Integrating plant morphological traits with remote-sensed multispectral imageries for accurate corn grain yield prediction.

Sustainable crop production requires adequate and efficient management practices to reduce the negative environmental impacts of excessive nitrogen (N) fertilization. Remote sensing has gained traction as a low-cost and time-efficient tool for monitoring and managing cropping systems. In this study, vegetation indices (VIs) obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were used to detect corn (Zea mays L.

Optimizing Contrast Resolution in Digital Chest Radiography by Varying Copper Filtration and kVp.

Purpose: To measure the effect of increasing kilovoltage peak (kVp) and copper filtration thickness on entrance skin exposure and contrast resolution for chest radiography performed using digital flat-panel detectors.

Methods: A phantom-based experiment was conducted in which 24 radiographs of a quality control chest phantom were obtained at varying kVp levels and copper filtration thicknesses. The entrance skin exposure was measured and analyzed for each exposure.

Educating staff about digital radiography.

Radiation dose has been and continues to be the topic of mainstream media. Radiation accidents specific to ionizing radiation have prompted significant changes in legislation and prompted The Joint Commission to issue a Sentinel Event Alert, issue 47. Radiology professionals at every level have the opportunity to be better informed about the use of digital equipment in order to maximize image quality and minimize patient dose.

Morbidity and mortality of patients with invasive group A streptococcal infections admitted to the ICU.

Study Objectives: To describe the clinical features and outcome of patients with invasive group A streptococcal (GAS) infections admitted to the ICU.

Design: Prospective, population-based surveillance for invasive GAS infections was conducted in Ontario from January 1992 until June 2002. All 62 patients meeting clinical and/or histopathologic criteria for invasive GAS who were admitted to the ICUs of four university-affiliated hospitals in Toronto, Canada were included.

Canadian survey of the use of sedatives, analgesics, and neuromuscular blocking agents in critically ill patients.

Objectives: To characterize the perceived utilization of sedative, analgesic, and neuromuscular blocking agents, the use of sedation scales, algorithms, and daily sedative interruption in mechanically ventilated adults, and to define clinical factors that influence these practices.

Design: Cross-sectional mail survey.

Participants: Canadian critical care practitioners.

High-frequency oscillatory ventilation in adults: the Toronto experience.

Study Objectives: To review the clinical experience with high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) in three medical-surgical ICUs in Toronto, ON, Canada, and to describe patient characteristics, HFOV strategies, and outcomes.

Design And Patients: Retrospective chart review of all patients treated with HFOV at three academic university-affiliated ICUs since 1998. The data extracted included patient demographics, etiology of respiratory failure, ventilator settings, and gas exchange and cardiovascular data from baseline to 72 h of treatment, as well as at the transition from HFOV to conventional ventilation (CV).

Patient care seeking barriers and tuberculosis programme reform: a qualitative study.

The patient's perspective, including his/her socio-economic and cultural environment, is an important consideration for tuberculosis control programmes. Through semi-structured interviews, this qualitative research studies the barriers to successful care seeking faced by 202 adult patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in urban Zambia. Three common, interdependent themes explain patient barriers to successful care seeking: (1) number of health care encounters and duration of illness prior to diagnosis; (2) existing financial constraints and additional unrecognized patient costs; and (3) travel distances.