Inset Fed Rectangular Patch Antenna Design for ISM Band Applications

Wireless communication systems rely on efficient and compact antennas to transmit and receive signals. Microstrip patch antennas have gained popularity due to their small size, low profile, and ease of fabrication. In this study, an inset fed microstrip rectangular patch antenna using a partial ground plane is designed for ISM band applications in the frequency range of 2.4 - 2.4835 GHz. The antenna is made on a low-cost FR4 substrate with a dielectric constant of 4.3 and a thickness of 1.6 mm. The dimensions of the antenna is 28.35 × 37.58  mm2. The antenna is fed by an inset feedline, which provides a compact and efficient feeding mechanism. The design of the antenna is carried out using CST Microwave Studio software. The performance of the antenna is evaluated based on various parameters such as return loss, bandwidth, VSWR, directivity, gain, and radiation pattern. The simulation results indicate that the proposed antenna achieves a return loss (S11) of -27.339 dB, a bandwidth of 0.01478 GHz (147.8 MHz), and a VSWR of 1.09. Additionally, the antenna provides a gain of 2.97 dBi, a directivity of 4.7 dBi, and an efficiency of -1.726 dB (67.20%). Overall, this design meets the requirements of decreased antenna size, lightweight, low profile, cost-effectiveness, simple manufacturing, and good performance for ISM band applications

Elevated C-reative protein (CRP) as a surgical indication for appendicitis

Objective: Role of C-reactive protein value in the diagnosis of appendicitis by correlating with severity of appendicitis on histopathological findings. Methodology: This descriptive study was conducted at the department of general surgery Unit-IV, Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad from March 2016 to February 2017. All cases above 12 years of age with severe appendicitis based on presenting signs and symptoms were included. The patient underwent routine laboratory investigations including abdominal plain x-ray in an erect position and ultrasound abdomen. The blood sample was taken from each patient for C-reactive protein and was send to Hospital diagnostic laboratory. During surgery, a specimen of each patient was sent to a diagnostic laboratory for histopathology. All the data were record on Performa. Results: A total of 305 patients were studied; their mean age was 35.7+9.7 years. Males were found in the majority (73%). 75.41% of patients had leukocytosis. C-reactive protein was raised among 26.22% of patients. On histopathological findings, 04.91% of patients had a normal appendix, while 69.83% had gross inflammation of the appendix, 19.67% patients had gangrenous appendix, and 05.57% patients had perforation and peritonitis. Elevated C reactive protein (CRP) and leukocytosis were significantly associated with the severity of appendicitis, p value 0.001. Conclusion: C-reactive protein is a non-invasive and reliable indicator for surgical treatment of appendicitis. C-reactive protein and white blood cells (WBCs) were significantly associated with the severity of appendicitis

Profile and outcome of treatment in non-small cell lung cancer with brain metastasis

Background: Brain metastasis is a common problem in patients with NSCLC. This study was done to study the risk factors associated with the development of brain metastasis and assess treatment response in NSCLC to improve patient survival. Methods: This was a retro-prospective study in which 126 patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma with brain metastasis were taken for the study. Results: The mean age in study group was 56.1±12.72 years. Adenocarcinoma was found in 57.1% and squamous cell carcinoma in 41.3% patients. 65.9% patients received chemotherapy for primary disease followed by targeted therapy in 34 (27.0%) patients. 53.9% patients received WBRT after diagnosis  of brain metastasis and 23% WBRT and systemic chemotherapy while as14.3% received WBRT and targeted therapy and 2.4%  received WBRT, systemic chemotherapy and targeted therapy, 1.6%  patients received systemic chemotherapy, WBRT and local RT to the primary site  and 0.8% each was treated with gamma knife therapy; surgery, WBRT and targeted therapy; SRS and WBRT. Median overall survival of patients with brain metastasis who received WBRT was 2.5 months and patients who received WBRT and systemic chemotherapy was 9.0 months while patients with brain metastasis who received WBRT and targeted therapy was 14.3 months. Conclusions: The median overall survival as per treatment received after diagnosis of brain metastasis was higher in patients who received WBRT and targeted therapy as compared to patients who received WBRT and systemic chemotherapy and patients who received WBRT only

Error Performance Analysis in Underwater Acoustic Noise With Non-Gaussian Distribution

There is a high demand for underwater communication systems due to the increase in current social underwater activities. The assumption of Gaussian noise allows the use of Traditional communication systems. However, the non-Gaussian nature of underwater acoustic noise (UWAN) results in the poor performance of such systems. This study presents an experimental model for the noise of the acoustic underwater channel in tropical shallow water at Desaru beach on the eastern shore of Johor in Malaysia, on the South China Sea with the use of broadband hydrophones. A probability density function of the noise amplitude distribution is proposed and its parameters defined. Furthermore, an expression of the probability of symbol error for binary signalling is presented for the channel in order to verify the noise effect on the performance of underwater acoustic communication binary signalling systems

An Enhanced Partial Transmit Sequence Based on Combining Hadamard Matrix and Partitioning Schemes in OFDM Systems

The partial transmit sequence (PTS) considered as one of the efficient approaches to restrain the high peak to average-power ratio (PAPR) in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) frameworks. PTS relied on partitioning the input data block and rotate them with a set of the phase vectors. In this study, a novel technique is suggested to improve the PAPR reduction performance in the PTS technique by combining Hadamard matrix and the popular kinds of the partitioning schemes interleaving scheme (IL-PTS), adjacent scheme (Ad-PTS), and pseudo-random scheme (PR-PTS). The new approach employed Hadamard matrix to change some of the subcarrier phases of the partitioning scheme in the frequency-domain. The simulation results demonstrated that the new method improved the PAPR diminishment performance better than that of the PR-PTS and Ad-PTS. However, the proposed method achieved the same PAPR performance compared with the IL-PTS scheme

Relationship Between Serum Lactate Dehydrogenase Levels and Dengue Severity

To determine relationship betweenthe levels of serum Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH)onadmission and prognosis of dengue fever.Methods: Patients (n=62) admitted with thediagnosis of dengue fever were included. Onadmission, serum LDH levels were measured in allpatients and to find relationship we monitored allpatients upto discharge. Monitoring was done forvitals, different blood parameters and duration ofhospitalization.Results: Forty one (66.1%) were males and 33.9%(n=21) were females with mean age31.73±13years.During hospital stay, 61.3% patientshad Dengue fever (DF)while 39.7% patientsdeveloped dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).LDHlevels were higher in patients with DHF(mean618.38U/L±219)as compared to the patients withdengue fever (mean 316.45U/L±104).Mann WhitneyU test showed the difference was statisticallysignificant (p<0.001).Conclusion: Patients with early increase in serumLDH showed more complications as compared tolow serum LDH level. High LDH can be used topredict outcome in dengue patients

Outcome of Percutaneous Ultrasound Guided Aspiration versus Open Surgical Drainage of Psoas Muscle Abscess

Objective: To compare the outcome of percutaneous ultrasound guided aspiration V/S open surgical drainage for psoas muscle abscess. Methodology: This comparative study was conducted in department of general surgery at Liaquat medical university hospital Hyderabad/Jamshoro, from June 2017 to November 2017. Diagnosed Patients of psoas muscle abscess size more than 5cm, between 18 to 60 years of age and either of gender were included. Patients were randomly divided into two groups, A and B by odd and even method, patients in group A abscess was aspirated by percutaneous ultrasound guided aspiration and patients in group B was underwent open surgical drainage, all the data were entered in the pre designed performa and analyzed into SPSS V:16.0 Results: A total of 58 patients of Psoas muscle abscess were selected, the mean age of study subjects of group A was 38.5+10.5 and group B was 36.5+12.7 (p-673). Early post-operative pain relief was assessed among patients of group A as compared to group B. As per outcome resolution of abscess cavity was significantly high among patients of group B (p-0.004), while post-operative Hospital stay was significantly lower in group A (p-0.002). Conclusion: Both techniques has their own benefits like percutaneous aspiration has shorter duration of hospital stay while in complete resolution of abscess cavity was found in open surgical drainage group of patients

Expression analysis of cyclooxygenase-2 in patients suffering from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the aggressive malignancies and mechanisms underlying its pathogenesis remain unclear. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme system plays a crucial role in many gastrointestinal malignancies and is an important regulator of cell growth, proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation and transformation. More precise outcome of COX-2 in ESCC is less investigated. In this study we investigated the risk factors of ESCC and expression of COX-2 in Carcinoma in situ (CIS) and ESCC compared to normal esophageal mucosa. ESCC relationship to clinico-pathological parameters using immunohistochemistry was also part of this investigation. Current study was conducted in the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Pakistan. A total of 69 diagnosed patients of ESCC, both Pakistanis and Afghans were enrolled. Various risk factors associated with ESCC were recorded. Mean age at the time of diagnosis was 55 years. Out of 69 patients of ESCC 46 (67%) were users of dipping tobacco (Naswar). Expression of COX-2 was determined in normal esophageal mucosa, CIS and invasive ESCC using Immunohistochemistry (IHC). Differences of mean were computed using ANOVA followed by applying Post Hoc test. Patients were categorized as positive with high expression or negative with low to nil expression. ANOVA showed large differences in expression of COX-2 in normal healthy mucosa compared with CIS and ESCC with the mean difference of -9.529 and -7.370 respectively, p-value being.05 at 95% CI. Our complete cohort (23-85 years) showed statistically significant difference in the expression of COX-2 gene in ESCC and CIS tissue samples compared with normal healthy mucosa. Results of this study indicate that over-expression of COX-2 is positively associated with ESCC

Regional collaborations as a way forward for maternal, newborn and child health:the South Asian healthcare professional workshop

This article reviews the importance of regional initiatives in the context of global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 4 and 5 and describes the action-oriented multi-country healthcare professional association (HCPA) workshops organized by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. The South Asian HCPA workshop served as a catalyst for strengthening the ability of HCPAs in South Asian countries to organize and coordinate their activities effectively, play a larger role in national planning, and collaborate with other key stakeholders in maternal, newborn and child health

Performance evaluation of multiple-beam free space optics in tropical rainy weather

Free space optics (FSO) has the potential to replace optical fiber as a solution for the last mile problem. FSO is favored because of its cheap maintenance costs and quick deployment time as compared to other communication system such as fiber optics. Atmospheric attenuation is a problem for FSOs with classic single beam systems, especially when it rains heavily specially in tropical region like Malaysia. As a result, a multibeam FSO transceiver system has become popular as a solution to this problem. The purpose of this study is to compare the standard single beam FSO system with the suggested multibeam FSO system. At a bit error rate (BER) of 10-9, the comparison is made in terms of received optical power, channel distance, and geometrical losses. Rain intensity data is gathered over a six-month period. To evaluate the performance of both systems, the average rain attenuation is calculated from this data and exposed to single beam and multibeam FSO systems. The multibeam FSO approach was found to increase the system's performance. The results show that employing up to four beams improves the quality of received power and increases the channel distance to 1150 m when compared to a single beam FSO system with a channel distance of only 830 m