Advances in multispectral and hyperspectral imaging for archaeology and art conservation

Multispectral imaging has been applied to the field of art conservation and art history since the early 1990s. It is attractive as a noninvasive imaging technique because it is fast and hence capable of imaging large areas of an object giving both spatial and spectral information. This paper gives an overview of the different instrumental designs, image processing techniques and various applications of multispectral and hyperspectral imaging to art conservation, art history and archaeology. Recent advances in the development of remote and versatile multispectral and hyperspectral imaging as well as techniques in pigment identification will be presented. Future prospects including combination of spectral imaging with other noninvasive imaging and analytical techniques will be discussed

Cardiac Hypertrophy Involves Both Myocyte Hypertrophy and Hyperplasia in Anemic Zebrafish

Background: An adult zebrafish heart possesses a high capacity of regeneration. However, it has been unclear whether and how myocyte hyperplasia contributes to cardiac remodeling in response to biomechanical stress and whether myocyte hypertrophy exists in the zebrafish. To address these questions, we characterized the zebrafish mutant tr265/tr265, whose Band 3 mutation disrupts erythrocyte formation and results in anemia. Although Band 3 does not express and function in the heart, the chronic anemia imposes a sequential biomechanical stress towards the heart. Methodology/principal findings: Hearts of the tr265/tr265 Danio rerio mutant become larger than those of the sibling by week 4 post fertilization and gradually exhibit characteristics of human cardiomyopathy, such as muscular disarray, re-activated fetal gene expression, and severe arrhythmia. At the cellular level, we found both increased individual cardiomyocyte size and increased myocyte proliferation can be detected in week 4 to week 12 tr265/tr265 fish. Interestingly, all tr265/tr265 fish that survive after week-12 have many more cardiomyocytes of smaller size than those in the sibling, suggesting that myocyte hyperplasia allows the long-term survival of these fish. We also show the cardiac hypertrophy process can be recapitulated in wild-type fish using the anemia-inducing drug phenylhydrazine (PHZ). Conclusions/significance: The anemia-induced cardiac hypertrophy models reported here are the first adult zebrafish cardiac hypertrophy models characterized. Unlike mammalian models, both cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and hyperplasia contribute to the cardiac remodeling process in these models, thus allowing the effects of cardiomyocyte hyperplasia on cardiac remodeling to be studied. However, since anemia can induce effects on the heart other than biomechanical, non-anemic zebrafish cardiac hypertrophy models shall be generated and characterized

The management of acute venous thromboembolism in clinical practice. Results from the European PREFER in VTE Registry

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Europe. Data from real-world registries are necessary, as clinical trials do not represent the full spectrum of VTE patients seen in clinical practice. We aimed to document the epidemiology, management and outcomes of VTE using data from a large, observational database. PREFER in VTE was an international, non-interventional disease registry conducted between January 2013 and July 2015 in primary and secondary care across seven European countries. Consecutive patients with acute VTE were documented and followed up over 12 months. PREFER in VTE included 3,455 patients with a mean age of 60.8 ± 17.0 years. Overall, 53.0 % were male. The majority of patients were assessed in the hospital setting as inpatients or outpatients (78.5 %). The diagnosis was deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) in 59.5 % and pulmonary embolism (PE) in 40.5 %. The most common comorbidities were the various types of cardiovascular disease (excluding hypertension; 45.5 %), hypertension (42.3 %) and dyslipidaemia (21.1 %). Following the index VTE, a large proportion of patients received initial therapy with heparin (73.2 %), almost half received a vitamin K antagonist (48.7 %) and nearly a quarter received a DOAC (24.5 %). Almost a quarter of all presentations were for recurrent VTE, with >80 % of previous episodes having occurred more than 12 months prior to baseline. In conclusion, PREFER in VTE has provided contemporary insights into VTE patients and their real-world management, including their baseline characteristics, risk factors, disease history, symptoms and signs, initial therapy and outcomes

Color and spectral changes induced by laser irradiation of Ag/TiO2 nanocomposite thin films

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