New spectral index and machine learning models for detecting coffee leaf miner infestation using sentinel-2 multispectral imagery.

The coffee leaf miner (Leucoptera coffeella) is a key coffee pest in Brazil that can cause severe defoliation and a negative impact on the productivity. Thus, it is essential to identify initial pest infestation for the sake of appropriate time control to avoid further economic damage to the coffee crops. A fast non-destructive method is an important tool that can be used to monitor the occurrence of the coffee leaf miner. The present work aims to identify the occurrence of coffee leaf miner infestation through a new vegetation index, using multispectral images from the Sentinel-2 satellite and the Google Earth Engine platform. Coffee leaf miner infestation was measured in the field in four cities in the state of Minas Gerais. The largest infestations occurred in September, October, and November but particularly in October 2021, in which the rate of infestation reached 85%, followed by September 2020 with a maximum infestation of 76%. The calculation steps of the vegetation indices and mappings were carried out in the Google Earth Engine cloud processing platform through the development of a script in JavaScript programming language. Combinations of two sensitive bands were selected to detect coffee leaf miner infestation, and from these, the 'Coffee-Leaf-Miner Index' was developed, which was compared with other existing vegetation indices in terms of their performance for coffee leaf miner detection. The combination of the NIR-BLUE and NIR-RED bands was more sensitive for the detection of coffee leaf miner infestation; therefore, the NIR, BLUE, and RED bands were selected to develop the new index. The 'Coffee-Leaf-Miner Index' presented the best performance among those evaluated, with a coefficient of determination of about 0.87, a root mean square error of 4.92% coffee leaf miner infestation, accuracy of 89.47%, and kappa coefficient of 95.39. The R2 range of other spectral indices which exist in the literature and which were used in this study was from 0.017 to 0.867, and the root mean square error ranged from 4.996 to 13.582% coffee leaf miner infestation. The machine learning method was then adopted using the supervised Random Forest and Support Vector Machine algorithms to recognize patterns of coffee leaf miner infestation in the field, only the Coffee-Leaf-Miner Index was used for the identification test of the coffee leaf miner infestation. The Support Vector Machine with linear Kernel type was applied to establish a discrimination model. The number of trees for the Random Forest classifier was 100. The Support Vector Machine presented a lower performance than the Random Forest algorithm, but the performance of both were above 80% for user and producer precision. Three bands (Blue, Red, NIR) were selected for the creation of the new index, which showed capacity for remote detection of coffee leaf miner infestation on a regional scale. Thus, 'Coffee-Leaf-Miner Index' can identify coffee leaf miner infestation thanks to all the complexity involved in detecting pests via orbital remote sensing

Digital detection of exosomes by interferometric imaging

Exosomes, which are membranous nanovesicles, are actively released by cells and have been attributed to roles in cell-cell communication, cancer metastasis, and early disease diagnostics. The small size (30–100 nm) along with low refractive index contrast of exosomes makes direct characterization and phenotypical classification very difficult. In this work we present a method based on Single Particle Interferometric Reflectance Imaging Sensor (SP-IRIS) that allows multiplexed phenotyping and digital counting of various populations of individual exosomes (>50 nm) captured on a microarray-based solid phase chip. We demonstrate these characterization concepts using purified exosomes from a HEK 293 cell culture. As a demonstration of clinical utility, we characterize exosomes directly from human cerebrospinal fluid (hCSF). Our interferometric imaging method could capture, from a very small hCSF volume (20 uL), nanoparticles that have a size compatible with exosomes, using antibodies directed against tetraspanins. With this unprecedented capability, we foresee revolutionary implications in the clinical field with improvements in diagnosis and stratification of patients affected by different disorders.This work was supported by Regione Lombardia and Fondazione Cariplo through POR-FESR, project MINER (ID 46875467); Italian Ministry of Health, Ricerca Corrente. This work was partially supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (grant #113E643). (Regione Lombardia; 46875467 - Fondazione Cariplo through POR-FESR, project MINER; Italian Ministry of Health, Ricerca Corrente; 113E643 - Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey)Published versio

The Source: Rethinking Water Through Contemporary Art

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Rodman Hall Art Centre/ Brock University from from May 23 to September 28, 2014. Index Introductory Paragraphs. By Stuart Reid, Patrick Mahon and Robert William Sandford Foreword. Pg. 13. By Stuart Reid. Preface. Pg. 14-15. By Patrick Mahon, Soheila Esfahani, Colin Miner and Gu Xiong Pictures, Time, Colour and Apology: Some Terms of Address in Art About Water. Pg. 16-25. By Patrick Mahon. Priming the Source: An Introduction to the Exhibition. Pg. 26-27. By Stuart Reid Artists\u27 Folios. Pg. 28-63. Nadine Bariteau, Raymond Boisjoly, Elizabeth Chitty, Soheila Esfahani, Gautam Garoo, Patrick Mahon, Colin Miner, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Gu Xiong Time, Process, Labour and Collaboration. Pg. 64-67. By Nadine Bariteau and Gautam Garoo. Meditation, History and Reality/Fiction. Pg. 68-71. By Raymond Boisjoly and Colin Miner. Migration, Cultural Memory and Adaptation. Pg. 72-75. By Soheila Esfahani and Gu Xiong. Activism and Aesthetic Practices. Pg. 76-79. By Elizabeth Chitty and Patrick Mahon. Water and Hope: Facing Fact and Inspiring Optimism in the Anthropocene. Pg. 80-87. By Robert William Sandford. List of Works. Pg. 89. Contributor Biographies. Pg. 91-93. By Nadine Bariteau, Raymond Boisjoly, Elizabeth Chitty, Soheila Esfahani, Gautam Garoo, Patrick Mahon, Colin Miner, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Gu Xiong. Artists\u27 Acknowledgements and Curator\u27s Acknowledgements. Pg 94.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/visualartsebooks/1002/thumbnail.jp

Influence of obesity on microarchitecture and biomechanical properties in patients with hip fracture.

La obesidad y la osteoporosis (OP) son dos patologías muy prevalentes en nuestra sociedad actual. El efecto de la obesidad sobre la calidad ósea se encuentra en debate en la actualidad. Objetivo: Valorar el efecto del peso corporal sobre la microestructura y las propiedades biomecánicas de hueso trabecular procedente de biopsias de extremidad proximal de fémur de pacientes con fractura de cadera por fragilidad. Material y método: Estudio transversal de 16 pacientes con fractura de cadera. 2 grupos según su IMC: (A) sujetos normopeso y (B) con obesidad. Recogimos biopsias de hueso trabecular de cabeza femoral. Valoramos determinaciones bioquímicas (PTH, 25(OH) vitamina D e IGF-1), marcadores de remodelado óseo (PINP,CTX), masa ósea (DMO cuello y cadera total), microestructura ósea y estudio biomecánico (µCt). El análisis estadístico: t-Student (SPSS 22.0) significación p<0,05. Resultados: Todos los pacientes presentaron DMO de cadera en rango osteoporótico. El grupo de obesos presentó niveles superiores de PTH e inferiores de IGF-1, vitamina D y PINP. No encontramos diferencias en los parámetros relacionados con el metabolismo óseo. El grupo de obesos presentó mejores índices microestructurales alcanzando la significación: mayor volumen óseo (BV/TV: 36,6±12,7 vs. 19,4±11,4%, BS/TV: 5,5±1,1 vs. 3,9±1,3%), mayor número de trabéculas (Tb.N: 1,6±0,4 vs. 1,01±0,4), mayor anchura de trabéculas (Tb.Th: 0,22±0,003 vs. 0,17±0,05) y menor separación trabecular (Tb.Sp: 0,51±0,12 vs. 0,66±0,16). Los parámetros biomecánicos confirman una mayor resistencia del hueso trabecular en pacientes obesos. Conclusión: La obesidad puede ser un factor protector de la calidad ósea en la región femoral y tiene menos efecto sobre la densidad mineral ósea.Obesity and osteoporosis (OP) are two very prevalent diseases in our society today. The effect of obesity on bone quality is currently a subject under discussion. Objective: To assess the effect of body weight on the microstructure and biomechanical properties of trabecular bone biopsies from the proximal end of the femur in patients with hip fracture fragility. Material and methods: Cross-sectional study of 16 patients with hip fracture. The 2 groups are divided according to their BMI: (A) normal weight individuals and (B) those with obesity. We collected biopsies of cancellous bone from the femoral head and assessed biochemical determinations (PTH, 25 (OH) vitamin D and IGF-1), bone remodeling markers (PINP, CTX), bone mass (BMD neck and total hip), bone microstructure and biomechanical study (µCt). Statistical analysis: Student's t test (SPSS 22.0) significance p<0.05. Results: All patients had hip BMD in osteoporotic range. The obese group had higher levels of PTH and lower IGF-1, vitamin D and PINP. We found no differences in the parameters related to bone metabolism. The obese group showed better indices reaching microstructural significance: increased bone volume (BV/TV: 36.6±12.7 vs 19.4±11.4%, BS/TV: 5.5±1.1 vs 3.9±1.3%), higher trabecular number (Tb.N: 1.6±0.4 vs 1,01±0,4), greater trabecular width (Tb.Th: 0.22±0.003 vs 0.17±0.05) and lower trabecular separation (Tb.Sp: 0.51±0.12 vs 0.66±0.16). Biomechanical parameters confirm greater strength of trabecular bone in obese patients. Conclusion: Obesity may be a protective factor of bone quality in the femoral region and has less effect on bone mineral density

Mineral maturity and crystallinity index are distinct characteristics of bone mineral

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that mineral maturity and crystallinity index are two different characteristics of bone mineral. To this end, Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (FTIRM) was used. To test our hypothesis, synthetic apatites and human bone samples were used for the validation of the two parameters using FTIRM. Iliac crest samples from seven human controls and two with skeletal fluorosis were analyzed at the bone structural unit (BSU) level by FTIRM on sections 2–4 lm thick. Mineral maturity and crystallinity index were highly correlated in synthetic apatites but poorly correlated in normal human bone. In skeletal fluorosis, crystallinity index was increased and maturity decreased, supporting the fact of separate measurement of these two parameters. Moreover, results obtained in fluorosis suggested that mineral characteristics can be modified independently of bone remodeling. In conclusion, mineral maturity and crystallinity index are two different parameters measured separately by FTIRM and offering new perspectives to assess bone mineral traits in osteoporosis