HARD HANDOVER OPTIMIZATION USING TIME WINDOW BASED HANDOVER ALGORITHM

ABSTRACT This paper shows and solves a handover problem occurring with current power control mechanisms in cochannel Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) heterogeneous networks. The problem is the mismatch between the required uplink transmits power when a user is communicating to a small cell and an underlying microcellular base-station. This paper introduces Time Window Handover (TWHO) algorithm to adapt the transmit power of the small cell users during the handover regime to prevent such Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) drops

Cooperative Sensing Approach in Cognitive Radio Network-A Review Paper

ABSTRACT: Radio Spectrum is considered as a base line in Wireless communication network, due to its important role as a transmission medium; and according to the rapid improvement in the technologies which deal with radio spectrum; cognitive radio raised as a promising solution for solving the problem of radio spectrum scarcity. Cognitive radio is based on spectrum sensing as appropriate tool to study surrounding environment in order to illustrate the suitable scenario for sharing spectrum between users. Cooperative sensing is the most sophisticated approach in spectrum sensing depends on base of sharing information to eliminate error in spectrum sensing mechanism. This paper is a review paper. It discusses Cooperative sensing approach features in cognitive radio

Histopathological Features of Methotrexate Induced Pulmonary Lesions in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients: A Systematic Review of Case Reports

BACKGROUND: Methotrexate (MTX) is the most commonly used disease-modifying drug in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, it causes many side effects, including pulmonary lesions. In this review, we characterised the histopathological features of MTX-induced pulmonary lesions in RA patients.AIM: We carried out an electronic search of the relevant literature published during the period from 1990 to 2016. We included only the cases with definitive histo-pathological findings caused by MTX therapy.MATERIAL AND METHODS: The total number of cases is 27. Male: female ratio was 1:3, and ages ranged from 48 to 87 years old, with a mean (SD) = 65.7 (1.0). The cases were originally from Asia (55%), Europe (41%), and America (4%). The major complications of methotrexate therapy were lymphoproliferative disorders (42%) followed by interstitial fibrosis (33), and infections (25%). The incidence of these complications significantly increases with the duration of MTX treatment (p = 0.044). Among the infections, the most common causative organism was pneumocystis jiroveci. The majority of patients who developed infections following methotrexate therapy were from Europe whereas the majority of those who developed lymphoproliferative disorders were from Asia (p = 0.003).CONCLUSION: In conclusion, methotrexate therapy in rheumatoid arthritis patients causes different types pulmonary complications

Green Synthesis, Characterization, and Antibacterial Activity of Silver/Polystyrene Nanocomposite

A novel, nontoxic, simple, cost-effective and ecofriendly technique was used to synthesize green silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The AgNPs were synthesized using orange peel extract as a reducing agent for silver nitrate salt (AgNO3). The particle size distribution of AgNPs was determined by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The average size of silver nanoparticles was 98.43 nm. The stable dispersion of silver nanoparticles was added slowly to polystyrene solution in toluene maintaining the temperature at 70°C. The AgNPs/polystyrene (PS) nanocomposite solution was cast in a petri dish. The silver nanoparticles encapsulated within polymer chains were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipped with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) in addition to Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The green AgNPs/PS nanocomposite film exhibited antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Salmonella, and Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. Thus, the key findings of the work include the use of a safe and simple AgNPs/PS nanocomposite which had a marked antibacterial activity which has a potential application in food packaging

Cartilage repair in an osteochondral defect in a rabbit model

Despite the fact that mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) offer clinical potential for osteoarthritis applications, retaining sufficient numbers of functional MSC at the site of injury for optimal repair still continues to be a major challenge. One method of overcoming this limitation is to create an artificial extracellular matrix or scaffold to hold the cells in place. Previous research suggests that biomaterials possessing an elastic modulus between 2-50MPa are suitable for functional cartilage repair. To this end, the main aim of this study was to examine the effect of scaffold mechanical properties on cartilage repair in a rabbit model in vivo

Virtual Coaching Delivered by Pharmacists to Prevent COVID-19 Transmission

Background: While the role of pharmacists in the current pandemic control has been recognized worldwide, their coaching efforts to improve public’s behaviors that could prevent COVID-19 transmission has been rarely investigated. Objectives: To assess whether pharmacist-based virtual health coaching sessions could increase the proportion of people who practised healthy social behaviors, to test whether this model can increase the public acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines, and to measure whether these behaviors could actually prevent contracting COVID-19. Method: In this randomized controlled trial, adults who matched specific criteria were randomly allocated into 2 arms. The active arm received 12 pharmacist-based virtual coaching sessions delivered via Zoom® over a month. Participants allocated to the control arm received no coaching. At the end of the last coaching session, both groups were asked to complete a structured questionnaire for outcome assessment. Participants in the active group were followed up to 2 weeks after the end of the last coaching session to check if they contracted COVID-19 or not. The SPSS software version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Chicago, IL) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Of the 300 participants who gave consent for participation, 295 completed the study (147 from the active arm and 148 from the control arm). The proportion of those using face masks, avoiding crowds, and willing to be isolated if infected in the active arm was increased from 51.70%, 53.74%, and 59.86% at baseline to 91.83%, 80.27%, and 96.59% at the end of coaching, respectively (all with P < .05). In addition, the proportion of behaviors, such as disinfecting surfaces, not touching the T-zone, and avoid sharing personal belongings with colleagues at work was increased from 36.05%, 27.89%, and 46.93% at baseline to 63.94%, 52.38%, and 87.75% at the end of coaching, respectively (all with P < .05). Avoid touching the T-zone (OR = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24-0.89) and using disposable tissues (OR = 0.30; 95% CI, 0.18-0.77), each versus using face masks appropriately were more likely to get COVID-19. Conclusion: Pharmacist-based virtual health coaching could be a potential strategy to increase the proportion of behaviors that could curtail the spread of COVID-19