterior pigmented epithelium detachment of the iris in the course of at toxic anterior segment syndrome after a successful cataract surgery. METHOD: A patient who had undergone a cataract surgery by phacoemulsification with posterior chamber foldable intraocular lens implantation, without any incidence or transoperative complication. He was evaluated through biomicroscopy in the immediate postoperative period where a huge posterior pigmented epithelium detachment of the iris

High resolution MR imaging of the anal sphincter using an intravaginal surface coil; Hochaufloesende Magnetresonanztomographie des Analsphinkters mit einer intravaginalen Oberflaechenspule

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mueller-Schimpfle, M. [Radiologische Klinik, Abt. fuer Radiologische Diagnostik, Tuebingen Univ. (Germany); Franz, H. [Frauenklinik, Tuebingen Univ. (Germany); Lobinger, B. [Radiologische Klinik, Abt. fuer Radiologische Diagnostik, Tuebingen Univ. (Germany); Claussen, C.D. [Radiologische Klinik, Abt. fuer Radiologische Diagnostik, Tuebingen Univ. (Germany)

1995-06-01

MR imaging was performed using a 1.0 T unit. In 10 females (6 nullipara, one primipara without and three primipara with postpartum faecal incontinence) a surface coil, originally designed for endorectal use, was placed into the vagina. Transverse oblique T{sub 1}-weighted spin echo and double echo turbo spin echo sequences with T{sub 2}- and proton density-weighting were acquired parallel to the puborectal, rectococcygeal and anorectal planes. Three readers analysed the images in consensus. The anatomic structures of the external and internal sphincter as well as the mucosa were differentiated in all cases with a good contrast. The best results were yielded by the proton density weighting. In one case of faecal incontinence a sphincter defect after repair of a complete rupture of the anal sphincter was shown. In another case irregularities in the structure of the external sphincter and perineum were visualised. (orig./MG) [Deutsch] Die Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT) wurde an einem 1,0-Tesla-Geraet durchgefuehrt. Bei 10 Frauen (6 Nulliparae, eine Primipara ohne und drei Primiparae mit postpartaler Stuhlinkontinenz) wurde eine Oberflaechenspule, die urspruenglich zur endorektalen Anwendung konzipiert war, intravaginal eingefuehrt. Es wurden T{sub 1}-gewichtete Spin-Echo-Sequenzen sowie Doppel-Echo-Turbo-Spin-Echo-Sequenzen mit T{sub 2}- und Protonendichtegewichtung parallel zur puborektalen, rektokokzygealen und anorektalen Ebene akquiriert. Drei Auswerter analysierten die Aufnahmen im Konsensmodus. Die anatomischen Strukturen des Musculus sphincter ani externus und internus sowie die Mukosa konnten in allen Faellen gut differenziert werden. Das beste Ergebnis wurde mit der Protonendichte-Gewichtung erzielt. In einem Fall von Stuhlinkontinenz zeigte sich ein kombinierter Defekt des M. sphincter ani internus und externus nach Naht eines Dammrisses III. Grades. In einem weiteren Fall waren Irregularitaeten im Perineum und externen Sphinkteranteil darzustellen. (orig./MG)

Fluid and structure coupling analysis of the interaction between aqueous humor and iris.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wenjia; Qian, Xiuqing; Song, Hongfang; Zhang, Mindi; Liu, Zhicheng

2016-12-28

Glaucoma is the primary cause of irreversible blindness worldwide associated with high intraocular pressure (IOP). Elevated intraocular pressure will affect the normal aqueous humor outflow, resulting in deformation of iris. However, the deformation ability of iris is closely related to its material properties. Meanwhile, the passive deformation of the iris aggravates the pupillary block and angle closure. The nature of the interaction mechanism of iris deformation and aqueous humor fluid flow has not been fully understood and has been somewhat a controversial issue. The purpose here was to study the effect of IOP, localization, and temperature on the flow of the aqueous humor and the deformation of iris interacted by aqueous humor fluid flow. Based on mechanisms of aqueous physiology and fluid dynamics, 3D model of anterior chamber (AC) was constructed with the human anatomical parameters as a reference. A 3D idealized standard geometry of anterior segment of human eye was performed. Enlarge the size of the idealization geometry model 5 times to create a simulation device by using 3D printing technology. In this paper, particle image velocimetry technology is applied to measure the characteristic of fluid outflow in different inlet velocity based on the device. Numerically calculations were made by using ANSYS 14.0 Finite Element Analysis. Compare of the velocity distributions to confirm the validity of the model. The fluid structure interaction (FSI) analysis was carried out in the valid geometry model to study the aqueous flow and iris change. In this paper, the validity of the model is verified through computation and comparison. The results indicated that changes of gravity direction of model significantly affected the fluid dynamics parameters and the temperature distribution in anterior chamber. Increased pressure and the vertical position increase the velocity of the aqueous humor fluid flow, with the value increased of 0.015 and 0.035 mm/s. The results

IRIS Toxicological Review of 2-Hexanone (External Review ...

Science.gov (United States)

EPA is conducting a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of 2-hexanone that will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. Peer review is meant to ensure that science is used credibly and appropriately in derivation of the dose-response assessments and toxicological characterization. 2-Hexanone was nominated for IRIS assessment because of its frequent detection at sites nation-wide and its occurrence as a byproduct of certain industrial processes.

Improving Robustness Assessment Methodologies for Structures Impacted by Missiles (IRIS-2012) - Final Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orbovic, Neb; Blahoainu, Andrei; Sagals, Genadis; Tarallo, Francois; Rambach, Jean-Mathieu; Huerta, Alejandro; White, Andrew; Nevander, Olli; ); Riera, Jorge Daniel; Krauthammer, Ted; Krutzik, Norbert; Arros, Jorma; Rouqand, Alain; Stangenberg, Friedhelm; Schwer, Leonard E.

2014-01-01

This report documents the results and conclusions of the second phase of the Integrity and Ageing of Components and Structures Working Group (WGIAGE) activity 'Improving Robustness assessment of structures Impacted by missiles', called IRIS-2012. The objective of the activity was to conduct a post-test benchmark study to improve models and evaluation techniques used in IRIS-2010. The benchmark was open to the new participants and some of IRIS-2010 participants did not take part of IRIS-2012. For this reason the team numbers in two benchmarks are different and to make direct comparisons it is necessary to have both lists. For IRIS-2010 benchmark a series of repeated test was performed: two bending rupture tests and three punching rupture tests. For IRIS-2012 and based on recommendation from IRIS-2010, tri-axial tests and Brazilian tensile test were additionally performed in order to calibrate constitutive models. The benchmark was officially launched in February 2012 with the participation of twenty six teams from twenty different institutions (Safety Authorities, TSOs, Utilities, Vendors, Research Institutes and Consulting Companies), from ten different countries from Europe, North America and Asia (plus 1 international organisation). A three day workshop was convened in October 2012 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where each participating team presented and discussed their results and performed simulations. Based on IRIS-2010 results and recommendations, OECD/NEA members recognized that there was a need to continue the work on understanding and improving simulation of structural impact. The goal of the new IRIS-2012 benchmark was to: 1) Update and improve existing FE models, for teams that participated in IRIS-2010, or to create new models for new participants. In order to improve FE models it was requested to: Simulate uni-axial unconfined concrete test and tri-axial concrete tests, using the results provided by IRSN, as well as the Brazilian test (concrete tensile

Iris coloboma in one eye and pigment dispersion syndrome in the fellow eye.

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Galvis, Virgilio; Tello, Alejandro; Valarezo, Paul; Prada, Angélica M

2013-05-22

We report a case of a 43-year-old patient with coloboma of the iris, zonule, ciliary body, choroid and retina in the right eye and pigment dispersion syndrome in the left eye. Considering the hypothesis of the pigment dispersion syndrome pathogenesis in which a difference of pressures in the anterior and posterior chambers creates a posterior convexity of the iris leading to reverse pupillary block, iris touch and consequently causing pigment dispersion, we suggest that the presence of an iris coloboma, by equalising the pressures in the two chambers, prevented the onset of syndrome in that eye.

Design of sEMG assembly to detect external anal sphincter activity: a proof of concept.

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Shiraz, Arsam; Leaker, Brian; Mosse, Charles Alexander; Solomon, Eskinder; Craggs, Michael; Demosthenous, Andreas

2017-10-31

Conditional trans-rectal stimulation of the pudendal nerve could provide a viable solution to treat hyperreflexive bladder in spinal cord injury. A set threshold of the amplitude estimate of the external anal sphincter surface electromyography (sEMG) may be used as the trigger signal. The efficacy of such a device should be tested in a large scale clinical trial. As such, a probe should remain in situ for several hours while patients attend to their daily routine; the recording electrodes should be designed to be large enough to maintain good contact while observing design constraints. The objective of this study was to arrive at a design for intra-anal sEMG recording electrodes for the subsequent clinical trials while deriving the possible recording and processing parameters. Having in mind existing solutions and based on theoretical and anatomical considerations, a set of four multi-electrode probes were designed and developed. These were tested in a healthy subject and the measured sEMG traces were recorded and appropriately processed. It was shown that while comparatively large electrodes record sEMG traces that are not sufficiently correlated with the external anal sphincter contractions, smaller electrodes may not maintain a stable electrode tissue contact. It was shown that 3 mm wide and 1 cm long electrodes with 5 mm inter-electrode spacing, in agreement with Nyquist sampling, placed 1 cm from the orifice may intra-anally record a sEMG trace sufficiently correlated with external anal sphincter activity. The outcome of this study can be used in any biofeedback, treatment or diagnostic application where the activity of the external anal sphincter sEMG should be detected for an extended period of time.

Sphincter-saving procedure for radiation-injuried rectum. A report of four cases with special reference to pull-through procedure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moriya, Y.; Koyama, Y.; Hojo, K. (National Cancer Center, Tokyo (Japan))

1982-09-01

Up to this time the sigmoid colostomy has been widely accepted and conventional treatment for radiation-injured rectum, but patients without residual malignancy strongly desire to live without colostomy. We have tried to remove the involved rectal segments by sphincter-saving procedures. Four patients underwent these procedures, pull-through procedure in three and low anterior resection in one. Among sphincter-saving procedures, pull-through procedure was most adequate. Provided the following five conditions are fulfilled, pull-through procedure should be considered for severe radiation-injured rectum. (1) No recurrence of initial malignancy in the pelvis. (2) More than 2 cm intact rectal segment above dentate line may be preserved. (3) No radiation-injured segment in upper sigmoid. (4) No severe radiation damage in small intestine. (5) Patients under 70 year-old, with normal tonus of anal sphincter.

The Rabbit Stream Cipher

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boesgaard, Martin; Vesterager, Mette; Zenner, Erik

2008-01-01

The stream cipher Rabbit was first presented at FSE 2003, and no attacks against it have been published until now. With a measured encryption/decryption speed of 3.7 clock cycles per byte on a Pentium III processor, Rabbit does also provide very high performance. This paper gives a concise...... description of the Rabbit design and some of the cryptanalytic results available....

Artificial urinary sphincter erosion: the role of corticosteroids in an unusual presentation

OpenAIRE

Yap, Stanley A.; Stone, Anthony R.

2010-01-01

Glucocorticosteroid use has proven beneficial for the management of many medical conditions. Unfortunately its anti-inflammatory properties also profoundly affect many aspects of wound healing. We present a case of an unusual presentation of an artificial urinary sphincter erosion in a patient treated with chronic high-dose steroids.

An unusual case of seed dispersal in an invasive aquatic; yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus)

Science.gov (United States)

Understanding reproductive mode of invasive plants can help managers plan more efficacious control. Invasive aquatics typically reproduce primarily through vegetative means. Yellow flag iris is an invasive plant species often growing as an emergent aquatic. There have been contradictory reports of i...

Preliminary ATWS analysis for the IRIS PRA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maddalena Barra; Marco S Ghisu; David J Finnicum; Luca Oriani

2005-01-01

Full text of publication follows: The pressurized light water cooled, medium power (1000 MWt) IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) has been under development for four years by an international consortium of over 21 organizations from ten countries. The plant conceptual design was completed in 2001 and the preliminary design is nearing completion. The pre-application licensing process with NRC started in October, 2002. IRIS has been primarily focused on establishing a design with innovative safety characteristics. The first line of defense in IRIS is to eliminate event initiators that could potentially lead to core damage. In IRIS, this concept is implemented through the 'safety by design' approach, which allows to minimize the number and complexity of the safety systems and required operator actions. The end result is a design with significantly reduced complexity and improved operability, and extensive plant simplifications to enhance construction. To support the optimization of the plant design and confirm the effectiveness of the safety by design approach in mitigating or eliminating events and thus providing a significant reduction in the probability of severe accidents, the PRA is being used as an integral part of the design process. A preliminary but extensive Level 1 PRA model has been developed to support the pre-application licensing of the IRIS design. As a result of the Preliminary IRIS PRA, an optimization of the design from a reliability point of view was completed, and an extremely low (about 1.2 E -8 ) core damage frequency (CDF) was assessed to confirm the impact of the safety by design approach. This first assessment is a result of a PRA model including internal initiating events. During this assessment, several assumptions were necessary to complete the CDF evaluation. In particular Anticipated Transients Without Scram (ATWS) were not included in this initial assessment, because their contribution to core damage frequency was assumed

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethylene Glycol Mono-Butyl ...

Science.gov (United States)

EPA released the draft report, Toxicological Review for Ethylene Glycol Mono-Butyl Ether , that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies and White House Offices are provided below with external peer review panel comments. EPA is conducting a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of EGBE that will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia Noncancer Inhalation (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

Science.gov (United States)

In September 2016, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Ammonia (Noncancer Inhalation). The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release in June 2016. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment d...

FAST DISCRETE CURVELET TRANSFORM BASED ANISOTROPIC FEATURE EXTRACTION FOR IRIS RECOGNITION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amol D. Rahulkar

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The feature extraction plays a very important role in iris recognition. Recent researches on multiscale analysis provide good opportunity to extract more accurate information for iris recognition. In this work, a new directional iris texture features based on 2-D Fast Discrete Curvelet Transform (FDCT is proposed. The proposed approach divides the normalized iris image into six sub-images and the curvelet transform is applied independently on each sub-image. The anisotropic feature vector for each sub-image is derived using the directional energies of the curvelet coefficients. These six feature vectors are combined to create the resultant feature vector. During recognition, the nearest neighbor classifier based on Euclidean distance has been used for authentication. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been tested on two different databases namely UBIRIS and MMU1. Experimental results show the superiority of the proposed approach.

The infrared imaging spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: latest science cases and simulations

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Wright, Shelley A.; Walth, Gregory; Do, Tuan; Marshall, Daniel; Larkin, James E.; Moore, Anna M.; Adamkovics, Mate; Andersen, David; Armus, Lee; Barth, Aaron; Cote, Patrick; Cooke, Jeff; Chisholm, Eric M.; Davidge, Timothy; Dunn, Jennifer S.; Dumas, Christophe; Ellerbroek, Brent L.; Ghez, Andrea M.; Hao, Lei; Hayano, Yutaka; Liu, Michael; Lopez-Rodriguez, Enrique; Lu, Jessica R.; Mao, Shude; Marois, Christian; Pandey, Shashi B.; Phillips, Andrew C.; Schoeck, Matthias; Subramaniam, Annapurni; Subramanian, Smitha; Suzuki, Ryuji; Tan, Jonathan C.; Terai, Tsuyoshi; Treu, Tommaso; Simard, Luc; Weiss, Jason L.; Wincentsen, James; Wong, Michael; Zhang, Kai

2016-07-01

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) first light instrument IRIS (Infrared Imaging Spectrograph) will complete its preliminary design phase in 2016. The IRIS instrument design includes a near-infrared (0.85 - 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph (IFS) and imager that are able to conduct simultaneous diffraction-limited observations behind the advanced adaptive optics system NFIRAOS. The IRIS science cases have continued to be developed and new science studies have been investigated to aid in technical performance and design requirements. In this development phase, the IRIS science team has paid particular attention to the selection of filters, gratings, sensitivities of the entire system, and science cases that will benefit from the parallel mode of the IFS and imaging camera. We present new science cases for IRIS using the latest end-to-end data simulator on the following topics: Solar System bodies, the Galactic center, active galactic nuclei (AGN), and distant gravitationally-lensed galaxies. We then briefly discuss the necessity of an advanced data management system and data reduction pipeline.

Relationship between iris constitution analysis and TNF-alpha gene polymorphism in hypertensives.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Chun-Sang; Hwang, Woo-Jun; Hong, Seung-Heon; Lee, Hye-Jung; Jeong, Hyun-Ja; Kim, Su-Jin; Kim, Hyung-Min; Um, Jae-Young

2007-01-01

Iridology is a complementary and alternative medicine that involves the diagnosis of medical conditions by noting irregularities of the pigmentation in the iris. Iris constitution has a strong hereditary component. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha), a pleiotropic cytokine, has been implicated in many pathological processes including hypertension. In this paper, the relationship between iris constitution and TNFalpha gene polymorphism in those with hypertension is investigated. Eighty seven hypertensive individuals and 79 controls were classified according to iris constitution and the TNFalpha genotype of each individual determined. Compared to the controls, the frequency of the TNFalpha GA heterozygote was lower in the hypertensive group, although the statistical significance was marginal (p = 0.08). This result implies an association with resistance to the disease. In addition, the frequency of the cardio-renal connective tissue weakness type was significantly higher in the hypertensive group with the TNFalpha GG genotype, as compared to the controls (p = 0.001). An association is demonstrated among TNFalpha gene polymorphism, Koreans with hypertension, and iris constitution.

Assessment and in vitro experiment of artificial anal sphincter system based on rebuilding the rectal sensation function.

Science.gov (United States)

Zan, Peng; Liu, Jinding; Jiang, Enyu; Wang, Hua

2014-05-01

In this paper, a novel artificial anal sphincter (AAS) system based on rebuilding the rectal sensation function is proposed to treat human fecal incontinence. The executive mechanism of the traditional AAS system was redesigned and integrated for a simpler structure and better durability. The novel executive mechanism uses a sandwich structure to simulate the basic function of the natural human anal sphincter. To rebuild the lost rectal sensation function caused by fecal incontinence, we propose a novel method for rebuilding the rectal sensation function based on an Optimal Wavelet Packet Basis (OWPB) using the Davies-Bouldin (DB) index and a support vector machine (SVM). OWPB using a DB index is used for feature vector extraction, while a SVM is adopted for pattern recognition.Furthermore, an in vitro experiment with the AAS system based on rectal sensation function rebuilding was carried out. Experimental results indicate that the novel executive mechanism can simulate the basic function of the natural human anal sphincter, and the proposed method is quite effective for rebuilding rectal sensation in patients.

Third- or Fourth-Degree Intrapartum Anal Sphincter Tears Are Associated With Levator Ani Avulsion in Primiparas.

Science.gov (United States)

Valsky, Dan V; Cohen, Sarah M; Lipschuetz, Michal; Hochner-Celnikier, Drorith; Daum, Hagit; Yagel, Itai; Yagel, Simcha

2016-04-01

We evaluated primiparous women with clinically diagnosed third- and fourth-degree and anal sphincter tears, to evaluate the rate of levator ani muscle injury compared to primiparous women without sphincter tears. Primiparous women delivering in our maternity ward with intrapartum diagnoses of third- or fourth-degree anal sphincter tears, repaired by the overlapping technique, were recruited to undergo 3-dimensional transperineal sonography of the pelvic floor anatomy, including the anterior and posterior compartments. Primiparas with uncomplicated vaginal deliveries were recruited as a comparison group. Patient files were examined, and maternal backgrounds and delivery and neonatal details were extracted for all patients. Ninety-four women with tears were recruited to the study group, and 464 women with normal vaginal deliveries constituted the comparison group. The groups differed significantly in the rates of levator ani defects: 38 of 94 women (40.4%) in the study group versus 75 of 464 (16.2%) in the comparison group (P tears are associated with levator ani avulsion. Knowledge of complex pelvic floor damage may allow for prompt referral to secondary preventive measures for pelvic floor disorders. © 2016 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

VASIR: An Open-Source Research Platform for Advanced Iris Recognition Technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yooyoung; Micheals, Ross J; Filliben, James J; Phillips, P Jonathon

2013-01-01

The performance of iris recognition systems is frequently affected by input image quality, which in turn is vulnerable to less-than-optimal conditions due to illuminations, environments, and subject characteristics (e.g., distance, movement, face/body visibility, blinking, etc.). VASIR (Video-based Automatic System for Iris Recognition) is a state-of-the-art NIST-developed iris recognition software platform designed to systematically address these vulnerabilities. We developed VASIR as a research tool that will not only provide a reference (to assess the relative performance of alternative algorithms) for the biometrics community, but will also advance (via this new emerging iris recognition paradigm) NIST's measurement mission. VASIR is designed to accommodate both ideal (e.g., classical still images) and less-than-ideal images (e.g., face-visible videos). VASIR has three primary modules: 1) Image Acquisition 2) Video Processing, and 3) Iris Recognition. Each module consists of several sub-components that have been optimized by use of rigorous orthogonal experiment design and analysis techniques. We evaluated VASIR performance using the MBGC (Multiple Biometric Grand Challenge) NIR (Near-Infrared) face-visible video dataset and the ICE (Iris Challenge Evaluation) 2005 still-based dataset. The results showed that even though VASIR was primarily developed and optimized for the less-constrained video case, it still achieved high verification rates for the traditional still-image case. For this reason, VASIR may be used as an effective baseline for the biometrics community to evaluate their algorithm performance, and thus serves as a valuable research platform.

IRIS International Reactor Innovative and Secure Final Technical Progress Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, M.D.

2003-01-01

OAK-B135 This NERI project, originally started as the Secure Transportable Autonomous Light Water Reactor (STAR-LW) and currently known as the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS) project, had the objective of investigating a novel type of water-cooled reactor to satisfy the Generation IV goals: fuel cycle sustainability, enhanced reliability and safety, and improved economics. The research objectives over the three-year (1999-2002) program were as follows: First year: Assess various design alternatives and establish main characteristics of a point design; Second year: Perform feasibility and engineering assessment of the selected design solutions; Third year: Complete reactor design and performance evaluation, including cost assessment These objectives were fully attained and actually they served to launch IRIS as a full fledged project for eventual commercial deployment. The program did not terminate in 2002 at the end of the NERI program, and has just entered in its fifth year. This has been made possible by the IRIS project participants which have grown from the original four member, two-countries team to the current twenty members, nine countries consortium. All the consortium members work under their own funding and it is estimated that the value of their in-kind contributions over the life of the project has been of the order of $30M. Currently, approximately 100 people worldwide are involved in the project. A very important constituency of the IRIS project is the academia: 7 universities from four countries are members of the consortium and five more US universities are associated via parallel NERI programs. To date, 97 students have worked or are working on IRIS; 59 IRIS-related graduate theses have been prepared or are in preparation, and 41 of these students have already graduated with M.S. (33) or Ph.D. (8) degrees. This ''final'' report (final only as far as the NERI program is concerned) summarizes the work performed in the first four

Preface: The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) at equatorial latitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Reinisch, Bodo; Bilitza, Dieter

2017-07-01

This issue of Advances in Space Research includes papers that report and discuss improvements of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). IRI is the international standard for the representation of the plasma in Earth's ionosphere and recognized as such by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the International Standardization Organization (ISO). As requested, particularly by COSPAR and URSI, IRI is an empirical model relying on most of the available and reliable ground and space observations of the ionosphere. As new data become available and as older data sources are fully exploited the IRI model undergoes improvement cycles to stay as close to the existing data record as possible. The latest episode of this process is documented in the papers included in this issue using data from the worldwide network of ionosondes, from a few of the incoherent scatter radars, from the Alouette and ISIS topside sounders, and from the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The focus of this issue is on the equatorial and low latitude region that is of special importance for ionospheric physics because it includes the largest densities and steep density gradients in the double hump latitudinal structure, the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA), which is characteristic for this region.

Intraocular lens iris fixation. Clinical and macular OCT outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background To assess the efficacy, clinical outcomes, visual acuity (VA), incidence of adverse effects, and complications of peripheral iris fixation of 3-piece acrylic IOLs in eyes lacking capsular support. Thirteen patients who underwent implantation and peripheral iris fixation of a 3-piece foldable acrylic PC IOL for aphakia in the absence of capsular support were followed after surgery. Clinical outcomes and macular SD-OCT (Cirrus OCT; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Germany) were analyzed. Findings The final CDVA was 20/40 or better in 8 eyes (62%), 20/60 or better in 12 eyes (92%), and one case of 20/80 due to corneal astigmatism and mild persistent edema. No intraoperative complications were reported. There were seven cases of medically controlled ocular hypertension after surgery due to the presence of viscoelastic in the AC. There were no cases of cystoid macular edema, chronic iridocyclitis, IOL subluxation, pigment dispersion, or glaucoma. Macular edema did not develop in any case by means of SD-OCT. Conclusions We think that this technique for iris suture fixation provides safe and effective results. Patients had substantial improvements in UDVA and CDVA. This surgical strategy may be individualized however; age, cornea status, angle structures, iris anatomy, and glaucoma are important considerations in selecting candidates for an appropriate IOL fixation method. PMID:23050659

Modeling IrisCode and its variants as convex polyhedral cones and its security implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Adams Wai-Kin

2013-03-01

IrisCode, developed by Daugman, in 1993, is the most influential iris recognition algorithm. A thorough understanding of IrisCode is essential, because over 100 million persons have been enrolled by this algorithm and many biometric personal identification and template protection methods have been developed based on IrisCode. This paper indicates that a template produced by IrisCode or its variants is a convex polyhedral cone in a hyperspace. Its central ray, being a rough representation of the original biometric signal, can be computed by a simple algorithm, which can often be implemented in one Matlab command line. The central ray is an expected ray and also an optimal ray of an objective function on a group of distributions. This algorithm is derived from geometric properties of a convex polyhedral cone but does not rely on any prior knowledge (e.g., iris images). The experimental results show that biometric templates, including iris and palmprint templates, produced by different recognition methods can be matched through the central rays in their convex polyhedral cones and that templates protected by a method extended from IrisCode can be broken into. These experimental results indicate that, without a thorough security analysis, convex polyhedral cone templates cannot be assumed secure. Additionally, the simplicity of the algorithm implies that even junior hackers without knowledge of advanced image processing and biometric databases can still break into protected templates and reveal relationships among templates produced by different recognition methods.