Corneal grafting: what eye care workers need to know

This article provides guidance to eye care workers who want to know who should be referred for a corneal graft and what complications they may need to manage after patients have had their operation

EFFECT OF ETHANOLIC FRUITS EXTRACT OF EMBELIA RIBES BURM ON DEXAMETHASONE INDUCED INSULIN RESISTANCE IN MICE

This study was designed to examine the effect of ethanolic fruits extract of Embelia ribes Burm on dexamethasone-(1mg/kg, intramuscular, 22 days) induced Insulin resistance in Mice. Twenty two  days of oral feeding the extract (100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg) to induced mice resulted in significant (P < .01) decrease in blood glucose, triglyeride, Insulin, HOMA-IR index and  increase in body weight  levels as compared to dexa control mice. Further, the extract also significantly (P < .01) decreased the MDA levels and significantly (P < .01) increased the superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione levels as compared to above levels in Hepatic tissue of dexa control  mice and also increased glucose uptake by skeletal muscle. The results of test drug were comparable to pioglitazone (2 mg/kg, i.m , 22 days), a standard antihyperglycemic agent. The study concludes that Embelia ribes enhances the antioxidant defense against reactive oxygen species produced under hyperglycemic condition and Embelia ribes may prove to be effective in the treatment of Type-II Diabetes mellitus owing to its ability to decrease insulin resistance

Integration Of TRMM Rainfall In Numerical Model For Pesticide Prediction In Subtropical Climate

Rain gauge data in developing countries are usually very limited, which constrains most of the hydrological modelling applications. The satellite based rainfall estimates could be a promising choice and hence can be used as a surrogate to ground-based rainfall. However, the usefulness of these products needs to be evaluated for hydrological application such as for pesticide predictions. The present study compares the contaminant transport simulation with the utilization of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) rainfall compared with rain gauge data from the field site. Through this study, transport trends of the pesticide, Thiram, a dithiocarbamate, at different time and depth in the fields under real field conditions for the wheat crop were compared to the numerical simulations using HYDRUS- 1D with the input of daily rainfall from the TRMM. The daily rainfall from TRMM has been utilized to simulate the pesticide concentration up to 60 cm vertical soil profile with the intervals of 15 cm. The simulated soil moisture content using ground based rainfall and TRMM derived rainfall measurements indicate an agreeable goodness of fit between the both. The overall analysis reveals that TRMM rainfall is promising for soil pesticide prediction in absence of ground based measurements of soil pesticide. Further, comparison of the model to measured field data of pesticides movement indicates that the modelling approach can provide reliable and useful estimates of the mass flux of water and non-volatile pesticide in vadose zone. Thus, the satellite-based rainfall products could also be useful for policy makers and planners while controlling inappropriate pesticide application under saturated and deficit soil moisture conditions

A Result Analysis of Control Scheme for a Stand-Alone Wind Energy Conversion System

Abstract: In this paper proposed result analysis of control scheme for a stand-alone wind energy conversion system. Wind energy conversion system (WECS) is nowadays deployed for meeting both grid-connected and stand-alone load demands. However, wind flow by nature is intermittent. In order to ensure continuous supply of power suitable storage technology is used as backup. In this paper, the sustainability of a 4-kW hybrid of wind and battery system is investigated for meeting the requirements of a 3-kW stand-alone dc load representing a base telecom station. Present energy want greatly depends on the quality sources. But the inadequate accessibility and steady increase inside the value of typical sources has shifted the main focus toward renewable sources of energy. Keywords: Maximum power point tracking (MPPT), pitch control, state of charge (SoC), wind energy conversion system (WECS)

Cognitive Radio Networks: Realistic or Not?

A large volume of research has been conducted in the cognitive radio (CR) area the last decade. However, the deployment of a commercial CR network is yet to emerge. A large portion of the existing literature does not build on real world scenarios, hence, neglecting various important interactions of the research with commercial telecommunication networks. For instance, a lot of attention has been paid to spectrum sensing as the front line functionality that needs to be completed in an efficient and accurate manner to enable an opportunistic CR network architecture. This is necessary to detect the existence of spectrum holes without which no other procedure can be fulfilled. However, simply sensing (cooperatively or not) the energy received from a primary transmitter cannot enable correct dynamic spectrum access. For example, the low strength of a primary transmitter's signal does not assure that there will be no interference to a nearby primary receiver. In addition, the presence of a primary transmitter's signal does not mean that CR network users cannot access the spectrum since there might not be any primary receiver in the vicinity. Despite the existing elegant and clever solutions to the DSA problem no robust, implementable scheme has emerged. In this paper, we challenge the basic premises of the proposed schemes. We further argue that addressing the technical challenges we face in deploying robust CR networks can only be achieved if we radically change the way we design their basic functionalities. In support of our argument, we present a set of real-world scenarios, inspired by realistic settings in commercial telecommunications networks, focusing on spectrum sensing as a basic and critical functionality in the deployment of CRs. We use these scenarios to show why existing DSA paradigms are not amenable to realistic deployment in complex wireless environments.Comment: Work in progres

Model predictive control based selective harmonic mitigation technique for multilevel cascaded H-bridge converters

The selective harmonic elimination (SHE) strategy is specially well suited for high-power applications where the power losses must be kept below strict limits. The SHE technique is based on offline calculations and the generation of a pre-programmed voltage waveforms eliminating some low order harmonics. An evolution of SHE is the selective harmonic mitigation (SHM) technique which is based on pre-programmed waveforms non eliminating the low order harmonics but reducing the distortion below the limits imposed by a grid code. However, the main drawback of these pre-programmed SHE and SHM techniques is a low dynamic performance. In a recent paper, an online SHE technique based on the model predictive control (MPC) has been presented improving the dynamic performance of the conventional SHE method. In this paper, the online version of the SHM technique is introduced. It is based also in the MPC strategy and has been tested in a cascaded multilevel converter obtaining a high performance with very low switching frequency

High-resolution genome profiling differentiated Staphylococcus epidermidis isolated from patients with ocular infections and normal individuals

Purpose: To investigate the potential phenotypic and genetic differences among the Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates obtained from control subjects (lower conjunctival sac; n = 14) with those from patients with keratitis (corneal scrapings; n = 18) or endophthalmitis (vitreous; n = 24). Methods: Biofilm-forming capacity was detected by PCR for the icaAB gene and phenotyping by microtiter plate assay and congo red agar plate. Genotyping was performed by using fluorescence-amplified fragment length polymorphism (FAFLP) and in silico analysis of the FAFLP profiles. Results: Biofilm phenotyping (congo red agar/microtiter plate) differentiated disease-causing strains from control subjects. PCR assays (mecA, icaAB) were not useful in differentiating disease-causing strains from that of control subjects. The biofilm-forming capability appeared more critical in the pathogenesis of keratitis than in that of endophthalmitis. Cluster analysis of FAFLP data generated 11 clusters comprising 4 major clusters (I, II, III, and V) and 7 minor ones. FAFLP analysis clearly showed clustering of most of the commensal isolates in cluster I, separate from keratitis and endophthalmitis isolates. In silico analysis mapped signature bands to genes such as ebh, tagD, ptsI, and sepA, which might have a significant role in transforming less virulent populations of S. epidermidis to more virulent ones. Conclusions: The population dynamics of S. epidermidis revealed that there are significant genetic variations that can be detected through FAFLP between ocular disease causing isolates and the commensal population

Microsporidial keratitis in India: 16S rRNA gene-based PCR assay for diagnosis and species identification of microsporidia in clinical samples

Purpose: To evaluate 16S rRNA-based polymerase chain reactions for the detection and species identification of the microsporidia that cause keratitis. Methods: Of the 5892 cases of microbial keratitis seen between September 2002 and December 2005, 31 (0.5%) microscopically diagnosed cases of microsporidial keratitis were included in the test group; 103 patients with nonmicrosporidial keratitis constituted the control group. A 16S rRNA-based pan-microsporidian PCR was chosen for the detection of microsporidian DNA. Species level identification was made using species-specific primer sets of Encephalitozoon spp (E. cuniculi, E. hellem, and E. intestinalis). Sequencing and BLAST analysis of amplicons obtained with pan-microsporidian primers were performed for validation. Results: The corneal scrapings from 26 of 31 cases in the test group and 2 of 103 cases in the control group showed a 250- to 280-bp amplicon in PCR by pan-microsporidian primers (sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 98%). The amplicons of 13 of 26 test group samples were identified by species-specific PCR: E. cuniculi, n = 7 (549 bp); E. hellem; n = 3 (549 bp); E. intestinalis; n = 1 (520 bp). The two cases in the control group were identified to be E. cuniculi. The remaining 15 cases (test group) were confirmed to be Vittaforma corneae by sequencing and BLAST analysis. All species were confirmed by sequencing and database homology comparison. Conclusions: This study is the first to validate PCR-based assays for detection of microsporidial DNA in corneal scrapings. Pan microsporidian PCR can be a useful adjunct with smear examination in the diagnosis of microsporidial keratitis