An annotated wing interferential pattern dataset of dipteran insects of medical interest for deep learning

Several Diptera species are known to transmit pathogens of medical and veterinary interest. However, identifying these species using conventional methods can be time-consuming, labor-intensive, or expensive. A computer vision-based system that uses Wing interferential patterns (WIPs) to identify these insects could solve this problem. This study introduces a dataset for training and evaluating a recognition system for dipteran insects of medical and veterinary importance using WIPs. The dataset includes pictures of Culicidae, Calliphoridae, Muscidae, Tabanidae, Ceratopogonidae, and Psychodidae. The dataset is complemented by previously published datasets of Glossinidae and some Culicidae members. The new dataset contains 2,399 pictures of 18 genera, with each genus documented by a variable number of species and annotated as a class. The dataset covers species variation, with some genera having up to 300 samples.

Species identification of phlebotomine sandflies using deep learning and wing interferential pattern (WIP)

Sandflies (Diptera; Psychodidae) are medical and veterinary vectors that transmit diverse parasitic, viral, and bacterial pathogens. Their identification has always been challenging, particularly at the specific and sub-specific levels, because it relies on examining minute and mostly internal structures. Here, to circumvent such limitations, we have evaluated the accuracy and reliability of Wing Interferential Patterns (WIPs) generated on the surface of sandfly wings in conjunction with deep learning (DL) procedures to assign specimens at various taxonomic levels. Our dataset proves that the method can accurately identify sandflies over other dipteran insects at the family, genus, subgenus, and species level with an accuracy higher than 77.0%, regardless of the taxonomic level challenged. This approach does not require inspection of internal organs to address identification, does not rely on identification keys, and can be implemented under field or near-field conditions, showing promise for sandfly pro-active and passive entomological surveys in an era of scarcity in medical entomologists.

Wing Interferential Patterns (WIPs) and machine learning for the classification of some Aedes species of medical interest

Hematophagous insects belonging to the Aedes genus are proven vectors of viral and filarial pathogens of medical interest. Aedes albopictus is an increasingly important vector because of its rapid worldwide expansion. In the context of global climate change and the emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases, identification tools with field application are required to strengthen efforts in the entomological survey of arthropods with medical interest. Large scales and proactive entomological surveys of Aedes mosquitoes need skilled technicians and/or costly technical equipment, further puzzled by the vast amount of named species. In this study, we developed an automatic classification system of Aedes species by taking advantage of the species-specific marker displayed by Wing Interferential Patterns. A database holding 494 photomicrographs of 24 Aedes spp. from which those documented with more than ten pictures have undergone a deep learning methodology to train a convolutional neural network and test its accuracy to classify samples at the genus, subgenus, and species taxonomic levels. We recorded an accuracy of 95% at the genus level and > 85% for two (Ochlerotatus and Stegomyia) out of three subgenera tested. Lastly, eight were accurately classified among the 10 Aedes sp. that have undergone a training process with an overall accuracy of > 70%. Altogether, these results demonstrate the potential of this methodology for Aedes species identification and will represent a tool for the future implementation of large-scale entomological surveys.

Deep learning and wing interferential patterns identify Anopheles species and discriminate amongst Gambiae complex species

We present a new and innovative identification method based on deep learning of the wing interferential patterns carried by mosquitoes of the Anopheles genus to classify and assign 20 Anopheles species, including 13 malaria vectors. We provide additional evidence that this approach can identify Anopheles spp. with an accuracy of up to 100% for ten out of 20 species. Although, this accuracy was moderate (> 65%) or weak (50%) for three and seven species. The accuracy of the process to discriminate cryptic or sibling species is also assessed on three species belonging to the Gambiae complex. Strikingly, An. gambiae, An. arabiensis and An. coluzzii, morphologically indistinguishable species belonging to the Gambiae complex, were distinguished with 100%, 100%, and 88% accuracy respectively. Therefore, this tool would help entomological surveys of malaria vectors and vector control implementation. In the future, we anticipate our method can be applied to other arthropod vector-borne diseases.

Brain organoid data synthesis and evaluation

Introduction

Datasets containing only few images are common in the biomedical field. This poses a global challenge for the development of robust deep-learning analysis tools, which require a large number of images. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are an increasingly used solution to expand small datasets, specifically in the biomedical domain. However, the validation of synthetic images by metrics is still controversial and psychovisual evaluations are time consuming.

Methods

We augment a small brain organoid bright-field database of 40 images using several GAN optimizations. We compare these synthetic images to the original dataset using similitude metrcis and we perform an psychovisual evaluation of the 240 images generated. Eight biological experts labeled the full dataset (280 images) as syntetic or natural using a custom-built software. We calculate the error rate per loss optimization as well as the hesitation time. We then compare these results to those provided by the similarity metrics. We test the psychovalidated images in a training step of a segmentation task.

Results and discussion

Generated images are considered as natural as the original dataset, with no increase of the hesitation time by experts. Experts are particularly misled by perceptual and Wasserstein loss optimization. These optimizations render the most qualitative and similar images according to metrics to the original dataset. We do not observe a strong correlation but links between some metrics and psychovisual decision according to the kind of generation. Particular Blur metric combinations could maybe replace the psychovisual evaluation. Segmentation task which use the most psychovalidated images are the most accurate.

Wing Interferential Patterns (WIPs) and machine learning, a step toward automatized tsetse (Glossina spp.) identification

A simple method for accurately identifying Glossina spp in the field is a challenge to sustain the future elimination of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) as a public health scourge, as well as for the sustainable management of African Animal Trypanosomiasis (AAT). Current methods for Glossina species identification heavily rely on a few well-trained experts. Methodologies that rely on molecular methodologies like DNA barcoding or mass spectrometry protein profiling (MALDI TOFF) haven't been thoroughly investigated for Glossina sp. Nevertheless, because they are destructive, costly, time-consuming, and expensive in infrastructure and materials, they might not be well adapted for the survey of arthropod vectors involved in the transmission of pathogens responsible for Neglected Tropical Diseases, like HAT. This study demonstrates a new type of methodology to classify Glossina species. In conjunction with a deep learning architecture, a database of Wing Interference Patterns (WIPs) representative of the Glossina species involved in the transmission of HAT and AAT was used. This database has 1766 pictures representing 23 Glossina species. This cost-effective methodology, which requires mounting wings on slides and using a commercially available microscope, demonstrates that WIPs are an excellent medium to automatically recognize Glossina species with very high accuracy.

Event-Based Color Segmentation With a High Dynamic Range Sensor

This paper introduces a color asynchronous neuromorphic event-based camera and a methodology to process color output from the device to perform color segmentation and tracking at the native temporal resolution of the sensor (down to one microsecond). Our color vision sensor prototype is a combination of three Asynchronous Time-based Image Sensors, sensitive to absolute color information. We devise a color processing algorithm leveraging this information. It is designed to be computationally cheap, thus showing how low level processing benefits from asynchronous acquisition and high temporal resolution data. The resulting color segmentation and tracking performance is assessed both with an indoor controlled scene and two outdoor uncontrolled scenes. The tracking's mean error to the ground truth for the objects of the outdoor scenes ranges from two to twenty pixels.