Volumetric and Morphometric Analysis of Pineal and Pituitary Glands of an Indian Inedial Subject
Authors
MS Raghuprasad
Biomedical Engineering Group, Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, Chennai, India
M Manivannan
Biomedical Engineering Group, Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, Chennai, India
Keywords:
Key Words: Ayurveda, Siddha, Survive on sunlight, Level set active contours, Neurohormonal morphology
Abstract
Inedia (Latin for “fasting”) is the ability of a person to live without consuming food and water and to sustain solely by prana, the vital life force in Hinduism. According to Ayurveda, sunlight is one of the main sources of prana, and some practitioners believe that it is possible for a person to survive on sunlight alone.
Purpose
In this study, we report the unusual sizes and volumes of both the pineal and pituitary glands in a subject with inedia state for nearly 70 years.
Methods
The pineal and pituitary glands were located in the MRI of the subject from coronal, axial, and sagittal images. Segmentation of the pineal and pituitary glands was performed using level set active contours method.
Results
The overall volume, size, and shape of the glands were calculated as 38.7604 mm3 for the pineal gland and 272.552 mm3 for the pituitary gland and compared with that of the normal volumes (94.2 ± 40.65 mm3 and 320–718 mm3, respectively).
Conclusion
It was found that the subject has significantly low pineal and pituitary volumes, which fall under the category of normal young child and we could show that the neurohormonal morphology of inedia subject is within childhood range.
Key Words: Ayurveda, Siddha, Survive on sunlight, Level set active contours, Neurohormonal morphology
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