Evaluation of radio-morphometric indices of mandible using digital panoramic radiography: a radiographic study

Background: Bone mineral density (BMD) varies with race, ethnicity, age, and gender. Thus arises the need for population-specific value ranges. Qualitative and quantitative indices of the mandible have also been used for panoramic radiographs to assess bone quality and to observe signs of resorption and osteoporosis. Aim: To measure the radio-morphometric indices in a digital panoramic radiograph and to find the inter-relationship of the indices with the age and sex of the patients.  Materials and Methods: The study included 100 digital panoramic radiographic images of patients, and the samples were divided into four age groups. A panoramic radiograph of each patient was taken, and radio-morphometric indices were determined. Four indices, namely, cortical width at the gonion (GI) and below the mental foramen (MI), Mandibular cortical index (MCI) and Panoramic Mandibular Index (PMI), were measured bilaterally in all panoramic radiographs. All images were analyzed, and index values were calculated by applying linear measurements on the panoramic radiographs. Results: Statistically significant differences were observed among the study population. Conclusion: Radio-morphometric indices in a panoramic radiograph may possibly be used as a potential screening tool in identifying individuals with osteoporosis

Assessment of variability parameters and diversity of panicle architectural traits associated with yield in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

The rice panicle, a pivotal reproductive structure, signifies the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth in plants. Comprising components such as the rachis, primary and secondary branches, seed quantities and branch lengths, panicle architecture profoundly influences grain production. This study delves into the diversity of panicle architecture traits and scrutinizes variability parameters across 69 distinct rice genotypes. Our findings underscore substantial variations in panicle architecture traits among genotypes. Particularly noteworthy are traits with the highest coefficient of variation (CV%), encompassing the count of secondary branches, single plant yield, productive tillers per plant, seeds per secondary branch and panicle weight. Correlation analysis reveals robust positive connections between panicle weight, the number of filled grains per panicle, 1000-grain weight and single plant yield. The number of secondary branches exhibits the most substantial phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV%) at 47.14%, accompanied by a genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV%) of 43.57%. Traits such as days to 50% flowering, plant height and number of filled grains per panicle manifest high heritability (97.04%, 91.24% and 76.22% respectively) and notable genetic advancement (23.11%, 39.62% and 47.49%). The principal component analysis identifies the primary component (PC1) as the principal contributor to variance. Biplot analysis accentuates positive correlations between attributes like the number of filled grains per panicle, panicle length, plant height, primary branch count, panicle weight, seeds per primary branch and the number of secondary branches with single plant yield. By employing Mahalanobis D2 statistics, the classification of genotypes into 6 distinct clusters reveals clusters III and IV as distinguished by their significant inter-cluster and intra-cluster distances. This comprehensive analysis unveils the potential for harnessing panicle architecture traits to enhance grain production and advances our comprehension of intricate relationships within diverse rice genotypes

Cinnamon as a Potential Feed Additive: Beneficial Effects on Poultry Health and Production Performances – An Update

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, global poultry output increased from approximately 115 million tons in 2016 to around 136 million tons in 2023. Poultry production has increased significantly with the dramatic uptick in meat and egg demand. Feed accounts for between 65 and 70 percent of total production costs, making it the largest chicken industry expense. This is why it's important to maximize the transformation of poultry feed into feed with a high biological value while taking as many steps as possible to protect feed quality and reduce feed costs. The use of feed additives in poultry feed has recently gained popularity and has been essential to increase feed efficiency and growth rate, which typically leads to reduced costs. The meat's texture, consistency, and nutritional content are all improved, and its shelf life is lengthened as a bonus. Feed additives are a fantastic tool for boosting a poultry farm's bottom line. For example, cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) is often used as a traditional feed supplement. Rather than antibiotics, the poultry industry could benefit from using cinnamon as a natural antibiotic replacement, which would benefit animal welfare, consumer health, and the bottom line. The performance index, feed intake, FCE performance, and weight growth of poultry can all be improved by including cinnamon in the feed at varied concentrations. The digestive health and intestinal microbial population of hens are enhanced by a diet containing bioactive components of cinnamon. Cinnamon essential oils' popularity stems from their many valuable features, such as their ability to increase gastric enzyme synthesis and other biofunctional benefits. This review focuses on the possible advantages of cinnamon as a natural feed supplement for chickens, particularly about their intestinal microbiota, blood chemistry, nutrient absorption, gene expression, and immunology

A robust real-time gait detection method for spinal cord injury rehabilitation

In a recent first-in-human clinical study, a therapy based on targeted epidural electrical stimulation together with body weight support has been validated to restore voluntary locomotion in chronically paralyzed subjects with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). However, the system is currently open-loop controlled, meaning that the stimulation pattern cannot be influenced by the patient. Introducing closed-loop control with real-timemotion feedback is expected to improve activity-based plasticity and thereby the therapy, to which this thesis will be contributing. To be specific, this thesis investigates the possibility of a robust real-time gait event detection method for SCI patients, to be used to synchronize the stimulation to movement in real-time. The gait of SCI patients deviates remarkably from the gait of a healthy subject. We identified several factors contributing to the deviation and studied them separately. Datasets were created by mimicking various walking scenarios observed from video references of patients from the ongoing clinical study. A robust real-time gait detection method with three variations of it – one using zero crossings of angular velocity in sagittal plane, another using high frequency contents extracted using wavelet transform and a third using additional trunk kinematics - is proposed and tested in this study with IMU signals from foot, shank and trunk. The results were promising when tested on themimicked datasets and was then tested on the limited patients available. For patient with motor incomplete paralysis (AIS-D), the method seemingly identified events correctly 9 out of 10 times both for TO and HS detection. The performance dropped noticeably for TO detection (to around an F1 score of 0.24) for motor complete patient (AIS-B) while still maintaining the HS detection performance (at around an F1 score of 0.83). We conclude that patient-group-specific strategies might be necessary and that motor complete patients may require additional motion intention recognition strategies. In addition to this, a method to emulate IMU signals from motion capture datasets when limited number of markers are used, is also presented in this study, so as to be able to convert the already existing motion capture datasets to IMU datasets, and to time-synchronize these datasets explicitly when they are collected using independent sensors. Correlation values as high as 0.977 were observed between the emulated IMU signals (sagittal plane angular velocity) and that of the actual IMU signals.Mechanical Engineerin

Customized Smart Glasses for Needy Blind People

Visually challenged individuals are one of the most concerned people in the society in terms of independence and confidence. There is a class of needy blind people who are not able to afford the technical devices designed for them.  A personalized smart device designed using deep learning technologies will be of greater help to them. A brief discussion was made with them to make the design of this device more user specific. Requirements gathered from this meeting are processed using deep learning methods and are composed into a smart glass using Raspberry pi. This glass is customized for every user such that it detects presence of known people around them and also does priority specific object detection. The compact, stand alone and economically efficient design of this product is welcomed by the needy blind people with great enthusiasm. This product will thus effectively increase their morale and ability to roam outdoors notably

Customized Smart Glasses for Needy Blind People

Visually challenged individuals are one of the most concerned people in the society in terms of independence and confidence. There is a class of needy blind people who are not able to afford the technical devices designed for them.  A personalized smart device designed using deep learning technologies will be of greater help to them. A brief discussion was made with them to make the design of this device more user specific. Requirements gathered from this meeting are processed using deep learning methods and are composed into a smart glass using Raspberry pi. This glass is customized for every user such that it detects presence of known people around them and also does priority specific object detection. The compact, stand alone and economically efficient design of this product is welcomed by the needy blind people with great enthusiasm. This product will thus effectively increase their morale and ability to roam outdoors notably.</p

Functional and radiological outcome of volar plate fixation in intra articular distal radius fractures

Introduction: Fractures of lower end radius are most common fractures of the upper extremity encountered in practice and constitute 17% of all fractures and 75% of all forearm fractures. These injuries account for approximately one sixth of all fractures seen and treated. In the words of Dr. Abraham Colles “this fracture takes place about an inch and a half above the carpal extremity of the radius and there is a 17% lifetime probability for distal radius fractures”. The majority of these injuries are 'closed', with no evidence of breach of the surrounding skin. Materials and Methods: A prospective study on cases of the fractures of the distal end of the radius, attending the Orthopaedics outdoor and the emergency services of Vinayaka Mission's Kirupananda Variyar Medical College and Hospital, Salem. The fractures were classified according to Modified AO Classification. 25 cases were followed at regular intervals and final assessment was done at 3 months (photographic plate 2). This study was conducted with detailed clinical and radiological analysis after surgical management of fractures of distal end of radius.&nbsp