Our data suggest that topical application of linoleate-enriched oil such as sunflower seed oil might enhance skin barrier function and improve outcome in neonates with compromised barrier function. Mustard oil, used routinely in newborn care throughout South Asia, has toxic effects on the epidermal barrier that warrant further investigation.

Topical therapy to enhance skin barrier function may be a simple, low‐cost, effective strategy to improve outcome of preterm infants with a developmentally compromised epidermal barrier, as lipid constituents of topical products may act as a mechanical barrier and augment synthesis of barrier lipids. Natural oils are applied topically as part of a traditional oil massage to neonates in many developing countries. We sought to identify inexpensive, safe, vegetable oils available in developing countries that improved epidermal barrier function. The impact of oils on mouse epidermal barrier function (rate of transepidermal water loss over time following acute barrier disruption by tape‐stripping) and ultrastructure was determined. A single application of sunflower seed oil significantly accelerated skin barrier recovery within 1 h; the effect was sustained 5 h after application. In contrast, the other vegetable oils tested (mustard, olive and soybean oils) all significantly delayed recovery of barrier function compared with control‐ or Aquaphor‐treated skin. Twice‐daily applications of mustard oil for 7 d resulted in sustained delay of barrier recovery. Moreover, adverse ultrastructural changes were seen under transmission electron microscopy in keratin intermediate filament, mitochondrial, nuclear, and nuclear envelope structure following a single application of mustard oil. Conclusion: Our data suggest that topical application of linoleate‐enriched oil such as sunflower seed oil might enhance skin barrier function and improve outcome in neonates with compromised barrier function. Mustard oil, used routinely in newborn care throughout South Asia, has toxic effects on the epidermal barrier that warrant further investigation.

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Development of salt-affected soils in the irrigated lands of arid and semi-arid region is major cause of land degradation. Hyperion hyperspectral remote sensing data (EO-1) was used in the present study for characterization and mapping of salt-affected soils in a part of irrigation command area of IndoGangetic alluvial plains. Linear spectral mixture analysis approach was used to map various categories of salt affected soils represented by spectral endmembers of slightly, moderately and highly salt-affected soils. These endmembers were related to surface expression of various categories of salt-affected soils in the area. The endmembers were selected by performing minimum noise fraction (MNF) transformation and pixel purity index (PPI) on Hyperion (EO-1) data with reference to high resolution LISS IV data and field data. The results showed that various severity classes of salt-affected soils could be reliably mapped using linear spectral unmixing analysis. A low RMSE value (0.0193) over the image was obtained that revealed a good fit of the model in identification and classification of endmembers of various severities of salt affected soils. The overall classification accuracies for slight, moderate and highly salt-affected soils were estimated of 78.57, 79.81 and 84.43% respectively.

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Information on the spatial distribution of different wasteland categories forms a basic component in the large-scale reclamation and utilization programmes of these degraded lands. To evaluate the use of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data in wasteland mapping, an attempt was made in this study to delineate and map various kinds of wastelands, in parts of Aligarh District (Uttar Pradesh) by digital analysis of Landsat TM data of 27 January 1986, using the maximum-likelihood classifier method. Map-to-image rectification of the subimage and a selection of suitable spectral bands based on spectral response and training statistics, were also performed before the final supervised classification. The results indicated that, out of the six TM bands (excluding the thermal band), the spectral separability of all wasteland categories are most possible in bands 3, 4, 5 and 7. This study also reveals that wasteland types, namely salt-affected and surface waterlogged/marshy lands could be effectively delineated, mapped and digitally classified with an accuracy of about 96 per cent, using spatially and spectrally improved Landsat TM data.

Hyperspectral remote sensing (Hyperion EO-1) data has emerged as most promising tool in quantifying severity of salt-affected soils. The study deals with identifying sensitive spectral bands (wavelength regions) for salinity parameters and thereafter used to compute spectral indices viz. Salinity index (SI), Brightness index (BI), Normalized Differential Salinity Index (NDSI), Combined Spectral Response Index (COSRI) and Coloration index (CI). Six sensitive hyperspectral bands (Band 9, 20, 22, 28, 29 and 46) of Hyperion-1 satellite data were identified to generate the spectral indices. The relationship between these spectral indices and salinity parameters of electrical conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) were established to generate maps showing severity of salt-affected soils of the area. The severity maps were categorized into classes of normal, slight, moderate and highly showing the spatial distribution of severity of salt affected soils. Among these spectral indices, SI shown highest correlation coefficient (r 2 ) with the parameters of ECe (r 2 = 0.777), SAR (r 2 = 0.801) and ESP (r 2 = 0.804) followed by BI, COSRI and CI. The Hyperion data has shown the potential to assess severity of salt-affected soils for large area which may very useful for identifying the area for carring out reclamation measures and management planning.

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