Effect of Acupressure and Changes in Heart Rate Variability in Dysmenorrhoea

Dysmenorrhoea is a common distressing disorder in women that manifests during menstrual phase especially in young females. The subjects suffering from pain during mensuration are considered to be dysmenorrhoeic. In our studies we have used heart rate variability (HRV) as a sensitive marker of autonomic activity.Autonomic nervous system activity was assessed by means of heart-rate variability (HRV) power spectral analysis during supine rest. The purpose of this study was to assess the changes in heart rate variability in dysmenorrhoea by assessing sympathetic activity and parasympathetic activity and to find out the effect of acupressure therapy whether it is beneficial or not in alleviating the symptoms of dysmenorrhoea. HRV and intensity of pain was assessed before and after acupressure therapy in dysmenorrhoea. Pain intensity was graded using Visual analogue scale. We have noted a significant alteration in autonomic function which may be an important component of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Acupressure therapy has been effective in regulating the autonomic alterations. Acupressure therapy is an ancient Oriental healing method that applies pressure through a blunt probe to specific points on the skin surface which helps to prevent and treat illness. Acupressure therapy has also significantly reduced the dysmenorrhoeic pain as observed from our visual analogue scores. Our study has clearly revealed the beneficial effect acupressure on dysmenorrhea. It is a very simple procedure that can easily be taught to be self practiced by the dsymenorrhoeic females to relieve the pain during mensuration. It will be a simple drugless inexpensive method to relieve the pain without any side effects

Two new black mildews from Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, India

This paper gives an account of two new black mildews, namely, Asterina prataparajii and Meliola mahamulkarii, infected the leaves of Tylophora dalzelli and Osyris arborea, respectively, were found new and are described and illustrated here in detail

Gingival biotype and its clinical significance – A review

AbstractGingival biotype has a significant impact on the outcome of restorative and regenerative therapy. The disparity in treatment outcome is possibly because of the difference in tissue response to trauma. Hence in clinical practice identification of the periodontal biotype is significant. Gingival thickness can be assessed by various invasive and non invasive methods. Thick and thin tissues often respond differently to inflammation and trauma. Periodontal surgical technique can improve the tissue quality and treatment outcome. This review paper highlights the general aspects of gingival biotype, methods to assess gingival thickness, response to treatment, techniques to improve tissue quality and its clinical significance

Magnetic glass in Shape Memory Alloy : Ni45Co5Mn38Sn12

The first order martensitic transition in the ferromagnetic shape memory alloy Ni45Co5Mn38Sn12 is also a magnetic transition and has a large field induced effect. While cooling in the presence of field this first order magnetic martensite transition is kinetically arrested. Depending on the cooling field, a fraction of the arrested ferromagnetic austenite phase persists down to the lowest temperature as a magnetic glassy state, similar to the one observed in various intermetallic alloys and in half doped manganites. A detailed investigation of this first order ferromagnetic austenite (FM-A) to low magnetization martensite (LM-M) state transition as a function of temperature and field has been carried out by magnetization measurements. Extensive cooling and heating in unequal field (CHUF) measurements and a novel field cooled protocol for isothermal MH measurements (FC-MH) are utilized to investigate the glass like arrested states and show a reverse martensite transition. Finally, we determine a field -temperature (HT) phase diagram of Ni45Co5Mn38Sn12 from various magnetization measurements which brings out the regions where thermodynamic and metastable states co-exist in the HT space clearly depicting this system as a 'Magnetic Glass'.Comment: Magnetic field tunes kinetic arrest and CHUF shows devitrification and melting of Magnetic glas

Calcifying fibrous tumour: a rare case report of an exceptional lesion localized in retroperitoneum, mesentery and pelvis

Calcifying fibrous tumours are rare benign lesions affecting mostly children and young adults. A 17-year-old female presented with abdominal pain and abdominal distention. Physical examination revealed intra-abdominal mass occupying retro peritoneum and right iliac fossa. Excisional biopsy from peritoneum and mesentery were performed. Histopathologically, it was composed of hypocellular hyalinised collagenized stroma, spindle cells, psammomatous and dystrophic calcification and mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltration. Authors are here in reporting a case of calcifying fibrous tumour and discussing its clinical and morphological features with regard to the literature

In vivo imaging of epileptic activity using 2-NBDG, a fluorescent deoxyglucose analog

Accurately locating epileptic foci has great importance in advancing the treatment of epilepsy. In this study, epileptic seizures were first induced by intracortical injection of 4-aminopyridine in rats. A fluorescent deoxyglucose substitute, 2-(N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino)-2-deoxyglucose (2-NBDG), was then continuously injected via the tail vein. Brain glucose metabolism was subsequently monitored by fluorescence imaging of 2-NBDG. The initial uptake rate of 2-NBDG at the injection site of 4-aminopyridine significantly exceeded that of the control injection site, which indicated local hypermetabolism induced by seizures. Our results show that 2-NBDG can be used for localizing epileptic foci

Relating field-induced shift in transition temperature to the kinetics of coexisting phases in magnetic shape memory alloys

In a magnetic shape memory alloy system, we vary composition following phenomenological arguments to tune macroscopic properties. We achieve significantly higher shift in austenite to martensitic phase transition temperature with magnetic field. This enhancement is accompanied by significant broadening of the transition and by field-induced arrest of kinetics, both of which are related to the dynamics of the coexisting phases. This reveals hitherto unknown interrelationship between different length-scales. This may serve as an effective route for comprehensive understanding of similar multicomponent systems which show considerable variation in physical properties by minor change in microscopic parameters.Comment: The "Cooling and Heating in Unequal Fields" (CHUF) protocol originated by us is used to prove the existence of glass-like kinetically arrested but long-range structurally and magnetically ordered state and also to identify the ground (low temperature equilibrium) stat

Enhancing the sensitivity of transient gravitational wave searches with Gaussian Mixture Models

Identifying the presence of a gravitational wave transient buried in non-stationary, non-Gaussian noise which can often contain spurious noise transients (glitches) is a very challenging task. For a given data set, transient gravitational wave searches produce a corresponding list of triggers that indicate the possible presence of a gravitational wave signal. These triggers are often the result of glitches mimicking gravitational wave signal characteristics. To distinguish glitches from genuine gravitational wave signals, search algorithms estimate a range of trigger attributes, with thresholds applied to these trigger properties to separate signal from noise. Here, we present the use of Gaussian mixture models, a supervised machine learning approach, as a means of modelling the multi-dimensional trigger attribute space. We demonstrate this approach by applying it to triggers from the coherent Waveburst search for generic bursts in LIGO O1 data. By building Gaussian mixture models for the signal and background noise attribute spaces, we show that we can significantly improve the sensitivity of the coherent Waveburst search and strongly suppress the impact of glitches and background noise, without the use of multiple search bins as employed by the original O1 search. We show that the detection probability is enhanced by a factor of 10, leading enhanced statistical significance for gravitational wave signals such as GW150914.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Reinforcement Learning and Advanced Reinforcement Learning to Improve Autonomous Vehicle Planning

Planning for autonomous vehicles is a challenging process that involves navigating through dynamic and unpredictable surroundings while making judgments in real-time. Traditional planning methods sometimes rely on predetermined rules or customized heuristics, which could not generalize well to various driving conditions. In this article, we provide a unique framework to enhance autonomous vehicle planning by fusing conventional RL methods with cutting-edge reinforcement learning techniques. To handle many elements of planning issues, our system integrates cutting-edge algorithms including deep reinforcement learning, hierarchical reinforcement learning, and meta-learning. Our framework helps autonomous vehicles make decisions that are more reliable and effective by utilizing the advantages of these cutting-edge strategies.With the use of the RLTT technique, an autonomous vehicle can learn about the intentions and preferences of human drivers by inferring the underlying reward function from expert behaviour that has been seen. The autonomous car can make safer and more human-like decisions by learning from expert demonstrations about the fundamental goals and limitations of driving. Large-scale simulations and practical experiments can be carried out to gauge the effectiveness of the suggested approach. On the basis of parameters like safety, effectiveness, and human likeness, the autonomous vehicle planning system's performance can be assessed. The outcomes of these assessments can help to inform future developments and offer insightful information about the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy