Isolation of Glucose Fermenting Nitrogen Fixing Gene (nifH) Containing Endophytic Bacteria from Seed and Roots of Wheat (Triticum aestivation l.)

The present study was conducted to study the nifH gene containing endophytic bacterial frequency in wheat seed and roots obtained from the soil of Chitwan and Kaski. One hundred and four isolates were studied for the presence of the nifH gene. There was a diversity in isolate characters obtained from root sample Root (R), direct seed sample (ds), and plant sample (P). None of the isolates from any sources showed indole-producing ability. About 18 isolates (15% of the total) contained the nifH gene through amplification of the gene by universal primers PolF and PolR. About 6 isolates from seed sample ds and 12 isolates from root sample R contained nifH gene. None of the isolates from root sample P manifested the presence of the nifH gene. Among 18 nifH- containing isolates, only 6 isolates manifested presence of cel3 gene of 400 bp, whereas, 11 isolates showed cel3 gene of 200 bp. All nifH gene containing isolates were confirmed to be bacteria by PCR amplification of 16s rRNA gene by universal primer 27F and 1492R and visualization of agarose gel matrix with bp range of approximately 530 under UV ray. Further research scope exists to use these microbes as a bio fertilizer in plant growth promotion studies by inoculation

Optimization of FACTS devices : classification, recent trends, and future outlook

Since the inception of industrialization, power system has been an indispensable aspect of economy. With the progression of time, technology has impalpably commingled into our lifestyle. Alongside blooming technologies, energy demand is proliferating and power companies are begetting energy at their best to quench it. Growing reliance on power system has brought its quality into more advertence. Various electronic devices and topologies have been invented to enhance power quality and reliability; numerous others are still underway. During the course, power system has grown to an intricate network of sources, loads and control devices, leading to various issues such as transmission congestion and high losses. This paper discusses ways to ameliorate congestion and gives an overview of relationship between our present energy resources and ecological threats like global warming. Moreover, it points out various power system problems such as energy losses and transients. The necessity of FACTS devices has also been elaborated alongside their classification and comparison. Finally, numerous topologies and optimization methods proposed in the technical literature have been classified and analyzed to alleviate power system conundrums, and a glimpse into future energy trends is presented

The International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST) and the power of Twitter networking exemplified through #INPST hashtag analysis

Background: The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together in collaborative environment individuals and organizations interested in natural product scientific research, and to empower their interactions by using digital communication tools. Methods: In this work, we present a general overview of INPST activities and showcase the specific use of Twitter as a powerful networking tool that was used to host a one-week "2021 INPST Twitter Networking Event" (spanning from 31st May 2021 to 6th June 2021) based on the application of the Twitter hashtag #INPST. Results and Conclusion: The use of this hashtag during the networking event period was analyzed with Symplur Signals (https://www.symplur.com/), revealing a total of 6,036 tweets, shared by 686 users, which generated a total of 65,004,773 impressions (views of the respective tweets). This networking event's achieved high visibility and participation rate showcases a convincing example of how this social media platform can be used as a highly effective tool to host virtual Twitter-based international biomedical research events

Hearing Preservation in 2.7 cm Vestibular Schwannoma

Hearing preservation is exceedingly diffi cult in vestibular schwannoma surgery, especially with increasing tumor size. We herein report a case of hearing preservation in a 2.7 cm vestibular schwannoma, where the patient maintained her pre-operative hearing threshold of 55 dB till a year after surgery. Hence, it appears that an attempt at hearing preservation is worth pursuing. Key Words: hearing preservation, tumor size, vestibular schwannom

A Review on Optimization Objectives for Power System Operation Improvement Using FACTS Devices

In recent decades, the rapid rise in electricity demand has compelled transmission and distribution systems to operate at almost their maximum capacity. This can pose numerous technical challenges such as excessive power losses, voltage and transient instabilities, as well as reduced power quality and reliability. Employment of Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) devices can be an effective approach to obviate such challenges and reinforce the power system functionality. Nevertheless, FACTS devices require a high initial investment, and hence their optimal allocation in terms of various aspects such as type, size and location is of utmost importance. This cannot be achieved without the deployment of optimization techniques. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the existing proposals for the enhancement of power system performance adopting FACTS devices. Adhering to that, an in-depth analysis is carried out, in which the most pertinent options are classified into specific groups based on their optimization objectives. Finally, a comparative analysis is accomplished in which the main attributes and drawbacks of each optimization technique are presented

Renal impairment in stroke patients: A comparison between the haemorrhagic and ischemic variants [version 1; referees: 2 approved, 1 not approved]

Background: Renal impairment is regularly seen in hospitalized stroke patients, affecting the outcome of patients, as well as causing difficulties in their management. A prospective cohort study was conducted to assess the trend of renal function in hospitalized ischemic and haemorrhagic stroke patients. The incidence of renal impairment in these subgroups, the contributing factors and the need for renal replacement in renal impaired patients was evaluated. Methods: Alternate day renal function testing was performed in hospitalized stroke patients. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (e-GFR) was calculated and the trend of renal function in the two stroke subgroups (haemorrhagic and ischemic) was assessed, with renal impairment defined as e-GFR < 60mL/ minute per 1.73m2. Results: Among 52 patients, 25 had haemorrhagic stroke (mean age 59.81 ± 14.67) and 27 had ischemic stroke (mean age 56.12 ± 13.08). The mean e-GFR (mL/minute per 1.732m2) at admission in the haemorrhagic stroke subgroup was 64.79 ± 25.85 compared to 86.04 ± 26.09 in the ischemic stroke subgroup (p=0.005). Sixteen out of 25 (64%) patients in the haemorrhagic stroke subgroup and 9 out of 27 (33.3%) patients in the ischemic subgroup developed renal impairment (p=0.27). The location of the bleed (p=0.8), volume of hematoma (p=0.966) and surgical intervention (p=0.4) did not predispose the patients to renal impairment. One out of 16 patients with haemorrhagic stroke (who eventually died), and 2 out of 9 patients with ischemic stroke required renal replacement. Conclusion: Renal impairment is commonly seen in stroke patients, more so in patients who suffered haemorrhagic strokes.  The impairment, however, is transient and rarely requires renal replacement therapy

A power loss minimization strategy based on optimal placement and sizing of distributed energy resources

Due to the enhanced price of electricity, the gradual depletion of fossil fuels, and the global warming concerns, power loss minimization through deployment of distributed generators (DGs) has attracted significant attention in recent decades. This paper proposes a genetic algorithm (GA) based strategy for minimization of active and reactive power losses through optimal location and size of DGs. It also quantifies and tallies the total network power losses for the cases with random as well as optimal allocation of DGs. To validate the accuracy of the obtained results from GA, another nature-inspired optimization algorithm, cuckoo search, is also deployed. The simulation results on IEEE 30 and 118 bus systems indicate that the proposed strategy not only can effectively reduce the total network active and reactive power losses but also lead to the improvement of network voltage profile

Renal impairment in stroke patients: A comparison between the haemorrhagic and ischemic variants [version 2; referees: 2 approved, 1 not approved]

Background: Renal impairment is regularly seen in hospitalized stroke patients, affecting the outcome of patients, as well as causing difficulties in their management. A prospective cohort study was conducted to assess the trend of renal function in hospitalized ischemic and haemorrhagic stroke patients. The incidence of renal impairment in these subgroups, the contributing factors and the need for renal replacement in renal impaired patients was evaluated. Methods: Alternate day renal function testing was performed in hospitalized stroke patients. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (e-GFR) was calculated and the trend of renal function in the two stroke subgroups (haemorrhagic and ischemic) was assessed, with renal impairment defined as e-GFR < 60mL/ minute per 1.73m2. Results: Among 52 patients, 25 had haemorrhagic stroke (mean age 59.81 ± 14.67) and 27 had ischemic stroke (mean age 56.12 ± 13.08). The mean e-GFR (mL/minute per 1.732m2) at admission in the haemorrhagic stroke subgroup was 64.79 ± 25.85 compared to 86.04 ± 26.09 in the ischemic stroke subgroup (p=0.005). Sixteen out of 25 (64%) patients in the haemorrhagic stroke subgroup and 9 out of 27 (33.3%) patients in the ischemic subgroup developed renal impairment (p=0.027). The location of the bleed (p=0.8), volume of hematoma (p=0.966) and surgical intervention (p=0.4) did not predispose the patients to renal impairment. One out of 16 patients with haemorrhagic stroke (who eventually died), and 2 out of 9 patients with ischemic stroke required renal replacement. Conclusion: Renal impairment is commonly seen in stroke patients, more so in patients who suffered haemorrhagic strokes.  The impairment, however, is transient and rarely requires renal replacement therapy