Analyse particles: counting eggs query

Posted by Amy Mikhail on Sep 16, 2005; 5:18pm
URL: http://imagej.273.s1.nabble.com/Analyse-particles-counting-eggs-query-tp3704847.html

Hello all,

I've recently been using the image J "analyse", "analyse particles"
function to count mosquito eggs (digital photo taken of black eggs on
white filter paper).

One difficulty is that the eggs tend to stick to each other, and often
appear lying side by side.  In this instance, Imaje J counts all the eggs
that are not separate as one.

Manually separating the eggs out without damaging them is quite difficult
and very time consuming.  Luckily the eggs do not vary much in size , so
to overcome this problem, I have worked out the size range (in pixels) of
an average single egg (9 - 22 pixels).  I carry out 3 counts:

1. < 9 pixels
2. 9-22 pixles
3. > 22 pixels

Particles counted in the first range are too small to be eggs and are
probably dust / artifacts (large artefacts are removed from the photo
prior to processing).  Particles in the second range are all the eggs that
have been counted singly, while particles in the 3rd range are eggs that
are stuck together and have been counted incorrectly.  To get a total
(more accurate) count,  I use this formula:

Range 2 Count + (Range 3 total area / range 2 mean particle area).

(Areas are in pixels - means are taken from each photo to account for
differences in zoom etc)

So here is my query; currently I am using an excel sheet to compute the
formula - I add the necessary results from Image J manually to the excel
sheet.  Would it be possible to feed the Image J results I need directly
into the excel sheet?  If so how would I do this?

BTW we are trying to set up this system to use in experiments where large
numbers of egg papers will be processed on a daily basis (by various
people).  Using image J as opposed to counting manually is already a vast
improvement (both time-wise and in terms of human error), so what I'm
after is a bit of fine tuning to further expedite the process.

Any advice / help on this would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks,

Amy.



-------------------------------------------
Amy Mikhail
Research student
University of Aberdeen
Zoology Building
Tillydrone Avenue
Aberdeen AB24 2TZ
Scotland
Email: [hidden email]
Phone: [phone] (lab)