title: The objective interpretation of histopathological data: an application to the ageing of ovine bruises.
abstract: Muscle and adipose tissue from a total of 178 experimental bruises inflicted on sheep and aged from 1 to 72 h old were processed for light microscopic examination. Five observed histopathological features of inflammation and repair were scored semiquantitatively on a scale of 1-4 according to their degrees of change from the normal state. These data were evaluated mathematically using a Bayesian probability model designed for the purpose. The model was able to age bruises with an acceptable degree of accuracy only as either 1-20 h or 24-72 h old but within these constraints a degree of confidence in excess of 90% was achieved. The exact performance of the model depended on the nature and number of tissue samples examined but mathematical ageing was superior to interpretative ageing based on personal experience.
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003288:Contusions / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000473:pathology; D012756:Sheep; D013997:Time Factors; D014945:Wound Healing