A simple, vector-based graphics editor, designed for experimental data presentation, schematics, large structured chemical formulae etc. in a modest IBM PC, MS DOS environment is described. Its applications in semiautomatic image analysis, especially ¡n the implementation of design-based stereological methods for estimating global geometrical characteristics of studied samples and in 3D volume reconstruction from serial sections are discussed.
A short review of confocal stereology and three-dimensional image analysis is presented, pointing out the achievements accomplished in this field by the Department of Biomathematics (Institute of Physiology, Prague). One of the methods of confocal stereology, the fakir method for surface area estimation, developed by this laboratory, is described. Methods for automatic measurement of geometrical characteristics of microscopical structures, based on 3-D image processing or surface triangulation, are discussed and compared with interactive stereological methods. Three-dimensional
reconstruction programs and software implementation of stereological and digital methods as well as their practical applications are presented. The
future trends are discussed.
A software system STESYS for interactive and flexible generation of stereological test systems is described. STESYS enables to implement many of the recent unbiased stereological methods applied to biomedical research and clinical diagnosis by using a simple personal computer. Advantages of the STESYS software are illustrated by several examples of stereological measurements for estimating the number, total and mean cross-sectional area, volume and surface area.