QUANTIFICATION OF SEED OIL AND EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES IN THE WILD AND CULTIVATED SPECIES OF SESAMUM L. (PEDALIACEAE)

Objective: Seed oil quantity and sesamin concentration in the wild and cultivated species of Sesamum from Kerala viz., Sesamum indicum, S. malabaricum, S. radiatum, S. laciniatum, S. prostratum and S. alatum were estimated in comparison with the commercially released variety, S. indicum var. CO1, along with the antioxidant properties of the species.Methods: The seed oil extract in petroleum ether was assayed to determine sesamin concentration through High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Free radical scavenging and reducing power activities of the oil were assessed by following standard procedures.Results: The percentage of oil content was high (49.62%) in the cultivated species, compared to the wild taxa (23.25%). The concentration of sesamin was high in S. radiatum (6.52 mg/ g) at a retention time of 31 min. The study noticed high antioxidant activity of the seed oil of the wild species, S. radiatum and S. malabaricum, which was at par with that of the cultivated species, S. indicum.Conclusion: The antioxidant assays indicates that the species of Sesamum as a natural source of antioxidant. This property prevalent in the wild species can be of immense use in the manufacturing of therapeutic as well as pharmaceutical combinations such as anti-cancerous and anti-inflammatory- drugs.Â

IN VITRO ANTIUROLITHIATIC ACTIVITY OF MACERATED AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF TERMINALIA BELERICA BY USING TURBIDITY METHOD

Objective: To evaluate the anti-urolithiatic activity of macerated aqueous extract of Terminalia belerica by using turbidity method Method: The present study was used to study the inhibitory effect of the Terminalia belerica on urinary stone formation. The aim of study was to examine the In vitro antiurolithiatic activity of macerated aqueous extract of T.belerica was to estimate inhibitory activity of aqueous extract on the formation of urinary stone. Cystone was used as a positive control. Anti urolithiatic study was performed by turbidity method. Result: The percentage inhibition shown by aqueous extract at 20μg/ml was 60% and with almost constant inhibition at 100μg/ml and 200μg/ml ranging between 72% and 80%. The percentage inhibition showed by aqueous extract of Terminalia belerica has significant compared to standard drug. Conclusion: In future this drug can be performed in vitro and clinical study beneficial for people with avoiding adverse effect of modern medicinal drug

Application of Smartphone Photography and 3G Wireless Internet Technology in Free Flap Monitoring: A Prospective Study

AIMS OF THE STUDY: 1. To study the role of Smartphone photography and 3G wireless technology for monitoring free flap. OBJECTIVES: 1. To study the feasibility of Smartphone photography in free flap monitoring. 2. To study the feasibility of Smartphone photography and 3G wireless internet technology in monitoring free flaps. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The feasibility of using Smartphone technology and 3G wireless internet technology as an adjunct in free flap monitoring in patients with oral cavity malignancy who have undergone microvascular free flap reconstruction with a visible skin paddle for post excisional defects was studied . A prospective study was conducted from November 2012 to September 2014. A standardized color card was used for the assessment of photographs. The principal investigator (P.I) was involved in taking photographs every six hours and send it to three surgeons using 3G wireless internet technology. The three surgeons: the Operating Surgeon(OPS), who was monitoring the free flaps using clinical data and photograph of the flap; the Observing Surgeon1(ObS1), who monitored using photographs only; and the Observing Surgeon 2(ObS2), who monitored using only the clinical data of the free flap. Inter-observer variability and accuracy rate of each observer in the assessment of the free flap status was used for analysis. The decision on re-exploration of the free flap was made by the operating surgeon although the input from the other two surgeons (ObS1 &ObS2) was provided to the OPS if the free flap viability was questionable. RESULTS: A total of 18 cases were analyzed from January 2013 to September 2014, with 100% free flap survival rate. Five patients were re-explored and salvaged completely. The indication for operation was neck hematoma in 4 patients and venous thrombosis in 1 patient. In the last patient, venous congestion was identified by photograph and later on clinical grounds. The accuracy rate with the use of photographs was 100%. CONCLUSION: In this study, the Smartphone photography with 3G internet technology prove to be a useful adjunct in free flap monitoring with a success rate of 100%. There was no free flap failure during the study period. The technique was useful in identifying a potential venous thrombosis which helped in decision tore explore and revise the microvascular anastomosis. The incorporation this technique in the current protocols of free flap monitoring may help identify impending flap failures even before the assessment by the senior team member

Selective Video Coding based on Bezier Curves

In this paper the problem of reconstruction of video frames is addressed, when there are missing pixels in each video frame or is corrupted with noise and also the locations of corrupted pixels are not known. The modified data can be corrected using Forward Error Correcting Codes. Forward Error correcting codes detect and correct errors with the help of complex decoders. This work proposes a new approach called Selective encoding for reconstruction of Video Frames from Error. This algorithm combines the Bezier curves over Galois Field GF (p^m) and the Low Density Parity Check Codes for performing encoding and decoding. The proposed decoder is capable of detecting and correcting errors in each video frame, where only selected pixel values are encoded and decoded. This reduces the decoding time significantly. Further, when binary representation of the Galois Field is used, the speed of the decoder is enhanced as there is no carry generation and carry propagation when any modular arithmetic operation is carried out. Further time complexity is improvised by using parallel processing. The coding of the algorithm is carried out using MATLAB

Seismic analysis of multi-storeyed building with floating column using fluid viscous dampers.

Nowadays many multi-storeyed buildings in India have open ground storey for providing better parking facilities, reception lobbies and other amenities. It is required to have column free space due to shortage of space, increase in population and also for functional and aesthetic requirement.For this purpose, building is provided with floating column at one or more storey.Floating column is a vertical member but its lower end is not connected to the foundation. Its lower end rest on beam which is a horizontal member, this beam transfers the load of floating column to other columns below it.The most common use of a floating column is to build a soft storey on the ground floor to provide extra parking or entrance corridor space.But such features are highly unwanted in seismically active region. The present study proposes a practical solution for reducing the risk of earthquake effects associated with floating column building by strengthening them with using fluid viscous dampers. The main aim of the work is to highlights the performance of floating column building and compare floating column building with and without using fluid viscous dampers. Seismic analysis is carried out by using response spectrum analysis as per IS: 1893-2002. The Seismic assessment is executed by using ETABS software

Impromptu Deployment of Wireless Relay Networks: Experiences Along a Forest Trail

We are motivated by the problem of impromptu or as- you-go deployment of wireless sensor networks. As an application example, a person, starting from a sink node, walks along a forest trail, makes link quality measurements (with the previously placed nodes) at equally spaced locations, and deploys relays at some of these locations, so as to connect a sensor placed at some a priori unknown point on the trail with the sink node. In this paper, we report our experimental experiences with some as-you-go deployment algorithms. Two algorithms are based on Markov decision process (MDP) formulations; these require a radio propagation model. We also study purely measurement based strategies: one heuristic that is motivated by our MDP formulations, one asymptotically optimal learning algorithm, and one inspired by a popular heuristic. We extract a statistical model of the propagation along a forest trail from raw measurement data, implement the algorithms experimentally in the forest, and compare them. The results provide useful insights regarding the choice of the deployment algorithm and its parameters, and also demonstrate the necessity of a proper theoretical formulation.Comment: 7 pages, accepted in IEEE MASS 201

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY SCREENING OF M. MINUTA EXTRACTS

Objective: Infectious diseases are a leading cause of global disease burden with high morbidity and mortality especially in the developing world. Furthermore, there have been threats of new diseases during the past three decades due to the evolution and adaptation of microbes and the re-emergence of old diseases due to the development of antimicrobial resistance and the capacity to spread to new geographic areas. Since antiquity, humans have used plants to treat common infectious diseases and some of these traditional medicines are still included as part of the habitual treatment of various maladies. Objective of the study was to evaluate, one of the traditionally used drugs, Marselia minuta for its antimicrobial activity. Methods: Extracts of M. minuta was prepared using successive solvent extraction method and the antibacterial activity of thus prepared petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, alcohol and aqueous extracts of M. minuta was performed using agar well diffusion method. Four bacterial strains were used to assess the antimicrobial properties of the plant extracts viz Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Results: All the extracts showed activity towards the tested microorganisms except petroleum ether extract. Ethyl acetate extract was more active towards S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. Alcohol and chloroform extract was active toward E. coli and P. aeruginosa. Aqueous extract was active against E. coli and S. aureus. minimum inhibitory concentration were calculated for each extract and the Significant activity was observed for ethyl acetate extract (E. coli-11.33 mm, S. aeruginosa-16.0 mm) and alcoholic fractions (E. coli-15.33 mm and P. aeruginosa-10.66 mm) for concentration 500 mcg/ml. Conclusion: Thus, the result in the present experiment ensures the traditional use of M. minuta as antibacterial agent. Further, the most active extracts can be subjected for isolation of the therapeutic antimicrobials and its formulation which will be relatively safer than synthetic medicines and offering profound therapeutic benefits at the more affordable price

Torsion theca lutein cyst in association with invasive mole presenting as acute abdomen: a rare case

Gestational trophoblastic neoplasias (GTN) are rare tumours that constitute less than 1% of all gynaecological malignancies. Invasive mole is a distinct subgroup of GTN, which if not diagnosed and treated early, can result in serious complications like uterine perforation and haemoperitoneum. We present a rare case of torsion theca lutein cyst in association with invasive mole of the uterus, which developed following the evacuation of a molar pregnancy with features of continued irregular vaginal bleeding, persistently high βHcg levels along with acute abdomen

QoS Constrained Optimal Sink and Relay Placement in Planned Wireless Sensor Networks

We are given a set of sensors at given locations, a set of potential locations for placing base stations (BSs, or sinks), and another set of potential locations for placing wireless relay nodes. There is a cost for placing a BS and a cost for placing a relay. The problem we consider is to select a set of BS locations, a set of relay locations, and an association of sensor nodes with the selected BS locations, so that number of hops in the path from each sensor to its BS is bounded by hmax, and among all such feasible networks, the cost of the selected network is the minimum. The hop count bound suffices to ensure a certain probability of the data being delivered to the BS within a given maximum delay under a light traffic model. We observe that the problem is NP-Hard, and is hard to even approximate within a constant factor. For this problem, we propose a polynomial time approximation algorithm (SmartSelect) based on a relay placement algorithm proposed in our earlier work, along with a modification of the greedy algorithm for weighted set cover. We have analyzed the worst case approximation guarantee for this algorithm. We have also proposed a polynomial time heuristic to improve upon the solution provided by SmartSelect. Our numerical results demonstrate that the algorithms provide good quality solutions using very little computation time in various randomly generated network scenarios

Obstetric and neonatal outcome among women presenting with reduced fetal movements in third trimester

Background: Reduced maternal perception of fetal movements allows early identification, timely evaluation and intervention for fetuses at risk of adverse outcome. The primary objective of this study was to assess the pregnancy characteristics and outcomes of pregnant women presenting to hospital with reduced fetal movements (RFM).Methods: Prospective observational study, recruiting all women with singleton pregnancy at or beyond 28 weeks of gestation presenting with a subjective perception of RFM from April 2015 to December 2016. Maternal characteristics, antenatal risk factors, management pathways and perinatal outcome studied.Results: 47% belonged to high risk pregnancy. Among high risk women, although only 39% showed poor BPP at the first presentation, 58% were delivered irrespective of their gestational age, out of which 32.75% had poor neonatal outcome. Among low risk who had >2 episodes of RFM, 50% had poor neonatal outcome. 7% among high risk pregnancies and 18% among low risk, presented with RFM within 48 hours following steroid prophylaxis.24% of high risk women showed liquor volume abnormalities as compared to low risk (6.3%).Conclusions: Significant proportion of those with RFM belonged to high risk pregnancy. Among high risk group, there were high rates of stillbirth and poor BPP at the time of admission when compared to low risk group. Due to early approach to the hospital and timely intervention, significant women with abnormal BPP had good perinatal outcome. All those fetuses who were delivered on first episode of RFM in low risk group did not show evidence of compromise at birth, probably indicating unnecessary delivery. More than 2 episodes of RFM even among low risk group seems significant as good number of fetuses were compromised at birth. Steroids prophylaxis for the fetal lung maturity causes transient changes in BPP, hence unnecessary delivery should be avoided especially those among low risk pregnancy