Point spread function estimation with computed wavefronts for deconvolution of hyperspectral imaging data.

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) systems acquire images with spectral information over a wide range of wavelengths but are often affected by chromatic and other optical aberrations that degrade image quality. Deconvolution algorithms can improve the spatial resolution of HSI systems, yet retrieving the point spread function (PSF) is a crucial and challenging step. To address this challenge, we have developed a method for PSF estimation in HSI systems based on computed wavefronts.

Automated image registration of RGB, hyperspectral and chlorophyll fluorescence imaging data.

Background: The early and specific detection of abiotic and biotic stresses, particularly their combinations, is a major challenge for maintaining and increasing plant productivity in sustainable agriculture under changing environmental conditions. Optical imaging techniques enable cost-efficient and non-destructive quantification of plant stress states. Monomodal detection of certain stressors is usually based on non-specific/indirect features and therefore is commonly limited in their cross-specificity to other stressors.

Low-cost and automated phenotyping system "Phenomenon" for multi-sensor in situ monitoring in plant in vitro culture.

Background: The current development of sensor technologies towards ever more cost-effective and powerful systems is steadily increasing the application of low-cost sensors in different horticultural sectors. In plant in vitro culture, as a fundamental technique for plant breeding and plant propagation, the majority of evaluation methods to describe the performance of these cultures are based on destructive approaches, limiting data to unique endpoint measurements. Therefore, a non-destructive phenotyping system capable of automated, continuous and objective quantification of in vitro plant traits is desirable.

[Effectiveness and tolerance of depot leuprorelin acetate for preoperative endometrium flattening before endometrial ablation. German Leuprorelin Study Group].

Objective: In order to assess the efficacy and tolerability of leuprorelin acetate depot in pre-operative flattening of the endometrium prior to hysteroscopic endometrial ablation, 94 patients from eight centres were included in the per protocol analysis.

Material And Patients: The patients included were pre- or peri-menopausal, had completed their family planning and had intractable uterine bleeding. The primary target criterion was the reduction in maximum endometrial thickness after two injections of leuprorelin acetate depot with an interval of four weeks between injections.

Cushing's syndrome due to an ectopic ACTH-secreting pituitary tumour mimicking occult paraneoplastic ectopic ACTH production.

A 32-year-old man presenting with typical features of Cushing's syndrome showed baseline cortisol and ACTH values indicating ACTH-dependent disease. Dynamic function tests (dexamethasone, corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), desmopressin), were suggestive of paraneoplastic ectopic ACTH production. However, inferior petrosal sinus (IPS) ACTH sampling demonstrated a maximum baseline central (363 pmol/l)-peripheral (19 pmol/l) ACTH gradient of 19.

[The thiazolidinones--a new therapeutic agent for type 2 diabetes].

Both, impaired beta-cell function and insulin resistance, predominantly of the skeletal muscle, are considered to be the key factors in the pathogenesis of type-2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent diabetes; NIDDM). In the early stage of the disease, impaired insulin-mediated glucose disposal is accompanied by increased insulin secretion and hyperinsulinaemia. The thiazolidinediones (e.

The relationship between cardiovascular reactivity in the laboratory and heart rate response in real life: active coping and beta blockade.

Earlier studies suggest that cardiovascular responses in the laboratory and in the field are likely to be related when the laboratory tasks involve active coping, when the field measure is taken continuously, and when there is allowance for the effects of autocorrelation and physical activity on the ambulant cardiovascular measure. These studies lead to the hypothesis that the hyperreactivity common to the laboratory and to the field has a beta-adrenergic basis. We examined the heart rate variability of 16 hyperreactive and 16 hyporeactive subjects over an 8-hour period while they were receiving either a placebo or a cardio-selective beta-blocking drug (Bisoprolol) in a double-blind crossover design.

Sucralfate in the treatment and prevention of gastric ulcer: multicentre double blind placebo controlled study.

A randomised controlled multicentre trial was performed in 160 patients with gastric ulcer, proved by endoscopy and biopsy, to compare ulcer healing with sucralfate and ranitidine (double blind double dummy design) and to assess the effect of maintenance treatment with sucralfate on ulcer recurrence (double blind placebo controlled design). The healing rates were similar with 4 g sucralfate suspension per day and 300 mg ranitidine per day (82% and 88% after 12 weeks, respectively). Of the 109 patients with healed ulcers, 92 were entered into the maintenance trial and treated with sucralfate tablets (2 g per day) or placebo tablets.

Long-term treatment of angina pectoris with bisoprolol or atenolol in patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis: a randomized, double-blind crossover study.

Forty outpatients suffering from angina pectoris due to coronary artery disease and concomitant reversible. chronic obstructive bronchitis were treated with the beta1-selective beta-blockers atenolol (50 mg) and bisoprolol (5 mg) for 6 months in each case, following a randomized, double-blind crossover study design. Lung function tests were carried out by means of whole-body plethysmography before and then several times during treatment.

[The 24-hour-effect of bisoprolol on blood pressure at rest and during stress].

In a multi-center study, 188 patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension were treated with the beta-1 selective beta blocker bisoprolol. Treatment was started with 5 mg bisoprolol once a day; if the aim of therapy, namely normalising (less than or equal to 90 mmHg) the diastolic blood pressure at rest (DBP-R) 24 hours after drug intake was not achieved, the dose was increased every two weeks to a maximum of 20 mg. With the individual dose established in this way, the patients were admitted to long-term treatment that was scheduled to last one year.

Exercise blood pressure and heart rate reduction 24 and 3 hours after drug intake in hypertensive patients following 4 weeks of treatment with bisoprolol and metoprolol: a randomized multicentre double-blind study (BISOMET).

In a 4-week randomized, double-blind study, 87 patients with essential hypertension received either 10 mg bisoprolol (B) or 100 mg metoprolol (M) once daily (o.d.).

Effects of single oral doses of bisoprolol and atenolol on airway function in nonasthmatic chronic obstructive lung disease and angina pectoris.

A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover investigation in 12 patients with non-asthmatic chronic obstructive lung disease and co-existing stable angina pectoris was done to compare two beta 1-selective adrenoceptor blocking agents, atenolol 100 mg and bisoprolol 20 mg. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP, DBP), heart rate (HR) as well as airway resistance (AWR, and less frequently forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and intrathoracic gas volume (ITGV) were measured in the sitting position before and at various times up to 24 h after drug intake. During the first 4 h both beta-blockers produced a significant reduction in HR in comparison to placebo (p less than 0.

[Tolerance of nitrefazole in alcoholics with liver disease. A 4-week placebo-controlled double-blind study].

Liver damage is one of the most common organ manifestations of chronic alcoholism. The recovery process following abstinence should not be impaired by therapy with alcohol sensitizing drugs. In a double-blind multicentre-study (controlled against placebo) the liver tolerance of Nitrefazole which is indicated as an alcohol sensitizing agent for therapy of alcoholics, was tested during the first four weeks of a planned longterm therapy.

Assessment of sublingual isosorbide dinitrate and intracoronary nifedipine during ergonovine provocation.

In 37 patients with suspected vasospastic angina diagnostic ergonovine testing was used as a method of analysing the efficacy of sublingual ISDN in comparison with sublingual and intracoronary nifedipine on coronary luminal diameter, left ventricular ejection fraction, aortic blood pressure, heart rate and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. 10 mg of sublingual ISDN counteracted the ergonovine effects on left ventricular pump function and hemodynamics. The luminal diameter of the epicardial coronary arteries increased from 3.

Effect of sucralfate on peptic ulcer recurrence: a controlled double-blind multicenter study.

We entered 174 patients with healed duodenal ulcer and 77 with healed gastric ulcer into a double-blind, placebo-controlled, 6-month trial to investigate the efficacy of 1 g sucralfate twice daily in preventing ulcer recurrence. Endoscopy was performed after 6 months or earlier for symptoms compatible with ulcer disease. The relapse rate in the 126 patients with duodenal ulcer who could be evaluated for efficacy was 14/66 (21.

[Ventricular arrhythmias in coronary heart disease. Analysis by long-term-ecg, coronary arteriography and left ventriculography (author's transl)].

A dual channel long-term-Ecg monitoring system was used to investigate arrhythmias in 90 patients undergoing diagnostic coronary arteriography. There was no significant difference of ventricular arrhythmias during an observation period of 10 hours before and after cardiac catheterization. The incidence of ventricular premature beats (VPB) was significantly higher in coronary patients than in normal controls (normal coronary arteries and normal ventriculograms) or in a group of 24 healthy soldiers.