• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.115-122
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• 2013

Disease diagnostics based on medical imaging is getting popularity day by day. Presence of the atherosclerosis is one of the causes of narrowing of carotid arteries which may block partially or fully blood flow into the brain. Serious brain strokes may occur due to such types of blockages in blood flow. Early detection of the plaque and taking precautionary steps in this regard may prevent from such type of serious strokes. In this paper, we present an automatic image segmentation technique for carotid artery ultrasound images based on active contour approach. In our experimental study, we assume that ultrasound images are properly aligned before applying automatic image segmentation. We have successfully applied the automatic segmentation of carotid artery ultrasound images using snake based model. Qualitative comparison of the proposed approach has been made with the manual initialization of snakes for carotid artery image segmentation. Our proposed approach successfully segments the carotid artery images in an automated way to help radiologists to detect plaque easily. Obtained results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 1998

Marine birnavirus (MABV) has wide host range in marine organisms. To clarify various infection properties of MABV in different host species, in vitro study was performed by subculture for 10 passages in several fish cell lines. In CHSE-214, RTG-2 and RSBK-2 cells, the virus produced high yield of virus. Typical CPE with high protein expression was observed in these cells. On the contrary, the virus grown in EPC, FHM and BF-2 cells exhibited no CPE appearance although virus protein was detected. In EPC and FHM cells, the virus titer increased in later passages. The plaque size was distinctly bigger in CHSE-214, RTG-2 and RSBK-2 cells than in other cell lines. The nucleotide sequence of VP2/NS junction region on genome segment A exhibited one specific nucleotide change at 195. The different infection properties in several cell types performed in the present work might reflect in vivo MABV infection in various host species occurring in natural conditions.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.141-149
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• 2000

The etiologic agents of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Korea are Hantaan and Seoul virus in the genus Hantavirus, family Bunyaviridae. Antibody titers of sera from HFRS patients against Hantaan virus were measured by immunofluorescent antibody technique (IFAT), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), high density composite particle agglutination (HDPA) and plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNI). PRNT and nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (nested RT-PCR) was used for serotypic differentiation of Hantaviruses against Hantaan and Seoul virus. Eight doubtful HFRS patients showed higher fluorescent, IgG ELISA, agglutination and neutralizing antibody titer by IFAT, ELISA IgG, HDPA and PRNT, respectively Five out of them showed high IgM antibody titer by IgM capture ELISA against Hantaan virus, remarkably. Fifteen HFRS patients showed higher fluorescent antibody titer by IFAT. In PRNT, 12 out of them showed high neutralizing antibody titer against HTNV, 2 against SEOV and 1 against both viruses. In nested RT-PCR using serotype specific-primer, 3 out of them showed positive against HTNV and 1 against SEOV.