Digital image analysis to estimate the minimum number of Eurytrema coelomaticum eggs in the uterus of adult specimens

Abstract

SummaryThis study was carried out to estimate the minimal number of eggs present in adult E. coelomaticum uterus. Samples were collected during post-mortem inspection and were submitted to light microscopy (bright field). The length, width, the total area of the parasite, uterus, and eggs were measured. The ImageJ software was used to calculate the area of the different parameters analyzed in this study. It was possible to observe that the uterus corresponds on average to 51.9 % of the total area of the parasite (ranging from 45 to 64 %). The number of eggs present in the uterus of parasites ranged from 5,946 to 15,813. To estimate the number of eggs three scenarios were considered, where the first taken into account the number of whole eggs observed in the image. In the second way to estimate the number of eggs, all the structures were considered (whole eggs and fractions that could be delimited) and compared with manual counting. Finally, in the last scenario, was considered an occupancy rate of 100 % of the uterine area per eggs, since there are overlapping eggs and these cannot be correctly delimited and accounted for. This study describes an important tool for quantifying eggs in a nondestructive manner and aggregate information until then is not explained by other works.

Mixed Eimeria and Cryptosporidium infection and its effects on pathology and clinical outcomes in juvenile Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) cultured in Thailand

“…Quantification by ImageJ software (NIH, USA) was used based on da Silva et al. (2018) (da Silva et al., 2018). Briefly, coccidial infected tissues were captured into five non‐overlapping fields of 40× magnification.…”

“…To calculate the intensity of coccidia infection, total intestinal area infected by coccidia was measured. Quantification by ImageJ software (NIH, USA) was used based on da Silva et al (2018) (da Silva et al, 2018. Briefly, coccidial infected tissues were captured into five non-overlapping fields of 40× magnification.…”

Eurytrema coelomaticum infection: correlation between parasite burden and impairment of pancreatic exocrine enzyme secretion

“…Despite some authors pointing out the disease as a cause of death (BASSANI et al, 2007;RACHID et al, 2011;QUEVEDo et al, 2013), it is almost a consensus that the disease does not produce clinical signs, but a silent disease which causes losses in milk and meat production (SIlVA JÚNIoR et al, 2018;SU et al, 2018). In addition, the infection of humans with this pancreatic trematode is also possible (ogawa et al, 2019).…”

A Promising Approach to Quantifying Pteropod Eggs Using Image Analysis and Machine Learning

“…Autonomous image analysis techniques have previously been tested in plankton research involving the counting and measuring of round objects in aqueous solution, including the use of images and on-board, large-volume samples (Gorsky et al, 1989;Colas et al, 2018). Several studies have employed software platforms to automatically enumerate microscopic eggs of invertebrates from images with high degrees of success (Collin, 2010;Rosati et al, 2015;da Silva Juńior et al, 2018). The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a workflow that uses a combination of image segmentation and a supervised machine learning algorithmic approach to perform semi-automatic detection of thecosome pteropod eggs embedded within egg masses.…”