Morphological openings and closings form the cornerstones of a rich set of nonlinear operators in signal processing. In this paper, we show how a new morphological operator can be constructed that serves as an approximation to openings and closings for images corrupted by low levels of noise. 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Arachnoid granulations are structures filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that extend into the venous sinuses through openings in the dura mater and allow the drainage of CSF from subarachnoid space into venous system. Usually they are asymptomatic but can be symptomatic when large enough to cause sinus occlusion. We report a rare case of a brain herniation into a giant arachnoid granulation ...

Effects of ER-001533 (ER), a newly synthesized vasorelaxant, on the membrane currents were examined in single ventricular cells of guinea pigs. The patch-clamp technique was used in the "whole-cell" and "inside-out" patch configurations. In the whole-cell clamp condition, ER induced a time-independent K'-dominant current, which was inhibited by glibenclamide (1-3 ,uM), suggesting that ER activa...

DNA helices must undergo openings in the form of localized strand separations in order to permit the onset of RNA synthesis or DNA synthesis. The selective control of such DNA helix openings at particular gene loci is the critical feature of gene regulation in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

Confocal laser scanning microscopy and the potentiometric fluorescence probe tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester were used to measure changes in membrane electrical potential (DeltaPsi(m)) in individual mitochondria after isolation or in the living cell. Recordings averaged over small mitochondrial populations revealed a gradual decline in DeltaPsi(m) caused by the light-induced generation of free...

The hypothesis that dihydropyridine (DHP)-sensitive calcium channels have three distinct modes of gating has been examined. The major prediction is that the relative frequencies among modes depend on DHP concentration while the kinetics within a mode do not. We tested this by studying whole-cell and single-channel calcium currents in neonatal rat and adult guinea pig cardiac myocytes in differe...

We present an algorithm for an early detection of the uncapping process of honeybee brood cells. It is a challenging problem, because the appearance of openings varies highly and the combs surface is crowded by bees. The approach consists of two steps, segmentation of the image and analyzing the segments to give a report about openings.

during rutting period, the male one humped camels, extrudes a balloon like organ from one side of the mouth. twelve heads of the slaughtered one humped camels from different sexes were examined. air was blown through natural openings: mouth, nares, esophagus and trachea. cross and longitudinal sections were made in frozen and formalin fixed specimens. it was concluded that soft palate in one hu...

The kinetic behavior of brain Na+ channels was studied in pyramidal cells from rat and cat sensorimotor cortex using either the thin slice preparation or acutely isolated neurons. Single-channel recordings were obtained in the cell-attached and inside-out configuration of the patch-clamp technique. Na+ channels had a conductance of about 16 pS. Patches always contained several Na+ channels, usu...

An analysis of the requirements for mechanical smoke exhaust in large space buildings was made and some experiments in a fire test atrium have been performed. It can be concluded that the temperature of smoke in large space building fire is usually quite low which makes them easy to descend and to mix with air. Usually it’s difficult to control the descending of a smoke layer effectively when t...