Production of adventitious embryoids in vitro from stem callus of Foeniculum vulgare

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Study of protein calorie malnutrition amongst under six children In a slum area of kanpur

Rresearch Problem: What is the prevalence of PCM amongst under six children in slum area of Kanpur? Objectives: 1) To study the prevalence of PCM.2) To apply health educational interventions. Study Design: Cross - sectional study. Setting: All the households in the study area having under six children. Participants: Under - six children showing signs of PCM. Sample Size: 1260 children in the age group ofO - 6 years. Study Variables: Age - group, sex, education of mother, occupation of father, social class, type of family. Outcome Variables: Children with signs of PCM. Statistical Analysis: By chi - square test. Result: The occurrence of PCM was the highest in the 0 - 1 year age group. Boys suffered from overall PCM and grade I PCM more than the girls in whom grade III PCM was more common. Overall as well as grade I and II PCM was seen more in children of illiterate mothers and unemployed fathers. Majority of the children belonged to social class IV and were from unitary families. Conclusion: Mother's education plays an important role in the health and nutrition of children

Sunspot Waves and Triggering of Homologous Active Region Jets

We present and discuss multi-wavelength observations of five homologous recurrent solar jets that occurred in active region NOAA 11133 on 11 December, 2010. These jets were well observed by the Solar Dynamic observatory (SDO) with high spatial and temporal resolution. The speed of the jets ranged between 86 and 267 km/s. A type III radio burst was observed in association with all the five jets. The investigation of the over all evolution of magnetic field in the source regions suggested that the flux was continuously emerging on longer term. However, all the jets but J5 were triggered during a local dip in the magnetic flux, suggesting the launch of the jets during localised submergence of magnetic flux. Additionally, using the PFSS modelling of the photospheric magnetic field, we found that all the jets were ejected in the direction of open field lines. We also traced sunspot oscillations from the sunspot interior to foot-point of jets and found presence of ~ 3 minute oscillations in all the SDO/AIA passbands. The wavelet analysis revealed an increase in amplitude of the oscillations just before the trigger of the jets, that decreased after the jets were triggered. The observations of increased amplitude of the oscillation and its subsequent decrease provides evidence of wave-induced reconnection triggering the jets.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Identifying feasible metabolic routes in Mycobacterium smegmatis and possible alterations under diverse nutrient conditions

Background: Many studies on M. tuberculosis have emerged from using M. smegmatis MC2 155 (Msm), since they share significant similarities and yet Msm is non-pathogenic and faster growing. Although several individual molecules have been studied from Msm, many questions remain open about its metabolism as a whole and its capability to be versatile. Adaptability and versatility are emergent properties of a system, warranting a molecular systems perspective to understand them. Results: We identify feasible metabolic pathways in Msm in reference condition with transcriptome, phenotypic microarray, along with functional annotation of the genome. Together with transcriptome data, specific genes from a set of alternatives have been mapped onto different pathways. About 257 metabolic pathways can be considered to be feasible in Msm. Next, we probe cellular metabolism with an array of alternative carbon and nitrogen sources and identify those that are utilized and favour growth as well as those that do not support growth. In all, about 135 points in the entire metabolic map are probed. Analyzing growth patterns under these conditions, lead us to hypothesize different pathways that can become active in various conditions and possible alternate routes that may be induced, thus explaining the observed physiological adaptations. Conclusions: The study provides the first detailed analysis of feasible pathways towards adaptability. We obtain mechanistic insights that explain observed phenotypic behaviour by studying gene-expression profiles and pathways inferred from the genome sequence. Comparison of transcriptome and phenome analysis of Msm and Mtb provides a rationale for understanding commonalities in metabolic adaptability

Thoracic epidural for post-thoracotomy pain: a comparison of three concentrations of sufentanil

Background: The aim of this prospective, double blind, randomised trial was to compare the analgesic and adverse effects of three concentrations of the thoracic epidural sufentanil with bupivacaine in patients undergoing thoracotomy.Methods: We studied 60 (randomised) patients who were to receive a 10 ml bolus dose of sufentanil, 1&mu;g/ml, 2 &mu;g/ml and 3 &mu;g/ml, in bupivacaine 0.125%, via thoracic epidural. Postoperatively, pain at rest, on coughing and with ambulation was assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and observer verbal ranking score (OVRS) at 2, 6, 12 and 24 hours. Adverse effects were simultaneously assessed.Results: There was no significant difference in the baseline characteristics between the three groups. The number of patients with episodes of unsatisfactory pain, i.e. a VAS scores &ge; 40 and OVRS &ge; 2, at each of the four assessments postoperatively, was significantly higher with sufentanil 1 g/ml than with sufentanil 2 &mu;g/ml or &mu;3 g/ml (p < 0.05). In the 3 &mu;g/ml sufentanil group, four patients (20%) had a sedation score &ge; 3 compared with one (5%) and no (0%) patients in the 2 &mu;g/ml and 1 &mu;g/ml sufentanil groups, respectively (p < 0.05). In addition, 30% patients experienced pruritus in the 3 &mu;g/ml sufentanil group compared with 10% and 5%, respectively, in the 2 &mu;g/ml and 1 &mu;g/ml sufentanil groups. In the sufentanil 3 &mu;g/ml, 2 &mu;g/ml and 1 &mu;g/ml groups, 30%, 20% and 5% patients, respectively, had emetics symptoms (p < 0.05).Conclusions: We conclude that a thoracic epidural bolus of 10 ml sufentanil 2 &mu;g/ml with bupivacaine 0.125% provides the optimal balance between pain relief and side-effects following thoracotomy

Design of a Fractional Order Phase Shaper for Iso-damped Control of a PHWR under Step-back Condition

Phase shaping using fractional order (FO) phase shapers has been proposed by many contemporary researchers as a means of producing systems with iso-damped closed loop response due to a stepped variation in input. Such systems, with the closed loop damping remaining invariant to gain changes can be used to produce dead-beat step response with only rise time varying with gain. This technique is used to achieve an active step-back in a Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) where it is desired to change the reactor power to a pre-determined value within a short interval keeping the power undershoot as low as possible. This paper puts forward an approach as an alternative for the present day practice of a passive step-back mechanism where the control rods are allowed to drop during a step-back action by gravity, with release of electromagnetic clutches. The reactor under a step-back condition is identified as a system using practical test data and a suitable Proportional plus Integral plus Derivative (PID) controller is designed for it. Then the combined plant is augmented with a phase shaper to achieve a dead-beat response in terms of power drop. The fact that the identified static gain of the system depends on the initial power level at which a step-back is initiated, makes this application particularly suited for using a FO phase shaper. In this paper, a model of a nuclear reactor is developed for a control rod drop scenario involving rapid power reduction in a 500MWe Canadian Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactor using AutoRegressive Exogenous (ARX) algorithm. The system identification and reduced order modeling are developed from practical test data. For closed loop active control of the identified reactor model, the fractional order phase shaper along with a PID controller is shown to perform better than the present Reactor Regulating System (RRS) due to its iso-damped nature.Comment: 11 pages, 10figure

Fractional Order Phase Shaper Design with Routh's Criterion for Iso-damped Control System

Phase curve of an open loop system is flat in nature if the derivative of phase with respect to frequency is zero. With a flat phase curve, the corresponding closed-loop system exhibits an iso-damped property i.e. maintains constant overshoot with the change of gain and with other parametric variations. In recent past application, fractional order (FO) phase shapers have been proposed by contemporary researchers to achieve enhanced parametric robustness. In this paper, a simple Routh tabulation based methodology is proposed to design an appropriate FO phase shaper to achieve phase flattening in a control loop, comprising a system, controlled by a classical PID controller. The method is demonstrated using MATLAB simulation of a second order DC motor plant and also a first order with time delay system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; Proceedings of INDICON 2009 - An IEEE India Council Conference, art. no. 5409434, Dec. 2009, Gujara