ACCURACY INVESTIGATION OF DEM BASED ON GÖKTÜRK-2 STEREO IMAGES

In December 18, 2012, Gokturk-2 satellite has been launched to the space from the Jiuguan station in China. The satellite has the pushbroom camera, which could enable to take panchromatic imaging with 2.5 m resolution and multispectral imaging with 5 m resolution at the height of 685 km. Satisfying the requests of Turkish Armed Forces, Turkish government agencies and institutes for satellite images has been aimed by the data provided by Gokturk-2 satellite. High Resolution Satellite Images (HRSI) have been extensively used in such fields as mapping, intelligence service, exploration, monitoring of environment, agriculture and change tracking; mapping is one of the most widespread application areas of HRSI.In order to use satellite images like a map, geometric deformations should be removed; in other words, the deformations are required to be orthorectified. The model, Ground Control Points (GCP) and Digital Elevation Models are needed for an accurate orthorectification application.In this study, block adjustment was made by using 20*60 km sized stereo image of Gokturk-2 satellite, GCPs and Check Points (CP) in different numbers. Average errors in X, Y, Z dimensions were analyzed at the end of the adjustment. Furthermore, the accuracy of Digital Elevation Model was controlled by the heights of primary bench marks

Prevalence and microbiological characteristics of clinically infected foot-ulcers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A retrospective exploratory study

Background: The prevalence of foot ulcers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been reported at almost 10 %. These foot ulcers often occur at multiple sites and are reoccurring, with the potential risk of infection increased due to RA diagnosis and disease modifying medications. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of clinical infection in foot-ulcers of patients with RA; describe the microbiological characteristics and investigate risk factors. Methods: Retrospective clinical data was collected for all patients attending a rheumatology foot ulcer clinic between 1st May 2012 and 1st May 2013: wound swab data was collected from those with clinical infection. Results: Twenty-eight patients with RA and foot-ulcers were identified; eight of these patients had clinical infection and wound swabs taken (29 %). Of these eight patients there were equal men and women, with median age 74 years, and average disease duration 22 years. Cardiovascular disease/peripheral-vascular disease (CVD/PVD) were reported in six patients, diabetes in two patients. Six patients were treated with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs); three were on biologic medications and two on steroids. Five wound swabs cultured skin flora, one staphylococcus aureus, one had no growth after culture; and one was rejected due to labelling error. Conclusion: Almost a third of people with RA and foot ulcers attending clinic over one year had clinical infection, however microbiological analysis failed to isolate pathogens in six of seven wound swabs. This may be due to inaccurate diagnosis of ulcer infection or to issues with sampling, collection, transport, analysis or reporting. There was insufficient data to relate risk of clinical infection with risk factors. Further research is required to identify the most appropriate techniques for infection diagnosis, wound sampling and processing. Trial registration: Ethical approval was obtained from University of Leeds, Faculty of Medicine and Health (Reference number: SHREC/RP/349)

Concordance in diabetic foot ulceration : a cross-sectional study of agreement between wound swabbing and tissue sampling in infected ulcers

BACKGROUND: There is inadequate evidence to advise clinicians on the relative merits of swabbing versus tissue sampling of infected diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). OBJECTIVES: To determine (1) concordance between culture results from wound swabs and tissue samples from the same ulcer; (2) whether or not differences in bacterial profiles from swabs and tissue samples are clinically relevant; (3) concordance between results from conventional culture versus polymerase chain reaction (PCR); and (4) prognosis for patients with an infected DFU at 12 months' follow-up. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, multicentre study involving patients with diabetes and a foot ulcer that was deemed to be infected by their clinician. Microbiology specimens for culture were taken contemporaneously by swab and by tissue sampling from the same wound. In a substudy, specimens were also processed by PCR. A virtual 'blinded' clinical review compared the appropriateness of patients' initial antibiotic regimens based on the results of swab and tissue specimens. Patients' case notes were reviewed at 12 months to assess prognosis. RESULTS: The main study recruited 400 patients, with 247 patients in the clinical review. There were 12 patients in the PCR study and 299 patients in the prognosis study. Patients' median age was 63 years (range 26-99 years), their diabetes duration was 15 years (range 2 weeks-57 years), and their index ulcer duration was 1.8 months (range 3 days-12 years). Half of the ulcers were neuropathic and the remainder were ischaemic/neuroischaemic. Tissue results reported more than one pathogen in significantly more specimens than swabs {86.1% vs. 70.1% of patients, 15.9% difference [95% confidence interval (CI) 11.8% to 20.1%], McNemar's p-value < 0.0001}. The two sampling techniques reported a difference in the identity of pathogens for 58% of patients. The number of pathogens differed in 50.4% of patients. In the clinical review study, clinicians agreed on the need for a change in therapy for 73.3% of patients (considering swab and tissue results separately), but significantly more tissue than swab samples required a change in therapy. Compared with traditional culture, the PCR technique reported additional pathogens for both swab and tissue samples in six (50%) patients and reported the same pathogens in four (33.3%) patients and different pathogens in two (16.7%) patients. The estimated healing rate was 44.5% (95% CI 38.9% to 50.1%). At 12 months post sampling, 45 (15.1%) patients had died, 52 (17.4%) patients had a lower-extremity ipsilateral amputation and 18 (6.0%) patients had revascularisation surgery. LIMITATIONS: We did not investigate the potential impact of microbiological information on care. We cannot determine if the improved information yield from tissue sampling is attributable to sample collection, sample handling, processing or reporting. CONCLUSIONS: Tissue sampling reported both more pathogens and more organisms overall than swabbing. Both techniques missed some organisms, with tissue sampling missing fewer than swabbing. Results from tissue sampling more frequently led to a (virtual) recommended change in therapy. Long-term prognosis for patients with an infected foot ulcer was poor. FUTURE WORK: Research is needed to determine the effect of sampling/processing techniques on clinical outcomes and antibiotic stewardship. FUNDING: The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme