Analysis of nuclei textures of fine needle aspirated cytology images for breast cancer diagnosis using Complex Daubechies wavelets

Breast cancer is the most frequent cause of cancer induced death among women in the world. Diagnosis of this cancer can be done through radiological, surgical, and pathological assessments of breast tissue samples. A common test for detection of this cancer involves visual microscopic inspection of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) samples of breast tissue. The result of analysis on this sample by a cytopathologist is crucial for the breast cancer patient. For the assessment of malignancy, the chromatin texture patterns of the cell nuclei are essential. Wavelet transforms have been shown to be good tools for extracting information about texture. In this paper, it has been investigated whether complex wavelets can provide better performance than the more common real valued wavelet transform. The features extracted through the wavelets are used as input to a k-nn classifier. The correct classification results are obtained as 93.9% for the complex wavelets and 70.3% for the real wavelets.</p

The Role of Manganese Carbonate Precipitation in Controlling Fluoride and Uranium Mobilization in Groundwater

Groundwater contamination with fluoride (F) and uranium (U) has been reported in many parts of India. However, the sources and mobilization mechanisms of these contaminants remain poorly understood. The present study aimed to identify the processes governing the coexistence of elevated F and U in groundwater at a typical site in India’s middle Gangetic plain. Sustained groundwater sampling at 21 locations over two years indicated persistence of high F and U in a shallow aquifer (12 m depth), but absence of these pollutants in a deeper aquifer (30 m depth). For both the aquifers, Mn exhibited strong inverse correlations with F (−0.587; p < 0.01) and U (−0.581; p < 0.01). X-ray diffraction analysis of representative sediment cores indicated few differences in the mineralogy of the two aquifers, which consisted of fluorite (CaF2(s)) and calcite (CaCO3(s)), among others. Analysis of groundwater speciation and saturation state and sequential extraction on aquifer sediments suggested that elevated F in shallow groundwater occurred due to calcite precipitation-induced fluorite dissolution. The conditions in both the aquifers were oxidizing with respect to U, but reducing with respect to Mn. Elevated U was attributed to carbonate-promoted mobilization from iron–manganese (Mn) and residual sediment fractions. In the deeper groundwater, elevated Mn and lower pH levels persisted with conditions at saturation with respect to rhodochrosite (MnCO3(s)). Furthermore, medium (30 d) to long-term (300 d) batch experiments were performed to systematically evaluate the role of variable Mn on calcite precipitation under approximate in situ conditions. Precipitation of rhodochrosite outcompeted calcite precipitation and resulted in lower pH compared to pH of Mn-free systems, which (a) inhibited calcite precipitation and associated fluorite dissolution and (b) constrained pH and alkalinity in the deeper groundwater. These findings have implications for understanding F and U mobilization in comparable Mn-deficient sites and development of appropriate Mn-based amendments for in situ remediation