Abstract: The present invention relates to a primer coated polyester film for imaging media which has a thickness of 40 to 200 &mgr;m, a haze of not more than 5%, and comprises a biaxially oriented polyester film support and at least one priming layer laminated on the support and oriented at least monoaxially. The priming layer is formed from a coating solution containing a water-soluble resin (A) having vinyl alcohol units as a main constituent and a water-soluble or water-despersible resin (B) having an aromatic polyester unit.

Abstract: The present invention is intended to exactly extract a feature-region along its contour line without erroneously extracting any moving object other than the feature-region. An extraction signal from a feature-region main-portion extracting circuit is sent to a small region eliminating circuit whereby an erroneously extracted small region is detected and eliminated as an erroneously extracted noisy portion. The small region eliminating circuit compares a small region with four detection patterns, discriminates it as a region other than the feature (face)-region if no match is found and causes a center pixel of a window of 3×3 pixels to have a logical value of zero. An output of the small region eliminating circuit is sent to a blank filling circuit which compares its input with four detection patterns, discriminates it as a face-region if a match is found and makes a central pixel of a window of 13×13 pixels have a logical value of 1.

Abstract: A clot evacuation catheter includes a hollow tubular body disposed within an outer lumen. The tubular body is elongate and includes a selectively rotatable cutting blade disposed within a distal portion thereof to cut clots occluded in at least one opening of the cutting blade. The tubular body also includes a fluid conveying irrigation lumen to deliver fluid to a distal end of the catheter at predetermined times. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, a hood member extends from the distal portion of the tubular body. The hood member has a distal end that is spaced from, but coaxial with, the distal portion of the tubular body through a side portion of the hood member.