11 research outputs found
Crop Classification Based on a Novel Feature Filtering and Enhancement Method
Vegetation indices, such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) or enhanced vegetation index (EVI) derived from remote sensing images, are widely used for crop classification. However, vegetation index profiles for different crops with a similar phenology lead to difficulties in discerning these crops both spectrally and temporally. This paper proposes a feature filtering and enhancement (FFE) method to map soybean and maize, two major crops widely cultivated during the summer season in Northeastern China. Different vegetation indices are first calculated and the probability density functions (PDFs) of these indices for the target classes are established based on the hypothesis of normal distribution; the vegetation index images are then filtered using the PDFs to obtain enhanced index images where the pixel values of the target classes are „enhanced„. Subsequently, the minimum Gini index of each enhanced index image is computed, generating at the same time the weight for every index. A composite enhanced feature image is produced by summing all indices with their weights. Finally, a classification is made from the composite enhanced feature image by thresholding, which is derived automatically based on the samples. The efficiency of the proposed FFE method is compared with the maximum likelihood classification (MLC), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF) in a mapping operation to determine the soybean and maize distribution in a county in Northeastern China. The classification accuracies resulting from this comparison show that the FFE method outperforms MLC, and its accuracies are similar to those of SVM and RF, with an overall accuracy of 0.902 and a kappa coefficient of 0.846. This indicates that the FFE method is an appropriate method for crop classification to distinguish crops with a similar phenology. Our research also shows that when the sample size reaches a certain level (e.g., 2000), the mean and standard deviation of the sample are very close to the actual values, which leads to high classification accuracy. In a case where the condition of normal distribution is not fulfilled, the PDF of the vegetation index can be created by a lookup table. Furthermore, as the method is rather simple and explicit, and convenient in terms of computing, it can be used as the backbone for automatic crop mapping operations
Protective Effect of <i>Lycium ruthenicum</i> Polyphenols on Oxidative Stress against Acrylamide Induced Liver Injury in Rats
Acrylamide (ACR) is formed during tobacco and carbohydrate-rich food heating and is widely applied in many industries, with a range of toxic effects. The antioxidant properties of Lycium ruthenicum polyphenols (LRP) have been established before. This study aimed to research the protective effect of LRP against ACR-induced liver injury in SD rats. Rats were divided into six groups: Control, ACR (40 mg/kg/day, i.g.), LRP (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg/day, i.g.) plus ACR, and LRP groups. After 19 days, we evaluated oxidative status and mitochondrial functions in the rat’s liver. The results showed that glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels increased after LRP pretreatment. In contrast, each intervention group reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels compared to the ACR group. Meanwhile, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), liver mitochondrial ATPase activity, mRNA expression of mitochondrial complex I, III, and expression of nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and its downstream proteins were all increased. This study suggested that LRP could reduce ACR-induced liver injury through potent antioxidant activity. LRP is recommended as oxidative stress reliever against hepatotoxicity
Data_Sheet_1_Effect of fruit intake on functional constipation: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and crossover studies.zip
Functional constipation (FC) is commonly treated with fruits whose efficacy remains unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis of fruit intervention for FC and provided evidence-based recommendations. We searched seven databases from inception to July 2022. All randomized and crossover studies on the effectiveness of fruits on FC were included. We conducted sensitivity and subgroup analysis. A total of 11 studies were included in this review. Four trials showed that kiwifruits have significantly increased stool frequency (MD = 0.26, 95% CI (0.22, 0.30), P 2 = 0%) than palm date or orange juice in the fixed-effect meta-analysis. Three high-quality studies suggested that kiwifruits have a better effect than ficus carica paste on the symptom of the FC assessed by the Bristol stool scale in the fixed-effect meta-analysis [MD = 0.39, 95% CI (0.11, 0.66), P 2 = 27%]. Besides, five trials showed that fruits can increase the amount of Lactobacillus acidophilus [MD = 0.82, 95% CI (0.25, 1.39), P 2 = 52%], analyzed with the random-effect model. Subgroup meta-analysis based on the types of fruits suggested that fruits including pome fruit, citrus fruit, and berries have increased the effect of Bifidobacterium t more than the stone fruits in the random effect meta-analysis [MD = 0.51, 95% CI (0.23, 0.79), P 2 = 84%]. Totally, fruit intake may have potential symptom alleviation on the FC as evidence shows that they can affect stool consistency, stool frequency, and gut microbiota. Further large-scale studies are needed to gain more confident conclusions concerning the association between fruit intake and FC in the future.</p
The essential oil of Artemisia capillaris protects against CCl4-induced liver injury in vivo
Abstract To study the hepatoprotective effect of the essential oil of Artemisia capillaris Thunb., Asteraceae, on CCl4-induced liver injury in mice, the levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, hepatic levels of reduced glutathione, activity of glutathione peroxidase, and the activities of superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde were assayed. Administration of the essential oil of A. capillaris at 100 and 50 mg/kg to mice prior to CCl4 injection was shown to confer stronger in vivo protective effects and could observably antagonize the CCl4-induced increase in the serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities and malondialdehyde levels as well as prevent CCl4-induced decrease in the antioxidant superoxide dismutase activity, glutathione level and glutathione peroxidase activity (p < 0.01). The oil mainly contained β-citronellol, 1,8-cineole, camphor, linalool, α-pinene, β-pinene, thymol and myrcene. This finding demonstrates that the essential oil of A. capillaris can protect hepatic function against CCl4-induced liver injury in mice
Sent2Agri System Based Crop Type Mapping in Yellow River Irrigation Area
Agricultural monitoring is essential for adequate management of food production and distribution. Crop land and crop type classificationꎬ using remote sensing time seriesꎬ form an important tool to capture the agricultural production information. The recently launched Sentinel ̄2 satellites provide unprecedented monitoring capacities in terms of spatial resolutionꎬ swath widthꎬ and revisit frequency. The Sentinel ̄2 for Agriculture (Sen2 ̄Agri) system has been developed to fully exploit those capacitiesꎬ by providing four relevant earth observation products for agricultural monitoring. Under the Dragon 4 Programꎬ the crop mapping with various satellite images and a specific focus on the Yellow River irrigated agricultural area in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China was carried out with the Sentinel ̄2 for Agriculture system (Sent2Agri). 9 types of crops were classified and the crop type map in 2017 was produced based on 35 scenes Sentinel 2A/ B images. The overall accuracy computed from the error confusion matrix is 88%ꎬ which includes the cropped and uncropped types. After the removal of the uncropped areaꎬ the overall accuracy for a cropped decrease to 73%. In order to further improve the crop classification accuracyꎬ the training dataset should be further improved and tuned