Automatic summarization of soccer highlights using audio-visual descriptors

Automatic summarization generation of sports video content has been object of great interest for many years. Although semantic descriptions techniques have been proposed, many of the approaches still rely on low-level video descriptors that render quite limited results due to the complexity of the problem and to the low capability of the descriptors to represent semantic content. In this paper, a new approach for automatic highlights summarization generation of soccer videos using audio-visual descriptors is presented. The approach is based on the segmentation of the video sequence into shots that will be further analyzed to determine its relevance and interest. Of special interest in the approach is the use of the audio information that provides additional robustness to the overall performance of the summarization system. For every video shot a set of low and mid level audio-visual descriptors are computed and lately adequately combined in order to obtain different relevance measures based on empirical knowledge rules. The final summary is generated by selecting those shots with highest interest according to the specifications of the user and the results of relevance measures. A variety of results are presented with real soccer video sequences that prove the validity of the approach.

[Mediastinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: atypical presentation diagnosed with bronchoscopy]

Primary mediastinal non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a rare entity that can manifests with secondary pulmonary involvement. The case of a 37 years-old man patient with non-Hodgkin lymphoma mixed B-cell, which was diagnosed by means of bronchoscopic biopsy, is presented. His characteristics clinical and radiologic presentation, and diagnostic usefulness of fiberoptic bronchoscopy, is remarked. We revised clinical and pathologic features of interests for this lymphoproliferative disorders with thoracic involvement.

Quantitative HIV-1 RNA as a marker of clinical stability and survival in a cohort of 302 patients with a mean CD4 cell count of 300 x 10(6)/l

OBJECTIVE

To analyse plasma HIV-1 RNA levels as a marker of clinical stability and survival in a cohort of HIV-infected patients whose time of seroconversion is unknown.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Retrovirology laboratory and AIDS Unit in a teaching hospital.

PATIENTS

A total of 916 samples from 302 patients, most on antiretroviral therapy, were analysed. Mean initial CD4 cell counts and HIV-1 RNA were 299 x 10(6)/l (range: 0-1600) and 134,261 copies/ml (range: < 200-4,300,000), respectively. Sixty-six cases had been diagnosed previously with AIDS.

METHODS

Analysis of progression to AIDS and survival, according to initial and longitudinal viral load (VL) and CD4 cell count measurements was performed by Kaplan-Meier test. Relative risks were calculated by Cox's proportional hazards model.

RESULTS

During a mean follow-up of 444 +/- 309 days, 29 patients developed AIDS and 21 died. Relative risk (RR) of progression related to the group with VL < 35,000 was: 10.4 when CD4 > or = 250 x 10(6)/l and VL > or = 35,000 (P = 0.001); and 45.3 when CD4 < 250 x 10(6)/l and VL > or = 35,000 (P < 0.0001). Cumulative probability of progression was: 0%, 0% and 12.3%, at the first, second and third year respectively, for patients with all their sequential VL determinations < 60,000; and 13.3%, 34.7% and 79.3% for patients who did not maintain VL values always < 60,000 (RR = 23; P < 0.0001). The minimum value of VL that reached statistical significance for the survival analysis was 100,000 copies/ml (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

VL > or = or < 35,000 is a better discriminant for progression than a CD4 cell count > or = or < 250 x 10(6)/l. Sequential VL determinations < 60,000 are associated with a better prognosis.

[Bronchogenic carcinoma in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection]

The diagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma (BC) in patients with HIV infection is infrequent. Five cases are described and the existing references reviewed. The incidence, risk factors, clinical manifestations, histology, age of onset, diagnosis and survival in HIV positive patients with BC were analyzed. The clinical histories of 2,586 patients with HIV infection seen in the authors' center were reviewed. Five cases in whom BC was detected were found. Sixty-nine cases published in the international literature were collected in a reference search by the MEDLINE system between 1982-1994. The patients with BC and HIV infection have an early age of presentation (mean age: 42 years) and a lower survival with respect to those without infection. No differences were observed with regard to the smoking habit, procedures for achieving diagnosis or clinical manifestation. The predominant histologic subtype was adenocarcinoma. A higher incidence of BC was observed in patients with HIV infection with respect to the control groups on elimination of the bias for age and risk factors for BC. Given its low incidence, BC should be considered in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary disease in patients with HIV infection in cases presenting a history of smoking, once the most common opportunistic infections have been discarded.

[Acute pancreatitis in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus]

This study was designed to define the etiological spectrum of acute pancreatitis in patients infected with HIV in our environment and to evaluate the relevance of cytomegalovirus as etiological agent. A retrospective analysis was first made of clinical, analytical, radiological and pathological findings of patients infected with HIV clinically diagnosed of acute pancreatitis (period 1984-1993). Then, clinical records of patients with necropsy proven CMV pancreatic involvement were retrospectively analyzed (period 1985-1992) to evaluate whether they had been diagnosed of acute pancreatitis when alive. Nine cases were diagnosed of acute pancreatitis. A presumptive etiology (didanosine) was considered in seven cases and idiopathic in two. Five patients died, two from causes directly related to acute pancreatitis. Necropsy was performed in two cases. Mortality was associated with the development of renal insufficiency or the appearance of three or more complications (p = 0.039). With regard to the second phase of the study CMV pancreatic involvement was demonstrated in 4 necropsies out of a total of 22 with evidence of CMV infection in one or more organs. None of these patients was diagnosed of acute pancreatitis when alive. Acute pancreatitis is an uncommon entity in patients infected with HIV. Presumptively, it could be attributed to didanosine therapy in most of our cases. The mortality rate was high, particularly when renal failure developed. In no case was CMV involved as etiologic agent when the patient was alive, although necropsy showed that pancreas can be subclinically involved in the context of a CMV disseminated infection.

Sjögren's syndrome: histologic and immunohistochemical study

Labial salivary gland tissues from 20 patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (group 1), 26 with the secondary type of the disease (group 2), 16 patients with the incomplete form of the disease and 10 normal controls were examined for the presence of lymphocyte infiltrates, epithelial damages and plasma cell aggregates. Activated T lymphocytes of the helper phenotype predominated in groups 1 and 2. Aberrant epithelial expression of HLA class II molecules was found in the same group of patients, while IgG- and IgM- containing plasma cells were detected.

[Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infections. Clinicopathologic characteristics, treatment response and prognosis in 40 patients]

BASIS

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is one of the commonest neoplasms appearing in subjects infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The purpose of this work was to analyse the clinical and laboratory characteristics, along with the clinical course, response to therapy and prognosis in a series of 40 patients with NHL and HIV infection treated in a single institution between 1985 and 1993.

METHODS

The following variables at onset were analysed: age, sex, risky behaviour, NHL location, presence of "B" symptoms, haemoglobin value, platelet count, total number of lymphocytes and CD4-positive lymphocyte count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, LDH levels, serum albumin, beta 2-microglobulin, NHL type and staging. The following variables during follow-up were also examined: treatment administered, achievement of remission and remission duration, date of relapse and death or date of the last control, relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). A multivariate study of the prognostic factors associated to the achievement of remission, RFS and OS were carried out as well.

RESULTS

The frequency of NHL amongst the HIV-positive subjects was 4.4%. Thirty cases had high-grade lymphoma, 20 were stage IV and 33 had extranodal locations. Anaemia was the commonest blood impairment and CD4-positive lymphocyte count was below 0.2 x 10(9)/L in 72% of the cases. Twenty-eight patients with systemic NHL received chemotherapy (CHOP in 25 instances, MACOP-B in 3), and of them 6 were alive, 5 in maintained remission, as for this paper's writing. The median RFS was 7 months and the median OS was 11 months. Increased serum LDH was associated with lesser probability of attaining both remission (p = 0.03) and RFS (p = 0.03). Response to therapy was the main factor in determining survival (p = 0.002); after excluding such factor, increased serum LDH and low serum albumin rates correlated negatively with OS (p = 0.004 and p = 0.007, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

HIV-positive patients, when affected by NHL, usually have high-grade lymphoma, frequently in advanced stages and with extra-nodal involvement. They show poor response to therapy. Increased serum LDH level is the main prognostic factor.

Hormonal receptors, cell proliferation fraction (Ki-67) and c-erbB-2 amplification in breast cancer. Relationship between differentiation degree and axillary lymph node metastases

In view of the limitations of conventional prognostic factors such as differentiation degree, metastatic lymph nodes, hormonal receptors and others, especially when early lesions are found, additional new markers have been studied, such as gene amplification and cell proliferation index, in order to choose the appropriate treatment. Primary breast carcinoma tumors from 97 patients were examined for differentiation degree, metastatic lymph nodes, hormonal receptors, c-erbB-2 amplification and cell proliferation index (Ki-67). A negative relationship with hormonal receptors and c-erbB-2 amplification, Ki-67 and differentiation degree was found, whereas the relationship between c-erbB-2, Ki-67 and differentiation degree was positive. No relationship was found between these factors and metastatic lymph nodes. The concurrence of high cell proliferation index, c-erbB-2 amplification and negative hormonal receptor presence would indicate a subpopulation with a high risk of recurrence. But a larger survival study is necessary to correlate these factors with clinical outcome.

[Cardiac tamponade and Kaposi's sarcoma]

The case of a 31 year-old intravenous drug addict female patient with infection by the human immunodeficiency virus who had recurrent cardiac tamponade and who was diagnosed by pericardic biopsy as Kaposi's sarcoma is reported. The patient demonstrated involvement by cutaneous, mucosal, lymph node and probably pleuropulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma. Thoracic radiography, computerized tomography and echocardiography only showed the presence of pericardic effusion. Neither did the pericardic fluid obtained by pericardiocentesis provide any significant ethiologic data. Only the pericardic biopsy showed the typical lesions of Kaposi's sarcoma in this localization confirming diagnosis. This is the first case of pericardic Kaposi's sarcoma described in an alive patient and the difficulties of achieving the diagnosis of the cardiac involvement by Kaposi's sarcoma in AIDS patients are commented upon.

Leishmania lymphadenitis diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy

A case of Leishmania lymphadenitis which presented clinically as an isolated left laterocervical lymph node is described. Diagnosis was made by fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB), as in other cases previously reported. The material obtained yielded abundant histiocytes, multinucleated giant cells, and epithelioid microgranulomas with Leishman-Donovan pathognomic bodies in the cytoplasm of cells, together with free forms of the parasite. This paper comments on the main differential diagnoses to be considered in our region when faced with granulomatous adenitis and the role of FNAB in the identification of this parasite in endemic areas.