Automated precision beekeeping for accessing bee brood development and behaviour using deep CNN.

Bees play a significant role in the health of terrestrial ecosystems. The decline of bee populations due to colony collapse disorder around the world constitutes a severe ecological danger. Maintaining high yield of honey and understanding of bee behaviour necessitate constant attention to the hives. Research initiatives have been taken to establish monitoring programs to study the behaviour of bees in accessing their habitat. Monitoring the sanitation and development of bee brood allows for preventative measures to be taken against mite infections and an overall improvement in the brood's health. This study proposed a precision beekeeping method that aims to reduce bee colony mortality and improve conventional apiculture through the use of technological tools to gather, analyse, and understand bee colony characteristics. This research presents the application of advanced digital image processing with computer vision techniques for the visual identification and analysis of bee brood at various developing stages. The beehive images are first preprocessed to enhance the important features of object. Further, object is segmented and classified using computer vision techniques. The research is carried out with the images containing variety of immature brood stages. The suggested method and existing methods are tested and compared to evaluate efficiency of proposed methodology.

Distinct peritoneal fluid ghrelin and leptin in infertile women with endometriosis and their correlation with interleukin-6 and vascular endothelial growth factor.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the levels of leptin, ghrelin, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in peritoneal fluid in patients with endometriosis and infertility, and study their correlation. DESIGN AND SETTING: This cross-sectional study included women undergoing diagnostic and/or therapeutic laparoscopy for endometriosis with chief complaint of infertility and/or pain at a tertiary care hospital. Based upon laparoscopic and histopathological findings, patients were categorized as with endometriosis and no endometriosis. Of the 50 patients with infertility (age 23-41 years), 19 had endometriosis while 31 had no endometriosis. The markers were assessed using ELISA kits. RESULTS: The median levels of leptin in patients with endometriosis (10.20 ng/mL) were higher (p = 0.04) and median levels of ghrelin in patients with endometriosis (150.4 pg/mL) were lower (p = 0.037) versus patients with no endometriosis (5.07 ng/mL and 229.6 pg/mL, respectively). The median levels of IL-6 and VEGF in patients with endometriosis were not different between the groups. The correlation analyses showed that leptin levels and IL-6 were positively correlated (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that ghrelin and leptin might play a key role in pathophysiology of endometriosis, and leptin is associated with inflammation in endometriosis.