Detection of glucose and triglycerides using information visualization methods to process impedance spectroscopy data

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Toward the Optimization of an e-Tongue System Using Information Visualization: A Case Study with Perylene Tetracarboxylic Derivative Films in the Sensing Units

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Information Visualization to Enhance Sensitivity and Selectivity in Biosensing

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Relationship between visualization of meiotic spindle in human oocytes and ICSI outcomes: a meta-analysis

The objective of this meta-analysis was to investigate the influence of meiotic spindle visualization in human oocytes on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes. Search strategies included on-line Surveys of databases (MEDLINE, em BASE, Science Citation Index, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register and Ovid). The fixed effect was used for odds ratio. Ten trials fulfilled the inclusion criteria comparing in-vitro and clinical ICSI outcomes with or without visualization of meiotic spindle in fresh and in-vivo matured oocytes. According to the meta-analysis, the results showed statistically significant higher fertilization rate (P < 0.0001) when the meiotic spindle was viewed than when it was not. Moreover, the percentage of pro-nuclear-stage embyros with good morphology (P = 0.003), cleavage rate (P < 0.0001), percentage of day-3 top-quality embryos (P = 0.003) and percentage of embryos that reached the blastocyst stage (P < 0.0001) were statistically significantly better among, embryos derived from oocytes in which meiotic spindle was viewed compared with those in which meiotic spindle was not observed. However, these differences were not observed in the clinical pregnancy or implantation rates. This observation has clinical relevance mainly in countries where there is a legal limit on the number of oocytes to be fertilized. However, additional controlled trials are needed to further confirm these results.

Alternative method of smearing samples on slides facilitate visualization of hemoglobin H inclusion bodies in alpha thalassemia

Nas talassemias alfa, a HbH pode ser detectada, nos eritrócitos do sangue periférico como inclusões celulares quando coradas com azul crezil brillante. Este teste simples é útil para o diagnóstico de talassemia alfa, no entanto, a identificação dos corpos de inclusão de HbH é um processo laborioso e os resultados são altamente dependentes do observador. No intuito de melhorar a identificação das inclusões, foi testado um método alternativo para espalhar as amostras nas lâminas. Amostras de sangue foram espalhadas nas lâminas usando-se o método clássico e o método alternativo. O método alternativo permitiu uma melhor identificação das inclusões de HbH do que o método clássico. Nossos resultados mostraram que o método alternativo é uma opção útil para a pesquisa dos corpúsculos de inclusão de HbH naquelas amostras onde o método clássico não o permite.

Knowledge extraction using visualization of hemoglobin parameters to identify thalassemia

The analysis of large amounts of data is better performed by humans when represented in a graphical format. Therefore, a new research area called the Visual Data Mining is being developed endeavoring to use the number crunching power of computers to prepare data for visualization, allied to the ability of humans to interpret data presented graphically.This work presents the results of applying a visual data mining tool, called FastMapDB to detect the behavioral pattern exhibited by a dataset of clinical information about hemoglobinopathies known as thalassemia. FastMapDB is a visual data mining tool that get tabular data stored in a relational database such as dates, numbers and texts, and by considering them as points in a multidimensional space, maps them to a three-dimensional space. The intuitive three-dimensional representation of objects enables a data analyst to see the behavior of the characteristics from abnormal forms of hemoglobin, highlighting the differences when compared to data from a group without alteration.

TRICUT: a program to clip triangle meshes using the rapid and triangle libraries and the visualization toolkit

An efficient technique to cut polygonal meshes as a step in the geometric modeling of topographic and geological data has been developed. In boundary represented models of outcropping strata and faulted horizons polygonal meshes often intersect each other. TRICUT determines the line of intersection and re-triangulates the area of contact. Along this line the mesh is split in two or more parts which can be selected for removal. The user interaction takes place in the 3D-model space. The intersection, selection and removal are under graphic control. The visualization of outcropping geological structures in digital terrain models is improved by determining intersections against a slightly shifted terrain model. Thus, the outcrop line becomes a surface which overlaps the terrain in its initial position. The area of this overlapping surface changes with respect to the strike and dip of the structure, the morphology and the offset. Some applications of TRICUT on different real datasets are shown. TRICUT is implemented in C+ + using the Visualization Toolkit in conjunction with the RAPID and TRIANGLE libraries. The program runs under LINUX and UNIX using the MESA OpenGL library. This work gives an example of solving a complex 3D geometric problem by integrating available robust public domain software. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does spatial visualization ability improve after studying technical drawing?

Two studies were carried out to analyze whether learning technical drawing improves a person's ability for spatial visualization. Visualization and inductive reasoning tests were applied at the beginning and end of a course in technical drawing in samples of first year engineering students. In both studies it was observed that a moderate percentage of students improved their Visualization test execution. The improvement was similar in men and women. There was no improvement on the inductive reasoning test. The results support the conclusion that the spatial visualization ability can be improved with training.

Tensor3D: A computer graphics program to simulate 3D real-time deformation and visualization of geometric bodies

Tensor3D is a geometric modeling program with the capacity to simulate and visualize in real-time the deformation, specified through a tensor matrix and applied to triangulated models representing geological bodies. 3D visualization allows the study of deformational processes that are traditionally conducted in 2D, such as simple and pure shears. Besides geometric objects that are immediately available in the program window, the program can read other models from disk, thus being able to import objects created with different open-source or proprietary programs. A strain ellipsoid and a bounding box are simultaneously shown and instantly deformed with the main object. The principal axes of strain are visualized as well to provide graphical information about the orientation of the tensor's normal components. The deformed models can also be saved, retrieved later and deformed again, in order to study different steps of progressive strain, or to make this data available to other programs. The shape of stress ellipsoids and the corresponding Mohr circles defined by any stress tensor can also be represented. The application was written using the Visualization ToolKit, a powerful scientific visualization library in the public domain. This development choice, allied to the use of the Tcl/Tk programming language, which is independent on the host computational platform, makes the program a useful tool for the study of geometric deformations directly in three dimensions in teaching as well as research activities. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Three-dimensional visualization of human hemoglobin phenotypes with HPLC

Hemoglobinopathies were included in the Brazilian Neonatal Screening Program on June 6, 2001. Automated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was indicated as one of the diagnostic methods. The amount of information generated by these systems is immense, and the behavior of groups cannot always be observed in individual analyses. Three-dimensional (3-D) visualization techniques can be applied to extract this information, for extracting patterns, trends or relations from the results stored in databases. We applied the 3-D visualization tool to analyze patterns in the results of hemoglobinopathy based on neonatal diagnosis by HPLC. The laboratory results of 2520 newborn analyses carried out in 2001 and 2002 were used. The Fast, F1, F and A peaks, which were detected by the analytical system, were chosen as attributes for mapping. To establish a behavior pattern, the results were classified into groups according to hemoglobin phenotype: normal (N = 2169), variant (N = 73) and thalassemia (N = 279). 3-D visualization was made with the FastMap DB tool; there were two distribution patterns in the normal group, due to variation in the amplitude of the values obtained by HPLC for the F1 window. It allowed separation of the samples with normal Hb from those with alpha thalassemia, based on a significant difference (P > 0.05) between the mean values of the Fast and A peaks, demonstrating the need for better evaluation of chromatograms; this method could be used to help diagnose alpha thalassemia in newborns.

Information Visualization to support decision making in the context of distance learning: A study with VLE TelEduc

Digital data sets constitute rich sources of information, which can be extracted and evaluated applying computational tools, for example, those ones for Information Visualization. Web-based applications, such as social network environments, forums and virtual environments for Distance Learning, are good examples for such sources. The great amount of data has direct impact on processing and analysis tasks. This paper presents the computational tool Mapper, defined and implemented to use visual representations - maps, graphics and diagrams - for supporting the decision making process by analyzing data stored in Virtual Learning Environment TelEduc-Unesp. © 2012 IEEE.

Design and evaluation of an advanced virtual reality system for visualization of dentistry structures

This paper presents the development of an application created to assist the teaching of dental structures, generate rich content information and different manners of interaction. An ontology was created to provide semantics informations for virtual models. We also used two devices gesture-based interaction: Kinect and Wii Remote. It was developed a system which use intuitive interaction, and it is able to generate three dimensional images, making the experience of teaching / learning motivating. The projection environment used by the system was called Mini CAVE. © 2012 IEEE.

Molecularly designed layer-by-layer (LbL) films to detect catechol using information visualization methods

The control of molecular architectures has been exploited in layer-by-layer (LbL) films deposited on Au interdigitated electrodes, thus forming an electronic tongue (e-tongue) system that reached an unprecedented high sensitivity (down to 10-12 M) in detecting catechol. Such high sensitivity was made possible upon using units containing the enzyme tyrosinase, which interacted specifically with catechol, and by processing impedance spectroscopy data with information visualization methods. These latter methods, including the parallel coordinates technique, were also useful for identifying the major contributors to the high distinguishing ability toward catechol. Among several film architectures tested, the most efficient had a tyrosinase layer deposited atop LbL films of alternating layers of dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODAB) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-3-glycero-fosfo-rac-(1-glycerol) (DPPG), viz., (DODAB/DPPG)5/DODAB/Tyr. The latter represents a more suitable medium for immobilizing tyrosinase when compared to conventional polyelectrolytes. Furthermore, the distinction was more effective at low frequencies where double-layer effects on the film/liquid sample dominate the electrical response. Because the optimization of film architectures based on information visualization is completely generic, the approach presented here may be extended to designing architectures for other types of applications in addition to sensing and biosensing. © 2013 American Chemical Society.