An index based road feature extraction from LANDSAT-8 OLI images

Road feature extraction from the remote sensing images is an arduous task and has a significant role in various applications of urban planning, updating the maps, traffic management, etc. In this paper, a new band combination (B652) to form a road index (RI) from OLI multispectral bands based on the spectral reflectance of asphalt, is presented for road feature extraction. The B652 is converted to road index by normalization. The morphological operators (top-hat or bottom-hat) uses on RI to enhance the roads. To sharpen the edges and for better discrimination of features, shock square filter (SSF), is proposed. Then, an iterative adaptive threshold (IAT) based online search with variational min-max and Markov random fields (MRF) model are used on the SSF image to segment the roads and non-roads. The roads are extracting by using the rules based on the connected component analysis. IAT and MRF model segmentation methods prove the proposed index (RI) able to extract road features productively. The proposed methodology is a combination of saturation based adaptive thresholding and morphology (SATM), and saturation based MRF (SMRF), applied to OLI images of several urban cities of India, producing the satisfactory results. The experimental results with the quantitative analysis presented in the paper

A NOVEL METHOD FOR WATER AND WATER CANAL EXTRACTION FROM LANDSAT-8 OLI IMAGERY

Constituents of hydrologic network, River and water canals play a key role in Agriculture for cultivation, Industrial activities and urban planning. Remote sensing images can be effectively used for water canal extraction, which significantly improves the accuracy and reduces the cost involved in mapping using conventional means. Using remote sensing data, the water Index (WI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Modified NDWI (MNDWI) are used in extracting the water bodies. These techniques are aimed at water body detection and need to be complemented with additional information for the extraction of complete water canal networks. The proposed index MNDWI-2 is able to find the water bodies and water canals as well from the Landsat-8 OLI imagery and is based on the SWIR2 band. In this paper, we use Level-1 precision terrain corrected OLI imagery at 30 meter spatial resolution. The proposed MNDWI-2 index is derived using SWIR2 (B7) band and Green (B3) band. The usage of SWIR2 band over SWIR1 results in very low reflectance values for water features, detection of shallow water and delineation of water features with rest of the features in the image. The computed MNDWI-2 index values are threshold by making the values greater than zero as 1 and less than zero as zero. The binarised values of 1 represent the water bodies and 0 represent the non-water body. This normalized index detects the water bodies and canals as well as vegetation which appears in the form of noise. The vegetation from the MNDWI-2 image is removed by using the NDVI index, which is calculated using the Top of Atmosphere (TOA) corrected images. The paper presents the results of water canal extraction in comparison with the major available indexes. The proposed index can be used for water and water canal extraction from L8 OLI imagery, and can be extended for other high resolution sensors

PAN SHARPENING USING RELATIVE SPECTRAL RESPONSE OF SENSOR FOR CARTOSAT-1 PAN AND RESOURCESAT LISS-4 MX DATA

Most of the Indian remote sensing systems, provide sensors with one high spatial resolution panchromatic (PAN) and several multispectral (MS) bands. An increasing number of applications, such as feature detection, change monitoring, and land cover classification, often demand the use of images with both high spatial and high spectral resolution. Image fusion or pan sharpening, is a technique to enhance the spatial resolution. The most significant problem in the traditional fusion methods is spectral distortion of fused images. The main reason for this being, the physical spectral characteristic of the sensors are not considered during the fusion process, resulting in undesirable effects such as modified spectral signatures resulting in classification errors and resolution over injection. For most earth resource satellites which provide both PAN and MS bands, in ideal condition, all MS bands would be well separated and would cover exactly the same wavelengths as the PAN band. Theoretically, the measured energy in the PAN band can be obtained with the summation of corresponding MS bands. As the measured energy in an individual channel is the sum of incoming radiation and relative spectral response: Lk&thinsp;=&thinsp;L(&lambda;)&thinsp;Rk(&lambda;); where &lambda; is the wavelength, the in-band radiance, L(&lambda;) at aperture spectral radiance and Rk(&lambda;) the peak-normalized spectral response. Therefore, the energy in PAN band can be estimated by defining weights as follows: Pan&thinsp;=&thinsp;wR&thinsp;R&thinsp;+&thinsp;wG&thinsp;G&thinsp;+&thinsp;wNIR NIR&thinsp;+ other; where Pan, G, R, NIR represent the radiance of individual spectral bands wG, wR, wNIR are the weights of corresponding MS bands and other for the influence of the spectral range which is missing from MS bands but still covered with the PAN band. In this paper, a novel spectral preservation fusion method for remotely sensed images using Cartosat-1 PAN and Resourcesat-Liss4 Mx data is presented by considering the physical characteristics of the sensors. It is based on the curvelet transform using relative spectral response (RSR) values of the sensor, improved in two parts: 1) the construction of PAN image using RSR values and the curvelet components, 2) the injection method of detail information. The performance and efficiency of the proposed method is compared with traditional IHS, wavelet based methods both visually and quantitatively. The results show that the proposed method preserves spatial details and minimize spectral distortion.</p

Angiographically borderline left main coronary artery lesions: correlation of transthoracic doppler echocardiography and intravascular ultrasound: a pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>the clinical decision making could be difficult in patients with borderline lesions (visually assessed stenosis severity of 30 to 50%) of the left main coronary artery (LM). The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between transthoracic Doppler (TTDE) peak diastolic flow velocity (PDV) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) measurements in the assessment of angiographically borderline LM lesions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>27 patients (mean age 64 ± 8 years, 21 males) with borderline LM stenosis referred for IVUS examination were included in the study. We performed standard IVUS with minimal lumen area (MLA) and plaque burden (PB) measurement and routine quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) with diameter stenosis (%DS) and area stenosis (%AS) assessment in all. During TTDE, resting PDV was measured in the LM.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>interpretable Doppler signal could be obtained in 24 patients (88% feasibility); therefore these patients entered the final analysis. MLA was 7.1 ± 2.7 mm². TTDE measured PDV correlated significantly with IVUS-derived MLA (r = -0.46, p < 0.05) and plaque burden (r = 0.51, p < 0.05). Using a velocity cut-off of 112 cm/sec TTDE showed a 92% sensitivity and 62% specificity to identify IVUS-significant (MLA < 6 mm²) LM stenosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In angiographically borderline LM disease, resting PDV from transthoracic echocardiography is increased in presence of increased plaque burden by IVUS. TTDE evaluation might be a useful adjunct to other invasive and non-invasive methods in the assessment of borderline LM lesions. Further, large scale studies are needed to establish the exact cut-off value of PDV for routine clinical application.</p

An overlooked connection: serotonergic mediation of estrogen-related physiology and pathology

BACKGROUND: In humans, serotonin has typically been investigated as a neurotransmitter. However, serotonin also functions as a hormone across animal phyla, including those lacking an organized central nervous system. This hormonal action allows serotonin to have physiological consequences in systems outside the central nervous system. Fluctuations in estrogen levels over the lifespan and during ovarian cycles cause predictable changes in serotonin systems in female mammals. DISCUSSION: We hypothesize that some of the physiological effects attributed to estrogen may be a consequence of estrogen-related changes in serotonin efficacy and receptor distribution. Here, we integrate data from endocrinology, molecular biology, neuroscience, and epidemiology to propose that serotonin may mediate the effects of estrogen. In the central nervous system, estrogen influences pain transmission, headache, dizziness, nausea, and depression, all of which are known to be a consequence of serotonergic signaling. Outside of the central nervous system, estrogen produces changes in bone density, vascular function, and immune cell self-recognition and activation that are consistent with serotonin's effects. For breast cancer risk, our hypothesis predicts heretofore unexplained observations of the opposing effects of obesity pre- and post-menopause and the increase following treatment with hormone replacement therapy using medroxyprogesterone. SUMMARY: Serotonergic mediation of estrogen has important clinical implications and warrants further evaluation

Withanolides and related steroids

Since the isolation of the first withanolides in the mid-1960s, over 600 new members of this group of compounds have been described, with most from genera of the plant family Solanaceae. The basic structure of withaferin A, a C28 ergostane with a modified side chain forming a δ-lactone between carbons 22 and 26, was considered for many years the basic template for the withanolides. Nowadays, a considerable number of related structures are also considered part of the withanolide class; among them are those containing γ-lactones in the side chain that have come to be at least as common as the δ-lactones. The reduced versions (γ and δ-lactols) are also known. Further structural variations include modified skeletons (including C27 compounds), aromatic rings and additional rings, which may coexist in a single plant species. Seasonal and geographical variations have also been described in the concentration levels and types of withanolides that may occur, especially in the Jaborosa and Salpichroa genera, and biogenetic relationships among those withanolides may be inferred from the structural variations detected. Withania is the parent genus of the withanolides and a special section is devoted to the new structures isolated from species in this genus. Following this, all other new structures are grouped by structural types. Many withanolides have shown a variety of interesting biological activities ranging from antitumor, cytotoxic and potential cancer chemopreventive effects, to feeding deterrence for several insects as well as selective phytotoxicity towards monocotyledoneous and dicotyledoneous species. Trypanocidal, leishmanicidal, antibacterial, and antifungal activities have also been reported. A comprehensive description of the different activities and their significance has been included in this chapter. The final section is devoted to chemotaxonomic implications of withanolide distribution within the Solanaceae. Overall, this chapter covers the advances in the chemistry and biology of withanolides over the last 16 years.Fil: Misico, Rosana Isabel. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad de Microanálisis y Métodos Físicos Aplicados a la Química Orgánica (i); ArgentinaFil: Nicotra, V.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Química Orgánica; ArgentinaFil: Oberti, Juan Carlos María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Química Orgánica; ArgentinaFil: Barboza, Gloria Estela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Farmacia; ArgentinaFil: Gil, Roberto Ricardo. University Of Carnegie Mellon; Estados UnidosFil: Burton, Gerardo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad de Microanálisis y Métodos Físicos Aplicados a la Química Orgánica (i); Argentin

Identification and synthesis of impurities formed during sertindole preparation

Sertindole (1), an atypical anti-psychotic drug is used for the treatment of schizophrenia. During the laboratory optimization and later during its bulk synthesis the formation of various impurities was observed. The impurities formed were monitored and their structures were tentatively assigned on the basis of their fragmentation patterns in LC-MS. Most of the impurities were synthesized and their assigned constitutions confirmed by co-injection in HPLC. We describe herein the formation, synthesis and characterization of these impurities. Our study will be of immense help to others to obtain chemically pure sertindole