Diabetes Alters Diurnal Rhythm of Electroretinogram in db/db Mice

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common complications of diabetes and a leading cause of blindness in the United States. The retinal neuronal changes precede the vascular dysfunction observed in DR. The electroretinogram (ERG) determines the electrical activity of retinal neural and non-neuronal cells. The retinal ERG amplitude is reduced gradually on the progression of DR to a more severe form. Circadian rhythms play an important role in the physiological function of the body. While ERG is known to exhibit a diurnal rhythm, it is not known whether a progressive increase in the duration of diabetes affects the physiological rhythm of retinal ERG. To study this, we determined the ERG rhythm of db/db mice, an animal model of type 2 diabetes at 2, 4, and 6 months of diabetes under a regular light-dark cycle and constant dark. Our studies demonstrate that the diurnal rhythm of ERG amplitude for retinal a-wave and b-wave was altered in diabetes. The implicit time was increased in db/db mice while the oscillatory potential was reduced. Moreover, there was a progressive decline in an intrinsic rhythm of ERG upon an increase in the duration of diabetes. In conclusion, our studies provide novel insights into the pathogenic mechanism of DR by showing an altered circadian rhythm of the ERG

Assessment Of Preventive Dental Care Among Dental Students In India: A Knowledge, Attitude, And Education Study

Aim: Knowledge and oral health behavior of dental students plays an important role in oral health education of patients and community at large. It is therefore important that their own oral health behavior conforms to expectations of the population. Hence, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the oral health knowledge, attitude, and education among dental students. Materials and Methods: In the present study an online survey was distributed to 1500 dental students from eight dental colleges in India The participants were divided into two groups – final years and interns. Data collected was statistically analyzed Kruskal-Wallis test was used for intergroup comparison and Mann-Whitney test was used for intragroup comparison. Result: There was no statistical difference in knowledge between both groups, though a statistically significant difference was seen between the groups for attitude and practice Conclusion: The results of our study show that students who participated in the study have good knowledge about the preventive dental treatment. However they should be encouraged to practice what they have learnt and encouraged to do more preventive treatment along with curative treatment

Survey: energy efficient protocols using radio scheduling in wireless sensor network

An efficient energy management scheme is crucial factor for design and implementation of any sensor network. Almost all sensor networks are structured with numerous small sized, low cost sensor devices which are scattered over the large area. To improvise the network performance by high throughput with minimum energy consumption, an energy efficient radio scheduling MAC protocol is effective solution, since MAC layer has the capability to collaborate with distributed wireless networks. The present survey study provides relevant research work towards radio scheduling mechanism in the design of energy efficient wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The various radio scheduling protocols are exist in the literature, which has some limitations. Therefore, it is require developing a new energy efficient radio scheduling protocol to perform multi tasks with minimum energy consumption (e.g. data transmission). The most of research studies paying more attention towards to enhance the overall network lifetime with the aim of using energy efficient scheduling protocol. In that context, this survey study overviews the different categories of MAC based radio scheduling protocols and those protocols are measured by evaluating their data transmission capability, energy efficiency, and network performance. With the extensive analysis of existing works, many research challenges are stated. Also provides future directions for new WSN design at the end of this survey

Evaluation Of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Of Pediatricians Towards Long-Term Liquid Medicaments And Its Association With Dental Health

Background: A regular practice following child birth is interaction with the pediatrician for routine medical examination, who administers children with a variety of medicines. Heavily sweetened liquid pediatric medicines has been a well accepted risk factor for the development of dental caries and dental erosion. Aim: To evaluate pediatricians' knowledge, attitude and practice about the long term use of liquid pediatric medicines and their relationship with dental caries and dental erosion. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken among the pediatricians in Chennai. Total subjects included in the survey were 55 pediatricians, through the method of convenience sampling. Data was collected by pre-tested, structured and self administered questionnaires handed out in hospitals, medical clinics and offices. The data on qualitative responses of the respondents was presented in percentage and statistical significance was tested using Chi-square test for independence of attributes. Results: No statistical difference was seen in the practice of advising dental checkup. Statistically significant difference was seen in awareness of PLM and association with caries, Prescription time for PLM, Practice on advising of rinsing mouth with water, brushing and chewing gum (P<0.001) Conclusion: Pediatricians in this study did not adequately perceive the relationship between the presence of fermentable carbohydrates in pediatric liquid medications and dental caries. But, they had moderate knowledge and lacked proper attitude and practice regarding the various preventive measures . Further studies with a larger sample are necessary

Haptic Responses to Emotional Stimulation

Haptic (the sense of touch) technology is evolving rapidly and prevalent in our modern world; so it is only natural to use haptic technology to better understand and influence emotions in human beings. The purpose of this study is to understand if and how facial expressions such as anger and happiness affect haptic responses and how haptic technology can be used to capture the response. The main research question for this study was to find if different facial expressions affect the force and duration of touch exerted by participants and if there were any significant differences between gender? In this study, a haptic device were used to sense and measure applied force (in Newton) and duration of touch (in milliseconds). A pilot test was conducted to study if there was any significant effect on the force and duration of touch when facial stimuli of anger and happiness were displayed. The calculated mean results were promising and so the experiment was repeated with new set of 20 participants. The ratings for each facial stimulus were also collected from participants. The mean values from the main experiment also yielded similar results as in the pilot test. The results from the statistical analysis suggest that the force of touch for anger expression is significantly stronger than happy expression. There were no statistically significant effect on the force and duration of touch across gender. The differences between mean ratings of the facial expressions for valence and arousal were all statistically significant except between the ratings of arousal for happy and neutral expressions. There were no statistically significant differences of ratings for arousal and valence across gender. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that facial expressions of anger and happiness could influence the force of touch and that there is no significant variation between genders. This information would be used in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to measure or detect user s emotional responses inconspicuously

Analysis of Urban Population Growth Pattern for Chennai – Zone IX, TEYNAMPET

Graph-cellular automata (GCA) is implemented for zone IX of Chennai city. The population, population density, educational institution, industries, etc were taken as attribute. It is shown that GCA with particular structural properties defined in terms of the relationships between subsets of cells is a useful generalization of traditional cellular automaton (CA). The population data from Chennai census 1981, 1991, and 2001 were used to develop the GCA and the results are enumerated. The obtained results are compared with census data 2011

Protoplast fusion studies in Ocimum species

Protoplasts of three Ocimum species, viz., O. basilicum, O. sanctum and O. gratissimum derived from leaf samples were used for studying fusion. The isolation of protoplasts were carried out using 1 % cellulase and 0.5 % pectinase in combination with Cocking-Peberdy-White (CPW)–13% mannitol solution as it gave the best results.  The protoplasts obtained by enzymatic digestion were purified by centrifugation.  The yield of protoplasts was found to be highest when centrifuged at 800 rpm for 15 minutes at 4ºC. Among  the  fusogen  combinations  tried  to  obtain  homokaryons,  40  %  Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-6000  fusogen solution gave better  results when  compared  to  the other  combinations. The Ca2+ concentration and pH level (5-9) were altered and studied but major changes in time taken for fusion were not observed.  The mean count of protoplasts per ml was found to be 209,200 for O. basilicum, 317,500 for O. gratissimum and 502,500 for O. sanctum. The Evans blue staining test showed that the average percentage of viable cells was 52.8 % for O. basilicum, 52.54 % for O. sanctum and 47.15 % for O. gratissimum

Listeria monocytogenes Survival on Peaches and Nectarines under Conditions Simulating Commercial Stone-Fruit Packinghouse Operations

Recent recalls of stone fruit due to potential Listeria contamination and associated foodborne outbreaks highlight the risk for pathogen transmission through stone-fruit consumption. Particularly, surface contamination of fruits increases the risk for cross-contamination of produce during processing and storage. This highlights the need for quality control in stone fruits intended for consumption. To develop effective food safety practices, it is essential to determine the critical factors during stone-fruit processing that influence Listeria survival. Therefore, this study evaluated the ability of Listeria to survive on peaches and nectarines under simulated stone-fruit loading and staging, waxing and fungicide application and storage conditions. The results of our study indicate that current stone-fruit handling conditions do not favor Listeria growth. However, once fruit is contaminated, Listeria can survive on the fruit surface in significant numbers under current processing conditions. Therefore, there is a need to develop and implement preventive controls at the stone-fruit packinghouse to prevent Listeria contamination and deter pathogen persistence